Sun Mexican Riviera Oct 13-24 - LONG!!

[decoste45]

Our first cruise on NCL (We have sailed with Carnival, Princess and HAL) and would say that NCL wasn't the best, but weren't the worst. Background: DH(41), myself(34) and DS(16 months).

Arrived in San Fran a day early and toured around the pier. It was Fleet Week so it was busy but very enjoyable. We stayed at the Sheraton Fisherman's Warf and it was a very nice hotel.

 

Embarkation: we were in an AC suite. We told 3 people upon entering the line to register/board. They ignored this and sent us in the regular line. When we got to the counter we were sent to another line for non US citizens (we are Canadian). Again we said that we were in a Suite... after waiting for 45 minutes in this line we made it to the counter. The supervisor came up and asked" why are you in this line, you should be upstairs in the VIP Lounge!" We explained that we had been telling the 4 other people that we were VIP, but they didn't respond. So after we registered they told us to go to the VIP lounge to pick up our cards.

We were not too happy as it was now over an hour (we arrived at 10:45) of waiting in lines.

 

We boarded the ship and were greeted with champagne which was a very nice touch. We went to our room and found that it was ready. We dropped our bags and headed to Il Diago (sp?) for lunch which is a perk for the suite guests. Unfortunately our baby was in no mood for sitting nicely so we left before the food arrived. The excellent wait staff had the meal delivered to our room which was very nice as we knew room service was not available the first day.

 

The suite was nice with a sperate sleeping room, sitting area, fair sized balcony and bathroom with tub and shower.

We have been spoiled sailing with HAL and having the HUGE Aft balcony's, so this was ok. It had a lot of soot on it every day. I don't know what type of cleaner the stewards use, but they get that soot out of the carpet every day!

 

The Concierge- Belkys was fantastic. What a wonderful asset she is to that ship. Very helpful and went out of her way to check on us.

 

The Butler - Satki was pretty much useless!! This was a big disspointment! We were given a form to fill out for what fruit we wanted delivered and what snacks. We got fruit, but the snacks were the wrong ones when they did arrive. I think they only showed up half the days. We asked him to bring us the specialty and the main dining room restaurant menus and he brought us the dining room and the Healthy Choice place. We had to ask a couple of times to get the other menus, which he never did bring. We ordered from East Meets West one night and it was pretty good. It's not a meal for eating in the room as the table is way too small. We didn't think our son would sit through a long meal which is why we ordered it to our room.

The butler's lack of service was dissapointing as we read so much about how people wanted to take these folks home, I couldn't pick ours out of a line up.

 

The room stewards were very good and always had fun with our son. I truly appreciated that and we tipped them nicely before we left. They were two very hard working young men!

 

The ports were ok.

Mazatlan- we just walked around the port area and went back on the ship after an hour or so.

 

Acapulco- we did the Beach break. It was an excellent day. We were taken to a condo beach resort where we had drinks and a wonderful meal. The service was outstanding. The beach was a little too dirty for my liking (broken beer bottles, garbage etc) so we just stayed by the beautiful pool.

 

Ixtapa- Las Gatas Beach break - waste of time and money. This was not a good excursion at all. We asked a few of the other people who attended and they weren't happy either. We were in a very crowded area, it was a difficult hike from the water taxi to the spot we were at and the food was terrible. This was $80 per person, so not good value at all.

 

Puerta vallarta - Sea Life Park. Stay away from this place. We were told that it was like Sea World and a water slide park all in one. It was so dirty and the water was stagnant and filthy that we left after 30 minutes. another couple who we met stayed with their kids and the youngest child got very sick that night.

 

Cabo - Beautiful port. I wish we would have done an excursion. We walked around and were so impressed at how clean it was. Great port.

 

We ate at the buffet a fair amount. It was pretty good, hot food was hot and the cold stuff was cold. Others have mentioned that it can be hard to navigate. This is true, but I think most of the problem is that people are rude. A lot of people would step into the line to get what they wanted and then step out. That is rude, wait like the rest of us!!

 

Sprinkles ice cream was open every day. It seemed lined up a lot. The ice cream is ok and the frozen yogurt was very tasty.

 

Sports bar is good, excellent food and service.

 

Casino - ok, just like all the others.

 

Disembarkation- the night before was a night of line ups!! NCL should learn from other lines on how to do this. First we waited in line to pick up our pictures (we ordered extra), then I waited in the liquor line up for 45 minutes. This is the line for the liquor that you buy in port or that they take away from you. The ladies in front of me in line had the tequila that they tried to smuggle in water bottles taken away. Apparently they open water containers and smell the liquid. Anyway, this line up was long...

