Your BEST NCL and SUN tips needed.

[Bily]

Hi. I'm taking a page from "BeachBumMama's" book. We are gong on the SUN to ALASKA at the end of May and could use all of the tips and advice that you could give us. All the quiet spots, favorite spots,favorite bars, favorite places to eat or things to eat or order. You get the idea. Thanks a bunch. This is our first cruise ever and we want to make the best of it.:)

[Howlev34]

We just got off the Sun on its second to last Caribbean itinerary before she repos. Had a great time. Didn't eat in the specialty restaurants because we liked the dining rooms so much. Friends said that the French and Italian restaurants were terrific. Don't miss the chocolate buffet. It is a feast for the eyes and taste buds. The cabin attendants and dining room wait staff were the best I've ever seen. So warm and friendly. Have a great cruise.

[newmexicoNita]

Best bar; the martini Bar, that is not it's name but it is where they have the Martini clinic. It is also the piano bar location: favorite specialty dining room; Le Bistro is not to be missed and best tip I can think of: make sure you have tapas in Las Rambles. also try the wafflles in Pacific Heights restaurant.

 

We have sailed her twice and think she is one of the most fun ships we have ever sailed. NMNita

[Bily]

Great tips so far. Thanks for the replies. Another question though. Where would be the best place to go for a good Omelette? I'm not a scrambled egg fan.;)

[newmexicoNita]

Great tips so far. Thanks for the replies. Another question though. Where would be the best place to go for a good Omelette? I'm not a scrambled egg fan.;)

The Sun is set up a little different from most ships. The breakfast buffet doesn't have omelettes so we always went up one flight of stairs to Las Rambles. They have a much simpler menu with an omelette station. I think we ate there last time about 4 or 5 mornings. NMNita

[Zeno]

Hi. I'm taking a page from "BeachBumMama's" book. We are gong on the SUN to ALASKA at the end of May and could use all of the tips and advice that you could give us. All the quiet spots, favorite spots,favorite bars, favorite places to eat or things to eat or order. You get the idea. Thanks a bunch. This is our first cruise ever and we want to make the best of it.:)

 

Number # 1 Tip: READ the Freestyle Daily and carry a copy with you on days-at-sea. It contains all the info you need about restaurant opening times, entertainment/activity times and places etc.

# 2 try the Tapas restaurant for pre-dinner appetizers. We did not do this until our 2nd last night and regreted that we had not tried earlier .

#3 Best quiet bar with pleasant low-key entertainment in the evenings - the one right at the front of the ship (sorry I am having a memory lapse about its name).

#4 If you hate lines like I do - Don't try to rush off the ship immediately at each port-of-call (unless you have to for some excursion). Wait at least 1/2 hour after they give the announcement and then stroll off.

#5 Same thing when disembarking at the end of the cruise - unless you have an early flight to catch - stay on the ship as long as possible (get a "late colour". I truly don't understand why people rush off when they don't have to.

#6 If something is wrong with your cabin, report it immediately. There will be a booklet with the appropriate numbers to call. If you need additional pillows, towels etc, ask your cabin steward or call Housekeeping. Report any maintenance issues (i.e. toilet not working) to the appropriate number for maintenance.

#7 Don't dine at 7PM in the one of the main dining rooms on "Lobster" night. EVERYONE else wants to do the same thing on that night. On that specific night dine early (before 6:30) or late (after 8PM). On other nights you can pretty much dine whenever you want to in the evening (during opening hours of course). We dined at various hours (6PM, 6:30PM, 7PM and 7:30PM) and our longest wait to be seated was less than 10 minutes . On "lobster" night we dined shortly after 6PM and had no wait at all to be seated but when we left (shortly after 7PM) there was quite a line-up to get in.

Have a good cruise!

[ute_fan]

The observation lounge up on the sports deck is a good place to sit and watch the beautiful Alaskan scenery. The regular elevators tend to be faster than the glass ones in the atrium. As far as the main restaurants, we preferred dinner in the Four Seasons to the Seven Seas. When we were there, it had better service.

 

Breakfast and lunch will be served in one of the main dining rooms, if you don't feel like buffet food. It's been almost 3 years since we sailed the Sun, so I'm not going to offer food suggestions as the menus have changed at least twice since then.

 

My main advice, however, if it's available for your sailing, is to book the Tracy Arm/Glacier Explorer excursion that can only be booked through NCL. Without it, it's doubtful that you'll get within viewing distance of the Sawyer Glacier unless you're extremely lucky. With it, viewing changes are greatly increased and you can get closer to the face of the glaciers, depending on weather/ice conditions. It's by far the best excursion we've ever taken. I know it's pricy, but we felt it was well worth the $$$$$.

