Our Cruise on NCLs Norwegian Sky Cruise Ship

EMBARKATION: We drove to Miami and after parking in the parking garage (which was just across from the ship), we rolled out luggage to the porters, tipped them, and once we entered the building, we were on the ship within what appeared as just minutes. We've always been pleased with NCL's embarkation process.

STATEROOM: We had a balcony room on deck 9. Small balconies, but they suited their purpose. We were on the portside, and we noticed that the chairs on the starboard side are newer than the ones on our side. We had the little aluminum chairs. They're not comfortable, but we spent most of our time leaning on the balcony anyways. Bed was very comfortable, and room was always kept clean. Pictures on the wall didn't seem to go with the decor in the room, but at least some picture was better than no picture at all. lol

DINING: We are strictly buffet people. We've seen a lot of buffets on a variety of different cruise ships with different cruise lines, and I'd have to say that Sky had the smallest buffet with not much of a variety compared to the other ships we've been on. The buffet suited it's purpose, and what I liked about Sky was the area in the Aft section of the ship that had tables and chairs where you could enjoy your meal while looking out the back of the ship. We enjoyed one meal there while we watched the sun go down. Absolutely beautiful view from the back of the ship.

SERVICE: We were just on Sky back in October, and we seen our stateroom attendant all the time. This time we didn't see him at all, and we were only 3 doors down from the room we had before. Not that it mattered though, because he made sure we always had ice, a clean room, and turned down our beds at night with mints on our bed. We even got a cute towel animals one of the nights that was wearing my sunglasses when I returned to the room. ;)

ATRIUM: The center of the ship where the glass elevators are located

ENTERTAINMENT: The shows were not the best I've seen, but they were okay. The dancers were very energetic. We've seen better entertainment when we were on Norwegian Dawn, and also on Princess cruises. But for the price we paid for this particular cruise, we surely could not complain. We still enjoyed the entertainment. I could have done without the comedian they had though. His entire show seemed to be based upon embarrassing the audience. Even though he was funny, I really felt sorry for the people that he brought up on stage with him.

ACTIVITIES: It was so windy and chilly at night when we took this cruise that it made it unbearable to stay long on the outside of the ship at night. We went to the White Hot Night Party, but wasn't there long because of the wind, which made it feel very chilly outside. We've seen the White Hot Night Party when we cruised back in October though and we had a different cruise director then, and the first time we attended it, it was much more fun. Of course the cruise line can not predict the weather, so it obviously wasn't their fault. They did the best they could, under the conditions they were given.

Karaoke....... was at Outriggers Bar at the very front of the ship. Absolutely beautiful bar/lounge, however, young teens that couldn't hold a note, seemed to take it over, which left most of the adults leaving and finding some where else to go.

Casino......... is new, and was not a large as other Ship Casinos I've been, but we still had fun, even though the machines seemed to be very tight, and all we seen was people putting money in the machines, but never getting any back out. Not, that the machines spit out coins, (because they use the paper system). But listening to other people chat, we didn't hear of any winnings. Most of the time, the Casino was pretty much empty. No matter, what time of day or night you went there, you always seemed to be able to find a machine somewhere (except for the penny machines... they were usually taken).

 KIDS CREW CLUB: My 8 year old granddaughter attended this, and she absolutely loved it. When it came time to pick her up, she didn't seem to want to go, other than the fact that she was getting tired. She spoke of many things that they did and one night she came back with her fact painted, and she seemed to have enjoyed all the activities that they had.

DISEMBARKATION: Went very smoothly, except we felt very rushed. Almost as if they were kicking us off the ship. I understand that they have another group of people coming onboard, however, like I mentioned before, we've been on other cruise lines, and the other ones did not treat us this way. I'm starting to think that this is just the way NCL is though, because it was the same way when we disembarked from Norwegian Dawn.

CONCLUSION: Would I recommend Sky? I surely would. In a minute. But would I sail on her again? Only if she went to different ports, because if I have to go to Nassau one more time, I'm going to go crazy. We've been there 6 times, and to me, once was enough. But if Sky sailed a 5 or 7 day to the Caribbean (Mexico, St. Thomas, etc.), I'd have my bags packed and would go in a split minute.