Mitsugirly's extensive back to belly sun & sky review

[Input122]

Little French ki was my favorites top of all and would have never known anything about it if it hadn't been for you thank you so much the next time I go to Roatan I will go again.

[tdk1938]

Our ancestors are Adam and Eve. Your reviews are fun to read and very informative. Love to look at those beautiful pictures and last but not the least "Keeping up with Sakari" is fun to read too.

[Input122]

I screwed that up royally. I think you know what I meant though.

[mitsugirly]

Little French ki was my favorites top of all and would have never known anything about it if it hadn't been for you thank you so much the next time I go to Roatan I will go again.

 

I screwed that up royally. I think you know what I meant though.

 

 

So glad you loved it and I could share the place. Now shhhh, don't let everyone know because before long, everyone will be going there and it will be crawling with cruisers all over the place. :D

[mitsugirly]

Our ancestors are Adam and Eve. Your reviews are fun to read and very informative. Love to look at those beautiful pictures and last but not the least "Keeping up with Sakari" is fun to read too.

 

I think she should have her own t.v. series. She has to be more entertaining than keeping up with the Kardashians. :p :D

[ch27088]

I just found your review and I'm so glad that I did. I've enjoyed reading your other reviews and I've learned so much from you. Sounds like you had a great time, and can't wait to really get into it. Thanks for taking us along on your cruises. BTW, after reading several of your reviews, I do see how tall your daughter has gotten. They grow up so fast!

[mitsugirly]

I just found your review and I'm so glad that I did. I've enjoyed reading your other reviews and I've learned so much from you. Sounds like you had a great time, and can't wait to really get into it. Thanks for taking us along on your cruises. BTW, after reading several of your reviews, I do see how tall your daughter has gotten. They grow up so fast!

 

 

Aww, thanks for the comments and I hope you enjoy it. I have a lot of fun doing them (the cruises :D and the reviews :p).

 

It's hard to believe that my daughter has been cruising with us for 3 years now and it just dawned on me the other day that she has finally reached the age (and most likely the height) to do most of anything excursion related now. :eek: Time flies when you're having fun.

[Chuxters]

From the time we embarked on 1/11/15, the odor of sewage in the aft elevator area turned my stomach. It seemed to be coming from the shaft of the far portside elevator. Every time the elevator door opened, the stench would be emitted. That being said, I hope this is the worst ship in Norwegian's fleet... I have never complained about anything on a cruise ship until this one. I've sailed on the Dawn, Gem, and Pride of America. The Sun was by far the worst. Our cabin was located directly below the dishwashing station of the Garden Cafe/Moderno galley. Crash, bang, thump, thud, and the sound of carts rolling along ALL NIGHT LONG... We tried to get moved after night one, but the ship was full. Which we found out later, NCL gave out several "FREE" cabins(including the ultimate beverage package) to past cruisers who live locally near the port of Tampa. They just had to pay the port taxes and gratuities. Unfortunately for me, I am not retired or else I could get in on that. For the most part, we had a wonderful cruise, but it is what you make of it. 99% of the staff is awesome. The cruise director, Richard, is one of the weakest I've encountered. We had to avoid events conducted by Gabi... I think she is worked too hard because she got snotty sometimes. We received a complimentary Specialty Dining room dinner because of our noise complaint. We chose Cagney's... My wife had the Filet Mignon and said it was delicious. I was not at all impressed. I had the Shrimp Cocktail and the Lobster Tail and shrimp entree... Three hours later, I was puking it up... And I haven't been sick in years. I was fine the next day, so it had to be the food. I like the smaller ship though. You are never too far away from anything and everything. There was always a seat to be found so even though it was full, there was always enough room to accommodate everyone. I'm sure it helped that there were a very limited number of children on board. Seven Seas was outstanding for breakfast(3 days,) and dinner(6 days.) We opted for the great outdoors buffet on port days because we wanted to get out and explore. Opted for privately booked(online) tours ahead of time. I recommend Belize Exotic Adventures(Nickoli,) Native Choice Tours(Costa Maya,) and SafeTours Cozumel(Arturo.) All will offer reasonable prices for whatever you want to do... The more people in your party, the cheaper the rates per person. ***One warning... If going to the Belize Zoo, wear long pants AND use insect repellent. We just used "OFF" and still got bit up by many little tiny black flies. The bites did not affect me, but all of my wife's bites swelled up like mosquito bites and itched her incessantly. She has a doctors appt. today to have them checked out and we were in Belize last Wednesday.

