Recent Cruise on the Sky

[fshagan]

This is my review of our 4 Day Carribean cruise on the Norwegian Sky, March 15 - 19, 2010.

 

My wife and I are a couple in our mid-50s with 3 Disney and 4 Princess cruises under our belts. This is our first NCL cruise. It was part of our "Its Officially Over" vacation, marking the final minor procedure in a year and a half breast cancer struggle (the final procedure was done in Tampa after the cruise).

 

Overview:

Day One - Embarkation went smoothly from the Port of Miami. The passenger demographic was heavily tilted toward young people, with a lot of young adults enjoying spring break. We heard from another passenger that 1,000 of the ship's 2002 passengers were age 25 or younger. We enjoyed the irreverent sayings on the NCL signs as we boarded, and found the staff both in the terminal and onboard friendly.

 

We had a porthole room forward (8209) and found it clean, well appointed, and not as punishingly small as we had read in some reviews on-line. We ate in the aft main dining room, Crossings, and were seated at a table for two (yay!) at the stern window ... with a beautiful view of Miami receding in the sunset.

 

Day Two - Our excursion in Freeport was the Peterson Cay Kayak and Snorkle, and we enjoyed it. Those not used to kayaking may not have had as much fun; you kayak just under a mile to the Cay. The snorkeling was about par for the Carribean; there just isn't as much to see as you do in the Pacific, but we knew that and our expectations were in line. The excursion is heavily scheduled, as you must stay with the guide and cannot spend time observing unless the guide stops as well. It was enjoyable and worth the time spent.

 

Day Three - Our excursion in Nassau was the Blue Lagoon Sea Lion Encounter. We really enjoyed this excursion. The California Sea Lion is a common sight for us; at home we routinely sail out to a bouy near our local harbor where we see dozens of them. But you don't approach a wild sea lion, and I was very happy to get up close to one that had been trained to not bite off various body parts. Great fun.

 

Day Four - Weather prevented us from tendering into Great Stirrup Cay. The young people took it in stride (more drinking by the pool), so there wasn't as much complaining among the passengers. The activities were increased on board, so there were plenty of things to do. Weather happens, and we took the opportunity to relax and catch some of the activities that we would normally miss, such as trivia games, presentations in the theater, etc.

 

Impressions of NCL:

Food - We found the Freestyle dining experience liberating, especially the lack of a formal night. I've spent enough time in a suit or tux to last a lifetime, and the last thing I want to do is spend part of my vacation in one. But I do enjoy having a nice meal in a nice setting. With casual wear the norm for even fine dining everywhere, I always found it odd that cruise ships, serving at best mid-level resturant food, required one or two "dress up nights" to eat in the main dining room. But I realize that is a major attraction for some people. Being able to get a table for two in one of the main dining rooms at any time we choose was a big plus for us. A big plus (we like each other).

 

The first night I had the Ceaser salad with no dressing from the "always available" menu, tilipia entrée and "international cheese plate" for dessert (I am on a low carb diet). The salad was fine, with plenty of taste from the smoked turkey, feta and parmesan cheese, and fresh romaine lettuce, and I had it with every meal. The fish was good, about the quality you would expect from a Red Lobster or other mid-level chain restaurant. I was pleased to see a low carb offering - the International Cheese Plate - in the "always available" dessert menu, and the cheese was Swiss, provolone, blue cheese and gouda. For other nights, I had either the sirloin steak (below average), chicken or salmon (both average to above-average).

 

Overall, we rated the food "average", with the caveat that we are comparing the food to mid-level restaurant food. In our opinion that's a high enough standard to put a mass-market cruise line up against. That "average" puts NCL higher than Princess in this category in our opinion, and about on par with Disney. We did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants on this short cruise.

 

One glaring and horrible exception: the coffee. It was often nearly undrinkable, ranging from horrible to worse. This surprised us because the water on board was very good.

 

Staff: We found the NCL staff pleasant and attentive, and didn't experience any of the "badgering" that people sometimes talk about when roaming wait staff ask about drinks, etc. We typically don't drink on ships because of the cost, and found we were only asked once or twice in any venue. We didn't see any unhappy crew members, and this could be just the "luck of the draw" on this cruise (we have had experiences where we could tell the crew member was homesick, etc., but didn't see any of that on this cruise).

