Live from the Sky Princess, 15 day Transatlantic, 10 Nov - 25 Nov

[trinitygirl]

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well.  It's been a couple of months since I was active on CC with that 21 night European cruise on the Enchanted back in August.  I have been busy making my way through Italy, France and Portugal and London and not thinking about this cruise really at all, until a couple of days ago.  Yesterday I made my way to Victoria Coach station kind of reluctantly - I LOVE London and can never spend enough time there, the past two weeks went by so quickly!

 

The transfer to Southampton was a bit of a dogs breakfast IMHO.  The information on the personaliser said to check in by 10.15am, not to arrive earlier than that, and that the first coach left at 10.30am.  After stressing out because the traffic was so bad with the rain and the roadworks, that the 15 minute taxi ride took 40 minutes, I did in fact get there right on 10.15am, only to discover that I didn't need to be there until 11.30am.  A lot of people had obviously arrived a lot earlier than 10.15 and were on the first bus that left at 11.30.  Having more than an hour to wait, I checked my bags and then headed down Buckingham Palace Road to have a look at the palace - I was in London for a fortnight, was out and about all day every day and most evenings, and never saw the palace in all that time!  Anyway, I made my way back by 11.30 as instructed and then ... spent another 40 minutes waiting for the bus to show up.  Finally at 12.10 the bus showed up, we boarded, and around 12.30 we were off.  Less than an hour later the driver announced that he had to take a statutory break for 45 minutes so we stopped at a truck park where we had 45 minutes to use the facilities.  We got back under way after 2.30pm and then there was an accident on the motorway that slowed us down.  Departure time was supposed to be 4pm so people were getting stressed but the one good thing about it being a Princess endeavour - they couldn't leave without us.   We arrived at the ship just on 4pm and were waved on board very quickly and then ... the ship didn't depart until about 6.30pm after all.

 

I am in a very very lovely suite - A102 - courtesy of the Covid Isolation cruise credits Princess gave me back in August.  I knew I would not be able to go on another cruise before the credits expired next August, so I bid the whole amount (just under $3000 AU) on an upgrade back in September and two days later got an email notifying me that the bid had been accepted.  This suite is huge, the bedroom is the same size as my sitting room at home, and the bath is big and deep - a total pleasure.  The only issue is just how forward it is = even the walk from the forward lifts seems like a really long way.  Yesterday, after I dropped my bags, I went rushing all the way aft to get to the cruise critic drinks in the wake bar that started at 3.30pm - wow that was a long walk.  

 

We have three sea days then a day in the Azores (hopefully - the seas are very rough at the moment so I won't be surprised if we can't visit), then five more sea days before we get to the Caribbean.  I have a ton of books to read but the way today has already gone, I may not get through all of them.  After the business of the last few months, I am really looking foward to just relaxing and unwinding before the travel starts up again.  As well as Azores, we visit Antigua, San Juan, St Maarten, and Turks & Caico.  I have not been to any of those islands before other than San Juan, so I am looking forward to excursions at all of them.  We finish in Fort Lauderdale on Nov 25 at which point I will catch a taxi over to the Celebrity Reflection for 14 days - that cruise will be a lot more port intensive but again, with only a couple of exceptions I haven't been to those islands so looking forward to exploring,

 

So what can I tell you so far?  The new vegan menu has been rolled out - I was presented with it last night and was very happy to mix items from the main menu with the vegan menu for a lovely dinner selection.  I am super happy to have more choice in the evening.   This morning I went to Sabatinis for Suite Breakfast and it was fantastic.  They brought me a chai latte even though it wasn't on the menu, and added spinach to the eggs and hollandaise already on the menu.  The eggs were easily the best poached eggs I've had on a cruise - the yolks were orange and runny, the whites perfectly cooked, and it was actual hollandaise - a huge step up from the bullets and cheese sauce served in the main dining room on Eggs Florentine day.

