NCL Sun Western Caribbean 1/7 - 1/14

[LDVinNC]

We disembarked at Port Canaveral yesterday and here are a few random thoughts about our trip.

 

Embarkation took about 30 minutes from arrival at the terminal to getting on the ship. Disembarkation was a dream - scheduled off at 9:25, we were called a few minutes early and were in the car and on the road at 9:31.

 

Food was pretty good to very good. We ate only in the Four Seasons main dining room. Our group of six reserved the same table for every night and (unlike last year) had the same servers the whole week. Buffet food was generally good.

 

I recommend you bring your own soap/gel and shampoo. The dispensers in the shower are poorly placed and difficult to use.

 

We had to ask for robes. We were in a balcony cabin.

 

Oddly, there are no deck chairs on the promenade deck. Why ever not? We missed them. They have replaced some of the pool area deck chairs with more dining tables. Lots of towels reserving what deck chairs there were.

 

The laundry "special" was $24.95 for a bag that you had to have ready by noon on Tuesday and it was to be returned by evening Friday. Why would you want to be without some of your clothes for half of a 7 day cruise?

 

We docked in Ocho Rios Jamaica at the Reynolds Pier. Our view was of a very old, and ugly, inactive factory. I think they should eliminate Jamaica from the itinerary.

 

All in all, we enjoyed the cruise!

[m$m7]

Thanks for your thoughts on your Western Caribbean cruise. I am looking forward to doing the same itinerary in a few weeks:D

 

I was just wondering if you could give us any thoughts on Great Stirrup Cay:) How are the remodel projects going?

[gelo7]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[TrinaLC]

We were on the same cruise, and had a blast. One of the best ever.

 

The staff/crew are amazingly friendly, and efficient. Don't miss Bong, the bartender in the sports bar! The Hotel Director was everywhere, supervising everything. He even cleared our dishes one morning at the Great Outdoor Cafe.

 

I believe there are no chairs on the promenade deck for safety reasons - that is where the lifeboats launch. Thinks of the Costa situation - bad enough, without deck chairs adding to the mess. (Perhaps they should consider benches attached to the walls - that would be nice and would seem to eliminate the safety concern re. deck chairs.)

 

We loved the Ocho Rio stop. Yes, the ship was docked in an old commercial site. However, if you walk out, and head to the left, you get to a nicer shopping/touristy area.

 

We instead booked a private tour with Courtney Taylor, and did Dunns Falls (a wonderful experience!), river tubing (also great fun), authentic jerk lunch at Scotchy's (superb!), and general site seeing.

 

We found the food to be very good+ - we ended up eating every night except for one in the Seven Seas restaurant - didn't see paying for the specialty restaurants given the quality in SSeas. (We are NYC foodies, probably even food snobs, for context. There was only one entree the entire week that I felt was not up to snuff.)

 

I agree with the OP that embarkation and debarkation were painless - I've never seen such an easy debarkation. It may be that even though the ship was "full", there were few families (school in session), and therefore many fewer pax (rooms on double, not triple/quad occupancy).

 

I loved the Sun, and will happily sail on her again (many times, I hope!)

[TrinaLC]

Just tried to edit my post, but was unable to. Want to clarify that I meant the food was very good +. (What looks like a minus sign after the + was meant to be a dash.)

[LDVinNC]

I still wonder about the lack of deck chairs. We have been on quite a few cruises, and all the other lines we have sailed have them on the promenade deck, so I don't think it is a safety issue - although I do acknowledge Trina's point about the recent Costa tragedy.

 

To the questioner about Great Stirrup Cay, I did not get off the ship that day. My husband did and said it was very nice, upgrades still in progress, though.

[TrinaLC]

I still wonder about the lack of deck chairs. We have been on quite a few cruises, and all the other lines we have sailed have them on the promenade deck, so I don't think it is a safety issue - although I do acknowledge Trina's point about the recent Costa tragedy.

 

To the questioner about Great Stirrup Cay, I did not get off the ship that day. My husband did and said it was very nice, upgrades still in progress, though.