 

Entertainment: I am not a big fan of the stage shows put on by cruise lines. I will attend with my wife, but only if we sit on an aisle so I can short-circuit the assault on my ears by horrible singers and corny arrangements. I was prepared to escape early from the Broadway-themed show featuring several "singers" and "dancers". But, while there were ear-numbing moments, mainly when the two lead female singers tried to harmonize (they couldn't), it was bearable and did not induce wincing pain. Which is to say "above average" for me (my wife enjoyed it). The variety show put on by the ship's staff was better; the band did a respectable job with blues-orientated songs and the comedy routines were funny enough. So in this category, I give NCL an "above average".

 

Matt Baker, the cruise director, was one of those guys I thought would get on my nerves. But I ended up liking him. He was funny enough, and talented enough, and was extremely hard working.

 

To sum it all up, we like NCL, despite the dire warnings from our travel agent (who wouldn't book the trip for us), and people who had never cruised NCL. We have decided we like NCL's Freestyle cruising better than the offerings on Princess, and will choose them for our planned European cruise in 2012.

[rjm11]

thanks for the very fair and detailed review... we are looking forward to our trip on the Sky in June!

[Zeno]

A very reasonable review. Too bad about the coffee! If memory serves, it was not very good when I was on the Sky some years ago. HOWEVER some good news on the coffee front, you MAY find it better on your next NCL cruise. We found the coffee on our Jan Dawn cruise to be VASTLY improved over previous experiences on the Sky and the Sun.

 

I was relieved to read your review after reading another recent review on the Sky - which categorized the fish as "rancid" and the meat as "diseased", oh and the lettuce as "frozen". Sounds like your experience was at least satisfactory.

 

I hope your next cruise is great.

[sparks1093]

Thanks for the review!

[fshagan]

Food is always subjective, of course, but I was surprised by the other recent review. We ate a few snacks and one or two lunches at the buffet, and found the food pretty average for that kind of thing. Certainly nothing spoiled, rotten or wilted. The short review sounded like it was the food at the buffet, and to be honest, I wouldn't eat fish from a buffet anyway (I'm actually pretty picky about that sort of thing). But with others complaining around her, I suspect the OP had the bad luck to run into a bad week for the cruise line.

 

We talked to a young woman in her late 20's later in our cruise who has been on board the same cruise three times, and she said the experience was about the same as the last two times for her (she and her husband live in Miami and take the cruise once or twice a year). We asked because of the younger demographic (Spring Breakers). We actually enjoyed the college kids a lot; I only ran into one young man who was trying to cram all of life's embarrassing moments into one evening. The rest of the "kids" were energetic and, for the most part, fun to be around.

 

The coffee remained bad throughout; the first afternoon it was really bad, and we took a sip and left it. I thought it was old from the morning. It got better, but was still mosly horrible in the buffet areas. I probably should have tried the coffee in the main dining room after dinner. Like I said, it surprised us because the water was very nice (we had it with dinner every night; even though we brought on bottled water because we drink a lot of it during the day, we found the NCL water just fine for dinner). Its good to hear that the coffee is better on some of the other ships. We figured it was the grind of beans they were using, and that could mean "bad coffee" everywhere on the line!

[MomRNJulie]

thank you for the coffee tip. Do you know if the coffee bar was better and could get a latte' or a cappuccino? I know on the Pearl you could a cappuccino with dinner for no charge and the had a cappuccino machine in the back of the buffet. Did the sky, cuz that will do for the coffee buz?

[sandi0576]

It was part of our "Its Officially Over" vacation, marking the final minor procedure in a year and a half breast cancer struggle (the final procedure was done in Tampa after the cruise)

 

 

Congrats to your wife on her recovery!! Been there, done that and it is quite a long road. :rolleyes:

[fshagan]

thank you for the coffee tip. Do you know if the coffee bar was better and could get a latte' or a cappuccino? I know on the Pearl you could a cappuccino with dinner for no charge and the had a cappuccino machine in the back of the buffet. Did the sky, cuz that will do for the coffee buz?

 

We didn't try the coffee bar, or even coffee in the main dining room. We should have at least tried the latter (if I had thought of it, I would have used the main dining room for breakfast). I think the specialty coffee drinks in the main dining room had an extra charge (the bottom right of the menu had some coffee drinks listed, along with the statement something along the lines that they were priced at the "regular rate".) I don't remember if cappuccino was included in the list of specialty coffee.

[fshagan]

Congrats to your wife on her recovery!! Been there, done that and it is quite a long road. :rolleyes:

 

Thanks, I'll pass that along. One and a half years is long enough, so its good to see that stage of our life in the rear view mirror now.

