NCL Sun

[CarnieAddict]

What can you tell me about this ship. Opinions?  Are the mini suites worth the extra money?  Thanks 

[Comi.uy]

Great little ship, did 3 cruises in it. Awesome crew and great vibe in general. Food was great and entertainment was pretty decent. Best room I had was oceanview so cant comment on the suites.

[dexddd]

I'll be honest, I don't like the Sun but many do.  We do like the Spirit despite being oldest in fleet so it isn't due to age.

 

It had a major drydock 2018 which looked nice.

 

Buffet is tiny.  Front lounge is huge. Other side of buffet open for b&l with a limited menu.

 

Minis on Sun are best in fleet. Aft minis plus forward minis.  If booking aft, go 9, 10, 8 last.

[Georgia_Peaches]

We've been on the Sun twice for short cruises.  I wouldn't want to be on her for more than 5 days as the size of ship limits the amount of things do so.  But we liked her very much for our shorter cruises.  Both of our sailings were post rehab. and she was really pristine.  Loved the color scheme of the new carpeting and furnishings.  Crew were very nice too.  We had a mini suite on deck 9 and it was amazing!  We also had an OV on deck 4 (I think) and that wasn't very amazing at all.

Forgot to mention, although small, we did well in the casino both times.

Edited April 4, 2020 by Georgia_Peaches

[CroozFanatic]

I doubt this ship will ever sail again.

[FLcruisergrl]

16 minutes ago, CroozFanatic said:

I doubt this ship will ever sail again.

Why do you say that?

[Comi.uy]

6 minutes ago, FLcruisergrl said:

Why do you say that?

Some people get their kicks from spreading doom n gloom 👻

[sfaaa]

I sailed on her twice. Love the ship but not the balcony metal railings.

[CroozFanatic]

4 hours ago, FLcruisergrl said:

Why do you say that?

 

I speculate that the older, smaller ships in the fleet will be the last to be re-entered into service. Even though the Sun had a recent refurb, I think it'll be years before they can fill the Encore, Bliss, Joy, Escape, Getaway, Breakaway, and Epic - those are the newer, larger ships. I can't imagine they could turn a profit on the Sun in the next 5 years and it'll be retired or scrapped.

[sfaaa]

Smaller ships are equate to boutique hotels on land and are ideal for niche markets and also chartered cruise. They have their rightful place in cruise industry.

[don't-use-real-name]

23 hours ago, CarnieAddict said:

What can you tell me about this ship. Opinions?  Are the mini suites worth the extra money?  Thanks 

The difference in extra money would be the factor to consider -

That noted the mini-suites deck 11 (pool deck) forward are no doubt worth it.

With some 20% extra cabin space - bath (shower in bath tub) commode in one room with vanity sink

in separate adjacent space with large walk-in closet - these not found in balcony cabins.

Please bear in mind that mini-SUITE is not a real suite getting Butler and Concierge services -

but more of a Deluxe Balcony cabin and in this case on the SUN a SUPER Deluxe Balcony cabin.

Location on the SUN is desirable forward out of high traffic foot movement - with only those cabins

toward the bow being under the Observation Lounge (deck12) maybe offering some entertainment

noise but not late LATE night sleep interrupting.

IMO - worth maybe up to $500 total difference in cabin fare depending on number of cruise days and

destination itinerary.

 

Something to note about most NCL mini-suites is the cabin width is the same as a balcony but it is

the DEPTH from cabin door (passageway) to the balcony overlook that is greater maybe on the order

of 10 some feet.

[FLcruisergrl]

17 hours ago, CroozFanatic said:

 

I speculate that the older, smaller ships in the fleet will be the last to be re-entered into service. Even though the Sun had a recent refurb, I think it'll be years before they can fill the Encore, Bliss, Joy, Escape, Getaway, Breakaway, and Epic - those are the newer, larger ships. I can't imagine they could turn a profit on the Sun in the next 5 years and it'll be retired or scrapped.

But the smaller ships often do shorter, cheaper cruises. Those will be easier to sell.

[larry_s_taco]

On 4/4/2020 at 7:13 PM, sfaaa said:

I sailed on her twice. Love the ship but not the balcony metal railings.

