vp1

nice review, thanks for taking the time to write it.

We're on the Sun in a few weeks and I wondered if the park4cruise parking was open or parking deck? it seems to be a great deal.

Open, fenced-in parking lot. Room for perhaps 50 or so cars would be my guess. Doesn't look like much - and we drove by the first time as the signage is basically nonexistent - but we had no issues with our vehicle left there for the week. They charge about 1/2 the rate of the garage across from the terminal; we found it to be worth it for just a short walk up the street.

~Bob

vp1 could you please post some details about this dinner with an office lottery thing? I have never heard of this before and would be interested in finding out what all is involved.

At any point during the first two days you can stop at the front desk and place your name into the "lottery" for a chance to have dinner with an officer. Not every officer is available every week - they have a rotating schedule, but I do believe that there are 3 -5 officers each week who participate. If your name is selected, they will leave you a note at your stateroom on the evening of day 3 (if I remember correctly) and you need to confirm by noontime the following day. The night of the dinner you meet at the entrance to the Seven Seas dining room and the hostess will greet you and the other members of the party (probably a total of 6-7 total guests along with the officer) and you will be introduced to the officer. They will then direct you to the table. A nice touch was that we each had personalized cards at the table for each guest. (No double this would make it easier if you are sitting with people you don't know.) I would imagine that most guests don't bother to put their name in as they don't really know what this is all about. Hope this helps.

~Bob

Thank you for the wonderful review.

 

Your review on Chankanaab National Park is exactly what we are looking for. I can not find online where to book. Can you please share with me which company you used to book the SCUBA?

We booked with El Clavado (you can find the on the Internet). The dive master was Gilmer (we've gone with him 2 or 3 times at least). Very professional.

~Bob

Thanks for your informative review. We love cruising from Tampa....most convenient and easiest embarkation/disembarkation. We drive down from VA and park in the garage across from the ships. I was especially interested in the national park you mentioned. How did you get there? We've been a couple of times...did Tulum once (loved it) and the other time all excursions were canceled due to a tropical storm. The Sun is our least favorite NCL ship but it does have its advantages as you mentioned.

To get to the national park you take a cab from the pier - it was $24 one way for 6 of us, probably $10 one way for 2 people. There is a line of cabs waiting at the park to take you back to town in the afternoon - not a problem getting back.

~Bob

I have greatly enjoyed reading the ship reviews on Cruise Critic and I would like to return the favor with a summary of our experience on the Sun. We did the Western Caribbean sailing (Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya & Cozumel); February 14 – 22, 2015.

While this was our first time on the Sun, we do have extensive cruise experience, having been on NCL for 13 previous cruises and another dozen on other cruise lines (Celebrity, Carnival, RCCL, etc.). My wife and I traveled with our two daughters who were playing hooky from school that week; one is a sophomore in college (she turned 20 on our last sea day) and the other is 22 and in graduate school. We were joined by my in-laws who had driven over from their retirement home in the Daytona Beach area.

I’m sure the review will be overly long for some folks – here are the sections if you just want to read the part(s) of interest to you:

1. Travel / parking / accommodations before embarkation

2. Embarkation

3. Cabins

4. Information about the ship

5. Itinerary

6. Casino

7. Disembarkation

8. Helpful suggestions

1. Travel / Parking / Accommodations

The girls and I drove from central MA to Philadelphia to fly to Tampa. As a school teacher, I have to confine my travels to school vacation weeks and, unfortunately, the airfares are usually excessive these weeks. Having looked at airline ticket prices starting in the late summer, the best fares I could find from just about anywhere in New England round trip to Tampa were in the $550 - $600 range. At that price I was seriously considering driving (as we have done a number of times in the past), but 20+ hours of driving at the front and back of the vacation is wearisome to say the least.

Thanks to a suggestion that I found on cruise critic, I looked at fares in PA. By driving about 5 hours to Philly, we were able to fly round trip for $225 per person (no school vacation in PA that week…). That was a great compromise for us.

My wife was in Orlando for a conference the week before and, after a few days visiting her parents on the east coast, they drove to catch up with my daughters and I at the Holiday Inn Rocky Point on the morning of our embarkation. We’ve stayed at this property (and also the adjoining Hampton Inn) several times; both properties have a shuttle from the airport and another shuttle to the pier. A basic, comfortable place to stay before the cruise; would recommend.

