SKY Review with lots of pics - an experienced Carnival and RCCLer give NCL a try.

[ebandive]

Hey everyone! Just off the Sky 9/10/12-9/15/12. I will try to get this review completed in the next couple days, with lots of pictures along the way. If you want you can check out my past reviews in my signature to see my style. I will not have perfect grammar or spelling and I will likely ramble on... and I will talk about the good, bad, and ugly. :p Be patient with me as I finish uploading pictures, do laundry, and entertain a toddler.

 

DH and I have cruised twice on Carnival and twice on RCCL. DH has been wanting to try NCL Freestyle for years... but I admit, I was scared. We both really like Carnival, with RCCL being a close second, so why mess with a good thing?

 

It has been a couple years since our last cruise. At the end of my last review, I mentioned we were taking a break from cruising because we wanted some babies. So... after two pregnancies we got our little Charlie III. He is now 18 months old and full of life and energy... and Mommy and Daddy needed a vacation. ;) Also, I'm currently 22 months pregnant with boy #2 due in January. This month is DH and my 8th wedding anniversary, so we decided to take a quick 4-night cruise getaway just the two of us and we left DS at home with friends.

 

Meet DS:

 

So... let's go!

 

Our vacation actually started Sunday when we dropped DS off with our friends and drove the 2.5 hours to Miami. We stayed at La Quinta Miami Airport East - which is where we stayed the night before our last cruise. It's cheap and clean, and has free transport to the pier and free parking for our vehicle, so for us it's perfect. I didn't take pictures this time, as it looked pretty much exactly like it did 2 years ago, but if you want more info, click on my Triumph review link. I think we spent $65 or so for the night. One change though since last time: instead of the hotel minivan dropping us off at the pier, they have a 3rd party handle it, KSA Tours. Last time we just hopped a taxi for the ride back, but since they were offering a return shuttle for $10 per person, we decided just to go ahead and make plans now. I was assured they would have shuttles running "constantly" and we'd get back right away. I should have known not to take it too seriously when we they showed up 30 minutes late to pick us up... but oh well, live and learn. :rolleyes:

 

DH and I on the shuttle:

 

Don't you just love these signs? Anticipation is building!!!

[ebandive]

We got to the terminal about noon, and the line moved very quickly and we were getting onboard within 15 minutes or so.

 

I was a *little* scared as I didn't technically send in my health waver from my midwife regarding my pregnancy. On the NCL site, it said to email it to them... but not sure how I'm supposed to email a typed and signed letter, and didn't want to make another trip in to the midwife to have them send it themselves, so I just brought it with me, crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. On the health form I had to sign that I had not entered my 24th week, and I had my health waver from my midwife stating that I was 22 weeks out and ready. I am clearly showing. But no one said a word about it! So... I just kept the waver and onto the ship we went. YAY!

 

 

 

We took a quick tour through the upper decks, and the buffet was crazy busy, so we decided to head back to Crossings for a quiet lunch int he dining room.

 

 

 

[ebandive]

Oh, but right before lunch, they made the announcement that the staterooms were ready. We had an Aft inside room on deck 8. We are accustomed to inside staterooms, but we are both pretty sure this is the smallest inside cabin we have ever seen! :eek: But we made it work! Just happy to be on the ship!

 

 

Also, I noticed at this time, that we had a bottle of wine waiting for us and a $25 OBC from our travel agent. Now, when we booked, we were supposed to receive a $50 OBC. So I tried to exchange the bottle of wine for the OBC at guest services, but was told since it was a gift from our agent that they couldn't do anything about it. We ended up just bringing the bottle of wine home since I'm not drinking and a whole bottle of wine for DH is a bit much. :rolleyes: Everyone did their job... but this was the first instance of many where we weren't *WOWed* exactly. We go with very low expectations and always shrug off complainers. However, again and again, it seemed there were chances for NCL to "win us over", and instead they just... didn't. I totally understood that since they didn't provide the bottle of wine that they couldn't change it out... however since it was useless to us, I did feel just a tiny bit that they could have really won us over to loyal NCL'ers if they had gone just a tiny bit above and beyond. Ok... rant over. Onto the dining room!

