Here goes: 11 day, Sun cruise, Dec 11th.

[newmexicoNita]

I am finally almost caught up, so thought I would take a little time this morning to give the highlights of our Sun cruise. As always, overall it was great. I will do an official review in the review section in a few days, but here are just some highlights, based on our experienced and everyone has different ideas and opinions.

 

First: we keep hearing she show signs of wear and tear: Guess what, so do most of us, age does that to ships as well as people. The only place we saw that really made her age apparent was scratches on the desk, some of the tables in the bars, some of the doors, etc. and the mismatched carpeting. The staterooms have the original carpet (great shape) some of the halls have the "fish swim forward: carpet, but not all of the halls and the elevator areas have still another carpet. None of this bothered us because like most NCL ships it was spotlessly clean.

 

Food: of course this seems to be everyone's number 1 issue, but for us, we had no real complaints. Being an 11 dayer, we were able to eat in several places, both MDRs, 3 specialty dining rooms, the Sports bar, the great outdoors, the buffet and even room service one night. Well forget the room service, it was awful, other than that we loved most of the food, or found it par or above. The first night we had steak and lobster of course. I wish I had done, what others did and ordered 2 Lobster tails, forgetting the steak. Unlike most, I am not a true lover of filet, I don't think it has that much flavor. Everything else was fine, the Lobster though small was cooked to perfection. Though out the 11 days there were plenty of good selections. People who keep saying there are not choices, must be sailing a different ship. The everyday choices, Salmon, steak, Lamb shank, Chicken breast, plus 4 daily choices, including the chefs special, plus a pasta and a veggie dish, what more could you want? There are 2 always available salads, and 2 soups. I recommend the Broccoli soup. Hubby said the onion soup wasn't all the great. I didn't care for the salmon tartar which is an always avail item, but that was just me. The Spring rolls, always avail really have a lot of flavor. None of our food was ever cold like some say. we had the chance to eat alone or with others and never waited even 5 minutes, (the ship was sold out) We choose to eat as early as 5:30 and as late as 7pm.

 

Our favorite specialty dining room was probably El Adagios. Our least favorite was, believe it or not, Le Bistro.

 

If anyone has any questions about the food, I will try to answer.

 

The entertainment was, as always great. We had one complaint, but again this wasn't the fault of NCL, but our aging likes and dislikes. The production group were very talented, great voices and excellent dancers, and yet, the loudness about drove up nuts. It reminded me of the old disco music. I wish they would have toned it down a little. We enjoyed the music in Windjammer, some of Dazzles and other places around the ship. There was plenty to keep most people busy and entertained.

 

Activities: wow, there were more than in years past. Again, if you can't find something to do, you are expecting too much from the ship. There were language lessons, dance lessons, arts and crafts, lots of trivia, group meetings and of course the basic port talks. (those I can do without, but for new cruisers they are informative and enjoyable) The casino was the loosest I have seen at sea. No, we didn't get rich and yes, I ended up donating to the cause, but hubby, playing just pennies and never hitting big, still came out about $100 ahead.

 

Cabins and cabin steward: what can I say? As usually both were great, I can't think of any negatives. Our balcony was always clean, the towel animals were the best, including the birds, and all the rest. Al, was the name of our cabin steward, not only did he always call us by name he always had a smile. One morning, after hubby didn't feel well, so we spent the entire night in the cabin, Al had our towel animal waiting for us the next morning. I can honestly say, the service throughout the entire ship was above and beyond anything we could have expected.

 

Ports of call and excursions: Most of the ports we had done many times, so choose not to do much: we did a Cartagena tour though the ship and I would say, were a little disappointed for the price. It was supposed to be about 31/2 hours long but was barely 2 hours, we were told to bargain with venders but the guide did say, to me, do not bargain at the shops I take you to: I believed him: later I learned I had paid 4 times more for a little island dress than 2 other people on the ship. I should have told the cruise tour desk, but didn't. That was my own fault. We did Coral World in St Thomas, not though the ship, but though our travel agent.

 

If anyone has anymore questions, I would be glad to answer them. Oh, one more positive, part of what made this cruise so fun was we heard so very few complaints. The happier people around you are, the happier you are.

 

Nita

[B6ConMe]

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this review, Nita. Glad you enjoyed your cruise. We seem to have similar opinions and feelings.

 

Your positive attitude definitely impacts others, stay happy :)

[EnsignPulver]

Nita-

 

Thanks for your review as we will be sailing on a 12 day in January.

[BlueJai]

Hey Nita, Welcome back! I am glad you had a good time and thanks for posting about our much loved Sun!

 

We will be back on her in February and are counting the days. I was looking forward to your thoughts and you did not disappoint! Thank you!

Jai

[travel12]

Hi Nita: Thanks for the first impressions. Exactly what did you not like about Le Bistro? That is our first choice for our February cruise.

[EnsignPulver]

Nita - Since the ship clears immigration in St. Thomas, do you remember the earliest debarkation time in Miami as I have a very early flight.

 

Thanks in advance.

