Off the NCL Sun, and Here Is My Review!

[cruisin_cutie]

First, a little back ground info: I booked my self, DH and 5 other friends on this trip. There was Josh and Nate (brothers) Derek, Ambre, Natasha (josh's fiance) DH Jake, and I. Ive been on 6 cruises, 3 with ncl, and jakes been on 5, 3 with ncl also. No one else had been on a cruise befre, so they were a little leery about it. We flew to New Orleans the day before and stayed in the Holiday Inn Select on Convention Center Blvd which I booked myself as well. The guys went out to bourbon street that night after we all had dinner at a great brewery restaurant, something like B&G brewery...i cant remember the name exactly, but it was sooo good and had a great mojito:D !

Embarkation was smooth, less then 45 minutes Id say. Ive never really had a bad embarkation though. They took your picture for your card of course and then before boarding you took a 'fun' photo, the first of MANY:rolleyes: ! We got on the boat quickly and each found our respective rooms. Jake and I were on deck 9 in a superior inside, and the others had rooms on deck 10. (i wanted space from them but shhh they dont know that!) The room was spacious enough, but ugly! They usually are it seems, except on the Jewel, that was beautiful. Anyway, there was a safe, tv, fridge, lots of storage, a mini bar (expensive of course) a couch, bathroom... all the normal stuff.

DH and I went up to the top deck to explore a bit, and lo and behold we ended up meeting all our group up there! We were all excited, and a couple were a little nervous still. We immedietly got our first boat drinks and just kinda looked around. For dinner we went to the 7 seas restaurant. We became creatures of habit and ended up going there every night.

I thought the food was really great! Every night i liked what i got, and so did everyone with me. some of them are picky too, but loved it all! This was probably the second best dining ive had on a cruise. The best was on celebrity, but anyway, it was scrumptious on the Sun!

the weather was probably in the 60's, both sea days, so no sunning for us. The guys mostly stayed by the bar and drank frosty cold beverages, and i spent a lot of time in the hot tubs. We played some shuffle board and just hung out and ate! There was a sexy legs contest:eek: and I pretty much made 3 of the guys do it, i knew they would have fun. And they did! Derek got Mr. Dancing Legs, Nate got Mr. Tan Legs, and my Jake got Mr. Chicken Legs! Lots of fun! One night was disco night, and the cruise staff in charge of it grabbed derek, now aka dancing legs, and had him perform in their rendition of the village peoples YMCA dance! he was the indian complete with the headdress and no shirt! What a riot, he wasnt happy that it was played repeatedly on the cruise TV channel! One other night was the carribean dance party on the pool deck. that was so much fun! We joined the conga line, did the limbo, and danced till midnight when it started pouring rain and we all had to stop :-(.

Costa Maya was the first port. I wont write too much about each port cuz i posted those reviews on their respective message boards. The day was a little cloudy, but warm. We took a taxi to majahual and walked around a bit. The guys hung out at a bar while the girls and i got massages on the beach (30 minutes for 15 bucks!!) the 3 of us shopped a bit then met w/ the guys again and went back to the port area. the girls and i ate at one of the restaurants there and it was so good! the drink called Pai Ai was to die for!:D ! Try it!! We hung out at the pool swim up bar and had a lot of fun there too.

Next, Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala. We took a tour through the town or Puerto Barrios, then to the Las Escobas waterfalls for 30.00 a person, a good deal. I liked this port a lot, the people were soooooo friendly and happy to see us tourists! It was cloudy kinda rainy again but still nice. 4 of us swam in the falls, which were beautiful but a little chilly. I would reccommend seeing them if you arent sure of what to do there.

Then, to Belize! We did the cave tubiung trip here, which i booked myself on line with a private tour company. It only cost us 35.00 a person! So much fun, a really great experience. Rain again of course, but we were wet anyway so its okay. Nice port, more developed than the previous two. Id like to go back to all of them, really.

Last was Cozumel. This was the only kinda sunny day we had the whole trip! 3 of us rented scooters (i rode on jakes, both derek and nate each had one) Josh tasha and ambre rented a jeep together. We ended up at a beach club thing, called Mr. Sanchos Backyard. Nice, ate a little, drank a little, swam a little. Then us scootering ppl left and toured around a bit. saw a lot and had fun. I went shopping and the rest went to Carlos and Charlies a famous bar there.