I went up to the concierge lounge last night before dinner and was blown away by how lovely that is and how helpful the staff are. I was told that there is food in there for breakfast and lunch too, as well as the ample and lovely looking snacks on offer last night.  I am heading back there tonight for the welcome drinks, apparently the captain will attend around 5.30pm.  After that I am going to Sabatinis for dinner:  when I called last night to make arrangements for the complimentary first  night dinner, I was told that in fact I can take that complimentary dinner any night and since I was exhausted I decided to leave it until tonight. 

 

Today I went to the spa and had a pedicure followed by a massage.  I booked last night to take advantage of the 10/20/30% discount deal. The massage was supposed to be deep tissue but it did not hurt nearly enough.  I am going to ring in the next couple of days and tactfully arrange to have next week's massage given by someone who is a bit more physical.  I had a lovely lunch in the main dining room (the reserve class or whatever it is called now is port side Soleil down on deck 5) watching the waves (which are 13 foot according to the captain, which doesn't sound like a lot but the ship is very very bumpy at the moment) and then headed to my first ever Craft session:  we made an origani tulip which was both hilarious but also fun - sitting around a table with a bunch of women from all over the place trying to follow instructions from a very patient crew member.

 

Well, I think that's all I have to say at the moment.  I will post a few photos and if you have any questions, feel free to shout out.

 

:  )

 

Emma

 

 

Aloha Deck, Suite 102 - sitting room before my stuff exploded all over it.

 

Enormous and beautiful bedroom.  Again, before my stuff exploded all over it.

 

Best bathroom at sea.  I had a fabulous bath last night (I bought Aveda oil especially) and what a treat it was.

 

Lovely fruit bowl.  I have called Room services to get the booze switched out - I arrived to Whisky and Vodka and beer, and have asked for gin, brandy, and tonic.

 

New vegan menu and a screen shot of the main dining room menu.

 

The view from that glorious window this morning:

 

Lovely suite breakfast at Sabatinis:

 

Lovely vegetarian burrito for lunch:

 

Hilarious effort at crafting:

 

Edited November 11, 2023 by trinitygirl

[LACruiser88]

Great introduction!  So glad you made it to the ship in one piece.  And now, it looks like you are set.  Have a great journey!  🙂

[dickinson]

Thanks for posting!  I'll be following along.  Sounds like a big ordeal using Princess' transfer.  Hopefully it doesn't happen all the time.  

[trinitygirl]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

Thanks for posting!  I'll be following along.  Sounds like a big ordeal using Princess' transfer.  Hopefully it doesn't happen all the time.  

Yes, if I had a do-over I would have caught the train.  Arriving on board so late really ruined my first day.

[trinitygirl]

1 hour ago, dickinson said:

Thanks for posting!  I'll be following along.  Sounds like a big ordeal using Princess' transfer.  Hopefully it doesn't happen all the time.  

Yes, if I had a do-over I would catch the train.  Arriving on board so late really ruined my first day.

[memoak]

6 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

Hi everyone, I hope you are all well.  It's been a couple of months since I was active on CC with that 21 night European cruise on the Enchanted back in August.  I have been busy making my way through Italy, France and Portugal and London and not thinking about this cruise really at all, until a couple of days ago.  Yesterday I made my way to Victoria Coach station kind of reluctantly - I LOVE London and can never spend enough time there, the past two weeks went by so quickly!

 

