Live from Sky Princess 28 May

[Eglesbrech]

Delighted to report that not only did we get a table for pre dinner drinks last night without having to hunt for ages for one but also walked into the restaurant with very little wait.

 

The waiter had an assistant so much quicker service as well. What I would normally expect from Princess. I can highly recommend the twice baked goats cheese, absolutely delicious.

 

There  seems to be more staff in the busy areas so perhaps they have been moving people around. Anyway it’s so much better than earlier in the cruise.

 

Day 6 Oslo

 

They are starting to decorate the ship for the jubilee weekend. So far there are big banner flags and bunting in the  piazza. Some guests also have bunting along the rails outside their cabins or door hanging in red, white windows, blue. All looking very fast I’ve.

 

We had a nice long walk around Oslo, did a little shopping and sat for a beer to people watch in the harbour. As ever I will be framing the bill. 3 small beers, a cola, 1 piece of apple pie and some bone marrow and bread over £50. Worth it for the experience though.

 

For information the Viking museum is closed until 2026 in case anyone was planning to visit there.

[joeecco]

Did I read that the show times in the theatre are 7:30 and 9:30 every night? 

[Eglesbrech]

2 hours ago, joeecco said:

Did I read that the show times in the theatre are 7:30 and 9:30 every night? 

8.15 and 10.15 this trip.

[joeecco]

51 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

8.15 and 10.15 this trip.

Oh! I wonder why it changes? Trying to book restaurants to catch the first show 

[caribill]

7 hours ago, joeecco said:

Did I read that the show times in the theatre are 7:30 and 9:30 every night? 

 

4 hours ago, Eglesbrech said:

8.15 and 10.15 this trip.

 

Thus the problem in scheduling meals with DMW months in advance of the cruise. By the time you know the schedule, the time slots you need may not be available anymore.

 

When Princess had traditional dining, they picked the proper time so you could make the shows. Now you have to guess.

 

3 hours ago, joeecco said:

Oh! I wonder why it changes? Trying to book restaurants to catch the first show 

 

I have seen them change from one segment to another on the same ship.

[windsor26]

Can you please advise if on the Sky from UK  there is a percentage charge for using a credit card for your account but none on a debit card?  Thanks

[dog]

13 hours ago, joeecco said:

Did I read that the show times in the theatre are 7:30 and 9:30 every night? 

On Discovery Princess the times were 7:30 & 9:30 pm for shows.

[sammybonny]

3 hours ago, windsor26 said:

Can you please advise if on the Sky from UK  there is a percentage charge for using a credit card for your account but none on a debit card?  Thanks

No there wasn't a charge for using a credit card to pay the account when we were on Sky from the  UK a few months ago. I think these charges were stopped a few years ago.

[PacnGoNow]

Just now, sammybonny said:

No there wasn't a charge for using a credit card to pay the account when we were on Sky from the  UK a few months ago. I think these charges were stopped a few years ago.

I’ve never had a fee to use a credit card

for our account.  Are you referring maybe to the Atm machine?

[windsor26]

Thank you Sammy and Pacngo    No in Australia there is a 1.5% charge if you use a credit card for your on board account but not on debit card.  Wondered if this is world wide  but great to hear it is not

[Eglesbrech]

Not quite a typical sea day as we have the Jubilee celebrations but the only sea day one I have (we only had 2 and the other was binned) but it will give you an idea of activities etc.

[joeecco]

1 minute ago, Eglesbrech said:

Not quite a typical sea day as we have the Jubilee celebrations but the only sea day one I have (we only had 2 and the other was binned) but it will give you an idea of activities etc.

Thank you!! 

[phabric]

I am also on the Sky, our first time 2019 on her first sailing.    It took us maybe 1/2 hr to check from arrival to cabin.  . We had arrival time 11.  I could not get Medallion Net dockside.  The lines moved outside and inside.  If you vaccinated in one line.  Once at the front on line, they directed you to an open agent desk.  Since we did not have our Medallion, she took our passport, vaccination paper and Covid test results.  Someone behind the desk handed her an envelope with our Medallion.  Walked straight onto the ship.

