New Sun Review

[singnact]

This was the Pacific Coastal Repositioning from LA to Vancouver. We booked our shuttle through NCL to pick us up from LAX, and they never showed up. I called NCL from the airport, and we were placed on hold for almost an hour. We finally grabbed our own shuttle, and was one of the first ones in line at port.

Embarkation..Where do i begin? We arrived about 10:30AM. They did not open the process until noon..and we already pre-registered online. When we finally were up at the desk, no one knew what they were doing, because of a change in software. It took us 40 minutes to check in! Mind you, we were all prepared and ready to go, with all my documents. This was a nightmare for all. Everyone was still not checked in until late in the afternoon, when the staff of NCL collected all the peoples documents and info and had to do the rest on the ship way until late in the evening!!

The ship was beautiful. We were impressed how very clean it was, and I loved that they had the hand sanitizers throughout the ship. You could not enter until you sanitized. This was at the buffet also. The atrium was beautiful, and the skylight was nice and high, making it light and airy.

The cabins were the biggest we have had..we had an inside, and it was so roomy, a king, a couch, never feeling cramped...(like RCL)..

The food..I want to make it clear that I never really complain about food on a ship, because there is so much choice. Well, it was the worst ever. The buffet was so small, and had no choice, mostly fried finger foods. The meat at the cutting station was so dry..and the pizza looked like it was hard as a rock. The eggs in the morning looked like soup. The best part about this buffet was the fruit, and desserts. It was by far the worst....The dining rooms were only good on 2 nights when they offered steak. I recommend it. There was strange choice on other nights, and my hubby and I always get something different so we can taste each others choice. Not satisfying at all. Lobster and prime rib were not offered on this cruise. This was not to write home about. The Pacific Heights Cooking Light dining room(no charge),was fantastic!!! The food was hearty and delicious, the pork chops were the best I ever had...the portions were big, and you could not believe it was a healthier choice from the taste. It was great! We wish we ate there earlier in the cruise! The famous chocolate buffet was not offered to us on this cruise, and that was disapointing. I've been on 4 day cruises where there were midnight buffets and ice sculpters. This was a 5 night.

The entertainment was the best I've seen. Jean Ann Ryan entertainers were fantastic. The show 'Hey Mr.Producer' was the great.. and the dancers were the best at sea. The singers were good, but their dancing made up for their weak spots. The band Prism was one to be missed...and we enjoyed Bobby, the pianist/blues jazz singer in the Windjammer.

The disembarking process was the best I've experienced, and we didn't have to sit in halls and aisles. We could leave our things in the room until 10AM...we enjoyed a cup of coffee and tea,(good selection) and a light breakfast before we left.

This was my first NCL cruise and despite the flaws of embarkation, I was impressed. We will sail NCL again, but I will not have high expectations of the food. All in all, we really liked the ship..

 

Holiday '96

Holiday '97

Inspiration '97

Fascination '98

Holiday '99

Viking Serenade '01

Grand Princess '02

Monarch of the Seas Nov.'03

Norwegian Sun April 2004

 

A BAD CRUISE IS BETTER THAN NO CRUISE!!!!!!!

[Zeno]

Nicely balanced review. Sorry the buffet was not better. On our Sky cruise we found the buffet was OK (not special but adequate).

 

 Until NCL SKY

 

[mbisson]

Thanks for posting the review. Glad you had a good time (despite the problems at embarkatation and below par food).

 

-Monte

 

some of my cruising photos:

http://community.webshots.com/user/m1bisson

A bad day cruising is better than a good day at work.

 

The worst cruise I ever took was pretty damned good.

 

Platinum with RCI, a couple cruises with NCL and 1 with CCL

 

Clock remove but cruise in Dec

[zimmerjulie]

Thanks for the reveiw.

 

We sailed on the Sun a year ago April. I loved the ship also, beautiful and clean. How was your dining room service? We found a GREAT waiter/busboy combo that really made our trip.

 

Something seems to have gone a bit soft in the "testing" phase of the changeover to the new computer system. It seems like they are being presented with a significant number

 

Anyway,

Glas you had a good cruise! I would love to sail the Sun again

[singnact]

The the dining room service was good..we never waited long, and we always got seated quickly. We always requested a table by ourselves by the window and got it. I really love the freestyle way. The worst part is being back home....

 

Holiday '96

Holiday '97

Inspiration '97

Fascination '98

Holiday '99

Viking Serenade '01

Grand Princess '02

Monarch of the Seas Nov.'03

Norwegian Sun April 2004

 

A BAD CRUISE IS BETTER THAN NO CRUISE!!!!!!!

