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

[ebandive]

Loving your pix and review.

Will be going on the Sky in November for a 4 day cruise.

 

this is my first cruise ever, so I am soaking everything up like a sponge :D

 

Thanks!

 

Have a great time! I'm sure you will! Cruising is addictive!! :D

 

You have a great attitude :)

 

My husband and I took,our kids on an RCI 4 day on Monarch, and it was horrible. The food, the presentation, the state of the ship, you name it. It was bad. It turned us off of RCI, we compared the cruise to our positive CCL cruises at the time and it came nowhere close to measuring up.

 

I ended up on a group cruise a year later on Explorer, and it was much better. Same menu, but food was better and the presentation was better. They redeemed themselves.

 

My first NCL cruise I compared the experience to the other lines as well, but NCL came in with top marks.

 

Happy cruising, whichever line you wind up on :) thanks for coming here and telling us your story, and for all of your great photos too, much appreciated :)

 

I know everyone's experience is so personal - Majesty is pretty much exactly the same as Monarch I believe, and we had a great time on that trip. Go figure. :rolleyes: We are pretty sure our next cruise with the kiddos will be on Carnival since they will take kids at age 2 in their kids program. After that, we are open to pretty much anything.

 

Our first cruise was on RCL Monarch this past May. We also had restroom issues, but it was fixed when we came back and we didn't tell them about it either.

 

Older ships don't appeal to us. Both Monarch and Sky are the oldest class ships for RCL & NCL. Although we would probably not go back on a RCL Sovereign class ship again, we still enjoyed cruising enough that we did a FCC with them. We're also going on our first NCL cruise with Epic for our anniversary next year and we're giving Carnival a try in November on Glory.

 

So as everyone else has said, give a newer ship within the fleet a try.

 

I'd love to try Epic! If/when we go on NCL again, it will definitely be on a bigger/newer ship.

[ebandive]

I had bathroom issues like that on my Royal Panama Canal cruise. Oh it was awful and I guess I didn't ask so didn't get anything for the problem. I think if you wanted some kind of compensation you should have asked for the manager and said exactly what you wanted. It has been my experience that people are not mind readers but when you say I think I should have at least gotten a comp to Cagneys you may have received it.

 

I am addicted to the Sky. It's my favorite 3 night cruise of all the other lines offering the 3 nighters. I love specialty dining. I don't think of it as nickel and diming but rather as great value for the price I pay. I am on the Sky again on 9/21 and can't wait.

 

I agree we could have been more proactive with going to the Hotel Director. We never imagined it would take *that* long to fix, and for the most part, it was the same two customer service reps we approached every time, to the point that they knew what we were asking about when we approached. I am so hesitant to say "I need to speak to your manager" because of my experience in customer service... but really I agree I probably should have.

 

ebandive, I believe "non-working toilets for almost a day" should push a cruiseline into negative territory. In addition, the lack of empathy or offer of assistance is unacceptable from customer service personnel, too. While I can tell you that my experiences on the Spirit and Pearl have been nowhere near as awful, it really doesn't help YOU in this situation. It's you two that were greatly inconvenienced, and I personally think you should have been moved to the empty room with the working toilets with a smile from the front desk and a "Let's see what we can do to make this a more enjoyable trip for the rest of your cruise!" This was a tipping point issue for you, and rightly so!

 

However, on your next cruise, PUSH for an agreeable resolution with the hotel director, versus the front desk. Get the situation fixed while you're ON the ship, versus being annoyed longer because it wasn't resolved by the front desk. This WAS a big deal, and it should be treated as such by you and the front desk. As Prem (the Spirit Hotel Director last June) told me at the Meet and Greet, let him know while you're on the ship so he could fix it; he doesn't want to hear about it after you're gone!

 

Please don't take the above as criticism. I mean for you to take it as validation that you would have been completely correct to take that issue to the Hotel Director to resolve. Escalating your non-working toilets for that long is not being a pest or a bad guest, especially when there were resolutions available, such as an empty cabin with a working toilet.

 

On a completely different note, thank you for the pictures in your interesting review. They're lovely daydream material to make the time pass until my next cruise. :)

 

Thanks for your input, and I didn't take it as criticism at all. I *knew* if I pushed the issue further, I could have probably gotten better results. But really, just didn't think the issue would take as long as it did to fix, and it didn't become really critical until it was time for bed and the thought of going across the ship in my PJ's to use the toilet was just troubling.

