thera

i had the Plus package on Sky recently. When I asked for a diet Coke, they always gave me a can, and it was part of the package.

That's crazy! We had a lot of people in the line when we were dropped off but we kept moving. Wonder what the issue was here. I hope you have a great time!

Churchill's was closed every time we went by to Take Five, so I think it never opened.

I know the ice machines were broken at the buffet, the coffee machines were working during the times we had breakfast there.

We wanted to go to the Caribbean and I found a pretty good price on an obstructed balcony on Sky Princess leaving Fort Lauderdale on Nov 25th in June. Our TA gave us some OBC to use so we booked it. Never been on Princess before; we've done Royal, Carnival, Holland, Norwegian. We wanted to relax but also see something we hadn't before (San Juan). Flights fluctuated quite a bit, we had thought about driving since we had the two Thanksgiving days off. In Sept, I pulled the trigger on flights out of my regional airport when the price came down to where I wanted. We had a short connection in Charlotte coming and going which usually isn't a big deal, but I would think about that later. I looked at TripAdvisor for a room as we would travel to Fort Lauderdale on Black Friday. I booked a "garden view" room at the Manhattan Tower Apartments for a very good price in June. I also bought travel insurance just in case something happened. All packed, I decided to do standby for an earlier flight (@11am) since a) they had available seats, b) our connection was very tight and c) we only had carry ons. We succeeded in getting on the earlier flight. We had time to stop for lunch in Charlotte, were on the flight to Fort Lauderdale and landed on time (@4:40). Finding the busy rideshare area between Terminal 3 and 4, we got a Lyft to Manhattan Tower @5:22pm. There was traffic, we were dropped off @5:50pm (cost @$22). The manager was texting me while we were on our way so he would be there to see us to our room, which was across the street from the hotel. Sort of odd, but hey, only for a night. The area was residential and very quiet. Our room had a little kitchenette, the A/C was working great and it was clean. We freshened up, walked to Wild Thyme Oceanside for dinner which was very good. Of course this time of year, it was dark and we could only hear the ocean. The main issue I had with the hotel was the bed, pretty uncomfortable. The next morning we walked to Archibalds Village Bakery for breakfast. Sitting outside on a late November morning in Florida is something. We strolled around the neighborhood and back to the hotel. There were 7 ships in port that day, so we decided to leave sooner rather than later. The Uber picked us up @10:04am and dropped off @10:18am (cost @$13). People were already lined up in a long queue and we kept moving through security and to pick up our medallions fairly quickly. We were on board at 10:50am. We asked someone if we could add Plus to our accounts and he got us squared away and showed us how to access WiFi on our phones/tablets. We found our way to the Retreat where we ordered our first drinks. The hubby wanted the buffet, so we made our way there and found a seat. Was impressed with the food selection. The rest of the afternoon, we chilled at the Retreat then went to dinner. We had made a reservation for one of the main dining rooms but it took a while to be seated then a long time to get our courses. As the cruise went along, it was apparent that there was a staffing problem for the amount of cruisers. All the staff were friendly even though they were working their tails off. We ate at the various main dining rooms, buffet and International Cafe. Some things were great (the Indian and Mediterranean food section in the buffet as an example), some things weren't (desserts were mostly misses). Alfredo's was supposed to be this incredible pizza, but it was just ok to us. Plus the food service there was extremely slow. Not worth an upcharge. The husband thought that the pool drinks were watered down also. But the drinks we tried at Take Five and the Crown Grill bar were excellent and didn't take a ton of time to get a drink. Vines was always busy but we met nice cruisers there. Good Spirits was the busiest indoor bar, it was always packed. The ship didn't have any hard seltzers on the ship, apparently didn't get a shipment we were told. The ship was in great condition, and the layout worked well for us. Steward was awesome. She of course knew when we were in/out of the room because of the Medallion. The Medallion is a nice feature, but has its kinks to work out. Most times I had to tell servers my room number, their tablet didn't recognize me. Other times, like in the International Cafe, the Medallion always worked. The ports had very humid weather so we didn't do much. We were delayed in getting off the ship due to a medical emergency in Princess Cays, so we just ventured out after lunch and swam a little. We took a walking tour in Old San Juan which was worth it, but sweaty. We drank a lot of bottled water. Amber Cove wasn't great, we discovered there wasn't an easy beach to walk to, so we got back on the ship and chilled at the Retreat. Grand Turk we had been to before but several years ago. We walked on the narrow beach (didn't recall if it was like that before?) past all the people trying to sell chairs for the day and decided to go back and do some souvenir shopping. We discovered late that the chairs to the right of the pier were first come first serve and free. We swam in that area for a bit which was nice. Our room was fine, a little small for a balcony room, but for two people it was fine. The obstruction was just a lifeboat below. The bed was the most comfortable bed I've had on a cruise, 5 stars. Debarkation was easy, we did express walk off since we had a 10:15am flight. We had a light breakfast in the International Cafe and took an Uber to the airport at 7:30am. Arrived at the airport at 7:46am (@$13) and there were only a handful of people at security, we were at the gate area before 8am. Sadly the flight was delayed and we had to run to barely make our next connection home. Air travel, ya know. Overall I enjoyed the cruise, just a few things noted that could be improved. Pros: Take Five - Having 3 sets per night of jazz music was great, also the bartenders were fantastic. Closes for certain private functions at certain times during the day. Retreat - Nice and relaxing with calm music in the background. Great area to read a book, nice bartenders (but they were super busy!). Needs more shade, however. And a lot of chair hogs were out. International Cafe - Very good option for coffee and light meals. Way faster than the buffet coffee shop (in the Pastry Shop) but seems like the Cafe had more espresso machines. Laundromat - I loved having the self-service laundry on the ship, we didn't have to pack as much. Wash and dry was only $6. Cons: Staffing - Long lines for drinks, long waits for food in most places. More staff is needed, but that's the case in a lot of places these days. Princess app - I heard that they are retooling this, thankfully. Scrolling through what's happening isn't great and there are no notifications on what you have bookmarked. I wanted to order from OceanNow a couple of times but the app couldn't find where I was when I wanted it. Also would be nice to have a world map and see where you are in real time, where you're going, etc. The shipmate locator is pretty neat, tho. Shade - We noticed that the Carnival Vista (when parked next to us) had umbrellas; that would have been a nice feature on this ship. There aren't a lot of places for shade and I didn't want to be out in the sun all day. Happy to answer any questions I can.

