Princess newbie sailing to Norwegian Fjords 19 Aug- 2 Sep on Sky Princess!

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Hi all,

 

Im currently on my first ever Princess Cruise, & first ever time in Norway too.

it’s Myself, Husband & Daughter age 10, sharing a Mini Suite which has to be the best cabin we’ve ever had. This is a celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary.

 

Im British, and we live only 1hr 45 drive from Southampton Port. We drove there and parked using CPS at the port.

 

This is unlikely to be ‘live’. I don’t want to promis that and not be able to give it, so I’m just going to be posting random thoughts & experiences on board & I’ll try and answer questions if anyone has them 😃

 

Anyway, Embarkation. QEII terminal. First time here too. we arrived at 10.30 & directed to drive into the area Taxis go to pick up disembarking passengers by mistake. Sat for 10 min until we could Call over a member of staff who told us we should drive back around to where the coaches park. It was bedlam. Couldn’t go far because of the number of taxis pulling out. Just as we’d managed to pull out of the area we were parked a CPS lady ran up to us, directed us to park back up. they’d take our car then & there. we were the first car taken by CPS.
 

You give them the keys, they give you a barcode, off they take your car to be parked in a secure area. This took a few minutes & would ordinarily be very easy if they told you the right place to go 🤦🏼‍♀️ 

 

so, a big mistake turned into a happy accident. Walked 30sec to drop off bags, into departures. Was checked in in minutes. Collected medallion without issue, Then directed to a seating area outside of security where people were snaked around long lines of chairs and told to sit & wait. It was 10.55. Then we were directed to snake out of the lines of chairs we sat on through security which was very efficient and we were on the ship at 11.20!

 

Chatted to lovely lady who worked at the port said last week was absolute chaos. They were not told much information nor given much of a warning about the embarkation times stopping. And they like their embarkation times in Southampton!

It seems in the week they worked out a very efficient system and for us at least, it worked well.

we now know there are around 3800 on the ship. 300 ish kids according to my daughters club info. Not as many kids as we assumed given it’s summer hols here. I think they are all sticking to the Med!

 

Rough figures around 1900 Brits, 900 USA, 250 Canadians. 150 Aussies & Kiwis, and 80 or so very happy Spanish people celebrating their footy win!

the rest are from scores or other countries. Anyone else have more precise figures please feel free to add

 

In fact, if anyone else on the ship sees this, please add anything you wish!

we walked about to explore, sat by the shops and ordered drinks on Ocean Now. With us in 10 minutes. Was impressed with this. Warning though. The selection on Ocean now is limited compared to what’s in the Bars. Quick example, no Apple juice listed. Daughter loves the stuff. Available everywhere on the ship otherwise. We’re not complaining, just being aware.

not every Mocktails is listed, & honestly the food selection on it is poor & that I’d complain about. Especially with the activation charge.

Delivery anywhere is great- if they have the item on it you want. Still a useful service for us, when required.

 

Rooms were ready just after 1. AWSOME!

 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Embarkation day lunch. Estrella MDR.

 

yum! 
 

seevice with a smile and really good food. I love fish & shellfish so you’ll have to excuse the many fish food pics. ‘Seafood eat it’ is my mantra in resurants 😂 

 

anyway, food pics! Forgot to take a picture of min until a few mouthfuls in. Sorry!

 

Husband had the beef & enjoyed that very much. Salmon was moist & flaky. Daughter had the salmon too. Taking after me with the seafood!

 

[phabric]

I have taken Princess Norwegian Fjords 3x. Stay outside and enjoy the scenery.  
 

Enjoy your cruise.

[dides]

Thanks for posting about your experiences - love seeing it from someone else's view!

Great to hear that the port has sorted out a new system to counteract the lack of arrival times.

 

This is this first cruise where the new casual dining changes have been rolled out on Sky Princess so would be interested to see if there is an updated Alfredo's menu if you take your family there!

 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

2nd attempt posting at room info. Here goes….

 

Mini suite, deck 12, forward.

