Back from Norwegian Sky 4/29-5/03

Day 1: Miami

Today I embarked on a four-night cruise aboard Norwegian Cruise Line’s Norwegian Sky, a ship that’s based year-round in Miami offering three and four night sailings. This sailing is going to take me to Freeport, Bahamas; their private Great Stirrup Cay, and Nassau, Bahamas. The weather was nasty all day, really bad. Just see the picture below.

I arrived at the ship around one for embarkation, dropped my bags at the pier and went to check-in. The check-in process was flawless, I gave them my passport, health form, credit card and boarded the ship 10-minutes later. I always like the board the ship after one pm because most of the people are already on the ship and the lines aren’t too long.

I was really impressed on how quickly they did the lifeboat drill, it was 15-minutes and then we were underway. We didn’t have to bring our life jackets to the drill either, so glad cruise lines are getting away from that. At 5 pm the weather was so bad that the sailaway party was held inside.

My room is deck nine ocean view and not too shabby. There was one plug, adequate space to hang my clothes and a soap dispenser next to the bathroom sink which I like. After exploring the ship I noticed it’s laid out very funky, almost to the point where you wonder who in the heck designed this thing. There’s one part of the ship on deck five where it dead ends where you feel like you’re trapped like a rat.

The Italian venue on the ship serves pizza during lunch and it was … ugh, okay I guess. If you ever have eaten cardboard with pizza sauce, it kind of tastes like that. They do have a gourmet pizza delivery though for $5, I am going to try that and see what it’s like. I’ve heard fabulous things about their room service pizza.

At six pm there was a pub crawl and that was really fun. It’s $25 and goes to five bars. It consists of four mixed drinks and a (gross) beer. There was about 75 people signed up for it and I met a group of people from central Florida and they were a riot. If that’s what cruising like a Norwegian is like, I’m game!

Dinner was okay. It wasn’t the best meal I’ve had on a cruise ship but wasn’t awful. It felt like it was buffet food served on a plate but I’m still doing the Norwegian food challenge to see if it improves. I’m going to try a couple of the specialty restaurants to see it improves.

The comedian on the ship was pretty funny and not racy or vulgar, so I appreciate that. When a comedian has to drop F bombs or talk really dirty to make people laugh, there’s a problem. After the comedy show I went to the night club for a few minutes and then called it a night.

Freeport is on schedule for 8am and I like to watch the ships pull into port. Joining us in Freeport is going to be Carnival Fantasy from Charleston, SC.

Day 2: Freeport, Bahamas

This morning started out great. I woke up around 7am to watch Norwegian Sky pull into Freeport, Bahamas. It was pretty overcast today and really windy so I’m sure a lot of people hung around the pier and didn’t try to go out to the beach. In fact, it was raining off and on all day.

I took my camera with me on deck and filmed some of the docking procedures and then went to grab some breakfast on the aft deck before getting off the ship.

What is Freeport like? It’s an industrial port with a lot of maritime commerce. All the beaches, resorts and activities are a good 20 to 30-minute drive away. The ship cleared customs around 8am and at 8:15 I was on shore looking for some wi-fi. I found it at a place called Seaman’s Sports Bar.

The wi-fi wasn’t free there, it was $5 an hour but if you justify going into town in a cab and having to pay, you could get about four hours of internet time for what the ride into town would have cost. The sports bar had a variety of beers, frozen concoctions, liquors and mixers, surprisingly all priced fair – a beer cost $4.

It didn’t take long before Carnival Fantasy joined us and that little bar was hopping. For lunch I headed back on the ship to check out the dining areas. There was four venues open for lunch: Garden Café (buffet), Longboard (sports bar), Il Adagio (Italian pizza joint), and Great Outdoors Café located aft deck (where I had breakfast this morning).

I wanted to put the dining through the test so I went to the aft dining venue first and grabbed a burger, not a lot of people and very quick. Went to Garden Café where the meat carving station, wok, salad bar, desserts, soups, and hot food was – it was a mess. There was a line all the way out the door to get into the buffet line and from standing in line to getting to my table took 19-minutes. By no means am I complaining but my thoughts were if this was a port day, what is the line going to be like on a sea day? This cruise doesn’t have any sea days on the four-night sailing (thank God). So yeah, Garden Café line was awful and whoever designed it clearly wasn’t thinking of passenger flow and there’s way to many areas of mass congestion.

After lunch I got off the ship and did a walk around of Freeport and checked the little shops out. There’s a little more there than I remember. A lot of people really think Freeport sucks but it doesn’t. If you know where to go, it’s not a bad little port stop. The whole “sucks” part falls back on the person for not doing research and checking out the beaches, all-inclusive resorts offered, diving and so on.

All aboard was at 4:30pm for a 5pm departure. The gym is located on deck 11 forward on this ship and is really nice, offering guests a great view. They have personal trainers available in there but I just did my norm, ran three miles and pigged out (totally defeating the purpose).

