Norwegian Sun- One piece of advice - what would it be?

[oldmiller]

We are first time cruisers sailing on the Sun this July as our honeymoon trip. I am finding it difficult to get specific information on the ship itself. If you have sailed on the Sun -what piece of advice would you give to a complete novice about the ship and all that goes with crusiing on the sun. We have an ocean view statesroom on deck 9 booked. Thank you very much for any advice!

[roger001]

You'll love it regardless. And realizing money is tight for all of us....however, as a honeymoon cruise, if you can spring for the extra bucks and get a balcony room, that would be my first thought. Having that private area for the two of you to sit out is nice. Otherwise, here's way too many pictures of the Sun from about a month ago That will give you an idea of the ship.

 

http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff281/roganderson60/NCL%20Sun%20Jan%202012/?start=all

[valleyvillage]

The Sun is a wonderful ship! She has very few suites, so if you could swing one of those! Super Suite Life.

 

Also, the mini-Suites on Sun are extra-special. No perks, but a glorious balcony and fantastic walk-in closet. Worth every penny.

 

Be sure to take advantage of the Roll Call. Those can really make your cruise special. Go to your sail-away party and Meet n Greet.

 

Congratulations! Bon Voyage!

[jdvmd]

Love the Sun. Have spent 23 nights on her on two sailings -- South America and Baltic. Enjoy a romantic dinner in LeBistro sitting under the gazebo.

[debnjoe1438]

Go with a positive attitude and ENJOY:D.

 

DH and I were on the Sun a year ago and had a great time. I can't think of any "specific" must know. The staff and crew were great, food was good, entertainment was great. The buffet is a little small, however I believe you can take food from the buffet to the sports bar. DH and I didn't have any meals in the buffet. However we did a lot of icecream from the buffet. :D

[lgfromdg]

Eat at Il Adagio - my favorite restaurant in the NCL fleet.

[Mr and Mrs C]

The buffet area can be busy at breakfast and lunch, so you can get your food and take it over to the sports bar, or Moderno. Moderno also has a smaller selection of food, cereals, fruits, yogurt, and also some yummy breakfast pizzas. It was always quiet in there, and you can sit by the window.

[Mr and Mrs C]

Also, Moderno is free for breakfast and lunch.

[Doughboy139]

I recommend the "Great Outdoor cafe" wonderful place at the back of the ship to sit outside while eating and enjoying the sites. Also the "Observation Lounge" at the front of the ship, again you can sit down and see where the ship is going while listening to some music. The sports bar is great for late nite food..

[kenoqueen]

I'd recommend getting a balcony if you can spend a little more. We really enjoy sitting out on the balcony in the mornings and evenings just enjoying the sailing. The Sun is a nice ship. We are going on a 2nd sailing on her in March. Have fun.

[computerworks]

We sailed on the Sun last August and loved the ship.

 

Here is a thread I posted specifically about the ship:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1475741

[Clay Clayton]

Only one piece of advice - that's hard for us Sun lovers to do.:D

 

In addition to everything everyone else has said, be sure to go to Las Ramblas one evening pre-dinner, get a number of tapas and a glass or Pitcher!) of Sangria and take them just outside to the upper level of the Great Outdoors and enjoy.

[NMLady]

I love the Sun. Folks here have given you some great advice. The only thing I'd add is be sure you check out the Sports Bar early in your cruise since the floor to ceiling windows provide excellent views. So it's a nice place to enjoy a drink -- or take your breakfast or lunch in there from the buffet or from Il Moderno and enjoy the view while eating.

[oldmiller]

Thank you for all of the advice. I am really grateful for all of it. I suppose to a certain extent I am aprehensive about this being our honeymoon and our first cruise that we will not be totally caught out with stuff.

 

Can I ask what is probably a silly question to most experienced sun cruisers please?

 

Is it best to prepay gratuities? Can you buy a bottle of wine and bring it onboard? Are the additional costs when cruising clearly pointed out?