 

cabin attendant is lovely and we were very impressed with the room. We8ve NEVER sails in any cabin close to this size. We usually sail in Balconies, but regular ones. However it’s our 15th wedding anniversary so we splashed out!

 

Sofa is a sofa bed and brilliantly it’s one that flips over into a bed, not a pull out bed. So we don’t have to clamber our it when it’s out to get to the balcony! We’ve done that a few times.

 

2 issues, 1. Our bed. Wow it was like being swallowed by marshamallow! So next day I mentioned it. It’s much better as I think it had a few layers of topper on it. It’s not great. But better. And the issue was sorted first thing.

 

Also at 9.30pm we notices our screen outside our room had turned into the white screen of death. It let us in & out automatically as we approached but otherwise- nothing. Called guest services and told IT we’re finished for the evening - fair enough! Next morning, first thing, it was fixed. Impressed with how quickly they dealt with both issues and without any fuss at all.

 

Luckily I took these pics before the room got a bit messy!

 

 

 

 

 

[villauk]

25 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

Hi all,

 

Im currently on my first ever Princess Cruise, & first ever time in Norway too.

it’s Myself, Husband & Daughter age 10, sharing a Mini Suite which has to be the best cabin we’ve ever had. This is a celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary.

 

Im British, and we live only 1hr 45 drive from Southampton Port. We drove there and parked using CPS at the port.

 

This is unlikely to be ‘live’. I don’t want to promis that and not be able to give it, so I’m just going to be posting random thoughts & experiences on board & I’ll try and answer questions if anyone has them 😃

 

Anyway, Embarkation. QEII terminal. First time here too. we arrived at 10.30 & directed to drive into the area Taxis go to pick up disembarking passengers by mistake. Sat for 10 min until we could Call over a member of staff who told us we should drive back around to where the coaches park. It was bedlam. Couldn’t go far because of the number of taxis pulling out. Just as we’d managed to pull out of the area we were parked a CPS lady ran up to us, directed us to park back up. they’d take our car then & there. we were the first car taken by CPS.
 

You give them the keys, they give you a barcode, off they take your car to be parked in a secure area. This took a few minutes & would ordinarily be very easy if they told you the right place to go 🤦🏼‍♀️ 

 

so, a big mistake turned into a happy accident. Walked 30sec to drop off bags, into departures. Was checked in in minutes. Collected medallion without issue, Then directed to a seating area outside of security where people were snaked around long lines of chairs and told to sit & wait. It was 10.55. Then we were directed to snake out of the lines of chairs we sat on through security which was very efficient and we were on the ship at 11.20!

 

Chatted to lovely lady who worked at the port said last week was absolute chaos. They were not told much information nor given much of a warning about the embarkation times stopping. And they like their embarkation times in Southampton!

It seems in the week they worked out a very efficient system and for us at least, it worked well.

we now know there are around 3800 on the ship. 300 ish kids according to my daughters club info. Not as many kids as we assumed given it’s summer hols here. I think they are all sticking to the Med!

 

Rough figures around 1900 Brits, 900 USA, 250 Canadians. 150 Aussies & Kiwis, and 80 or so very happy Spanish people celebrating their footy win!

the rest are from scores or other countries. Anyone else have more precise figures please feel free to add

 

In fact, if anyone else on the ship sees this, please add anything you wish!

we walked about to explore, sat by the shops and ordered drinks on Ocean Now. With us in 10 minutes. Was impressed with this. Warning though. The selection on Ocean now is limited compared to what’s in the Bars. Quick example, no Apple juice listed. Daughter loves the stuff. Available everywhere on the ship otherwise. We’re not complaining, just being aware.

not every Mocktails is listed, & honestly the food selection on it is poor & that I’d complain about. Especially with the activation charge.

Delivery anywhere is great- if they have the item on it you want. Still a useful service for us, when required.

 

Rooms were ready just after 1. AWSOME!

 

 

Missed bumping into you at the M&G. As I posted on the other thread, we have spoken to many that have made official complaints at GS about the changes to their packages. My DS even went after 11pm last night to sort another issue out and there was a couple next to him complaining about the awful behaviour/treatment shown from Princess.

