Had a good time on the Sky 4 night

Recently returned from a 4 night trip on the Sky to the Bahamas and overall had a good time and good impression of NCL. The trip was not without it's faults, but I consider them to be minor and did not detract significantly from the overall experience. I'll make some follow up posts and review areas such as ship layout and condition, what I found in regards to service, activities, UBP, crowd mix, food, and the ports themselves including Port of Miami. I'll go into detail on what I consider "misses" and while they weren't a big deal, I will let you decide how important they would be to you.

I have been going on cruises for +/- 25 years and have been onboard Royal Caribbean (diamond member), Carnival, Celebrity, Resorts World (Bimini Superfast), as well as being aboard Princess ships. This was my first NCL cruise and the mood of this board is very negative and mean spirited and had really sucked a lot of the enthusiasm out of the trip; but as it got nearer I just ignored the CC bash and burn brigade and am thankful for those that answered specific questions and gave help.

Ship Layout and Condition:

Somewhat like Carnival ships, NCL Sky has a few spots that get you turned around and / or require a bit of "up and over" to get around, but overall the Sky is pretty easy to navigate and figure out after a day or so. The buffet is particularly poorly laid out, but I'll get to that in a bit.

MDR's are on Deck 5. Most interior entertainment is on Decks 6 and 7. Deck 6 has a full wraparound promenade deck, as does deck 12. Deck 11 is the pool/buffet/gym/spa/outrigger lounge deck.

First impression of the ship was very positive. Ship appears to be well maintained and cleaned. Throughout the cruise we saw workers painting, varnishing, shampooing rugs, scrubbing decks, cleaning windows, etc. The interior public spaces all looked very nice to me and nothing appeared "second rate" even though this is an older, mid-sized ship and so does not have the bells and whistles of the bigger, newer ships. It appears NCL take pride in presenting a clean and serviceable ship.

We avoided Deck 7 most of the time because it requires you to go through the Casino to get fore/aft. The casino has a seriously pervasive dirty ashtray smell; no worse than any other cruise ship that allows casino smoking. If you don't want to have to go through the casino just use deck 6 through the public rooms. Deck 7 contains atrium bar (martini bar), the shops as well as the coffee bar, internet kiosk, and also has the balcony entrance for the main theater. Deck 6 has Captain Cooks bar, Dazzles Bar/Lounge, Photo Gallery, and lower level of the main theater. The atrium area is very small and unimpressive, though clean and nicely decorated.

The photo gallery becomes a bit of a clog point after the show but easy enough to avoid it by taking the exterior promenade. Again, not too different than other ships in this regard so I'm not singling out NCL.

Elevators were plentiful and fast; never had an issue with them. Since we had a cabin on deck 8 it was only 3 flights down to dinner, 1/2 flights down to the action, and 3 flights up to the pool deck and buffets, so we used the stairs most of the time.

Anything you want to share would be great. I will be on the Sky for Thanksgiving.

I've seen you over on the Royal forum so looking forward to your thoughts! My first NCL is in December and no matter how CC can bash at times-I look forward to trying this line!!

So glad you enjoyed it, I've been on the Sky many times and always enjoy myself.

It's a good trial run ship for NCL, the newer ships have more to offer, but the same basic set up, and the crew are amazing on all of the ships.

Stateroom: Deck 8 Oceanview cabin (large porthole). Approx 150 square feet. Two swing open closets with about 10 hangars, 3 drawers, and push button code safe. One of the closet doors has a body mirror. Bed had a heavy vinyl luggage mat. Nice touch.

Our room did have some minor issues: The first day the air vent near the bathroom was loose and would not sit flush with the wall (ankle slicer waiting to happen). I put a piece of tape on the corner and fixed that.

The window to the room was salt crusted when we arrived to the room. I figured it would be sprayed down at some point but never was. Made for a "surreal oceanview". This was disappointing but I let it go as I don't think there is realistically anything they could do once out of port. There was no chair at the desk when we got into the room. We found old Freestyle Daily's in the room as well as a sweat stained baseball cap. On Day 2 both the toilet and TV stopped working but we simply placed a call to guest services and both items were repaired while we were out of the room.