 

Thank you again

[jdvmd]

Thank you for all of the advice. I am really grateful for all of it. I suppose to a certain extent I am aprehensive about this being our honeymoon and our first cruise that we will not be totally caught out with stuff.

 

Can I ask what is probably a silly question to most experienced sun cruisers please?

 

Is it best to prepay gratuities? Can you buy a bottle of wine and bring it onboard? Are the additional costs when cruising clearly pointed out?

 

Thank you again

We never prepay our gratuities for the mere fact that I don't want them to have my money ahead of time.

You can bring as much wine onboard as you would like. We routinely bring a case or more on a seven-day sailing. You will be charged a $15 per 750 ml bottle corkage fee but this entitles you to enjoy the wine anywhere on the ship: dining rooms, specialty restaurants, bars or your cabin.

[roger001]

Thank you for all of the advice. I am really grateful for all of it. I suppose to a certain extent I am aprehensive about this being our honeymoon and our first cruise that we will not be totally caught out with stuff.

 

Can I ask what is probably a silly question to most experienced sun cruisers please?

 

Is it best to prepay gratuities? Can you buy a bottle of wine and bring it onboard? Are the additional costs when cruising clearly pointed out?

 

Thank you again

 

 

Here's a copy from a reply I wrote about on board gratuities, as I handle them. However, it is just my opinion reference extra tipping. But it might help give you a better idea of things.

 

"First, I am always so envious of anyone who can communicate in a second language. Wish I had made an effort to do so years ago. Second, here's my tipping thoughts. Tipping is so confusing. We has some Aussie firieds who visited the US a few years ago. I tried to explain tipping to them and realized how confusing it is.

 

Reference on board the ship, my opinions. The $12 pp per day service charge is great in that other than a few additional services, not another tip is ever expected to be paid by you to the staff or crew. I have never seen an NCL employee provide a service to me and in any way appear to expect a tip for doing so. However, to me those employees are all wonderful, work long days, 7 days a week, and I usually do tip additionally the following. For a server delivering drinks to us in a bar, I tip a dollar for each round delivered. The bartender already has a 15% tip given which has already been added to the bar bill. In a sit down restaurant on the ship, for breakfast or lunch I usually leave a $3 tip on the table. For dinner, I usually leave a $5 tip on the table. If we use room service (you won't because you have a butler), I tip $2. At the end of the cruise I leave between $30 and $40 tip total for our room attendent (7 day cruise). All of this is strictly my personal decision to tip additionally and not expected at all. So don't feel anxious with your decision to either tip or not to extra. Just do what you comfortably feel like doing. For a butler, like you, my wife and I just don't know how we would use one. We like to do things for ourselves. However, if we had one assigned, even if we used him/her occasionally I think $10 a day total (not pp) would be very adequate. If we used them like a personal slave, then yes I guess more would be appropriate. For a concierge, again it would depend on how much you used the service. For us it would be minimal. I feel for us $30 total for a 7 day cruise would be fine.

 

On shore tipping in the US is confusing also. In New York, where cost of living is very high, higher tips are "expected" and baggage handlers (hotel porters, dock porters) expect about $2 per bag handled. However, for other parts of the US, including Los Angeles, I just had over a $5 bill for our usual 4 bags and that makes the porters happy. For restaurants (sit down and be served type restaurants) a 20% tip is considered normal. However, service should be good (not necessarily outstanding) if a server expects to receive a tip. We use hotel and transportation shuttles frequently. For a hotel shuttle, assuming we have 3 or 4 bags for the shuttle driver to handle, I tip $5 to the driver at the end of the ride. For a long distance shuttle I might tip $10. As someone mentioned, taxi drivers expect abut a 15 to 20 % tip. It's crazy isn't it, this tipping stuff. However, just relax and don't let it worry you at all.

 

And finally, before you go through the Panama Canal, I highly recommend the book A Path Between the Seas. It is long and detailed regarding all, including the many years of French involvment, that went into the building of the canal. We did our first PC trip last April and have another scheduled in Sept.

 

Oh, keep the Jewel in good repair. We get on her in Seattle after you get off in Los Angeles."