 

it was mentioned that the cabins would be ready at 1pm, we went straight to our cabin which was ready.

 

After a short while we went to Alfredo’s for pizza for lunch , we had to wait a couple of people.

 

I had reserved a 6pm dining for each day at Cielo dining deck aft, have to take the elevator from deck 7 down to 6.  We arrive a few minutes before sometimes a few passengers no real line.  I ask to have the same table each night and we have it.  The waiter and assistant remember want we like.  They appreciated when we told we were going to be there the next night.

 

The 8:15 show the first night the theater was not not full, comedian. Second night, no seats available for 8:15 production show Rock.  The 3 night, we came 1/2 hour earlier and again full, another comedian.  Every night the theater is full at 8:15.  I don’t understand why people leave a seat or two empty and don’t want to move down for others.  We are on the next cruise will see what we missed.

 

We were in Princess Live on the second day, sea day.  Crew were delivering drinks.  I asked can I order a coke, someone would be around. Asked another crew again, same answer.  So, I tried to use my app to order a coke.  On my phone, it said deliver to cabin, I then switched to my Ipad,  said Princess Live. I ordered a coke, waited, and waited, and waited, it showed ordered, preparing on the app.  After being there 45 minutes, we lefted.  My coke was sitting on the bar counter, I took it, it was watered down as it was sitting there so long.  I asked for a new one.  There were 2 staff doing coffee and 1 bar staff.

 

The bar attendants  are so busy filling the orders from the app they can’t fill the orders for walk up.  The app orders are lined up for the services to deliver.  Since I only drink soda, I walk up to the bar.

 

Many people at checkin were  not wearing mask.  As the days are going by, less people wearing masks.

 

My sister had problems connecting to the app, the crew were able to help her.  WIFI sometimes slow during the day.

 

wifi log in with your cabin number instead of booking #.  If you have VPN on phone/IPad remove it for the cruise.  Internet crew very helpful.

 

I did all Princess excursions.  Buses lefted and returned on time.  

 

With the 4 day Bank holiday, 300 kids. There are 3,525 passengers.  3,100 British,  15 Canadians, 290 USA then smaller numbers for other countries.

 

I am staying on for June 4-11 and there are suppose be 200-300 less passengers.

Back to back cruisers received a IN TRANSAT card to show if getting off/on in Southampton.  Cabin account will be carried over to next cruise or can cash out.  Casino account has to be cleared by Friday.

[Eglesbrech]

11 hours ago, caribill said:

 

 

Thus the problem in scheduling meals with DMW months in advance of the cruise. By the time you know the schedule, the time slots you need may not be available anymore.

 

When Princess had traditional dining, they picked the proper time so you could make the shows. Now you have to guess.

 

 

I have seen them change from one segment to another on the same ship.

That is indeed the problem. On my last cruise 8 weeks ago we pre booked dinner in the basis of the reported show times and they were different so effectively useless for those slots.

 

This time we waited until we were onboard to see what the show times were and you guessed it no pre booking slots left. We are effectively second class guests as those with a booking saunter up to the front of the queue on their aisle.

 

 

 

[PacnGoNow]

3 hours ago, phabric said:

I am also on the Sky, our first time 2019 on her first sailing.    It took us maybe 1/2 hr to check from arrival to cabin.  . We had arrival time 11.  I could not get Medallion Net dockside.  The lines moved outside and inside.  If you vaccinated in one line.  Once at the front on line, they directed you to an open agent desk.  Since we did not have our Medallion, she took our passport, vaccination paper and Covid test results.  Someone behind the desk handed her an envelope with our Medallion.  Walked straight onto the ship.

 

it was mentioned that the cabins would be ready at 1pm, we went straight to our cabin which was ready.

 

After a short while we went to Alfredo’s for pizza for lunch , we had to wait a couple of people.

