cruisequeen4ever

I have always loved the Princess Luxury Bed and dreamed of having one at home. I have to say, though, that last month on the Sky, we were shocked when we entered the room and saw a sunken-in-on-both-sides, past its prime mattress. It was still comfortable but not the ultra luxurious feel the mattresses have always had. Someone asked the officers at a presentation if Princess has entered their partnership with the Sleep Science people, and they said “no, not yet”. I took “yet” like maybe it’s nearing the end. Then this month, I went on the ordering website, and the mattresses are gone! I realllllllly hope they don’t end their partnership and that they’re just temporarily sold out!

We were on the transatlantic aboard the Sky, and the shows were at the normal evening times. I can’t imagine that a 4 o’clock show would work well.

I second the Take 5 idea! Alternate idea would be the Vista Lounge if it’s not in use.

First of all, you’re doing it right by doing a one way voyage of the glaciers! Specifically on Alaska cruises, I like to hang out in my room and watch the stunning scenery through the balcony doors, go to Puppies in the Piazza, eat local crab and other seafood, go out on deck to view the glaciers, and play cards in the buffet along the window to watch the scenery while playing. On any cruise, it’s fun to go to the comedy shows, production shows, guest entertainer shows, lounges with live music, dancing in the Piazza late at night, get spa treatments, swim, watch or participate in game shows, and just relax around the ship.

We have used BlackBerry Cars, and London Airport Pickups, both successfully and happily. It costs a little bit more to have private transport, but barely more, and it’s on your own timeframe. I highly recommend it!

Uber and Lyft both operate here smoothly. After you claim your luggage, take the escalator or elevator back up to the check encounter level, and exit. There will be signs telling you where to wait, and then when you order your Uber or Lyft, you tell them which of the places you selected for waiting. You will save a fortune getting to your hotel this way instead of with Princess transportation.

It’s quite a ways into the port. Just tell your taxi or private transport driver to take you to the “______ Princess”. They’ll know which terminal that ship is using. Chances are, they’ve already picked up disembarking pax from your ship that day.

After experiencing multiple canceled ports in the Med by Princess over the years due to “operational reasons”, my husband has long stated that the bigger ships are more problematic for these ports.

It’s definitely cool for those who live and transfer between those cities, but is it earth shattering? IMHO, no. I don’t think it warrants as much hype as they gave it.

We too were on the Sky last month for its transatlantic, and I have to say the internet was faster than aboard any other ship we’ve sailed on. It was about 3.5 MBPS in the middle of the Atlantic.

You really need a handicap accessible stateroom with a scooter. I saw several who had booked regular width door staterooms and couldn’t get their scooters through as a result. I know it’s tough to get an accessible stateroom, since they’re so limited.

The Bering Sea Crab Fisherman Tour you’re doing in Ketchikan is fantastic!

I don’t know how this type of situation is being handled post-Covid, but on an overnight we did years ago in Europe, the tenders ran til something like 11 PM or 1 AM and then stopped til early morning. You were allowed to stay off ship all night, but you had no way of getting back on til they started running again the next morning.

Having just been on the Sky, which is mainly self-serve but does have a rotating action station, this was the best of both worlds. I would go to the action station, place my order, and then I would go gather up all of the self-serve food, and by the time I was done, the action item was usually ready. That alone shows you how much faster self-serve is that I could fill one or two plates of food on my own in the time it takes for one item to be prepped for me. Yes, I know that the Sun has already available items that they just hand to you, but it still begs the issue of how do you carry all of those little bowls and plates to your table at once?? I had this issue with a few grab and go small plates on the Sky. It would have been much easier for me to put two deviled eggs onto my plate than have two small plates with one on each of them in addition to my regular plate. My stance is that the hybrid is ideal. Have mainly self-serve, and offer a daily rotating action station like the Sky does.

I was excited about the concept of the cabana staterooms. Having now seen the reality, I’m not interested. I want to be right at the sea when I go out on my balcony. I want privacy on that balcony. I don’t want everyone staring down at me while I read. I don’t want people walking by my stateroom looking in; nor do I want to have to close my curtains to prevent that. The TV “room” with an uncomfortable looking patio loveseat seems worthless. If they had just made each person’s area jut fully out to the outer railing, all of the issues would be solved.