LIVE from the SUN Jan 4-11, 2015

[troyphoto]

Subtitle: Will they survive the attack of the Shower Curtains?

 

Yep... it's still a full day or so away, but I, your intrepid reporter/photographer will be there! (and wanted to get the thread began while I still had cheap internet access.

 

I probably won't post many photos on this thread - see Mitsugirly's thread here (joined mid-stream) for a ton of cool photos.

 

Fair warning, though... Wife and I are practicing to be old-fuddy-duddys. We'll probably only get off the ship once for our excursion in Costa Maya. Otherwise, we plan on relaxing on our balcony, and watching the drunks stumble back onto the dock at the other ports. :D We'll go to the shows, walk around deck a LOT (she averages about 5 miles a day doing laps and taking the stairs). I'll be in the Great Outdoors writing or reading and drinking iced tea.

 

Feel free to drop questions on here. I'll try to check the thread each morning at breakfast, and do a daily post somewhere in there... Depending on how well I'm able to fend of the voracious shower curtain.

 

BTW: I'm actually finishing up my Masters degree in journalism. This is a "writing vacation" as I work on my final project. So, I really am a "professional" intrepid reporter :cool: .

[hpecorari]

Can you find out if Brian Walters will still be the HD for my cruise beginning Feb. 8th?

 

Thanks -

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

 

Harriet

[WyomingCruiser]

Looking forward to your review. We will be getting on the Sun on Jan 18

 

 

Janelle

[CTCruiser001]

Looking forward to reading more. We are sailing the Sun February 1st!

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I497 using Forums mobile app

[troyphoto]

After a day of travel, arrived in Tampa.

 

As we boarded the plane, we were behind a couple with NCL luggage tags on their carry-ons... same color as ours... looks like they're just down the hall. Chatted with them briefly in the boarding line, but, they were several rows in front of us on the plane and we didn't connect with them after that - with luck, they'll be at the meet and greet. ;)

 

Notes on Tampa Airport. If you're in Baggage claim area BLUE and head out toward Blue 2 Ground Transport - you may be lucky and get a shuttle to your hotel in a reasonable time: Intercontinental and Embassy Suites were running a regular schedule. Holiday Inn of one sort or another came through several times...

 

However, you may end up like us. We're at LaQuinta... the desk staff was excellent. Very courteous, asked where were at the airport, said he'd call the shuttle service. Even described the white van and what the company name on it was... had one van, looked empty drive through about 15 minutes later. The curb was full of other shuttles, so he did a fast U-ey and headed for less crowded pastures despite my running into the driving lane and waving.

 

The guy who eventually picked us up, Kevin (with the same company) was awesome. He got the call with an already full van, pulled in to tell us another guy was coming soon... so we waited... and waited... another full van came through without stopping. We could see it full of people...

 

An hour and a half after I first called the motel to let them know we were here :eek:, Kevin returned, shocked that we and several others, from a plane that arrived shortly after ours had been waiting that long. His van was empty. But not for long. We filled his van, and off we went to LaQuinta. Kudos to Kevin. Conscientious enough to complete his previous runs (they serve two hotels, so it can take a bit for a single driver to make the circuit) and then head back to double check.

 

No complaints about the motel (so far). It's a budget place. All rooms are accessed from out-of-doors. The bathroom looks bigger than what we'll have tomorrow onboard the Sun. Hopefully the shower curtain in the motel won't be as friendly and clingy as the ones on the ship are reputed to be. I'll let you know how that goes tomorrow.

 

LaQuinta is a short walk away from IHOP (shares a parking lot), or around the corner to several restaurants (Logans Steak House, Olive Garden) We had the Garden. I got a glass of Pinot along with the pasta. Needed it after breathing exhaust fumes down in B2 Ground Transport pick up zone for 1.5 hours.

 

I'd post photos of the hotel, but it was twilight as we left the airport and dark once we arrived at the motel. I'll get some tomorrow. Posting them may be slow and sporadic once I'm on ship's internet. The picture dump may come at the end of the week once I'm back to normal interwebz.

Edited January 4, 2015 by troyphoto

[CTCruiser001]

Wow. I would just have gotten in a cab after waiting 15-20 minutes at max. To wait 1.5 hours...eek! We are staying in Ybor City in a few weeks and plan to take a cab right to our hotel -- were there a lot of taxi's in the area, or should we make arrangements for a private car?

