Sky Princess Review
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We chose the western Caribbean because we had never sailed that area before. We really love the Eastern Caribbean so thought it was worth a shot. Our group was rather large (12 of us, ranging in age from 37-67), but that's par for the course when our family vacations. We all arrived to Weston FL the day before (some by car and some by plane). We like Weston the day before a cruise sails because it's very relaxing, clean, and the Courtyard is close to some nice shops and restaurants. The Courtyard is an excellent hotel and has much better prices than the hotels close to the Port. Throw in the cost of an Uber from the airport and then to the Port, and it was still much more economical. Add that into the experience and I highly recommend it for the pre-cruise stay.
Can't get started without some pre-cruise festivities, so we had a few drinks at the Courtyard bar (nice selection for a hotel bar) and then walked to the Carolina Ale House, about a 10 minute stroll. It was a nice time to chat, catch up some, and get excited about the fast approaching cruise. Carolina Ale House has pretty good food and an great beer selection, all at a very reasonable price. On the way back to the hotel, there are a number of little shops, plus a liquor store that usually does a free tasting each night. This night was a special rum on hand. We purchased a collection of Jefferson Bourbon's and some nice Cuban cigars and strolled back to the hotel. The ladies did what ladies do and us men went out by the pool and had some bourbon and cigars while planning our 7 days on the Sky Princess. A great start to our vacation!!
The embarkation the next day was very smooth. The Medallion seems to have streamlined the process. From dropping off the bags to the Porters until we stepped foot on the ship was about 45 minutes, but most of that was going through Security and stopping to register our extra bottles of wine. It's a $15 corkage fee for anything over 1 bottle per passenger, which is a nice deal if you bring some good wines that would cost twice the purchase price on the ship. We usually bring 8 bottles total, so pay $90 corkage fee. They put a sticker on the 6 bottles we have tagged for the Main Dining Room (MDR).