Review of NCL Sun Vancouver-Alaska Glacier Bay cruise 8/4/14

[pokerpro5]

WHO I AM: I took a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska on the Sun from August 4-11, 2014. We had three passengers total -- two adults plus a 3-year-old boy. I am somewhat of a tough customer. I'm not an NCL cheerleader or one who automatically loves everything. At the same time, I'm fair with my expectations. I think you will find this review to be detailed, honest, and reasonable.

 

OUR ROOMS: I'm a Caesar's Seven Stars member, so I am entitled to an oceanview stateroom on Alaska cruises, for the cost of port taxes & NCF (about $440 per person). Seven Stars members get balcony staterooms on all other cruises, but NCL cheaps out on the Alaska benefit, where balconies tend to cost more. It also costs $599+tax (about $800) to bring a third person into the room. However, through some diligent planning and daily watching of ncl.com, I was able to turn this single oceanview room into a balcony room PLUS a second stateroom (inside cabin), PLUS get $250 back and $40 OBC. You read that right. NCL basically paid me $290 to upgrade my stateroom to a balcony AND get a second room. If you're a Caesar's Seven Stars member and want to know how I did it (it's completely legal & within the rules), let me know. Anyway, we had 2 rooms for 3 people, which was actually quite useful in case someone wanted to take a nap or stay up late. It was also nice to have extra storage space.

 

BOARDING: We flew in 2 1/2 days early (Friday night) so we could tour the Vancouver area over the weekend. We boarded on a surprisingly hot 87-degree day (Monday) in Vancouver. The process was much easier and quicker than our Christmas cruise on the Jewel. I also liked the fact that I was able to rent a car from National and return it at the cruise terminal. On the Jewel, there was a huge line for casino reservations. Here, there was no line and it was easy to immediately get checked in.

 

THE ROOMS: I read lots of mixed reviews about the Sun. It seemed everyone on Cruise Critic either loved or hated this ship. The pro-Sun contingent gushed about the comparitively big rooms, friendly staff, smaller size, and charming quirks. The anti-sun folks fretted about the age of the ship and the lack of onboard activities. So who was right? I would say both. Indeed, the Sun balcony room was bigger than my Jewel balcony. I also noticed that the staff, in general, was more softspoken and laid back than what I had encountered on the Jewel. While the Sun only has about a 15% larger passenger capacity than the Jewel, the Sun felt much more intimate. I rarely encountered crowds, aside from the buffet (which always seemed to be a zoo). However, the Sun naysayers had some things right. The ship is showing its age. When we arrived in our balcony room, about 15 (dangerous) bare carpet tacks were sticking out near the balcony door, and the balcony door itself was very difficult to open. The phone had issues, and was full of static. The room also hadn't been cleaned particularly well, but I forgave this because I know how difficult it is to turn over so many rooms so quickly between disembarkation and embarkation. I called to guest services, and they sent up a "carpenter". (Did you know that NCL has a carpenter onboard? I didn't.) The carpenter actually did a great job fixing the carpet and the balcony door. The steward was very nice and re-cleaned the bathroom. We were fortunate enough not to have any nearby balcony smokers. We could barely use our balcony on the Jewel because of the smoking situation. My wife is very sensitive to secondhand smoke. On this cruise, it was only occasionally an issue, but I think we just lucked into that. Really looking forward to next cruise when that problem will have been eliminated. The showers weren't very good on the Sun. They are only separated from the rest of the bathroom by a curtain, which tends to stick to your body while you maneuver in the tiny shower. It also had a real problem keeping the same temperature, and I found myself adjusting it about 10 times (not exaggerating) per shower.

 

THE MAIN DINING ROOMS: We did not utilize the main dining rooms. We never set foot in one, so I cannot review them. Sorry.

