Disappointing and Poor Value for Money

Norwegian Sky Cruise Review

Muskehound

Contributor Level: Purser

1 Day Till Next Cruise

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Reviews: 2

Helpful Votes: 17

Overall rating:

3.1 out of 5

3 Night Bahamas (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 03, 2023

Ship: Norwegian Sky

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 7012

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 1 year ago

Review summary

We celebrated a friend’s 40th birthday on the Sky in February 2023. Locals to South Florida, we were hoping to find a ship that would be ideal for future weekend getaways that wouldn’t break the bank… the Sky, alas, isn’t the solution we were looking for. This was my 3rd voyage with NCL, and my girlfriend’s 2nd. For point of reference I’ve also sailed with Celebrity and a cruise line no longer in business. I have future cruises booked currently with Celebrity, NCL, and Virgin. First off it has to be noted that NCL naturally can’t control the weather, and a lot of the negatives from this trip come from an itinerary that changed from Freeport and Great Stirrup Cay to a day at sea and Nassau. However, NCL are in control of your enjoyment in lieu of these changes and I feel if this has happened on any cruise I’d been on previously, it wouldn’t have been a big deal for the most part. Freeport isn’t exactly renowned for being a great spot (I’d just been happy to tick it off the list) and on a vibrant ship with lots going on, I would’ve probably taken a sea day over going to Nassau again. Another thing - it’s been said before that any cruise barring disaster is still a good time, and I agree with this. We did have a good time. However, there was a lot of disappointing factors that stopped it from being a great time, and a 2 night vacation that costs $1,500 for two people really should be great. It’s not pocket change and you have a lot of quality options for a weekend at this price. When looking at short cruises that leave from this port, there really isn’t much of a price difference between the Pearl, a ship I’ve been on and enjoyed before through Alaska, and the Sky - so the Sky needed to really pull out the stops to match a ship that offers a lot more. This is a hard task, but not impossible. Sadly the Sky feels limited by its smaller stature, rather than embracing it. What could be an ideal, intimate ship for adult couples instead feels like an attempt to do everything the larger ships of the fleet accomplish, but falls flat and lacks its own identity. With a refurbishment only a few years ago, nothing is likely to change in the near future. Some people love the Sky and the Facebook group is full of accounts singing its praises and saying they’ve sailed on it multiple times. Even if luck had gone more our way I still can’t see this being our opinion personally. Despite the food onboard and service quality (altho feeling understaffed) matching what I expect from this line, I just can’t think of anything unique that the Sky has to offer. It’s a genuine shame.

Embarkation

2 out of 5

Embarkation was the second red flag that this trip wasn’t going to go well (the first was the itinerary change we were handed as we got to the port, nothing NCL can do about that but they can certainly handle these changes better). We walked the pool deck for a bit, and decided to head inside as it was packed up there. Most of the bars were closed, so the atrium area was full of people either in line to for the bar (about a 30 minute wait) or sitting in stairwells and entranceways getting in the way, while they waited for the rooms to become available. Due to the lack of seating in this area, we grabbed a few drinks and sat down in Spice H2O for comfort, and luckily that bar did eventually open. I’m spoiled by the muster drills during the Covid era, so a shame to go back to the old style. We checked out The Local, which is right on top deck and it was absolutely roasting inside. It’s in a really awkward area on this ship and I guess the doors constantly opening means they can’t easily run AC in there while in port? The Italian restaurant next door offered free pizza for embarkation and was kinda hoping it would be slices of their paid pizza to entice people to spend money there, but alas it was the usual buffet pizza which is quite crap. Not sure why they made a big deal of this. The Spinnaker lounge was, of course, closed. Not a great start, but by the time the ship was moving things had settled down somewhat at least.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

It might not be quite up to the standard of other NCL ships, but I had no issue with the food onboard and it was probably the best part of the trip. The buffet wasn’t great so we didn’t partake there much, and the food from The Local wasn’t as good as I’ve had from O’Sheehans in the past but no major complaints. I’ve always been happy with the food NCL provides, and I know that some sailings can be unlucky with the quality - I’m glad this wasn’t the case this time.

Crossings Main Dining Room

4 out of 5

We had a group of 12 people and the MDR was accommodating and made sure we had a big table for the night we celebrated a friends birthday. There was a lot of food being ordered (you gotta try all the appetizers afterall, and not all will be great) but the kitchen kept on top of everything well. It was a good meal to end a mixed trip with, and while it’s not as grand as some other ships it’s still a very nice room and they’ve done their best to impress with it.

The Atrium Bar

2 out of 5

Disappointing for a bar in the focal point of the ship, there’s not much in the way of seating and they could’ve used another bartender during our sailing. The best part was if you were lucky to get a seat, especially on the other side of the stairwell, sometimes they’d be doing table service which made it a bit more enjoyable. Compared to every other NCL ship, this was a let down - however most other ships don’t rely on the atrium bar as being their main mid ship bar, but with The Local being elsewhere they don’t have much choice on the Sky.

Palace Main Dining Room

4 out of 5

We only had a single lunch at this venue, but everything was as expected and gave us opportunity to try a few dishes that’ll definitely be ordered again on future sailings.