So all in all, we had a nice vacation, but again, it is what you make of it. I'm sure there would be some people who would have our experiences and be completely miserable about it. First time cruisers may get a bad impression of cruising on this ship.

[mitsugirly]

From the time we embarked on 1/11/15, the odor of sewage in the aft elevator area turned my stomach. It seemed to be coming from the shaft of the far portside elevator. Every time the elevator door opened, the stench would be emitted. That being said, I hope this is the worst ship in Norwegian's fleet... I have never complained about anything on a cruise ship until this one. I've sailed on the Dawn, Gem, and Pride of America. The Sun was by far the worst. Our cabin was located directly below the dishwashing station of the Garden Cafe/Moderno galley. Crash, bang, thump, thud, and the sound of carts rolling along ALL NIGHT LONG... We tried to get moved after night one, but the ship was full. Which we found out later, NCL gave out several "FREE" cabins(including the ultimate beverage package) to past cruisers who live locally near the port of Tampa. They just had to pay the port taxes and gratuities. Unfortunately for me, I am not retired or else I could get in on that. For the most part, we had a wonderful cruise, but it is what you make of it. 99% of the staff is awesome. The cruise director, Richard, is one of the weakest I've encountered. We had to avoid events conducted by Gabi... I think she is worked too hard because she got snotty sometimes. We received a complimentary Specialty Dining room dinner because of our noise complaint. We chose Cagney's... My wife had the Filet Mignon and said it was delicious. I was not at all impressed. I had the Shrimp Cocktail and the Lobster Tail and shrimp entree... Three hours later, I was puking it up... And I haven't been sick in years. I was fine the next day, so it had to be the food. I like the smaller ship though. You are never too far away from anything and everything. There was always a seat to be found so even though it was full, there was always enough room to accommodate everyone. I'm sure it helped that there were a very limited number of children on board. Seven Seas was outstanding for breakfast(3 days,) and dinner(6 days.) We opted for the great outdoors buffet on port days because we wanted to get out and explore. Opted for privately booked(online) tours ahead of time. I recommend Belize Exotic Adventures(Nickoli,) Native Choice Tours(Costa Maya,) and SafeTours Cozumel(Arturo.) All will offer reasonable prices for whatever you want to do... The more people in your party, the cheaper the rates per person. ***One warning... If going to the Belize Zoo, wear long pants AND use insect repellent. We just used "OFF" and still got bit up by many little tiny black flies. The bites did not affect me, but all of my wife's bites swelled up like mosquito bites and itched her incessantly. She has a doctors appt. today to have them checked out and we were in Belize last Wednesday.

So all in all, we had a nice vacation, but again, it is what you make of it. I'm sure there would be some people who would have our experiences and be completely miserable about it. First time cruisers may get a bad impression of cruising on this ship.

 

Thanks for your post and letting us know your experiences. So sorry you smelled sewage. Eww. We didn't experience that but have on another cruise before so I think it's a hit or miss.

 

Your comment seems more like a "review" to me. You might want to post a separate thread with your experiences if you want more people to see it. Just a thought. :)

[pj103]

I have really enjoyed your review of Costa Maya. We will be there on Tuesday, Jan. 27th and had not planned on getting off the ship as we had not heard any good information about Costa Maya. After seeing your pictures and reading your review, we have decided that we will get off the ship and go to Blue Kay after all. Thanks again for a great review of this beach area.

[Cindy]

What a great review! I had read your Dream review a while ago, but I never ventured over here to see what else you'd written. That all changed yesterday when I made a deposit on an NCL cruise. I found this review...followed it up with the Sky review...then the graduation review! I stayed up way too late last night reading, and a good part of today was spent reading too! Thankfully I have a few to go!:)

 

Even though our travel styles are different, there are two things we have in common. Those are the ever-present camera, and the husbands who tolerate our obsession!:eek:

 

A couple things you mentioned in the reviews so far that I recommend very highly are Southern Caribbean (gorgeous!) and either Oasis or Allure (simply amazing!). I was on Oasis for the first time when you were on the Sun/Sky trip, and I was just blown away by the ship. I never thought I'd want to cruise on something that big, but RCI made it work, and work well.

 

Thanks again!