[Host CMLA]

Thanks for your review. Sorry about the food issues. That would disappoint me too. If you decide to try NCL again, maybe doing an itinerary that is established would give a better result overall. I've done several repositioning cruises and while I did have a great time, things aren't always smooth or the absolute best. The ship is transitioning to new ports and the staff is adjusting as well. Thanks again for the review.

 

Cecilia

 

I can be contacted at *****@aol.com

 

My Wedding!

 

[atrefny]

We picked up the Sun in Vancouver on 5-2-04, to Alaska. There was NO improvement in embarkation. It took over 4 1/2 hours and I had also pre-registered on line. We stood in line after line, registering (again), INS, both Canadian and US, Customs, etc. Our luggage beat us to our stateroom. We almost missed the Safety Drill, which was another fiasco!!! The crew kept giving conflicting instructions, the crowd was talking very loudly, so the PA speaker could not be heard. Seemed like no one knew what they were supposed to do. My other complaints are: no table after going thru the buffet line, Sauna and Steam rooms were very small. Other than that, the cruise was great. We didn't get to see the Glacer as the channel had too many ice bergs in the way of the ship.

The food in the Pacific Heights restaurant was my favorite, followed by the Seven Seas restaurant. The wait staff seemed to have a chip on their shoulder in the Four Seasons as they were rude and the service was very slow. We had both Prime Rib and Lobster, quality was fair. I will give NCL another chance, but will never fly into Vancouver if any other location is available.

 

AFT

[newmexicoNita]

Though we have had some outstanding embarkations on NCL our worst was also NCL. It was our cruise out of Houston about 6 years ago: nightmere, like Singnact, we did not let this ruin our cruise. What's a couple hours out of our lives? Singnact, this was about the most balanced review I have read. Thanks and by the way, we have never had Lobster on a short cruise. I don't remember Prime Rib, but I do know the Lobster is always missing or it was on Carnival and RCL. NMNita

 

Commodore 1984, Costa 1985, RCL 1987, Chandris 1989, NCL 1989, Commodore, 1991, NCL 1997, Carnival 1997, Carnival 1998,NCL 1998, NCL 1999, RCL 2000, RCL 2000, NCL 2002,NCL 2003, Celebrity 2003, NCL 2004

[Tobin]

atrefny :

We were also on the May 2nd sailing out of Vancouver. What time did you arrive at the pier? We arrived about 1145AM. There was no line up at security at that time, but once thru security we were amazed the lines were so long for regular check in, luckily we had a mini suite so we were able to check in at the suite line which had no line up. We were in our cabin by 1PM. I had sailed on the Wind out of Canada Place last year and it seemed much more orderly, but the previous year out of Ballantyne it took us about 21/2 hours to board. I hope it is just because it was the first ship out of Vancouver for the season and the process will improve for future sailings.

 

They made announcements in the afternoon that the lifeboat drill would be delayed as there were still many people in the terminal waiting to check in.

 

At the buffet, we ate many of our meals outside due to the fabulous weather and there was always space out there. We also ate at odd times too, so that could be why we never had a problem finding a table. We never really encounted any other lines for restaurants, probably because we were eating late.

 

Too bad we missed Sawyer Glacier. I was there last year and it was spectacular.

[ute_fan]

Question for those of you who have returned from Alaska? Did they do a chocolate buffet? My son wants to know!

 

NCL Sun 06/04

NCL Sea 01/04

 

[Tobin]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by ute_fan:

Question for those of you who have returned from Alaska? Did they do a chocolate buffet? My son wants to know!<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Yes, The chocolate buffet was on the Saturday afternoon on the Sun.

[singnact]

I'm glad I gave a balanced review, MewMexico Nita..

I cannot believe embarkation was still that messed up! I have to recommend once again the Pacific Heights is the best dining on the entire ship! I will look forward to a chocolate buffet next time I guess if it's a week cruise. And yes, there is lobster/prime rib/steak on the 4 day Carnival as I remember.

I WOULD LIKE TO ASK A QUESTION> of how would this cruise compare to Holland America? That's a line I haven't tried. My hubby is from Holland, and I'm sure he would make a lot of friends. The dining, entertainment, and ship itself, could HAL be compared to this one? I sure wish I was on a cruise right now

 

Holiday '96

Holiday '97

Inspiration '97

Fascination '98

Holiday '99

Viking Serenade '01

Grand Princess '02

Monarch of the Seas Nov.'03

Norwegian Sun April 2004

 

A BAD CRUISE IS BETTER THAN NO CRUISE!!!!!!!