Norwegian Sun

[Huddler]

We are booked on the Norewegian Sun for a Baltic Capitals cruise this summer. We have cruised on Oceania, HAL, Princess, Celebrity, RCCL, Disney, etc so we are experienced cruisers. We are looking forward to this cruise for sure, but I know almost nothing about the Sun. What are the things you like best about the Norwegian Sun? What are some things we dont want to miss? What improvements did they make on the recent dry dock? Any cool secret things? Any things to avoid? Thanks for sharing any info you have on the Sun!

[fergusonvt]

We are booked on the Norewegian Sun for a Baltic Capitals cruise this summer. We have cruised on Oceania, HAL, Princess, Celebrity, RCCL, Disney, etc so we are experienced cruisers. We are looking forward to this cruise for sure, but I know almost nothing about the Sun. What are the things you like best about the Norwegian Sun? What are some things we dont want to miss? What improvements did they make on the recent dry dock? Any cool secret things? Any things to avoid? Thanks for sharing any info you have on the Sun!

 

If you like smaller classy ships you will love the Sun. We cruised on her pre-drydock and found that she was well taken care of of. The buffet (Garden Cafe) is difficult to navigate but the Great outdoors buffet on the aft of the ship was much better. Don't miss the crew show on the last night, especially the last segment (Fountains) which is hilarious. We thought all the other shows were very good.

[camz]

The NCL Freestyle Concept is awesome. Eat when you want, dress up, or not; you decide. That being said, NCL has a very relaxed, laid back atmosphere onboard their fleet. After all, that's what vacation should be all about! :)

[NMLady]

We spent 33 days on the Sun, doing b2b2b cruises this past Sept/Oct, a few months before the drydock.

 

I loved The Great Outdoors in the stern. A great place to be outdoors, including eating there, getting food from outdoor buffet or indoor buffet.

 

Although seating in the buffet can be a problem, you can also take your plate to the nearby Sports Bar. And since the new Brazilian Steakhouse evidently still serves waffles for breakfast as well as free lunch food, I'd think you could take your buffet plate there as well the way we did when it was Pacific Heights.

 

The Sports Lounge, with its floor to ceiling windows, is a good place to enjoy the portside aft view, relaxing with or without a drink. It's also a nice place to get an evening snack. (food is served after 5:30pm).

 

The bow's Observation Lounge on deck 12 is a wonderful place to view everything. And it has doors on either side that lead to an outdoor area high above the bow which is great for taking photos when coming into ports or enjoying the view anytime.

 

There's a chapel next to the Observation Lounge which is a nice quiet place for reflection time, or updating your journal with no distractions.

 

Check out Las Ramblas at the other end of deck 12 for lunch sandwiches. In the late afternoon there are tapas available there.

 

I agree that the Crew's talent show is not to be missed. However, the 'fountain' portion might not be one of the talents since that asst cruise director and some of the crew were changed after drydock.

 

In the MDR, if watermelon salad is on the menu, order it, since it is really good. I also like the crustata appetizer.

For an entree, the beef brochette was good, so was the rack of lamb although I didn't care for the lentils it was served on.

The salmon from the 'always available' side of the menu was outstanding, perfectly seasoned.

 

I ate lots of lunches in the buffet, trying a variety of dishes, especially some of the East Indian ones, which I found tasty.

If your cruise has an extra fee Indian buffet, it's worth the cost imo. So is the extra fee Jazz Brunch if it's offered.

If you like room service and also like omelets the omelet from the 24 hour room service menu can be written in on your breakfast order card if you want one for breakfast in addition to some of the continental breakfast choices. We always tipped the steward who brought our breakfast order.

 

I think you'll find that the crew of the Sun is very friendly and helpful.

If Leonard (Leon?) is still playing piano in the Windjammer, be sure you listen to him at least once. He is an outstanding entertainer.

 

I enjoyed most of their evening programs in Stardust theater.

 

I enjoyed every one of our days on the Sun. I hope you do too. You're on one of the few itineraries we haven't yet done. If we had the budget, we'd do that cruise followed by the transatlantic. But alas our cruising days are temporarily on hold due to budget restraints.

 

May you have sunny days and smooth sailing.

[dexddd]

We did this trip in June at about same time you are going this year. The above pretty much covers anything I'd suggest other than to note that a few of the port terminals had free wi-fi. Sometimes you could get the signal on the ship other times you had to go near the terminal. Some had a password which was located in the terminal building.

 

In St. P. if you are going to do a day tour and then a night excursion the time to get back on ship, eat, and get back off can be tight but is doable. Immigration in St. P. was very quick. At the late night return though they had fewer agents and the lines could be long though.

[numberguy]

I agree that the Crew's talent show is not to be missed. However, the 'fountain' portion might not be one of the talents since that asst cruise director and some of the crew were changed after drydock.

 

However, it might be fleet-wide. I've seen it done on at least 3 NCL ships.

 

--Michael

[MagnoliaBlossom]

I did the Baltics on the Sun in August last year and have a review posted, so you might check that out. I think I did a pretty thorough job. It was pre-dry dock, but in all honesty, the ship was in very good shape so it must be fabulous now.

 

My favorite part of the Sun is the ease of getting around. The Sports bar has nice appetizers in the evening, 22 beers on tap and great views. The waffles and omelettes were on the Sports Bar side (the restaurant was called Pacific Heights but I think it has been changed) and made for a very nice breakfast area.

 

If you find the cabin showers, head for the spa and shower there - much larger, if that is an issue for you.

 

Enjoy!

[Doughboy139]

My mother and I did the Baltic cruise this past August. The SUN was fantastic and very easy to get around. I found the food to be great in both the buffet area and the MDR....we only did one specialty restaurant, "East meets West", again had a fantastic meal.....