The transfer to Southampton was a bit of a dogs breakfast IMHO.  The information on the personaliser said to check in by 10.15am, not to arrive earlier than that, and that the first coach left at 10.30am.  After stressing out because the traffic was so bad with the rain and the roadworks, that the 15 minute taxi ride took 40 minutes, I did in fact get there right on 10.15am, only to discover that I didn't need to be there until 11.30am.  A lot of people had obviously arrived a lot earlier than 10.15 and were on the first bus that left at 11.30.  Having more than an hour to wait, I checked my bags and then headed down Buckingham Palace Road to have a look at the palace - I was in London for a fortnight, was out and about all day every day and most evenings, and never saw the palace in all that time!  Anyway, I made my way back by 11.30 as instructed and then ... spent another 40 minutes waiting for the bus to show up.  Finally at 12.10 the bus showed up, we boarded, and around 12.30 we were off.  Less than an hour later the driver announced that he had to take a statutory break for 45 minutes so we stopped at a truck park where we had 45 minutes to use the facilities.  We got back under way after 2.30pm and then there was an accident on the motorway that slowed us down.  Departure time was supposed to be 4pm so people were getting stressed but the one good thing about it being a Princess endeavour - they couldn't leave without us.   We arrived at the ship just on 4pm and were waved on board very quickly and then ... the ship didn't depart until about 6.30pm after all.

 

I am in a very very lovely suite - A102 - courtesy of the Covid Isolation cruise credits Princess gave me back in August.  I knew I would not be able to go on another cruise before the credits expired next August, so I bid the whole amount (just under $3000 AU) on an upgrade back in September and two days later got an email notifying me that the bid had been accepted.  This suite is huge, the bedroom is the same size as my sitting room at home, and the bath is big and deep - a total pleasure.  The only issue is just how forward it is = even the walk from the forward lifts seems like a really long way.  Yesterday, after I dropped my bags, I went rushing all the way aft to get to the cruise critic drinks in the wake bar that started at 3.30pm - wow that was a long walk.  

 

We have three sea days then a day in the Azores (hopefully - the seas are very rough at the moment so I won't be surprised if we can't visit), then five more sea days before we get to the Caribbean.  I have a ton of books to read but the way today has already gone, I may not get through all of them.  After the business of the last few months, I am really looking foward to just relaxing and unwinding before the travel starts up again.  As well as Azores, we visit Antigua, San Juan, St Maarten, and Turks & Caico.  I have not been to any of those islands before other than San Juan, so I am looking forward to excursions at all of them.  We finish in Fort Lauderdale on Nov 25 at which point I will catch a taxi over to the Celebrity Reflection for 14 days - that cruise will be a lot more port intensive but again, with only a couple of exceptions I haven't been to those islands so looking forward to exploring,

 

So what can I tell you so far?  The new vegan menu has been rolled out - I was presented with it last night and was very happy to mix items from the main menu with the vegan menu for a lovely dinner selection.  I am super happy to have more choice in the evening.   This morning I went to Sabatinis for Suite Breakfast and it was fantastic.  They brought me a chai latte even though it wasn't on the menu, and added spinach to the eggs and hollandaise already on the menu.  The eggs were easily the best poached eggs I've had on a cruise - the yolks were orange and runny, the whites perfectly cooked, and it was actual hollandaise - a huge step up from the bullets and cheese sauce served in the main dining room on Eggs Florentine day.

I went up to the concierge lounge last night before dinner and was blown away by how lovely that is and how helpful the staff are. I was told that there is food in there for breakfast and lunch too, as well as the ample and lovely looking snacks on offer last night.  I am heading back there tonight for the welcome drinks, apparently the captain will attend around 5.30pm.  After that I am going to Sabatinis for dinner:  when I called last night to make arrangements for the complimentary first  night dinner, I was told that in fact I can take that complimentary dinner any night and since I was exhausted I decided to leave it until tonight. 

 

Today I went to the spa and had a pedicure followed by a massage.  I booked last night to take advantage of the 10/20/30% discount deal. The massage was supposed to be deep tissue but it did not hurt nearly enough.  I am going to ring in the next couple of days and tactfully arrange to have next week's massage given by someone who is a bit more physical.  I had a lovely lunch in the main dining room (the reserve class or whatever it is called now is port side Soleil down on deck 5) watching the waves (which are 13 foot according to the captain, which doesn't sound like a lot but the ship is very very bumpy at the moment) and then headed to my first ever Craft session:  we made an origani tulip which was both hilarious but also fun - sitting around a table with a bunch of women from all over the place trying to follow instructions from a very patient crew member.