 

THE BUFFET: The quality of the buffet was acceptable, though I felt the one on the Jewel was better. The Jewel definitely did a better job with the pizza (this pizza kind of had a school cafeteria look and taste to it), and in general the Jewel's buffet had a lot more variety and frankly better food. Keep in mind that I'm not a big buffet lover (despite living in Vegas for 8 years), but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found on the Jewel on my last cruise. This buffet was a lot more in line with what I had found on other cruise lines in the past -- okay, not great. This buffet was also excessively crowded and chaotic most of the time, which was strange considering that the rest of the ship always seemed so empty (despite a full sailing).

 

CRUISING THE INSIDE PASSAGE -- IF YOU'RE AWAKE AT 3AM AND HAVE NIGHT VISION: The itinerary of this cruise claimed that you would be "cruising the inside passage" on Day 2. I looked forward to this beautiful scenery, only to find myself highly disappointed in NCL for misrepresenting what is basically a scenery-challenged sea day. The definition of "inside passage" is a rather loose one in general, but it definitely implies sailing in between land on both sides, to where there is scenery on both sides of the ship. Unfortunately, that's not what we did or saw on Day 2. We were in the middle of a very wide strait for the entire span of daylight hours, where you see nothing but water. You don't make it to an actual inside passage until well into the middle of the night when it's pitch dark. Despite fairly good visibility throughout the day, I saw almost nothing besides water in every direction on Day 2. So it looks like this "cruising the inside passage" was a marketing gimmick to avoid making it look like there are any non-scenery sea days, and they can legally get away with it because technically you're in an "inside passage", just a very wide one that looks the same as the open ocean. Still pretty shameful. Anyway, they might have learned the error of their ways, as future cruises on this itinerary now list Day 2 as simply "Sea Day".

 

WHERE ARE THE SEA DAY ACTIVITIES? Day 2 wasn't exactly the NCL Sun's brightest moment. In addition to the misrepresentation of "cruising the inside passage", for some reason they barely provided any activities on this otherwise boring sea day. Movies? Nope. Fun, interactive games, like "Win, Lose, or Draw"? None. How about at least a little Nintendo Wii? Not even that. For some reason, these activities didn't start until Day 3 -- the port day in Ketchikan! What was there to do on Day 2? A beanbag toss (I'm not joking) where they closed entry after about 7 minutes, a basketball shooting contest in 30 mph wind, some trivia, and that was pretty much it until the evening. Then you look at Day 3 -- the Ketchikan port day, and there are all kinds of other things to do during the morning and afternoon. The Sun's staff got this backwards. On Days 6 and 7, you see the glaciers (Glacier Bay and Hubbard) in the morning, so the afternoons are basically sea days (this was especially true of Day 7, where you again see nothing but water after leaving Hubbard). Again, the list of activities was rather light, and while better than Day 2, were still inferior to the offerings during the port days. Overall, the Sun just isn't a good ship for onboard activities. It doesn't even have a real movie theater.

 

THE ULTIMATE DINING PACKAGE: I can't say enough good things about the UDP. Definitely get this. There is no charge of any kind at the specialty restaurants, aside from drinks. Want to order 5 main dishes? Go ahead, it's included in the UDP. Want to order from the "$10 upcharge menu" at Le Bistro? Do it -- you won't get charged if you have the UDP. The specialty restaurants are FAR superior to the Main Dining Room. While the service could use some improvement (it still trails far behind fine dining on land), the food is good, and the whole experience is quiet, upscale, and tasty. Best $119 you will ever spend, unless you enjoy eating MDR slop and fighting crowds. Keep in mind that you don't get sushi included in the UDP. A staff member told me you get 20% off sushi with the UDP, but I never verified it. Aside from Teppanyaki, the restaurants were wide open and easy to get seats without reservations at nearly any time.