[JOANN226]

This is my review of our 4 Day Carribean cruise on the Norwegian Sky, March 15 - 19, 2010.

 

My wife and I are a couple in our mid-50s with 3 Disney and 4 Princess cruises under our belts. This is our first NCL cruise. It was part of our "Its Officially Over" vacation, marking the final minor procedure in a year and a half breast cancer struggle (the final procedure was done in Tampa after the cruise).

 

Overview:

Day One - Embarkation went smoothly from the Port of Miami. The passenger demographic was heavily tilted toward young people, with a lot of young adults enjoying spring break. We heard from another passenger that 1,000 of the ship's 2002 passengers were age 25 or younger. We enjoyed the irreverent sayings on the NCL signs as we boarded, and found the staff both in the terminal and onboard friendly.

 

We had a porthole room forward (8209) and found it clean, well appointed, and not as punishingly small as we had read in some reviews on-line. We ate in the aft main dining room, Crossings, and were seated at a table for two (yay!) at the stern window ... with a beautiful view of Miami receding in the sunset.

 

Day Two - Our excursion in Freeport was the Peterson Cay Kayak and Snorkle, and we enjoyed it. Those not used to kayaking may not have had as much fun; you kayak just under a mile to the Cay. The snorkeling was about par for the Carribean; there just isn't as much to see as you do in the Pacific, but we knew that and our expectations were in line. The excursion is heavily scheduled, as you must stay with the guide and cannot spend time observing unless the guide stops as well. It was enjoyable and worth the time spent.

 

Day Three - Our excursion in Nassau was the Blue Lagoon Sea Lion Encounter. We really enjoyed this excursion. The California Sea Lion is a common sight for us; at home we routinely sail out to a bouy near our local harbor where we see dozens of them. But you don't approach a wild sea lion, and I was very happy to get up close to one that had been trained to not bite off various body parts. Great fun.

 

Day Four - Weather prevented us from tendering into Great Stirrup Cay. The young people took it in stride (more drinking by the pool), so there wasn't as much complaining among the passengers. The activities were increased on board, so there were plenty of things to do. Weather happens, and we took the opportunity to relax and catch some of the activities that we would normally miss, such as trivia games, presentations in the theater, etc.

 

Impressions of NCL:

Food - We found the Freestyle dining experience liberating, especially the lack of a formal night. I've spent enough time in a suit or tux to last a lifetime, and the last thing I want to do is spend part of my vacation in one. But I do enjoy having a nice meal in a nice setting. With casual wear the norm for even fine dining everywhere, I always found it odd that cruise ships, serving at best mid-level resturant food, required one or two "dress up nights" to eat in the main dining room. But I realize that is a major attraction for some people. Being able to get a table for two in one of the main dining rooms at any time we choose was a big plus for us. A big plus (we like each other).

 

The first night I had the Ceaser salad with no dressing from the "always available" menu, tilipia entrée and "international cheese plate" for dessert (I am on a low carb diet). The salad was fine, with plenty of taste from the smoked turkey, feta and parmesan cheese, and fresh romaine lettuce, and I had it with every meal. The fish was good, about the quality you would expect from a Red Lobster or other mid-level chain restaurant. I was pleased to see a low carb offering - the International Cheese Plate - in the "always available" dessert menu, and the cheese was Swiss, provolone, blue cheese and gouda. For other nights, I had either the sirloin steak (below average), chicken or salmon (both average to above-average).

 

Overall, we rated the food "average", with the caveat that we are comparing the food to mid-level restaurant food. In our opinion that's a high enough standard to put a mass-market cruise line up against. That "average" puts NCL higher than Princess in this category in our opinion, and about on par with Disney. We did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants on this short cruise.

 

One glaring and horrible exception: the coffee. It was often nearly undrinkable, ranging from horrible to worse. This surprised us because the water on board was very good.

 

Staff: We found the NCL staff pleasant and attentive, and didn't experience any of the "badgering" that people sometimes talk about when roaming wait staff ask about drinks, etc. We typically don't drink on ships because of the cost, and found we were only asked once or twice in any venue. We didn't see any unhappy crew members, and this could be just the "luck of the draw" on this cruise (we have had experiences where we could tell the crew member was homesick, etc., but didn't see any of that on this cruise).