[Bily]

These tips are great. Thanks so much for all of the great info and tips. Some of these things I have not read before on this site. We will be sure to make use of them when we are on our cruise next month. I hope you all enjoy your next cruises as well. Thanks again from a new cruiser:)

[Angelcreek]

Our favorite place to hang out on the Sun was the sports bar. Big windows for great viewing on sea days and they also served things like burgers and fish n chips from 4pm to 1am (if I remember correctly) which was nice for a late night snack.:) It was never loud or overly-crowded that I remember which was nice and relaxing.

[newmexicoNita]

Our favorite place to hang out on the Sun was the sports bar. Big windows for great viewing on sea days and they also served things like burgers and fish n chips from 4pm to 1am (if I remember correctly) which was nice for a late night snack.:) It was never loud or overly-crowded that I remember which was nice and relaxing.

We did the tapa thing in Las Rambles one night instead of dinner and then went to the sports bar later for snacks. I had the fish and chips: DD had her favorite, a patty or tuna melt, I can't remember which. It was a nice break from the traditional dining. NMNita

[Stormeka]

Our favorite place to hang out on the Sun was the sports bar. Big windows for great viewing on sea days and they also served things like burgers and fish n chips from 4pm to 1am (if I remember correctly) which was nice for a late night snack.:) It was never loud or overly-crowded that I remember which was nice and relaxing.

 

The sports bar was NEVER crowded when we went. It was a cool place to hang out and get a chili dog :)

[Cruise_More_Often]

Put on your jackets and head outside to the Great Outdoors Cafe on Deck 10 aft (behind the Garden Cafe). It's a great place to sit and watch the world go by.

 

I definitely second what Ute_Fan said about the Tracy Arm/Glacier Explorer. She visited our roll call thread last year and convinced me (and several others) to try that excursion. We're sure glad we did. Even though we weren't able to get all the way to the glacier, the trip itself was well worth the price.

 

I have lots of photos of the Sun and Alaska on Webshots if you're interested (click the photos link below and go to "Sun 5/13/06 Alaska").

 

You're going to have a spectacular time!

[canadiangirl77]

Thanks to Bily for starting this thread! ... We're on the same ship and we booked the Tracy Arm excursion .. we also booked a trip through an outside company in Skagway for the train trip .. this one takes you to Fraser BC by train and then you get off and continue on by bus into the Yukon!!!! Soooooo excited for that one!!! How many people can say they were in the Yukon?? :)

[Bily]

I enjoyed your pictures Cruise More. And thanks for all the advice everyone.:)

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We've done the Sun 3 times, but always to the western Caribbean. We were on her 2 weeks ago and you may want to check out my review.

 

The piano/marytini bar someone referenced is the Windjammer Bar.

 

The upfront with a great view bar is the Observation Lounge. It is a great place to watch the world go by. Usually very quiet in the daytime with nice entertainment in the evenings. There was a very nice duet who played and sang in the evenings. Nice dance music.

 

At times they gave 2 for 1 beer in the casino. Usually after midnight. Buy bottles and put them in your frig for the next day.

 

If you find the showers confining (and who wouldn't?) go down to the spa and shower there. Much roomier.

 

Ice was an ongoing complaint so you may need to fill your bucket midafternoon yourself at one of the bars or the buffet.

 

My #1 suggestion - if you are a drinker of simple alcoholic beverages - buy a bar set up, you will save a great deal. A liter of Dewars scotch was $40 plus a $3 set-up fee. The cost per drink is much, much less than by the drink. DH and I like to have a drink on the balcony while we're dressing for dinner. If you want more than one bottle order them at the same time and you will only be charged one set-up fee.

 

For Alaska, dress in lots of lightweight layers.

 

There is not a laundromat but mid-week they will leave a bag in your room that can be laundered for $20 for as much as you can stuff in the bag.

 

Dittos to the advice about Las Ramblas - don't miss is.

 

If you are a heavy slot player be sure to register on the first day for a Casinos at Sea card. If you don't play a lot it won't be worth it, but it's free and only takes a few minutes so why not. You will accumulate points depending on play. Points can be cashed in for credit against your OBC the last night. BUT you must have 25 points (dollars) to cash them in.

 

If you are planning another NCL cruise in the future it is worth pricing it with the onboard booking agent. They usually offer some pretty good incentives AND they will give your TA at home the credit.