 

What airline did you fly and what did you think of the airport? I have heard we are required to get on a tram from the gate areas to the baggage claim...true?

 

I am watching the Sun on the Tampa webcam and she looks all set for you guys to board! Have a great cruise!

 

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I497 using Forums mobile app

[troyphoto]

Good news on the shower curtain front. The LaQuinta curtain is just normally friendly. It didn’t try to hug me and get all clingy in the shower. Plus, for Norwegian Sun cruisers, it has a little something special to inspire you for your impending week at sea!

 

 

If you want a hearty breakfast, sharing a parking lot with IHOP is a good thing. The continental breakfast in the motel's lobby is pre-packaged food. Slices of bread sit in trays, each slice individually packaged in its own little plastic bag. The coffee and juices are reconstituted syrup concoction machines. For cruisers, this is perfect. One last light meal before a week of hitting the “all you can MOOSE buffets” onboard the ship. BUT, if you want some bacon - go to IHOP. No bacon on the motel's breakfast bar.

 

Overall, the motel is decent for it’s price point. It’s a horseshoe shaped two-story motel. The main row of rooms sits behind the front desk area. The other “leg” of the horseshoe is only half as long. The IHOP occupies the area where the rest of the section would have been. Rooms across the “bottom” of the horseshoe overlook the courtyard and swimming pool, along with the side of the IHOP.

 

 

We didn’t have any complaints about the motel. We did hear planes through the night, but they rarely roared directly over head. Some of the other guests, however, discovered first-hand the joys of sharing a parking lot with IHOP (the restaurant, not the church). Most of us were young enough once to remember spending Friday or Saturday late-nights at the IHOP or other 24-hour restaurant after the bars closed.

 

Wife and I slept through the tsunami of partiers trying to sober up, and thumping car stereos right outside our rooms. Fortunately, we were on the backside (west outside edge) of the motel. Evidently the scenic view rooms overlooking the “courtyard” get full effect of the parking lot stereo wars. One gent even had a female visitor wake him up around 4 am demanding to come check something in the room. His wife wasn’t impressed.:mad:

 

Would I stay here again? Probably, but I’d be picky on my room choice. Pick a room on the east or south side of the complex to avoid the IHOP issues. Drunk women at 4 am, unfortunately, are unpredictable, and you run that risk wherever you are.

 

One note about the motel. There is no elevator. If you get a second floor room, you will be walking stairs.

[troyphoto]

Yes, there were plenty of taxis - but Mrs Photo has the patience of a stone, and watches the budget closely- after three calls to the front desk - my patience ran out - right after the line at the taxi stand grew due to another round of arrivals looking for a ride. Kevin showed up about the time the line for taxis was small enough to get in.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[troyphoto]

We are onboard- let the vacation begin! Call for staterooms opening just came. But, I'm cool - I've got a table in the Great Outdoors, sippin' iced tea and watching the birds

[DMH15]

Can you find out if Brian Walters will still be the HD for my cruise beginning Feb. 8th?

 

Thanks -

 

Enjoy your cruise!!!

 

Harriet

Isn't he wonderful? Just love him. We had dinner with him one evening and he had wonderful stories. Such a gentleman too.

[coldferret]

We are onboard- let the vacation begin! Call for staterooms opening just came. But, I'm cool - I've got a table in the Great Outdoors, sippin' iced tea and watching the birds

 

Looking forward to your posts, first time on Sun Jan 25th. Hope you can make all the scary shower curtain comments go away:D

[troyphoto]

Running off my hotspot for a few hours yet:

 

Here's the ship:

 

 

Here's a surprise - first time we've had a balcony. I forgot these existed in cabins.

 

 

And, if you're out in the aft buffet, this is what happens when you don't eat everything on your plate!

 

 

Those birds keep the wait staff/bussers busy

[noche_caliente]

I am on board too. Hope to see you in Las Ramblas at 11 tomorrow!

[DavyJoneses]

Looking forward to more.

[Loucat]

Great so far!! Loved the pic of the birds. I will follow along for sure as we are also on the February 1st sailing.

Have a great cruise and thanks for taking us along!