 

Well, I think that's all I have to say at the moment.  I will post a few photos and if you have any questions, feel free to shout out.

 

:  )

 

Emma

 

 

Aloha Deck, Suite 102 - sitting room before my stuff exploded all over it.

 

Enormous and beautiful bedroom.  Again, before my stuff exploded all over it.

 

Best bathroom at sea.  I had a fabulous bath last night (I bought Aveda oil especially) and what a treat it was.

 

Lovely fruit bowl.  I have called Room services to get the booze switched out - I arrived to Whisky and Vodka and beer, and have asked for gin, brandy, and tonic.

 

New vegan menu and a screen shot of the main dining room menu.

 

The view from that glorious window this morning:

 

Lovely suite breakfast at Sabatinis:

 

Lovely vegetarian burrito for lunch:

 

Hilarious effort at crafting:

 

It sounds like you ate in the MDR on embarkation night. My question is why didn’t you take the advantage of a free Sabatini’s dinner. Lots of pasta choices

[dickinson]

58 minutes ago, memoak said:

It sounds like you ate in the MDR on embarkation night. My question is why didn’t you take the advantage of a free Sabatini’s dinner. Lots of pasta choices

She explains it in her OP.  She was tired and they said she could use it the next day instead.

[avonlady6390]

Hope you have a wonderful trip crossing over I will be on the sky in January.

[memoak]

2 hours ago, dickinson said:

She explains it in her OP.  She was tired and they said she could use it the next day instead.

To be honest I find the service on Sabatini’s to be very quick since we only have an app and a pasta. 

[trinitygirl]

13 hours ago, memoak said:

It sounds like you ate in the MDR on embarkation night. My question is why didn’t you take the advantage of a free Sabatini’s dinner. Lots of pasta choices

I atethere last night.  Turns out that you do not have to use that free dinner invite on embarkation night.  When I rang to book, the crew member asked which night and when I queried, she said I could use it any evening.  Since I was super tired on embarkation night and wanted to get unpacked and in bed, I left it til last night. It was super delicious, and all the better for being rested up.

[Rick&Jeannie]

We are onboard with you...hope to meet you at the M&G today. 

[trinitygirl]

3 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

We are onboard with you...hope to meet you at the M&G today. 

GDI!….  I forgot about the meet and greet!  I went to the Atlantic talk in Princess Theatre and when I found myself on deck 6 at midday I headed to the dining room for lunch and from there to the crafting session and I just got back to my cabin to find my itinerary for today and there it was.  Darn!

[rhblake]

Emma,

Thank you for all the information. We are sailing on the Sky for 14 days beginning Dec. 2nd. We also bid for a suite and were successful and will be staying in Premium suite B102, right below yours. This will be our first experience in a Princess suite and your info makes it sound wonderful.

[trinitygirl]

1 hour ago, rhblake said:

Emma,

Thank you for all the information. We are sailing on the Sky for 14 days beginning Dec. 2nd. We also bid for a suite and were successful and will be staying in Premium suite B102, right below yours. This will be our first experience in a Princess suite and your info makes it sound wonderful.

Congratulations - I know how exciting that is!  And it is fabulous - it will be hard to go back to my normal status.  Just now I called room service to inquire about the Vegan menu for tonight (the menu changes daily and is not listed online) and the upshot is that the lovely man from Concierge is going to bring a copy to my stateroom momentarily!  It is formal night tonight and I am going to dine in solitary splendor in this lovely cabin since one of the perks is ordering whatever you want from any of the menus on board.  You will have a blast!

[CruzeQueen2]

@trinitygirl Be sure to try out the afternoon tea service as well. Love that forward cabin! Even if it is so far away from the concierge lounge! Enjoy...

[kywildcatfanone]

Can you tell if they have coke zero in cans and the Lavazza coffee on board?

