8/22 Sky review

[ecclectic-eccentric]

...I'll try to keep it short, but I'm not very good at that!;) In fact, just be prepared for this to be pretty long.

 

Lesson #1: Not learned the hard way, but close enough...fly in the day before cruising! With storms in the Midwest and Miami, we just *barely* made the ship by 4pm. As it turns out they waited for other people, but we didn't know that and sweated it out (literally, after sprinting through Miami airport) until we'd made it aboard with minutes to spare.

 

Embarkation was smooth as silk. Before even going to our cabin, we enjoyed our welcome aboard bubbly while making our reservations for Cagney's and Le Bistro. Arriving so late, we wound up with a 9:45pm dinner at Cagney's on Friday, but that was fine.

 

Our cabin, an aft balcony, was small as expected, but the balcony was sweet! It was adequately clean, if not spotless, and even had nice toiletries (including conditioner...gasp! And eye cream?!) No hairdryer and it took almost 24 hours after requesting one to receive it, but no biggie. The hallway toward our end of the ship had a bit of a funky smell, but the cabin was alright.

 

Dinner at Cagney's was outstanding with the exception of the Oysters Rockefeller...we're spoiled though after too many NOLA trips. Everything else was top notch.

 

From sunrise until we left the ship at Nassau was the best part of the whole cruise for me. I can't imagine there was any better place to be in all the world than on that balcony at sunrise and to watch our arrival into Nassau. (Of course, having saved our bubbly from the Anniversary package and having fresh baked bread, brie, fresh fruit, OJ and coffee to enjoy with it helped quite a lot...absolute decadence!)

 

In Nassau, we took a day pass at the British Colonial Hilton which was lovely, peaceful and relaxing. We nearly had the place to ourselves, and after only having a couple of hours sleep for the two previous nights, a nap in a shaded hammock was just about seventh heaven for me while Hubby soaked up the sun. We had a late lunch at Fish Fry and then headed back to the ship to clean up for dinner.

 

We ate in Crossings on Sat. night (I mistakenly thought it was the dressier of the two main dining rooms.) It was slightly stinky, but not enough to ruin our evening. The service was pleasant, and while some may have found it to be slow, we prefer to linger and savor as opposed to rushing through our meals in places where they have your entree on the table before you've even finished your salad, so we were happy with it. The lobster and flounder dish was delicious. I also appreciated that the portions were reasonably small. We're not ones to waste food if we can help it but we like to have a variety of courses, and after Cagney's I thought I might blow up if I ate even one more bite. We left the Crossings full, but not feeling half ill from over indulgence.

 

After dinner, we caught the tail end of the Newlyweds Game which was amusing. We're not dancers, but enjoyed watching others at the White Hot party. I'm afraid that our bar bill took a big hit that night though...

 

Sunday was Great Stirrup Cay day, and Hubby was just not into going at all...and after all these years, I've learned to trust his instincts. He was right again. We "set up camp" near the pool in a couple of chaise lounges under the upper deck as we'd both had enough sun the day before. About mid-day a pretty heavy rain storm hit, and we were snug as bugs in a rug watching the rain. The poor folks on the island had no shelter and were pretty miserable, we've been told. If I had to find something to complain about, it would be that they ran out of fresh beach towels for more or less the rest of the day after that. It didn't bother us too very much, but I'm sure it was a terrible inconvenience to the poor drenched people coming in off the island.

 

Our evening meal at Le Bistro was delicious and we enjoyed the lovely setting. The staff was excellent, especially for whisking us away to a more intimate table (it was the night of our wedding anniversary) after a very large party with a bunch of children, some obviously over-tired and one throwing a full blown screaming meemies tantrum were seated beside us.

 

I won't go into heavy food details, but if anyone is a foodie and wants more info, I'd be happy to discuss the dishes we sampled at the various restaurants.

