Jennsails

Yes, bad on me for not doing my homework about the cabin size. I would have been better prepared and not so taken aback. The schedule and itinerary made the delusion for me and the Sky fit both.

If there was music in Sugarcane, we never caught it. The music we saw was poolside, in the main atrium and Bliss Lounge. Every time we passed through Sugarcane it was fairly quiet. I forgot to mention the Spinnaker Lounge, which was a great place to relax in the evenings. Local was open for drinks pretty much anytime but you could only order food from 6pm-5am. Not a big issue because of its' proximity to the Great Outdoors and GC and they did not mind when we brought plates in from the buffet to enjoy at their bar. For breakfast and lunch the Local does not have any menu offerings, unfortunately.

We just returned from a 5 day itinerary on the Sky. She is a small ship. Very small. 5 days felt about a day too long and I can see why she is ideal for the 3-4 day cruises. Her refurbishment is A+. The ship is immaculate and the common area decor is sleek and modern. The service and crew were also excellent and we were extremely impressed with the impeccable service and friendliness. I'd compare the level to service experience to Seabourn, they were that good. I never had to ask twice for anything and even at the buffets, the staff were tripping over themselves to be of assistance, wiping everything down, we never saw a dirty table, never waited more than a second after finishing a plate to have it swept away. We'd only done one previous NCL cruise prior to this, (we are Celebrity fans) and will absolutely book our next cruise on NCL, just a larger ship with more space. We had a balcony cabin mid ship on deck 10 and it was quiet and an excellent location. However, it was TINY. We walked in when we embarked and were shocked. There is one small nightstand beside the bed but the other side of the bed butts right up to the chair and the chair is right against the door the the balcony. We aren't large people; I am 115 lbs and BF is 170 and we were having difficulty navigating from one side of the bed to the other. There is maybe 14 inches max between the foot of the bed and the wall and about 2 square feet of open floor space between the vanity and the chair. As I understand it, the Sky was retrofit to include the 2 decks of balcony cabins so I guess they were not designed to have the spacious feel that we'd expect on a newer ship but it was still a shock. I don't think that the bathrooms were updated in the renovation. They are fine but the shower has a curtain, not a door. The shampoo, body wash and hand wash are in dispensers and felt very watery. I always bring my own shampoo and conditioner so not a big thing but be advised. There is no conditioner or lotion in the cabin. There was also not a robe but our steward brought them for us to use soon as I asked. The balcony itself was great and had enough space so fortunately we kind of worked our way out there when one of us was trying to get ready, etc. We typically book a larger balcony cabin when we cruise so maybe we are just spoiled but this was not an option on the Sky. Another reason we'll try a newer ship with more category options next time. The cabin was super clean, bed and bedding very cozy and comfortable and we slept very well. Our cabin steward was a doll and took wonderful care of our room. The location was super as we could easily pop upstairs to the Garden Cafe for a snack or pop in to the Local for a drink or to refill our Yetis with ice water. Oddly, the Bridge Cam channel or any of the channels did not show any info like ship's speed, wave height, navigational heading or time. We really like seeing the navigation info and it was missing completely on this cruise. Even the daily on our sea day did not mention a course or what we were seeing and the Captain never came on and made any announcements about where we were or where we were going. We missed that experience from our other cruises. We keep our phones off and in the safe while in "vacation mode" but without a phone you have no way to know the time unless you walk out to the pool or 6th floor outdoor promenade and check the clock. Strange. The food on the ship was shockingly good. At first I was a little taken aback because the buffet is tiny and the options seemed extremely limited but the food selections changed every day and it never felt stale or like we couldn't find tasty options to eat. And oh my gosh, the baked goods! Every single bite we tried, from the chocolate croissants in the morning to the cakes and pies through the day, everything was to die for. HUGE compliments to the pastry chefs! I wish it wasn't all so good, especially the raspberry brownie on the menu in the Local. Literally the most decadent and delicious dessert we've ever had. Cagney's was nice but honestly, the quality of the offerings in the MDR and even the buffet at dinnertime were comparably excellent. We are not meat eaters and we enjoyed all of the seafood options at Cagney's, especially the tuna tartare. We actually went back a second night and just ordered that and the au gratin potatoes, which should not be missed, and had the perfect dinner. The buffet had delish smoked salmon every morning, which even Celebrity only seems to offer on the buffet every other day or so. That's my favorite breakfast so yay! The entertainment was excellent as well, especially the bands. Poolside or in the lounges in the evening, we really enjoyed how much live music was available throughout the ship. We did not go to any of the stage shows, we were enjoying the lounge bands so much we didn't feel like we missed out on anything. The Newlywed and Not So Newlywed Game was fun and entertaining and always worth catching on any cruise. The Perfect Couple Game was more raunchy and we probably could have skipped that one. Really the only negatives that we experienced were the casino, (smoking) and the Fury Catamaran excursion we took in Cozumel. It is listed and marketed as a 4 hour excursion and it was but only about 30 mins of it is spent snorkeling and even then you are kept within a small, roped-off area and on top of everyone else on the excursion. I spent most of our 30 minute time avoiding getting a flipper in my face than seeing many fish. Then they dump you on their own "Fury Beach" for 90 MINUTES to swim and hang out. They have watery draft beer and watery margaritas but offer no bottled water or any beverages. There is food for purchase. We were really annoyed that we were stuck there for so long and had we known, we would have never done that excursion. Also, BF came home with Covid. We can't blame the cruise because they seemed to be cleaning and did what they could, (washy washy!) but I guess it still happens. Overall, we really came to enjoy the small ship, mostly because of her excellent crew and beautiful renovation but the Sky would not be the choice for us next time. We are definitely looking forward to another cruise with NCL but for sure will be on a bigger ship with more to do onboard and more spacious cabins.