 

 

Extra costs on the ship are pretty much what extra activities you would wish to enjoy...drinking...ship photos....buying trinkets that you wil see available for sale on the ship...and maybe a speciality restaurant for one evening. Those are from about $15 to $25 pp. Of course, any port shopping or shore excursions would be extra. It can be as much or as little as each person would wish to participate in. Otherwise, there's nothing that you must pay aditionally for other than the $12 pp per day additional service charge, which as explained above covers tips you would otherwise probably leave. Cruising is relaxed, no pressure or stress, wonderful experience.

[Sauer-kraut]

Oldmiller,

 

The one bit of advice I can give is if you aren't sure about something JUST ASK! Ask your room steward, ask a waitress, ask an officer, ask the Cruise Director. They want you to have the best time ever, so don't ever hesitate to ask.

 

Another thought just struck me: if you are interested in winning stuff, the SPA area will have a preview presentation. They will have a desk somewhere on board with a card to fill out, if you attend the presentation you might just win some kind of spa treatment. Its a no pain way to have a look at the spa, see what is offered and it only takes about 10-15 minutes.

[mpk218]

Oldmiller,

 

The one bit of advice I can give is if you aren't sure about something JUST ASK! Ask your room steward, ask a waitress, ask an officer, ask the Cruise Director. They want you to have the best time ever, so don't ever hesitate to ask.

 

Another thought just struck me: if you are interested in winning stuff, the SPA area will have a preview presentation. They will have a desk somewhere on board with a card to fill out, if you attend the presentation you might just win some kind of spa treatment. Its a no pain way to have a look at the spa, see what is offered and it only takes about 10-15 minutes.

 

You beat me to it ; "Just ask" is the best advise .

If its legal , allowed , encouraged or not they will do there best to make sure you are happy.

Oh , and if you have not already made NCL aware that it is your Honeymoon , do so , they will do a few special things .

[NMLady]

Thank you for all of the advice. I am really grateful for all of it. I suppose to a certain extent I am aprehensive about this being our honeymoon and our first cruise that we will not be totally caught out with stuff.

 

Can I ask what is probably a silly question to most experienced sun cruisers please?

 

Is it best to prepay gratuities? Can you buy a bottle of wine and bring it onboard? Are the additional costs when cruising clearly pointed out?

 

Thank you again

 

We prepay gratuities so that it is on a different billing cycle than the rest of our shipboard expenses. Makes it much easier for us to budget, but that is just a personal preference.

We also like the fact it makes our shipboard account printout easier to read without those daily charges per person.

 

You'll pay a corkage fee (18$ I think) for each wine bottle brought aboard.

 

No, the additional costs aren't clearly pointed out imo.

[signora]

You'll love it regardless. And realizing money is tight for all of us....however, as a honeymoon cruise, if you can spring for the extra bucks and get a balcony room, that would be my first thought. Having that private area for the two of you to sit out is nice. Otherwise, here's way too many pictures of the Sun from about a month ago That will give you an idea of the ship.

 

http://s241.photobucket.com/albums/ff281/roganderson60/NCL%20Sun%20Jan%202012/?start=all

 

Thanks so much for the pics! We are considering the Sun for a future cruise and the pics really helped. One question: how big is the shower, in comparison to let's say the Dawn, the Star, or the Pearl? I do notice the bathroom on the Sun seems to be quite different. Thanks in advance for your help!

[deladypilot]

Can I ask what is probably a silly question to most experienced sun cruisers please?

 

Is it best to prepay gratuities? Can you buy a bottle of wine and bring it onboard? Are the additional costs when cruising clearly pointed out?

 

Thank you again

 

Nothing silly about this. Prepaying gratuities is a personal preference. For me and DH we like to have it taken care of. So we pay up front. Others dont like their money going out any sooner than it has to. What makes you feel comfortable is what is important.

 

I do agree that if someone gives you extra service, you should leave a little something extra for them. We had a great room steward on our Star cruise last year and at the end of the cruise, I left an envelope in the room with his name on it. I put a little thank you note that told him how much we appreciated all he did to make our cruise special and left an extra tip.

