burm

That's why I wear shorts under my skirts

That is something else I learned from CC - thanks to CC, I now always wear shorts-like undergarments under dresses that prevent thighs from rubbing in the heat and I don't have to worry about men coming up the stairs behind me.

Thanks to KandCsailing, I was even able to pick them up on sale. :)

I also agree with the others that you don't need stockings, but they do hide a lot of imperfections, so if they make a girl feel better, wear them when you want to look and feel special.

It's not St. Patrick's Day - but I am green with envy!:D

Me, too!

IMO, any of the aft facing balconies will be fine. I prefer either of the two on deck 9 so that you don't have to worry about chair noise from The Great Outdoors that you might hear on deck 10. Deck 8 is fine too, but I like the convenience of only two flights of stairs to get to the Garden Café.

 

If you can swing one of the aft facing mini's they are MUCH larger than the balconies....same thoughts on which deck.

 

IF none of the aft balconies or mini's are available, then the best views (albeit not the warmest ones) will be from the bow facing ones on deck 11.

I don't think I would want to be on the bow for this cruise. When we sailed from Cuba, the temperature was 71 degrees and the wind was still fierce enough that we didn't want to sit out on our bow deck. I can't imagine what it would be like at 50 degrees in a part of the world known for it's strong winds.

Snug on our aft deck, we should be nice and cozy. :)

I especially liked the first picture of the mogotes from the air. Viñales is a gorgeous area.

We love Cuba!

I haven't sailed on Norwegian yet, but on DCL I've experienced verandah, porthole window and inside cabins. I prefer the porthole window cabins over verandah and inside. I have small kids that need to be constantly supervised on the balcony, so I'm just more comfortable with the oceanview window cabins (and the price is better!)

There is no itinerary for which I would not prefer a balcony. Even if it is port intensive, it is such a pleasure to watch the ship pull into port from the balcony and enjoy the sunset as the ship pulls out of port. And the fresh air! Ahhhh.

That being said, if I had children with me, I would go crazy worrying about them climbing over the railing or dropping items off the balcony. Heck, I have even seen parents put the kid on a railing so they could take a picture. Some adults aren't mature enough to handle balconies either. :rolleyes: (One woman on CC said that it was their first thing on board custom to have her husband take a picture of her propped on the railing of their balcony with a drink in hand to celebrate).

Some very nice photos. Thanks, Cruise More Often, griz400, and Computerworks for sharing.

Also when you go around the horn, it isn't anything special to see, but just to think of all the people that traveled that way. Our first trip, they stopped and said a nice prayer for all the people that had lost their lives going around the Horn. It was a nice ceremony

 

Both times we sailed around The Horn, it was quite smooth.

 

When I was a child, I dreamed of standing at the tip of Cape Hope and seeing where the oceans meet, and also of sailing around Cape Horn. The thought of the "land of fire" captured my imagination.

I got to stand at the tip of South Africa years ago, but this will be my first time to the Land Of Fire. The cold has always kept me away. As a Canadian, I travel to escape the cold. LOL

I have to admit though, that I hope our passage is not perfectly smooth. I like a bit of rock n rollin'.

Your view will be fine!

Fine, yes, but what cabin location (balcony, not suite) gives me the BEST view for a westbound Horn cruise?

I know, I know, I probably can't go wrong. :) I just want to be sure that I have the best possible cabin before they are snapped up. Normally, for us, an aft is a no brainer. I am a bit suspicious that they are still available on this cruise. They usually fill first. Do others know something about this particular route that we don't know?

We now wear water shoes on any beach or around any pool. Even the loveliest, purest sand can have glass or needles in it, not to mention animal droppings, critters, etc. Around swimming pools they protect you from plantars warts, athletes' foot, and glass.

As others have said, they are great for walking over hot pavement or sand, sharp stones, yucky washroom floors.

Never again will I get a leach stuck between my toes.:eek: Or a bluebottle tentacle wrapped around my foot.

I imagine us cruising north with gorgeous scenery on the right - but because we are closer to the middle in an aft balcony and cannot peer around the corner, that all we will see is water behind us and bits of land in our peripheral vision. Perhaps the best view of the fjords is from the starboard side (unless you are fortunate enough to have a corner aft suite)?

I know we will have a good view, but is it the best place to be for a Horn cruise?

I do not know how to post a bigger size of the picture here... but could email it to you. I am at work and it is on my computer here, so if I don't send it til I return on Tuesday will that work for you? My email is all lower case - donnahill and then the numbers 1 and 5 @ gmail dot come. I spelled it out to keep from it getting picked up.

 

You will love that cruise.

Ok, I have sent you an email. You will know me by the subject line.

We are looking forward to trying NCL for the first time. For us, the Sun is a "big ship", so I will be interested in seeing how different the entertainment is.

I know Donna will answer but in the meantime, I can tell you that the aft is a GREAT place for the SA trip. You get amazing views of both sides of everything. You don't have to be in the suite, but if you can afford it why not? We were in one of the balconies next to "Donna's" suite and really enjoyed the view and location. And the cruise is still our favorite so hope you will have as good a one as we did.

Thank you. That is good to hear.

Sadly. we are not in a suite this time. We won't have a deck like we had last year on our Cuban cruise. No dance floor. :(

Yes, as you and someone a few posts up pointed out, it would be best to go down a deck if there is a Great Outdoors. My point wasn't to get the person sailing aft on the Sun turned off or upset about the room. I just didn't want them to be surprised after doing research here to find the things we had on deck 10 of the Sun as they are two rooms over from where we were.

 

These type of issues being reported vary widely. The BA was sailing for quite a long time before someone reported getting soot on an aft balcony and then some other people posted the same thing with pictures so I thought the problem didn't exist on the BA until some people reported it.