 

We really enjoyed lunch in the dining room away from the hustle and bustle of the buffet!

 

 

 

[ebandive]

And the food from lunch. Sadly, these are the only food pics I took of the entire cruise. Oops.

 

Calamari. Yummy but cold.

 

 

LOVED the cesear salad!!

 

 

 

[ebandive]

After lunch we spent a little more time exploring the ship.

 

 

We liked this area on deck 12 forward. I believe on the ship layout I saw online that it was marked as a children's area, but on board it was listed as the quiet area. Nice small shallow pool and whirlpool. However, the front has is that plated plastic/glass or whatever it is to block the wind. We prefer the open railing, so we spent most of our time in deck 11 forward or deck 11 aft.

 

 

 

 

And deck 11 forward. LOVE this spot! Chairs would be the only thing to make it even better.

 

[boopsahoy]

Enjoying your review-keep it coming:D

[MSH from Norway]

Also, I'm currently 22 months pregnant with boy #2 due in January.

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Congratulations........:)

 

I have always known that there was something special about you Americans.......:D

[sdmike]

What a cutie! My first reaction was "how could they leave him for 4 days"...but as a father of 3 I know EXACTLY how you could do that, cute or not. lol.

 

Did you guys fit in that bed? Your DH is a big guy, and at 22 weeks and "showing" you guys probably were elbowing each other all night. :)

[sdmike]

Also, I'm currently 22 months pregnant with boy #2 due in January.

-----------------

 

Congratulations........:)

 

I have always known that there was something special about you Americans.......:D

 

Congratulations to you too!

[ebandive]

Enjoying your review-keep it coming:D

 

Thanks! I was just beginning to wonder if anyone was interested in the Sky. :o

 

Also, I'm currently 22 months pregnant with boy #2 due in January.

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Congratulations........:)

 

I have always known that there was something special about you Americans.......:D

 

Thanks and LOL and congrats to you too!

 

What a cutie! My first reaction was "how could they leave him for 4 days"...but as a father of 3 I know EXACTLY how you could do that, cute or not. lol.

 

Did you guys fit in that bed? Your DH is a big guy, and at 22 weeks and "showing" you guys probably were elbowing each other all night. :)

 

Bahaha - he is SUCH a charmer!! We look forward to taking the kiddos once they are old enough to enjoy the kid's programs onboard. For now, a little time away was just what DH and I needed. And we fit in the bed... barely. It was the getting into bed thing that was tricky. :eek:

 

More to come!

[ebandive]

Our favorite indoor place on the ship was definitely Outrigger lounge. It was usually very quiet during the day and we found it a great place to sit and relax or read. It was through here that we got to that wonderful deck 11 forward, so between the two places, we spent a lot of time.

 

 

 

 

[sdmike]

I'm really enjoying the pictures. I've been on the Epic and Jewel class, but like seeing a ship that's totally different than what I've experienced. Thanks for sharing

[ebandive]

And some more pictures on deck 11 forward... we just LOVE sailing out of Miami!

 

 

 

 

 

Finally it was time for sailaway and the muster drill. I was actually in bathroom when they did the first call, so on the second call we headed to deck 6. I was surprised to find we were actually some of the last people to get there! Usually it seems we wait around forever, but NCL was about business! and they had a great sense of humor about it too. After trying to sneak in, we found that we actually snuck into the wrong place. oops. We were in "N" and had to go to "L"... which led to jokes from the staff and laughter from everyone that "L" stands for Late. Oops again! I was so glad to see though that everyone was in good spirits and was ready to have a good time. Great! It's time to CRUISE!!!

 

Oh, but not so fast. We started sailing and then pulled over. And waited. And waited. We really didn't wait that long but we were just so excited to get started that it seemed like forever. Meanwhile there was a terrific rainbow out front.

 

 

Soon after there was an announcement that there was a medical emergency with a passenger and they were being offloaded onto an ambulance. Yikes!

 

OK, NOW we are are ready to set sail!