More ship info: We didnt try any other restaurants except for las ramblas for some omelets in the AM. The showlounge was nice, decorated in purples. The shows were fun, like the newleywed game! what a riot! Good singers, i didnt see any of the dancing shows, since no one else wanted to go :-( The comedian was funny too!

Jake and i hit the casino once and only had 9.25 between the two of us to spend! We ended up winning a hundred bucks though!! Nice, huh!

The staff was super friendly of course! One bar waiter in particular we liked, his name was Cataline and he was from Romania. He always looked for us and we liked him a lot so we all gave him extra tips at the end. There was only one formal night but we all brought 2 outfits so we dressed up extra anyway and had some pics taken, even though we didnt buy any.

Drinks are expensive of course, but we knew that going in. The AM special was nice, until 11:00 am bloody marys, mimosas, screwdrivers and tequila sunrises were 4.25. we did a lot of those!

:) One thing i have to mention: I have a gluten allergy and cant eat a lot of things, since gluten is in bread, pasta and lots of other things. I had emailed the sun coordinator and ordered a bunch of gluten free foods that i could have on the ship. The first couple of night i didnt say anything about needing help, cuz i felt bad causing a ruckus, but when i finally did they were all so helpful! They were almost mad that i didnt say anything sooner! One maitre d' in particular would look for me every night to make sure everything was OK and he would take my order for the next day so they could modify anything i wanted. Also, he would bring me a plate of special cookies after each dinner! What a doll he was! Because of him i had eggs benedict and pancakes the last morning, which i havnt had in almost a year! He really made the trip special for me and I never felt left out because of my allergy!

All in all this trip was great! The food, the itinerary, the staff, everything was great! the only thing i think needs some improvement is maybe some of the public areas (like the pool deck) could use some decorating and the staterooms are u.g.l.y.!

[lynnemac]

Cruisin Cutie,

 

Glad you had a great time. It's also fun to turn people on the first time to the joys of cruising.

 

Thanks for the review. They are especially helpful as new ports, such as Santo, open up to be explored.

 

Keep cruising,

 

Mac

[cnjones1]

Thanks for the review! You sound like you had a great time. That's awesome!

[coka]

Cruisin Cutie, your review brought back so many memories for me on the Sun! I am still smiling! Thanks!

Coka

[HoopTroop]

I read each one of yours from this trip as I will be on the SUN in a few weeks. You have made it just that much more harder for me to wait from your reviews about the great time you had. My first cruise was on the SKY, (now POAL), and the SUN is a sister ship. I loved the SKY, but like you, I was on the JEWEL. How would you compare the two, I.E. room sizes, night club?

 

My new favorite ship is the JEWEL. The SUN will be off a dry dock when we get on her, so I am wondering what was so U.G.L.Y., (LOL) about the rooms? Perhaps they will change them a bit during the dry dock.

 

Thank you again for the wonderful review, I can hardly wait until I can write one.

 

HoopTroop

[MEOWSMURPHY]

We are really looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the SUN...your review was great and I'll be heading to the Port of Call board to read the individual port reviews..thanks again..

[cruisin_cutie]

I read each one of yours from this trip as I will be on the SUN in a few weeks. You have made it just that much more harder for me to wait from your reviews about the great time you had. My first cruise was on the SKY, (now POAL), and the SUN is a sister ship. I loved the SKY, but like you, I was on the JEWEL. How would you compare the two, I.E. room sizes, night club?

 

My new favorite ship is the JEWEL. The SUN will be off a dry dock when we get on her, so I am wondering what was so U.G.L.Y., (LOL) about the rooms? Perhaps they will change them a bit during the dry dock.

 

Thank you again for the wonderful review, I can hardly wait until I can write one.

 

HoopTroop

 

I would say that the room sizes are the same. I think the Jewel was better decorated, such as in the show lounge. The Sun is a little more run-down, such as a little fraying on the seats and such, but still nice of course. The pool deck on the Jewel is unbeatable with all the different colors and all that tile, and the bar right above with the hot air balloon theme... the Sun is very plain in this particular area. Dont get me wrong though, i still loved it, but you cant really beat the Jewel!

 

The staterooms have a bright kelly green rug with yellow compasses on it (i think) the bead spreads are blue with different knots with their names on it, and the couch is an ugly yellow with some orange pattern on it! Ouch! Not so pretty, but it seems to me that they never really are!