We did not meet our room steward until mid-Day 3. We left a note on day one asking for a chair as well as plastic cups instead of glass ones and the steward handled that. Our room was attended to twice daily, we always had a full complement of towels, towel animal each night, and the room was clean. To be honest, I don't need to see or interact with the steward as long as the basics are handled, which they were here but do want to note on Royal Caribbean the stewards make it a point to introduce themselves and also leave a card in the room with a phone extension that reaches them directly/personally if you need anything.

Bed/Linens were clean/comfortable (MUCH better than Majesty of the Seas which was pure crap for a bed), our bathroom was kept clean (though showed some signs of age/wear; very minor). Water pressure was good, hot water plentiful. Shampoo/Body Wash/Liquid hand wash all in pump dispensers. A/C kept room cold. Room was quiet. No odd squeaks, rattles, or shimmies. I was pleased with the room size and overall condition. Overall the disappointments were minor. I would recommend an oceanview cabin and I would stay on deck 8 again. I'd probably say something about the "not a view" window though if it happened again.

Food: Yes, I know food is subjective and everyone has different tastes/opinions, but I thought the food (included food) was very good to excellent in some cases, again, with a few minor misses. The food overall exceeded expectations.

On boarding day we went to Crossings MDR on Deck 5 and had lunch and ordered our first round of drinks (frou frou drinks at that). Service was speedy and lunch food was very good quality (Hamburger and Shrimp Burger). Had cheesecake with mango for dessert and it was very good. I've read a lot about poor quality deserts on NCL so I was expecting cardboard desserts like you find at a $7.99 chinese buffet, but this was not the case. Desserts were always fresh and tasty.

The buffet looked like a madhouse when we went to check it out. I thought it was just because of boarding day, but in reality it's a very poorly laid out buffet and always feels like a mad house/standing in lines.

When you first enter the buffet on your right is a counter service area. This area changes out to serve different types of food. They had sandwiches during lunch time (did not try them) but during sail away from Miami they had a crepe station with hard ice cream scoops and also hot dessert toppings. We shared a crepe and it was excellent. Buffet hours were significantly longer than Royal Caribbean. There are two interior serving sections of the buffet and there is SOME variety between them (first section has the burgers/hot dogs, second section has more ethnic varieties like Indian and Wok Station). Selection was good, quality was about average. I found the proteins to be better than Royal Caribbean, but the side dishes not as good. The Pretzel Buns and Pretzel sticks on the buffet are worth the carbs and calories. We did not have dinner at the buffet but each night has a different theme and is clearly labeled in the Freestyle Daily.

If waiting in long lines isn't your thing keep heading after towards the Great Outdoor Cafe. There are two smaller buffets back here that never were very crowded, or at least the line moved fast. One of the Great Outdoor Cafe's serves a nice variety of late night goodies until 1:30AM. Salads, pasta, pizza, wings, burgers, tacos, cookies, cakes, hot dogs, etc. And it has different variety each night. This is significantly better than Royal Caribbean where on smaller ships after 9PM you can get bad pizza and on the big ships you can get bad pizza or finger sandwiches and cookies. Clear win for NCL here.

Longboards sports bar is also on Deck 11 aft adjacent to the Great Outdoor Cafe and the menu was bigger than expected. We only ordered wings one evening (delicious) but the menu was big enough that you could have a full dinner here, no problem.

Each day there was a big BBQ on the pool deck late afternoon. Salads, Pasta, chicken, burgers. Did not eat any of it...was too stuffed to ever try, but thought it was a nice touch. Royal Caribbean you are lucky to get one deck BBQ per cruise, here it was daily (maybe not GSC day, but we came back from the island on a later tender and took a nap, so can't say 100%).