 

Anyway, we are determined to move on and enjoy the cruise. First night MDR was a disaster regarding the time it took. We went (pre-booked) at 7.10pm and we’re still waiting for out main course at 9pm 🤦‍♀️. We eventually finished at 9.45pm. We gave them the benefit of the doubt, being the first night, and yesterday (on another table) was much quicker .

 

Bergen weather has been tremendous today, considering it’s the wettest city in Europe - we’ve been very fortunate on our previous visits too, 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

7 minutes ago, dides said:

Thanks for posting about your experiences - love seeing it from someone else's view!

Great to hear that the port has sorted out a new system to counteract the lack of arrival times.

 

This is this first cruise where the new casual dining changes have been rolled out on Sky Princess so would be interested to see if there is an updated Alfredo's menu if you take your family there!

 

Hi

 

I don’t think we will visit not to be honest, now it’s chargeable, but I will try and snap a picture of the menu for you when we inevitably go past it, no prob!

 

[dides]

6 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

I don’t think we will visit not to be honest, now it’s chargeable, but I will try and snap a picture of the menu for you when we inevitably go past it, no prob!

 

Now this makes me sad,  Alfredo's was always Princess' best kept secret and now the change means other people won't get to experience it. Thank you for offering to take a pic though! x

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

3 minutes ago, villauk said:

we have spoken to many that have made official complaints at GS about the changes to their packages. My DS even went after 11pm last night to sort another issue out and there was a couple next to him complaining about the awful behaviour/treatment shown from Princess.

Have the other people gotten anywhere with the complaints?

 

honestly we’ve had no issue with the staff so far sorting out 2 issues for us. But the hard sell to upgrade had certainly been racked up. I know it’s always heavy on the pushes to get you to buy packages in the first few days, but wow!

 

The spin on it was exactly as suspected. Enhancing the package etc etc. I mentioned to one member, because I was a little frustrated at it being the 6th or 7th approach, ‘I know this isn’t something you have any control over, but we know that these items used to be included’ she looked sheepish but credit to her, she apologised and said it was frustrating, she could understand the upset, & unfortunately all prices were increasing. Didn’t try and wash over it. I did say to her I hoped that no one gave her a hard time over it, which she appreciated. GS is the place to go to complain. Please let me know If others or yourself have any success on it.

 

im enjoying myself so far, please add to this if you wish to share your experiences I don’t mind. I hope you have a wonderful cruise 😃 

[kiwimum]

34 minutes ago, dides said:

Thanks for posting about your experiences - love seeing it from someone else's view!

Great to hear that the port has sorted out a new system to counteract the lack of arrival times.

 

This is this first cruise where the new casual dining changes have been rolled out on Sky Princess so would be interested to see if there is an updated Alfredo's menu if you take your family there!

 

 Currently onboard the Sky and will stop by sometime and scan the menu.   Walked by this afternoon around 4:00pm, 2 guests, six staff.  
Stopped by GS yesterday to see where we stood with the changes.   What we see in our Travel Summary is what we get.  Was offered the $10 upgrade to the new plus package.  No thank you.   Will use our OBC to visit Alfredo’s if we desire.   Other changes are irrelevant.  
With regard to arrival times.   We had Princess transfer from LHR to ship.  Took just over 3 hours, left LHR at 10:06am, arrived QEII terminal around 1:00pm. After leaving the bus we were constantly on the move.  We had Medallions, QR code, Green Lane, Elite.   The guide did not question QR code, acknowledged medallions and off we went.   Stop at the counter with check in was maybe 2 minutes.   Scanned QR code, checked passports, off we went.  Extremely efficient.  Secret is, do not go at the crack of dawn.   Take your time, relax and then board early afternoon.Happy camper on the Sky.

Edited August 21, 2023 by kiwimum

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

dinner embarkation day.

 

this was the Soleil MDR and we had a reservation for 5.30. We’re an early eaters. Definitely not the experience you had @villauk I’m sorry to hear yours was so different later in the evening. I hope that improves!

