MrJulius

Hey there! Hope you had a great cruise!

 

If it wasn't Romana, then what was it? The ships I have been on served Romana, so I'm interested to know what brand they served on the Sky.

 

My fave Sambuca brand is Molinari :D and wondered if it is what you got on the Sky.

The cruise on the Sky was much better than I had anticipated. Service was as good as any cruise that I had been on, food was pretty good, and the people were great considering it was a three day booze cruise ;)

I Googled Molinari. Definitely not that bottle. It had a black label and it wasn't bad. It wasn't as good as Romana. I'll grab a bottle of Molinari and check it out. Thanks for the tip.

Just in case someone does a search for this...

Back from the Sky and Sambuca (not Romana) is definitely on the included list. ;)

Thanks bluesea777

I was hoping that someone that's been on the Sky knew if the 'buca was on the "freebie" list. Decaf espresso sounds like a plan :)

Quick question:

I enjoy Sambuca at the end of the evening. I looked at the Sky included liquor list that has been going around. I didn't see Sambuca on the list. I know that the Sky and everyone else has a different list.

Does anyone know if it is included on the Sky?

Thanks.

MrJulius

The last thing that I want after a nice cruise is to get up before the ship gets to port, shovel down breakfast, run down the alleyway while bouncing my bags off of the walls, all to stand there as #3598 in line, watching intensely for line cutters, so that I can push and shove my way off of a boat that I paid good money to get on.

I ALWAYS stay at least one night, more often two, at a hotel pre and post cruise. This way we can relax, chat about what a wonderful time we had, and have a nice relaxing dinner...

...before we have to shovel down breakfast, grab a cab to the airport, run out of the cab so we can get to the porter before that family of 6 adults and 14 kids does, fight through the hordes of "I don't give a crappers" that jam the boarding gate WAY before their section is called, then try to find some storage bin space because the ones over my seat were packed full of oversized carryons by the morons sitting 20 rows behind me.

No thanks. I need at least one day between my flights and my cruises ! ;)

Whatever you decide to do, I hope it brings you some peace and a chance to take a deep breath.

Thanks to all for the great advice.

Seems like the Sky, being a smaller ship, will leave plenty of loungers at GSC even with the pond area now being off limits.

Whatever we do we will scope out a good spot near one of the bars ;)

Order two clamshell when you get onboard. $30 each. Guaranteed lounger and a shade cover. If you get two in Beach 1 area, you will be right beside the bar and very close to the taco bar.

Wow, that was quick!

Thanks Kingmaker_inc. I thought that the clamshells were sold out because they weren't on the excursions page.

I suppose that the clamshells are assigned on a first come first served basis once you get to GSC so getting to the island early would give me a better opportunity to get the two of them next to each other and a "better" (read bar and taco stand) location.

Does the clamshell rental have priority tendering?

Thanks.

MrJulius

We will be on the Sky in a couple of weeks and I have a few questions. It seems as though only one ship a day calls on GSC and the passenger load of that ship determines how crowded the island can get.

I also believe that the pond area of GSC is now off limits while the Haven area is under construction.

My DW has back issues and would require a lounger to sit. No more towels on the sand for us. Since the Sky is a smaller ship than others, will we have any problems finding a lounger?

The reason why I ask this question is because I can also get a small cabana for $299 or a large cabana for $319 (both with a $50 food and beverage credit). This would guarantee seats. There will be four of us.

I don't see clamshell rentals on the excursions page.

Thanks in advance for any assistance. :)

MrJulius

By the way, a US passport is always good right up to its expiration date for purposes of reentry to the US.

Thanks for this.

When I read this thread I was curious as to why there were requirements other than the exact expiration date. This now makes sense. If I am correct there are some countries that require your passport have enough time on them so you can leave their country without you being stuck there due to an overstay on your part.

For US reentry the expiration date is the expiration date.

Last month a couple that we are friends with invited us to go on a short cruise that they had planned.

It is a 3 day cruise on the Sky which is coming up in 2 1/2 weeks. Right away I understood that this is a "booze cruise" considering the time of year, short itinerary and drink package. We are all in our fifties and have cruised many times with many cruise lines.

So I started doing my research on the Sky. I came across a (U)tube video of Great Stirrup Cay. In that video there is a thousand or so college kids whooping it up on the island. Not the normal mix of folks on a cruise by any means. I was thinking that the video was a normal day on Great Stirrup Cay. Everybody looked like they were having a great time, but they were all college age. No old farts to be seen.

If you go to (U)tube and put in "GREAT STIRRUP CAY 2016" it should be the first video to come up. Fast forward to about the 8 minute mark and you will see what I saw. Made me feel every bit of fifty something :o

If that was a true representation of Great Stirrup Cay I was going to need much darker sunglasses :cool:

About a week later I stumbled on the website that advertised the spring break cruises. They did three on the NCL Sky this year. You can Google "college party cruise" and it should come up first.

So I guessed that the video was made during one of those cruises. It is not the cruise that I'm on in a couple weeks. What a relief...or what a shame. I haven't decided yet.

Not really a neighbor but this guy almost was.

5 years ago on the Pride of America. It was our 25th anniversary. We were staying in an aft corner wraparound balcony. Those cabins are not cheap.

The same cabin, one deck below, was undoubtedly a family that won the cabin via some sort of Walmart contest. Obviously their first cruise and probably their first week out of the nut house.