MDR dinner I found to be very good to excellent. I ordered pork on two occasions and did not find it meeting what I had expected; pork shank should have been cooked lower/slower; it was a bit tough. Then the Pork Loin was really just ham steaks. No worries, just ordered other items. Fish dishes were great. Chicken dishes were great. Had various shrimp dishes and chef specialties. Excellent. Deserts were all excellent in the MDR. The Chocolate Volcano was tasty, one night is a Chocoholic desert night. We NEVER had a wait to be sat in the MDR, though we did see huge lines at the entrance shortly after we were sat. We generally arrived between 6:45-7:45PM. Always at Crossings (never even SAW Palace dining room). Two nights we sat alone, two nights we dined with others. Service was excellent. Normally we would order 3 mains, 2 desserts and just share them; one evening we ordered 1 main each and 1 desert to share and the maitre D came by asking what was wrong, could she get us something else, they'd make us anything we wanted...nope, no problems, food was good, we were just not as hungry that night. Estefany, Irish, Emelito in the dining room were all friendly and efficient. I do not remember the names of all of our servers.

We had planned to try Sushi at the Plantation Club up on Deck 12 one night, but we were so pleased with the MDR food we quickly abandoned the idea of going to specialty dinner. I thought the MDR food was definitely a step above Royal Caribbean and this surprised me. Drinks arrived promptly whether we ordered wine, cocktails, or mixed frozen drinks. The Food and Beverage manager has a good team on this ship in the MDR.

We had breakfast in the MDR 3 mornings. Two of the mornings have a full menu; the food was prepared perfectly, the selection larger than anticipated, and was quite happy. The third breakfast (disembarkation day) was a scaled down menu (expected in cruising and understandable) but the food quality was terrible. Never had cold and crunchy pancakes before. Made me wish I had gone to the buffet instead. Disappointing because the other two breakfasts with the full menu were really excellent. Royal Caribbean sets up a cereal/fruit/side dishes mini-buffet in their dining room and you just order a main dish off the menu. No such thing on NCL, everything is from the menu. Toss up here; I think i liked NCL's way. I did not overeat at breakfast and I also got to enjoy sitting and being served. But Royal's way gives you more options/choices to "graze" and they have a larger selection of fruits and such.

Our first day for breakfast was a big major fail at Il Adagio to get omelettes and waffles. They have two cooks there. They make ONE omelette and ONE waffle at a time, despite having equipment to make more. If you want an omelette and waffle they won't start the waffle until the omelette is done. If you have a spouse that wants a waffle and omelette they won't make a waffle until both omelettes are done and they make the omelettes one at a time. It was the slowest line ever. So if you and your wife want an omelette and waffle each you have to wait for each to be cooked one at a time in series. the waffle lady had the 1000 yard stare and despite a line of 20 people having two industrial waffle irons, she would only make one at a time, per order, after you got your omelette. My wife went hunting and found omelette line at the Great Outdoor Cafe so we bailed on Il Adagio (after 20 minutes...) and queued up at Great Outdoor Cafe. The rest of the breakfast offerings at Great Outdoor Cafe were minimal so we headed to the buffet to get more sides/fruit/etc. and were met with lines out to the pool bar. After 45 minutes I had a cold omelette and cold sides. Yes, live and learn, but after that we abandoned the buffet in favor of the MDR when possible. Royal Caribbean smokes NCL on breakfast buffet and buffet layout.

Positive note: sitting out at Great Outdoor Cafe on the aft deck for breakfast with a breeze and open bar feet away is very nice experience. But the whole "getting" the food was more aggravating and convoluted than necessary.

We talked to people who ate at Cagneys and also at Le Bistro and had good things to say, but they had dining packages; one said they probably would not pay the surcharge for the restaurants if they didn't have the package, another said they enjoyed the service and ambiance. Did not hear anything about Il Adagio. Il Adagio and Le Bistro are now priced the same and Il Adagio has no atmosphere at all. very "blah" looking. The Sushi bar prices were much higher than any menu I had found online though the selection looked nice.

Heard many people comment/complain about the room service charge.

Bottomline: You won't starve on NCL...at all. Even a picky eater should find many good choices amongst the included food. If the buffet were not so poorly laid out I may have sampled more from the buffet.

