So I am going to start providing travel tips via my Facebook and Twitter accounts. These will be helpful tips that come from travel magazines like Budget Travel or general tips I have gathered from my own travel experience.
I find the most frustrating part of a vacation, other than returning home, is preparing. These tips will help make sure anyone has an easy going relaxing vacation. Feel free to add your ideas as well :)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
Monday, April 11, 2011
Norwegian Sky
I have toured quite a few Norwegian ships but had never been on an actual cruise with them. I have been a bit hesitant because I hear of terrible food (in order to force people in to the specialty restaurants) and poor service because of the Freestyle concept and pre-paid tips.
My mother in law was looking for an inexpensive weekend cruise to take her parents on sometime soon. We found a sailing on the Sky for a great price and jumped on it. My husband and I ended up going as well to help out. We booked inside rooms and were upgraded to oceanview rooms. This was nice!
Dining: I find this to be one of the most subjective topics on cruises. We ate dinner in the Palace Restaurant on all 3 nights. One night we had a great waiter, the other two nights were just so-so. The food was delicious, negating all reports I had heard from others.
We had breakfast in the Crossings Restaurant. The first morning we ate in there we had a terrible waitress who was grumpy and didn't want to do anything to help us, let alone bring us drinks!
The Garden Cafe Buffet always had a lot of variety. There was even a Make-Your-Own Soup section where you could get broth and add any number of things to it including tofu and Asian noodles. I thought that was a great feature. The staff members working in the buffet were very helpful in getting new drinks for my husband's grandparents who were making use of a walker and wheelchair. They even carried their plates along the buffet line to allow them to make their choices with ease.
Entertainment: There was never a shortage of evening activities. One night we saw the comedian and then proceeded to walk through the ship back to our cabins. There was a piano player in Captain Cook's, Salsa classes in Dazzles, Family Feud in another lounge, and during the day time hours they often had Nintendo Wii games going in Dazzles. We saw bowling, golf, and baseball just to name a few!
Accessibility: Here was the downfall, this ship was not built to accommodate wheelchairs! It was very difficult getting my grandmother in law over the joints in the ship. There were large bumps between rooms that made it difficult to get a walker or wheelchair over. Going from inside areas to outdoor areas was also difficult due to 4-6 inch door frames at the bottom!
Crowds: There were never crows onboard. There were always seats by the pool, never a line for dining, and good seats in the theater both times we went. The only line was for the tender, but that went very quickly.
Great Stirrup Cay: NCL's private island. Nice clean island with beautiful shores. There isn't much going on right now though. It appeared that much of it is still under construction. The buffet area was nice and shady with fans. No lines to get food. Food was tasty- burgers, chicken, hot dogs, salads, etc. There was a lack of shade unfortunately.
Overall I would say this was a pleasant and relaxing trip and experience I would recommend this to anyone considering a weekend cruise to the Bahamas. It was easy and fun!
My mother in law was looking for an inexpensive weekend cruise to take her parents on sometime soon. We found a sailing on the Sky for a great price and jumped on it. My husband and I ended up going as well to help out. We booked inside rooms and were upgraded to oceanview rooms. This was nice!
Dining: I find this to be one of the most subjective topics on cruises. We ate dinner in the Palace Restaurant on all 3 nights. One night we had a great waiter, the other two nights were just so-so. The food was delicious, negating all reports I had heard from others.
We had breakfast in the Crossings Restaurant. The first morning we ate in there we had a terrible waitress who was grumpy and didn't want to do anything to help us, let alone bring us drinks!
The Garden Cafe Buffet always had a lot of variety. There was even a Make-Your-Own Soup section where you could get broth and add any number of things to it including tofu and Asian noodles. I thought that was a great feature. The staff members working in the buffet were very helpful in getting new drinks for my husband's grandparents who were making use of a walker and wheelchair. They even carried their plates along the buffet line to allow them to make their choices with ease.
Entertainment: There was never a shortage of evening activities. One night we saw the comedian and then proceeded to walk through the ship back to our cabins. There was a piano player in Captain Cook's, Salsa classes in Dazzles, Family Feud in another lounge, and during the day time hours they often had Nintendo Wii games going in Dazzles. We saw bowling, golf, and baseball just to name a few!
Accessibility: Here was the downfall, this ship was not built to accommodate wheelchairs! It was very difficult getting my grandmother in law over the joints in the ship. There were large bumps between rooms that made it difficult to get a walker or wheelchair over. Going from inside areas to outdoor areas was also difficult due to 4-6 inch door frames at the bottom!
Crowds: There were never crows onboard. There were always seats by the pool, never a line for dining, and good seats in the theater both times we went. The only line was for the tender, but that went very quickly.
Great Stirrup Cay: NCL's private island. Nice clean island with beautiful shores. There isn't much going on right now though. It appeared that much of it is still under construction. The buffet area was nice and shady with fans. No lines to get food. Food was tasty- burgers, chicken, hot dogs, salads, etc. There was a lack of shade unfortunately.
Overall I would say this was a pleasant and relaxing trip and experience I would recommend this to anyone considering a weekend cruise to the Bahamas. It was easy and fun!
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