 

I had reserved a 6pm dining for each day at Cielo dining deck aft, have to take the elevator from deck 7 down to 6.  We arrive a few minutes before sometimes a few passengers no real line.  I ask to have the same table each night and we have it.  The waiter and assistant remember want we like.  They appreciated when we told we were going to be there the next night.

 

The 8:15 show the first night the theater was not not full, comedian. Second night, no seats available for 8:15 production show Rock.  The 3 night, we came 1/2 hour earlier and again full, another comedian.  Every night the theater is full at 8:15.  I don’t understand why people leave a seat or two empty and don’t want to move down for others.  We are on the next cruise will see what we missed.

 

We were in Princess Live on the second day, sea day.  Crew were delivering drinks.  I asked can I order a coke, someone would be around. Asked another crew again, same answer.  So, I tried to use my app to order a coke.  On my phone, it said deliver to cabin, I then switched to my Ipad,  said Princess Live. I ordered a coke, waited, and waited, and waited, it showed ordered, preparing on the app.  After being there 45 minutes, we lefted.  My coke was sitting on the bar counter, I took it, it was watered down as it was sitting there so long.  I asked for a new one.  There were 2 staff doing coffee and 1 bar staff.

 

The bar attendants  are so busy filling the orders from the app they can’t fill the orders for walk up.  The app orders are lined up for the services to deliver.  Since I only drink soda, I walk up to the bar.

 

Many people at checkin were  not wearing mask.  As the days are going by, less people wearing masks.

 

My sister had problems connecting to the app, the crew were able to help her.  WIFI sometimes slow during the day.

 

wifi log in with your cabin number instead of booking #.  If you have VPN on phone/IPad remove it for the cruise.  Internet crew very helpful.

 

I did all Princess excursions.  Buses lefted and returned on time.  

 

With the 4 day Bank holiday, 300 kids. There are 3,525 passengers.  3,100 British,  15 Canadians, 290 USA then smaller numbers for other countries.

 

I am staying on for June 4-11 and there are suppose be 200-300 less passengers.

Back to back cruisers received a IN TRANSAT card to show if getting off/on in Southampton.  Cabin account will be carried over to next cruise or can cash out.  Casino account has to be cleared by Friday.

If you vaccinated in one line.  Once at the front on line, they directed you to an open agent desk

Question:

Did you say there was a line for vaccinated?  There was another line for

unvaccinated?

 

[joeecco]

If anyone gets talking to the cruise director, it would be great to hear the plans for future sailings and the reason for changes. We’re a group of 10 so desperately trying to find out to get our table booked with enough time before the shows. 

[Essex Racer]

Onboard now and had a great week - yes there has been queues and the app very temperamental - but overall a great week.

 

Staff have been fantastic and working really hard - its the management not supporting them.

 

Wifi has been slow and dropping out - apparently as a result of a full ship and younger tech savvy passenger base??

[insidecabin]

1 minute ago, Essex Racer said:

Onboard now and had a great week - yes there has been queues and the app very temperamental - but overall a great week.

 

Staff have been fantastic and working really hard - its the management not supporting them.

 

Wifi has been slow and dropping out - apparently as a result of a full ship and younger tech savvy passenger base??

They want everyone to be using the app to do everything  that is independent of the age demographic.

 

The intranet and wifi infrastructure on ship should be robust enough to handle onboard requirements.

 

Connection off the ship(that's not the wifi) is potentially bandwidth restricted if more people want to use high bandwidth stuff like streaming movies. 

[Eglesbrech]

Typical sea day, some interesting activities but the ship is heaving with people.

 

Spoke to a few couples over coffee this morning and they told us the following so it is very much second hand information, I did not see this directly so make of it what you will. Both couples, not in the same party, said that they did see it first hand. Allegedly, on the first formal night there was an actual fight in the queue for the Estrella dining room because of the length of the wait, perceived queue skipping etc. Two “ladies “ started to argue then their male companions started to throw punches. The lady telling me this had a booking and still waited 45 minutes for a table so patience was wearing thin all round. 
 

There was also an incident in the theatre two nights ago, late show. 

