NCL-Sun Review

[apost10093@yahoo.com]

I just came home today from the SUN. I was very, very disppointed with the cruise. I have sailed 11 times prior on various ships both in the Caribbean and in Europe and this cruise was the worse ever.

 

I will start with the beginning. The fist day at sea almost the entire boat was sick. The weather was awful and the seas were very rough. The captain did not get on the loud speaker at all that day to inform the passengers about the rough seas he ignored the entire situation. To make matters worse-it rained as well.

 

The next day was sunny for Grand Cayman. However, we were unable to get off the boat-the swells were too high for tenders to enter the dock. The NCL crew was aware of the problem the day before-but we had to sit and wait anchored outside Grand Cayman waiting for several delayed guest to arrive. The ship could have taken us to another port for the day-instead we sat still until 4:00 looking at Grand Cayman from the boat.

 

The following day was even worse-Roatan, Honduras. NCL should ban this island from the cruise. It is so poverty stricken that you are attacked by children begging you for things and following you around. We went to Tabyana Beach for the day and had to come back after 1 hour-the beach was covered with a 5 foot wide layer of seaweed. The cruise ship sent over 150 people to this beach for a day trip charging $50.00 per person and no one could go into the water because of the seaweed. Also, it was cloudy, rainy and cold. We demanded our money back and the cruise ship did credit us for the tour.

 

Our next stop Belize-the island was okay and the tour we went on was interesting. However, the weather was cold and cloudy.

 

The following day was the best, Cozumel. We should have spent 2 days in Cozumel-the beach was beautiful and alot of fun. We went to Playa Mia for the day and enjoyed the water and all of the activities. We would have liked for the boat to allow us to stay longer-3:00 was too early for a pick-up.

 

Our last day was at sea. The morning was sunny and very, very windy. We ended up with rain in the afternoon and the sun came back out at 3:00.

 

One other big problem we encountered was reservations at the Freestyle restaurants. They do not try to accommedate you at all. New Years Eve they told us both main restaurants were booked and the only reservation they had was at 5:30. Well guess what, at 8:00 the restaurant was still half empty. Also. the other restaurants that you have to pay for-the people who take the reservations are looking for their palms to be greased. We encountered this when we were told we had a reservation in the Japanese restaurant infront of the grill and the next day we were moved to outside the grill area.

 

The only wonderful part of the cruise was the Express Checkout-we walked off the boat today with our luggage and it only took us 10 minutes in total from the point of disembarking and getting a van to take us to the airport.

 

I am sorry for this awful review. However, after spending thousands of dollars for my winter vacation, I had to share my heartships with all of you.

 

Happy New Year to all!

Not So Happy Cruiser

[Zeno]

While I sympathize with the bad weather you encountered, I find some of your comments are at best misinformed and and at worst very odd.

1. NCL is not responsible for the weather

2. Why on earth would the captain inform cruisers that the seas were rough when that was already self-evident.

3. NO SHIP can just change ports because the weather is bad at a scheduled port.

The best NCL could have done at Grand Cayman was to give you a day-at-sea

4. Having been to Roatan, I can pretty confidently state that the children do not "attack" tourists. As for begging, you can pretty much expect that at any 3rd world country. A little advance research could have prepared you for the fact that Roatan is a 3rd world country. If this bothers you perhaps you should find a reputable charity working in Roatan to make a donation to. Countries like Honduras desperately need any tourist dollars they can get - so your comment that Roatan should be "banned" by NCL is completely out-of-line. Also NCL refunded your excursion money - so believe I really do not know what more they could have done for you.

5. If you don't like NCL excursion timing (Cozumel) - arrange your own.

6. Quite frankly I really do not understand your comments about the main restaurants being "booked" on New Year's eve since you DON'T HAVE TO MAKE RESERVATIONS for the main dining rooms. If you showed up at 8PM and tables were available, you would have been seated immediately. However if your party was large or tables were not available you might have to wait to be seated. I admit I find it odd that either of the main dining rooms would be "half empty" at 8PM -prime dining time. As for the "Pay" restaurants - I really don't understand what you mean - since you HAVE to make reservations for them - so whose palm was waiting to be 'greased' - the person taking phone reservations or the person in the lobby at the menu display.

