Sky Princess, Life on the Ship NOV 2, 2025

A bus took us to the port in Southampton, England to board the Sky Princess for our 28 day cruise. I will confess I had worried quite a bit about standing in a long line to check in and go through security before embarking the ship. My back cannot yet tolerate standing for any length of time.
When we arrived we saw a very long line, probably a 2+ hour wait. But no worries, Princess had a special area for those with mobility issues and we were taken to a special line where we checked in and went through security in a matter of minutes. Praise God! We were able to quickly leave our things in our cabin and go have lunch at the buffet.
This was our first time on a Princess ship and we had a bit of a learning curve. We are so used to Holland America where the ships are smaller and the passenger capacity is half. Suddenly we found ourselves on a large ship crowded with people. Elevators were full, lines for dinner were long, public seating areas were crowded with no place to sit and it seemed to take forever to get anywhere, especially when walking with a heavy brace and walking poles/sticks. We were missing Holland America. We also found that of the over 3,600 passengers, at least 80% were British and the rest American or Canadian.
Before we left port, the Captain made an announcement that there was very bad weather ahead. As a result we were going to miss our first two ports in Spain because it was too dangerous to dock. As we left England and headed south, the seas became very rough and we watched the wind speed shown on our TV get stronger and stronger.
The next morning we woke up to continued rough seas. Bill, who never gets sea sick, was feeling out of sorts with a vertigo like condition. A sea sick pill and nice breakfast had him feeling better and he had no more problems. I was doing fine as long as I took seasick medicine. We just needed time to get our sea legs back.
They had many activities around the ship. We went to a talk by officers responsible for the hotel management area of the ship.

The next day the officers responsible for food and beverage were on stage. It was interesting to hear how they planned the menus and stocked the ship for British vs American passengers. The British drink more liquor than Americans, including beer, gin and of course hot tea. The Americans drink more bourbon and whiskey. The menu favors the British who eat more beef, lamb and chicken. The Americans eat more seafood. It is common to see beef and lamb pies, stews, shepherds pie, fish and chips and yorkshire pudding on the menus and in the buffet.

After several days onboard we have adjusted to the new ship. We are walking a lot more. Our cabin is at the front (forward) of the ship and the dining room and buffet area is at the very back of the ship (aft). I would say the variety of food at the buffet is larger with lots more choices than Holland America though the quality is about the same. Getting laundry done here is expensive compared to Holland America but on Princess each deck has a laundromat where you can do your own laundry. Holland America does not have a self service laundromat.
Princess definitely has better quality of shows in the Princess theater. We have seen two great Motown shows and a great show with music from the Eagles, one of Bill’s favorites. We are showing the Brits what good music sounds like!!
Bill and I both feel that this ship is understaffed. There is definitely not enough wait staff in the buffet with sometimes long waits for coffee, beverages and eating utensils.