They had some friends/family staying in the cabin next to us. One night, while underway, Jethro from the balcony below us, decided that he was going to climb from his balcony directly below us to his friends balcony next to us.

Yep, we were at the railing looking down at him as he attempted his ascent. All the while his family (think “Here Comes Honey Boo Boo”) and his friends/family next to us were cheering him on. He never did make it. He slipped and fell a few times but that didn’t dissuade him. About the third or fourth attempt I think he got the wind knocked out of him. He didn’t get up for a while. They threw a couple empty beer cans at him and went inside.

Somebody peed in the gene pool.

We still laugh at that act.

We stayed in a CS last August, but this time are doing a RS departing 8/24. We did not go to Blu at all last August, but are interested in trying it this time out.

 

Can anyone please provide any insights on dining at Blu for suite guests? Reservations? Food choices? etc...

Here's one for the "etc..."

We just got off of the Summit yesterday. We were Aqua.

Something else to consider is the fact that our cruise had 500 children onboard. We never saw a single child in Blu for breakfast or dinner. While they can be in Blu if they are in Aqua with a max double occupancy per cabin, it seems that the overall % of children in BLU will be MUCH lower than the MDR.

Just walking outside of the MDR, the noise level was much louder at any given time.

It was a nice, peaceful, escape every night and the food (always subjective) we found very good and well presented.

7:00 PM - 8:30 PM seemed the busiest. We had a 15 minute wait one night at 9:00 PM when other nights 9:00 was dead, so you never know.

MrJulius

Update from the Summit. Captain announced during dinner that we are now turning around and heading to Port Canaveral to refuel for the day then off to the Bahamas.

I hate pink sand beaches anyway. LMAO over that one.

Sent from my iPad Mini Retina

On summit right now. I asked the crew what happened to the Breakaway that was right behind us...guest services told me that no officer would know the answer to my question...hmmmm. I told her BS.

Sent from my iPad Mini Retina

Can anyone just back from the Dockyard (mid August) comment on the bus/shuttle service to HSB?

It seemed to be a mess two weeks ago with the new shuttle service and some reporting that they weren't picked up at the Dockyard by the #7 bus (locals only) during that time.

Unusually long lines/queues?

Just trying to plan my escape from the Dockyard.

Thanks,

MrJulius

It's not illegal but it's a bit naff.

Naff it is. :)

Thanks all for the replies.

MrJulius

I couldn't find anything on this...

Is it illegal or even bad form to wear any camouflage clothing in Bermuda?

I was in Barbados a few years ago and I didn't bring any with me because it is an arrestable offense there.

Thanks,

MrJulius

Posting a whole article is an internet faux pas. It deprives the author of appropriate credit and the owner loses any income that it might get from people reading the article on their website. Some authors get paid based on the number of views so your post of the complete article and not a link stole income to them. and besides that its a copyright violation. Post a link and a couple of lines from the article not the whole thing exactly for that reason.

Thanks for the replies on this.

I did cite the source of the article but did not consider the revenue stream of clicking on the actual site.

Been on the internet since Q-link (pre AOL). You would think that it would have occurred to me ;)

MrJulius

Yes as I read the rules providing you book a suite on a cruise 16 nights or longer.

gimletgal & maxsales,

Thanks for the replies.

I was thinking that I could "volunteer" a higher deposit on a 7 night sailing.

Oh well, nice try I guess. :)

MrJulius

I posted the text of this article as well as the source a couple of days ago...seems to vanished somehow :rolleyes:

It has EVERYTHING to do with this thread.

From the Royal Gazette...

http://www.royalgazette.com/article/20140814/NEWS04/140819859

MrJulius

Can I do this?

1- Book next years cruise during my upcoming cruise.

2- Pay $500 deposit for next years cruise.

3- Get $500 OBC for this cruise.

4- Purchase Premium Beverage Package on the ship during this cruise.

5- Use my $500 OBC to pay down my Premium Beverage Package on this cruise.

Thanks,

MrJulius

Lost items might be found by an honest person or a dishonest one. The ID tags won't help much if your item is found by a dishonest person. But they'll help immensely if it is found by an honest person.

Lsimon,

A name and contact info on an item just might get you that item back if it was found by a person somewhere in between honest and dishonest. Seeing a name might make it more "personal" for the mildly dishonest.

Or you could always go this route with your label:

John Doe

Cell: 555-555-5555

God is watching :)

MrJulius

FYI....

 

Just received a call from AMEX...our card number was stolen and charged $45,000 on Monday, the day after we returned from Bermuda. We only made one out of the ordinary charges....a tour in Bermuda, which was not part of the Celebrity excursions. Nor, offered as a tour with Celebrity.

 

Just a heads up for future considerations.

Yikes!

You would think that Amex would have red flagged that one due to the amount and location...unless your charging history is normally like that.

MrJulius

Thanks for the pics, and all the great info.

 

This post convinced me that we need to book an Aqua Sunset Balcony for a cruise... Especially so as we LOVED our Concierge Sunset Balcony on the Summit, and the Oceanview Bar / Deck has always been one of favorite spots on both S & M Class Ships.

 

Cheers!

You can't go wrong with those cabins. Nothing like sitting out on your balcony at night listening to live music from down below. We had a guitar player a couple of yeas ago and he was great...not to mention the 22 second trip to the bar. Great location for grabbing a cocktail or glass of wine to enjoy in your cabin as you prepare for dinner.

MrJulius

(The OP)