Apparently NCL's lack of control over the weather seems to have affected your entire cruise. Your dining room experiences are just odd - when I was on the Sun I experienced absolutely nothing similar.

[mbisson]

They must've changed crews from the previous week when I was on board. We had great service. If the seas were as rough as you said would you have know it better if the captain had told you so? Most of your complaints center around the weather. You should blame your TA for not ordering better weather when they booked your cruise. Also, I think they must've imported some new residents of Roatan. No one attacked me when I was there.

 

Beyond that, I would just second what Zeno said.

 

-Monte

[discjoker]

I will third what Zeno said. Also, I would like to thank you for inspiring me to register to post. I need to add something to the list that Zeno started:

 

7) BELIZE IS NOT AN ISLAND!

 

I was on the Sun for the Dec 11 sailing. The first night on our sailing was rough with many people getting sick. It sounds like your first night was even rougher. Absolutely no fault of NCL as they don't control the roughness of the seas. They also are unable to control the rain (if they could they would have more business than they could handle).

 

A total bummer about Grand Cayman. But again, not the fault of NCL! You should actually thank them for not risking the safety of passengers by allowing a potentially dangerous tendering operation to take place.

 

Roatan is very much a poverty stricken place. However, most cruise ports in the Caribbean are not as wealthy as areas in the United States. WE were not attacked by begging children, on the contrary. Two lovely young boys asked if they could show us around their town and offered to carry some of our purchases back to the ship with us. They didn't even ask for money, we of course gave them a monetary tip for their hard work as amazing tour guides. Two brilliant young businessmen--not beggars. Again NCL has no control over seaweed or the weather.

 

Your last day at sea....again, NCL can't control the weather.

 

In regards to your issues with the restaurants, I just don't understand. The joys of Freestyle cruising allow for dining without having to worry about showing up at a certain time or making reservations. Just show up when you want to eat. There may be a wait, but I never had one on my cruise.

 

I truly am sorry that you were unhappy with your experience but at least in my humble opinion the majority of your complaints have nothing to do with NCL. Just my 2 cents.

[mbisson]

discjoker, you should've been around here prior to the sailing, Zeno & I were both on that sailing and met in the sports bar one afternoon. We had a great cruise.

 

-Monte

[WaldosPepper]

Zeno - AMEN

MBisson - AMEN

DiscJoker - AMEN

[kiss]

We live in the NE part of the country so January is the month we choose to cruise every year. This is winter weather and we expect that it can create rough seas and foul weather. We still choose to cruise at this time of year. Last January was our first cruise on the Sun, we enjoyed it so much that in a few weeks we will do it again. It is your vacation so you make of it what you want. I choose not to let weather and seas to put a damper on my enjoyment. The Sun is a beautiful ship with a great crew, the ports of call may change slightly from year to year....but a bad day at sea is better than a good day at work!

[kingneptune]

Let me start off by saying that this cruise was a very rewarding experience. My wife and I had sailed on the NCL Sky back in 1/2002 and really liked getting on the ship and knowing our way around (both Sun and Sky have exact same layout). I was the guy with the Redskins hat on for the majority of the trip, so you will know that I was on this cruise. Now, let me give my review:

 

Day 1:

Getting on the boat and settled in:

Got there at 11:00 and was on the ship pronto. They did make everyone wait until 12:00 to embark the ship, and the check-in was FAST. We had an inside cabin (9145) and paid $699 pp for this cruise. We were totally satisfied that we had gotten a good deal for our money. The room had a nice wood closet and plenty of space for overpacked suitcases.

 

Boat life - what to expect from service, and entertainment:

The 7:30 and 9:30 show was an improvise. The JAR CO. put together a special Christmas show, and it turned out very nicely. They really were not obligated to do this, but this shows that the Cruise director - Collin Kerr, and the JAR CO. were really dialed-in and took pride in their jobs. The food and service was twice as good as it was back on the Sky on 2002.