[troyphoto]

Sardine drill is over. Yes, it's outside on deck. (Hence the "sardine" term)

 

Luggage showed up. It's new. Just got this set. Wife grumped at me for taking too much space (I packed first). Tried to lighten my load by pulling out stuff I had overdone. Pulled a couple of extra Ts. Thought I grabbed a two pairs of khaki shorts, as well, to lighten the load. Looks like I pulled my khaki slacks out and left them at home. :confused:

 

Gonna be a "casual" dining experience for me. Have to get by on the pair of jeans I wore on the trip down yesterday. I doubt this itinerary has any decent shopping on the first two ports to pick up another pair of slacks.

[Charlie4]

Will be on the Sun on Feb 1st :p Is the coffee pot a four cup one, or a one cup one. When you get there, what is the name of the port in Roatan ?

 

Thanks for all the info

[troyphoto]

and we're underway...

 

back to daily updates

[DMH15]

Sardine drill is over. Yes, it's outside on deck. (Hence the "sardine" term)

 

Luggage showed up. It's new. Just got this set. Wife grumped at me for taking too much space (I packed first). Tried to lighten my load by pulling out stuff I had overdone. Pulled a couple of extra Ts. Thought I grabbed a two pairs of khaki shorts, as well, to lighten the load. Looks like I pulled my khaki slacks out and left them at home. :confused:

 

Gonna be a "casual" dining experience for me. Have to get by on the pair of jeans I wore on the trip down yesterday. I doubt this itinerary has any decent shopping on the first two ports to pick up another pair of slacks.

Just send your jeans alone to be laundered. Cheaper than buying another pair which will still have to be packed for return home.

[watchdiva]

The port in Roatan is called Port of Roatan which is where NCL docks. The other docking location for CCL, Princess and HAL is Mahogany Bay which is about 20 minutes away from Town Center at the Port of Roatan.

 

 

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[hpecorari]

Isn't he wonderful? Just love him. We had dinner with him one evening and he had wonderful stories. Such a gentleman too.

 

He's fantastic and I hope and pray he's there for my Feb. 8th sailing!

First met him a year ago on the Star for our B2B through the Panama Canal.

I'm smiling now just thinking of him.

 

Harriet

[EyeSeaEwe]

We're at LaQuinta... ...No complaints about the motel (so far).

 

We will be at that same hotel in April. thanks for the feedback. With the military discount we got the room at a great price!

[CTCruiser001]

The port in Roatan is called Port of Roatan which is where NCL docks. The other docking location for CCL, Princess and HAL is Mahogany Bay which is about 20 minutes away from Town Center at the Port of Roatan.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

 

I believe it is called Coxen Hole. This is the port Norwegian typically docks at.

 

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337 using Forums mobile app

[troyphoto]

Boarding was simple and easy… well, the only hitch was … me.

 

 

We hopped the 11 am shuttle from the motel, and were the second stop (after the Carnival stop). While on the bus, we chatted with a couple from Manitoba, Canada. They apologized for sending their weather south – giving our hometown a blanket of snow on Sunday, with sub-zero (F) temps expected later this week. Darn! Just our luck – we’re at sea in the Caribbean and won’t get to be home for that. ;)

 

Our new friends were about to experience their first NCL vacation. They weren’t sure how well they’d like the casual atmosphere at dinner, but they were nice and polite about it. Gotta love our Canadian neighbors. Always polite. ;) (Which, BTW, was the theme of several jokes in the comedy part of Sunday’s show). I talked up taking khaki slacks, and how easy it was… and then (as noted above) I didn’t bring any khaki slacks… oh well. I’m on vacation.

 

Once off the shuttle, I spied the sign that directed us to take the escalators to the second floor of the cruise terminal for check in. I quickly led the way. “one hand on the handrail for safety,” the gent in the yellow vest told us as we approached. No problem, I’m on vacation. Gotta get on that ship!

 

I hit the top of the moving stairs, and began to look around. Where was the line. Gotta get to the ship. Mrs. Photo, coming up a few steps behind me, gave me a stern look, and asked what I was going to do with our bags? I looked down at the suitcase I had just pulled up the escalator. Oops. Forgot about those. I picked it up, and headed back down the stairs to find a porter. The excitement of getting on board was just too much for me, and my brain blanked out pesky little details – like dropping off the luggage.

 

Once back up top, we had a smooth time getting through check in. The medical questionnaire was standard. While we were qued up, the announcement came for the first general boarding call. We were, maybe, a dozen couples back in the line to register when we got in line. They began calling boarding pass twelve as we entered the line, and were up to boarding pass thirteen while we were getting our mug shots taken by one of the friendly NCL clerks. He handed us boarding pass for group 15.