 

we were out of there by 7 having eaten 2 courses leisurely. Service friendly and efficient and food- wow. Not a bad dish amount the three. Me, the seafood stew. All the seafood perfectly cooked. Too often places cook seafood either downright badly, or at least a little poorly & make it rubbery. Not so here. I’d have this dish again and again!

 

daughter had the white fish. Beautiful. I tried some. The flavours were so yummy. Husbands chicken. That was HUGE and he loved the dish.

 

we’re not foodies. But love to eat 😂 

 

anyway, pictures, because it’s a food. And it’s cruise food!

 

 

 

Menu:

 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

SEA day and formal night.

 

What did we get up to. Well we went to the trivia, which was fun! Got 16/22 which we were actually pleased with. We don’t often do trivia on cruises recently. Pleased we went! Daughter was doing pretty well. We’d have gotten less right without her for sure but she’s only 10!

 

Daughter went to the kids club in the afternoon which she really really enjoys. Skeeball, air hockey, colouring in T Shirts, Mario Kart competitions, and so much more. I’ll post pics below of the kids club itinerary for anyone interested.

 

while daughter was at the club we went to hear a destination talk about Andalsnes & Tronheim. We’ll definitely attend more talks with the gentleman who gave it. His sense of humour was great. Had a lot of us chuckling quite often 🙃 

 

then it was formal night. Not to invite debate here or anything. This was our experience. I was playing special attention to what others were wearing here because I find it interesting to see how cruise lines compare.

 

husband was in a suit & tie, daughter & I in smart dresses.

I saw everything from Tux, suits with & without tie, collared shirts no suit jacket. 
women in smart gowns like you might see at a wedding, in dresses you might see in a party or nightclub, and I saw women in smart blouses & trousers.

 

what I didn’t see at all in the MDR or actually in the piazza even, was shorts, jeans, t-shirts. I did see a few in the buffet for a snack post theatre, but very few.

im not commenting on what people should/ shouldn’t wear. I don’t mind. Be comfortable. 
 

Most cruisers here were Brits. Followed by USA. Almost Everyone was in formal wear, however that looked to them. Black tie, or any tie, or a jacket not required. Shirt &  trousers are just fine. No idea if anyone got turned away from a MDR for their attire. I just didn’t see anyone not in smart casual at least

 

 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Kids club info: frankly I wanted to join in 😂 

 

 

 

[snoozecrooze]

6 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

We’ll definitely attend more talks with the gentleman who gave it. His sense of humour was great. Had a lot of us chuckling quite often 🙃 

Was this gentleman named Julio, perhaps? He's too funny and I loved his lectures! I strongly recommend attending all of them just to keep your information fresh, and also for some unexpected comic relief. Hope you have an amazing rest of your cruise!

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Formal night food….. MDR Ceilo this time. Reservation 5.50 and again, very yummy, & great service.

 

out in plenty of time to get to the theatre at 7.30 as recommended by others here. Rock opera which I’ll cover later.

 

more food pics! 
 

Me: crab cake starter. Halibut

husband: beef

daughter: fish and chips, with her requested ‘normal’ peas, she’s not a fan of mushy. They did as asked, she approves. Not always easy to get her approval lol

 

pudding- Love boat for daughter this time, and pecan cheesecake for us adults. No complaint at all!

 

 

menus!

 

 

 

 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

7 minutes ago, snoozecrooze said:

Was this gentleman named Julio, perhaps? He's too funny and I loved his lectures! I strongly recommend attending all of them just to keep your information fresh, and also for some unexpected comic relief. Hope you have an amazing rest of your cruise!

Yes!

 

hewas fantastic. We’ll go to as many of his talks as we can now. So funny.

 

and thank you! We’ve been having a fab time so far 😃 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

I’ll chat about Bergen properly tomorrow BUT just to say we’ve had an amazing time & the weather has been fabulous today.

 

Rock Opera.

 

wow! 
 

just wow!

 

I would love to know who the 2 leading men and 2 women are. One of the males in particular had an incredible voice. West end theatre voice. Honestly I’ve been to loads and loads of musicals in the UK. West end & former west end on tour shows.

I hoped this would be good. My expectations were exceeded, and then some.