 

Day 2:

 

Sea day -

The guests on the boat were in a good mood at this point and polite when passing in the hallways. This did change, and I will address later. So, it was a sea day and mean't for people to get used to the ship and enjoy their first real day of vacation. I spent a good 4 - 5 hours at the Texas Hold'em table, and won about $700 on this day. Meanwhile, the other guests were not really able to enjoy the pool etc. because the weather was not very cooperative. Entertainment was OK, as the act was switched at the last moment from the Encore Mr. Producer show, to a juggling act. Now this was confusing for me. If the seas were too rough for the singing and dancing of the JAR CO's premire act, how will a person that juggles for free cruises be able to do his thing with very rough seas? Anyway, the juggler pulled it off, as the seas finally did calm down a bit.

 

The majority of guests onboard were seasick, due to 6-10 foot seas that just wouldn't stop. Food and service were 5*.

 

Day 2 -

 

8:00am and we were waiting for the Stingray snorkel tour in the Stardust lounge. Capt. comes on the PA system and takes 10 minutes to finally say that we will not see Grand Cayman. Now this is where NCL did make a mistake, I believe. Instead of saying in 2 paragraphs or less that due to conditions beyond the ship's control, we would not be able to run boats to and from Grand Cayman, the cruise director had to come on right behind the Capt. and break it down into something that everyone onboard could understand - enjoy the pool onboard.

 

Now, this is where I almost released an act of furious anger on a fellow guest. As soon as I realized that we would be on the ship without leaving, I grabbed my wife and we both ran to the pool deck to try and grab a couple of pool chairs. Imagine a scene from when people were claiming the Oklahoma territory back a couple hundred years ago. We saw two chairs and went to sit when a man come running down from 20 chairs away and said that those chairs, along with the other 18 were "reserved." Now, this is the man that had 24 family members onboard for their family reunion. Yes, I was mad that one person was claiming 20 pool chairs while the majority of the rest of the ship was still trying to find theirs, but it was his tone. So, I put my 6' 4" 250 lb frame in his face and asked if he had another "dick" remark to make to me. Luckily for his part, he declined and apoligized, and my wife and I were off to finally get our two chairs. We did get some sun on the deck and were started to notice that many of our fellow guests were starting to argue quite a bit by now. And it was everywhere....in the hallways, elevators, dinner tables, .....everywhere.

 

Food and entertainment was good, as this was the night for Encore - Mr. Producer.

 

Day 3 - Roatan

I think that getting off the ship was good for everyone. However, weather was still quite bad. We spent $42 to go to Fantasy Island resort, and we were not able to enjoy the beautiful beach due to rain. I did get a dive in at Fantasy Island for around $50 with the resort, and enjoyed the dive very much. Roatan is very poor and I saw a woman buy a BIG bag of candy and give it out to all of the kids clogging the way back to the cruise ship. We were able to buy some handmade wood carvings for unbelievable prices, and then we returned to the ship early. Yes, this island is poverty stricken. However, I do know that this is one of the best dive spots in all of the caribbean. The dive community has been very strong here for 25 years, and it is a good thing that cruise ships are pulling in here. This economy certainly needs the money moreso than most of the other ports. Plus, the island is very beautiful and almost all of the locals speak both English and Spanish.

 

Food and entertainment was outstanding, again.

 

Day 4 - Belize City

We want to Lamani. At $89 pp, this 6 1/2 hour tour was well worth the money. Watch the video (from this site...a different post) and you will see exactly what we saw. The locals spoke both English and Spanish.

 

Food and entertainment was outstanding, again.

 

Day 5 - Cozumel

What can I say about Cozumel that hasn't been said before? My wife and I have been going to Cozumel for the past 8 years for a one week stay at a time, and it was good to go back and see some of our old friends. The wife got massages, facials, etc all day, and I went diving with the same dive shop that I have used for 10 years. As always, if I could find a way to make a living in Cozumel, I would sell everything that I have here and move. We always love this place.

 

Food and entertainment - need I say?

 

Day 6 - Sea day

The sun was finally out, and people were civilized enough to make it enjoyable. Now I can go back to work looking like I was in the tropics. YES.

 

We celebrated the New Year's eve party on the pool deck to live music, and it was probably the best New Year's eve party that we have had in 10 years. And, it was free!

