Join me as we explore Princess Cruises Sky Princess to find out what's good, what's
bad and all the key features. I'm Gary Bembridge, and this is another of my
tips for travellers. I'm here on board Sky Princess, the ship which entered service
in October 2019. I actually am recording this on the shakedown cruise, so the ship
is literally just come out of the shipyard and I have been exploring this
ship. I'm going to show you everything and talk about everything you absolutely
need to know about this Royal Class ship. Sky Princess came into service in
October 2019. It carries three thousand six hundred and sixty guests, has just
over 1,300 crew, there's nineteen decks in total (including those for the crew). It's
one of the Royal Class type of ships and some of the other ships include
obviously the Sky Princess, Regal Princess,
Majestic Princess and Enchanted Princess which enters in 2020. It was
built from the ground up with Princess Cruises wearable technology, the Ocean
Medallion. The ship was built with that technology from the very
beginning and it was the first ship in the Princess fleet to be built with that
technology from the ground up. Like all Princess Ships, one of the big features
of the ship is the Atrium. This covers three decks (five, six and
seven). You could spend your whole cruise in the atrium and
never move, because you can eat there, you can be entertained there, you can
exercise there, you can shop there and pretty much everything you want to do is in the
atrium. Let's take a look in more depth at the Atrium. On Deck five
you have a couple of important and classic Princess features. You
have the International Cafe, which is open 24 hours a day, you also have a
couple of important bars here. You have Vines, which is the wine bar
which is extremely popular particularly in the evenings, you also have Bellini's
which is a great bar for meeting up during the day with great cocktails.
There's a small shop there called Celebrations, and one of the big and
popular features is a Gelato shop right down there on Deck five. Also down
on deck five you'll have a couple of the big activities taking place like
live music during the evenings, and also in here you'll have
some exercise, for example line dancing classes or Zumba classes
take place down there on deck 5. if you move up to Deck 6, there's a whole
bunch of other stuff up there to keep you busy. You've got the
photographic centre, where you can buy obviously the photographs taken on board
or photographic equipment. There's another bar up there called Good Spirits,
which has a great view across the atrium. If you head up to the next level, which
is Deck 7, you have lots of opportunities to eat here. Two of the speciality dining
restaurants which have an extra charge are up here and these are really good.
You have the Ocean Terrace seafood bar, which is the sushi
restaurant which does have a small charge, and then you have the other
seafood restaurant which is called Bistro sur la Mer. If you're still
looking for something else to eat, Alfredo's is up here which is their pizza
restaurant that is included within the fare, and then if you want something
else to do in the atrium you have the Shops of Princess here. This one set of
shops and there's some shops in another section within the ship. So, as
you can see, you can pretty much spend your whole cruise being entertained,
eating, exercising and shopping right here in the heart of the
ship. That's enough about the Atrium, which is one of the classic Princess
places on board, why don't we move up right up to the top of the ship and
explore what's on offer up there? Let's start by taking a look at deck 16.
This is known as the Lido deck, and here you have a huge amount of space to eat
and lots of recreation opportunities. Being the Lido deck, you have the big
major swimming pools here, there's hot tubs here and it does feel really
open and it's a very welcoming space. Also up here just by the pools are the
SeaView walks. These are glass panels which those of you who have a good head
for heights can take a walk along. It's quite fun
watching people being a little bit nervous about walking on those. Also up
on Deck 16 you have informal buffet dining restaurant. This is sort of
split into two sections with the Horizon
Bistro and the World Fresh Marketplace. It is a really big space with lots of
different stations and the usual big selection of self-service breakfast,
lunches and dinner. You can also head out towards the back of the ship and there's
another bar here and another swimming pool out there and this is the Wave View,
a great little swimming pool looking out across the wake of the ship as you sail
and a really nice bar. This is a great place particularly for sailaways. I
really love this spot. Around the main swimming pools on the Lido deck there are
a couple of dining options which are also included within the fare and again more
informal. You have the Salty Dog Grill that is really popular that's where you're going to
get your hamburgers and fries. Just next to that you have the Slice Pizzeria.
There's a couple of bars also on the Lido deck around the swimming pool.
Above the Lido deck are some more open spaces and more recreation opportunities.
So, let's go and take a look at deck 17. There is a couple of really
interesting spaces. You have the Movie under the Stars screen. This is a big
innovation that a lot of the other cruise lines now have, this is a
big screen where they show movies or concerts during the day and in the
evening. In the front of the ship
towards the forward part of the ship, there is another swimming pool. This is the
third set of swimming pools and this is the Retreat Pool. This is an
adults-only pool. It's a nice calm and quiet space. At the rear of the deck you
have the fitness centre. It's a huge big fitness area which then will also
run classes. It has a couple of exercise rooms as well as huge amounts
of gym equipment to workout on and, of course, cardio machines. Also up here on
deck 17 are the kids clubs and they're split into different kids clubs by ages, which
is also included within the fare.