I opted for the buffet tonight instead of sit-down dining and it was okay. Again, the food really hasn’t impressed me on this ship. The food was cold at the buffet and really just looks blah. They do have ice-cold milk available for breakfast, lunch and dinner – thumbs up!

The Deal or No Deal interactive game that Norwegian has on their ships is awesome. It’s just like the popular TV show but everything is interactive. You have to pay $19.99 a card and you follow along at your seat with a bingo-like card.

Tomorrow is the private island of Great Stirrup Cay. Norwegian has really enhanced the island … stay tuned.

Great Stirrup Cay.

Today we checked out Norwegian Cruise Lines’ private island, Great Stirrup Cay. The island is located in the Berry islands and has some pretty cool history behind it. Norwegian bought the island from Belcher Oil Company in 1977, making them the first cruise line to have their own private island. The island doubled as an Air force radar tracking station up until 1991.

I started my day at breakfast and forgot to get a tender ticket so I eventually made my way to midship to pick up tender ticket number eight, it only took about 10-minutes for them to call. The tender process was streamlined and very easy. The double decker tender boat was at full capacity as we headed off to the island.

When I was there in 2010, they beached the tender boat, since then they cut a channel and dock the boat in a cut.

Hot White Party aboard Norwegian Sky.

The island resembles Royal Caribbean’s or Carnival’s private-island. There’s a bunch of little shops right when you get off, freshly planted palm trees, new cabana-like structures, live music and a long strip of white sandy beach. I hung out with some friends I made on the ship and stayed on the beach for about three-hours before getting good and burnt.

The food on the island was much improved and can hold a candle to any of the other cruise lines private island. I was talking to the captain of Norwegian Sky earlier today, Captain Ron, and he told me they recently revamped the whole food process and you can tell. The food was much improved from when I was there two years ago and enough food lines to where you were weren’t waiting all day long.

The last tender back to the ship was at 4:30, so I took the 3:30 one so I wasn’t one of the last folks that had to wait.

For dinner we dined with the captain. He is the only US captain in the Norwegian fleet. We had a good conversation and he was very down to earth, talking about music, tv and non-shop topics.

The Norwegian-signature “Hot White Party” kicked off at 10:30pm and went til 12:30am, there was a couple hundred people out there having a good time. We arrive in Nassau, Bahamas tomorrow morning at 8am and the weather is supposed to be amazing. Can’t wait!

May 5, 2012 By admin Leave a Comment (Edit)

I woke up this morning to the thrusters of the ship shaking like an earthquake but if it means I’ll get to be in Nassau soon, I’ll take it. Last night I stayed out til three am so I wasn’t feeling like breakfast, I did have a banana and a glass of milk and then got off the ship. The NCL White Hot Party rocked!

Carnival Miracle (pictured right) was docked next to us from New York City, they recently just added some cool new features to their ship and you can read about it all here. There was also a yacht in Nassau that had a helicopter on it, a huge helicopter, I mean who does that?!

Festival Plaza in Nassau has free wifi so I jumped on with my phone for a few minutes to upload some images then headed to Starbucks to work for a couple hours. My friend Tim told me about a place called Conch Fritters that I must try in Nassau, so I headed there after working a couple hours in Nassau. The food was really good and priced reasonably. I wound up getting a local Kalik beer and cracked conch basket with fresh potato slices, it ran about $19. It said they took credit cards on the door but wound up not taking any and they had to run it across the street, weird but whatever.

Some friends I met on the sailing hired a cab and took a full day tour around Nassau, Paradise Island and Cable beach, they were telling me things about the island that even I didn’t know (and I’ve been there a couple dozen times). There were six of them and they each paid $25 per person and the kids went free. Not a bad deal for having your own driver. Besides the over-priced Atlantis resort, Nassau is a real salt-of-the-earth type place. Great people and their prison system is so strict that it makes folks not want to do bad. I’m sure crime happens there but where doesn’t it?

Shrimp cocktail in Cagney's Steakhouse.

Back on the ship I met up with some friends that I met and I tried an innovative creation called a Corona-Rita. It was a Corona and margarita in a glass, for $10. It was actually pretty good. I’m not a huge beer person so it made it go down a lot smoother. On the topic of booze, if you want to buy a bottle onboard it’s $136 (for Jack Daniels). They actually charge you by the shot and there’s like 22 shots in a bottle. On Holland America, you can get the same bottle for $36. You pay for convenience though so whatever.

Dinner was in Cagney’s Steakhouse. This was my second time there and I noticed that the menu was a little different and the lobster add on was $8. There were probably about 10 tables in there and we sat for 13 minutes before someone even came over to our table and acknowledged us. The food was just okay. My steak in the main dining room tasted equally as good. The whole overall experience was just alright, not horrible but nothing to write home about (but I am anyway).

Tomorrow is back to Miami. Can’t wait to see the disembarkation process.

Passengers disembarking from Norwegian Sky in Miami.