 

As far as the Sun, DMH15 has sailed the Sun quite a bit compared to our one time and I can't ever recall her saying she had soot but I can't recall her exact wording. I know in some of these posts about the Sun specifically where we were talking about the soot some people said they never had it so it in their minds didn't exist yet I posted a picture of it at the time.

I have asked DMH15 is she can post a full sized pic of her avatar. Thanks. :)

The things we agonize over on CC. LOL

I am far more concerned about my view of the Chilean fjords on starboard side than anything else. I always pack bleach wipes and can toss a towel on the chair. I just don't want to pay $1,000 more (for both of us) for a cabin that gives me less of a view. This cruise is pretty special to us. (Aren't they all?LOL)

I have cruised on the sun in an aft penthouse twice. I would choose the sun over any NCL ship if it was going where I wanted to go. Favorite.

Is your avatar the back of the Sun? We are in 0266 and wondering if the curvature is enough to get a good view of the starboard side while cruising the Chilean fjords. Would we be better off right on starboard for this particular cruise?

Would it be possible for you to post a larger size of you avatar pic? Dexddd has kindly posted a pic, but it appears to be a model, not the actual ship.

I love mine and now use it for work in addition to travel. The material is washable with a cloth and therefore easy to clean. It has many inside pockets in addition to the laptop and shoe pockets. My black Lo bag interior is lavendar colored.

LOL. As soon as you said black with lavender, I knew that would be the one DD ordered, if possible. She just confirmed this. :D

Unfortunately, now she will have to wait until her uncle visits from the USA to get it.

In all my afts, I've never experienced any of the above. Neither gulls nor sewage smell (which is usually just an "off" whiff) are limited to the aft. (We had a friendly gull perch on the rail of our mid-ship balcony once)

I don't have any Sun aft views handy, but you will have nearly a 180 degree view at least when standing at your railing - the back of the ship is tapered.

 

One thing other than the soot and food we mentioned was we would get gulls when in port a couple times on the railing or the railing above because the Great Outdoors is there and they were looking for the food.

 

I also mentioned on another thread recently that there is sometimes a sewage smell in the aft part of the Sun. We had it the first day and even outside on 7 where we did the muster. It went away after we started sailing but others have reported smelling it in the hallways aft while sailing.

Thank you. I hoped that the deck curved enough to provide us with a good side view. :)

Now about the gulls, the soot, and worst of all, the sewage smell......

Should we move to the bow? :eek:

Are you on 8, 9, or 10? The aft Sun balconies will have a good view from side to side. We were in one of the minis on 10 and had good side to side views. We did get some soot and food from the Great Outdoors at times. The aft balconies are one room closer to the sides.

We are on 10 (0266). We are paying approx.$500 more for the privilege of being aft, although the cabin itself appears to be slightly smaller than normal.

My concern is that we will only have a view of the water behind us and little view of the fjords to the right.

We have booked a "center aft" balcony for our cruise around Cape Horn. Now I am worried that we have made a mistake for this particular cruise. Cruising westward from Buenos Aires to Valparaiso through the Chilean fjords, would we be better off on the starboard side? We have had aft balconies before, but those were on the corner of the ship and gave us the best possible 180 degree view.

Are all the frou frou drinks covered?

Got it on Amazon for $48 whereas it's $220 on their website. It is worth what we paid for them, got two.

They don't have them on amazon anymore. :(

Has anyone ever had a Lo & Son *OMG* Overnight Travel bag? We do not have that brand in Canada and my DD was wondering if I knew anyone who had one and how they liked it.

https://www.loandsons.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/1240x768/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/o/m/omg-blackgold-front-1200x900-1_5.jpg

Not being able to eat on your balcony would be like not being able to dine on your deck at home. Sure, you would still go outside, but less and you would not be getting the full use and enjoyment of your little bit of paradise.

Yes, I know, they aren't saying that you can't eat on your balcony. If I am at home and decide that I am hungry, I don't want to pick up the phone every day and order Chinese or pizza, and have to wait 45 minutes. I walk over to the fridge and say, "That looks good". Same at the buffet: "Gee, looks good. I've never had that before".

So I grab a plate of that Moroccan chicken to enjoy on my balcony and watch the ship sail away from port in the sunset with the man I love beside me. Ahhhh, life does not get any better.

Alternate scenario: I wander around the tables in the buffet area looking for 2 empty seats. The food is rapidly getting cold. Finally we find 2 seats, but they are next to the waiters' station, out of sight of the glorious sunset. We are seated with a 93 year old man who entertains us with war stories. He cannot hear a word we say so delivers an endless monologue.

I like the first scenario much better.

Especially if you got a great rate or perk. No need to cancel until right before final due date... They may change the policy or you might change your mind.

That is my thought. I plan to let them know that I am thinking of cancelling, but will be monitoring the situation until shortly before final payment is due.

It would not be the first time that a cruise line has backed down from an unpopular policy change once the peasants revolted.

FDR is saying, "Let them eat cake - but they darn well better eat it in the dining room or pay $7.95 plus gratuity for room service!"

I wrote an email yesterday to let NCL know I was disappointed with the new policy. I also called today and canceled my cruise for October of this year because the new policy takes away from my experience and I would rather rebook on another line that lets me do "whatever". I received a call shortly after I called to cancel. I was told that they had tons of feedback on the new policy and that they were taking it seriously. I was told that it wouldn't be changed right away, but if they continued to get negative feedback that they would likely change it back. So if you don't like the new policy PLEASE send an email to let them know! They won't listen to one person, but they can't ignore all of us if they want to stay in business!

To whom, and to what address, should we send these emails to have the most impact?