Cruise Review: Norwegian Sky

The ship features two main dining rooms (Crossings and Palace) which feature a variety of the seafood, steak and Italian dishes in sit down style restaurant. Norwegians Freestyle Cruising concept allows guests to make reservations or walk in at any time during operating hours. During our cruise we found both dining venues to have large availability with little to no wait time for seating.

The ship also features the Garden Cafe and the Great Outdoor Cafe both of which are buffets located at the aft of the ship with the Great Outdoor Cafe having open air seating. The buffets host Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner and Late Night Snacks with ever changing fare and themed nights. American cuisine such as hamburgers and hot dogs seemed to be a favorite among guests. Additionally, the speciality restaurant II Adagio was open as complimentary venue for lunch serving pizza and pasta.

Overall, the complimentary dining met our expectations but lacked in offering non-traditional cruise fare. Additionally the Garden Cafe and Great Outdoor Cafe are setup in a way that can make them difficult to navigate and lead to extensive lines during peak dining periods.

The Sky feature 4 speciality restaurants that feature ala carte menus including Cagney’s (Steakhouse), Le Bistro (French), II Adagio (Italian), and Plantations (Sushi Bar).

During our time onboard we only dined in Cagney’s Steakhouse which was similar to an American style steakhouse. Overall, Cagney’s far exceeded our expectations and should be considered one of the top steakhouses on the high seas. The ribeye (approx $20) and the 6oz. filel (approx $16) were cooked to perfection and were available with a selection of seasonings to fit your taste buds. Cagney’s also provided a superior level of service with dining staff that would ensure a drink was never left empty. We highly recommend Cagney’ onboard any Norwegian vessel!

The Sky features 11 bars serving a wide variety of beers, wines, speciality cocktails and frozen drinks. If your a mojito lover check out the Atrium Bar (Deck 11) for a variety of speciality mojitos. Beer lovers should check out the Longboard Bar (Deck 11) for the largest selection of draft beer on the ship. When sitting by pool be sure to check out Breakers Bar and Champs for your poolside beverages (Tip: Champs Bar is well staffed and provides faster service then Breakers). All the bars on the ship have varying hours of operation with bars opening as early as 7:00am and being open until 2:00am.

The biggest draw on the Norwegian Sky is the “Free Open Bar” that is available to all guests. While we were skeptical about the free open bar, it greatly surpassed our expectations in terms of variety and service. The free open bar included most liquors excluding top shelf names while the beer selection includes things such as Bud Light, Miller Light, Blue Moon, Sam Adams, Corona and more. The wine selection was expansive but only select wines by the glass were included. Each bar was adequately staffed by 2-3 bartenders which led to minimal wait times. When traveling on the Norwegian Sky we highly recommend bringing cash to tip your bartenders as your ship card is not swiped at the bars.

The Norwegian Sky debuted in 1999 and has since underwent multiple refurbishments but is still in need of another refurbishment. During our cruise we spent a few minutes discussing the ship with the senior officers who admitted that the ship needs a refurbishment and are hoping for one in the near future.

That being said, the ship was well maintained and clean but lacked the modern look we see on many of the newer vessels. The staff did an adequate job of keeping the public areas clean but struggled with keeping the pool deck clean with used plates and cups scattered across the pool deck.

The ship was somewhat difficult to navigate given it is a smaller vessel. We found multiple decks in which you were unable to walk across the entire deck which required us to go up a deck, go across and then go back down to the original deck. That being said deck plans area clearly displayed at each elevator and within a day guests should have no problems navigating the ship.

During our sailing we stayed in an interior stateroom located on deck 8 mid ship. The interior stateroom far exceeded our expectations in terms of space and layout for an interior room. The rooms were clean with comfortable mattresses. The bathroom included multiple amenities including various soaps, shampoo, shower cap, lotion and more.

The fitness center on the Norwegian Sky is located on Deck 11 Forward and generally operates from 6:00am-11:00pm. The fitness center offers a variety of free and fee based classes as well as treadmills, bikes, ellipticals, dumbbells and weight machines. During our trip we found the fitness center, specifically the treadmills to be extremely busy all times of the day. While most of the equipment worked and was in good shape, we did find multiple treadmills that were not functional throughout our trip which resulted in increased weight times.

Additionally, the ship features a jogging track on deck 6 but we found the track to be closed almost daily for maintenance.

The Norwegian Sky features a fairly quick embarkation process due to its small size. When guests enter the terminal they are first processed through security, then proceed to complete health forms before proceeding to the check in counter. After completing check in and receiving your ship card you are directed to the waiting area where you are assigned a boarding number. Once the ship is ready to board, guests are boarded by boarding number. Overall, we found the embarkation process to be quick and efficient with the curb to ship time being less then 20 minutes.

The disembarkation process onboard the Norwegian Sky is in line with Norwegian Freestyle Program where guests can choose there own luggage tags and departure time within the departure window. During the disembarkation process we found significant delays in the terminal due to multiple escalators and elevators being required to get to the luggage hall and customs. The disembarkation time was approximately 1 hour.