 

 

Overall -

This cruise was probably the best thing that we could have done over the holiday season. The crew of the ship was very nice, and it was evident that morale was very high amongst the crew members and their rapport with the "system." Each meal that we ate onboard would have cost us around $200 per meal back here in D. C. The service was great, and the quality was much better than two years ago on the Sky. The Cruise director.... Now, I challenge anyone to find someone that is a better fit for their job than this guy. I would suggest that you leave when he starts his closing remarks about the Capt. calling up to the bridge. Truly horrible jokes he tells, but his delivery is unmatched.

 

This crew worked their rear-ends off for us, and I truly appriciate cruising more now than I ever have ever imagined I would. The weather was really horrible for the entire week, but the crew really tried to make up by putting in an extra effort for us. Yes, I tipped whenever I got service that was outstanding. I gave our waiter for supper (we kept going back and asking for him every night) a total of $35 for the week. I felt like I was cheap too. I should have given him more. His name is Larry and he works in the Seven Seas.

 

Overall, we had a great time on this cruise. Yes, holiday cruises pose different problems that most other cruises do not pose, but I cannot think of a better way to spend my holiday season than sailing around the Caribbean and getting 5* service for $100 per person, per day. I appoligize in advance for the spelling errors, and hope that this write-up helps everyone understand how this cruise really went down!

[apost10093@yahoo.com]

Everyone has their own opinion!

Now I know which cruise lines to travel and what parts of the world to visit during the winter months. Everyone learns from their mistakes and this was a big one. What is your definition of an island. Belize is an island to me. When you are shopping in Roatan and the police has to chase children away from the shopping area every minute, this can be disturbing. I am use to poverty, I am a New Yorker with a business in an area where my customers are from Central/South America and the Caribbean communities, I deal with it everyday of the week. My customers are very pleasant and respectful people. Next time it is the Southern Caribbean for me!

 

Not So Happy Cruiser

[discjoker]

What is your definition of an island. Belize is an island to me.

My definition, as well as the actual definition of an Island is a mass of land entirely surrounded by water. Belize is attached to Central America. In fact only one side (well, almost two sides) of Belize has a coast line, the rest is surrounded and attached to land (Mexico and Guatemala). So, what is your definition of an Island :rolleyes: ?

[richtersl]

...What is your definition of an island. Belize is an island to me....

As much as I feel badly about your having a lousy time on your trip, I find the above comment totally illogical. An island is a piece of land completely surrounded by water: i.e., Staten Island, Long Island, Manhattan are islands. Most people should know this is what an island is. The last time I checked, Belize is surrounded on the west, north, and south by land and on the east by water. How do you figure this to be an island? :confused: It's no more an island than the state of Massachusetts is.

[M&M cruiseaholics]

Many cruisers just simply do not research the ports of calls and are truly surprised at the poverty that is witnessed. For example, I am the researcher between my wife and I. I enjoy it. My wife has no interest in it. We both enjoy cruising, yet look at things very differently. We both try to "go with the flow" and try to put a positive spin on all that we see and experience. Allowing the negatives to enter our thoughts can be overpowering and ruin our thoughts of a particular cruise.

 

We are cruising the Sun next week and I will rely on the many positive reviews on the Sun versus this review. Blaming a Cruiseline (any cruiseline) for rough seas or bad weather is silly. However, with the cost of cruising today, I would be depressed to have experienced the rough seas and weather that you witnessed for the week. But I would not blame a cruiseline for it.

 

Hope you enjoy the Southern route. But just realize that St. Lucia is also poverty stricken, yet still a beautiful island. Walking outside of the fenced port area is extremely dangerous in my opinion. We took a ship sponsored tour of the island that was great, but were approached several times by natives to aggressively sell their wares. Barbados, my researched showed was the most friendly port on the Southern route. As we chose to walk to a nearby beach, choosing not ot take a taxi, we were verbally cursed at, we recognized the English curses at least, and given the finger by many. The guard at the gate did not want to allow us out of the port area without using a taxi. Friendly Barbados made us feel so welcome - NOT. I won't even go into Matinique and their attitude.

 

We have traveled the Southern route twice and would do it again. we now know what to expect.

 

By the way, after 11 cruises, why do you still take the ship's excursions. With a little research on Cruise Critic, I have found many independent tours that have been better. After the first cruise we took that was all ship excursions, we split the next cruise between independents and ship excursions and take almost all independent tours and taxis now. It's great.