Crowd/Fellow passengers: Many couples of all ages, but mostly seemed like couples in the 25-60 year old range. Some extended families. Seemed like a good amount of South Americans (I notice this on all cruise lines and shorter cruises from Miami). We met a ton of first timers and honeymooners, all who said they were having a blast. Not many teenagers/school aged kids at all, but some younger families with kids under 5. Definitely not a kid packed sailing. No issues with kids in regards to pools and hot tubs. We did not bring our kid so can't say anything about the kids program but did check out the kids schedule and kids play room because we were curious what was available if we did bring him. People were friendly and having a good time, easy to strike up a conversation. No rowdy crowds. A nice mix.

Ports:

Port of Miami (embarkation): We drive to Miami and utilized the new tunnel. Parked at the port right across the street from the ship. Fast and easy on both counts. Parked car at 10:50. Through security and checked in for ship by 11:15 AM. Sent up to waiting lounge; group 5. Boarding began at 11:30AM. We were on the ship by 11:50AM and were sitting in the MDR with drink in hand by 12:00PM.

Porters tagged luggage quickly, no issues. As I mentioned in another post most port workers at Miami look like they'd rather be anywhere else in the world living a different life. Saw the wine check in station; the lady there was gabbing with someone, back turned, oblivious to the world. I have no doubt you could walk on this ship (this particular day/lady) with a crate of wine unnoticed. Just saying. Been sailing out of Miami for years on various lines and almost universally they don't seem to care and / or plain lazy. Take it for what it is worth.

Disembarkation was relatively smooth. Walked off the ship with our luggage at 9:20AM and was through customs and in our car by 10:00AM. Not bad. Not the fastest or slowest, but that has less to do with NCL than with customs. I will say NCL provided clear instructions / directions for final breakfast, disembarkation, custom forms, etc.

Freeport: Why do they go here? It is a dump. Industrial Shipyard, which is cool for a few minutes to watch the port operations, but the little shopping village right at the port is a joke and you can't do anything without spending more money to get away from the port and to another shopping village with the same made in china souvenir junk you find everywhere. We live right near the beach in Florida so beach excursions don't appeal. Really, why do they go here? MDR was open for lunch this day so we ate there and then hit the hot tubs and put the UBP to the test.

Nassau: Have been numerous times. Again, resorts/Atlantis don't appeal because of proximity to beaches near our home. There is always plenty to see and do in Nassau. We walked around Nassau for the morning, came back to the ship and took a nap. Then went to deck 6 promenade and laid in lounge chairs under the lifeboats. Quiet. Shaded. Got a nice breeze there.

GSC: Very nice private island stop. Lunch buffet much better than expected and significantly better than Royal Caribbean does it. Speaking of Royal Caribbean, GSC is nicer and has nicer facilities than Coco Cay a stones throw away does, but GSC is not as nice as Royal's Labadee facility in Haiti. For many new cruisers and/or people that don't live near a beach we heard a lot of raving about GSC and it is totally understandable.

I had read that finding shade on GSC was hard and I didn't want to rent a clamshell so brought my own umbrella. turned out we found plenty of shaded areas with lounge chair. You just have to walk 5 minutes past the main beach and head towards the middle bar (near the cabanas, the bar is a green hut); plenty of lounge chairs covered by trees. Again, quieter spots, no massive crowds, but only 5 minutes to walk to buffet and stones throw from its own semi-private bar.

For me Freeport was a throwaway. I mean, I'll add a sticker to my travel map, but would have preferred a sea day.

Bonus: At each port of call NCL would set up a tent with chairs, flavored water, ice water, etc. before reboarding the ship. I thought this was a very nice touch and something I'd associate with a luxury line. I've never gotten so much as a cold cup of water from Royal Caribbean at any port. This is a little thing and seems trivial, but to me represents part of receiving good value and the type of thing that makes a positive impression.

Entertainment: Plenty of live music going on around the ship, although a couple of times we went to Outriggers (forward deck 11; best views, plus forward observation deck) and it was always dead. This is underutilized sadly.