Today is the day we disembark Norwegian Sky in Miami. I was happy to get off the ship, which has maybe happened one other time in the five dozen cruises I’ve taken.

I will say that I was very impressed with the disembarkation procedure and process. I chose to do self-assist disembarkation where you get no assistance with your luggage but you’re also allowed to be the first off the ship. I made my way down to deck six around 7:50 and found there to be only a little line to get off the ship. It was under 10-minutes so no complaints. Customs was a breeze, they had five lanes open and people were breezing through.

My next thought was going to figure out how I get to the airport to pick up my rental car. I walked out of the terminal and there was a shuttle for Thrifty rental cars that gave free transfers to the airport rental car station. Piece of cake.

Overall the cruise was good. I met some friends for life on this sailing and learned what I appreciate about other cruise lines. Though I could find things wrong with the ship, it’s really not fair to judge a ship that’s so outdated. Though Norwegian Sky is only 13 years old, she is worn like a ship that’s 23 years old.

If you’re looking for a party cruise, a cruise that’s non-regimented with lots of entertainment or a quick and cheap sailing out of Miami, Norwegian Sky is your boat.

If you’re more service focused, foods is a primary factor in your sailing and want a toned down vacation, you may want to consider another cruise line. It’s not for everyone.

Thanks for the play by play -- I wanted to know if the white hot party is white --

looks like it in picts --- I saw postings and picts of Pink hot party

wondering what/when difference is/was?

Maybe somebody else will know

I gained too much weight on last carnival cruise - not expecting the same here - one benefit!

Thanks for the play by play -- I wanted to know if the white hot party is white --

 

looks like it in picts --- I saw postings and picts of Pink hot party

 

wondering what/when difference is/was?

 

Maybe somebody else will know

 

 

 

I gained too much weight on last carnival cruise - not expecting the same here - one benefit!

Thanks for reading. I'm not sure of the pink party. The white hot party was on the night before Nassau on our sailing. I hear ya on the weight gain, I gained 10-lbs on Carnival Liberty in December.

Found this explanation from another recent Sky cruiser on why the White Hot Party was the Pink Hot Party.

Pink Hot

A group on the ship was part of the Susan G. Komen fight for cure. Lots of Pink I fight like a girl shirts, just great group to be on a ship with. Hence "Johnny Cash" and daily called the white hot party the "pink hot party" for this cruise.

we board sky in a few weeks and I'm very nervous about taking newbies to Cagneys's this is the fourth bad review I have read. what to do......

we board sky in a few weeks and I'm very nervous about taking newbies to Cagneys's this is the fourth bad review I have read. what to do......

I'm not a newbie to cruising but a newbie to NCL. I've booked Cagneys for one of our evenings and just going to go with the flow but hope not too awful.

I find RCCLs speciality restaurants very good with very attentative service. I've also booked LeBistro and hope that is ok too.

I'm from NY and we are somewhat food snobs so we are staying away from the Italian restaurant but hope the other two will be ok.

Thanks for the play by play -- I wanted to know if the white hot party is white --

 

looks like it in picts --- I saw postings and picts of Pink hot party

 

wondering what/when difference is/was?

 

Maybe somebody else will know

 

 

 

I gained too much weight on last carnival cruise - not expecting the same here - one benefit!

Thanks for reading. I'm not sure of the pink party. The white hot party was on the night before Nassau on our sailing. I hear ya on the weight gain, I gained 10-lbs on Carnival Liberty in December.

The Pink Hot Party was a way to raise money and awareness for breast cancer.

Thanks for the review. I know what you mean about Cagney's... been there 4 times and it simply does not live up to the hype!

I'm not a newbie to cruising but a newbie to NCL. I've booked Cagneys for one of our evenings and just going to go with the flow but hope not too awful.

I find RCCLs speciality restaurants very good with very attentative service. I've also booked LeBistro and hope that is ok too.

I'm from NY and we are somewhat food snobs so we are staying away from the Italian restaurant but hope the other two will be ok.

You will enjoy Le Bistro more than Cagney's (taking off my Carnac the Magnificent hat now...LOL)!

Tom

I gave them my passport, health form, credit card and boarded the ship 10-minutes later.

Health form? Is this something they hand to you to fill out?

Health form? Is this something they hand to you to fill out?

Yes. We filled one out before boarding the Star in April. Just basically asks if you're sick.

To the OP, thank you for your review. Leaving on Monday for the Sky.

Read your review with great interest. Last sailed two years ago this September, also on the Sky and also to the Bahamas. Glad to hear that Great Stirrup Cay has been improved. Our last vist in September of 2010, a large part of it was a construction zone.

We really enjoyed the Sky then. We found it large enough, yet easy to find our way around. Thanks for the review. :)

I was on the Sky in April and still love it. Never heard of the pink hot party on board. I recommend LeBistro! Both trips on the Sky it has had the best food. Yes the buffets get crowded sometimes but the food is always great.

We are going to go to le bistro! Anyone tried the swordfish? The guys love swordfish!