In the past I have parked right at the terminal (I think it’s now $15 a day). My father in-law wanted to find a less expensive option so he made reservations at park4cruise (dot com). They were about half the cost and within easy walking distance of the terminal. The ladies were dropped off at the terminal and he and I dropped off the van at the parking lot and walked the 3-4 blocks back (plus another round trip to accommodate those items that should have been left in the van and those that were forgotten in the van, etc…).

2. Embarkation

We were finally ready to check in about 10:45 – no lines and no waiting at the check in counter. We usually go to either the Casino line (my cabin was comped by Casinos at Sea) or the Platinum latitudes line – whichever is shorter. At about 10:45 even the general boarding line had no waiting. We waited perhaps another 20 minutes after check in and were on the ship sometime shortly after 11. Walked into the ship on deck 6, turned right – past the photo gallery – and dropped off our carry on bags at the bag check in the Windjammer lounge. Then we continued on through the Dazzles lounge, into the atrium, down one flight of steps, quick stop to order the wine package for the week, and we were right at the Four Seasons dining room for lunch.

Few people generally go to the dining room on embarkation day. We find it’s the perfect way to relax after the stress of the morning and we always start our cruise with a sit down lunch. After a leisurely meal, we picked up our bags at the Windjammer (they will hold them until 1:30 or so) and the cabins were all ready for us.

3. Accommodations

The girls had an inside double on deck 6A (6105 I believe). The cabins in this area (listed as Oslo deck on the deck plans) require a flight of 12-15 steps down from deck 7 to access them. There is no elevator on the same “floor” as the cabins. Not a problem for the girls, could be a major problem for someone with mobility issues. This inside double was a GTY booked via CAS and was very adequate for them. Plenty of storage space and a small sofa as well.

The rest of us were in two “family inside” cabins. My wife and I were on 0329 (they leave off the first digit for the upper decks so that every cabin has a 4 digit room number – we were on deck 10) and the in-laws in 8314. The in-laws also have been on a couple of dozen cruises and they were very pleasantly surprised with their room. We found that the extra room in the family inside (about 30 square feet more than the basic inside cabin) was very noticeable and made for a much more spacious cabin. I can’t imagine any couple possibly filling up the storage spaces, unless they’re traveling with multiple steamer trunks. We certainly don’t travel “light” and we still had several drawers/ shelves unused.

Also of note – the decks are “named” on all of the deck plans (Oslo, Norway, etc..); I never heard anyone refer to them by those names on the ship. Every passenger and every crew member simply referred to the decks by the number. I’m not sure why the deck plans still list the names, but they’re irrelevant on the ship.

4. About the Sun

While the Sun is one of the oldest and smallest NCL ships, we still found it to be a very enjoyable vessel. Some of the features that are lacking on the newer and bigger ships but are on the Sun include a wrap around outer deck (deck 6) and an outdoor, aft-facing dining area off the buffet on deck 11. We didn’t visit the gym once at sea, but we did walk through after boarding and it seemed to have quite a number of machines and I doubt that there would have been much, if any, wait time to use them. We did use the walking track on 6 (and also the track on 13) for exercise many days and we rarely had any issues with other walkers / runners; though for several days they had a small section of deck 6 roped off for work so you could not walk a complete circle around the ship.

At one point during the cruise, a staff member noted that there were more than 500 activities scheduled during the week. These ranged from trivia (often several times a day), craft classes, dance classes, drink tasting, towel folding, etc. While this is rather “standard” on most any cruise ship, we did find that the staff members running the activities were particularly congenial and pleasant. Since we spent little time ashore in Roatan and did not even get off in Belize, we went to more activities during the week than we typically would have.

Over the last few years, NCL has stopped “awarding” prizes at each activity – winning teams or individuals used to get some NCL swag “trinket” as a prize: a deck of cards, NCL pen, NCL bottle opener, whatever. Now everyone participating gets a “signature” on their “activity card” and these can be redeemed at the end of the cruise for prizes. Winning teams or individuals typically get 3 signatures on each card, everyone else in attendance gets one. Each card has room for 20 and they can be combined for one prize on the last full day of the cruise. Prizes include NCL Frisbees, water bottles, ceramic mugs, bags, etc. If I remember correctly, a water bottle requires 30 signatures, a ceramic mug would be 45 – you will either need to attend a lot of events or bring the whole family to several to earn enough signatures for a reasonable prize.