We enjoyed this Ship and the Baltic cruise so much that we are doing a B2B in Sept..... The baltic cruise again followed by the Trans-atlantic......this time we have an Aft. Mini-suite instead of the Starboard Mini-suite.

[mikewrit]

We did the Baltic Capitals last June and loved the Sun about as much as all the above. Don't miss the crew show, but wear Depends that night in case Fountains is part of the show and you don't want to be embarassed by losing control for laughter. I'm looking forward to reading reviews of the cruise when it begins in Copenhagen rather that Dover. The Sun is a wonderful place to spend sea days, but the trip up the North Sea and back was a looooong way. In St. Petersburg, consider the several alternatives to NCL excursions. We picked Anastasia and were fully satisfied, but other enjoyed DenRus and SPT -- all have a wide variety of choices. The non-ship guides are better at jumping the long lines at Hermitage, Peterhof, the island fortress, Cathedral on the Blood and other must-see spots.Most of the excursions include a hydrofoil trip either to or from Peterhof and the dock downtown in front of Hermitage. If you are lucky, your roll call should be lively with discussions about such possibilities.

[Huddler]

Wow! Thanks for the excellent responses! That is just what I was looking for and am now VERY excited about getting aboard the Sun! This is going to be a great cruise for sure! Thanks again everyone!

[Sauer-kraut]

I am the only person around that thought Fountains was kind of gross and not all that fantastic?

[Nickymjw1]

I am the only person around that thought Fountains was kind of gross and not all that fantastic?

Now I will have to pay closer attention to see if any water is "transferred". I did think it was really funny the first time I saw it..after that u know what is coming so it's not the same...

[fi'fi]

Thx I will be sailing her next fall for my 20th anniversary

[jdvmd]

We did the Baltic Capitals last June and loved the Sun about as much as all the above. Don't miss the crew show, but wear Depends that night in case Fountains is part of the show and you don't want to be embarassed by losing control for laughter. I'm looking forward to reading reviews of the cruise when it begins in Copenhagen rather that Dover. The Sun is a wonderful place to spend sea days, but the trip up the North Sea and back was a looooong way. In St. Petersburg, consider the several alternatives to NCL excursions. We picked Anastasia and were fully satisfied, but other enjoyed DenRus and SPT -- all have a wide variety of choices. The non-ship guides are better at jumping the long lines at Hermitage, Peterhof, the island fortress, Cathedral on the Blood and other must-see spots.Most of the excursions include a hydrofoil trip either to or from Peterhof and the dock downtown in front of Hermitage. If you are lucky, your roll call should be lively with discussions about such possibilities.

 

We are looking at doing this cruise this summer. Question: Did you encounter any delays in getting off the ship in St. Petersburg, i.e. ship's tours leaving first versus non-ship tours? Do you remember if special performers were brought in during the cruise to do shows? For example, a Russian dance troupe or ballet performance while in St. Petersburg so you wouldn't have to go back out into the city that night?

[lanceholt]

We were on the Sun for the Baltic cruise last May/June. We were in a Penthouse Suite so were off the ship a little after 8am in St. Petersburg. We also had our own guide from Anastasia and the tour was wonderful. We saw exactly what we wanted to see, skipped all lines, and this type of tour made the 2 days extra special. We opted to have our driver take us from Peterhof back into St. P, and liked that very much as it let us see the Russian houses, countryside, etc., that we wouldn't have seen much of otherwise. The Sun (this was our 2nd cruise on her, will take the repo this fall), was great as usual, very comfortable. Being in a suite on this cruise made a difference, the most important thing was the concierage as she expedited everything for us, well worth the cost. There were at least 2 maybe 3 nights of outside performers, two were Russian and were really great. We opted not to go to the Russian Folkloric show one evening in St. P and that was the right decision, we had heard that it was very tight scheduling returning from the day trips and then going out in the evening. We were so tired at the end of each day that we were glad to be back on the ship for the rest of the evening. One suggestion is to eat in Stoli, they serve wonderful Russian style pies, both savory and sweet, and the one we went to had all Russians but us. Very nice experience having lunch with our guide and driver. Have a wonderful time!

[NMLady]

I am the only person around that thought Fountains was kind of gross and not all that fantastic?

 

Nope, you're not the only one who thought it gross. I did too.

And if you thought it gross on the transatlantic, you should have seen it on the following cruise, the first of the western Caribbean cruises. It was even more gross. I could have done without the 'fountains' talent. It was clever, but I agree that it was gross and tasteless.

But evidently we're in the minority.

[Wingtips56]

The Sun (this was our 2nd cruise on her, will take the repo this fall), was great as usual, very comfortable.

 

Lanceholt,

If you are on the Sep 20 Copenhagen-Port Canaveral sailing, you're welcome to join our roll-call here in CC. We'd appreciate your insights, especially since 28 of us, so far, are doing the Baltic cruise leading into the B2B Trans-Atlantic crossing.

[MagnoliaBlossom]

We did not encounter any delays in disembarking, but we were delayed getting through immigration. Two other ships were disembarking at the same time as us :eek: that's a lotta' lotta' people. I think getting through immigration probably took about 30 minutes. Although some people have reportedd that the ship's tours disembarked first, that was not our experience.

 

We had booked with Anastasia and our delightful guide said she was accustomed to it, so it was not really a big deal. Many of the attractions in SP do not open until 9:30 or 10 so it really didn't throw us off any.

 

Re-boarding in the evening was pretty quick and the second morning we just breezed right through. We did not go to the evening excursions as we were pooped from a full day.

 

On our first Baltic cruise they had brought a children's choir and folk dancing group on board and it was very cute. I don't remember what they did this year but it was some sort of local entertainment.

 

Enjoy SP - it is truly fabulous. You will especially enjoy it if you do a private tour.

 

MB