 

there was a moment when it was clear the leading male singer was about to sing Freddy Mercury’s part in Barcelona. Me, I thought, unkindly, a sceptical ‘right, how’s this going to go then’ husband pretty much thinking the same.

 

what can I say. We had nothing to worry about. He was AMAZING. As far as I’m concerned, a big fan of Freddy, not many can do that justice. He did. 
 

The show was so clever, professional & fun.

 

I just wish I wasn’t too tired to go to the later showing at 10. And confused as to why on a 2 week cruise they seem to be only showing it on one evening. Please sort that Princess.

 

advice. Get there early. 7.30. Seriously. It was heaving and standing room only by the start of the show. 
they release the remaining reserve seats 5 min before the show started. This was still not enough to seat everyone. 
 

Don’t be disappointed. Grab a drink & sit down to wait for half hour. It was worth it

 

i just am sad I need to go one another cruise to see it again. Good enough excuse to tell the husband do we think 🤔 😜 

[Nautigal]

Congratulations on your 15th Wedding Anniversary and your first Princess Cruise!  Looks like you're off to a great start getting settled on board ship, enjoying the food, drink and entertainment. Hubby & I have  enjoyed sailing many Princess cruises over the past 20+ years, and are looking forward to our first Sky Princess cruise in June 2024, Norway, Land of Midnight Sun, with itinerary similar (not exactly same) to your sailing, so we'll be following along to learn more about ports through your insights. We hope you and your family enjoy a wonderful cruise!  Happy Sails!

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Thank you so much

 

I should have put our itinerary up earlier for anyone reading.
 

Here we are:

 

at sea

Bergen

flam

andalsnes

trondheim

at sea

honningsvag

Tromso

at sea

Olden

Skjolden

at sea

Brugge

at sea

Southampton

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

I promise to cover Bergen later but this was my view when I stepped onto the balcony half hour ago, Today in Flåm:

 

I just can’t express my delight enough

 

Gorgeous ☺️ 

 

view left & view right

 

 

 

[Tiggipaws]

15 hours ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

SEA day and formal night.

 

What did we get up to. Well we went to the trivia, which was fun! Got 16/22 which we were actually pleased with. We don’t often do trivia on cruises recently. Pleased we went! Daughter was doing pretty well. We’d have gotten less right without her for sure but she’s only 10!

 

Daughter went to the kids club in the afternoon which she really really enjoys. Skeeball, air hockey, colouring in T Shirts, Mario Kart competitions, and so much more. I’ll post pics below of the kids club itinerary for anyone interested.

 

while daughter was at the club we went to hear a destination talk about Andalsnes & Tronheim. We’ll definitely attend more talks with the gentleman who gave it. His sense of humour was great. Had a lot of us chuckling quite often 🙃 

 

then it was formal night. Not to invite debate here or anything. This was our experience. I was playing special attention to what others were wearing here because I find it interesting to see how cruise lines compare.

 

husband was in a suit & tie, daughter & I in smart dresses.

I saw everything from Tux, suits with & without tie, collared shirts no suit jacket. 
women in smart gowns like you might see at a wedding, in dresses you might see in a party or nightclub, and I saw women in smart blouses & trousers.

 

what I didn’t see at all in the MDR or actually in the piazza even, was shorts, jeans, t-shirts. I did see a few in the buffet for a snack post theatre, but very few.

im not commenting on what people should/ shouldn’t wear. I don’t mind. Be comfortable. 
 

Most cruisers here were Brits. Followed by USA. Almost Everyone was in formal wear, however that looked to them. Black tie, or any tie, or a jacket not required. Shirt &  trousers are just fine. No idea if anyone got turned away from a MDR for their attire. I just didn’t see anyone not in smart casual at least

 

 

Hello-

Glad you are enjoying your cruise on the Sky Princess. Finding your observations very interesting.  I will be sailimg on her in a few months. When you say smart gowns, do you mean long ones? Thinking of taking a couple for formal nights but don't want to look out of place

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

4 hours ago, Tiggipaws said:

When you say smart gowns, do you mean long ones? Thinking of taking a couple for formal nights but don't want to look out of place

Yes that right. Long Dresses. However people were wearing dresses of all lengths. It was pretty varied. Nobody was in shorts & t-shirt. Or even jeans. But otherwise honestly it’s seems to be as long as it’s ‘smart’ for want of a better word, wear what you are comfortable in. women were in long smart trousers & blouses too.

