Eli_6

This will be my first cruise on princess, although we have cruised extensively on other lines. (This is mainly because we have young kids.) However, I purchased my elderly Mom a Scandinavian cruise as a Christmas gift (from Southampton) because her father was from Denmark and she has always wanted to go there.  Princess had the itinerary I liked.

First Question: We have a standard balcony room on the Sky Princess.  Is there anywhere on the ship that we aren't permitted?  I know on other lines there are special areas for gifts in suites or staying in a certain area--i.e. The Retreat on Celebrity, Havana area on Carnival, etc. 

I have cruised to/from Dover, but never Southampton.  We will probably arrive the day before the cruise as it makes me nervous flying in the day of from the U.S. I currently don't have a Princess transfer booked, but I would prefer to do this if possible.  Will they pick you up from your hotel in London the "day of" or do you have to make your way back to the airport and be picked up there if you use their transfer service?  Alternatively, will they transfer you from the airport to Southampton the day before? Does anyone have a hotel they recommend?

My other option is to arrive the "day of" at 6:50 a.m. to Heathrow. Do you think that is too risky?  I have never flown in "day of" for a European cruise before and it makes me nervous, but admittedly it would be easier to go straight from the airport to the cruise ship with my elderly Mom.

On 12/18/2023 at 11:50 AM, phabric said:

I had L301 on the Sky and loved it.  It is an angled balcony so a bigger balcony and covered.  It is only a few steps to the elevator, to the Lido entrance to the burger, bar, pizza, pool, hot tubs, buffet, lounge chairs.

 

I did hear noise went the main hallway door was closed and people let the door slam.  The next day, I left the main hallway door open each night and never hear any noise after that.

 

Choose a cabin near the elevator not the front cabins as they are a long walk to the elevator.

 

When choosing a dining room, choose deck 5 - Soleil or deck 6 - Estrella they are near an elevator not Cielo deck 6 (the back of the ship), you need to go to deck 7 then walk to back elevator down to deck 6 (only 1 elevator goes to that dining room).

 

I rented a wheelchair for my mom and she could use when she wanted or just to push.  The ship are huge and a lot of walking when you have difficulty walking.

That one is available.  So you didn't have any problems with noise from the Lido deck?

Yes, I figured I would rent her a scooter.  On the Europe cruises that I have been on with my family on Carnival (young kids so we go with Carnival for the slides, etc.), there are usually quite a few older people with scooters so I assume there is some sort of rental company out of the UK that one could use.  I figured that Princess would be better for my mother. Plus, this itinerary goes to Denmark. 

Hello,

As a Christmas present, I am going to book my late 70s Mom (and myself) a cruise to Denmark and Norway.  Her father was from Denmark and she has never been.  I am not going to undertake a land vacation to Denmark as I think that would be too much for her and, furthermore, I am familiar enough with LHR and getting around in the UK having done my graduate degree at a UK school. 

My Mom's main issue related to travel is that she went in for an ablation about 7-8 years ago to fix a heart arythymia and the surgeon screwed up and partially severed her phrenic nerve.  (This is the nerve that controls your diaphram.)   She originally was only able to breathe at about 20 percent.  Through much hard work, she is now up to 70 percent...but, long story short, she doesn't function at normal air capacity as the rest of us.  She is NOT on oxygen.  She sometimes walks with a cane on uneven surfaces.  Long story short: She's mobile, but more of a tortoise rather than a hare. 

In looking at available rooms, there is a plethora available on Deck 17 on the Sky Princess. I like the idea of either being on Lido deck or the deck right above it for easy access to the buffet and pool.  Would you recommend those rooms near the "Retreat Pool" on Deck 17?  From renderings I see online and pictures, it appears there is a glass wall between the pool and the rooms.  Is this correct?  Are those rooms loud?  Also, would you rec a room that faces directly out on to the pool or one closer to Forward that might be a little more quiet?  

I have been on cruises with her before and there have been issues with waiting on elevators...thus, my preference would be to either be on lido, a floor above lido or the Emerald deck/deck 8 right above the promenade deck, etc. There is one room on lido but it is the room right by the lido deck closest to the entrance/exit so I worry about it being loud.  

Thoughts or suggestions?

3 minutes ago, ARcruisin2 said:

 

Anyway, might talk to kids about asking if what they want has a charge, for example if you set them a limit for the day.

Yes, I am hoping you can do a charge limit like on Carnival. My kids don't roam around the ship on their own but even when my husband takes them to the arcade, he doesn't pay attention to how much things cost.  