Most entertainment seems to be located on Deck 6 and held between Stardust (main theater) Captain Cooks bar, and Dazzles dance lounge. Dazzles is where they held newlywed game, quest, etc. The venue is not large enough for these activities and since the stage area is not raised, it is hard to see. These games may have been better suited to Stardust. But to get across the ship on deck 6 you have to go through Dazzles, so I understand they probably do this to drum up larger crowds. There was a dancing competition in Dazzles with guests dancing with the onboard professional dancers that was hysterical and had standing room only crowd roaring.

Captain Cooks is used for trivia during the day and early evening and has a piano player/singer in the evening. We found our favorite bartenders at Captain Cooks and left cash tips and a hero card for them. Bonus; during music trivia the Cruise Director Drew played the piano and sang the songs as opposed to just hitting play on a music track. This was an unexpected touch and he is talented at singing and playing piano.

Stardust theater. two levels. Older ship with many obstructed sightlines. Sound/lighting guys were on point. Canned soundtrack sounded good but live band would have been better. Missed the welcome aboard show but Vegas singing and dancing show second night was a lot of fun. They have 14-16 singers/dancers and they were very good. Third night was comedy show (family friendly). Fourth night was an American Idol style singing show. Only 1 show per night at 9:30PM. A late night adult comedy show would have been nice.

White Hot Party on pool deck was done really well; high energy, nicely decorated, nice lighting effects, good sound (go on enough cruises and you will realize most sound guys just crank it up until the speakers distort and think that is good).

Activities staff were all friendly/high energy.

I think Royal Caribbean pulls off entertainment a bit more polished, but NCL's was very good overall. Even if "cruise schtick" isn't your thing you'll find plenty of areas with live music like by the atrium bar or up in Plantation Club (Karaoke). Again, this is a smaller ship on a short Bahamas run. I realize it is not indicative of entertainment on the large ships or longer cruises. Like many things on this cruise, it was a good introduction and taste to the NCL way.

Just to do this while it is fresh in my head.

Did not utilize following areas or offerings:

Excursions

Specialty Dining

Onboard Shopping

Kids Club

Spa

Gym/Sauna

Library

In fact, we had a zero bill and had to scramble the last night to burn off $25 OBC in the Casino. We were in and out of the casino in 3 minutes with that OBC gone in the few pushes of a button. Due to lack of excursions (and nothing at GSC to spend money on) literally spent $2 in cash between all the ports ($1 each entrance for Fort Fincastle in Nassau). I lied. it is now $1.08 to enter the fort. Hand them $3 and they say 'oh, that's a problem." and they hand you some random amount of useless Bahamian change. Not a big deal with $3, but the guy next to me paying with a $20 wasn't amused.

Thanks for the review. Totally surprised that this was your first NCL cruise.

Thanks for the review. Totally surprised that this was your first NCL cruise.

Fighting about DSC is just a way to pass the working hours :D

UBP:

Our booking perk was the Ultimate Beverage package which shortly before our cruise was amended to include drinks up to $15. Except for a few super premium alcohols, there is nothing priced that high (as of early October 2015). we had no problem using UBP at any bar and it worked fine on GSC as well. No funky charges showed on our bill at the end.

We are NOT big drinkers but having UBP gave us freedom to order drinks with our meals, try wines we might know nothing about (no sommeliers onboard to offer suggestions).

if you did not specify the alcohol you wanted they gave you house brand. Never got "drunk" and did not see any sloppy drunks or rowdy people, which was nice. More than a few people commented that they thought the drinks were watered down. Maybe if you stick with beer and wine you get a buzz faster; those frou frou frozen drinks are more like drinking a desert than anything you can drink to get drunk. So who knows. Overall the package, as a perk, was an awesome value. But I don't think we drank enough to make it worth purchasing a package if it wasn't included.

