Best big ship cruise ever!

Sky Princess Cruise Review

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 90

Overall rating:

4.9 out of 5
Sky Princess

14 Night Inaugural Western Mediterranean & Adriatic Medley (Athens To Rome)

Sail date: October 20, 2019

Ship: Sky Princess

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: C442

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Trip of a lifetime! Athens, Corfu, Barcelona, Gibraltar, Rome ......... cant beat it. And we would go out of our way to sail on the Sky Princess again!

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Very smooth with medallion, especially since this was the Inaugural cruise. Lines moved quickly. Plenty of staff to handle crowds.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
Food was excellent in the main restaurants - surpassed even Princess typical high standards! Minor hiccup with the first night of Traditional Dining, but no problems thereafter. And Crown Grill was superb ..... worth the cover charge.

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5
There were plenty of activities for everyone, including kids (although there weren’t a lot of kids on board). Enjoyed all the trivia games. Staff was terrific!

Entertainment

5 out of 5
For my money, this was the best entertainment experience of any cruise we’ve ever been on! I know some folks prefer only the big production shows, and there was only one — but what a show it was, “Rock Opera”. Fantastic!! But the other performances in the Princess Theater were terrific too. Brian Justin Crowe (former finalist from America’s Got Talent) is a great singer. And every other theater performance was great, especially a British trio called Triptonic — amazing singers with wonderful harmonies. But all the entertainers - the nightly band in the Piazza, the classical string quartet, the Jazz group in Take Five, the piano players, etc ........ ALL we’re very talented! Hats off to Alexander and his staff!

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
We always opt for Traditional Dining, and we weren’t disappointed. Our waiters were superb of course. But what impressed me the most was the service performance by everyone regardless of their job. Extremely polite, personable and helpful. They were obviously well trained and motivated.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
As expected with a new ship, it was pristine all around. Although the layout can be confusing, the many touch screens on every level made it easy to navigate. I never saw any area of the ship without seeing at least a few staff sweeping, cleaning, tidying up, etc.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
We had a standard balcony. Size was on the small side, but we didn’t mind. It was sufficient for our purposes. Very comfortable bed. Everything was spotless.

Ports of call

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5
Disembarked in Rome, and added two days on our own. There’s never enough time to see everything, of course. Privately booked excursions. Spent the morning of the first full day at the Colosseum, and the afternoon in Vatican City. Visited other sites, like Trevi Fountain and the Spanish Steps on our own. A very busy two days, but magical! We’ve never been to Rome, and probably never will again, but can’t say enough about the experience.

LA SEYNE-SUR-MER (TOULON), FRANCE

4 out of 5
Another beautiful port of call. The excursion we took was OK, but not active enough. Again, our choice.

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5
Incredible. We took a Princess excursion, as we normally do. Hiked to the top of the Acropolis— along with about 25,000 of our closest friends! 😀 A great experience. Had an authentic Greek lunch with local wine. Tour guide was VERY good!

Genoa, Italy

5 out of 5
Lots of things to do here, from cultural to scenery. We chose a boat trip to the beautiful fishing village of Portofino .... what a hidden gem! Had lots of time on our own here (a nice break from following the tour guides around, I must admit). Allow time to hike up to the Church; it’s a pretty steep walk in places, but worth it for the panoramic views. Great port!,

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5
An incredibly beautiful city. Great excursion, with plenty of time around the showcase site of Barcelona - the impressive Sagrada Familia Church. But the Barcelona Cathedral was almost as beautiful. Again, you have to put up with large crowds ..... but that’s how the best tourist sites are.

Naples, Italy

5 out of 5
So many things to see in Naples. We chose “Memories of Naples and Pompeii”, most of the time in Pompeii. I would rate this one of the highlights of our two weeks in the Mediterranean! If you like history and the story of the destruction of Pompeii, you’ll love this. It was jaw-dropping!!

Messina, Sicily

4 out of 5
Not my favorite excursion. Messina itself was really nice, but we chose the wrong excursion. We selected “Easy Drive around Mt. Aetna”, because of my mobility issues, and we didn’t see much. But I heard there were other more interesting excursions. Oh well, can’t win them all!

Gibraltar (U.K.)

5 out of 5
We really enjoyed Gibraltar, from the rock itself to the fascinating “Barbary Apes” who really run the place! Do the cable car for the fantastic views. We also toured the Great Siege Tunnels and St. Michael’s Cave — wow!

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5
Had to see the Leaning Tower and the Miracle Square. The only rainy day we had, and there was lots of walking, but we survived. Big crowds again. And a love,y town to stroll through as well. One of our highlights!

Kotor, Montenegro

5 out of 5
The most beautiful port we docked at! Again, the Tour Guide was excellent. Fascinating town.

Corfu, Greece

5 out of 5
A Princess excursion. Corfu is a truly lovely place. Although unlikely, I would go back.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Incredibly smooth and well organized! It took only 20 minutes from the time we got to our meeting area to the time we left the ship, luggage in hand .... and I’m a slow walker. Impressive!

Traveler Photos

Cast of Pompeii citizen buried in volcanic ash 79 AD  At Kotor port from our balcony  St. Peter's Square Sagrada Familia Leaning Tower The Acropolis Colosseum "I'm ready for my close-up now"!
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4 Comments

cruisereckoning    3 years ago

Sounds great

Fiesta83    4 years ago

Sky Princess Rule

SueTomCruisers    5 years ago

Take 5 Jazz trio was very good, great venue ...... and wasn’t really crowded. In fact, one of the members played with Dave Brubeck for 3 years! Very talented. Cool room.

booger1xx    5 years ago

Sounds like you had a great cruise! We will be on the Sky in January and we can't wait. We are interested in the Take 5 jazz club. On most other Princess ships the Crooners bar is the best and most active. Is the Take 5 now the most active or is it one of the others?