I can’t speak to the port talks, as any years ago we stopped going to any “port talks”. They are very thinly veiled opportunities to direct passengers to the stores that pay a hefty fee to the cruise line to be promoted. I would much prefer a “talk” that has 20-30 minutes explaining the port and the culture of the area and then a summary of the “not to be missed” jewelry stores. I keep waiting for the “gem of the year” to be “gullible-ite” - “This is only found in a small mine in Uzbekistan – get yours before this limited supply is exhausted… blah, blah, blah….”

Compared to other NCL ships (and we’ve been on most of them), the Sun had many more comfortable, private places to sit and read and/or play a game. The observation lounge can accommodate at least 200 guests and there were times when we sat there reading for the better part of an hour and we were the only ones in the room. The coffee bar area on deck 5 – just off the atrium – is also a very comfortable space that was almost always vacant. We’re not really “sit by the pool” people, but the few times we looked for deck chairs we had not problem locating them. I particularly enjoyed sitting in a deck chair on the wrap-around deck 6 – here you could often pull the chair out into the sun or choose to sit in the shade without the loud music that’s often at the pool.

Regarding dining, we have had to wait on other ships at peak dinner hours to get a table in the main dining rooms; at times those waits have been 30 – 40 minutes. This was not the case on the Sun. We had a party of 6 and we were seated almost immediately every time we went to the Seven Seas dining room (deck 5 aft) or the Four Seasons (deck 5 mid-ship). I would, however, say that the dining room service was mostly adequate; only once did we have a server that we thought merited special recognition to the maître d’ (that server was Andy in the Four Seasons).

We also ate at Moderno (excellent meal). My suggestion for this restaurant is to request the type(s) of meat you most prefer early in the meal. While some of the filet cuts were really exceptional, by the time the wait staff brought those around we had already filled up on other meats – chicken, ribs, etc. Also, Moderno has a non-traditional salad bar with lots of meats and cheeses. We like these very much but it may not be the salad bar that many people are expecting.

I would also highly recommend La Cuchina. Our waiter was one of the best of the week and all of the meals were excellent. We had not been to this specialty restaurant for several cruises and we were pleasantly surprised.

Le Bistro, on the other hand, continues to be a let down. Our waiter was, by far, the worst of the week. It was almost an hour after being sat that our first appetizers arrived. The waiter continually forgot which person ordered which dish. One of my daughters is a waitress and she said that, in the industry, this is known as “auctioning off the food”. “Did anyone order escargot??”, “Who gets the filet?”, etc. Very poor service.

Some of us had more appetizers than others – not unusual. At one point the waiter asked if he could bring out the main courses since some people still had appetizers coming and others had finished theirs. Unusual, but we had been sitting for a while so we agreed. Little did we know that this meant that EVERYONE would be getting their main meals and then those of us who still had appetizers coming got those later – after the entrée was served. To make a poor evening worse many of the entrees had clearly been sitting for a while and were too cold to eat.

After the first hour, we naturally brought this to the attention of the maître d’. Service really did not improve. Since we had Platinum vouchers for 4 of the 6 of us, the maître d’ offered to not charge us for the other two meals; not much of a compensation since we couldn’t eat them anyway. He also offered to re-order the cold entrees, though by that time some people had finished eating and we were going on a 2 hour meal as it was. I would highly recommend La Cuchina and Moderno; I’d discourage dining at Le Bistro.

Early in the week, we placed our names into the lottery to have dinner with an officer as we had never done that in the past. All six of us were selected to dine with the Executive Housekeeper (Edgar) in the Seven Seas dining room on night 4 of the cruise. A real highlight of the week and I would strongly recommend this. Edgar was extremely pleasant and polite and very tolerant of our constant string of questions. As a bonus, the meal includes unlimited red and white wine and cappuccino was not charged either. I would absolutely do this again given the opportunity. Further, during dinner we mentioned that my younger daughter would be turning 20 on the last sea day – that day a bottle of wine with a note from Edgar was delivered to the girls’ room, a really nice touch.

