Just Back! 5/15/05 NCL Sun with Kids

[PDX2Cruiser]

Just back from the 5/15 - 5/22 Alaska cruise on the Sun. My personal first impression from the experience is WOW! The experience exceeded my expectations.

 

My party included my wife, 3 kids aged 6, 6, and 9, and my 76 year old mother. We had balcony rooms 0054 and 055 on Norway Deck. These rooms have a common door. Thus, it felt like 350 sq ft of space for 6 people.

 

KIDS CREW

 

There were 54 kids on board the Sun for our cruise. The average age on the ship overall was probably 60. It felt more like a HAL crowd which suited us fine, especially my mom. That will change in June after school's out because one of the Kids Crew counselors told me that they're expecting as many as 800 kids on one of the Sun cruises this summer! I asked her if they can handle that many? She said yes. NCL will add additional kids counselors to handle the onslaught. They'll also do Kids Crew sessions in many rooms around the ship other than Kids Korner as demand warrants.

 

Kids crew for this cruise was divided as follows: 2 - 5 year olds, 6 - 12 year olds, and 13 - 17. Thus, all 3 of my kids were in the same category. Each of my kids had a different opinion of Kids Crew.

My 6 year old daughter loved Kids Crew and wanted to be their every day rain or shine, whether we were in port or at sea.

 

My 9 year old son also loved kids crew but always wanted to know what the theme was going to be before decided if it was worthy of his time. A couple of themes didn’t appeal to him, but otherwise he was an enthusiastic participant.

 

My 6 year old son was much more fickle. After the first Kids Crew session he declared, "I don’t like Kids Crew and don’t want to go anymore." We were able to get him to go anyway. Instead of saying, "Do you want to go to Kids Crew tonight?" we’d say, "Do you want to go to Spy Night?". The first question would have resulted in a firm "No", but the second question resulted in an enthusiastic "Yes". He told me after some sessions that he thought they were "Stupid" in his opinion. Other sessions he loved. By the 5th day he was loyal to going to Kids Crew almost every session.

 

My only kids crew complaint as a parent is that one of the Kids Crew activities was to attend the Cirque Pan Show in the Stardust Theater. This is a Cirque de Soleil type of show. I thought the Cirque Pan Show was inappropriate for children even thought it’s a great show (for adults). Too much sexual innuendo in skimpy costumes. I found others on the ship who disagreed with my opinion of it’s appropriateness for children. Their reason? Because kids probably won’t understand the sexual innuendo’s anyway. I think both opinions are defendable. Regardless, consider yourself warned.

 

FOOD

 

All of our kids loved the food in the main dining rooms. But they hated the service pace. If you’re taking kids in tow, expect some squirmy behavior.

 

The Buffet was a disappointment for us. The staff in the buffet provided

excellent service, much of the food was very good, but they were working with an inadequate buffet design that makes for a crowded dining area and confusing locations of different selections. For example, kid faire such as hamburgers, hot dogs, and pizza were always available at one of the two Outdoor Café buffet lines, but not always either of the two indoor Garden Café lines. Thus, if you have kids with fickle food tastes you’re faced with running all around the restaurant on a food hunt. Thus we ate almost all of our meals in the Seven Seas dining room. The food and service their was extraordinary.

 

WEATHER

 

We had blue sky and 70 degree days from Monday afternoon through Thursday at noon. On Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon people were out on the pool deck in bathing suits. Some were even swimming the pool, not just the Hot Tubs. Sun bathing on an Alaska cruise in mid May was way beyond my expectations.

 

The kids pool is 1 foot deep with a small kiddie slide. It was a very underwhelming site. Great for small kids who can't swim. It's also got a Hot Tub for kids too. Hot Tub temperatures are 97 degrees in all the tubs.

 

SERVICE

 

The Sun is the number 1 rated ship in the NCL fleet according to the Comment Card tallys. I believe it. The service on this ship was exceptional. We only had one minor instance where the service wasn’t quite up to snuff, but on our second attempt they got it right.

 

Let me know if you've got any questions.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Just wondering what excursions you did with the 9 yr. old . (Mine's 11)? Also, was there any Alaska based kid's activities on board?