 

I think the bathroom experience is unusual and unique. I hope you can look beyond that experience.

 

But your issues with the food and the food service isn't unusual or unique to NCL. You know food and food service can be better from your experiences with Carnival and RCCL. With NCL Freestyle, you might be able to dine when you want and dress casual but it's at the expense of good food and good service.

 

Your experience with monotonous menus with most items never changing is common NCL....just read the reviews. Your experience with disorganized and impersonal service is common to NCL. Your experience with very slow dining room service....again all NCL.

 

On this board we like to use the term ....... "subjective" That's what boring menus, disorganized service, impersonal service and slow service mean in the food world on NCL......subjective.

 

But if you can get over the expectation of good food and good dining service NCL can be a real contender. I think the entertainment is better on NCL, I think the ship decor is better on NCL, I think cruising in a suite is way better on NCL. That's why I keep coming back. Definitely not because of the food. My experience in 14 or 15 cruises....I'm gold, has always been just like yours. But you know, it's "subjective".

 

Thanks for this! I had heard that a lot about NCL and the freestyle concept, but for the most part I took it with a grain of salt, as most complaints I've read on here are really nothing to DH and I once we get on board. I don't think we will ever be suite cruisers, but I know the suites look amazing! I guess the one area (besides the toilets lol) that I was disappointed in was the entertainment on the Sky, since NCL seems to promote themselves as having the best entertainment. Bigger ship next time... lesson learned.

[ebandive]

pregnant with chrons(i know that isn't right)......that cabin 8 doors down should have been yours as soon as they knew.....a couple of stewards could have switched you in 15 min..... you were WAY more patient than i would have been....and i am not one to complain or expect heaven and earth to be moved for every little thing.....glad you enjoyed your time together. so important for young parents to nurture their relationship.....makes the long haul so much more fun!

 

Thanks! We had a great and relaxing time despite the toilet issue.

 

Toilet problems can *really* upset your trip. We were in a GS on RCCL's Enchantment of the Seas in 2011, and had stuffed up toilets every day for four days. Didn't last for hours, though, they would come and fix it, told us that someone on our "line" was using special toilet paper that clogged the pipes. We've sailed with RCCL six times and would have no problems returning.

 

Richard Matic was our CD on the Jewel in April, and I didn't see anything that elevated or lowered him from any other CD. Then again, I couldn't tell you the name of *any* CD I've sailed with more than a year out; they don't seem to differ much IMHO...

 

I understand Dwight Blake, a pianist and singer, is on the Sky now. We *loved* him on the Jewel, caught all his shows...

 

Better luck next time, and best of luck with your new little one!

 

el henry

 

Thanks! The piano bar (Captain Cook's, I believe) was filled every time we walked through, and whoever it was playing sounded great! Just looked at the Daily, and it was Dwight. Maybe we should have attempted to spend a little more time in there!

 

Thanks for your review and the great pictures.:) We're heading out on Sky next July and I am looking forward to a change of cruiselines. Just curious, did you try any of the specialty restaurants?

We are the type to go with the flow, too, but I don't think I would have been half as patient as you with the toilet problems.:eek: Kudos to you for that patience. Your son is adorable and I wish you well with your second baby.

Heather

 

Thanks! We didn't try any of the specialty restaurants. We considered it, especially since the dining room selections weren't really impressing us. And honestly we probably would have if it weren't for that darn toilet not working. After that, DH and I kind of got the attitude that we will make the best of the free options because we didn't want to give NCL anymore of our money than we had to since they were so unaccommodating. :o

[ebandive]

Now onto day 4! Great Stirrup Cay!

 

I had really high hopes for Great Stirrup Cay since we stopped at RCCL's Coco Cay a couple years ago, which is right next door to Great Stirrup Cay. On Coco Cay we experienced some of the best snorkeling as far as fish go in all of our cruises. There were just so many tropical fish in areas, we actually brushed some as we were swimming through. They were everywhere and gorgeous and the experience will always stay with me. I knew GSC is not built up nearly as well yet, and the construction was evident on the island. We hope if we come back in 10 years to have a similar experience like we did on Coco Cay.