One other change that we noticed – we did not attend the Latitudes party, but we did make it to the “Exclusive Gathering” for Platinum & Gold members. This was held in the Observation lounge late one afternoon. In the past, this social event had a variety of hors d’oeuvres along with a variety of drinks. This time the wait staff had red or white wine and American cheese cubes on a tray. Not to look a proverbial gift horse in the mouth, but this “recognition” reception for the highest level of guests was really a disappointment. Unless you really wanted a free glass of wine or two, this isn’t worth missing some other activity to attend.

5. Itinerary

Our experience with the port stops may not be as helpful as others as we had been to each of these ports many times.

In Honduras we have previously gone SCUBA diving with several different dive shops and have had good experiences. We have also had the iguana farm / monkey farm – zoo / beach day excursion a couple of times and we’d also recommend these as well. This time we simply wandered off the ship and shopped at the pier for a couple of hours. There are very few stores right at the pier – you really have to walk into town a bit to get to more stores. We stopped at the straw market this time – you have to go up a rather dark (and uninviting) set of stairs to get to the straw market where you’ll find a few dozen stalls with “typical” Caribbean wares. For travelers who are experiencing “social media withdrawal”, if you walk all the way to the back (to the Crusty Crab bar) you can get unlimited Internet access for $2 – that’s about 11 second’s worth on the ship…

In Belize I have to confess we never left the ship. On other cruises we have done a visit to the Belize zoo (worth seeing), cave tubing (also worth doing, though not really more than once); zip lining and a visit to a butterfly farm. While there are more stores here than in Honduras, in our opinion there are no stores that are worth a special trip.

Going ashore to “shop around” is really not worth the wait for tendering in both directions. If you want to get off the ship early, you have to get up very early, get in line in a lounge to obtain a tender ticket for one of the early boats ashore and, even then, you have to wait for the entire tender to fill up before it leaves the ship. Similarly, if you’re heading back to the ship from the port, and you happen to be one of the first passengers on the tender, it may be a while before the boat leaves the dock as they wait for it to fill up.

In Costa Maya we have gone to the Maya Chan resort the last three or four times we’ve been there. The ports of call section will have much more about this “resort”; it’s not fancy but relaxing and very enjoyable. We had a great time this trip as well, and would certainly go back again. In the port itself there are several dozen stores around a wading pool, though we have generally done most of our shopping in Cozumel as there are many more stores and much better deals.

In all we have been to more than 50 different ports of call and Cozumel is one of our favorites. We almost always spend our mornings at Chankanaab National Park and then spend the afternoon walking around the town. At the national park you can go SCUBA diving even if you’re not certified; if you make reservations ahead of time you can combine the SCUBA diving with park admission for $60 total. (Park admission alone is $21). We took my father in-law, who’s almost 70, and he had a great time. Since the dive is very shallow (never more than 24 feet deep), it’s both generally safe and also a longer dive – upwards of an hour depending upon how fast the divers are using up their air. While my wife and I are certified divers, the rest of family is not and this allows us all to go diving together.

Having been to Cozumel about 10 times, my wife prefers to shop at the stores that are a block or more away from the shoreline. She is quite convinced that the “name brand” stores along the waterfront are the least desirable for getting good deals.

Finally, the crossing from FL to Central America / Mexico is generally not very rough, though on our return trip we had 4 meter seas. If you are prone to motion sickness, the only two days that this could be an issue would be the first and last sea days.

6. Casino

I wanted to include a separate section dedicated the Sun casino as I was not able to find a great deal of information about this prior to our cruise. For most of our NCL cruises, we have booked through Casinos at Sea (CAS). While I’m not a big gambler, I do bet enough that my cabin (and all the drinks in the casino) are comped by CAS.

I was surprised that the 3 card poker game (which I play occasionally) was a $10 minimum for the entire cruise. One lucky guest did hit a royal flush halfway through the cruise – with their 6 card bonus bet they won in excess of $5,000 for that one hand…

There were blackjack tables of various limits – as low as $5. I did not check to see if the $5 or $10 games were paying 6:5 for blackjack as I don’t typically play. Also, there were, logically, a variety of different slot machines and during the week one guest won a $14,000 jackpot – though I didn’t check to see which machine he was playig.

My family (the girls and I) mostly play craps. The craps dealers (and supervisors) were very congenial and pleasant. However, the table minimum was $10 for the week. The casino staff told me that this was typical, though on nearly every other NCL cruise we had been on the craps minimum was $5. Furthermore, the craps table was not open at all during the day (even on sea days).