Le Bistro

4 out of 5

We used our speciality dining at La Bistro, and racked up a $200 bill over 8 plates and 2 drinks between the 2 of us, so definitely a good spot to use this perk. I haven’t been to this restaurant on my other NCL sailings, but enjoyed it a lot. We sat with another couple we were sailing with, and it was a good atmosphere despite the small space. If I was sailing on the Sky again, I’d probably pick here as much choice still.

Onboard Activities

2 out of 5

There’s limited activities due to the size of the ship, which isn’t an issue as you know before booking that it’s not going to have racetracks, waterslides etc. Our 3 day was supposed to be comprised of 2 port days, so we weren’t concerned about daytime activities.

Sky Club Casino

1 out of 5

NCL loves making the casino a huge focus on their ships, they’re big and in your face and right at the mid section meaning they’re pretty unavoidable. I’m not a big gambler so I usually just pay no attention as I walk through, but this is such a detriment to the enjoyment of the Sky. First and foremost, unlike most ships operating currently the casino is fully smoking. It stinks, and because of its location it causes the surrounding areas to stink too. If you have sensitivity to cigarette smells, it’s going to be a real sour point and it should’ve been dealt with. Smoking on the Sky is worse than any other ship I’ve been on, and it makes no sense.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

We only really did the trivia on this sailing, which was fun as usual. Friends did karaoke but it was coming to an end when we went up there. I can’t remember what the theatre was offering but I’m gonna guess it’s probably not as grandeur as the larger ships and it didn’t entice us in. On board entertainment wasn’t a huge factor in going on this particular cruise, so despite the low rating it didn’t impact the enjoyment of our vacation.

Service and Staff

4 out of 5

All in all, NCL staff are always excellent and I’ve never had an issue with anyone on board any of my sailings. The ship did seem understaffed during the sail.

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

This is the crux of the issue and why I most likely won’t book the Sky again, as it’ll never be resolved. The layout simply doesn’t work for what they are trying to do. Instead of giving the Sky its own raison d’etre, it’s simply an attempt to jam what they do on the bigger ships into a space that cannot accommodate it. The mid section of the ship is completely lacking with nowhere really to sit, you have to walk through restaurants to get to other parts of the ship, there’s no proper promenade deck so outside space is limited and you can’t walk around the ship. Its size isn’t an issue, it’s how they prioritize what is done with the available space that is. Having the Sky be an adults only, short excursion ship and have its facilities be based around this idea would fix most things. NCL doesn’t offer anything like this at the moment, and they have a smaller, more intimate ship that isn’t able to compete with the rest of their fleet while charging the same kinds of prices. Cleanliness isn’t an issue, it looked fine, but smell is. As noted in the casino review, it’s an inside area that allows smoking and this spreads out. On our cruise, they also moved the exterior smoking from the topmost deck to the pool deck due to weather concerns. Absolutely ridiculous in 2023, it’s not something that benefits the vast majority of your sailors.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

I was pleasantly surprised by our Oceanview cabin, it was nothing special but I didn’t have massively high hopes and it was fine for the short trip. No bells and whistles, but perfectly comfortable. I saw a friends balcony cabin and wow, I’m glad our upgrade bid wasn’t accepted. It somehow felt more cramped than what we had, and while a balcony is nice I don’t spend a huge amount of time on it and it’s the larger area that class of room comes with that’s more a selling point to me.

Disembarkation

2 out of 5

Due to a port cancellation, I had a refund of around $1,200 for a 2 bedroom cabana I had booked for our party. I was assuming this would just be credited to the card I had on file with them, but on the way out they pulled me aside and proceeded to give me over a thousand dollars in cash. Makes zero sense and forced me to walk around with a wallet bulging with money, and then having to get to a branch of my bank to deposit and then pay off the card. The sole advantage is I got to keep the credit card points. Port Miami was also a disaster that day with the credit card system failing and the line taking nearly an hour to get out. Finding out later than my friends all got to leave without having to pay was the final stab in the side, but I can’t blame NCL for that.

9 Comments

Cruisers4Lyfe 1 month ago

Thanks for sharing

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Dumfy75 1 year ago

I don’t mind lengthy reviews as long as they’re giving actual info like this one and not just a rant! Plus I hate reviews that give ratings with no or very little info. Some of the things in the review I don’t think would bother me but we’re all different, and anyone who does care about them can make an informed decision.

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keithlayman 1 year ago

Thanks for the detailed information. We are going on the Sky end of October. This will be our 5th NCL and the smallest so far, we did the Breakaway , but weren’t impressed.although the ship is large we found it overcrowded. We prefer the smaller ships and fewer passenger. We will be on Viva in February.

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Muskehound 1 year ago

Knew I’d get the usual parade of know it all boomers in the comment section. Completely unable to see anything written on the internet without giving their worthless opinions.

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Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing

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1960cruiser 1 year ago

I agree with javawoody, too long, with no ambition to read that much complaining

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javawoody 1 year ago

Sorry too long. Stopped reading.

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RetiredRay 1 year ago

The problem with many of the newer ships, we miss the promenade but that is a bunch of cabins they can add.

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Muskehound 1 year ago

Apologies for the lack of paragraph breaks in the top section, I had to copy and paste from my notepad as there’s a bug in the Shipmate iPhone app once you go past a few lines, and it stripped out the breaks. Alas, no edit button.

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Other reviews of this sailing

Not the best….

Prefer bigger ships, But nice cruise.