Then the line up for the liquor purchased on the ship, then the 30 minute line for redeeming the Casino points.

 

It was aggravating to say the least!

 

The next morning the line up was for Immigration and Customs. Another 30 minute wait, but when we were done, we went to the Four Seasons Restaurant and were escorted off the ship by the concierge. That was great!!

 

All in all it was a good cruise, I definately prefer HAL for over all cruise value, but if the price and itinerary were right I would cruise NCL again.

[weloverunning]

Decoste: We were on the same cruise as you. The buffet was a major problem for at least the first five days because people (similar to your comments) did not understand the concept of "action stations". There wasn't supposed to be a buffet line.

 

We ate at the buffet a fair amount. It was pretty good, hot food was hot and the cold stuff was cold. Others have mentioned that it can be hard to navigate. This is true, but I think most of the problem is that people are rude. A lot of people would step into the line to get what they wanted and then step out. That is rude, wait like the rest of us!!

 

You WERE supposed to just go up to the area or section of the food you want, get it and get out of the line. I was pleased to see NCL had people trying to explain this to passengers over and over but people just didn't get the concept therefore causing the long lines. We have been on NCL four times before (Jewel and Pearl). However, they were built with action stations unlike the Sun which was just recently changed. It works wonderfully on these other ships but then again the area is much bigger.

[BendORcruiser]

I agree with rpbcouple. It is frustrating to stand in a line behind someone (or a parent with a child) who is trying to decide whether or not they would like each individual item, when I know that I just want eggs or whatever and can quickly reach in and get them. My intention is not to be rude. While I know the staff does not always explain the "no line" system to passengers, it ends up being more efficient for everyone.

[decoste45]

It wasn't the action stations that people were stepping in line, it was along the salad bar foods and even where the trays of hot food were located. The action stations were not a problem, I think most people knew what to do.

I am on vacation so I have lots of time... it's the rudeness of someone stepping on my toes (literally) to get more rice or some cucumber that gets me.

[mamabeac]

Decoste: We were also on the same cruise with you and in a forward AD suite. I totally agree with your opinions of Belkys (she was absolutely the BEST) and Satki (useless was a pretty good choice of words). I believe he told us he hadn't been there for very long. Fortunately his lack of experience and expertise didn't ruin our trip but it also did not enhance it. We had the same thing happen with fruit and snacks. We had too much fruit and asked him to not bring any more but he kept bringing it anyway. And when we did have a form to fill out for snacks he brought mostly what he wanted to bring and WHEN he wanted to bring it. It certainly wasn't the service that we expected from reading these boards. Our room stewards also did a fantastic job.

 

We really enjoyed our cruise and were also on the beach day excursion with you in Acapulco. I remember seeing you and your precious son.

 

I thought that the majority of the staff did an outstanding job on the Sun.

[newmexicoNita]

Our first cruise on NCL (We have sailed with Carnival, Princess and HAL) and would say that NCL wasn't the best, but weren't the worst. Background: DH(41), myself(34) and DS(16 months).

Arrived in San Fran a day early and toured around the pier. It was Fleet Week so it was busy but very enjoyable. We stayed at the Sheraton Fisherman's Warf and it was a very nice hotel.

 

Embarkation: we were in an AC suite. We told 3 people upon entering the line to register/board. They ignored this and sent us in the regular line. When we got to the counter we were sent to another line for non US citizens (we are Canadian). Again we said that we were in a Suite... after waiting for 45 minutes in this line we made it to the counter. The supervisor came up and asked" why are you in this line, you should be upstairs in the VIP Lounge!" We explained that we had been telling the 4 other people that we were VIP, but they didn't respond. So after we registered they told us to go to the VIP lounge to pick up our cards.

We were not too happy as it was now over an hour (we arrived at 10:45) of waiting in lines.

 

We boarded the ship and were greeted with champagne which was a very nice touch. We went to our room and found that it was ready. We dropped our bags and headed to Il Diago (sp?) for lunch which is a perk for the suite guests. Unfortunately our baby was in no mood for sitting nicely so we left before the food arrived. The excellent wait staff had the meal delivered to our room which was very nice as we knew room service was not available the first day.

 

The suite was nice with a sperate sleeping room, sitting area, fair sized balcony and bathroom with tub and shower.

We have been spoiled sailing with HAL and having the HUGE Aft balcony's, so this was ok. It had a lot of soot on it every day. I don't know what type of cleaner the stewards use, but they get that soot out of the carpet every day!