@Saint Greg  Thank you for your very thorough review of the difference!  I really appreciate it. It actually sounds like Princess concentrates on everything I love and where it lacks are things I don't like (i.e. sports).  I am looking forward to my cruise now and sad it is 500+ days away, lol. 

I just googled and it is in fact a separate pool and spa just off the Teen Club/Kid's club. They also do have a putt putt course as well.  

The teen club has all sorts of games and tables....more than I have seen on a Carnival ship except for maybe the Vista class.  (Don't know what Mardi Gras/Celeb/Jubilee has as have not taken my kids on that one.) 

Honestly, this ship looks pretty freaking amazing in pictures.  I see why it was so inordinately expensive.

14 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

 

I think the biggest problem I had with Princess was a lack of places for kids to go. On Regal Princess they didn't have an arcade. They did have kids clubs. The basketball court was setup for pickleball 24/7 so the kids were never there. Instead of mini golf they really just had a putting green I never saw anyone use. No waterpark. So where were all of the kids on a sea day? lido pool. And the lido fountain turned into the waterpark. It was chaos on the lido every sea day.

 

Other than that the only things I would say Carnival beats Princess on are comedy shows, alchemy bar, and included fast food lunch options. I like Princess' pizza better but they make big ones and if the demand isn't high, the ones they're serving won't be fresh.

This is a newer ship (2019) and I believe the kids have their own pool/water area and that it also has an arcade.  I will have to double check as I could be confusing it with a different Princess cruise ship that I looked at when I was considering a sailing to Antarctica at Christmas.  

Edit: Double checked and this ship does have an arcade.  The teens and kids *appear* to have their own pool/spa off the kids club area.  It is blue and looks like a pool on the ship plan, but hard to tell exactly what it is so it may not be a pool...or it may be a splash pad.  

For those of you who have cruised both, what are the main differences between Carnival and Princess?

I (finally) was able to book two balconies on a world cruise segment from Australia to Rome on Princess.  I have been eyeing this cruise for a very long time, but it was sold out...and two balconies (and only two) popped up this morning and I got them.  It is the one of the only world cruises that sail in the (U.S.) summer which I need so I don't have to pull my kids out of school.  It is also the largest ship that does a world cruise and, therefore, actually has activities for children/pre-teens.  My boys will be 11 and 12 at the time of the cruise.  I also was interested in it because Princess purports to have the best internet at sea and that will allow my husband to keep in touch with his office.  (He has two nurse practitioners to see patients while he is gone, but still needs to be able to be "reachable" in case of an emergency.  This was a problem when we were on the Pride in the North Sea.)  It also has laundromats and I can't go on a 36 day cruise with a family of four without doing laundry because I am not hauling that many clothes all the way around the world. 

When I inquired about the sailing to my TA, she asked, "Have you ever cruised Princess before?" almost as though she didn't think I would like it.  My favorite cruise ever was our Alaskan cruise so I would imagine this cruise would draw a similarly tame/older crowd. Even though my husband and I are in our 40s--albeit, my husband will be 50 at time of the cruise in 2025--we typically are in our cabin my 9 or 10 pm watching TCM. (In fact, I was quite annoyed on one of our European cruises when they didn't have TCM.) We do enjoy the comedy shows so I will probably miss those on Princess, but our choices for this type of cruise aren't Carnival vs Princess.  They are Princess vs Azamara or Silver Seas....and at least Princess has an arcade and basketball court and Kid's club. 

10 minutes ago, mz-s said:

 

Yes but everywhere else I am not stuck on a cruise ship with them.

True.  But being stuck in traffic with them isn't any fun either.  And stuck on a plane with them is worse. 

I was on a flight from Edinburgh to London last week and we had to sit for an hour waiting for a gate at Heathrow.  The pilot told everyone to stay in their seats but nonetheless this one lady gets up pulls her bags from my overhead container and hits me in the head with her carry on. Didn't even apologize.  Then she stood in the aisle by my seat for the next hour with her butt in my face.  At one point, bent over to tie her shoe lace and butted me.   Again, didn't apologize.  Saw another passenger push over an elderly lady to get past her.  Is it that hard to say "excuse me, ma'am"?   I was even in first and it didn't matter.

Re the cruising numbers:  All forms of travel have been through the roof the past couple of years.  I think it is a result of people being cooped up during Covid.  I suspect it will to back to normal levels here in another year or two.

And rude people are everywhere. Not just on cruise ships. I swear, I think people forgot how to behave during the Covid shutdowns.

I only scrolled through the first two pages and saw the revised menu. Does this mean they no longer have the skillet cake and 12 hours french toast???