Service was almost universally good; the best service and best bartenders were found at Captain Cooks bar. On Freeport day I think they anticipated a lot of people staying onboard as the pool bar had six bartenders and service was good. Did not see a lot of roaming bar servers but one did come and serve me the hot tubs at some point which was pretty cool. There was some poor service, but nothing worth complaining about onboard. For instance the atrium bar had one bartender and he couldn't keep up with 4 guests. Just over his head. Another evening at the pool bar the bar tender took orders from 3 different people, collected 3 different cards, then disappeared into the pantry for 10 minutes. Heard more than a few times people surprised they could not get bottled water with UBP, but no problem to get a cup of ice water. Wine always served in a proper wine glass, but every other drink/cocktail/beer it was hit or miss whether you'd get a plastic cup or a proper glass. Not a big deal to some, but worth a mention if you notice or care about that sort of thing.

Fighting about DSC is just a way to pass the working hours :D

Value:

Generally speaking, overall I think cruising is one of the best vacation values going. I live within 4 hours driving of 4 major Florida ports; within an hour of two of them (Port Everglades and Port of Miami). Without airfare to contend with cruising value is even higher. So for fast getaways to the Bahamas or Caribbean, for us, can't beat it and until I burn out on it, it will remain a great value.

I booked this cruise when UBP was "free free" and DSC was $12 per person, per day. I received an email from NCL saying I could prepay at the original $12 rate but the website never worked. I called my T/A who could not make it work either. My T/A advised me to just alter the amount on board. This, of course, is no longer possible. The lady working the front desk told me she was aware of this prepayment issue with the website and gave me "the form" and told me Miami would be happy to correct it for me as based on my booking date and their emails I should have been able to pay the lower amount. Not that it is anyones business, but any/all extra tips I gave to staff were done with cash and not receipt write ins EXCEPT for the one server who brought a drink to the hot tub when I had no cash on me (that I did a write in). I never had any intention of removing DSC or stiffing anyone and by and large found service quite good. I love to argue about it online, but arguing online and how it is dealt with in real life are often two different things, so put the knives down people.

For this cruise I booked through a T/A who offered $25 OBC. Our base fare was $239 per person for deck 8 oceanview including UBP (booked before 18% was charged). Total with taxes, port fees, and optional travel insurance came to a grand total of $743. That is a downright bargain in my book. Next year they are including the beverage package on all Sky sailings, all room categories, but to book the same week/intinerary next year in the same category would cost a whopping $420 more. Would I book again for $743? Yes. Would I book for $1163? Probably not; but mostly because I can find a 6 to 8 night sailing on any of the major lines on newer and larger ships for very few extra dollars, or in some cases for even less (but no beverage package). And I'm in no rush to go back to Freeport (ever) or Nassau (any time soon). That's not NCL's fault though.

I'd be interested in how the new procedure worked, with regard to reducing or removing the DSC.

See post above. When I explained the website prepayment issue they acknowledged that they knew about the website issue, handed me a form, and said Miami would be happy to correct it for me. I did not complain about service, they did not ask me about any service issues. My issue was that the website did not allow me to do what NCL's email had offered for me to do and guest services acknowledged it as a known computer issue and understood the issue.

See post above. When I explained the website prepayment issue they acknowledged that they knew about the website issue, handed me a form, and said Miami would be happy to correct it for me. I did not complain about service, they did not ask me about any service issues. My issue was that the website did not allow me to do what NCL's email had offered for me to do and guest services acknowledged it as a known computer issue and understood the issue.

Some miscellaneous thoughts:

Freestyle Daily lists bar hours on the ship as opening time - close. That's very ambiguous. Nothing ever really scheduled for Outriggers lounge so each time we went the bar was mostly shut down. Longboards open until 5:30AM but they shut down the bar by 11:45PM. The Freestyle just says "until close". So it wouldn't be crazy to think you could grab a drink there at 1 AM...but you can't. Very minor, but instead of saying "close" just put a time.

they allowed guests to submit to dine with the Captain/Officers. We did not submit our names but had dinner one evening next to the Captains table. Nice to see the captain and officers visible. I know it "doesn't matter", but I thought it was nice. Just my opinion.

They sell single roses in the MDR as well if you are trying to be romantic.