 

We got up in the morning about 9:00 or so and headed up to the Great Outdoors buffet. I made a stop at Il Adagio for the fresh made waffles with strawberries and whip cream... and omg... DELICIOUS!!! Highly recommend it! The wait was minimal, and I could take my waffle and then meet DH in the Great Outdoors after picking up a couple other little things at the buffet.

 

Here we are looking at GSC with Coco Cay in the background.

 

After breakfast, we went back to the room to get dressed for the day. We brought our own snorkeling gear with us, so we threw that in a backpack and then went down to Dazzles to get our tender tickets. Upon entering Dazzles, there was a line that stretched the entire length and a half of the room. We waited to get our tickets, then headed back up to the Great Outdoors to wait for our tender to be called.

 

Probably 30 or so minutes later they called our tender and we headed down. I don't know if this is normal or not, but no one actually collected or cared to see our tender tickets. So apparently we could have just headed down whenever we were ready instead of waiting in line at Dazzles and then waiting to be called. :rolleyes:

 

We were packed into the tender pretty tightly, and at least on the bottom where we were, they were wide benches so you sat back to back with someone else. The tender ride was pretty rough but fun!

 

 

 

 

[Julienatul]

Thanks for your review! You sound like us when we travel totally laid back and won't let anything ruin your vacation but yet expect a decent level of service. The not working bathroom for 11 hours is unacceptable in my opinion! Especially if you are pregnant and have Chron's. They should have at least offered something for your inconvenience and in my opinion it should have been OBC. You paid good money for a "working" cabin and that is what you should have received. Trekking up 3 floors and over to the middle of the boat to use the bathroom is not acceptable at 3am. I realize too they were doing their best to fix the problem but they should have offered something. I would write a letter to NCL about your complaints. Dont let it steer you clear of NCL. We were Carnival cheerleaders too up until recently-cutbacks are too much now. Then we sailed the EPIC and it all changed. Service, presentation, food, ameneties all top notch!!!! Our next cruise is booked on the NCL Dawn which was cheaper than the Carnival equivlent for that week. Thanks for your review and love your pics!!

[ebandive]

 

I burn so easily and it seemed like shade was going to be pretty limited, so we snatched up this shaded picnic table when we saw it! Then DH and I got into a minor argument. He had packed our passports in the backpack (Why?) and also his expensive ipod watch (again, WHY?). Well, there are no lockers at GSC, and DH didn't want to leave our stuff on the beach while we went snorkeling. I kind of got a pregnancy induced attitude with him and told him to get over it, that no one was going to steal our stuff. :p I mean, our only other option was to tender back into the ship and tender back. Come on... so finally, he obliged, we left our stuff and it was just fine.

 

 

[ebandive]

Thanks for your review! You sound like us when we travel totally laid back and won't let anything ruin your vacation but yet expect a decent level of service. The not working bathroom for 11 hours is unacceptable in my opinion! Especially if you are pregnant and have Chron's. They should have at least offered something for your inconvenience and in my opinion it should have been OBC. You paid good money for a "working" cabin and that is what you should have received. Trekking up 3 floors and over to the middle of the boat to use the bathroom is not acceptable at 3am. I realize too they were doing their best to fix the problem but they should have offered something. I would write a letter to NCL about your complaints. Dont let it steer you clear of NCL. We were Carnival cheerleaders too up until recently-cutbacks are too much now. Then we sailed the EPIC and it all changed. Service, presentation, food, ameneties all top notch!!!! Our next cruise is booked on the NCL Dawn which was cheaper than the Carnival equivlent for that week. Thanks for your review and love your pics!!

 

Thanks for your input! I've thought about writing a letter but probably won't, just because there is nothing to be done about it now anyways and it will probably be several years before we sail with NCL again. Really hope to try Epic and Breakaway someday!

[ebandive]

The beach was absolutely gorgeous! The water was pretty rough, so most of the excursions were canceled except for snorkeling. We planned on snorkeling anyway, so we rented the required vests and headed out!

 

 

 

 

 

[ebandive]

I had read beforehand that the beach is very rocky and uneven, which is definitely true. We either wore our water shoes or fins at all times. We saw some more elderly folks really struggling wading int he water.