 

After breakfast in the buffet, we packed up and left the ship around 9am. There was a moderate line to leave the ship and a pretty huge one to get through immigration, but nothing intolerable. I do have to laugh about how they keep using the slogan "It's your last morning on board, so just chill" or something like that. Yeah sure, just chill, but you'd better vacate the premises before 10am or else! In fact, they came and stripped our beds, etc... while we were still there. Oh well, again, no biggie...

 

Bottom line...it was our first cruise so we can't compare it to other sailings (although we have traveled fairly extensively in the US and Europe with dabblings in Central America, so we're not novice travelers), but we really, really enjoyed ourselves and, as predicted by others here, I'm hooked. In fact, it seemed like the $100 in OBC if we put down the $250 toward our next cruise seemed like a no brainer to me. Now I just need to figure out where we're going next!:D

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I am certainly grateful for all the fabulous guidance I received here before our trip!!

 

'Sorry so long and happy sailing to you all!!

ee

[Addictedtwo]

...I'll try to keep it short, but I'm not very good at that!;) In fact, just be prepared for this to be pretty long.

 

Lesson #1: Not learned the hard way, but close enough...fly in the day before cruising! With storms in the Midwest and Miami, we just *barely* made the ship by 4pm. As it turns out they waited for other people, but we didn't know that and sweated it out (literally, after sprinting through Miami airport) until we'd made it aboard with minutes to spare.

 

Embarkation was smooth as silk. Before even going to our cabin, we enjoyed our welcome aboard bubbly while making our reservations for Cagney's and Le Bistro. Arriving so late, we wound up with a 9:45pm dinner at Cagney's on Friday, but that was fine.

 

Our cabin, an aft balcony, was small as expected, but the balcony was sweet! It was adequately clean, if not spotless, and even had nice toiletries (including conditioner...gasp! And eye cream?!) No hairdryer and it took almost 24 hours after requesting one to receive it, but no biggie. The hallway toward our end of the ship had a bit of a funky smell, but the cabin was alright.

 

Dinner at Cagney's was outstanding with the exception of the Oysters Rockefeller...we're spoiled though after too many NOLA trips. Everything else was top notch.

 

From sunrise until we left the ship at Nassau was the best part of the whole cruise for me. I can't imagine there was any better place to be in all the world than on that balcony at sunrise and to watch our arrival into Nassau. (Of course, having saved our bubbly from the Anniversary package and having fresh baked bread, brie, fresh fruit, OJ and coffee to enjoy with it helped quite a lot...absolute decadence!)

 

In Nassau, we took a day pass at the British Colonial Hilton which was lovely, peaceful and relaxing. We nearly had the place to ourselves, and after only having a couple of hours sleep for the two previous nights, a nap in a shaded hammock was just about seventh heaven for me while Hubby soaked up the sun. We had a late lunch at Fish Fry and then headed back to the ship to clean up for dinner.

 

We ate in Crossings on Sat. night (I mistakenly thought it was the dressier of the two main dining rooms.) It was slightly stinky, but not enough to ruin our evening. The service was pleasant, and while some may have found it to be slow, we prefer to linger and savor as opposed to rushing through our meals in places where they have your entree on the table before you've even finished your salad, so we were happy with it. The lobster and flounder dish was delicious. I also appreciated that the portions were reasonably small. We're not ones to waste food if we can help it but we like to have a variety of courses, and after Cagney's I thought I might blow up if I ate even one more bite. We left the Crossings full, but not feeling half ill from over indulgence.

 

After dinner, we caught the tail end of the Newlyweds Game which was amusing. We're not dancers, but enjoyed watching others at the White Hot party. I'm afraid that our bar bill took a big hit that night though...

 

Sunday was Great Stirrup Cay day, and Hubby was just not into going at all...and after all these years, I've learned to trust his instincts. He was right again. We "set up camp" near the pool in a couple of chaise lounges under the upper deck as we'd both had enough sun the day before. About mid-day a pretty heavy rain storm hit, and we were snug as bugs in a rug watching the rain. The poor folks on the island had no shelter and were pretty miserable, we've been told. If I had to find something to complain about, it would be that they ran out of fresh beach towels for more or less the rest of the day after that. It didn't bother us too very much, but I'm sure it was a terrible inconvenience to the poor drenched people coming in off the island.