We did ask to have it opened several times during the day and they were able to accommodate us one time, but not usually. There were only about 4 or 5 staff members that could work the table and, if they were busy elsewhere, the table could not be open. It was clear that, on this cruise at least, we represented some of the only guests who wanted to play craps. Luckily, by the end of the week, both of the girls walked away with much more than they started with.

Also, the CAS policy on the drink card seems to have been reigned in as well. A couple of years ago, the drink card was good for most drinks: beer, mixed drinks, “drink of the day” fruity drinks, cordials, etc.. – not a problem. On our last cruise (July) amaretto on the rocks (that used to be comped) was an additional dollar and change. This time the amaretto was two dollars and change and the waitress explained to me that “house drinks” essentially meant anything under $5. If you’re heading out on the Sun anytime soon look for Jolienne – she was, by far, the best bar waitress that we encountered in the casino.

Also of note for the smokers – the signage indicates that smoking is allowed in the casino for players only. I hadn’t seen that before, though it’s no doubt part of the new smoking policy. I’m not sure how strictly that would be enforced, but it seems like a new policy to me.

I have nothing positive to say about the casino hostesses. First, we were surprised that there was no cocktail reception of for the guests of the casino. On nearly every previous cruise there has been a reception (often on the first night) to introduce the casino guests to the host / hostess and to thank these guests for returning. When I stopped at the hostess desk to ask about this, and clearly interrupted whatever the hostess was doing on her computer, I got a very gruff reply that there was no reception this week since there were not that many casino guests. That seemed a bit unusual (and somewhat “unfair” to those who did book this week). I then politely asked her how many guests were on the cruise. I got a very curt, “Not that many!” before she went back to her computer. Also, as my daughters and I spend several hours every day in the casino, we’re used to the hostess stopping by at least once to twice to say hello – never happened on this cruise, even though it was a much smaller casino than we have seen on other ships.

The casino staff was great – the casino hostesses were probably the worst we’ve encountered.

7. Disembarkation

In a nutshell, this may have been the easiest disembarkation we’ve ever had. We had priority luggage tags for 9 AM disembarkation and left the bags out in the hallway the night before. Since we parked in an independent lot just down the street from the terminal and our flight home was not until the later afternoon, we were in no hurry to get off the ship. We all met in the Seven Seas dining room at 8 AM for one last sit-down meal. Keep in mind, however, that the breakfast menu in the main dining room on the debarkation day is an abbreviated version. Items such as eggs Benedict are no longer available on the last day.

We took our time at breakfast and then walked off the ship with our carry on bags shortly after 9. By that time nearly all of the passengers had left and we literally walked right off the ship, down to baggage claim, past the customs officials and out the door. On other cruises we have been in ugly lines that snaked around the ship for an hour or more – not so this time. I’d strongly encourage people to plan to leave the ship a bit later, if possible, and avoid the mad rush to disembark.

The Sun is not in the same league as the newer, bigger ships and doesn’t pretend to be. There were some, but not many, areas where repairs were needed or where wear was apparent, but overall the ship is in great condition. Compared to the larger ships, the Sun is certainly more “intimate” and I would not hesitate to sail on her again if the opportunity arose.

8. Helpful suggestions

Even after many cruises, I’m still learning things that will make my next cruise even more enjoyable. Many of these suggestions may have been posted other places, but a few things for newer cruises to know/remember:

1. If you don’t already have a robe in your room, just ask. Even inside cabins get a robe if you ask.

2. Ask the room steward to empty the refrigerator right away – it’s unlikely you’ll want to buy stuff from the mini bar and you may as well use the refrigerator yourself for the week.

3. If you have 3 or 4 passengers in a cabin, the over-the-door shoe holder hanging on the bathroom door is very helpful. We brought ours this time but didn’t need it as there was plenty of storage space for two people – with 3 or 4 it’s an invaluable asset.

4. For dinner, both main dining rooms have the same menu, though they may look somewhat different. Since the Four Seasons restaurant is the more “casual” restaurant, the entrees are often listed in a more simple way. “Filet” becomes “steak” for example – same meal, just a basic description. I had not noticed this before.

5. All of the room stewards work 8-2 and 6-10 every day. (10 hours a day, seven days a week). Unless you leave a “Do Not Disturb” sign, your room will be cleaned up & the bed made by 2PM at the latest and it will be turned down shortly after 6 PM. Sometimes it helps to know this.