If you head up
another deck up to Deck 18 there are a couple of great things. First of
all in the front of the ship is a beautiful space called The Sanctuary, where
you do have to pay a fee to go to. It's a calm quiet
space where you can hire areas where you can sit and relax and be
pampered. It's a beautiful calm great space and it has a hot tub in
there. At the rear of the ship on deck 18 if you want more recreation and exercise,
you have some of the sports activities including a running track, which is
really popular on sea days and you'll always have a lot of people
running around. There also a sports court where you can play various
games and above that you have a little crazy golf area as well.
The top of the ship on decks 16, 17 and 18
is focused around recreation. Let's talk about and explore some of the
entertainment options on board. There's a large casino on board the ship,
which is a smoking on most evenings or part of it of smoking,
with lots of machines and of course tables. You can also through
the Ocean Medallion app and also on your television in your cabin
gamble more virtually as well. Behind that you have the large
Princess Theatre where princess you have the Princess
cast performing various shows. On Sky Princess they debuted some new
shows including one called "Rock Opera", which is a mash of you
avant-garde costumes and classic rock. There's a lot of different
production shows on in this big beautiful theatre. You also have in
terms of entertainment Princess Live. This used to be a more
enclosed space on Princess ships, but it's now more open and this is where you have lots of
trivia, bingo and different sorts of game show formats. Close by Princess Live is
the Princess Live cafe, which is a great place if you want to grab a drink or a coffee
or a tea if you're heading into some of that entertainment in the Princess Live
Just behind Princess Live is the Vista lounge and in
here you'll have live music and dancing and there's it is the late
night venue, and it's another classic Princess feature,
although it's very different look to other ships that have been on.
So, want are the other the dining options available? I have already mentioned a couple
around the Atrium and up on the Lido deck, and there are some other options
Obviously, you have the big classic traditional dining rooms and onboard
Sky Princess you have some which are dedicated to fixed dining times and one
which is dedicated to anytime dining. These are traditional,
classic and beautiful dining rooms that you would expect across Princess ships, and
they still have those. They are included within the fare, whether
you want fixed time dining or anytime dining, which you opt into as you
make a booking for your Sky Princess cruise. In terms speciality dining, there
are another two real Princess classic specialty dining options. The first of
those is Crown Grill, which is their steakhouse.
This is probably one of the most famous of all of the Princess restaurants, and
it's top-notch and very beautiful on Sky Princess with really great steaks
and of course there's a surcharge for that. Then there's Sabatini's, which is
the Italian restaurant and another classic for Princess. On Sky Princess I
had great Italian food in there.
In terms of cabin types, there is a wide range of cabins. One of the big
innovations onboard Sky Princess is the launch of Sky Suites, which are vast cabins.
They have two bedrooms, lounge area, dining area and massive big balconies, which
at the time of recording they were the largest balconies at sea apparently.
There's two of those and they proving really popular and actually getting sold out really
quickly. Then of course you have Suites, mini suites, oceanview cabins and I was staying in a
balcony cabin, which is what the bulk of the cabins on board are. It's a nice
cozy cabin with incredible comfy Princess bed, good
sized balcony and a good sized bathroom. The only downside of the bathroom, from my
perspective, is it has shower curtains and I like glass doors versus shower
curtains. It's just a little quirk that I have, but I really liked the cabin.
Lots of plugs, USB plugs and again as I said that smart technology where the
door opens for you automatically. In terms of other facilities, you have
the usual things you would expect on board like
the Lotus spa, a large spa with all the usual treatments,
a Medical Centre, Future Sales
and Guest Services. So, all the normal things that you would expect on board a
cruise ship are there. For me Sky Princess is a great
evolution of the Royal class of ships. I have been on some of the others, like
a Royal Princess, and I felt this ship was more modern and more contemporary.
The spaces certainly felt more open than many of the other ships, which I
felt were probably a little bit more enclosed. I liked the changes
to the decor and flout make it contemporary. It feels a little bit more
modern. I think they've done a really great job with the ship Sky Princess
It's quite a big ship of three thousand six
hundred and sixty passengers, but really like what they've done with it and definitely
it's a ship I had a great great cruise on. I have many more videos about
Princess Cruises and cruising in general, so if you enjoyed this video, why don't
you watch another one of those right now?