Norwegian Sky Review

Lots of Fun

Review for the Bahamas Cruise on Norwegian Sky
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Agent Bristow
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Sail Date: May 2009
Cabin: Inside

I traveled with my sister on a four-night Sky cruise. This was my first time on NCL and I really enjoyed the trip.    We flew to Miami in the morning and had no problem arriving at the port by noon.   Lots of lines to board the ship but they moved fairly quickly.  Disembarkation on the last day in Miami was far more chaotic and time consuming.  Our inside stateroom on Deck 7 was larger than I expected.  Two beds with room for a small loveseat.  The floor of our room was very convenient.  On the occasions that there were long waits for the elevators we could easilly take the stairs to one of the other decks or just walk to the other end of the floor to the theater, casino, the main dining room or one of the bars.Each night of the cruise we ate at the Crossings Restaurant.  The dress code is incredibly lax - just no shorts after 5pm. A staff member directed a few underdressed people every night to the Palace Restaurant (same menu).   The Crossings has windows on three sides so there are a lot of tables with a view of the water.  On our second night I asked for a window table and aside from having to wait approximately 15 minutes, it wasn't a problem.   The hostess clearly made a note in her computer because on the third and fourth night of the cruise, despite having a 10 to 15 minute wait to be seated, we would always have a nice window table.  I can't really complain about having to wait for a table.  It was just fantastic to be able to have dinner whenever we wanted instead of at a prescheduled time.  Dinner service is a bit slow for my taste.  We ordered appetizers, entrees and desserts each night and dinner would take 90 minutes.  Just something to consider if you're trying to catch one of the shows.  While not the most amazing food, The Crossings definitely had a lot of variety and we ordered several desserts and appetizers each night and would find something we really enjoyed.   Our waitresses were very friendly and were happy to chat with us about their time on the NCL European cruises.The cruise director Matt Baxter is fantastic.  He was hilarious and really put everyone in a good mood at every performance or party.  I enjoyed the first night show at the theater - a preview of a few of the performers who were on our ship.  The comedian was hilarious and I'm sure everyone made a note to attend his show later during the cruise.  Just a note that the theater on the Sky has lots of terrible obstructed view seats.  This isn't Broadway, but make sure to get to the shows early so you can be sure that a railing won't be in your way.   Another really great time was the Newleywed/Not-so-Newleywed game they hosted in the theater one night.    Hilarious.We had breakfast and lunch at the Garden Cafe every day.  It was a nice buffet selection.   Just a tip to look around at breakfast. There are lots of stations for waffles and eggs on the back deck of the ship, inside the sports bars and at the Italian restaurant with absolutely no lines while everyone else is gathered at the main stations in the Garden Cafe for the same food.  The sports bar was very popular every night too.  It really is kinda cool to find wings and real "bar" food on a cruise ship and they had quite a crowd gathered for the NBA playoff games every night.    We didn't take any excursions.  Despite the great weather, Freeport was a big waste of time.  Tons of passengers had a lovely day just sitting by the pool on the ship instead of dealing with a 30 minute van ride to the Lucaya area.  The private island (GSC) was really enjoyable too, though the line for snorkel equipiment and floats gets VERY long at around noon.  Overall, I had a really nice time on the NCL Sky, especially considering how inexpensive it was.  I would definitely consider another NCL cruise.   

Cabin Review

Inside

Cabin IB

Great location. Very convenient to many popular spots on the ship like the theater, the dining rooms, the atrium bar, and the casino.  Larger than the inside staterooms on some other ships.  

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