 

Now I know about how ships gossip works and a stubbed toe becomes a broken leg from forward to aft however the waiting times at the start of the cruise ring true based on my experience. Thankfully it has improved a bit.

 

I have never heard of anything like this on Princess before.
 

I have to say I have also never seen people 3 sheets to the wind before either on Princess and I have personally seen one or two drunks this on this trip. A lot of new (to Princess) cruisers,  a different demographic, a stuffed ship, queues and all inclusive Princess Plus - what could possibly go wrong.
 

Just attended a very engaging talk from a former Royal butler. For those on the next trip it’s well worth seeing as is the other speaker a navy expert, if they are both still onboard. Some of the better speakers we have seen.

 

I have tried to avoid the subject but apparently there are covid cases onboard. To be expected I suppose with no social distancing and no masks anywhere,  no different to what is happening on dry land.

 

From my perspective, others will have a different experience depending on what the choose to do and at what time, so this is just a reflection on my holiday experience:

 

Embarkation - very quick and easy

 

Baggage delivery - very quick

 

Cabin - spotless and kept that way all week

 

Food - very good, decent range of dishes and generally served hot. One or two not to my taste and several excellent so all good.

 

Theatre - avoided as stuffed full with no space majority of nights. Announced that this is the first time they were back to a full houses (other half of my party go to the late show so first hand information).

 

Restaurants - mixed bag, at the start of the week queues and very long waits for afternoon tea, dinner and Alfredo’s. A couple of nights we walked in after a short wait.

 

Bars - Again very mixed. Stuffed most nights, quieter others. Service pretty slow (our app doesn’t work on 3 different devices). The app seems to get priority over customers actually sitting there in some bars with the notable exception on Take Five.

 

Entertainment- Haven’t seen the shows but the feedback from my party is that some brilliant others lame - but that’s down to personal taste. Guest speakers really excellent.

wifi - slow and patchy. You can’t stream and loading is slow, the copy of the Patter above took ages. Means nothing to me but my OH did a speed test and the numbers right now are:

download is 0.37 Nbps

upload is 0.99 Nbps

Ports -a really nice mix of city and village experiences with lots to see and do DIY and interesting trips further afield provided by Princess.

 

Staff- friendly, very hard working and they have tried so hard this week to give passengers a great holiday. There are simply not enough of them for some reason. (Perhaps some traditional first and second dining and ditching app orders would help).

[Pink-belle]

Thank you so much for taking time to do a live from, and give us your balanced view of your experience onboard. The Scandinavian itinerary is actually one of my favourites, because of the ports. 
 

I’m boarding tomorrow, already been advised that there will again be a large majority of first time with Princess Cruisers. Being outside of half term it may be a slightly older demographic. 
We managed to book via DMW so hope we have the luck of others and those bookings still exist. 
 

Weather looking favourable for the Fjords so it should be a good cruise.  

[Eglesbrech]

13 minutes ago, Pink-belle said:

Thank you so much for taking time to do a live from, and give us your balanced view of your experience onboard. The Scandinavian itinerary is actually one of my favourites, because of the ports. 
 

I’m boarding tomorrow, already been advised that there will again be a large majority of first time with Princess Cruisers. Being outside of half term it may be a slightly older demographic. 
We managed to book via DMW so hope we have the luck of others and those bookings still exist. 
 

Weather looking favourable for the Fjords so it should be a good cruise.  

Have a wonderful trip.

 

Things later in this week have been better so management have obviously been trying to do something to even out the kinks. Let’s hope you benefit from the changes next week.

 

Do try to see the speakers if they are still on (and it’s of interest to you) we really enjoyed them both.

 

Bon voyage.

[Pink-belle]

53 minutes ago, Eglesbrech said:

Have a wonderful trip.

 

Things later in this week have been better so management have obviously been trying to do something to even out the kinks. Let’s hope you benefit from the changes next week.

 

Do try to see the speakers if they are still on (and it’s of interest to you) we really enjoyed them both.

 

Bon voyage.