 

Our evening meal at Le Bistro was delicious and we enjoyed the lovely setting. The staff was excellent, especially for whisking us away to a more intimate table (it was the night of our wedding anniversary) after a very large party with a bunch of children, some obviously over-tired and one throwing a full blown screaming meemies tantrum were seated beside us.

 

I won't go into heavy food details, but if anyone is a foodie and wants more info, I'd be happy to discuss the dishes we sampled at the various restaurants.

 

After breakfast in the buffet, we packed up and left the ship around 9am. There was a moderate line to leave the ship and a pretty huge one to get through immigration, but nothing intolerable. I do have to laugh about how they keep using the slogan "It's your last morning on board, so just chill" or something like that. Yeah sure, just chill, but you'd better vacate the premises before 10am or else! In fact, they came and stripped our beds, etc... while we were still there. Oh well, again, no biggie...

 

Bottom line...it was our first cruise so we can't compare it to other sailings (although we have traveled fairly extensively in the US and Europe with dabblings in Central America, so we're not novice travelers), but we really, really enjoyed ourselves and, as predicted by others here, I'm hooked. In fact, it seemed like the $100 in OBC if we put down the $250 toward our next cruise seemed like a no brainer to me. Now I just need to figure out where we're going next!:D

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I am certainly grateful for all the fabulous guidance I received here before our trip!!

 

'Sorry so long and happy sailing to you all!!

ee

 

Nice review I'm glad you had a great time and got hooked like the rest of us.

 

We have been on 6 cruises, the 1st 2 in O/V cabins, the next 4 balconies. Now we have just been upgraded to penthouse for our up coming cruise. I'm sure there will be no turning back from here.

[travel_mom_1]

ee - Thanks for the review. I am thinking about heading to the British Colonial Hilton, too. Did you do the $20 pass or the $40 pass with $30 food/drink credit through a tour company? How were the drinks priced? I am wondering how far the $30 credit will go.

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Addicted Two: Congrats on your upgrade, have a blast! I dare not try anything better than an aft balcony. Hubby has already declared that he simply will not sail without a balcony...we'd better not try a suite!

 

Travel Mom: We just walked up to reception at the hotel and bought the day pass, didn't know of the other option. We only bought one round of beers there, and I think Hubby said they were $6 each! Yikes!! That seems a little silly, especially when you can walk into any of the gazillion package stores and buy a beer for a couple bucks and then walk around with it if you want. You can come and go all day with the pass, but they didn't give us little wrist bands, so hold onto your receipt, just in case!

 

Have fun!!

ee

[Addictedtwo]

Addicted Two: Congrats on your upgrade, have a blast! I dare not try anything better than an aft balcony. Hubby has already declared that he simply will not sail without a balcony...we'd better not try a suite!

 

Travel Mom: We just walked up to reception at the hotel and bought the day pass, didn't know of the other option. We only bought one round of beers there, and I think Hubby said they were $6 each! Yikes!! That seems a little silly, especially when you can walk into any of the gazillion package stores and buy a beer for a couple bucks and then walk around with it if you want. You can come and go all day with the pass, but they didn't give us little wrist bands, so hold onto your receipt, just in case!

 

Have fun!!

ee

 

 

I understood from "scubagirl" that dredging was going to start at BCH and that the water would be murky, does it look like it has started yet? We were planning to go cable beach instead.

[mr jailerman]

...I'll try to keep it short, but I'm not very good at that! In fact, just be prepared for this to be pretty long.

 

Lesson #1: Not learned the hard way, but close enough...fly in the day before cruising! With storms in the Midwest and Miami, we just *barely* made the ship by 4pm. As it turns out they waited for other people, but we didn't know that and sweated it out (literally, after sprinting through Miami airport) until we'd made it aboard with minutes to spare.