 

Odd tid bit of information here. I never wear water shoes, except on cruise excursions. Back on our very first cruise I bought a pair of water shoes for our excursion climbing Dunn's River Falls in Ocho Rios. I wore them that day and maybe once since then. Well... when I put them on this day, I realized I had two left feet. :rolleyes: How on earth I never noticed this until now I don't know. LOL.

 

We stayed out in the water snorkeling for about an hour. It was very pretty, but again the water was pretty rough, and we saw very very few fish, if any. It was also starting to get pretty crowded. Not sure how the snorkeling is here normally, but we really didn't see anything worth seeing. After 30 minutes or so we just took off the goggles and enjoyed the swimming. But still, there were so many rocks, and even big rocks jutting up in the water that it didn't make for the most relaxing swim ever. But it sure was beautiful!

 

 

 

 

There were signs not to climb on the rocks, but people did anyways.

 

[ebandive]

They were having a lunch buffet on the island, but it looked like it was about to rain so we decided to beat the rush and head back to the ship.

 

 

Not sure what this guy was trying to take a picture of, but he was cracking me up. :eek:

 

 

 

[ebandive]

 

We showered, ate lunch (DH at the buffet, mine fresh pizza from Il Adagio), then took a nice afternoon nap waking up in time for sail away from the island. Next stop would be Miami and our vaca would officially be over.

 

 

 

Time for one last dinner at Crossings.

 

Another great dinner view!

 

 

After dinner we didn't do any shows, but had a quiet evening in the Great Outdoors watching the wake in the darkness and talking about how our lives have changed since becoming parents and the continued changes to come. It was a nice way to end our little vacation.

 

The next morning I don't have any pictures for you. It seems the announcements started at about 7:00 for self debarkation which we chose to do. We finally got up about 7:30 and enjoyed one last waffle and breakfast buffet and grabbed our bags and headed outside to wait for our KSA shuttle. It was a *very* long wait for our shuttle. And since they shuttle to multiple locations, it also took a long time to get back to La Quinta where our car was at. Next time we will just take a cab back to the hotel, because if I remember correctly the price is nearly the same and without the waiting around.

 

We did get our car which was kept safely and the drive home was uneventful. Even with our little complaints, we still had a great cruise and hope we will be able to take another one soon!

 

Thanks for following along with me and sharing my memories!

[WaldosPepper]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review, and I cannot imagine how you maintained such graceful composure during the lengthy issue with your toilet.

 

Absolutely loved viewing your photos, but my favorite is the one of your absolutely ADORABLE child!

 

Thanks so much for sharing your trip with all of us, and looking forward to the day when I can read your review of the Epic. ;)

[ebandive]

I thoroughly enjoyed reading your review, and I cannot imagine how you maintained such graceful composure during the lengthy issue with your toilet.

 

Absolutely loved viewing your photos, but my favorite is the one of your absolutely ADORABLE child!

 

Thanks so much for sharing your trip with all of us, and looking forward to the day when I can read your review of the Epic. ;)

 

Thanks for your nice comments!! I can't wait until I can WRITE a review for the Epic!! :D

[YankeeFan4Ever]

Great review and photos! Thanks for taking the time to post it! :)

 

Also, I'm sorry about the issues you guys experienced with your bathroom...hopefully you'll never have to go through that again.

[Smellytoes]

What a great review. I love the pictures. As far as the toilet issues I would highly recommend sending off an e-mail to NCL letting them know that it happened and you weren't satisfied with the way it was handled. My in-laws had a similar problem on the Dream a few years ago and were given a pretty generous future cruise credit after sending a letter when they got home. They complained on the ship but were told nothing could be done.

[ebandive]

Great review and photos! Thanks for taking the time to post it! :)

 

Also, I'm sorry about the issues you guys experienced with your bathroom...hopefully you'll never have to go through that again.

 

Thanks!

 

What a great review. I love the pictures. As far as the toilet issues I would highly recommend sending off an e-mail to NCL letting them know that it happened and you weren't satisfied with the way it was handled. My in-laws had a similar problem on the Dream a few years ago and were given a pretty generous future cruise credit after sending a letter when they got home. They complained on the ship but were told nothing could be done.

 

Thanks! If I have the time in the next week or two I may send off a letter. Otherwise, it will soon be forgotten!

[Cruiser Bruiser]

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!