[trinitygirl]

 

Hello lovely people, greetings from the tail end of a second sea day.   Picking up from where I left off yesterday, I headed up to the Concierge lounge on Deck 14 at 5pm for the welcome party being held in there.  All the senior staff seemed to be present and they all made their way around the tables, introducing themselves and explaining what they do.  I shook hands with the captain and asked him about the swell (4 meters, not going to get any higher) and the regular banging/shudder I feel in my suite - it turns out its the anchor! When the big waves hit, the anchor is pushed up from its resting place and bangs against the ship, nothing to worry about.  The crew were very attentive at bringing drinks and canapes around (the gentleman next to me managed to get through 4 glasses of wine before I was half way down my G&T - I am a little in awe) but as I was heading off to dinner at Sabatini's, I didn't partake.   I had a thoroughly enjoyable dinner at Sabatini's, with a glass of prosecco to accompany the delicious truffle-filled arancino. I ate more than a few suppli in Rome back in July and haven't had any since I left Italy in mid September - I have obviously been away long enough because I enjoyed them.  Then I had the burrata salad - as always the tomatoes were a pale imitation of the real thing, but the burrata was fresh and milky, and very enjoyable.  I had the trofie with pesto for my main course and again, I ate a LOT of really excellent pesto during my week in Genoa and haven't felt like touching it since I left but this was good!  The pasta was just a little past al-dente but really, that's me being Italy-level picky.  This was a really good dish of pasta for a cruise ship kitchen.  Then I finished off the meal (reluctantly, I was full) with the deconstructed tiramisu which was delicious - perhaps not as soft and creamy as I prefer, but worth the calories anyway.  I was dining using the free suite dinner perk, but I also have a free specialty dining credit as part of my booking so I am going to back there towards the end of the cruise, and that time I will try the eggplant parmigana and the minestrone which both looked good.  I don't know how anyone could eat 6 courses in one setting - the portions are no where near small enough for that!

 

With all those carbs and the really rough seas, I slept like a baby last night, being rocked violently in the cradle.  I decided not to attempt walking up on top deck before breakfast but am hoping that I will be able to get back into this pattern tomorrow if things continue to smooth out and the rain stays away. 

 

I had breakfast in Sabatini's again, this time they put together the plate I asked for, with scrambled egg, spinach and avocado - they brought me a whole avo, but since that would have been a waste, the waiter took away half and promised it would not be thrown away.  They also tried to remedy the chai situation - yesterday it was sickly sweet, so today I asked for no sugar.  but it turns out they don't use actual tea to make it, but a flavoured syrup which is presweetened.  So instead they only used 1/3 of the amount of syrup and that made it much less (but still too) sweet.  Lesson learned.  One gentleman this morning had brought his own tea and they just filled his pot with boiling water - I wish I had thought to do that!  

 

This morning I attended one of the enrichment talks in the Princess Theatre, about the Atlantic Ocean.  It wasn't really about the Atlantic - after giving us a few facts she then spent most of the talk discussing whales and sea birds.  It was interesting but to be honest, I didn't really feel intellectually stretched in any way.... cest la vie.  I had an unsatisfactory lunch in the main dining room when I could (if I had not forgotten) have been at the CC meet and greet...  and then went crafting again.  Today it was something called Quilling - I thought it was a typo and that we would be learning about quilting, but it turns out quilling involves winding tiny strips of paper into tiny little shapes and gluing them on card.  Another thing that turns out not to be one of my hidden talents, but it was fun to give it a go.  I had a lovely afternoon nap (unintentionally - I turned on the movie See How They Run (which was shown up at MUTS this morning but it was so cold and windy and water was being sprayed everywhere so that turned out to be a non-starter for me) but alas  I managed to watch less than 3 minutes of the movie before the rocking had put me out like a light.  I am going to try again as soon as I finish typing up this entry, but this time I am going to watch from the sitting room - hopefully the fact that the sofa is much less comfy than the bed will help me focus. 