[ebandive]

While we waited to get started again, we decided to head on back to the Great Outdoors (deck 11 aft) which was our other favorite place onboard.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ebandive]

I'm always amazed at the people who climb way out on these rocks.

 

 

 

 

[sdmike]

 

I'm not "getting" this picture. Looks like you're either on the wrong side of the island pointing out to sea, or you're docked facing west, which is unusual based on my experience. Normally in MIA the terminal and warehouse/fuel island is on the starboard side, like you see in the pic below. The pic is overlooking the turning basin at ships docked pointing east (epic in front). Can you explain how you were docked?

 

 

[ebandive]

 

I'm not "getting" this picture. Looks like you're either on the wrong side of the island pointing out to sea, or you're docked facing west, which is unusual based on my experience. Normally in MIA the terminal and warehouse/fuel island is on the starboard side, like you see in the pic below. The pic is overlooking the turning basin at ships docked pointing east (epic in front). Can you explain how you were docked?

 

 

 

 

Yep, you're right. We were docked facing West. We had to go into the bay and turn around before we could set sail.

[scorp111]

Great review so far.

 

We are actually on the Sky 4 day in a couple of weeks, so this is really getting the anticipation going!

 

 

As far as the previous poster regarding the docking, it is my understanding that on the 4 day Sky, the ship actually docks facing Downtown Miami (and the turning basin), and then when leaving pulls forward, turns around in the basin, and then heads out. I like the thought of it, as it means you get just a little while longer to enjoy the Port of Miami experience, which as the original poster stated, is probably my favorite so far.

[Hopes4]

Also, I'm currently 22 months pregnant with boy #2 due in January.

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Congratulations........:)

 

I have always known that there was something special about you Americans.......:D

 

Haha, I got a kick out of that too! Personally, 42 weeks was quite enough for me! :D

[ebandive]

Soon after we sailed out of Miami, it was 6:00ish and time for dinner. With traditional dining, we've always opted for the earlier sitting. Just works out better for us. If we are hungry late, we'll have a small snack later on, but prefer to get the big dinner out of the way early. I can't remember what dinner was that night... but overall I was fairly unimpressed with the dining room selection and quality. I don't know if it is a difference between NCL and the other lines, or just the fact that there have been cut backs the last couple years, but we've always been very happy with the food in the main dining room, and this cruise it just seemed lacking. Also, service seemed very slow and unorganized. Perhaps because we went early on, usually soon after the dining room opened, but every night we sat for awhile, then someone would come up to us and say that since our waiter wasn't here yet that they would get us started. So we never really knew who to ask for what, and generally weren't checked on. Didn't really bug us... and certainly did not complain about it and it definitely didn't ruin our cruise, but this was another small example how NCL failed to convince us that sailing with them is the way to go.

 

Also, as previously mentioned, being pregnant I wasn't drinking alcoholic beverages this cruise, so for the first time I purchased the soda card. I found that if I had my sticker showing on my card or carried my insulated cup around, that I was often waiting longer than usual to be asked for a drink. Not a big deal... and I just had to be more proactive in waiving someone down and asking for a soda, but another tiny area where we were just not convinced NCL is for us.

 

Now, let me talk about what I LOOOOVED about Freestyle! I LOVED that we could go to any dining room at whatever time we wanted, and for the most part, go in whatever we were already wearing. Usually by dinner time we were not in our bathing suits or baseball caps anyway, so it was nice not to feel like I had to go back to the room and freshen up or change into a nicer outfit just in order to go eat. It was also nice, being a short cruise, to not be seated with others. I think on a longer cruise we would miss the friendships we have made through our dinner time buddies, but for 4 nights, it was perfect.

 

Bernard, our room steward, was fantastic. He impressed us with a towel animal every night.

 

 

Our Cruise director was Richard Matic, and DH and I both agreed he was the worst cruise director we ever had. Nothing in particular about him... but he really wasn't funny or entertaining, and just didn't stand out like past cruise directors have.

 

That night we went to the comedy of Richie Minervini, who was a decent comedian. That was the only entertainment we went to that night. Overall, we found the entertainment to be lacking. Instead, we spent a lot of quiet evenings out back in the Great Outdoors, which was fine by us.

