Sun Questions

[NW Pacific]

Where is the 24/7 Restaurant located on the Sun, is it the Blue Lagoon? I cannot find it on my minature map. Is it order at a counter or sit down service?

 

also

 

If the concierge books shore excursions do you get priority time for tenders? thanks

[russw40]

Where is the 24/7 Restaurant located on the Sun, is it the Blue Lagoon? I cannot find it on my minature map. Is it order at a counter or sit down service?

 

The only 24/7 I could find was room service. Now the Sports Bar is supposed to serve till 5 am, and it is a sit down offering pizza and hamburgers, but I didn’t put them to the test after 12 am. Can't answer the other question.

[Big Al B.]

I don't remember any 24 hour place with the exception of room service either. On our Canal cruise, the Sports Bar was only open until 3 am.

[lilbit]

How was your experience on the Sun? We're sailing 11/27 and am a bit nervous. Haven't sailed NCL in years. The last experience was nothing to brag about. Thought we would give one more shot...the price was right!

[ronandannette]

Lilbit, I totally get you. After joining CC prior to our Sun sailing and reading so much :( stuff in these posts, I also wondered what we had let ourselves in for. NOT TO WORRY! Unless you are a very discerning cruiser with set in stone expectations, you will have a nice time.

 

Although I didn't write a full-on review, I have posted in several threads about our experience, which was quite comprehensive. We tried almost everything including Kids Crew, casino, art auctions, specialty restaurants, main restaurants, pools, sports facilities, photographers, shops, nightspots and more. Check in my profile and click 'find all posts' if you'd like to read them.

A quick 1 - 10 scale, in MHO:

 

Embarkation = 0 (maybe just our sailing)

Overall ship = 7

Housekeeping = 6 - 9 (public areas 9, cabin 6)

Staff & Crew = 10!! (these people are trying really, really hard)

Buffet Food = 2

Coffee = -1 (really worse than you can imagine)

Main Dining = 6

Specialty Dining = 6 - 10 (Le Bistro 6, The Steak House 8, Il Adagio 10)

Room Service = 6 (limited choices, excellent service & quality)

Pool Area = 7 (nothing fancy, but spacious and cheerful)

Kid's Crew = 7

Sports Activities = 4 (this is not the focus of NCL)

Daily Activities = 6 (nice variety)

Evening Entertainment = 7 (as good as any other)

Disembarkation = 8 (really appreciated this aspect of Freestyle)

NCL Freestyle Overall = 6 (many pros and cons - you decide)

 

Big Al B - we didn't get a chance to meet you but we rode with you from

Vancouver to L.A. We'd love to hear how it was across the Canal.:)

 

Annette

[lilbit]

Thanks for the info. I feel somewhat relieved. We're not overly fusy. We try to make the best of any cruise. Always will have little things wrong but thats ok!

[newmexicoNita]

Annette,

 

what a great way to rate the ship whether I totally agree or not. Obviously most of what we all feel is subjective. I am sorry you have a bad embarkation: normally embarkation runs very smoothly. I don't remember if you mentioned when you cruised. If it was out of Houston I can understand the 0. Of all the ports we have sailed this is the biggest nightmare. I don't care that it is in a funky place. I actually find that part pretty cool; good for a laugh anyway, but the check in doesn't always go well. We have done it twice: once it was horrible, the last time better, but we still seemed to wait forever. As for the buffet, well it seems to be hit or miss.

 

libit, there isn't a 24 hour restaurant. That was started with the Dawn (Blue Lagoon) but as has been said, you do have the sports bar and the casino offers light snacks; finger type of food, after about 11pm. Again, the early morning coffee and rolls will start about 6am. As you can see, there are only a few hours where you can't grab something. NMnita

[skylock]

What kind of pizza do they serve? Is it on the buffet?

[Big Al B.]

Pizza - during the lunch buffet there is a pizza station in the Pacific Heights dining room. It wasn't that bad I thought. I think it was also available from room service and the Sports Bar.

 

lilbit, we spent 17 days on the Sun on our Canal Cruise and we really enjoyed the entire time. Didn't expect much more than speed from the buffet and always was able to find something to eat. Biggest complaint there was that there was often a lack of table space. I'm sure you will enjoy it :).

 

ronandannette, we were on from Miami to L.A. and some of our CC group stayed on to Vancouver. We loved the Canal transit. The locks were something to see in operation.

[ronandannette]

 

I am sorry you have a bad embarkation: normally embarkation runs very smoothly. I don't remember if you mentioned when you cruised. If it was out of Houston I can understand the 0. NMnita

 

Hi Nita,

 

We were on the fall West Coast repo and departed from Vancouver (Canada Place) on September 25. The issue was that all 3 NCL ships (Sun, Spirit and Star) were departing on the same day.:eek: I understood that this was a unique situation that stressed the capabilities of the NCL people shore-side, but knowing didn't make me like it any better (can you picture a huge herd of GRUMPY cattle?). On the flip side, there were 4 NCL ships disembarking at Long Beach on the 30th, they estimated about 8,000 people all at once. Disembarking the boat was fine, but once we walked down the gang plank, OH BOY! New lessons in grumpy cattle:D.

 

P.S. A heads-up for you as a TA if you've ever hooked anybody up with Suvanna Transportation at the pier. We had an absolutely miserable experience with them and found we were way overcharged as well. DON'T RECOMMEND THESE GUYS.

 

Annete

[russw40]

What kind of pizza do they serve? Is it on the buffet?

 

I saw pizza in the buffet a few times at night (we really didn’t do the buffet much), you can also get it at the Sports Bar all day (the latest I got one there was around 1 am and it was a whole –personal size-one, as opposed to -by the slice) and the Pacific Heights from 1 pm-4:30 pm (by the slice). Also, while I didn’t do it, I understand you can get it through room service 24/7. I believe the choices where cheese or pepperoni on your standard hand tossed crust.

 

How was your experience on the Sun? We're sailing 11/27 and am a bit nervous.

 

I posted a review of the 10/16 cruse at:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=248915

 

[samtig]

Lilbit, you'll have a wonderful time. There are strong & weaker points with any cruiseline. We find the crew on Norwegian to be the best we've seen - seem to really care about their jobs. The food we find to be nothing to write home about, but we haven't eaten at the pay restaurants. Needless to say we did not go hungry! Entertainment is great. I can't think of anything on our Norwegian cruises that's worth complaining about. Had a great time & have another scheduled in Dec. (to hopefully 3 ports). Have a great trip!

[MaryAnn261]

Can I add another question. I read somewhere that one of the ships had a popcorn machine. Does anyone know if the Sun does and where it is located? I love popcorn.

[Big Al B.]

They serve popcorn at the Sports Bar. Just ask the bartender. It's not bad either.

 

I kind of liked your mad cattle analogy :). I often feel like going Mooo during a cruise ;).