 

Entertainment: I am not a big fan of the stage shows put on by cruise lines. I will attend with my wife, but only if we sit on an aisle so I can short-circuit the assault on my ears by horrible singers and corny arrangements. I was prepared to escape early from the Broadway-themed show featuring several "singers" and "dancers". But, while there were ear-numbing moments, mainly when the two lead female singers tried to harmonize (they couldn't), it was bearable and did not induce wincing pain. Which is to say "above average" for me (my wife enjoyed it). The variety show put on by the ship's staff was better; the band did a respectable job with blues-orientated songs and the comedy routines were funny enough. So in this category, I give NCL an "above average".

 

Matt Baker, the cruise director, was one of those guys I thought would get on my nerves. But I ended up liking him. He was funny enough, and talented enough, and was extremely hard working.

 

To sum it all up, we like NCL, despite the dire warnings from our travel agent (who wouldn't book the trip for us), and people who had never cruised NCL. We have decided we like NCL's Freestyle cruising better than the offerings on Princess, and will choose them for our planned European cruise in 2012.

 

I also was on this cruise and I agree with you, we really enjoyed this cruise even with all the spring breakers, which they had there own space, they did not go to the same locations that us older folks would go, piano bar, etc. I did not find the spring breakers and problem at all, I think they drank enough for all of us and that is why the waiters were not annoying with pushing the drinks, the photographers also left us alone since the girls were having pictures taking like crazy. The dining rooms were pretty empty at times, we went to dinner the first night at 6:00 and I dont think there were any more than 20 people in the room. We actually made friends with a few college girls on the last night of the cruise when they asked us to partner up with them for a game.

[BalconyBreeze]

I enjoyed your review very much. I know there have been plenty of posts about this, however, since you were just on the sky, I wanted to ask you about the dress code for the main dining rooms.

 

You mentioned that you liked the casusal-wear. Is it OK to wear a nice pair of shorts to the main dining rooms?

[JOANN226]

I enjoyed your review very much. I know there have been plenty of posts about this, however, since you were just on the sky, I wanted to ask you about the dress code for the main dining rooms.

 

You mentioned that you liked the casusal-wear. Is it OK to wear a nice pair of shorts to the main dining rooms?

 

They did allow shorts in the dining room, I have to say it did not look as if there was any dress code that was enforced. We all dressed like going to work, nothing fancy.

[flashdog_1]

Thanks for posting your review. It was a breath of fresh air.

[fshagan]

I enjoyed your review very much. I know there have been plenty of posts about this, however, since you were just on the sky, I wanted to ask you about the dress code for the main dining rooms.

 

You mentioned that you liked the casusal-wear. Is it OK to wear a nice pair of shorts to the main dining rooms?

 

I would think it would be OK; I did see a couple of young people in shorts and no one said any thing to them as far as I know. I think they have a pretty open policy on it. We really found it refreshing.

[fshagan]

I also was on this cruise and I agree with you, we really enjoyed this cruise even with all the spring breakers, which they had there own space, they did not go to the same locations that us older folks would go, piano bar, etc. I did not find the spring breakers and problem at all, I think they drank enough for all of us and that is why the waiters were not annoying with pushing the drinks, the photographers also left us alone since the girls were having pictures taking like crazy. The dining rooms were pretty empty at times, we went to dinner the first night at 6:00 and I dont think there were any more than 20 people in the room. We actually made friends with a few college girls on the last night of the cruise when they asked us to partner up with them for a game.

 

That's funny ... we did the same thing for "Quest", the "adult" game show they had on the last night. In our case, it was two couples and two single girls (someone else got to wear the lipstick and kiss each other on the lips!)

[BalconyBreeze]

Thank you! We will be on the Sky in a couple of weeks and I wanted to pack accordingly! :)

[jerseagal]

You mentioned snorkeling. Sailing next week. Did the water temp allow for it?

[JOANN226]

That's funny ... we did the same thing for "Quest", the "adult" game show they had on the last night. In our case, it was two couples and two single girls (someone else got to wear the lipstick and kiss each other on the lips!)

 

That is the game that we joined in with the college girls, it was us 2 couples in our late 50's, I can't believe that we played that game, I did not know what it was when we agreed to join on the team. My husband did some of the men stuff and my brother in law, but not the kissing each other. We had a great time, it was crazy but fun.

[fshagan]

You mentioned snorkeling. Sailing next week. Did the water temp allow for it?

 

We wear our own shortie wet suits, and the water was fine with them. The Peterson Cay Kayak and Snorkel excursion in Freeport and the Sea Lion Encounter (and Dolphin Encounter) both provided shortie wetsuits as part of the deal.