 

Thanks for posting your review of the Sky. I'll be sailing the 4-night itinerary on her on December 10 and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sorry that no one told you that NCL has a "wine cellar" service so that you don't have to drink an entire bottle of wine in one sitting. They will keep the partial bottle on reserve for you so that you can drink from it later at any restaurant on the ship. Sounds like your experience didn't reflect NCL at its best.:( I agree with others who have suggested that next time you speak to the hotel director while you are on the ship so that s/he can fix the situation to your satisfaction. Cheers, and thanks again for the review and pictures.

[meltingmoments]

Thank you so much for your review and your fab pictures!!

As others have said, I think you were MORE than patient in regards to the toilet issue.....well done to you......high blood pressure is NOT a good idea for a pregnant lady! ( Congrats btw )

Glad to hear that you still managed to enjoy your break. I hope you get to sail the Epic......we just did and I'd love to hear your thoughts on her, as the Sky was our first cruise....and left us wanting to cruise again!

Once again, thanks for posting......and I have to agree with a previous poster........your little one is adorable!! :)

[McDebbie]

Great review and pictures, so sorry to hear about your bathroom issues. I recall there were issues way back when Sky came back to Florida but thought they had been cleared up.

 

Can I ask what kind of camera you were using? Your pictures turned out really nice.

[NYGirl1002]

Great review. I loved your pictures!

 

Geez being pregnant is not the time to have bathroom problems. The staff always seems so nonchalant when you complain.

[ebandive]

Thanks for posting your review of the Sky. I'll be sailing the 4-night itinerary on her on December 10 and I'm really looking forward to it. I'm sorry that no one told you that NCL has a "wine cellar" service so that you don't have to drink an entire bottle of wine in one sitting. They will keep the partial bottle on reserve for you so that you can drink from it later at any restaurant on the ship. Sounds like your experience didn't reflect NCL at its best.:( I agree with others who have suggested that next time you speak to the hotel director while you are on the ship so that s/he can fix the situation to your satisfaction. Cheers, and thanks again for the review and pictures.

 

Thanks for the tip! I agree it would have been useful if someone let me know that when I inquired about not being able to use it! :rolleyes:

 

Thank you so much for your review and your fab pictures!!

As others have said, I think you were MORE than patient in regards to the toilet issue.....well done to you......high blood pressure is NOT a good idea for a pregnant lady! ( Congrats btw )

Glad to hear that you still managed to enjoy your break. I hope you get to sail the Epic......we just did and I'd love to hear your thoughts on her, as the Sky was our first cruise....and left us wanting to cruise again!

Once again, thanks for posting......and I have to agree with a previous poster........your little one is adorable!! :)

 

Good thing my blood pressure runs low. :p Thanks for the nice comments!

[ebandive]

Great review. I loved your pictures!

 

Geez being pregnant is not the time to have bathroom problems. The staff always seems so nonchalant when you complain.

 

nonchalant and quite optimistic and happy with themselves about their solution actually. lol :rolleyes:

 

Great review and pictures, so sorry to hear about your bathroom issues. I recall there were issues way back when Sky came back to Florida but thought they had been cleared up.

 

Can I ask what kind of camera you were using? Your pictures turned out really nice.

 

I really think my experience was pretty isolated. Two cameras - most of the first half were with an Olympus EPL-1, and most of the second half and the underwater ones were with a Canon D20. I lost the cap to the Olympus sometime during the trip so didn't take it out much after that. Both cameras are pretty new to me so I definitely haven't mastered them yet. LOVE the Olympus though!

[ebandive]

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

 

BAHAHAHAHA!! I just got this!! 22 WEEKS!!! 22 WEEKS!!! LOL. I kept going back because I knew I didn't understand your comment correctly... claiming pregnancy brain!:p:D

[GirlWriter]

BAHAHAHAHA!! I just got this!! 22 WEEKS!!! 22 WEEKS!!! LOL. I kept going back because I knew I didn't understand your comment correctly... claiming pregnancy brain!:p:D

 

Yeah, that was pretty funny! When I first read it, I actually thought you wrote "months" on purpose ... you know, as in it "feels" like I've been pregnant 22 months ... :D

[vicnkojo]

Thanks for sharing.. Cute couple and cute baby!! enjoyed your review. ;)