 

KARAOKE: Karaoke went every night from 9:30-11:30pm. It was a small but lively crowd in the Las Ramblas Tapas bar. All ages were allowed. The karaoke machine was modern and computerized, though it had a few quirks/bugs, and honestly the song selection wasn't very good. Many major songs could not be found. (A good example: The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" was missing.) BTW, here's a suggestion when looking for songs: Always search by title, not artist, or your song may not be found by the system. I don't know if the song selection on the Jewel was the same as here, because I only went one night on that cruise due to coming down with a cold. On this cruise, we went to karaoke 5 nights. My wife sang every night too (she's really good), and our son watched us and behaved himself very well. On Day 6, they had a "qualifying" contest for the Day 7 karaoke finals. Oddly, the audience doesn't vote for the qualifiers, as was the case on other cruise lines. The NCL staff picks the qualifiers, and then the audience votes for the finals. My wife made the finals, and I didn't (which is what I expected). She didn't win, though. Overall, karaoke is one of my favorite features on NCL. They run karaoke every night for 2 hours, while other lines don't run it as long or as often.

 

ROOM SERVICE: Being less than impressed with room service last time, I didn't bother with it this time until disembarkation day. That meal, while just a continental breakfast, did not come as ordered and some of the fruit didn't look good. Bleh. Also, I still maintain NCL should get a pizzeria like other lines, and stop using room service as a way to make $5 each on pizza.

 

4x8 = 39??? Strange glass/bottle pricing on wine on NCL. My wife bought a $39 bottle of wine, but they were selling glasses of that same wine for $8 each. Given that 4 glasses make a bottle, that means you could buy the same amount of wine for $32 ($7 cheaper) if you just do it by the glass! Never seen that before! We bought the bottle anyway, simply it for the convenience of being able to pour exactly how much she wanted each night. They did have a 15% off coupon which brought it down to about $33 (before gratuity), but surprisingly made me go back to my room to get it! Keep in mind that they charge an auto-gratuity of 15% for all drinks ordered onboard.

 

TENDERING: There was no tendering on this trip. It was a nightmare in Belize on our last cruise, so I'm glad I didn't have to deal with this again.

 

I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD! The Sun has a little-publicized Deck 13, where you can go to (near) the very top of the ship, stand in front, and do your best Leonardo DiCaprio imitation. Actually, I thought this was cool, as they had slanted glass walls there where you could lie down, avoid the wind, and see what's coming head-on as the ship sails forward. I didn't find anything like this on the Jewel.

 

TELEVISION: Most of the channels were internal, and tended to be sales crap or super-obvious safety lessons. There was a cruise position information channel, which didn't exist on the Jewel. I had my TV on this channel (20) constantly, except the map was poorly programmed to where most of the time it was showing a super-zoomed-in view of the map which didn't provide you much useful position info. Instead, I relied upon the latitude/longitude coordinates and entered them into my iPhone to see where we really were.

 

CAGNEY'S: We went to Cagney's (steakhouse) twice. It was good both times. My wife really enjoyed their split pea soup, which is thin and totally different than what you'd expect. The meats were good, and while sometimes slow, the service was adequate, as they did get all of our orders right. The one exception to the good food was one of our filets on the first night, which simply didn't taste good, but they replaced it and it was much better. As mentioned earlier, I was a bit annoyed that they made me go up to my room and get the 15% coupon for the wine. All Latitudes members get these coupons (you can print an unlimited number), and our stateroom cards say "Latitudes Bronze" right on the front, so this was just stupid and petty.

 

LE BISTRO: My wife said that the boullabaise didn't taste as good as the one on the Jewel, which she loved. I ordered different items, and liked them all. We both agreed that the lamb chops are the best at this Le Bistro. We dined here three times.

 

LA CUCINA: We went here once. It was okay, just like last time. It's not fine dining by any means, but it's a nice change of pace in the middle of the cruise. My wife commented that the marinara sauce there tasted like Campbell's tomato soup! She had the veal shank (which didn't have marinara) and enjoyed it. I still think La Cucina is better than some people here claim (it's been compared on this forum to the Olive Garden), but it's far from anything special.