[newmexicoNita]

First, a little back ground info: I booked my self, DH and 5 other friends on this trip. There was Josh and Nate (brothers) Derek, Ambre, Natasha (josh's fiance) DH Jake, and I. Ive been on 6 cruises, 3 with ncl, and jakes been on 5, 3 with ncl also. No one else had been on a cruise befre, so they were a little leery about it. We flew to New Orleans the day before and stayed in the Holiday Inn Select on Convention Center Blvd which I booked myself as well. The guys went out to bourbon street that night after we all had dinner at a great brewery restaurant, something like B&G brewery...i cant remember the name exactly, but it was sooo good and had a great mojito:D !

Embarkation was smooth, less then 45 minutes Id say. Ive never really had a bad embarkation though. They took your picture for your card of course and then before boarding you took a 'fun' photo, the first of MANY:rolleyes: ! We got on the boat quickly and each found our respective rooms. Jake and I were on deck 9 in a superior inside, and the others had rooms on deck 10. (i wanted space from them but shhh they dont know that!) The room was spacious enough, but ugly! They usually are it seems, except on the Jewel, that was beautiful. Anyway, there was a safe, tv, fridge, lots of storage, a mini bar (expensive of course) a couch, bathroom... all the normal stuff.

DH and I went up to the top deck to explore a bit, and lo and behold we ended up meeting all our group up there! We were all excited, and a couple were a little nervous still. We immedietly got our first boat drinks and just kinda looked around. For dinner we went to the 7 seas restaurant. We became creatures of habit and ended up going there every night.

I thought the food was really great! Every night i liked what i got, and so did everyone with me. some of them are picky too, but loved it all! This was probably the second best dining ive had on a cruise. The best was on celebrity, but anyway, it was scrumptious on the Sun!

the weather was probably in the 60's, both sea days, so no sunning for us. The guys mostly stayed by the bar and drank frosty cold beverages, and i spent a lot of time in the hot tubs. We played some shuffle board and just hung out and ate! There was a sexy legs contest:eek: and I pretty much made 3 of the guys do it, i knew they would have fun. And they did! Derek got Mr. Dancing Legs, Nate got Mr. Tan Legs, and my Jake got Mr. Chicken Legs! Lots of fun! One night was disco night, and the cruise staff in charge of it grabbed derek, now aka dancing legs, and had him perform in their rendition of the village peoples YMCA dance! he was the indian complete with the headdress and no shirt! What a riot, he wasnt happy that it was played repeatedly on the cruise TV channel! One other night was the carribean dance party on the pool deck. that was so much fun! We joined the conga line, did the limbo, and danced till midnight when it started pouring rain and we all had to stop :-(.

Costa Maya was the first port. I wont write too much about each port cuz i posted those reviews on their respective message boards. The day was a little cloudy, but warm. We took a taxi to majahual and walked around a bit. The guys hung out at a bar while the girls and i got massages on the beach (30 minutes for 15 bucks!!) the 3 of us shopped a bit then met w/ the guys again and went back to the port area. the girls and i ate at one of the restaurants there and it was so good! the drink called Pai Ai was to die for!:D ! Try it!! We hung out at the pool swim up bar and had a lot of fun there too.

Next, Santo Tomas De Castilla, Guatemala. We took a tour through the town or Puerto Barrios, then to the Las Escobas waterfalls for 30.00 a person, a good deal. I liked this port a lot, the people were soooooo friendly and happy to see us tourists! It was cloudy kinda rainy again but still nice. 4 of us swam in the falls, which were beautiful but a little chilly. I would reccommend seeing them if you arent sure of what to do there.

Then, to Belize! We did the cave tubiung trip here, which i booked myself on line with a private tour company. It only cost us 35.00 a person! So much fun, a really great experience. Rain again of course, but we were wet anyway so its okay. Nice port, more developed than the previous two. Id like to go back to all of them, really.

Last was Cozumel. This was the only kinda sunny day we had the whole trip! 3 of us rented scooters (i rode on jakes, both derek and nate each had one) Josh tasha and ambre rented a jeep together. We ended up at a beach club thing, called Mr. Sanchos Backyard. Nice, ate a little, drank a little, swam a little. Then us scootering ppl left and toured around a bit. saw a lot and had fun. I went shopping and the rest went to Carlos and Charlies a famous bar there.