Edited January 21, 2015 by Cindy

[mitsugirly]

I have really enjoyed your review of Costa Maya. We will be there on Tuesday, Jan. 27th and had not planned on getting off the ship as we had not heard any good information about Costa Maya. After seeing your pictures and reading your review, we have decided that we will get off the ship and go to Blue Kay after all. Thanks again for a great review of this beach area.

 

 

Thanks and glad you enjoyed it. Blue Kay is a beautiful relaxing area to spend the day. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. Have a great cruise! :)

[mitsugirly]

What a great review! I had read your Dream review a while ago, but I never ventured over here to see what else you'd written. That all changed yesterday when I made a deposit on an NCL cruise. I found this review...followed it up with the Sky review...then the graduation review! I stayed up way too late last night reading, and a good part of today was spent reading too! Thankfully I have a few to go!:)

 

Even though our travel styles are different, there are two things we have in common. Those are the ever-present camera, and the husbands who tolerate our obsession!:eek:

 

A couple things you mentioned in the reviews so far that I recommend very highly are Southern Caribbean (gorgeous!) and either Oasis or Allure (simply amazing!). I was on Oasis for the first time when you were on the Sun/Sky trip, and I was just blown away by the ship. I never thought I'd want to cruise on something that big, but RCI made it work, and work well.

 

Thanks again!

 

Thanks for the comments and glad you enjoyed them.

 

I will definitely try the Oasis (or Allure) some day. It's just every time that I decide to book, I go on to check out the prices and they are just sky high for either of those ships or they don't have anything available for a cheap interior (just to get me on the ship). I have been amazed at that ship since it first came out and some day I'll get on it. I think I'll probably have to book WAY ahead of time to get what I'm looking for.

 

Southern Caribbean is also on my to-do list, but I just haven't been able to find the time to get away for that amount of time and just got lucky on being able to add this back to back Sun/Sky cruise last time after having the Sun booked forever. Hopefully some day I'll make it down there. I just want to sail from the US and really don't have any desire to sail out of San Juan in order to do a shorter trip, but we'll see. :)

[Cindy]

Thanks for the comments and glad you enjoyed them.

 

I will definitely try the Oasis (or Allure) some day. It's just every time that I decide to book, I go on to check out the prices and they are just sky high for either of those ships or they don't have anything available for a cheap interior (just to get me on the ship). I have been amazed at that ship since it first came out and some day I'll get on it. I think I'll probably have to book WAY ahead of time to get what I'm looking for.

 

 

We got a Texas resident rate that was incredible, so that's something to look for. If you can swing it with needing air, prices really seem to drop a LOT about 2 weeks after final payment. More than half my roll call upgraded for little or no cost. The difference in prices before and after final payment was pretty significant.

 

Since there's so much availability out of Fort Lauderdale, I've actually read of people deciding when they want to cruise and booking their air fare, then waiting until after final payment to decide what ship they're going on!:eek: That's probably a little too free-spirited for me, but some people swear by the strategy!

[FraudBroad]

I have 2 cameras I take with me on each cruise.

 

Olympus TG 620

Olympus TG 830 :)

 

Your pictures are AMAZING...which camera do you use underwater and which do you use for the rest of your shots?

 

Review as spectacular!!!

 

Thanks!

Natalie

[mitsugirly]

We got a Texas resident rate that was incredible, so that's something to look for. If you can swing it with needing air, prices really seem to drop a LOT about 2 weeks after final payment. More than half my roll call upgraded for little or no cost. The difference in prices before and after final payment was pretty significant.

 

Since there's so much availability out of Fort Lauderdale, I've actually read of people deciding when they want to cruise and booking their air fare, then waiting until after final payment to decide what ship they're going on!:eek: That's probably a little too free-spirited for me, but some people swear by the strategy!

 

I have been watching several cruises off and on for about a month now. I thought I had made a decision (to actually book the Carnival Magic), but I caught wind of NCL having their "kids sail free/3rd-8th person free" sail coming February 1st. So NOW, I'm waiting once again to see what prices they will have and might possibly book the Epic again (the one and only ship we have been on but Sakari has not and I know she would love it). So, it's a waiting game now. Of course we will be past the final payment date, so I'm hoping the prices won't sky rocket. I have noticed over the last 2 weeks, the Carnival Magic has went up almost $100 for the 3 of us and sometimes I'm kicking myself for not going ahead and making my decision and booking. I could never book my air fare ahead of time for fear that I would change my mind (which I have been known to do plenty of times before :o). I have also noticed that air fare is a LOT better for flights to Houston, TX than to FLL. :eek: So that might influence my decision as well.