 

Mrs. Photo found us a place to sit in the nearly empty waiting area, and after about two or three minutes, they went to an open boarding call.

 

I do wonder if they’re sailing full. This is one of the cheapest fare weeks of the season – which is one of several reason’s we chose it (the other being Mrs. Photo’s work schedule and avoiding the holiday premiums). So far, the ship has not seemed crowded, much as MITSUGirl pointed out in her review thread that I referenced at the top of this thread. Today, our first sea day will give me a better idea of attendance.

 

I’m writing this, after breakfast, sitting in “my spot” in the Great Outdoors (GO) Café on 11 aft. As I wrote the last paragraph, the sun is hiding behind a cloud, but is now several fingers above the horizon to our port. A friendly wait-staff girl just rolled a coffee cart through and refilled my blue NCL coffee tumbler for me. (More on cruise ship coffee later).

 

 

We began the first day on board like everyone else- hit the BUFFET! It was crowded, but not overflowing. Once we got into the Garden Café, we headed back to the GO and found a table in what has become my traditional spot – port side, still under the canopy. We sat and people watched or read (I posted to Cruise Critic and Facebook while I still had land-based internet.)

 

Once we were told that our rooms were ready, we headed down to deck 8 to check out our first balcony level cabin. I discovered the coffee maker (overjoyed until I tried the coffee this morning – ummm… yah… heading up to the café to get real coffee).

 

Mrs. Photo celebrated the arrival to our room by first sitting out on the balcony, then by the time honored tradition of taking a nap in the comfy bed until the call for all sardines to assemble on deck came.

 

The Sardine drill went as expected. We were in station F, and the girls manning the station were polite and friendly as they lined us up along the outside of deck 6. Once we were checked in, Bobby, our cruise direct read off the standard safety briefing over the loudspeaker as our drill staff showed us, with more smiles, how to don our floatation vests. Easy-peazy, simple-breezy. In and out in 15 minutes and now we get to enjoy our cruise. WE ARE ON VACATION!

 

Back to the room. More posting for me while wife sat on the balcony and read. The bags arrived, unpacking and hanging of clothes began. I love my aloha shirts, but hate the wrinkles. One of these days I’ll get a small travel steamer. But, I’m on vacation… I’ll live with the wrinkles (and hang the shirt of the day in the bathroom while I shower. Hopefully the steam will smooth one or two of them out.

 

Dinner in the Four Seasons (deck 5 Midship). I like that restaurant. On the Jewel Class ships, wife prefers the Czar’s Palace with the panoramic windows. I’m more attracted to the wood-tone vibe of the (I think it’s Azura on the Jewel Class) the midship restaurant.

 

After dinner we headed up topside to see the cruise out of the bay under the bridge for some interesting photos to add to our wall art back home. I found a position I liked back by the funnel on deck 12, right above the basketball court. In addition to the normal poolside crowd, a group of older teens and young adults where shooting hoops bellow us.

 

Over the next ten minutes or so, the lighted cables, their green glow dimly slicing through the twilight loomed nearer and nearer. As the ships mast was silhouetted against the night sky, the bridge cut across its outline. “I hope we clear it,” I told my lovely photo assistant, “that looks awfully close.”

 

 

The situation didn’t look promising as we cruised nearer. Would the mast clear the structure? I expected the silhouette of the bride to separate from the shadow of the mast as we drew nearer. They didn’t… The ship began nosimg under the bridge. I started snapping photos. My journalistic sense clicked in. Don’t take the camera away from your eye… if we do hit the bridge, be sure to record it…

 

The ship continued its quiet slide under the concrete and steel structure above us. The guys below on the ball court, and those on the deck up front let out a loud cheer as the mast, then the funnels slid under the bridge. From our vantage point looking straight up, it seemed that we were only feet from the bridge (I’m confident it was a larger gap than it seemed – I wonder how the bridge and pilot know how much clearance they’ve got for such times?)

 

 

After that, we headed down to the opening show, then caught some music in the Windjammer. More on that in a later post!

[Charlie4]

we try and bring our own coffee for the coffee pot in the room. You can get coffee all made up in filters for 4 cup pots at walmart and such.