 

MODERNO: Ah, Moderno. Maybe one day you guys will get things right for us. On our Jewel cruise, Moderno was a disaster. On that ship, the servers were nasty and refused to give us "seconds" of anything (huge violation of the "Brazilian Steakhouse" concept), and we literally had to beg at the end to be allowed to have a few of the better items again. Overall, the food wasn't that good, either. I didn't bother to complain, and just chalked the experience up to a waste of time and money. This time, on the Sun, I approached the manager beforehand. "You can have as much as you want, and as many times as you want. That's our policy here," he assured. And he was right. In that respect, we didn't have a problem. However, our problem occurred when they served us three meats near the end of our "round" (filet mignon, lamb, and one other beef item), and all were cooked very "well done". Most people don't like beef or lamb cooked that much, as it ends up tasteless and tough. While they aren't taking these to order (and instead they're coming off a skewer), why not just go "medium" and satisfy most people? We complained, and were promised they would remake these items medium-rare for us. Well, they came, but this time they were clearly rare, which we don't like, either. I said, "How about you just do medium?", and they promised a quick replacement. Keep in mind it was 9pm by this point, and almost nobody was left in the restaurant, so it was the opposite of busy. They brought out the medium lamb in about 5-10 minutes, and that was good. However, the filet never showed up. I waited, waited, and waited. I kept asking where it was, and was repeatedly promised, "Just a few minutes, sir". 20 minutes passed, still nothing. At this point, I told them to forget it and that I was leaving. The server said that she kept asking the chef to hurry it up, but for whatever reason he wasn't taking her seriously. What a fiasco. I spoke to the manager later, who had already left for the night. He said that indeed they are supposed to serve these meats medium, and that the 20 minute wait was completely unacceptable. He asked if he could comp our meals, but there was nothing to comp, as we had the UDP. Instead, he offered to purchase us a bottle of wine, which I accepted. He also came down to Le Bistro the next night to make sure we actually received the wine. So Moderno gets good marks for the manager's customer service skills, but poor marks for operations.

 

ONCE YOU GO BACK, YOU WILL ALWAYS GO BACK: I took a chance on getting a "balcony guaranteed" room, as I knew it was possible I would be assigned a lousy room or location. However, knowing that all balcony rooms are on floors 8-10 (relatively the same), and that there isn't really a "terrible location" to have a room, I decided it wasn't that much of a risk. Besides, I had no choice but to accept the guarantee category if I wanted this free upgrade. We ended up getting the second-to-last aft balcony on deck 9 (9274), and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. However, it was a great location. Most things on the Sun are toward the back of the ship. The buffet, 3 of the 4 specialty restaurants, and theater are all in the back. The casino, while midship, is easily accessible from the back. The only two things requiring an appreciable walk were the front desk and the embarkation/debarkation points. If I had to do it all over again, I would hope for an aft balcony.

 

LOCAL FLAVOR: Most of the Sun employees are from the Philippines or India. We wondered why NCL doesn't take advantage of this, and offer some activities or food specific to those regions. There was no Filipino or Indian food onboard, but they did at least try to work in a few activites, including a Bollywood dance class and Tagalog language lessons. They should really do more of this stuff, as well as incorporate some of the food from that region. Why not? They definitely have the expertise on board.

 

UNHAPPY HOURS: The food options are surprisingly poor between 3 and 5pm. They close the buffet, and the replacement semi-outdoor buffet ("Great Outdoors") has a poor selection. Other than that, everything is closed during those hours, unless you want to wait for room service. This was especially noticeable when we got back from Ketchikan (3:30 mandatory back on board time), and struggled to find things to eat.

 

NORWEGIANS GET LAST PRIORITY: For whatever reason, our ship got the worst port location at all 3 ports. By "worst" I mean that we ended up with the location farthest from town. In Juneau, NCL provided a free shuttle to "town", but in reality it just took us from the Sun's worst location to the Pacific Princess' second-worst (but far better than NCL's) location. In Skagway, we had to pay $2 each way for a shuttle to town. Why does NCL get such poor port locations? I wonder if it was just this cruise, or if that's always the case with the Sun in Alaska.