 

If I were to travel on the Sun without a balcony, I'd consider bringing one of those lightweight folding camping chairs, just to take advantage of the promenade deck!

 

GSC was very nice - much better than our last visit, about 3 years ago. The heavy investment in sand means much more beach space, much less crowding. Also the food now has a dedicated covered prep/serve facility. On a previous visit, they just had tables out in the open.

[flashdog_1]

I still wonder about the lack of deck chairs. We have been on quite a few cruises, and all the other lines we have sailed have them on the promenade deck, so I don't think it is a safety issue - although I do acknowledge Trina's point about the recent Costa tragedy.

 

I have been on cruises where the deck chairs were out and others where they were not out. It may have to do with a minimum temperature? wind conditions etc. I imagine you could ask a deck steward to release some chairs for you and if he says no, will explain why he cannot (safety due to wind).

[courageteaches]

We sailed on the dawn and the pearl and they had lovely seating on the promenade. We were told on the sky that because it was used as a jogging track they don't allow chairs. ON the Dawn and Pearl the jogging track was on deck 11. We are going on the sun this spring and we decided to get a balcony because of this issue.

[vicbomb5]

We were on the same cruise, and had a blast. One of the best ever.

 

The staff/crew are amazingly friendly, and efficient. Don't miss Bong, the bartender in the sports bar! The Hotel Director was everywhere, supervising everything. He even cleared our dishes one morning at the Great Outdoor Cafe.

 

I believe there are no chairs on the promenade deck for safety reasons - that is where the lifeboats launch. Thinks of the Costa situation - bad enough, without deck chairs adding to the mess. (Perhaps they should consider benches attached to the walls - that would be nice and would seem to eliminate the safety concern re. deck chairs.)

 

We loved the Ocho Rio stop. Yes, the ship was docked in an old commercial site. However, if you walk out, and head to the left, you get to a nicer shopping/touristy area.

 

We instead booked a private tour with Courtney Taylor, and did Dunns Falls (a wonderful experience!), river tubing (also great fun), authentic jerk lunch at Scotchy's (superb!), and general site seeing.

 

We found the food to be very good+ - we ended up eating every night except for one in the Seven Seas restaurant - didn't see paying for the specialty restaurants given the quality in SSeas. (We are NYC foodies, probably even food snobs, for context. There was only one entree the entire week that I felt was not up to snuff.)

 

I agree with the OP that embarkation and debarkation were painless - I've never seen such an easy debarkation. It may be that even though the ship was "full", there were few families (school in session), and therefore many fewer pax (rooms on double, not triple/quad occupancy).

 

I loved the Sun, and will happily sail on her again (many times, I hope!)

 

Thank you for the wonderful info! We are sailing on the NCL sun in 3-weeks, April 14th out of Port Canaveral!

[Medtech2]

We sailed on the dawn and the pearl and they had lovely seating on the promenade. We were told on the sky that because it was used as a jogging track they don't allow chairs. ON the Dawn and Pearl the jogging track was on deck 11. We are going on the sun this spring and we decided to get a balcony because of this issue.

That makes sense as I hope to walk the promenade deck to assuage some guilt. ;)

[Medtech2]

Thank you for the wonderful info! We are sailing on the NCL sun in 3-weeks, April 14th out of Port Canaveral!

Hey, Have you joined the Roll Call?

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1361944&page=6

 

Below is our Meet and Greet information:

 

Meeting Space: Cruise Critic Meet and Greet

Day: SUNDAY****** *********** *************** Date: APRIL 15TH ******* *********

Time: 11AM-12NN

Location: OBSERVATION LOUNGE PORT SIDE

 

Hopefully more people will come back to the Roll Call to see this!

 

It will be a great time to meet each other and get to know some of the officers on the ship!

[mafig]

Was there ever a wait in the Main Dining Room?

 

We were on Star in January and there was always a line. Fortunately, we had a substantial obc that we used for the specialty restaurants, so we only ate in the main dining room once. There was even a line one day for breakfast!