Sun's First Alaska Cruise 5/13/13 - Part 1

[Italy52]

Thank you so much for your review and pictures, I appreciate it very much.

 

We have been to Alaska many times and have been eying the B2B Sun to Alaska itinerary --- we are really torn about doing this. We love balcony cabins for Alaska. However, I understand that the Sun allows smoking on the balcony and that would be hard for us. We also like the casino and read on another review that the smoking was very bad inside there.

 

I keep telling myself we can get through the smoking issue for the sake of the nice itinerary but my DH is not 100% convinced. What to do, what to do. :)

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thanks for the nice review. We were getting on the Sun as you were leaving in Vancouver. Thanks for taking good care of the ship for us! :) I posted report/review and the hardest thing for me was choosing from among the 1500 photos I took. Thanks for sharing!

 

. . .

My problem, too. I only uploaded to SmugMug those I knew I should add to the review. Then I completed my first post with 14 photos in it and went to save it, and found that I could attach only SIX photos to each post. That's when I had a problem--which to leave out. If "things" don't get in the way today, I will add more to SmugMug and post a link.

 

I loved your review and all your photos. Alaska is such a gorgeous place.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Great job on the review, Adele. Has it only been two weeks since we got off the ship? I feel like I am in major withdrawal.

 

Your photos are amazing! I wish I could do as well. Any chance you would post more of them?

Thanks, Brenda, and thank you for reading it for me and making such good suggestions on how to improve it!

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thank you so much for your review and pictures, I appreciate it very much.

 

We have been to Alaska many times and have been eying the B2B Sun to Alaska itinerary --- we are really torn about doing this. We love balcony cabins for Alaska. However, I understand that the Sun allows smoking on the balcony and that would be hard for us. We also like the casino and read on another review that the smoking was very bad inside there.

 

I keep telling myself we can get through the smoking issue for the sake of the nice itinerary but my DH is not 100% convinced. What to do, what to do. :)

Yes, Karen, the casino is smoky, and I don't even like to walk through it. We have gone into some ships' casinos during the dinner hour, though, when most people were eating, and it doesn't seem quite as bad.

 

Yes, Norwegian does allow smoking on balconies. In all our cruises on NCL, we have only once been aware of someone smoking on an adjacent balcony, and we are on our balconies a lot. For such a wonderful itinerary, I would definitely give Norwegian a try.

[RetiredArmyCruiser]

We love balcony cabins for Alaska. However, I understand that the Sun allows smoking on the balcony and that would be hard for us. We also like the casino and read on another review that the smoking was very bad inside there.

 

 

We were in a minisuite on deck 11 - the minisuites are all the way forward, and we didn't have any issues with smoke and I was out on the balcony a lot. It was a MAJOR concern for us as well. If you book as far forward as you can, you should be able to dodge most smoke issues.

 

Yes, the casino smellsl ike an old Las Vegas casino. We generally just walked through - didn't spend much time there.

 

It's the "third rail" of discussions around here and I don't want to derail the review. :)

[Italy52]

Yes, Karen, the casino is smoky, and I don't even like to walk through it. We have gone into some ships' casinos during the dinner hour, though, when most people were eating, and it doesn't seem quite as bad.

 

Yes, Norwegian does allow smoking on balconies. In all our cruises on NCL, we have only once been aware of someone smoking on an adjacent balcony, and we are on our balconies a lot. For such a wonderful itinerary, I would definitely give Norwegian a try.

 

Thanks for your honesty, I appreciate it.

 

We were in a minisuite on deck 11 - the minisuites are all the way forward, and we didn't have any issues with smoke and I was out on the balcony a lot. It was a MAJOR concern for us as well. If you book as far forward as you can, you should be able to dodge most smoke issues.

 

Yes, the casino smellsl ike an old Las Vegas casino. We generally just walked through - didn't spend much time there.

 

It's the "third rail" of discussions around here and I don't want to derail the review. :)

 

I agree, I don't want to take anything away from the great review.

 

Did you notice much motion being forward? Normally, we like an aft or a mid-ship. What cabin did you have if you don't mind me asking.

[RetiredArmyCruiser]

Did you notice much motion being forward? Normally, we like an aft or a mid-ship. What cabin did you have if you don't mind me asking.

 

We were in cabin 1209. We had VERY calm seas - could hardly even tell we were on the water. If you check out my report, you'll see how calm the seas were from the pictures. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1852790&highlight=retiredarmycruiser

 

On previous cruises - especially our Bermuda cruise two years ago, I have sea legs for a while. This time, not at all.

[jdvmd]

Great review, comments and photos! Thanks!

[Italy52]

We were in cabin 1209. We had VERY calm seas - could hardly even tell we were on the water. If you check out my report, you'll see how calm the seas were from the pictures. http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1852790&highlight=retiredarmycruiser

 

On previous cruises - especially our Bermuda cruise two years ago, I have sea legs for a while. This time, not at all.

 

 

Thanks very much for the link --- sounds like you had a wonderful time --- and a great cabin.