 

The Concierge- Belkys was fantastic. What a wonderful asset she is to that ship. Very helpful and went out of her way to check on us.

 

The Butler - Satki was pretty much useless!! This was a big disspointment! We were given a form to fill out for what fruit we wanted delivered and what snacks. We got fruit, but the snacks were the wrong ones when they did arrive. I think they only showed up half the days. We asked him to bring us the specialty and the main dining room restaurant menus and he brought us the dining room and the Healthy Choice place. We had to ask a couple of times to get the other menus, which he never did bring. We ordered from East Meets West one night and it was pretty good. It's not a meal for eating in the room as the table is way too small. We didn't think our son would sit through a long meal which is why we ordered it to our room.

The butler's lack of service was dissapointing as we read so much about how people wanted to take these folks home, I couldn't pick ours out of a line up.

 

The room stewards were very good and always had fun with our son. I truly appreciated that and we tipped them nicely before we left. They were two very hard working young men!

 

The ports were ok.

Mazatlan- we just walked around the port area and went back on the ship after an hour or so.

 

Acapulco- we did the Beach break. It was an excellent day. We were taken to a condo beach resort where we had drinks and a wonderful meal. The service was outstanding. The beach was a little too dirty for my liking (broken beer bottles, garbage etc) so we just stayed by the beautiful pool.

 

Ixtapa- Las Gatas Beach break - waste of time and money. This was not a good excursion at all. We asked a few of the other people who attended and they weren't happy either. We were in a very crowded area, it was a difficult hike from the water taxi to the spot we were at and the food was terrible. This was $80 per person, so not good value at all.

 

Puerta vallarta - Sea Life Park. Stay away from this place. We were told that it was like Sea World and a water slide park all in one. It was so dirty and the water was stagnant and filthy that we left after 30 minutes. another couple who we met stayed with their kids and the youngest child got very sick that night.

 

Cabo - Beautiful port. I wish we would have done an excursion. We walked around and were so impressed at how clean it was. Great port.

 

We ate at the buffet a fair amount. It was pretty good, hot food was hot and the cold stuff was cold. Others have mentioned that it can be hard to navigate. This is true, but I think most of the problem is that people are rude. A lot of people would step into the line to get what they wanted and then step out. That is rude, wait like the rest of us!!

 

Sprinkles ice cream was open every day. It seemed lined up a lot. The ice cream is ok and the frozen yogurt was very tasty.

 

Sports bar is good, excellent food and service.

 

Casino - ok, just like all the others.

 

Disembarkation- the night before was a night of line ups!! NCL should learn from other lines on how to do this. First we waited in line to pick up our pictures (we ordered extra), then I waited in the liquor line up for 45 minutes. This is the line for the liquor that you buy in port or that they take away from you. The ladies in front of me in line had the tequila that they tried to smuggle in water bottles taken away. Apparently they open water containers and smell the liquid. Anyway, this line up was long...

Then the line up for the liquor purchased on the ship, then the 30 minute line for redeeming the Casino points.

 

It was aggravating to say the least!

 

The next morning the line up was for Immigration and Customs. Another 30 minute wait, but when we were done, we went to the Four Seasons Restaurant and were escorted off the ship by the concierge. That was great!!

 

All in all it was a good cruise, I definately prefer HAL for over all cruise value, but if the price and itinerary were right I would cruise NCL again.

We also love HAL, but our first choice happens to be NCL because it fits our personalities more. As for the imigration wait the last morning: lets face it, you do have to venture through it one way or the other. If it isn't the last morning it is a day or so prior. When you come back into America you have no choice, we have waited on Princess, NCL, Celebrity, HAL, you name it.

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise experience with NCL, we are thinking of that itinerary next year..

 

Nita

[Ronin23]

Decoste: We were also on the same cruise with you and in a forward AD suite. I totally agree with your opinions of Belkys (she was absolutely the BEST) and Satki (useless was a pretty good choice of words). I believe he told us he hadn't been there for very long. Fortunately his lack of experience and expertise didn't ruin our trip but it also did not enhance it. We had the same thing happen with fruit and snacks. We had too much fruit and asked him to not bring any more but he kept bringing it anyway. And when we did have a form to fill out for snacks he brought mostly what he wanted to bring and WHEN he wanted to bring it. It certainly wasn't the service that we expected from reading these boards. Our room stewards also did a fantastic job.

 

We really enjoyed our cruise and were also on the beach day excursion with you in Acapulco. I remember seeing you and your precious son.

 

I thought that the majority of the staff did an outstanding job on the Sun.

 

Will be on the Sun in around a week. Hopefully Satki is going on vacation...