My Sun review - a wonderful cruise!

[jollycruise]

This was the 2nd time I sailed on the Sun and it was wonderful! I sailed with my Mom (her 1st cruise ever) and my Son (18). This cruise was a present for my Son's upcoming High School Graduation.

 

 

We flew into Miami one day prior to our cruise and stayed at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami. The hotel was fine for one night, however I do no think I would stay there again. The staff is top notch, but the rooms are not well laid out and they are having serious problems with their elevators. We walked down to Bayside Marketplace and enjoyed walking around. We ate at Tradewinds, which had great views and very good food. However the service was lacking. The food did make up for that as it was delicious!

 

 

Embarkation went very well. We arrived around 10 am and waited in line for about 20 minutes before they started allowing people through the security line. We checkced in and were handed a Group 1 boarding pass. We grabbed our seats and read over the daily to figure out what we wanted to do the first night. We wanted to do the Lobster Night in the MDR, but we are Broncos fans and we decided to go to Champs to watch the game. More on that later. They started the boarding process a little after noon and it all went well. The staff was having problems with people not staying in their seats and trying to board early and not by the numbers that were given to them. We just sat there and laughed at the people who apparaently thought they must get on right away and couldn't possibly wait their turn. Once on board we ate in Four Seasons and it was delicious! It wasn't busy and it was a great relaxing way to start our vacation. Our cabin was ready at 2pm and our luggage arrived at 3:30. We stayed in cabin 8026 and Balcony cabin. This cabin was in a very good location and was near the elevators. We went to the Friendly Feud Game and enjoyed that and then went to Champs to watch the Broncos game. The wings are delicious! But the fish and chips were cold and a chicken sandwhich I ordered was more like eating a dogs jerky treat. So we just planned on sticking to the wings anytime we came to Champs.

 

 

Sea Day #1: We really enjoyed lounging out at the Great Outdoors. We would get a table at the back of the ship, put our feet up and just enjoy the view. This became our go to spot to relax and enjoy some sunshine! We ate lunch in Seven Seas and it was the same menu as on Embaraktion day so we all tried something different and the food was great. We went to the Not So Newly Wed Game and had a great time as always with this game. Lots of laughs to be had! We saw the Encore show and enjoyed that, all the singers were good except for one lady with really short blonde hair. She pretty much just screamed instead of singing, without her in the show it would have been very enjoyable. We ate dinner at Seven Seas and very much enjoyed the service and the Tilapia special. We did Bingo today and I ended up winning $160.00. It was the one and only time we played bingo.

 

 

Sea Day #2: We went back to Great Outdoors for breakfast and to enjoy our special spot. My son did the putt putt challenge and that was really fun to watch. Hector on the cruise staff is so much and just a great guy! We went to Moderno for lunch today to enjoy some pizza and pasta and it was very good. We had bought a Congratulations package for my Son and we were very happy how it was done when we got back to our cabin this afternoon. Our cabin was decorated with a banner, balloons and a very nice cake. We saw whales from our balcony today and that was a beautiful sight! My son decided to gamble in the casino and had some fun. We ate at East Meets West tonight to celebrate his upcoming graduation and the service and food was top notch! Today we had to turn our clocks ahead one hour at bedtime.

 

 

St Thomas: We tendered in here and that actually worked out great. The last time I was in St. Thomas we were at Crown Bay and I would be fine if I never have to dock there again. The tendering process went very smoothly. My son went and got us tender tickets and we were in group one. We got on the tender and just waited for it to fill up and then we were in town within 10 minutes. They dropped us right by the shops so I can't complain about that at all, it was great. None of the shops were open yet so we walked down to Paradise point and took the Skyride up. The views are wonderful and we watched the bird show also. We then walked back to the shopping area and did some shopping which was fun. We decided we were done shopping and were kind of tired of the crowds so we got back on the tender and went to the Garden Cafe to grab some lunch. Before we left St. Thomas we were informed that we would have an additional 3 hours in Dominica and 4 hours in Barbados due to divers needing to do some work on one of the thrusters. We were THRILLED to hear this news! I quickly messaged our tour guide in Dominica to let him we would have extra time if he could extend our tour. St. Thomas was the only time on this cruise my cell had service and we are through Sprint (I know many people ask about cell service so I wanted to add that in). We went to the comedy show tonight and Russ Rivas is hysterical! I would go see his show anytime!