We just got off of the Sky this morning after a 5 day itinerary and it was just about the perfect length for a small ship like that. We felt it was extremely calm and chill vibe onboard, I did not feel booze cruisey at all. It’s small…really small. But refurbished beautifully and extremely clean. The staff was by far the friendliest I can recall on any ship we’ve ever sailed. Every single person greets you and I felt like they were tripping over themselves to assist and constantly clean at buffet etc. We were really impressed and would 1000% cruise with NCL for our next and we’ve always been Celebrity loyal. Probably would opt for a large ship next and it could be a totally different experience but the Sky felt intimate and quite a nice mix from the big, busy ship. Another plus, almost no kids! Maybe because there isn’t much kid-friendly stuff to do onboard, no slides or water park or really anything but that was great for us!

We just sailed a 5 day itinerary on the Sky and had balcony cabin mid/aft on deck 10 directly under the Local bar, which is open till 5am and it was quiet as can be in our cabin and we are both light sleepers. No issues and it’s a great location to easily pop up to the GC for a snack, drink or water.

We just got off of a 5 day on the Sky this morning and there were very few kids on our sailing. There is literally nothing for kids to do onboard, aside from a kind of sad looking kids club and arcade. No slides or cool putting green. We actually felt kind of bad for the handful of kids we did see, they must have been so upset when we docked next to the Disney ship in Cozumel. The slide looks amazing!

Interesting. I had no idea that open door effected other cabins. Learn something new every day!

This is super, thank you for sharing so much detail! We sail on the Sky for 5 days on Tuesday and I hope it’s as quiet as you described. I am curious about the porthole + door set up on the balcony cabin as well. We typically like to sleep with the patio slider door open when we cruise to hear the ocean and enjoy the fresh air. Can this door stay open while underway?

We are sailing on a 5 day itinerary on the Sky next week. Being a smaller ship there does not appear to be as much extra stuff to do on board. Either way, when we cruise, sometimes we just like to chill in our cabin in the evenings as we are not night owls and take our cruises to relax and enjoy the ocean. Last time we cruised, we tried to hook up an HDMI cable to watch downloaded movies and shows through the cabin tv and no luck. We had to watch on our laptop. Does anyone have any tips of any cables etc which we should bring to hopefully be able to chill and watch our own downloaded content on the cabin tv? I know the in-cabin entertainment lacks options; I think like 4 channels and a few PPV movies. I also know that the shows, parties etc are great and all but on a 5 night itinerary some night we just want to avoid crowds, order room service and enjoy our space. Thank you!

Thank you. I called again today, spoke to an NCL agent and the agent did actually cancel the reservation. I received email confirmation of the cancellation and it had a note that it was cancelled due to positive covid test. She said to go to the online form and complete again now that it was cancelled. She didn’t seem to really know how the process worked but that was her suggestion. Not a ton of faith here but I guess at least step 1 is that it’s cancelled and now we just figure out how to go about confirmation of FCC. Did they send you anything in addition to confirmation of cancellation about owed FCC or just the cancel email then FCC later on? Did you need to do anything else aside from calling to cancel plus the online form submission? Thank you!

Thank you for the advice. I called again today and the agent did actually cancel the reservation. I received email confirmation of the cancellation and it had a note that it was cancelled due to positive covid test. She said to go to the online form and complete again now that it was cancelled. She didn’t seem to really know how the process worked but that was her suggestion. Not a ton of faith here but I guess at least step 1 is that it’s cancelled and now we just figure out how to go about confirmation of FCC. Did they send you anything upon your cancellation about owed FCC? Thanks!

Maybe I need to call again and try and get a different rep because when I called they told me all I could do was submit the online form and just wait and it would be taken care of. Not the best info.

The thing that we were most afraid of happening, happened. Symptomatic and positive Covid test 1 week before departure date on the Getaway. We followed the instructions on the NCL site, filled in online form and uploaded the requested info (positive lab test result). Received an automated email back that it will be reviewed and to expect to hear a response within 30 days. I’m concerned because we are scheduled to sail in 1 week. The email response from NCL specifically said not to email again and when I call they say just to wait to hear from someone. Anyone else had to unfortunately try and get an FCC due to Covid? We did not purchase NCL’s insurance but in this instance, from what the conditions state, that should not matter. I’m super nervous that we’ll get stuck forfeiting our reservation because it still shows 7 days till departure and our cabin is still assigned on my account. I’ll be very uncomfortable not hearing from the cruise line before out depart date. Any thoughts?

Thank you for sharing the video, this is great. Do you know if the two-seater lounges cost extra or just the cabanas? Are the clamshells considered cabana?

I wonder the same. We are sailing on the GA in July and I'd purchase Vibe, (if possible) to ensure that we had shade for sea days.