 

Most of all, relax, have fun and enjoy your time together

[jdvmd]

We prepay gratuities so that it is on a different billing cycle than the rest of our shipboard expenses. Makes it much easier for us to budget, but that is just a personal preference.

We also like the fact it makes our shipboard account printout easier to read without those daily charges per person.

 

You'll pay a corkage fee (18$ I think) for each wine bottle brought aboard.

 

No, the additional costs aren't clearly pointed out imo.

 

Corkage fee is $15 for a 750ml bottle of wine.

[roger001]

Thanks so much for the pics! We are considering the Sun for a future cruise and the pics really helped. One question: how big is the shower, in comparison to let's say the Dawn, the Star, or the Pearl? I do notice the bathroom on the Sun seems to be quite different. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Reference the shower, I don't believe I can guess the actual size....just to say it's plenty big enough for me. It is totally different than the other ships in that it's round and with a curtain instead of lenghty with a sliding door. Some persons have complained that the curtain does try to cling to them. It would depend on a person's size I guess. By the bathrooms being this different design, smaller overall, the cabin is slightly bigger. The cabin couch is full length instead of the usual 3/4 and I feel the room has slightly more shelf and storage space. Also, the actual balcony is bigger...deeper than the other ships. The bathroom, although different, is very functional I feel.

[NMLady]

Thanks so much for the pics! We are considering the Sun for a future cruise and the pics really helped. One question: how big is the shower, in comparison to let's say the Dawn, the Star, or the Pearl? I do notice the bathroom on the Sun seems to be quite different. Thanks in advance for your help!

 

Regarding the showers on the Sun: my husband is 6'2" and 'chunky'. The shower was big enough and high enough for him. We hung clothespins at the bottom of the shower curtain to keep it from clinging as much.

 

[We'd brought clothespins because we were going to be aboard 33 days and I handwash his compression socks. Hanging them with clothespins on the clothesline in the shower helps them dry faster.]

[Clay Clayton]

To add to Mary Kay's thoughts, I am Six Foot Seven and quite a bit bigger than "chunky" more like "rotund" and while I don't want to spend the rest of my life using Sun's showers - they aren't awful. I rarely had issue with the shower curtain, as long as I made sure it was inside the curb at the bottom and patted it against the side wall at either end, it seemed to stay out of my way.

 

Regarding a previous poster's thoughts on tipping. I don't typically tip as much as that. IF I get outstanding service at a specialty restaurant or bar, I might slip them a buck or five. Otherwise the only person I have ever tipped extra is the room attendant - typically when I give them my inital list of needs - more pillows, some bar soap (NCL provides body wash and combo shampoo/conditioner), lots of ice, please empty the minibar, etc - I will hand them a $10 or $20. If at the end of the week, they have done a good job, we will typically give them a similar amount before we leave. Just remember if you decide to tip extra, do it in cash directly to the person. If you add it to the bottom of a bar tab for example, it gets put into the tip pool and the person you are trying to reward will end up seeing at best 1/900th of the amount.

 

Regarding your question about additional costs, I disagree with the PP, I think if you have done research - which it sounds like you are doing, you won't be surprized. If you don't want to have any additional costs, it is pretty easy - eat only in the MDR or buffets, don't drink any alcholic or specialty coffees and don't take any ship excursions or play bingo and you shouldn't see anything on your bill except the daily service charge. Me - we always budget for two or three specialty restaurants, a drink or two each night, more poolside cocktails on sea day and while we don't play bingo, we have been known to spend a little bit in the casino.

 

One secret I don't think anyone has mentioned - stop by the customer service desk no later than noontime on your last full day aboard and request a copy of your bill. This gives you time to review it and if there are any issues, you can resolve them quickly without having to stand in what usually seems to be a long line on the last night or even worse the morning of disembarkation. LOTS of folks don't do the research you are doing so they are surprized by the Daily Service Charge or something and end up in line to complain about it, which holds up others with legitimite issues making for a less than relaxing last hours onboard.