[karfest]

I know you are being beat up for just expressing your opinion, but when absolutely nothing went right on your cruise, I tend to think some of the problem might be with you and not necessarily the cruise line or itinerary.

 

We took this exact cruise and also had less than favorable weather. It was rainy and cloudy every day and had temps in the 70's. I was not thrilled with this, but I certainly had no one to blame.

 

Our Sun cruise was our best one yet, even given the bad weather. The ports were not the same old crap- I enjoyed not seeing a Hard Rock or Wal-Mart the minute we stepped off the ship.

 

I think back to when I booked this cruise and was freaked out by reviews like this. I was ready to cancel but decided to stick with it. Maybe I haven't had enough cruising experience yet to get jaded and not see the fun in the adventure. I hope to never get to the point where I can't enjoy being on a beautiful ship with my hubby, enjoying all the food we can eat and visiting places so different from what we are accustomed to.

 

I hope you next cruise is more pleasant, I would say NCL is not for you.

[Planer's Edge]

there you go being all logical. Aren't people allowed to accuse the cruiseline of finding the worst possible weather to sail through. Also, shouldn't the cruiseline be out there picking up all that pesky seaweed so their passengers can enjoy the seaside beach. Come on now, take off those rose colored glasses and get into the spirit of blaming the cruiseline for everything!!!

 

That being said...come join the FOMT on the Jewel in November.

 

PE<---thinks Karfest has the right stuff to hang with FOMT...

[apost10093@yahoo.com]

Just to let all of you know that this is the first time I booked a tour from a cruise ship. I did this to please my brother and his family. This was their first time cruising and they were not at ease just going places on their own with private operators. I have sailed two Med. cruises and planned all of my shore exursions with private vendors. I have never taken a cruise tour until NCL. NCL should have been advised of the condition of the beach. All 150 people on the tour wanted to return after 1 hour. Just as an FYI, NCL did refund all of their snokeling and diving tours in Roatan for the same reason.

 

It is sad to say that people cannot express their opinions in cruisecritic. I have sailed on 11 different boats and researched many ports on cruiscritic, and used the research to the best of my ability. However, it is obvious that negative comments are not welcomed.

[mbisson]

No ones saying you can't post negative comments, but still, with the complaints you listed I think you should also do some research at weather.com

 

-Monte

[kingneptune]

We were in Dazzles having a blast on New Year's eve (well after midnight) and having the time of our lives. Suddenly, a bad fight broke out and a few innocent bystanders got hurt. I saw people on the sofas there go from having a great time, to having a terrible time and really complaining. I chose not to let that incident bother me, and I kept right on having a good time.

Although, I could have let that incident ruin my night.

 

 

Bottom line - I believe that the environment was setup on that boat to have whatever time you wanted to have. I chose to have a good time and didn't pay too much attention to the things that I didn't like. Yes, there were many things that bothered me about this cruise, but I refused to let those things linger over into the majority of the experiences that I had. Two people at the same party, one had a very bad time and the other had a great time! Maybe some Tony Robbins self-help tapes would have helped you get your mind in the mood for focusing on the good rather than bad times of this trip.

 

Sorry that you let this happen to yourself :(

[Zeno]

apost10093:

You can post all the negative comments you want but when they display a mind boggling unrealistic view of what the cruiseline owes to you, you will get many people disagreeing.

1. A cruiseline does not OWE you good weather

2. A cruiseline cannot guarantee that a beach will be in pristine condition

3. IF you had done even a modicum of research you would know that ports in the caribbean do not compare in ANY way to ports in Europe - totally different experience. Oh and you would also know that by NO definition is Belize an island.

4. Don't bother with a southern caribbean cruise. I am sure St. Lucia or Dominica will be too poor for you and Grenada and St Martin will have too many annoying beach vendors and in Martinique you will surely complain that everyone speaks French. And believe all of the above will still be true whatever cruiseline you use.

5. You might want to read cruise brochures that explain Freestyle dining before an NCL cruise - then you would not believe that you have to make reservations in the main dining rooms or bribe "someone" to get into a specialty restaurant.