 

 

And usually we spent a little time on deck 11 forward at night as well...

 

Stargazing and watching the wake at night are a couple of our very favorite things. :)

 

Edited to add:

This night was the only night we ate in the Palace dining room. Palace is code for Pink. Very, VERY pink. :) Crossings is blue, and we ate every other dinner in Crossings just because it was our decor preference.

 

Also, I kept the Freestyle Daily's but don't have a way to scan them in, so if you have a specific question just let me know.

[ebandive]

Day 2: Freeport!!

 

This was our first time in Freeport, and the only day we booked an excursion. We usually prefer booking private excursions to enjoy the more off-the-beaten-path places and less crowds. I did my research on the Bahamas board on Cruise Critic, and found some great reviews for Deadman's Reef/Paradise Cove. Mainly, that there were often sea turtles to see snorkeling. DH and I really love to snorkel, and had never seen a sea turtle in action, so I booked this very inexpensive beach/snorkeling day. For $35 each we got roundtrip transportation, a very uncrowded beach, and all of our snorkeling gear. They had a bar with food and drinks that were very reasonably priced, a nice covered pavillion, and a gift shop and bathroom too. We definitely enjoyed our day and would recommend them to anyone.

 

We got up early, as we were to meet our shuttle at 9:00. Here are some of the views that morning:

 

Bahamas Celebration was in port with us. I've always been curious about these cheap two-night Bahamas getaways. There was a lady at Paradise Cove who was sailing with them and was very unimpressed. Sounds like we will stick with the major cruiselines.

 

And that is Carnival Dream! Hope one day to sail her!

 

We at our breakfast at the buffet, which was typical and decent cruise breakfast food. LOVE that there was no bacon police and I generously helped myself. :eek:

 

We made our way off the ship and found the sign to where we were supposed to meet up.

 

 

[ebandive]

Settling in...

 

 

 

 

 

 

[ebandive]

The water was clear, calm, and gorgeous, and we received the most thorough explanation and instructions in snorkeling ever. This would be a great place for 1st time snorkelers to go. The staff was very helpful and thorough.

 

 

 

heading out to the reef, we saw a few fish, but mostly just sand and grass. We were instructed that the majority of the undersea life would be found just past the reef.

 

 

They also gave us these handy dandy floats. Even though we are both great snorkelers, just in case we got tired, and especially since I was pregnant, I thought it would be a good idea to have an extra little something to keep me up just in case we got tired. And actually, we both really loved our little floaties. :)

 

 

Just as we were getting close to the reef, we started seeing a jellyfish here and there. Freaked us out a little, but we just swam around them.

 

[ebandive]

 

 

 

 

 

It wasn't the best snorkeling we had ever seen, but it was pretty good and we were definitely enjoying ourselves. However... soon we were surrounded, and I mean surrounded, by jellyfish. For a long time we kept trying to swim around them and out of the area where they seemed to be, but they seemed to be coming from every direction. There were 8 or so of us in the water, and we were all overwhelmed by the jellyfish. About half of us stayed out, and about half of us decided to swim for shore, including DH and I.

 

[ebandive]

Once safely past the jellyfish, I took some pictures of shore from the water.

 

 

 

 

We got in, and our hosts asked why we came back so quickly. We explained about the jellyfish, and they smiled and said, "oh, not to worry, those kind don't sting." Oh. Well, that would have been nice to know beforehand. lol. We took a bit of a break and decided to head out again, this time in the other direction. I was still hoping to see a sea turtle and hadn't yet seen one.

 

 

And all of a sudden... THERE!

 

SO cool. DH had to finally stop me because I would have followed this little guy all the way out to sea. I got a video too, and if I can figure out how to upload it I will. We actually saw two turtles total, and would have probably seen more if we stayed out longer.

 

They had 3 shuttles back, and we took the first one at 12:30. We felt like we got a good bit of snorkeling in, and definitely got our money's worth, and didn't feel like laying at the beach all afternoon. So we drove back, showered, got some lunch, and probably took a nap. :p