This was mine and my husband's first cruising experience. He won the trip through work so it was a no brainer to take it. We flew into FLL as opposed to MIA as Fort Lauderdale was by far the cheaper of the two. Shuttles from the airport to the pier were both timely and affordable and generally a pleasant experience. Actual boarding of the ship was quick and painless. We had heard horror stories about waiting for hours to embark but we encountered no such problems. We waited maybe 20 minutes. I know past cruisers get to go through a faster line and we look forward to using that on our next cruise. Everyone at the terminal was polite and friendly and worked very hard to make sure the lines moved quickly.

As for the ship itself, I know the Sky is one of Norwegian's older ships and you can definitely tell. There were certain areas around the upper pool deck that were roped off because the railing was nonexistent and in general the carpeting was worn out and stained. Nothing that really bothered us but then again we have nothing to compare it to. We never really ventured into the pool as it was always filled with young children, but the hot tubs were nice and most nights we found ourselves in them.

The food on board was acceptable. The breakfast buffet at the Great Outdoor cafe was always good and had many different selections. Lunch was always hit or miss. The Garden cafe buffet seemed to always have the same selections and none of it was all that appetizing so we mostly skipped lunch. We ate at two of the premium restaurants on board, Cagney's Steakhouse and Le Bistro. Le Bistro was by far the superior of the two. Cagney's did not cook the steaks as we ordered and the sides of broccoli and Cagney fries were bland and basically inedible. However the meal was comped for us as we had an issue with our stateroom (more on that later) Le Bistro was phenomenal. We met a couple on board the second day of the trip and we ate with them here and everyone enjoyed their food. We had scallops, escargot, Salmon and the filet and all of it was amazing. The desserts were unbelievable as well. The only establishment onboard that offered late night food was the Longboard bar, which was a sports bar. And the menu was very limited. A sandwich or two, wings and soup were the only choices. To be fair we tried all of these offerings and all were amazing, we just wish they had a better selection as they were the only ones that served food after 11pm. Their tomato basil soup is to die for at this bar though. Probably the best tomato soup we have ever had in our lives! Drinks at all of the bars were good. we got the drink package as soon as we got on board so I'm not really sure how good the drink prices were, but we got our money's worth with the drink package ($50 per person per day) It was well worth the investment. Outrigger Lounge was also amazing and usually pretty empty as it's all the way at the front of the ship. But it was a beautiful bar and they had many different kinds of martinis that were very good. Read more