[The Cellar Dweller]

apost10093@yahoo.com

 

I really can't believe the lack of compassion for poverty stricken people. I was on the Sun the week of 11/13 with my wife and 16 yr old granddaughter. I truly wish you could have see my granddaughter's face the day we arrived in Roatan. To see the tears come down her face then asking her why she was crying. Her response "the children and conditions of their surroundings". Then for her to ask me if we could do something to assist. Yes, we did.

 

Euough of that. It might have been easier for you to write about the good things. You could have save a lot of space. It really sounds to me that no matter what someone does for you, you won't be happy. you may want to rethink about future cruising unless you can find a Captain (GOD) that can predict the weather. Also did you ever think about yourself being in the same position of those that you had to wait for because something happen to cause them to miss embarment? Talk about be self centered.

[netcomm]

I was on this same cruise with my best friend and his family, and it was my first cruising experience. I have to disagree about the food, general quality, and organization of the cruise as a whole. The food in the main dinning areas and the buffets is pretty poor. Think of a cheap buffet in your home town where the food is over/under cooked and of marginal quality. That is what the food is like... edible but hardly "outstanding".

 

The cabin staff was good. I would give them an A. But other staff was seemingly un-informed and although not rude, they were not pleasant either, mostly robotic. Also, is it too much to ask that the staff speak understandable english? I realize that there are several nationalities represented on these ships, but if you can't speak a common language, it makes it difficult to communicate.

 

Not making the port at Grand Cayman is(was) unacceptable. They blamed this on the weather, which is a worthless excuse. Accourding to the ships own information, the seas were "smooth, 1 foot swells" as show on the tv monitors. Also, it was smooth enough for people who had missed the boat to tender out to the ship, and we had to wait until 2:00 pm for others to tender out. So people could tender on, but not off. So much for the "weather" excuse. Instead of sailing on and perhaps hitting another port or spending more time at a scheduled port, we had to wait for more passangers so NCL wouldn't have to refund their money.

 

Despite the negatives on this cruise, I did enjoy myself, making the most out of our time. But it was inspite of the way this ship was run, its food and service. I would like to cruise again, but I can't recommend NCL based upon this experience. I just have to think there are better options out there.

[newmexicoNita]

I just came home today from the SUN. I was very, very disppointed with the cruise. I have sailed 11 times prior on various ships both in the Caribbean and in Europe and this cruise was the worse ever.

 

I will start with the beginning. The fist day at sea almost the entire boat was sick. The weather was awful and the seas were very rough. The captain did not get on the loud speaker at all that day to inform the passengers about the rough seas he ignored the entire situation. To make matters worse-it rained as well.

 

The next day was sunny for Grand Cayman. However, we were unable to get off the boat-the swells were too high for tenders to enter the dock. The NCL crew was aware of the problem the day before-but we had to sit and wait anchored outside Grand Cayman waiting for several delayed guest to arrive. The ship could have taken us to another port for the day-instead we sat still until 4:00 looking at Grand Cayman from the boat.

 

The following day was even worse-Roatan, Honduras. NCL should ban this island from the cruise. It is so poverty stricken that you are attacked by children begging you for things and following you around. We went to Tabyana Beach for the day and had to come back after 1 hour-the beach was covered with a 5 foot wide layer of seaweed. The cruise ship sent over 150 people to this beach for a day trip charging $50.00 per person and no one could go into the water because of the seaweed. Also, it was cloudy, rainy and cold. We demanded our money back and the cruise ship did credit us for the tour.

 

Our next stop Belize-the island was okay and the tour we went on was interesting. However, the weather was cold and cloudy.

 

The following day was the best, Cozumel. We should have spent 2 days in Cozumel-the beach was beautiful and alot of fun. We went to Playa Mia for the day and enjoyed the water and all of the activities. We would have liked for the boat to allow us to stay longer-3:00 was too early for a pick-up.

 

Our last day was at sea. The morning was sunny and very, very windy. We ended up with rain in the afternoon and the sun came back out at 3:00.

