Back from the Sun 9/9-9/16

I wanted to write a bit about the cruise, as when I was searching information on this ship, there wasn't really a lot to go on. My DH and myself flew into Fort Lauderdale the day before. We spent the night at the Hotel Morrison. Highly recommend this hotel! The hotel shuttle driver advised us that there was some kind of street fair was going on. When we arrived, it was a lots of boths of crafts, and a lot of food trucks. We hadn't ate any dinner, so we enjoyed a good grilled cheese sandwich. The hotel is only a year old, and it was very comfortable. The entire street fair was torn down and we never heard a thing. Great breakfast the next morning. We normally use Jiffy Jeff for transportation, but they were on vacation. We did use them on the way home. We used an Uber driver, and he was prompt and courteous. He was from Cuba.

We were in group six at the port. We had not issues boarding, and everything went really smooth. My husband left his Rx sunglasses in the port area, and some nice soul turned them in. We got on so early that we had no issue eating at the buffet. We mostly emptied our suitcases and put things away. We were in a balcony room. It was what we were expecting. We had the best steward! His name was Romel. He worked very hard, and we made sure he got a little something extra at the end of the cruise.

I hate the drill! We always go early, and I swear I am NOT doing this next time. We had this little "Hitler"

guy who kept things orderly. We had a 5 night dinner package on our cruise. We went to the lovely La Bistro the first night, and we were not disappointed. We have dined at the Bistro on other ships, and have always enjoyed it. We dined there again on the last night at sea. The food is always good, and you just can't go wrong. Creme Brulee' is lovely!

We hung out at the beach (under a palm tree) at Great Stirrup Caye. It is a lovely spot. We had lunch, but when it is so hot like that, the food never speaks to me, as it would in a cool spot. If I had to live somewhere hot, and no A/C I would never have a weight issue!. We went back to the ship after lunch and hung out. We like playing trivia, etc. so we took advantage of that. We had dinner at Moderno. I adore the salad bar (again done this on another ship). It had items that you never see on any other salad bar. I had a half of a chicken leg and a little of the side items. If you go, have them slice you a chunk of the grilled pineapple. I could have ate a plateful! My husband I went down to try out for the NCL star. I decided I didn't want to try out, but the leader of the Karoake made the crown chant my name. I sang, but I haven't sang anywhere in years, so I was not comfortable. My husband sang, and it he is a very good singer. I left after he sang. So, I wasn't there when the people were voted to the next round. The people that won (by applause) were not very good; except for two. They just had lots of friends there. I didn't really care.My husband was disappointed. He did continue to sing during open Karoake. One of the employees took his name, and said he was going to add his name to the roster of those who made it through, but this never happened.

We had a private tour through Blexie in Cuba. We went out with Isbel. I cannot say anything but good things about this guy. He spoke fluent English and German. He is a college graduate, and is an air traffic controller. He does this to supplement his income. His parents were both engineers, and they live on $20.00 each a month. He helps them as well. He took us all over the place, and gave us a great history lesson. We went to a Romeo and Juliet's cigar shop. The ladies were in the back rolling cigars. We promised to bring some back, and some rum for a friend. None of it was for us. It was more costly that I expected,coupled with losing 13 percent in exchange of funs. He was pretty candid, and we went into a small grocery store, that litterally had nothing but beans, rice, coffee and canned mangoes. People came in for coffee and they still use ration books! If you have the money, you can shop at regular grocery stores. I was shocked at that. If I had known they would not check my husbands backpack, I would have brought items to give them. We walked a lot; however, we did get to ride in a beautiful ruby red 1956 Chevrolet Belair. So many beautiful old cars. Oh my! At 4:30 pm, we arrived back at the port. We wanted to have some dinner, and then go back out to walk the malecon. Well, it poured rain, so we didn't get to go back.

I will write more a little later. If anyone has questions, please thrown it out there. I will gladly answer it for you.

Blexie's Tours is great! Glad you had a good time! Keep the comments coming.