 

The concierge crew member (they are SO lovely) just arrived with the vegan menu and it looks amazing so I just put in my dinner order (adding in the hazelnut dacquoise from the main menu) and ordered a glass of wine to balance things out. 

 

Tomorrow is another sea day!  They are going so quickly!  Hopefully I will be able to get a walk in before breakfast but then my plan is basically to rinse and repeat!

 

Some photos that you may or may not enjoy...

 

A few pictures of the concierge lounge this morning before breakfast.

There is a second room of chairs and tables just to the left of this photo - it was full last night, but this morning they had the door closed.

 

 

Just in case  you are curious, I took a photo of the inside - you can see that they don't use the right cheese because while the balls are perfectly fried, in Italy that cheese would be molten and gooey - painfully so if you are not careful.  but its real truffle in there, and the whole effect was yum.

 

 

Again, not really Italian because they never pair balsamic with cheese in this way, but yummy anyway. 

The Trofie was just a tiny bit over cooked but the pesto was very good and the pine nuts were excellent - creamy and fresh, not a hint of bitterness.  Lovely.

I am a bit old school - don't mess with a masterpiece unless your version is definitely an improvement and I don't think they quite hit the mark with the tiramisu.

 

Breakfast this morning - the granola parfait is delicious, unsweetened and fresh.  And I always feel good if I can get 1-2 of my veggie servings in with breakfast so today was another winner.

 

 

and these showed up in my cabin while I was taking a nap - I think it might because its formal night?  I plan to try them while watching the movie later.

and here is tonight's vegan menu, if anyone is interested:

Edited November 12, 2023 by trinitygirl

[trinitygirl]

34 minutes ago, CruzeQueen2 said:

@trinitygirl Be sure to try out the afternoon tea service as well. Love that forward cabin! Even if it is so far away from the concierge lounge! Enjoy...

it is SO far away!!  I will definitely try the afternoon tea sometime later in the week. thanks for reminding me - I had forgotten that was an option.

[trinitygirl]

24 minutes ago, kywildcatfanone said:

Can you tell if they have coke zero in cans and the Lavazza coffee on board?

Hi, I have no idea but I will have a look when I am in the Concierge lounge tomorrow and let you know - even if they don't have them there, I know they will be able to tell me.

[Cruise Raider]

@trinitygirl

if you find yourself by the Take 5 bar, please let Amel (one of the bartenders there) that his parents in California send their love.  
Oh, and Corinne is one of our favorite CD’s!  You are so lucky!  
 

[gsmith2424]

Has anyone else noticed a credit for Port Fees/Taxes on your folio for this cruise? We got one for almost $20 and have no idea why. Wanted to see if anyone else has seen this and if so they know the reason.

[Upper Bob]

Hi Emma, by any chance is Igor the Suite Manager on the Sky right now? We have had him as the concierge on a past cruise and he was amazing. We saw him on the Discovery back in May (he was the Suite Manager) and he said he was transferring to the Sky this fall. We will be on the Sky next February and will be bidding for an upgrade to a suite.

[Crown Cruiser]

Hi Emma - could you tell me the name of the head waiter in Sabatini’s?  Thanks!

[trinitygirl]

4 hours ago, gsmith2424 said:

Has anyone else noticed a credit for Port Fees/Taxes on your folio for this cruise? We got one for almost $20 and have no idea why. Wanted to see if anyone else has seen this and if so they know the reason.

I haven’t found this on my Journey Account.  

[trinitygirl]

43 minutes ago, Upper Bob said:

Hi Emma, by any chance is Igor the Suite Manager on the Sky right now? We have had him as the concierge on a past cruise and he was amazing. We saw him on the Discovery back in May (he was the Suite Manager) and he said he was transferring to the Sky this fall. We will be on the Sky next February and will be bidding for an upgrade to a suite.

Ivan Petrovic is the suite experience manager, and Giorgia Tognetti is the Suite Experience Concierge. I don’t think i have met Ivan, but Giorgia is wonderful.