Thank you, I will make the most of it. Have packed face masks and some other treats, along with the binoculars, if it’s “too crazy” on board will sit on the balcony enjoying the view. 
 

the Royal butler is certainly onboard, I already have him bookmarked.  I like to see the guest speakers, you learn  things you never thought you would find interesting. 
really hoping to have a smooth (early) embarkation, would love to be onboard for the horn salute in honour of the Queen at noon. 

[alpha whiskey]

1 hour ago, Eglesbrech said:

Typical sea day, some interesting activities but the ship is heaving with people.

 

Spoke to a few couples over coffee this morning and they told us the following so it is very much second hand information, I did not see this directly so make of it what you will. Both couples, not in the same party, said that they did see it first hand. Allegedly, on the first formal night there was an actual fight in the queue for the Estrella dining room because of the length of the wait, perceived queue skipping etc. Two “ladies “ started to argue then their male companions started to throw punches. The lady telling me this had a booking and still waited 45 minutes for a table so patience was wearing thin all round. 
 

There was also an incident in the theatre two nights ago, late show. 

 

Now I know about how ships gossip works and a stubbed toe becomes a broken leg from forward to aft however the waiting times at the start of the cruise ring true based on my experience. Thankfully it has improved a bit.

 

I have never heard of anything like this on Princess before.
 

I have to say I have also never seen people 3 sheets to the wind before either on Princess and I have personally seen one or two drunks this on this trip. A lot of new (to Princess) cruisers,  a different demographic, a stuffed ship, queues and all inclusive Princess Plus - what could possibly go wrong.
 

Just attended a very engaging talk from a former Royal butler. For those on the next trip it’s well worth seeing as is the other speaker a navy expert, if they are both still onboard. Some of the better speakers we have seen.

 

I have tried to avoid the subject but apparently there are covid cases onboard. To be expected I suppose with no social distancing and no masks anywhere,  no different to what is happening on dry land.

 

From my perspective, others will have a different experience depending on what the choose to do and at what time, so this is just a reflection on my holiday experience:

 

Embarkation - very quick and easy

 

Baggage delivery - very quick

 

Cabin - spotless and kept that way all week

 

Food - very good, decent range of dishes and generally served hot. One or two not to my taste and several excellent so all good.

 

Theatre - avoided as stuffed full with no space majority of nights. Announced that this is the first time they were back to a full houses (other half of my party go to the late show so first hand information).

 

Restaurants - mixed bag, at the start of the week queues and very long waits for afternoon tea, dinner and Alfredo’s. A couple of nights we walked in after a short wait.

 

Bars - Again very mixed. Stuffed most nights, quieter others. Service pretty slow (our app doesn’t work on 3 different devices). The app seems to get priority over customers actually sitting there in some bars with the notable exception on Take Five.

 

Entertainment- Haven’t seen the shows but the feedback from my party is that some brilliant others lame - but that’s down to personal taste. Guest speakers really excellent.

wifi - slow and patchy. You can’t stream and loading is slow, the copy of the Patter above took ages. Means nothing to me but my OH did a speed test and the numbers right now are:

download is 0.37 Nbps

upload is 0.99 Nbps

Ports -a really nice mix of city and village experiences with lots to see and do DIY and interesting trips further afield provided by Princess.

 

Staff- friendly, very hard working and they have tried so hard this week to give passengers a great holiday. There are simply not enough of them for some reason. (Perhaps some traditional first and second dining and ditching app orders would help).

So, million dollar question...based on this experience would you sail Princess again?

We were on Sky in April, which was a little haphazard in some areas.

We are on Enchanted in a few weeks and hoping for improvement.

[GrammySpo]

59 minutes ago, alpha whiskey said:

So, million dollar question...based on this experience would you sail Princess again?

We were on Sky in April, which was a little haphazard in some areas.

We are on Enchanted in a few weeks and hoping for improvement.

 

[GrammySpo]

Will be joining this ship in a few weeks. At this time who is the cruise director? Do they offer the Chef’s dinner or Winemakers dinner? Thank you for doing this live Wondering what my new “Crooner” option will be since that spot isn’t available on this ship.