 

One other big problem we encountered was reservations at the Freestyle restaurants. They do not try to accommedate you at all. New Years Eve they told us both main restaurants were booked and the only reservation they had was at 5:30. Well guess what, at 8:00 the restaurant was still half empty. Also. the other restaurants that you have to pay for-the people who take the reservations are looking for their palms to be greased. We encountered this when we were told we had a reservation in the Japanese restaurant infront of the grill and the next day we were moved to outside the grill area.

 

The only wonderful part of the cruise was the Express Checkout-we walked off the boat today with our luggage and it only took us 10 minutes in total from the point of disembarking and getting a van to take us to the airport.

 

I am sorry for this awful review. However, after spending thousands of dollars for my winter vacation, I had to share my heartships with all of you.

 

Happy New Year to all!

Not So Happy Cruiser

 

 

You don't need to apologize, but you do need to research your choices a little more closely. I find it hard to beleive you have cruised 11 times and never toured an island where the kids are begging. Roatan is one of the poorest islands in the western hemosphere, but one of the prettiest and friendliest. NCL was the first line to venture to Roatan. Since then several lines have added it to their itinerary. Hopefully tourism will help the people and poverty will become less common place. As for staff having their hands out, get real!!! You demanded your money back for the tour: I get thre feelihng you did DEMAND, maybe you are a bit demanding period. You didn't have to demand, they would have gladly refunded your money. i know bad weather for nearly an entire cruise can make for a very lousy experience. It happened to DH and me about 4 years ago and we haven't been back on the paritcular lines, but we didn't hold them responsible. if some of us are coming down on you pretty hard maybe you need to consider how you sounded in your review and wonder if you sounded the same way while complianing on the ship. I know it sounds life all I do is defend NCL, but read some of the other boards, I will defend most cruise lines if I feel the complaints are unwarented and I believe most of yours are. NMnita

[newmexicoNita]

I was on this same cruise with my best friend and his family, and it was my first cruising experience. I have to disagree about the food, general quality, and organization of the cruise as a whole. The food in the main dinning areas and the buffets is pretty poor. Think of a cheap buffet in your home town where the food is over/under cooked and of marginal quality. That is what the food is like... edible but hardly "outstanding".

 

The cabin staff was good. I would give them an A. But other staff was seemingly un-informed and although not rude, they were not pleasant either, mostly robotic. Also, is it too much to ask that the staff speak understandable english? I realize that there are several nationalities represented on these ships, but if you can't speak a common language, it makes it difficult to communicate.

 

Not making the port at Grand Cayman is(was) unacceptable. They blamed this on the weather, which is a worthless excuse. Accourding to the ships own information, the seas were "smooth, 1 foot swells" as show on the tv monitors. Also, it was smooth enough for people who had missed the boat to tender out to the ship, and we had to wait until 2:00 pm for others to tender out. So people could tender on, but not off. So much for the "weather" excuse. Instead of sailing on and perhaps hitting another port or spending more time at a scheduled port, we had to wait for more passangers so NCL wouldn't have to refund their money.

 

Despite the negatives on this cruise, I did enjoy myself, making the most out of our time. But it was inspite of the way this ship was run, its food and service. I would like to cruise again, but I can't recommend NCL based upon this experience. I just have to think there are better options out there.

 

 

I am glad you made the most of your situation and sorry NCL didn't live up to your expectations, but that's why there are many lines out there. What suits one person to a tee leaves the next person cold. I do have one question: if you have never cruised before how would you know how the ship was run? What part, other than the food did you feel was run poorly? I am only asking cause this usually is not a complaint people have with NCL. They have some complaints, but this isn't one of them. Bad weather for almost an entire week can throw any business off it's rock a bit. NMnita

[coka]

Did they bring out the band at debarkation? They sometimes do that.

 

Coka

[M&M cruiseaholics]

I am so thankful that I did not cruise the Sun on the January 1st sailing. My wife and I cruised the January 8th sailing and none of the negatives mentioned above occurred for us. I responded to this post prior to my cruise and now have the opportunity to respond yet again in an even more positive way. The buffet food is average, but the balance of our meals were fantastic. The staff was possibly the most pleasant of any of our prior cruises (including Celebrity), far from robotic. What a difference a week makes!!!

[mbisson]

We sailed Dec 11 and that was a good week as well. At least to us that is, and to us, that was enough.

-Monte