6. If you want to enjoy the pool and/or the hot tubs, wait until after breakfast on a port day. When we were on the pool deck about 10 AM on the day the ship was in Belize, there was not one person in any pool or any hot tub.

7. If you misplace your key card, the front desk will give you a replacement. However, if you then find the “old” card, be sure to dispose of it since it has been deactivated and cannot be used to exit the ship.

8. On the last day, if you wait to leave the ship until after most folks have debarked, you can wander the hallways and duck into the various cabins to look at the size, configuration, etc. I have found that, as long as you’re polite and respective of the room stewards, this is not a problem. It’s a great way to quickly get a sense of how the various cabins compare. One time we were so pre-occupied with this that we were actually the very last passengers to get off – it certainly made finding our luggage easy!

9. Take the stairs. For many years now, I have made it a point to never get on an elevator on a cruise ship. I’m on vacation and not in any hurry – I’m busy eating zillion-calorie meals and a few flights of steps may help to make a tiny dent in that intake.

Just got off the phone with NCL to take advantage of the current promotions (KSF as well as UDP and UBP) for 2 Med. cruises this summer. Total cost (not including service charge) is $100 per person per day (for an ocean view cabin for 4). The downside is that a standard cruise cabin is a bit cramped for 4 people - AI resorts will offer 2-3 times more space (or more) in the room. The upside is that the $100 per day includes free drinks for the duration of the vacation (up to $10 per drink) and free specialty restaurants for the duration. The "a la carte" cost of those two benefits alone is about $75 per person per day; there's a huge incentive to book before this special expires at the end of Feb.

For my family of four, cruises have always been a better option than an AI, mostly because we're not really interested in sitting at the beach (or the pool) all day every day. We tend to be more of the "explorer" type when on vacation; cruises have allowed my kids to visit more than 30 countries so far.

We're also not really big drinkers so the cost of drinks on the cruise ship is not a major factor. Most of the AI prices I have seen are in the $200+ per person per day range; we've taken a couple of dozen cruises and I'm not sure we've every spent more than $100 per person per day even for a balcony cabin.

It very much depends upon the type of vacation that most appeals to you, but we've traditionally found that we can take 2 or 3 cruises week-long cruises for the cost of a one week AI.

~Bob

... The front desk on the cruise ship will generally exchange foreign currency for US dollars, but we found their exchange rate to be generally not very unfavorable. Hope that helps.

~Bob

Double negative was an error. The ship's exchange rate was not very good. They also may be limited in the amount of currency they can exchange based upon what they have on hand.

~Bob

Thanks for the quick response. Is it USD everywhere onboard or just the casino?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

On our last European cruises (about 4 years ago), the currency in the casino was US dollars. With one interesting exception. We were on the Jewel (15 days) and then the Jade (12 days) and, on both ships, they had two roulette tables. At the "American" table (both zero and double zero wheel), the chips were in dollars. At the "European" table (only the single zero), the chips were in euros. Not sure why anyone would play at the (much less favorable) "American" table, but there were certainly folks at both tables every night.

Regarding getting currency, you can get chips on your ship card (essentially from your credit card) in the casino (for a 3% "convenience" fee) and cash them in at the cage for dollars and/or you can get money directly from an ATM in nearly every foreign country (in the local currency of course). The front desk on the cruise ship will generally exchange foreign currency for US dollars, but we found their exchange rate to be generally not very unfavorable. Hope that helps.

~Bob

This is not correct, at least not now. I played for 52 hours on my last 7 day cruise. 3 port days, so yes, I played A LOT. I lost money too (CAS says I lost less than I did) and my bets were higher than previous cruises where I was offered comps for anywhere from insides to suites. I didn't qualify for an inside comp on my own for an upcoming cruise. They said I didn't lose enough. They had to include my husband's meagre play into it in order to give us the inside.

I would have to concur. I've been on more than a dozen NCL cruises and nearly all were comped by CAS (most often inside cabins - but, hey, it's a comp...). My most recent cruise (July) had 50+ hours of gambling, mostly at the craps table. I would say that my average bet in July was slightly higher than in the past. (BTW - for those of you who were wondering - I seemed to accrue about 50 points per hour playing $5 pass line bets with 2 come bets and all at full -3/4/5 - odds...) I did, however, get the most OBC for my play in the casino for this most recent cruise - the host stopped by on the last night to say that they had taken about $120 off my bill for the week... Even though I had earned only about 2,200 points for the week.