More ship info: We didnt try any other restaurants except for las ramblas for some omelets in the AM. The showlounge was nice, decorated in purples. The shows were fun, like the newleywed game! what a riot! Good singers, i didnt see any of the dancing shows, since no one else wanted to go :-( The comedian was funny too!

Jake and i hit the casino once and only had 9.25 between the two of us to spend! We ended up winning a hundred bucks though!! Nice, huh!

The staff was super friendly of course! One bar waiter in particular we liked, his name was Cataline and he was from Romania. He always looked for us and we liked him a lot so we all gave him extra tips at the end. There was only one formal night but we all brought 2 outfits so we dressed up extra anyway and had some pics taken, even though we didnt buy any.

Drinks are expensive of course, but we knew that going in. The AM special was nice, until 11:00 am bloody marys, mimosas, screwdrivers and tequila sunrises were 4.25. we did a lot of those!

:) One thing i have to mention: I have a gluten allergy and cant eat a lot of things, since gluten is in bread, pasta and lots of other things. I had emailed the sun coordinator and ordered a bunch of gluten free foods that i could have on the ship. The first couple of night i didnt say anything about needing help, cuz i felt bad causing a ruckus, but when i finally did they were all so helpful! They were almost mad that i didnt say anything sooner! One maitre d' in particular would look for me every night to make sure everything was OK and he would take my order for the next day so they could modify anything i wanted. Also, he would bring me a plate of special cookies after each dinner! What a doll he was! Because of him i had eggs benedict and pancakes the last morning, which i havnt had in almost a year! He really made the trip special for me and I never felt left out because of my allergy!

All in all this trip was great! The food, the itinerary, the staff, everything was great! the only thing i think needs some improvement is maybe some of the public areas (like the pool deck) could use some decorating and the staterooms are u.g.l.y.!

I don't think the staterooms are ugly, but the colors and spreads are. I guess that is what you meant. We were on her when she was 6 months old and again this past spring; they were as ugly the first time as the last. Why do they insist on green spreads and blue carpet and blue spreads with the green carpet? Hopefully when they do to dry dock everything will be redone. NMNita

[VikkiGarcia]

Cutie: We will be on the Sun in March and hubby has Celiac. They put a note on our reservation. Do you remember the names of the people who helped you get the special items? Hubby would DIE if he was able to get pancakes. Did you try any of the specialty restaurants? Thanks for any insight!!

[cassie225]

Cutie: We will be on the Sun in March and hubby has Celiac. They put a note on our reservation. Do you remember the names of the people who helped you get the special items? Hubby would DIE if he was able to get pancakes. Did you try any of the specialty restaurants? Thanks for any insight!!

Ask for Gary. My friend had to have a low sodium diet and Gary was the man. He made sure she say the next days menus in advance and worked with her .

[jbtcajun]

what is the websight you booked the tubing?

ncl

Cave Tubing & Jungle Trek Hike through the Mayan Mountains and the magnificent jungle at Jaguar Paw before you later float in an inner tube through its cave system. Intricate crystalline formations line the cave, and the majestic stalagmites and stalactites add to the serene opulence of nature.

$99

6 hours

[cruisin_cutie]

what is the websight you booked the tubing?

ncl

Cave Tubing & Jungle Trek Hike through the Mayan Mountains and the magnificent jungle at Jaguar Paw before you later float in an inner tube through its cave system. Intricate crystalline formations line the cave, and the majestic stalagmites and stalactites add to the serene opulence of nature.

$99

6 hours

 

it was belize cave tubing dot net. thats all one word

[cruisin_cutie]

Cutie: We will be on the Sun in March and hubby has Celiac. They put a note on our reservation. Do you remember the names of the people who helped you get the special items? Hubby would DIE if he was able to get pancakes. Did you try any of the specialty restaurants? Thanks for any insight!!

 

I emailed the ship coordinator, her address is shipcoordinatorsun@ncl.com

and her name is Maybelin. She will email you a list of foods available, and you can choose from there. the pancakes werent on the list, so i dont know how he made them...maybe they had some alternative flours onboard??? I cant remember the maitre 'd who helped me :( he was tall, fairly young, and i believe from india. thats all i remember about him!

I didnt try the other restaurants, but i bet its the same deal there. just talk to the maitre 'd, preferably the PM before, so they can prepare for you.