Observed that most women were in dresses

 

all men I saw had at least a collared shirt. Long or short sleeves were both seen

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Bergen. 6.30pm all aboard so a decent length day.

 

Buffet food

 

we ate exclusively in the buffet today. We were up later for breakfast, & didn’t know what time we’d be back for dinner.

 

Buffet food could have been warmer- but that’s pretty normal in my experience. It wasn’t cold unless it should be, so that’s ok.

 

great selection. Salad bars, themed section, carvery, kids section where I saw plenty of adults getting food too. Curries, rice dishes, minute steak, white fish, pork loins, so much to see & eat.

 

we went at odder times. Got back from Bergen at 3.30. Had dinner at 8pm. So because it wasn’t peak time, it was Easy to get seats, but still a great selection of food to choose from.

 

Breakfast in the buffet was ok- all the hot breakfast items seen in a full English, egg station for fresh eggs, fruits, cereals, yogurts, pastries where you would find the puddings other parts of the day.

 

oh, puddings we’re decent. I was expecting a lot of dry cake but only one I tried was that. A strawberry layer cake was soooo good. I picked up the last one- I can see why!

 

Note: you will see puddings previously seen in the MDR. That Pecan Cheesecake from the MDR made an appearance so we had it twice 👍 😋 

 

only difference- not presented in any way other than on a plate. Doesn’t matter. Tasted great.

 

Today we were in the buffet on our return from Flam at 2. It wasn’t full, but it was much busier for sure. 

[JG&Lcruisingnewbies]

Right- Bergen sightseeing. For the most part we explore on our own.

Because I have some health issues & can’t often cope with full days we need to be pretty flexible with times. If I get overwhelmed, we can return to the ship at anytime and I can chill on the balcony 😊 

 

we have 2 organised trips only this cruise. Flam today via Princess & North Cape tour independently from Honningsvag. More on those later.

 

Bergen: we explored Bryggen, often wonky wooden buildings complete with alleyways full of some lovely quirky shops full of locally made items, as well as Places with the usual tourist tat. We buy tat too. But it was so nice to get a locally painted picture of Bergen & a handmade warm woollen headband for my daughter.

 

 

 

 

 

se also went up the Funicular, which had a great view over the city & a walk to a great adventure playground. Go past the playground next to the wooden troll close to the station and up the hill into the woods- it was great fun for the daughter. And me tbh 😂 

the cafe up the top sold very yummy fresh Norwegian cinnamon buns. Toilets were packed & long line - best avoided if you can.

tip: buy your tickets online. There was a long queue snaking around outside. We had our QR codes, went via a separate line and was on the train in 5 minutes. 

 

 

Train has glass roof. Standing only here. And it was full.

 

Funicular station

we REALLY lucked out with the weather. 21 degrees perhaps. Forecast rain but didn’t get it 😃

 

Walked through the fisherman’s market. Brought up in the south east of England in a fishing town I’ve seen a few of these. But this was something else. Lots of stalls had areas you could sit & eat where they would cook the fresh fish there and then for you. Never seen Sea urchin for sale before 🤷‍♀️ I’d of tried it if I could though.

 

 

 

otherwise it was just exploring. It’s a wonderful city easily walkable. Port to Bryggen in 20 min. 15 to the fisherman market. 20 min in the other direction for the funicular.

 

 

overall a great day exploring. 5.5 miles walked but it didn’t feel like it over the hours were were there.

 

[Gettingwarmer]

37 minutes ago, JG&Lcruisingnewbies said:

Tip: buy your tickets online. There was a long queue snaking around outside. We had our QR codes, went via a separate line and was on the train in 5 minutes. 

Thanks for all your great photos. Did you buy your tickets online on the day or before you left on the cruise?