 

POOL SCENE: Alaska cruises are not known for their pool scene, and that's good, because the Sun doesn't have much of one. The pool area is small and unspectacular. We didn't bother to go swimming, as the air was relatively cool outside for all but the first day (as expected).

 

LAUNDRY: I really wish they had self-service laundry. Given our last bad experience with the laundry on NCL (read my Jewel review, linked in my signature), I did a "preemptive strike" by asking them to make sure the clothes were cleaned well. If you read my other review, you will see that we did the $25 "all you can stuff in a bag" special, and the clothes came back smelling like they had just been rinsed and not actually washed. In all likelihood, with so many people doing laundry at once on these specials, they likely overstuff their machines, thus not cleaning the clothes well. I read many similar reports on Cruise Critic. I "pre-complained" this time, telling them I wanted them to be sure our clothes were cleaned properly. They eventually connected me with "the laundry master" (LOL), who assured me the clothes would be cleaned well. He asked me to write "special attention" on the form. The clothes came back cleaner than last time, but still not great. They're much cleaner looking and smelling when I wash them at home. Also, the price went up to $28. I think NCL might have read my last review about the laundry, because they changed something that I criticized here in the past. In December, the laundry bag read, "I Refuse To Do Laundry On My Vacation Bag". They were trying to be cute, but I found it offensive and obnoxious. I wasn't refusing to do laundry -- they were just refusing to let me. Funny enough, the laundry bag is now simply labeled "LAUNDRY BAG" without the cutesy "I refuse to do laundry on my vacation" crap. I wonder if they realized they were pissing people off who actually wanted to do their own laundry. I haven't seen any other reviews mentioning the writing on the bag, so maybe it really was my doing!

 

KIDS PROGRAMS: We didn't use them, so I cannot comment.

 

ITINERARY: I liked this itinerary, as you get to see two glacier areas (Glacier Bay and Hubbard), as well as the standard three Alaskan port stops (Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway), plus you get to spend time in both Vancouver and Anchorage at the beginning and end, respectively. I like one-way cruises for that reason. I had fun in all five places.

 

I CAN'T DRIVE $55: NCL did something very sneaky regarding their disembarkation port of Whittier. In case you aren't familiar with the area, Whittier is a TINY town about 60 miles south of Anchorage. This cruise disembarked there. I was very surprised how, at the time of booking, NCL did not mention at all how it is very difficult to get transportation out of Whittier! In fact, I tried to look up on NCL's site how much they charged for transportation from Whittier to Anchorage, and I couldn't find it. Maybe it exists somewhere, but even if so, it's not obvious at all. I wondered to myself, "What is going to happen to all of these cruisers who don't realize they need hard-to-find transportation out of Whittier? Will they be stuck?" Well, I got my answer. On Day 2 of the cruise, NCL put notices in people's staterooms stating, "You WILL need a ride to Anchorage from Whittier. There are no taxi cabs there. You will need to arrange transfers to Anchorage prior to disembarkation." Then, of course, it went on to sell you the $55-per-person Anchorage bus tickets, as well as the more expensive "bus tours". This didn't affect me, as I had already arranged my own bus ride on Anchorage Tours and Transfers for less than $30 each. (Great company, btw. Was very happy with their bus and service!) But indeed, NCL apparently took the approach of keeping the information hidden on this matter until they literally had everyone captive on the ship and unable to arrange independent travel at that point. They were stuck and had to go with NCL. I thought that was pretty crappy, and it seemmed very intentional. Out of curiosity, I took a stroll down the hallways on the final night to see the luggage tags, which were colored according to whether or not people had NCL transfers or tours booked. The majority of people bought their transfers with NCL, so it looks like their plan worked. For the most part, NCL seems like a pretty straightforward and honest company, but this was shady.

 

CASINO: I mostly avoided the casino, as the games there have poor odds. I did succumb to temptation and play the blackjack tournament, despite the brutal 50% rake (worse than other cruise lines, last I checked). For the first time in four cruises, I failed to make the final table. Oh well... it was just $15.