The next port was Harvest Caye. It is pretty much a NCL man made village. It is very nice. My husband had the paddle board excursion. They gave him instructions and off he went. I sat down and waited for his return. I didn't really have any interest in doing this. We wandered around and bought a few trinkets. We bought some really good chocolate at a shop at near the interest. Mostly, we hung out at this huge pool. It had a swim bar for those who wanted a drink. There is a tiny little island in the pool. A big iguana had swam over at some point, and was eating his snack of grass. He just stayed there for quite awhile and waited until no one was about, as he disappeared at some point. My husband got a couple Mexican beers, and I got a vigin mango drink (I don't drink). Costly of course, but a nice refreshing drink, Originally, we wanted to go to Palencia. I didn't see any signs to get to the water shuttles. I asked one of the employees about Palencia, and he said it was a nice little town. He pointed out where to go to visit. If we ever go back, we will head over there.

We headed back to the ship and prepared for a dinner at Teppenyaki. This was our least favorite restaurant. The cook was very entertaining, and he was very good about being generous with scallops. We ordered the scallop and shrimp dish, but neither one of us wanted shrimp. He put so much garlic in the dish, that we could only down a couple of scallops. Very sad, as both of us really like scallops. We headed to the show. The singers and dancers were very high energy, and very talented. They were doing 60's songs, and one of the male singers had a really high voice, and great for those "do-wop" kind of songs. I think this was the night we did the battle of the sexes. I twisted my husbands arm, and up he went to compete with the men. Of course, it was hilarious, and you just can't help but to laugh your head off, when you watch a bunch of straight men, passing an apple under the chin to the next man in the same manner. The dancing was the best, The women won, but all participants received a yellow coozie. We watched the band for a bit. The female singer was an ok singer, but the band was incredibly tight. There was a guy who sang in the piano bar, and then again in the main area that was very good. He played the guitar very well. I headed back to the room, and my husband went to Karoake for some fun. More a little later. Again, any questions throw them out there.

am enjoying reading your review; sounds like it was a good cruise.

am enjoying reading your review; sounds like it was a good cruise.

Thanks! It was a good cruise. I will add a bit more a little later today.

Reading your posts is making me excited for our Sun trip on 10/14!!!

nice report so far - i am considering a cruise on the Sun -- looking forward to the rest of your report.

The next day was Costa Maya. We have been there three times in the past. We went to Jaime's Blue Reef. We had been to his other little resort, the other two times we were there. He moved down the beach a little. We were equally satisfied this time, as we were in the past. It is inclusive day. I paid $39.00 for the day, as I do not drink liquor. They brought me virgin frozen drinks, and nice Mexican Coke. I believe we paid $49.00 for my husband. Again, he drank several beers. The service is great, the food is good, and it is all you care to eat or drink. There are peddlers selling their goods. They are good about moving on, if you tell them no thank you. We had loungers under Palapas. The waitress brought us a little table, and we also had a regular dinning table with chairs. There are ladies who perform massages (additional cost) if you care. The water is nice, and people out in the water enjoying themselves. It was a really nice day (weather wise) not too too hot, and the wind was blowing. After we took a taxi back to the port, we went about the shops for a bit. I was mainly looking for a few t-shirts and souvenirs for the grand kids. There is a lot of little shops with interesting items. The area is modern, and aimed to pleased the "gringos" but it was a fun walk about. We returned to the ship for the evening. We went to Cagneys for dinner. My husband ordered a ribeye and ordered the fillet mignon. I don't know if the rich food was getting to us, but neither one of us finished our steak. I ordered the small one. The steaks were great and the side items were delicious. We took the deserts to go. It was oreo cheese cake and raspberry brulee'. Sadly, my husband forgot to put them in the fridge,and I had to toss them in the morning. Oh well...I may have the nights messed up, but I do want to say we participated in Sing it to win it. It is fun. You compete with lots of people, that are split into two groups. We also watched the not so newly married show. It was funny, but a bit raunchy. The show with the singers and dancers performing Broadway songs was my favorite. They performed a song from the Greatest Showman that I love, and a girl sang Let it Go from Frozen. I was very impressed! She had a great voice. Sadly, as I will be reviewing our last day a little later. I would complete this, but I have been in training all day at work, and it has wore me out! Again, any questions are welcome.