After this most recent cruise I called CAS about a comp for February. They also said that my losses were not very high on my July cruise (like the previous poster I thought my losses were a bit higher than the CAS folks thought, but not by a huge amount...) Anyway, they said they'd base my Feb. cruise on the play from a past cruise (not July, they went back to a cruise 5 months earlier when I actually gambled less and lost about the same...).

I had also thought that the comps were based strictly on theoretical losses determined by multiplying the house edge, average bet and length of play. (And, in that formula, playing pass line craps with full odds has a house edge of less than 0.5% so you really don't accrue a great deal of "credit" per hour..) Also, unlike a land-based casino, I have not seen that one's buy-in amount makes any real difference in the comps.

I was not very surprised that they kept track of win / loss amounts per player, but I would chime in that my (recent) experience seems to indicate that losses are factored into the comp calculation which is surprising. YMMV

~Bob

I have two upcoming Mediterranean cruises in July booked with CAS. 14 days from Barcelona, then a"layover" in Venice for 5 days and then 7 days from Venice. Family of 4 (2 adult children). While I generally get a "comped" cabin for the traditional 7 day Caribbean cruises, these aren't comped, but are discounted through CAS (European sailings generally require a higher level of play than I have to be fully comped). Called yesterday to "rebook" both. The new price was higher than I was paying, but…. for about $16 more per person per day (4 of us) we added the UDP and the UBP for both cruises. If I had paid for this without the special (which I wouldn't have…), the total cost for both UDP and UBP would be more than $6,000 for the two cruises. Also, even though all 4 of us get the casino drink card, I am very much looking forward to having a drink whenever and where ever I'd like on the ship. Very happy with this promo!

~Bob

Having cruised about 15 times with NCL, I'm quite convinced that one reason that people choose speciality restaurants is that you can make a reservation. It may not be the "party line" from NCL, but it's pretty clear to many passengers (after the first night waiting for a MDR table for 30 plus minutes holding your pager) that there are "no lines, no waiting…" at specialty restaurants and, in essence, you can pay your up charge and walk right in.

While there is no logical reason why they couldn't reserve half of a MDR (or even one entire dining room every evening) for reservations, I really doubt this will ever happen as it continues to be one of the incentives for specialty dining.

That said, we usually eat in the MDR and have almost always had a good to very good meal. Though we've eaten at every specialty restaurant at least once and had great meals, we've also been underwhelmed at Cagney's and Le Bistro in the past.

I'd like to try and answer the original question (without any discussion of the DSC...).

I've been on 20+ cruises, about 15 with NCL. A few years ago we were on the Jewel for a 2 week European cruise. On the first night, the service was very slow and inefficient - though certainly not 3 hours long. After dinner I politely asked to speak with the maitre d'. I explained that we had been on many cruises and, based on our experience, that evening's service was very poor and we were hoping that this would not be the case for the entire two weeks. The matire d' (who unfortunately has now moved on to DCL) apologized, gave us his card and personally saw to our dinner arrangements for the entire cruise. (We were certainly not VIPs- we were staying in an "average" balcony cabin, not a suite...). Three days after that cruise ended we boarded the Jade for another 2 week European cruise; the Jewel matire d' called ahead to be sure that we were well taken care of on that cruise as well.

I know that this is just our family's experience, but with more than 100 days of cruising with just NCL I can say that a 3 hour meal has very rarely been our experience - unless we are purposefully taking our time. I would tell you that this is not the "norm" for NCL and, if it were to happen in the future (which is really your question...) I would strongly recommend talking to the maitre d' directly; and, if the problem persisted a second time, go directly to the management. (There's a photo display of all the top management near the service desk and actually ask for the person you want to talk to by name.).