 

Embarkation was smooth as silk. Before even going to our cabin, we enjoyed our welcome aboard bubbly while making our reservations for Cagney's and Le Bistro. Arriving so late, we wound up with a 9:45pm dinner at Cagney's on Friday, but that was fine.

 

Our cabin, an aft balcony, was small as expected, but the balcony was sweet! It was adequately clean, if not spotless, and even had nice toiletries (including conditioner...gasp! And eye cream?!) No hairdryer and it took almost 24 hours after requesting one to receive it, but no biggie. The hallway toward our end of the ship had a bit of a funky smell, but the cabin was alright.

 

Dinner at Cagney's was outstanding with the exception of the Oysters Rockefeller...we're spoiled though after too many NOLA trips. Everything else was top notch.

 

From sunrise until we left the ship at Nassau was the best part of the whole cruise for me. I can't imagine there was any better place to be in all the world than on that balcony at sunrise and to watch our arrival into Nassau. (Of course, having saved our bubbly from the Anniversary package and having fresh baked bread, brie, fresh fruit, OJ and coffee to enjoy with it helped quite a lot...absolute decadence!)

 

In Nassau, we took a day pass at the British Colonial Hilton which was lovely, peaceful and relaxing. We nearly had the place to ourselves, and after only having a couple of hours sleep for the two previous nights, a nap in a shaded hammock was just about seventh heaven for me while Hubby soaked up the sun. We had a late lunch at Fish Fry and then headed back to the ship to clean up for dinner.

 

We ate in Crossings on Sat. night (I mistakenly thought it was the dressier of the two main dining rooms.) It was slightly stinky, but not enough to ruin our evening. The service was pleasant, and while some may have found it to be slow, we prefer to linger and savor as opposed to rushing through our meals in places where they have your entree on the table before you've even finished your salad, so we were happy with it. The lobster and flounder dish was delicious. I also appreciated that the portions were reasonably small. We're not ones to waste food if we can help it but we like to have a variety of courses, and after Cagney's I thought I might blow up if I ate even one more bite. We left the Crossings full, but not feeling half ill from over indulgence.

 

After dinner, we caught the tail end of the Newlyweds Game which was amusing. We're not dancers, but enjoyed watching others at the White Hot party. I'm afraid that our bar bill took a big hit that night though...

 

Sunday was Great Stirrup Cay day, and Hubby was just not into going at all...and after all these years, I've learned to trust his instincts. He was right again. We "set up camp" near the pool in a couple of chaise lounges under the upper deck as we'd both had enough sun the day before. About mid-day a pretty heavy rain storm hit, and we were snug as bugs in a rug watching the rain. The poor folks on the island had no shelter and were pretty miserable, we've been told. If I had to find something to complain about, it would be that they ran out of fresh beach towels for more or less the rest of the day after that. It didn't bother us too very much, but I'm sure it was a terrible inconvenience to the poor drenched people coming in off the island.

 

Our evening meal at Le Bistro was delicious and we enjoyed the lovely setting. The staff was excellent, especially for whisking us away to a more intimate table (it was the night of our wedding anniversary) after a very large party with a bunch of children, some obviously over-tired and one throwing a full blown screaming meemies tantrum were seated beside us.

 

I won't go into heavy food details, but if anyone is a foodie and wants more info, I'd be happy to discuss the dishes we sampled at the various restaurants.

 

After breakfast in the buffet, we packed up and left the ship around 9am. There was a moderate line to leave the ship and a pretty huge one to get through immigration, but nothing intolerable. I do have to laugh about how they keep using the slogan "It's your last morning on board, so just chill" or something like that. Yeah sure, just chill, but you'd better vacate the premises before 10am or else! In fact, they came and stripped our beds, etc... while we were still there. Oh well, again, no biggie...