 

Don't miss the cold soups at dinner each night. They are terrific.

 

You can have as many entrees, desserts, whatever you want. Can't decide between the creme brulee and crepes suzettes - no problem, have them both!

 

We did find dining room service slower this trip than previously. Don't know if it was a quirk with that sailing or what, but plan on spending 2 hours for dinner. You may miss the early show if you're early diners, but just don't get stressed about it.

 

If you have an outside cabin and if you are very sensitive about light when you are sleeping, you might want to throw a couple clothes pins in your bag. The drapes in our balcony cabin "leaked" light a bit which wasn't a problem in the Carib - but remember in Alaska the sun sets near midnight and rises well before the chickens!

 

On your first morning, roam around and see where all the breakfast eateries are. They're spread out, so check it out!

 

If you don't see something you want at the buffet - just ask, chances are they can get it for you.

 

Enjoy!

[Bily]

Thanks for the Bar Set Up idea. What is the phone number for the Sun. I have seen the phone number for a number of other ships but not the Sun. Thanks

[Atomica]

I'm going to ditto what everyone else has said about the Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier excursion - it's a must, and the only way to guarantee you will see the Sawyer Glaciers. The excursion is well worth the money!

[Bily]

Well I will have to try to talk my hubby into yet another excursion. Thanks for the great ideas everyone.:)

[FLbeachbaby]

I am so glad I booked the tracy arm $$ excursion by all these comments. Since many of you have been can you explain it a bit more. I guess we catch up with the boat somewhere? is it really 6 hours?

 

We are an end of May cruise as well. Great tips so far. Anyone been on a rear mini-suite balcony on the Sun?

[garycarla]

#1 Advice?

 

Go to the PORTS OF CALL and visit the ALASKA message boards. You will learn lots of stuff.

 

We have done Alaska twice, and sailed the SUN once (not Alaska). You are in for a great time.

 

Don't feel you have to take all the excursions. If money is tight, pick a big one. Helo trip onto the Glacier is awesome. Real cheap one is the Duck Tour - forget which port.

 

Enjoy.

Read lots!

[ute_fan]

FlBeachBaby -- try this explanation of the Sawyer Glaciers excursion that I originally posted last year.

 

The Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier excursion leaves from Juneau about an hour or so before the Sun, on board a catamaran that held probably 150 people or so -- maybe more. I'm a terrible judge of things like that. We were on the bottom level. There were rows of seats that held about 4 people, with restroom facilities and snacks available. I think there was an upper level with more seats, and than a top deck where you could go outside while the ship was stopped. We saw 4 or 5 whales, so it also served as our "whale watching" excursion. There was a naturalist on board giving us great information about the whales and other marine/bird/wildlife of the area, and also about the scenery.

 

We sailed toward Tracy Arm, stopped to see the whales, and then started sailing into Tracy Arm Fjord. They stopped or slowed down several times to point out either scenery or wildlife (sometimes they see bears, but we didn't). We were able to sail up quite close to see both North Sawyer and South Sawyer glaciers. The Sun wasn't able to get up to the area where North Sawyer glacier is located due to ice. I kept thinking about the Titanic as we crunched our way through the ice , but the view was worth it.

 

The seals were mostly located in the area of South Sawyer Glacier, and we were able to get quite a bit closer to the face of South Sawyer Glacier than the Sun was, again due to ice. The Sun did get within viewing distance of South Sawyer, and eventually the catamaran turned around and we tendered onto the Sun. Tendering is the process of unloading/loading the big cruise ship onto a smaller boat for excursions, etc. That's the reason that this excursion can only be booked through NCL. The only way to get back onto the Sun is through this catamaran excursion. The Sun, once it leaves Juneau and sails to Tracy Arm/Sawyer Glacier doesn't go back to Juneau, but just sails on to the next port of call -- in our case, it was Skagway. Hope that makes sense.

[POOHISME2]

 

You're going to have a spectacular time!

Your pictures are wonderful, thanks for sharing!

[FLbeachbaby]

That's exactly what I wanted to know. I'm even more thrilled to find out I may not be missing the whales. Sound terrific, thanks again.

[ute_fan]

Whale's aren't "guaranteed" on this trip, but a lot of the excursion reviews that I've read have mentioned seeing them.

 

I hope you enjoy it as much as we did. If we ever do another Sawyer Glacier itinerary, I'd do this excursion again without even thinking about it.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

bar set up number is the same irregardless of the ship.

 

While dozing off last night i thought of another goody on the Sun and now I've forgotten:eek: will see if I can dream it up again.