Blexie's Tours is great! Glad you had a good time! Keep the comments coming.

Agreed! I would use his service again in a second.

Reading your posts is making me excited for our Sun trip on 10/14!!!

Come back to our roll call and introduce yourself! We're finally getting a little conversation going and I'd love to set up a Meet & Greet.

The last day at sea: we breakfast we ate the buffet. We ate breakfast in the buffet. I think I had a vegie omelet. I tend to like to find the colder foods at breakfast on a cruise. I ate cottage cheese, bagels, cheese grits, etc. There is a female and male greeter in the breakfast period. She will squirt your hands, and plays the guitar. One day my husband and I sang harmony aka background singers. LOL. People claped for us. He asked us to come sing with him every morning we showed up. My favorite song was a tribute to the Beatles. You must sing it to to the tune of I want to hold your hand-I want to wash your hands.So funny.

We headed to morning trivia, We stuck around for the balloon making class. I wanted to learn a coupe to impress kids. Anyway, a lot of balloons got busted by kids, so I gave mine up to a little boy and we left. We hit the cake decorating class, Two chefs and the cruise director. Of couse, it was hilarious. The CD put almost a full bottle of liquor in his cake, and it ended looking like a giant volcano. Most people lined up for a sample of his liquor laden creation. We spent a little money on scratch off tickets, and slots. We are not gamblers, so $30 bucks was all we would risk. We did rumble through the last day sale, but we didn't purchase anything. I will say that the ship (for shoppers) is nothing to jump up and dance about. We had some extra OB credit, so I bought my nieces some make up and my daugher-in-law a very cool Minnie Mouse sparkling key chain by Swarkovski, We did head down to the atrium later in the evening for the performance by the cruise cast. Some of the cast (not performers) had pretty decent voices. Balloons went everywhere, and the kids loved it. We ate dinner at Le Bistro again, and again, it was great. We decided to forego the comedians show and head to Karaoke. My husband and I signed up, and listened to the other people belt it out. I got called up to sing, and wouldn't you know it:the performers were there to listen and participate. Why did I have to choose this night to sign up to sing-dang it! Two came up and said I had a great voice and a cruise employee came by and gave me a runners up prize for the voice competition. She said I should have been up there in the finales Nice! There was a guy there that was really lit up. He would sign up for songs under the name of Joe the Hoe. Hi s friends had to take him out on two different nights. Someone signed him up for the kids song a Tisket a tasket, which was very funny.

We were on the tenth floor in cabin #0028. It was nicely situated and no particular noise, etc. Disembarking went very well. No troubles getting off the ship and to our transport back to the airport. The staff was friendly and courteous. We had no instances of issues, or people acting badly, I know I am missing something we did during this review.

Again, I encourage you to ask any questions. I will gladly answer.

I have to start using spell check! I started to read my last comment, and it is full of errors. I am sorry to all. Plez ovrlook mi speling errers. Thanks

Hi! We are cruising on the Sun soon and really appreciate your review, as there isn't a lot of info on this ship. I do have a question...I have heard that the hair dryer in the bathroom is less than ideal. Was there another hair dryer option in the stateroom (in a drawer or something?) or should I bring my own?

Thank you!!!

enjoyed your report very much... thanks for taking the time to share.

Hi! We are cruising on the Sun soon and really appreciate your review, as there isn't a lot of info on this ship. I do have a question...I have heard that the hair dryer in the bathroom is less than ideal. Was there another hair dryer option in the stateroom (in a drawer or something?) or should I bring my own?

Thank you!!!

I believe the dryer was mounted on the wall. I have very thick curly hair, so I rarely blow dry my mane. Otherwise, I would scare people.

I remember one last thing I was going to mention. I bought coffee at the coffee bar several times. You cannot get a blended coffee drink (frappe). I shouldn't say you can't but they are not listed on the menu. I was going to purchase one, but all that was listed that was cold, were iced drinks. I thought I would mention this.