 

Bottom line...it was our first cruise so we can't compare it to other sailings (although we have traveled fairly extensively in the US and Europe with dabblings in Central America, so we're not novice travelers), but we really, really enjoyed ourselves and, as predicted by others here, I'm hooked. In fact, it seemed like the $100 in OBC if we put down the $250 toward our next cruise seemed like a no brainer to me. Now I just need to figure out where we're going next!

 

If anyone has any questions, I'll do my best to answer them. I am certainly grateful for all the fabulous guidance I received here before our trip!!

 

'Sorry so long and happy sailing to you all!!

ee

Hello "EE" Again !!:D Great review !! Cruises are VERY EASY to get hooked on as you have just seen.. I went on my first cruise less then two years ago and have my 4th cruise coming up on the "SKY" this early April ! :D I have joined those groups of people that go back to work to pay for their next cruise like SOOOO many people here on C/C.. I have just got back from Royal Caribbean "Enchantment of the Seas" From Aug 14 to 18th. A 4 night cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Key West and Cozumel Mx and it was great !! I met a very nice lady while waiting to board the ship whom recognized me from the RCI Boards here at C/C because of a VERY SUCCESSFULL thread that I started for our Enchantment cruise (2700 Posts and 21,000 Views !:) ) for a 4 DAY CRUISE is Awesome !! Lots of great people ! This nice lady gave my son that I was traveling with (He's 8) a New RCI Water Wallet to keep his Seapass dry while he was swimming.. A very nice gesture indeed..After we thanked her I got to talk to her and her Nice DH a bit and come to find out that this was their 122nd CRUISE WITH RCI !!:eek: :D WHOW !! Talk about a V.I.P ??.....But VERY NICE PEOPLE THAT WERE A REAL PLEASURE TO MEET.. I hope you & DH enjoy your next cruise and yes I still have hopes for a Photo or two of "MY FUTURE" Cabin..;) Thanks once more for the great review..Kurt..

[Addictedtwo]

Hello "EE" Again !!:D Great review !! Cruises are VERY EASY to get hooked on as you have just seen.. I went on my first cruise less then two years ago and have my 4th cruise coming up on the "SKY" this early April ! :D I have joined those groups of people that go back to work to pay for their next cruise like SOOOO many people here on C/C.. I have just got back from Royal Caribbean "Enchantment of the Seas" From Aug 14 to 18th. A 4 night cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Key West and Cozumel Mx and it was great !! I met a very nice lady while waiting to board the ship whom recognized me from the RCI Boards here at C/C because of a VERY SUCCESSFULL thread that I started for our Enchantment cruise (2700 Posts and 21,000 Views !:) ) for a 4 DAY CRUISE is Awesome !! Lots of great people ! This nice lady gave my son that I was traveling with (He's 8) a New RCI Water Wallet to keep his Seapass dry while he was swimming.. A very nice gesture indeed..After we thanked her I got to talk to her and her Nice DH a bit and come to find out that this was their 122nd CRUISE WITH RCI !!:eek: :D WHOW !! Talk about a V.I.P ??.....But VERY NICE PEOPLE THAT WERE A REAL PLEASURE TO MEET.. I hope you & DH enjoy your next cruise and yes I still have hopes for a Photo or two of "MY FUTURE" Cabin..;) Thanks once more for the great review..Kurt..

 

Lets see 122 cruises lordy lordy how old was this woman! Or better yet what number of husband is she on.

[mr jailerman]

Lets see 122 cruises lordy lordy how old was this woman! Or better yet what number of husband is she on.

Mid 50's I would guess (Although looks MUCH younger IF YOUR READING THIS DEAR ;) ) I assume the same Husband for all.:) He was wearing a Name Tag like a Staff Officer that had his name and a title.. I don't remember the title But it was a reflection of his Class of rating such as "ULTRA DIAMOND MEMBER" or something like that..All I know as the ship was a bit late letting people disembark and this nice DH & Wife were placed at the front of the line to exist first (Actually they were seated) and being that this was my first RCI cruise I just kind of stood and watched everyone. (I had a Junior Suite so I had a pretty good spot in line) It was funny how many people on that RCI cruise truly believed (Because of the RCI marketing of course)that they were so important and keep trying to cut out of line and move up to the front and then be placed right back where they should be..I knew as long as my New friend and her DH were still waiting to leave that NOBODY else was leaving before them no matter how important RCI had tried to make everyone feel..It was kind of fun to watch really..:D

