Sun review - October 16,2004

[nolden17]

I finally got around to writing a review. Here goes:

 

This was our second cruise. (Second on NCL.) Overall it was an excellent cruise with very little, if any, negatives. The ship is in perfect condition and very clean. Our cabin (0210) was roomy and had lots of storage space.

 

We ate in Il Adagio, Le Bistro and the Teppanyaki room twice. All other meals were in the main dining rooms or the buffets. The service was a little slow a couple of nights, but we weren't in any hurry anyway. Most breakfasts we went to the Garden Cafe which had a nice selection as well as a made to order Omelet station and a waffle station. We never waited in line more than 5 minutes or so. The filet in the Teppanyaki room was incredible. All the food was excellent. I was surprised at the number of people dressed up on formal night. That was the busiest night in the main dining rooms.

 

We went to all the shows in the theatre. Really enjoyed Jeff Harms, the comedian. Barry John, the juggler, was also funny. The production shows were good, but we didn't really care for Cirque Pan. The singer Elvy Rose was awful, if you must go, sit near the back so you can sneak out.

 

The pool area was nice and we didn't have any trouble finding chairs. The pool drink staff was always available but not too obtrusive. There is a nice workout room, but we stayed away. Walked past the kids korner and it looked nice. The kids in there seemed to be having fun.

 

The ship's staff was very friendly and helpful. We really liked the bartenders at the champagne bar. I would have liked to meet our cabin steward, but we never even saw him (or her).

 

We didn't do any ship's excursions. In Costa Maya we walked to Majahual and relaxed on the beach. Majahual is great, but don't walk there. Take a cab. In Roatan we booked a driver (Victor Bodden) with friends we met on cruisecritic.com. Victor was great and is highly recommended. Our only disapointment is they wouldn't let us do the canopy tour. In Belize we did cave tubing with Reggie's. There were 35 people on the bus. Our friends that used X-stream cave tubing got a longer trip with a smaller group. In Cozumel we went on a dune buggy trip with our friends from cruisecritic. It was a blast. Lot's of mud and sand and a great lunch on a nearly deserted beach.

[cruisinghubby]

good review, even though I'm planning to be on the Sea in four weeks, the ports are all the same, I can use this info too!

Darcy

[WDWfan13]

We also booked with Victor Bodden, but now that you can't do the canopy tour we might take the ships excursion. What did you do with him that day?

 

Very happy to hear good things about X Stream as we have reservations with them.

[nolden17]

Our day with Victor. We drove to the east side of the island and saw a couple of shipwrecks on the way. We stopped at a grocery store to buy vanilla. Then we headed back to the west end where we stopped in a little village to shop. We tried to do the canopy tour but they wouldn't let us in. Victor took us to a beach on the west end called the "Mayan Princess Beach Club". We rented snorkel gear for $10 each. Since my wife and I are inexperience snorkelers, Victor rented gear himself and came in the water to help us out. The snorkeling was great. After snorkeling, we ate lunch at a little shack on the beach. We had cheeseburger and fries, chips and salsa and some local beer for around $19 total. I can't recommend the local beer. After lunch we relaxed on the beach for another hour. We brought some supplies (shampoo, soap, etc.) for the CSI orphanage, but Victor said he knew of another orphanage that really needed help. So we stopped at the orphanage on the way back to the ship. There were only about 10 young kids around. The older kids were all in school. After the orphanage, Victor dropped us back at the dock in plenty of time to tender back to the Sun.

[WDWfan13]

Sounds like a fun day for adults, but I am afraid our 15 year old boys would be bored. I wish they hadn't made the canopy tour exclusive to the cruiseline...they really messed up our plans!