Because we have children, we usually cruise with the "family oriented" lines.  I have been wanting to do a 36-day segment on Princess from Australia to Rome that skirts the coast of Asia and India and goes through the Suez Canal in June 2025. Unfortunately, even though I have been watching the Princess cruise for months, no availability has come up.  At best, one room will become available for a day and we need either two rooms or a suite...and that hasn't come available.  We have taken several longer cruises and European cruises before, but never one to Asia or the Middle East which is the major reason I am interested in this particular itinerary. 

Finally, I started branching out and looking at other possible cruise lines that might do a similar route.  I found such a route in June of 2025 on Azamara.  It is actually shorter (which is a good thing) at 24 days and seems to hit even more ports.  (It goes from Singapore to Athens rather than Australia to Rome, but the ports I am primarily interested in are not the Australian ports so losing those is not a big deal to me.)  I have never been on Azamara before.  I noticed that minors are allowed, but there is no teen/kids club or any activities for them.  My husband worries they might be bored as they like the arcade, basketball courts, etc. on the larger ships.  However, with that said, we have taken our own gaming systems before and hooked them up to the in-room televisions on cruise ships before so it seems like this would be possible on Azamara.  They also can take their phones, VR headsets and handheld devices even if it isn't possible to hook up a gaming system to a tv. Has anyone traveled with kids before on a longer cruise on Azamara?  They will be 11 and 13 at the time of the cruise.

My other concern is that my husband needs decent wifi for his job as he needs to be able to stay in contact with his office.  Wifi seem to vary dramatically between cruise lines.  Is the wifi good on this line?    

We have taken (as a family) several longer cruises and European cruises before, but never one to Asia or the Middle East which is the major reason I am interested in this particular itinerary.

19 hours ago, firefly333 said:

Dont you get free laundry by now.?

 

my vacation used to start when I could see the ocean in Galveston. 

On Carnival, but not Azamara. Azamara doesn't have laundry rooms and I shudder to think what they charge to launder clothing.  They probably chare $15 for each piece or something crazy like that.

Princess (which has laundry rooms) has a similar route but it is longer, more expensive, and currently sold out. Still, I would rather Princess because of bigger ship, more kids activities, supposedly the best internet on the seas (or so they claim), etc.

Laundromats on ships. Many of the "higher end" cruises don't have them.  Was looking a 24-day Azmara cruise and no laundromat.  That won't work. Not for 24 days.  

I saw this:

https://nypost.com/2023/12/07/news/celebrity-cruises-youth-worker-admits-molesting-kids-on-ship-feds/

And it got me to wondering...

Very disconcerting re Celebrity.

9 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

It’s seasonal, so not running at the moment. You didn’t say when you are travelling. As JB mentioned you can take an “ordinary’ train service along the same route. 
 

Sorry. I apologize. I am traveling at the end of November...leaving the US next Tuesday and coming back the following Monday.   

On 11/11/2023 at 1:56 AM, Cotswold Eagle said:

Sorry, the steam train is the Jacobite, not the Jacobean. I’m blaming autocorrect 😀

 

https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/jacobite/steam-train-trip

That looks amazing, but is it still running?

16 minutes ago, jsglow said:

Um, you been in court on trial counselor? 😉

 

They stuck a 'new' inaugural cruise one week before the original inaugural cruise and said 'Don't be upset; we'll have 2!' 🤦‍♂️

Lol.  No, but I have not been keeping up with John Heald's page as much as normal.  

1 hour ago, jsglow said:

PLUS, Carnival has sold big, expensive and exotic Trans-Pac cruises while getting her to/from Singapore. If anyone thought the cow manure hit the fan yesterday regarding Firenze, nobody could be THAT tone deaf. Smartly, JH made that all a point of emphasis this morning. 

What happened with Firenze?

Do yall think she will still go into dry dock in Singapore in Sept/Oct 2024?  Or will they try to make some of those repairs now?

We will be in Scotland for 5 nights/4 days.  I am spending 3 nights/2 days in Edinburgh for prior commitments.  I have been to Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews before...and some of the Northern Isles.  What should I do with the remaining time?  I thought about going to Loch Ness and Inverness and trying to see some of the highlands as I have never been up that way.  I am just a little concerned that it isn't enough time. 

Come on...OP isn't the only cruiser to complain about Venezia on here.

I had to google and see pics of this "Dr. Frankenstein's" dance club.  I thought the David statue was kitsch, but that decor brings it to a new level...

Oops!  Sorry.  I looked on first page to see if anyone had posted about it and didn't see anything.