Each room comes with two pool towels already. Royal Caribbean could take a lesson here. To be honest, NCL had a lot of nice small touches that by themselves seem trivial, but leave a nice impression. 95% of what all these cruise lines do is so similar that the little things are what become the differentiators and amongst all the bickering about fees, bad service, nickle dime tactics, etc., it was a pleasant surprise to find these niceties that are simple, done well, and make the company look good.

Freestyle Dress Code: Friggin loved it. Didn't bring a single pair of pants or long sleeve shirt. Wore khaki shorts/golf shorts with a button up collared short sleeve shirt or collared polo shirt with boat shoes to dinner each night. Made packing simpler. I live in South Florida. I don't "dress up" for work and the thought of going on vacation and having to wear a suit really irks me at this point. Been there, done that, have the picture and DON'T CARE anymore. Hate being told to "go to the buffet if you want to dress like a slob". Didn't dress like a slob, I don't wear gym shorts to dinner, and for the most part saw many of the other guests in smart casual resort wear. I was relaxed and enjoyed myself. My wife wore cocktail/sundresses and also enjoyed not feeling forced to dress up. They definitely have a fan in me for this concept.

In talking to my neighbor today (who has never cruised) I suggested if he wanted to sample cruising that the Sky was a very nice ship with good food and service and if he can book with the UBP it will all but eliminate any "sticker shock" on the overall bill.

Next up, in a few weeks, I am taking a 4 night Carnival cruise on the Victory so will compare and contrast my feelings.

Thanks. I'm guessing that they didn't ask you about any service issues, because they knew that your issue was that you couldn't pay for it on the website. Please let everyone know how long it take to get the overage back from NCL.

Will do. I haven't even dug the form out of my luggage yet to look at it.

Will do. I haven't even dug the form out of my luggage yet to look at it.

Thanks for sharing your thoughts! Glad you had a good time.

Did you notice if the continental breakfast is still not charged the $7.95. Asking because someone reported that there was a charge on their Gem cruise. Here is what the poster said: I was disappointed that they no longer give complimentary continental breakfast rroom service. While taking morning Meds coffee & asmall biscut or crossiant is necessary so I dont get an upset stomach. 7.95 charge for that is absurd. I understand room service charge throught the day & night. Coffee and a small roll while my spouse is getting dressed should have stayed complimentary

The continental breakfast was NOT charged $7.95. There were multiple cards on the desk when we got into the room for ordering continental breakfast croissant/muffin/coffee/juice at no charge.

We did not meet our room steward until mid-Day 3. We left a note on day one asking for a chair as well as plastic cups instead of glass ones and the steward handled that. Our room was attended to twice daily, we always had a full complement of towels, towel animal each night, and the room was clean. To be honest, I don't need to see or interact with the steward as long as the basics are handled, which they were here but do want to note on Royal Caribbean the stewards make it a point to introduce themselves and also leave a card in the room with a phone extension that reaches them directly/personally if you need anything.

We had the exact same experience on the Sky's sister ship, the Sun, last year. We never saw the steward until nearly the end of the cruise. That's unusual for NCL. On the Gem that we just got off of, we met the room steward just as we walked into our cabin; he came to introduce himself and ask if we had our luggage yet. We saw him a lot during that cruise, and he got a "hero card" and extra recognition from us. That's more the norm on NCL. I wonder if they are trying the concept of high service with little visibility on the Sun and the Sky or something.

Did you notice if the continental breakfast is still not charged the $7.95. Asking because someone reported that there was a charge on their Gem cruise. Here is what the poster said: I was disappointed that they no longer give complimentary continental breakfast rroom service. While taking morning Meds coffee & asmall biscut or crossiant is necessary so I dont get an upset stomach. 7.95 charge for that is absurd. I understand room service charge throught the day & night. Coffee and a small roll while my spouse is getting dressed should have stayed complimentary

They obviously didn't use the separate card for complementary room service of continental breakfast items. We just got off the Gem on 10/3 and there were at least five of the cards with our room service menu.

I wonder if they ordered something "hot" ... like toast ... that isn't on the complementary menu?