[Addictedtwo]

Mid 50's I would guess (Although looks MUCH younger IF YOUR READING THIS DEAR ;) ) I assume the same Husband for all.:) He was wearing a Name Tag like a Staff Officer that had his name and a title.. I don't remember the title But it was a reflection of his Class of rating such as "ULTRA DIAMOND MEMBER" or something like that..All I know as the ship was a bit late letting people disembark and this nice DH & Wife were placed at the front of the line to exist first (Actually they were seated) and being that this was my first RCI cruise I just kind of stood and watched everyone. (I had a Junior Suite so I had a pretty good spot in line) It was funny how many people on that RCI cruise truly believed (Because of the RCI marketing of course)that they were so important and keep trying to cut out of line and move up to the front and then be placed right back where they should be..I knew as long as my New friend and her DH were still waiting to leave that NOBODY else was leaving before them no matter how important RCI had tried to make everyone feel..It was kind of fun to watch really..:D

 

Cute! But you gotta admit thats one hell of a lot of cruising.

[mr jailerman]

Lets see 122 cruises lordy lordy how old was this woman! Or better yet what number of husband is she on.

Hey Addicted forgive me if I already asked you this but what Cabin /Suite are you staying in on the SKY ? Just curious ? I'm not happy about the size of these cabins.. I would book an "AC" Suite but on this ship they are all way Forward and my GF has motion issues so that would NOT BE WISE on my part.. I have #8278 Aft balcony for now. "EE" says it's got new Balcony furniture and the A/C is cold and has a working toliet so I guess that's not to bad on a ship that had such a rough start.. The "FUNKY" smell out in the hall is a bit concerning though ?:eek: :D

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Jailerman...still no photos, but I'm not saying never, I'm just not all that tech savvy and haven't gotten around to figuring it out.

 

As to motion, I'm sure it depends upon the weather, obviously, but we were sailing just after Fay with some hard rains, etc... and I was almost disappointed that I couldn't really even tell we were on a ship. (Now for some crazy reason, for about two days after leaving the ship, I felt the motion more than I ever did onboard...must be postshippartum depression...)

 

As to the smell, I couldn't quite put my finger on it as to whether it was a damp/musty or a damp/sewagey smell, but it was not overwhelming and it was not in the cabin. We didn't just hang out in the hallway for fun, so it wasn't anything that bothered us, just something we noticed. And considering that the ship is not only surrounded by water on a constant basis, but also has dripping wet passengers up and down its hallways all day, every day, it's not surprising to me that some areas would pick up a bit of a damp/musty smell. Seems like it would almost come with the territory. Again, as many have said, your attitude and reaction to a situation makes or breaks your experience...so don't sweat the small stuff. If we'd had toilet or AC issues, I would NOT have been a happy camper, but a little funky whatnot in the hallway isn't worth being unhappy about.

 

ee

[mr jailerman]

Jailerman...still no photos, but I'm not saying never, I'm just not all that tech savvy and haven't gotten around to figuring it out.

 

As to motion, I'm sure it depends upon the weather, obviously, but we were sailing just after Fay with some hard rains, etc... and I was almost disappointed that I couldn't really even tell we were on a ship. (Now for some crazy reason, for about two days after leaving the ship, I felt the motion more than I ever did onboard...must be postshippartum depression...)