Funny how tastes vary. The metal railings were one of the features that I really enjoyed. I thought it gave a very open feeling to the balcony, and you could see the ocean much more clearly. Every other balcony that I've had I've ended up reaching over and cleaning the glass outside the balcony railing due to all of the sea salt residue that collects. 

[GettotheSun]

On 4/4/2020 at 3:20 PM, Georgia_Peaches said:

We've been on the Sun twice for short cruises.  I wouldn't want to be on her for more than 5 days as the size of ship limits the amount of things do so.  But we liked her very much for our shorter cruises.  Both of our sailings were post rehab. and she was really pristine.  Loved the color scheme of the new carpeting and furnishings.  Crew were very nice too.  We had a mini suite on deck 9 and it was amazing!  We also had an OV on deck 4 (I think) and that wasn't very amazing at all.

Forgot to mention, although small, we did well in the casino both times.

 

Funny you say that as I did book the Sun for a 5 day over New Years.  That is one of the things that went through my mind is it didn't seem to have the same variety of activities, particularly for our kids who would very much like things like the water slides.  I am hoping our inlaws will join us so between that and our kids I thought 5 days would be 'just enough' on the Sun 🙂

 

Not sure if this thread will attract a lot of traffic, but happy to hear the insults that I'm stupid enough to book a cruise as early as end of December.

[QuickieGlenn]

Went on the Sun in March, did not like it

Ship is not laid out very well

Buffet was tiny, even for a small ship, Not a lot of variety

Food in the Sports bar was bad

Food in the main dining room was good

Our room had a lot of issues, toilet stopped working, took 3 days to fix air conditioner, bathroom flooded every time you took a shower

 

Been on a few cruises, am not hard to please but this was the worst

[Rob_H]

We were on the Sun for three cruises back-to-back to South America at the end of 2018, 39 days..

 

Great little ship, nothing really to complain about.  We had an inside cabin as usual. Good service as crew get to know you, like on other smaller ships.

 

The theatre is unusual, chairs and tables like a bar downstairs, so best position is the front of the balcony.

 

Rob

[IGottaCruiseToStSomewhere]

We went from Part Canaveral to Cuba aboard the Sun last spring. I have to say that the service we received and the attitude of the crew left a lot to be desired.

It seemed like most of them were very indifferent and didn't care if we got served or not.

I don't know if it was because it was an "all-inclusive" cruise where drinks were free, or if it was because it was only a 3-day trip, but if that had been my first cruise with NCL, it would have been my last.

 

I'm interested in a Panama Canal cruise, and was disappointed to see that most of these trips are aboard the Sun.

 

Did I just have a bad experience?

 

 

[AirBusCruise]

We were on the sun a few years ago in a mini suite and it was fantastic!
We are now booked on the Sun in a aft penthouse suite with a large balcony. Looking forward to that cruise in October thru Panama Canal
Keeping fingers crossed [emoji41]


Sent from my iPad using Forums

[larry_s_taco]

1 hour ago, AirBusCruise said:

We were on the sun a few years ago in a mini suite and it was fantastic!
We are now booked on the Sun in a aft penthouse suite with a large balcony. Looking forward to that cruise in October thru Panama Canal
Keeping fingers crossed


Sent from my iPad using Forums

We were on the Sun a couple of times a few years back. It was one of our favorite ships. We do the smaller size ships though. If I remember correctly the Sun is in the 70,000 + ton range. Good luck with your cruise. Hopefully everything will be back in full swing by then. 

[don't-use-real-name]

3 hours ago, larry_s_taco said:

We were on the Sun a couple of times a few years back. It was one of our favorite ships. We do the smaller size ships though. If I remember correctly the Sun is in the 70,000 + ton range. Good luck with your cruise. Hopefully everything will be back in full swing by then. 

 

Closer to the 80,000 range -

LINK to deck plans pictures stats etc.
https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/Norwegian-Sun

 

Just remember that this is NOT the floating hotel amusement park cruise you were thinking of.

Something more on the reserved senior adult sailing - something all in good time !