[PDX2Cruiser]

My 9 year old did Saxman Village in Ketchikan; Whale Watching by Jetboat in Juneau; and White Pass Railway in Skagway. We chose to do no tours in Wrangell.

 

He loved Whale Watching by Jetboat. This was just him and I. The rest of the family did another tour. We saw a few Humpbacks blow and saw many sightings of Orcas that were nothing less than amazing. The weather was an immaculate blue day, felt like 70 degrees with no wind. The sun shimmered off the water in a way I'll never forget. These 3 hours were the highlight of his vacation and they were mine too. The NCL people warned though that people can get seasick on this tour. If you're prone to seasickness they recommend the catamaran instead (but you supposedly don't get as close to the whales as we did). We got to within 50 yards of Orcas twice! My son and I are both prone to seasickness but he insisted on this tour. We didn't get seasick at all, probably because the weather was so perfect.

 

My son liked Saxman Village "because the totem poles are cool."

 

He liked White Pass Railroad the least. He felt a bit dizzy. Beside he got bored and by mid-way up the mountain was playing his gameboy (which might be why he got dizzy). My sense is that different kids would view this in different ways. I wanted to do the Nature Hike instead, but considering it was mid-May I felt that the chances of bear sightings and eagle sightings wasn't that great. If I was going after the salmon runs start I would have done the Nature Hike instead or in addtion to White Pass. This would have been his preference as well.

 

I think tour choices have as much to do with pocket book as preference.

 

The Kids Crew has one session titled 'Alaskan Adventures'. I think it got bumped and replaced with Tuesday afternoon session: 'Extreme Sports' due to the extended time spent in Ketchikan. My 9 year old learned plenty about Alaska just by being on this cruise and going on the shore excursions.

 

Kids Crew's prime directive was to keep the kids entertained, not educated, so that they'll want to come back to Kids Crew to have more fun. If they don't want to come back, the parents might have a miserable vacation and they'll blame kids crew. Just my opinion.

[zimmerjulie]

I was watching for your review and am glad that you had a great cruise!!

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Thanks...I'm really leaning towards the whale watching with her.

[MandyGirl]

Thanks so much for sharing!!! :)

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

PDx2cruiser, do you by any chance have the kid's crew schedule (6-12)?

[PDX2Cruiser]

PDx2cruiser, do you by any chance have the kid's crew schedule (6-12)?

 

Yes I do. I'll try to attach it as an image to this thread in the next couple of days.

 

By the way, I don't know if NCL divides up 6 - 12 into 6 - 9 and 10 - 12 when they have more little cruisers. Perhaps someone else knows? And if so, do they alter the schedule?

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

thankyou this would be very much appreciated!

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Yes I do. I'll try to attach it as an image to this thread in the next couple of days.

QUOTE]

 

 

Hi PDX2Cruiser, I know you're probably really busy....sorry to bug ya....but I was just wondering if there's a chance of getting that kid's crew daily? Thankyou...too busy, I'll understand :)

[PDX2Cruiser]

I tried attaching it to a thread but it's too big. I looked into posting it to a website but decided that's not something I'm interesting in learning how to do.

 

If you want to send me your email address I'll email it to you. Just realize you're tossing your email address onto the web for all to see. Sorry.

 

I'll email it to others as well who request it for the next few days.

[newmexicoNita]

Glad you had a good experience, I think the Sun is my favorite ship; as for the Kids activities, things have certainly changed since we took our granddaughter, then 12 on an Alaskan cruise; that was 7 years ago and she was one of 3 kids on the ship. Needless to say, she spent lots of time with her parents and grandparents. It was still ok as this was her favorite cruise. NMNita

[thefourofus]

pdx, this is the4ofusandallourfriends, can you please send me the kid's crew schedule for my 11yr. old at the address in my signature. I will leave it on until I receive it from you. Thankyou!

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

bumping it up for pdx to see.

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

thanks pdx, I received the kid's crew. My daughter will be very happy.

[Jacquelyn11]

We are on her 7/24-31, first trip WITHOUT the kids! Don't want to be overrun with them!

 

Jacquelyn :D

[the4ofusandallourfriends]

Jacquelyn, sorry, but, any cruise in the summer had the potential to be "overrun" with kids.