 

As to the smell, I couldn't quite put my finger on it as to whether it was a damp/musty or a damp/sewagey smell, but it was not overwhelming and it was not in the cabin. We didn't just hang out in the hallway for fun, so it wasn't anything that bothered us, just something we noticed. And considering that the ship is not only surrounded by water on a constant basis, but also has dripping wet passengers up and down its hallways all day, every day, it's not surprising to me that some areas would pick up a bit of a damp/musty smell. Seems like it would almost come with the territory. Again, as many have said, your attitude and reaction to a situation makes or breaks your experience...so don't sweat the small stuff. If we'd had toilet or AC issues, I would NOT have been a happy camper, but a little funky whatnot in the hallway isn't worth being unhappy about.

 

ee

That's VERY TRUE !! :D

[McDebbie]

EE, how did you get to the Fish Fry from the BCH? Did you walk, take a cab or take the jitney? And which place did you eat at?

[mr jailerman]

Jailerman...still no photos, but I'm not saying never, I'm just not all that tech savvy and haven't gotten around to figuring it out.

 

As to motion, I'm sure it depends upon the weather, obviously, but we were sailing just after Fay with some hard rains, etc... and I was almost disappointed that I couldn't really even tell we were on a ship. (Now for some crazy reason, for about two days after leaving the ship, I felt the motion more than I ever did onboard...must be postshippartum depression...)

 

As to the smell, I couldn't quite put my finger on it as to whether it was a damp/musty or a damp/sewagey smell, but it was not overwhelming and it was not in the cabin. We didn't just hang out in the hallway for fun, so it wasn't anything that bothered us, just something we noticed. And considering that the ship is not only surrounded by water on a constant basis, but also has dripping wet passengers up and down its hallways all day, every day, it's not surprising to me that some areas would pick up a bit of a damp/musty smell. Seems like it would almost come with the territory. Again, as many have said, your attitude and reaction to a situation makes or breaks your experience...so don't sweat the small stuff. If we'd had toilet or AC issues, I would NOT have been a happy camper, but a little funky whatnot in the hallway isn't worth being unhappy about.

 

ee

I have read here @ Cruisecritic from other posters that their has been some confusion when issuing #8278 Key Card. Not issuing the "Purple Card" which I guess means that you have a Balcony Cabin and that entitles you to a few perks ? I could see that some new employees may get confused thinking when they look at your card and seeing deck 8 as their are NO Balcony Cabins on deck 8 except the 5 Aft Cabins. That is my guess why they color the Room Keys? To be able to tell the difference. Did this happen to you "EE" ?

[BnRFLGIRL]

ATTN ecclectic-eccentric

 

We are going to sail this oct on the same ship as you did also in a balcony room "BB" This is my first cruise and I'm of course really looking forward to it! I'm wondering if I made a good choice by getting a room near the elevator, do you think we can hear the ppl coming and going all night? Do they allow smoking in rooms/balconies (we are non-smokers).. Did you go to Nassau by chance?

[Addictedtwo]

Hey Addicted forgive me if I already asked you this but what Cabin /Suite are you staying in on the SKY ? Just curious ? I'm not happy about the size of these cabins.. I would book an "AC" Suite but on this ship they are all way Forward and my GF has motion issues so that would NOT BE WISE on my part.. I have #8278 Aft balcony for now. "EE" says it's got new Balcony furniture and the A/C is cold and has a working toliet so I guess that's not to bad on a ship that had such a rough start.. The "FUNKY" smell out in the hall is a bit concerning though ?:eek: :D

 

We were orginally in 8279 cabin/balcony but got upgraded to 8277 penthouse for both the 3 &4 day.

As of yesterday I know there was some aft penthouses available for 9/22 & 9/26 which are the dates we are sailing. Good luck!

[Addictedtwo]

Hey Addicted forgive me if I already asked you this but what Cabin /Suite are you staying in on the SKY ? Just curious ? I'm not happy about the size of these cabins.. I would book an "AC" Suite but on this ship they are all way Forward and my GF has motion issues so that would NOT BE WISE on my part.. I have #8278 Aft balcony for now. "EE" says it's got new Balcony furniture and the A/C is cold and has a working toliet so I guess that's not to bad on a ship that had such a rough start.. The "FUNKY" smell out in the hall is a bit concerning though ?:eek: :D

 

I would stick with what you have, anything aft is good.