 

 

Dominica: This was my FAVORITE stop on this cruise and I am in love with this island! Once we got off the ship we had about 40 minutes before we met up with our tour guide, so we walked through the little craft area inside a building right off the ship. We walked outside the port area and there are dozens of tour guides waiting to book tours. We had set up a Tour with Woody and one of his friends saw us and I told him we were looking for Woody, but we were a little early so not to worry. He called Woody and I talked to him and told him not to hurry, but he said he would be there in no time. Woody is a great person and guide. I highly loved everything about our day with him. We went to Jacko Falls first and it is just beautiful! You can swim under the waterfall if you choose. We bought some baskets from the Carib Indians and they are stunning. Woody took us all over the island and we saw more than I can ever have imagined. We even went to a beach that we had all to ourselves and to a Black Sand Beach that was beautiful! We stopped at another area and enjoyed some snacks which included these things called "Bakes" (delicious!) Woodys Rum punch is out of this world and is a must try! Woody did extend our stay since we had extra time. He took us to another beach where the Atlantic is on one side of you and the Caribbean Ocean is on the other side of you. We sat on a log and watched the sunset. It was stunning and I just fell in love. I have never been more sad to leave an island as I was when we left Dominica. Once back on the ship we ate dinner in Four Seasons again and it was great along with the service.

 

 

Barabdos: We took a cab to the Boatyard and grabbed some chairs for a nice little beach day. My son went snorkeling to see the turtles and the shipwreak. We could not get any service at the bar for lunch so we grabbed a free shuttle ride back to the ship and ate lunch onboard. After lunch we left the ship again to check out the local shopping.

 

 

St Lucia: We grabbed breakfast in the Garden Buffet and I love the waffles. I didn't try the syrup after reading the syrup threads before I left =) We booked the Mud Bath and Catamaran Sail through NCL. We met in the Stardust theatre and were led off the ship straight to our tour guide. Her name was Candy and she was just wonderful! The tour bus was very comfortable and we enjoyed it very much. There was only 13 people on our tour bus. We drove all over the island and Candy told us all kinds of information, which was great. We stopped at a couple pull outs for photo ops. We went to the mud bath and several people took a dip, but we decided not to. We were there about 40 minutes. The local vendors hit you the minute you step off the bus, so be ready. All the restrooms at this location were closed which upset a few people on our tour. We then stopped at a Plantation and we were given a wonderful tour and learned a lot about the Coco they produce there. We got to see the process of how they create the chocloate and tasted several things from Coco to fruit. After the tour we were given a complimentary lunch with local food and oh my goodness it was all so good! We bought some lotion and candied coconut and were back on the bus to continue our tour. We went through 2 fishing villages rich in history. At the last fishing village we got on our catamaran and boy that was fun! The views were amazing, the rum puch was excellent and they stopped for 45 minutes for anyone who wanted to swim. We ended the tour back at the dock and were dropped off right by the ship. This day was wonderful and the tour was fantastic! We were pretty tired tonight and ordered a pizza for dinner along with some room service food. We decided to watch a movie in our cabin and just relax.

 

 