That's my two cents - though I would tip more on a cruise ship.... : )

~Bob

Can't speak for other cruise lines, but on NCL I've been on more than 10 cruises booked with CAS. I'm playing $5 -$10 craps, $5 - $10 table games; probably average 4 -5 hours of play per day. Never had total losses for a week exceed $3K; generally less. Have had many comped cabins (varies from inside to OV), plus other CAS perks including comped drinks for the every cruise (even under the new program). I agree that there are a few big bettors who spend thousands a day, but my experience is that, if you're budgeting up to $5K a week for the casino, NCL would be happy to accommodate you with various comps - especially after your first cruise. Having been on RCI, Celebrity, Carnival, etc. I can say that the treatment I get from CAS (even for someone whose gambling budget is a few thousand a week) is the reason that I don't even consider other cruise lines any longer. On my upcoming cruise (12 days away!), the comped cabin (for 2) plus the free drinks are probably "worth" something like $2K. I found out long ago that most other cruise lines don't seem to offer much to folks who aren't at the $25 table for at least 6 hours a day; CAS is the way to go in my opinion.

~Bob

What I have read on other threads is that any level of completely comped cabin (minus taxes & port fees of course) qualifies for the drink card waiting for you in the room. The lowest comp level (20% off the cabin) may mean that you have to "re-earn" the drink card. My next cruise is a comped inside cabin (in 3 weeks!) and the CAS folks did tell me over the phone that there would be 2 drink cards waiting in the room upon arrival.

Please explain this.

Let me try - On a land-based casino, comps are often based upon a percentage of what the gambler would likely be "contributing" to the casino. ~30% of that may be returned in the form of "comps" - depends upon the casino.

For example, if you play slots on the ship (lets say an 5% house edge; though it's likely to be higher...) You run $10 through a machine every minute (probably conservative for many folks..) If you spend 30 hours playing slots during your cruise, you're betting about $18,000 total. The house can expect to get about 5% of that money (about $900). They can easily "return" at least $300 in the form of comps (20% off a room at the minimum). Essentially, they look at your play and figure that they can comp back about a third of their take in the form of your comps. That's the way I read it.

~Bob

In my last stop in Port Canaveral (about 3 years ago), we walked off the ship, rented car and drove to the space center. The overall price (for 4 people) was still less than the NCL shore excursion and we were able to also stop at a store or two to get things that we had forgotten or wanted on the cruise ship. Depending upon your interests, you could spend all day there or do one of the tours and only spend a few hours. I found the entire day very interesting and worthwhile and would certainly recommend the rental care option.

~Bob

My experience (~15 cruises booked through CAS) is that the drink card only came with a room booked through CAS. At some point in the past I had a credit card that accrued cruise rewards points. When I wanted to use those points to book a cruise i was told by CAS that I would not be getting my CAS amenities unless the room was booked through them. I will note that I am not a very big better, my CAS cabins are typically either 20% off or (more recently) comped inside cabins, and your level of play may make the difference - particularly with the new card system, but this has been my experience.

~Bob

More than ten years ago I was on a cruise on the SS Norway. The first night I started playing Caribbean Stud poker (clearly not a good game for the bettor, but I was winning and enjoying myself). That night the pit boss asked if I wanted the casino to track my play and, though I didn't think I would play enough to make it worthwhile, I certainly said yes. By the end of the week I was still up a few hundred dollars and I had also been comped quite a few drinks. 12 NCL cruises later and I've never paid for a drink in the casino. Comps used to be MUCH better - VIP service, comped dinners in the specialty restaurants, casino swag (shirts, hats, etc.) even for a relatively low level bettor, but, even under the new system I have NO complaints.

My level of play generally merits somewhere around a comped inside cabin - sometimes 20% off, sometimes a comped outside or balcony - very much depends upon the ship and sailing date. I typically play craps and the odds are exactly the same as any land-based casino with the only exception being the odds behind the line are 3x/4x/5x.

I completely agree that gambling to simply earn the comps is inane. On the other hand, I'm sailing again in a couple of months and, between the comped cabin and the comped drinks, I believe that I'm "saving" well over $1,000 for a vacation (and drinks) that I would have taken with or without CAS. Even if my losses for the week were $2,000 (and I don't think they've ever been that high), I'd still end up with a great week-long vacation to several foreign countries, good to excellent food, shows, entertainment, etc. for, maybe, a net of $1,000. Not to mention many hours of enjoyment in the casino. If gambling were the goal of my vacation I would certainly go to Vegas or AC, but as a diversion on my cruise - particularly with games that are not too highly skewed in favor of the house (I generally don't play the slots on a ship), my experience over the last decade with CAS has been very positive.

~Bob