[ecclectic-eccentric]

EE, how did you get to the Fish Fry from the BCH? Did you walk, take a cab or take the jitney? And which place did you eat at?

 

We walked down and back. You just turn right when you come out of the dock area and follow along the shoreline. You can't miss it. First there are a few "mobile" vendors, then a number of permanent restaurants. I can't remember the name of the place where we had the conch fritters, but it may have been something like the Twins. It was a two story wood building with AC. It was decent, but nothing to write home about. We also had frozen strawberry daquiris there which were soooo sweet (too sweet for me, but others may like them) and didn't seem to have much alcohol in them by the taste, but apparently they were stealth drinks as I felt it a good bit once they were gone. :)

 

After that we stopped at the chicken barbeque tent across the road from the beach, just at the edge of Fish Fry. I don't know whether it's always there or not as it was run by a civic organization (Kiwanis, I think). It was quite good and relatively cheap. 1/2 a chicken, corn, potato and salad for $10.

 

The walk there didn't seem all that long, but somehow the walk back seemed longer...and hotter. And don't forget to look both ways extra carefully when you cross the street as they use British road rules and are on the "wrong" side of the road.

 

I'll get to other folks questions as I can...I'm at work.

ee

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Jailerman...

Our cards looked more like pink than purple, but maybe that's what they call purple. We didn't do the Palace bkfst so the only time we needed "balcony perks" was booking ahead for Le Bistro. There was momentary confusion about whether we were really in a balcony cabin, but it was resolved quickly and we got our advance reservation.

ee

[ecclectic-eccentric]

I don't know whether you'll be bothered by noise or not. In our cabin, we were all the way at the aft so there wasn't a whole lot of traffic. Also we were separated from the hallway by the closets and bathroom. The cabin door was fairly small and quite sturdy, so I don't know whether we'd have heard noise through it or not. Honestly, as soundly as I slept, I don't think a brass band would have woken me!

ee

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Jailerman...

about the size of the cabin. Yeah, it's mighty small, but we were only in the cabin itself when we were sleeping or showering, for all intents and purposes. We were either on the balcony or in one of the public areas for the vast majority of our waking hours, and I'd guess you will be, too.

ee

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Someone asked about dredging at the beach at the British Colonial Hilton. I didn't notice anything, but I don't know that I would. The water and beach were both very clean. In fact, I was impressed by how clean the water was even around the docks!

 

There was the occasional clump of seaweedy stuff floating around at the BCH beach, but other than that it was spotless with cute, wee fish swimming around. We really enjoyed it very much.

ee

[mr jailerman]

Someone asked about dredging at the beach at the British Colonial Hilton. I didn't notice anything, but I don't know that I would. The water and beach were both very clean. In fact, I was impressed by how clean the water was even around the docks!

 

There was the occasional clump of seaweedy stuff floating around at the BCH beach, but other than that it was spotless with cute, wee fish swimming around. We really enjoyed it very much.

ee

Just your friendly "Picture Police" walking the beat seeing if anyone may have a Picture or two of Balcony #8278 ? Anyone @ all ?:D :D As you can see "EE" I still have hopes for those Pics..:D

[ecclectic-eccentric]

Jailerman...

sorry to disappoint you, but I have no pics of the inside of the cabin. I've got one of Hubby sitting on the balcony which should give you a little perspective on the furniture. He's about 6'2" and 200lbs. and was quite comfortable in the deck chairs. I hope I can make it attach...we'll see.

ee

[mr jailerman]

Jailerman...

sorry to disappoint you, but I have no pics of the inside of the cabin. I've got one of Hubby sitting on the balcony which should give you a little perspective on the furniture. He's about 6'2" and 200lbs. and was quite comfortable in the deck chairs. I hope I can make it attach...we'll see.

ee

GREAT ! Thanks !! Those are the same chairs as I have had on my last two Balcony's. They are nice.. Thanks once more "EE" :)