[Redheel Girl]

Adele..What a wonderful Review. The Pictures are wonderful and it was great seeing some of your Tours. I am definately going to checkout the Tours that you were on. I will be on the "Pearl" Sept 8th and I will be in Aft # 9670. I love the wake. I always keep a running Journal on my trips including what I had for Dinner and it is fun to read it all later because you do forget. Even though the "Sun" is older your Cabin in very nice. Mabey someday we will sail again with you.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Adele..What a wonderful Review. The Pictures are wonderful and it was great seeing some of your Tours. I am definately going to checkout the Tours that you were on. I will be on the "Pearl" Sept 8th and I will be in Aft # 9670. I love the wake. I always keep a running Journal on my trips including what I had for Dinner and it is fun to read it all later because you do forget. Even though the "Sun" is older your Cabin in very nice. Mabey someday we will sail again with you.

Thanks, Betty. I just realized that we have been in Aft 9670, but it was on the Jewel, when we did our 14-night Caribbean cruise. We'll have to do another Coastal cruise with you guys.

[NJLVW]

Thank you for the wonderful review. Alaska is one of the places on my list to go. The SUN is really my favorite ship of all. You brought back memories from the ship. We had the same suite one deck up 4 different times. Your pictures just reminded me of how much I love & miss the SUN & her crew. They were all fantastic. Glad you enjoyed yourselves.

[Redheel Girl]

Adele post more Pictures.

[redskyy1]

Great review Adele, I feel like I don't need to go in Sept. LOL It will be fun to see the same sights!

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thanks so much, everyone!

 

Here's a link to about 100 pictures, some of which you've already seen: 2013 Alaska Cruise on the Sun. There's a movie in there, too.

 

I'm re-living the cruise going through them myself.

 

If you'd like to see even more of GLORIOUS Alaska, here's the link to the photos I took last year: 2012 Alaska cruise on the Radiance

 

I'm so envious of all of you who have Alaska in your future.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thank you for the wonderful review. Alaska is one of the places on my list to go. The SUN is really my favorite ship of all. You brought back memories from the ship. We had the same suite one deck up 4 different times. Your pictures just reminded me of how much I love & miss the SUN & her crew. They were all fantastic. Glad you enjoyed yourselves.

Isn't that the greatest suite! We haven't been in an OS, but we have been lucky enough to get a couple of upsells to the Haven on the Jewel. I would rank the Haven 2-bedroom cabin as our favorite (mainly because it's in the Haven), followed very closely by that SE on the Sun. It's huge! I was comparing its size with some of the aft suites on other ships, and it's much larger. I especially enjoyed that huge wrap-around balcony.

 

I would definitely pick that cabin (and the Sun) again and again, like you have.

[Redheel Girl]

Adele...I just looked at the Pictures that you took on your Cruise and they are awesome. You are a great Photographer. My Pictures never turn out so good...Was that Restaurant that was long and narrow the Italian one because it looked just like the one on the Pride of Aloha. ;)

[Cruise_More_Often]

Adele...I just looked at the Pictures that you took on your Cruise and they are awesome. You are a great Photographer. My Pictures never turn out so good...Was that Restaurant that was long and narrow the Italian one because it looked just like the one on the Pride of Aloha. ;)

Yes, Betty, that's Il Adagio. On the Sun that's where breakfast and lunch are for suite guests. It has such a great view.

[CupKayke]

Thanks to everyone who commented on the jeans advice. Definitely sounds like NCL is staying on our radar! :)

[MilliesMom]

Adele, thoroughly enjoyed your review and all of the photos. Looking forward to meeting you next year on the N. Pearl and Star Princess. You've peaked my interest more in the Sun. Hal and I hope they will offer a great deal for 2015 for the combined North & South Itineraries. We really want to see Hubbard Glacier now.

[Cruise_More_Often]

Thanks, Mary! It was fun to do. I'm glad you're coming over to cruise on the Pearl, and hopefully the Sun will continue to do one-way cruises in 2015.

[BabsinTX]

Thank you for this nice review and the beautiful pictures. My husband & I are looking at the NCL Sun for Alaska next year. This would be our first NCL cruise and our first Alaska cruise. I noticed you wrote in your review that not many people wore jeans to dinner. This is disappointing to us as we do not enjoy dressing-up for dinner on vacation. We usually skip the formal nights, too. Would we be out of place in the various restaurants & the main dining room with nice tops, jeans, and nice shoes - which is usually always our dinner attire on cruises??

 

Thanks again!

 

I was on Adele's cruise and agree with her on all aspects--wonderful itinerary, wonderful ship, incredible crew, totally awesome. About dressing: my husband and I are not "dress up" people. He brought one polo shirt "just in case". I wanted to attend the Chef's Table, so took nice slacks, a blouse and sweater. That's it. I had read that Alaska cruises tended to be more casual and found that to be true on the Sun. We only ate in the MDRs twice out of 14 days (B2B), but the first time, a man was turned away from Seven Seas MDR for wearing shorts. They are permitted in Four Seasons MDR, however.