Hi, we are scheduled to hop on the Sky on Saturday and there are seven (!) ships in port. What time did you get to the port? We have to pick up our Medallions as well. Our boarding times are from 10:30am-2pm so I was thinking we would get there earlier rather than later. Thanks!

Ugh. That's one of the reasons we booked Sky in November. Hugely disappointing.

Y'all have been through it, I sincerely hope you get your bags today. Barcelona is beautiful though, enjoy your time there.

I fell in love with caipirinhas on my last cruise. They had a nice pineapple surplus drink that I had by the pool. Enjoyed the botanical spritz. We sampled a few martinis as well that I liked (rum cake, basil cucumber).

Went to Greece for 10 days in Sept, no COVID. Spouse and I got the new booster before the cruise. Spouse did come back with a cold though. 🙃

The Terrace houses are definitely a highlight.

It was ΦΑΡΜΑΚΕΙΟ ΧΑΛΑΡΗΣ, Kallirrois 15. Several pharmacies I believe have them at a similar price as well, you can ask your hotel.

No clue on the first two questions, sorry. The CD Danny introduced himself while we were at Spinnaker and we talked for a bit. He seemed very nice. The MDR was not open for lunch day 1.

The cruise terminal has tents, the big one is where you take a number and sit for a while. I think there was a sign for Haven. The Bazaar to the port is walkable, took us about an hour but we stopped to take pictures occasionally and we were going downhill. There's so much traffic in Istanbul, you could also take a tram from the port to the Bazaar area as I understand.

Honestly, if it were me, I'd save the money for shore excursions or something else if it's the same or similar cruise that's port heavy. We had entertained bidding on a balcony but thought (and we were right) that we would never be in the room to use it, so we stuck with the OV. 🙂