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

[trinitygirl]

An update on Bingo- it is happening.  The CD just did her morning update and said ‘Bingo is back’ so there you go. 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just now, Bedruthen said:

  Ever get the feeling that someone is just making it up, instead of actually checking the facts.

Absolutely.  

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just now, trinitygirl said:

An update on Bingo- it is happening.  The CD just did her morning update and said ‘Bingo is back’ so there you go. 

I must have missed something...something happened to bingo?

[trinitygirl]

[trinitygirl]

Just now, Rick&Jeannie said:

I must have missed something...something happened to bingo?

No idea.  I was just quoting what the CD said this morning.  I hadn’t seen any mention of Bingo previously but this morning I came to the quiz in Vista lounge and there is every sign of Bingo.

[trinitygirl]

Greetings everyone, time for a quick update before I head off to today's crafting session.  It has been a very relaxing few days since I last posted an update.  We had the drama of a helicopter rescue at sea, and a couple of days of pretty bumpy seas - last night in particular was pretty full on.  At one point I actually lifted up off the mattress as the ship dropped after a big wave.  The slapping of the stablisers as they hit the water is impressive, but not as scary as the sound of the anchor hitting the hull which has now stopped completely = as the Concierge promised a few days back, now that we have changed paths, those currents have gone.   The outside pressure has dropped - we can open our balcony doors again, and I didn't have any recurrence of that droning noise that kept me away a couple of nights ago.  I just spent an hour in a lounger overlooking the wake pool and it was positively pleasant, although you can definitely still feel the movement inside.

 

 

We had a pirate party and a lovely afternoon tea in the concierge lounge, and tonight is the Captain's Club cocktail party.   Last night was the second formal night but it was so soon after the last one that I had room service and enjoyed the night at home.   I went and saw the Spotlight Bar production on Wed night and it was so interesting to compare this version to the version we saw on the Enchanted in August - some passengers I spoke to were convinced there were new musical numbers on this version, but I think its just because there are some very strong singers and they change the way the songs sound.  One of the songs I loved most on the Enchanted was very meh in this version, because the male singer was much less charismatic (IMHO).   I watched the Olympic bean bag toss yesterday and it was hilarious and enthralling in equal measure - its amazing how the most trivial things are elevated when you are at sea far from the real world.  And I have a 50% success rate at the trivia quizzes which, considering, is pretty good.   And I am still failing at crafting, but loving the experience.  I have been to a few of the Atlantic Ocean seminars and learned lots of interesting stuff about octopuses and jelly fish and sharks, and I went to a Bucket List Cruises seminar and got some ideas for future cruises that sound like fun...

 

Two more sea days before we dock in Antigua - I can't believe how fast an entire week can just disappear like that. 

 

Some photos for those of you who are interested...

 

More concierge lounge events...

 

Spotlight Bar is a really fun production.

 

For the first formal night I came home to a plate with 6 chocolates but it was not good chocolate so I left 5.5 of them behind.  The second formal night plate contained two truffles which were full of ganache and delicious - I ate both of them!

 

I have used one of my two casual dining credits with a late lunch at Alfredos - it was just as good as I remembered.

 

 

The piazza fills up quickly and there isn't a spare seat to be found pretty much all day long.  Now having seen how tiny those interior cabins are, I don't blame people for wanting to stake out more space during the day.

 

The sun has (kind of) finally come out after three days of incessant rain.  It's still cold and windy, but positively pleasant in comparison.  No one is touching the pools (the waves are so high it looks dangerous) but the loungers are filling up with people under towels and blankets.

 

 

Emma tries her hand at crafts...

 

Who knew how intelligent resourceful and interesting octopuses are???

 

Future cruise dreaming....

 

Extra blueberries and spinach on the side, brown toast and three teabags in the teapot - the Sabatini waitstaff pick up on your preferences so quickly!

 

 

 

more of the Vegan menus - it is so great to have more than one choice every night!

 

Some food photos - I am not very diligent about taking them so they are fairly random - sorry!

These were the dry mumbai wraps - really spicy and delicious.

 

the roast pear and apricot starter was yum! and pretty to boot.

 

Whoever it was who told me, when you see indian on the menu, order it, was so on the money.  This looks a bit blah but it was super flavourful.

as was this - it was a red pepper pasta dish with nutritional yeast - super umami and yum.

[phabric]

Is there a charge for the craft making?

[Ugarte]

Who knew that the reverberation of an anchor repeatedly slamming into the port side of a cruise ship would sound just like the strike of an orchestral timpani in C, and that the concordant slam of its mirror on the starboard side would be a perfect major third lower in pitch. Never a dull moment on the Sky Princess.

[trinitygirl]

1 hour ago, phabric said:

Is there a charge for the craft making?

No, its free!

[RenieRaider]

12 hours ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

I must have missed something...something happened to bingo?

Some cruises no longer have Bingo. Glad to hear Sky Princess does.

[Tyskie]

@trinitygirl

Thank You for sharing the Vegan Menus - although I'm not Vegan, there are many items that would be preferable than on the regular menu. 