St. Maarten: We were here on a Sunday and arrived at 9am, Nothing was open yet so we grabbed a taxi to Sunset Beach. We watched one 747 take off and two small private jets land. It was fun to watch and we were hoping to see a 747 land, but they didn't come in until about 1pm and we wanted to explore more so we caught a taxi back to Phillipsburg to explore and shop. We were dropped off by a church and just had to walk past some local vendors to get to the shops. Do not buy anything from these vendors, everything we saw there was cheaper at the shops downtown. The Guavaberry shop is a must stop! The seasonings, bbq sauce and iced Guavaberry drink they sell is to DIE FOR! We also stopped at a wonderful little chocolate shop and the service there was just wonderful and so much fun. We ate a local restaurant (I need to find the receipt, I forgot the name) the food was delicious but the service was the WORST service I have ever received at any restaurant I have ever eaten at. We then took the water taxi back to the ship and looked around the shops that were now open right there at the port. My Mom loved her Guavaberry drink so much she bought a bottle of the liquor before we got on the ship. For some strange reason they didn't stop her and she was able to carry it onto the ship. They did stop my son though and were very interested in looking at the bottles of hot sauce he bought. Still shaking my head at that experience. We watched the crew set up a wonderful welcome aboard party from our balcony. The Costa ship docked across from was watching all the fun happenings and they all looked pretty sad to be getting on their ship, it was hilarious. The crew of NCL is wonderful and they make these cruises special! We were at least 1 hour late in leaving due to waiting for late pasengers to arrive. We didn't get the chance to watch the "runners" because they were so late they sent a golf cart to the gate to drive them back to the ship. These people didn't even seem to care that they were arriving 35 minute past sail away time. But....someone didn't make it back. We watched the crew wait for someone and then they brought 2 suitcases off along with 2 passports that were handed off to a driver that took their belongings off the pier. We left right after that. We headed to Dazzles to watch the Broncos game and ordered the $5 pizza. This pizza is a 16" pizza and it was very good, far better than the buffet pizza. Watching the game on a big screen is far better than the smaller tv's in Champs. We only lost the signal a few times, but no worries. We had one waiter that was very snarky to us when we just wanted water. So a little while later we grabbed another waiter who was happy to get us more water and later on in the game we got some alcoholic drinks. My son was offered a beer by a fellow Broncos fan who thought he was over 21. We then decided I would go sign a parental consent form so he could have one beer, which he did. We watched the game finish and were celebrating the Broncos going to the Super Bowl.....well we all know how that ended....lol

 

 

Sea Day #3 & 4: We decided to do some sleeping in, because we were all exhausted. We did lunch in the Four Seasons and as usual is was great as was the service. We had the Congratulations decorations taken down and they put up the Birthday package I had bought my Mom. Our room steward was the best I had ever had on any NCL cruise. Her name was Christina and she is hands down fantastic at her job! We enjoyed the last two days of this perfect cruise and started packing :( This cruise offered us the calmest seas I have ever seen. It was like sailing on glass, it was perfect in every way and NCL really does have my heart when it comes to taking a Cruise. The crew makes their company the success it is today. The gentleman that makes the crepes is such a nice man from Serbia and my Son and him had great times talking every single night when he needed is crepe fix! The crew talent show is always entertaining and the Fountains make me laugh every time I see it. Richard was our cruise director and was very good, however I enjoy Patrick the Asst. Cruise director more.

 

 

Disembarkation Day: This was the only day that we had terrible service in the main dining room. She service was horribly slow and just down right terrible. This however will not take away from what was a wonderful cruise, it just too bad that was the last experience we had on board. We did self disembark with no problems. We said goodbye to Patrick and our Room steward and were back to reality in now time. We headed ff to MIA and back home to cold Colordao.

 

 

I can't say it enought, but the crew onboard the Sun make this cruise great and all kudos need to go to them. The ports were wonderful and we wil be back on an NCL cruise in February 2014.

 

 

Happy Sailing Folks!

[LTC]

Enjoyed your review. Will be on the Sun in 2 weeks. We plan on going to the Boatyard in Barbados also. Could you give more info on the free shuttle to the ship? It would be nice not to have to take a taxi if we didn't have to. Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

[jollycruise]

Enjoyed your review. Will be on the Sun in 2 weeks. We plan on going to the Boatyard in Barbados also. Could you give more info on the free shuttle to the ship? It would be nice not to have to take a taxi if we didn't have to. Glad you had a wonderful cruise.

 

Hello LTC!

 

They start the free shuttles around noon or 1pm. Once you're done just exit through the little gift shop and the vans will be there in the parking lot waiting. Once they get a van full, they leave and take you back to the entrance of the port. Enjoy your day there! I suggest getting there sooner than later as the chairs filled up fast and get a chair away from the little pier. Right under the pier is where the barkers are that try to sell their snorkeling tours and jet ski tours. If you have a chair near them, you have to listen to that the whole time you're there. :D

[meatball_nyc]

Nice review. Thank you for taking the time out to post it.

I am cruising this summer with my son (18) as well. So glad you guys had a good time!

Cheers :)

 

 

 

Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

[ch7012]

Thank you for your review! I am sailing this Thursday and I can't wait! It will be my first time on the Sun!