[mitsugirly]

Your pictures are AMAZING...which camera do you use underwater and which do you use for the rest of your shots?

 

Review as spectacular!!!

 

Thanks!

Natalie

 

 

Thanks so much and the answer is BOTH and BOTH. The only difference between the 2 camera is that the 830 has a little more settings. :)

[FraudBroad]

Thanks so much and the answer is BOTH and BOTH. The only difference between the 2 camera is that the 830 has a little more settings. :)

 

Last question...I promise :)

 

Is there a specific photo editing software you use or are the colors just that fabulous from your camera? Are you constantly changing the settings on the camera or just using "auto" most of the time?

 

Sorry I'm asking so much! Just SO impressed with the quality and color and want to get a new camera before I cruise in two weeks!

[mickev99]

Thanks for the info on the ncl sale coming up. I'm definitely going to check it out. Do you know if it is only for certain sailing months?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[mitsugirly]

Last question...I promise :)

 

Is there a specific photo editing software you use or are the colors just that fabulous from your camera? Are you constantly changing the settings on the camera or just using "auto" most of the time?

 

Sorry I'm asking so much! Just SO impressed with the quality and color and want to get a new camera before I cruise in two weeks!

 

Well since it's a point and shoot camera, it's not like a dslr...meaning that it's pretty much always in "auto". :D But you can go into the camera and adjust certain things in it to represent a dslr camera (like your exposure comp, white balance, ISO and so on), but there's so many other settings that you can use that are preset on the camera. I usually just run different settings to make sure that I get a good one. I could take the same picture 5 different times on all different settings just to make sure I get what I'm looking for (hence the reason I'll come home with about 2000+ pictures). :o But I did discover that if you use the setting that makes the picture look like a tilt shift the colors are magnificent and very bold and bright. You just really have to play around with it. I'll be the first to admit that I should probably play around with it a little more when I'm NOT on a cruise to discover what the best settings are so that I'll know when I'm on vacation instead of spending so much time switching settings. :p

 

Thanks for the info on the ncl sale coming up. I'm definitely going to check it out. Do you know if it is only for certain sailing months?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

 

In the past, they usually offer certain sail dates, which always seem to be the "off" season dates that are a little harder to sell. But I guess you really never know until they announce it. I'm sitting on pins and needles waiting so that I can make a decision to get something booked. :(

[theump]

ok Kim, Just got a tough 850 and started playing with it. How many underwater setting does your 830 have? Have some questions and was going to email you but could not remember the entire email address.

 

The Ump

John

[Rada_CMH]

I am so happy to have found your review!

 

We are in the process of planning our next cruise and still need to decide on things to do in Costa Maya and Cozumel. The Blue Kay sounds perfect for us since we will travel with kids too.

 

Thanks again for the lovely review, photos and tips!

 

Cheers,

Rada

Edited January 24, 2015 by Rada_CMH

[mitsugirly]

ok Kim, Just got a tough 850 and started playing with it. How many underwater setting does your 830 have? Have some questions and was going to email you but could not remember the entire email address.

 

The Ump

John

 

I believe my 830 has 4 underwater settings, then of course within that you can set additional things on them as well.

 

I am so happy to have found your review!

 

We are in the process of planning our next cruise and still need to decide on things to do in Costa Maya and Cozumel. The Blue Kay sounds perfect for us since we will travel with kids too.

 

Thanks again for the lovely review, photos and tips!

 

Cheers,

Rada

 

You are welcome and glad you liked the review "neighbor". :D I hope you have a wonderful cruise and great fun planning them. :)

[maryandmarge]

My question to you is on the ship NCL Sun. We are booked on there in March and I was wondering about how people are dressing in the dining rooms. Do women have to wear long pants or can you get away with wearing capri pants to dinner? I'm trying to cut back as much as possible and leaving extra room in our suitcase for purchases. We always eat at the included dining choices...I figure why pay more when we don't have to.

[all_aboard]

thanks for your recommendation on the Olympus. I just bought a 830 on ebay. so far it is great. I haven't tried it underwater yet. Hope the water is warm enough to go in!