 

Glad you are enjoying.  The weather on the NE Coast to the Tropicals have been unsettled - lots of rain, wind & waves. 

[trinitygirl]

20 hours ago, Tyskie said:

@trinitygirl

Thank You for sharing the Vegan Menus - although I'm not Vegan, there are many items that would be preferable than on the regular menu. 

 

Glad you are enjoying.  The weather on the NE Coast to the Tropicals have been unsettled - lots of rain, wind & waves. 

The food takes a little longer because they have to prepare it separately but it arrives piping hot, and everything I have tried has been absolutely delicious.  Last night I had white bean soup and it was the best shipboard soup I have ever had. The walnut sauce tagliatelle was easily the best pasta dish - soooo much better than Alfredo. I can’t wait for that menu to repeat!

Edited November 18, 2023 by trinitygirl

[Rick&Jeannie]

8 hours ago, RenieRaider said:

Some cruises no longer have Bingo. Glad to hear Sky Princess does.

Perhaps you are speaking of another cruise line...not Princess. Bingo is a "staple".

[maryann2]

38 minutes ago, Rick&Jeannie said:

Perhaps you are speaking of another cruise line...not Princess. Bingo is a "staple".

I agree   Bingo is played twice a day.

Vista lounge.

Followed by trivia.

 

 

 

 

[Rick&Jeannie]

Current position,  Saturday 10:30am

 

[trinitygirl]

They have processed the Azores Islands port fee refund, and credited $6.37 to my account.

[Guest Michael4650]

18 hours ago, RenieRaider said:

Some cruises no longer have Bingo. Glad to hear Sky Princess does.

I have been on at least 9  cruises on Princess since the restart and the only time we did not have Bingo was when we were in  port or in the Hawaiian Island waters 

[Bedruthen]

Met a couple last night on their very first cruise and boy were they unhappy. They have a forward cabin and have barely slept because of the noise in their cabin, which a previous poster has already documented. They have been to guest services and asked if they could be moved, but told no other cabin available. They booked it 18 months ago for an anniversary and it has put them off ever cruising again. That’s the trouble when you are new to cruising, you don’t know about the importance of cabin choice.

[gsmith2424]

1 hour ago, Bedruthen said:

Met a couple last night on their very first cruise and boy were they unhappy. They have a forward cabin and have barely slept because of the noise in their cabin, which a previous poster has already documented. They have been to guest services and asked if they could be moved, but told no other cabin available. They booked it 18 months ago for an anniversary and it has put them off ever cruising again. That’s the trouble when you are new to cruising, you don’t know about the importance of cabin choice.

I'm surprised they were told they have no empty cabins available to switch them to. I usually walk every deck on a cruise and count the empty cabins and found 39 empty ones on the ship with Deck 10 having the most at 15. Mostly insides are empty but have seen a couple balconies and even one mini suite. 

[Cruise Raider]

35 minutes ago, gsmith2424 said:

I'm surprised they were told they have no empty cabins available to switch them to. I usually walk every deck on a cruise and count the empty cabins and found 39 empty ones on the ship with Deck 10 having the most at 15. Mostly insides are empty but have seen a couple balconies and even one mini suite. 

Are you sure they are empty or did the passengers just ask to have their names taken off the screen by their door?  I’m just assuming that is how you counted the empty cabins. 
 

[kywildcatfanone]

2 hours ago, Bedruthen said:

Met a couple last night on their very first cruise and boy were they unhappy. They have a forward cabin and have barely slept because of the noise in their cabin, which a previous poster has already documented. They have been to guest services and asked if they could be moved, but told no other cabin available. They booked it 18 months ago for an anniversary and it has put them off ever cruising again. That’s the trouble when you are new to cruising, you don’t know about the importance of cabin choice.

Where was their cabin? What deck?

 

[trinitygirl]

There must be some spares because I was talking to someone last night who was switched out of their cabin after the first night bc they were unhappy about the diesel fumes aft.   The noise has stopped in my cabin - no anchor bangs for 3 days, no stabiliser slaps for 36 hours, no pressure droning for 48 hours.  All good up here.  It was pretty noisy for days 3-6 that’s for sure.

[Stromer1969]

16 hours ago, trinitygirl said:

They have processed the Azores Islands port fee refund, and credited $6.37 to my account.

Is it just me or does $6.37 sound like a small refund for a lost port stop?

[Rick&Jeannie]

Just now, Stromer1969 said:

Is it just me or does $6.37 sound like a small refund for a lost port stop?

Nope...that's a bit ridiculous. 

[trinitygirl]

did you all get the same amount?  My understanding is that the Port fee is X amount for the ship + X amount per passenger and that the way they charge it/refund it is to divide the total amount by the total amount of passengers, which explains the weird final figure.  I just assumed that since it was Portugal, it was much less than for ports in the Caribbean or elsewhere in Europe, because Portugal is in general much less expensive than other European countries.

Edited November 19, 2023 by trinitygirl