[cod]

Very nice review! We love the Sun too. Aside from 1-7night caribbean cruise, we were lucky enough to be able to take advantage of NCL's decision in '07 NOT to leave her in Hawaii to do what the POA is doing now...so we were able to enjoy a 10 night repo from Honolulu to Ensenada with several island stops before crossing the Pacific. My favorite cruise of all!!

 

One question. Do they still have a Tapas Bar? If I recall, it was on an upper deck near the spa or salon. It's one of the few things DH recalls about the different ships we've sailed on.

 

We like to cruise from close to home now (that means New Orleans) but a longer cruise out of FL would be doable and tempting!

 

One more question which I think you may know. Is Jane L. Powell still performing on NCL ships? We saw her for the first time on the Sun in '05 and we both thought she was great! She was on one other cruise we took but I can't remember which one...maybe our first of several Spirt cruises. Oh, well, makes mox-nix. We would be pleasantly surprised if we were to find her act on a future cruise we take!

[coscab]

We were in an aft mini Dec 1 week, we had "Al", if you had the same Al he was outstanding, glad you enjoyed your cruise, it was one of our top two to date!!

[DMH15]

Thank you, Nita for a review of my fave, the Sunny Sun. So glad you had fun. Only ten months til my three-peat on her. Yea!

 

 

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[zoya19]

Thanks so much for posting. We leave on the 1st and I have read many mixed reviews. This is great. :)

[Delawarealan]

Thanks for the quick review. I am boarding on Wednesday for the 11-nighter. I have been on several NCL ships and have never been disappointed. I hear so many stories about how "horrible" the food is, etc. They must not have been on the same ships I've been on. I was on the Dawn last year with my parents who are very experienced travelers (in their early 80s), and they were extremely pleased with the trip.

 

Of course, I describe my family as frugal/cheap. That cruise we paid $429 pp for an inside and certainly got our money's worth. If you are spending $3K pp for a suite (which is the price for a suite on this week's cruise), you might have a different perspective. My perspective is that I can find lots of ways to spend the extra money I saved by not getting a suite. I know that this might be an unpopular view among many Cruise Critic members, but remember the frugal/cheap comment above!

 

Wishing everyone a good New Year of cruising!

 

Delawarealan

[newmexicoNita]

Hi Nita: Thanks for the first impressions. Exactly what did you not like about Le Bistro? That is our first choice for our February cruise.

 

I certainly would not say we didn't enjoy our meal, but a couple of things were a bit of a disappointment: my steak had very little flavor, I ended up giving it to hubby. Our service was good, but I didn't feel the waiter gave a damn about us, just was more like a robot. We had a similar experience on another line a few years ago. I like a little personal touch and a smile here and there. We will continue to try Le Bistro I am sure, especially now that we are both Platinum.

[newmexicoNita]

Nita - Since the ship clears immigration in St. Thomas, do you remember the earliest debarkation time in Miami as I have a very early flight.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I don't remember but we were off the ship by about 9am or so.

[newmexicoNita]

Oh, I just thought of something else and this is more rumor than set in stone, but it did come from management: The jewel will be going out of Houston; the Dawn out of NOLA and the Sun out of Tampa in the next couple of years, if not sooner. As for the possibility of a ship going to So America, very unlikely. The main reason, the cost is just out of line. They have trouble filling the ships because of the cost of air to get to any embarkation port in So America. There is talk about maybe, in the future doing someplace like Australia but not likely China or any Asian destination because of being in competition with Star. Also lots of talk about more itineraries in Europe. Again, some of this is already included in the 2015 recently released destinations, some is still not set in stone.

[DMH15]

Thanks for the quick review. I am boarding on Wednesday for the 11-nighter. I have been on several NCL ships and have never been disappointed. I hear so many stories about how "horrible" the food is, etc. They must not have been on the same ships I've been on. I was on the Dawn last year with my parents who are very experienced travelers (in their early 80s), and they were extremely pleased with the trip.

 

Of course, I describe my family as frugal/cheap. That cruise we paid $429 pp for an inside and certainly got our money's worth. If you are spending $3K pp for a suite (which is the price for a suite on this week's cruise), you might have a different perspective. My perspective is that I can find lots of ways to spend the extra money I saved by not getting a suite. I know that this might be an unpopular view among many Cruise Critic members, but remember the frugal/cheap comment above!

 

Wishing everyone a good New Year of cruising!

 

Delawarealan

 

I have done 2 aft PH suites on the Sun and have another booked 2014. Believe it or not, I am very frugal. I watch my money carefully. To me it is about VALUE and although i pay a lot I feel I receive what I pay for. I travel with mom and we prefer our own space, ok, actually, we need it. Haha.

 

Love the Sun!

 

 

 

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[CruisinMaterial]

Nita - Thanks for the review. What was the NCL tour name for Colombia?

 

Thanks! :)

[newmexicoNita]

Nita - Thanks for the review. What was the NCL tour name for Colombia?

 

Thanks! :)

 

It was the carriage ride through old town. That part was fun, the weather, though humid was nice, but I didn't think it was worth anywhere near the price and I am pissed with myself for not bitching.....