 

DISEMBARKATION: Super easy. We went through customs during embarkation in Vancouver, as all of the port stops are in the US. I did have trouble finding one of my suitcases, and it turned out it was toppled over in the corner. But that probably happened when others grabbed their nearby suitcases first, so I don't blame NCL.

 

WHAT I LIKED: Ultimate Dining Package, Cagney's, Le Bistro, itinerary, quick/efficient response to early stateroom problems, karaoke, stateroom size, embarkation and disembarkation procedures, staff friendliness, front of deck 13, the price I paid.

 

WHAT I DISLIKED: Lack of self-service laundry, bad showers, false advertising of inside passage cruising, casino rake, closure of buffet from 3-5pm, lack of pizzeria, pool scene, lack of sea day activities, aging ship, sneaky Whittier transfer sales scheme.

 

OVERALL: All three of us had a great time. I ate an obscene amount of food and gained 5-7 pounds (not thrilled about that). The glaciers were beautiful, and we enjoyed all of the ports. The NCL Sun staff was great. Really enjoyed having two rooms, even more than last time. Balcony stateroom is a MUST on Alaska cruises! Kept the costs of this cruise very low, as I did my own excursions (rode the city bus in Ketchikan and rented cars in Juneau & Skagway), and we spent very little on board. Don't ever fly Air Canada Rouge. It's awful (google it if you don't believe me).

 

Let me know if you have any quesitons.

 

Will post reviews/suggestions for our 5 ports (Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Whittier/Anchorage) soon.

Edited August 14, 2014 by pokerpro5

[genealogyfan]

We go in little over a week. Looking forward to it. In regards to your paragraph about NCL telling people about lack of transportation out of Whittier - if NCL can make money out of people who didn't prepare or do their research like you obviously did (great you saved so much money) then I look at is as that's the passengers problem.

 

We are departing out of Whittier and luckily visiting friends who live on the Kenai peninsula so we have a ride - but I would hope passengers would at least search how far it is from Anchorage

 

Can I ask what excursions you did with your 3 year old - I know someone going next year and has young children. Thanks

[grobma]

In regards to your paragraph about NCL telling people about lack of transportation out of Whittier - if NCL can make money out of people who didn't prepare or do their research like you obviously did (great you saved so much money) then I look at is as that's the passengers problem.

 

While I very much appreciate your very detailed and very organized review, the comment above is not the only thing that calls its credibility into question.

 

Up front, you state that you never ate in the MDRs so can't comment on them, yet you later go on to bash the MDRs, referring to their food as "slop."

 

And NCL refers to it as the Inside Passage, because that's what it's called - by EVERYONE. The alternative is to sail the open sea around the other side of Vancouver Island. Accusing NCL of misrepresentation is like blaming someone for not telling you that you can't drive due north from Phoenix to Utah because there's a big hole in the ground.

[dexddd]

Thanks for the review.

 

Curious as to what they are serving in Moderno for breakfast and lunch. When we went and it was called Pacific Heights they had calzones and pizza and pasta dishes in there and curious if that still is the same.

[aubreyc1988]

upon reading your review, I see that you mention you had two rooms, for 2 adults and 1 child. How were the sleeping arrangements made? I just fail to see the need for a second room if there were only three of you

[pokerpro5]

While I very much appreciate your very detailed and very organized review, the comment above is not the only thing that calls its credibility into question.

 

Up front, you state that you never ate in the MDRs so can't comment on them, yet you later go on to bash the MDRs, referring to their food as "slop."

 

And NCL refers to it as the Inside Passage, because that's what it's called - by EVERYONE. The alternative is to sail the open sea around the other side of Vancouver Island. Accusing NCL of misrepresentation is like blaming someone for not telling you that you can't drive due north from Phoenix to Utah because there's a big hole in the ground.

 

I've eaten in the MDR on similar lines and it was very inferior to the specialties. Most people here say the same, so I felt safe stating that without having actually gone to the MDR.

 

I disagree about what you said about the inside passage. It implies some form of scenery, and there is none on the route they chose. Indeed they now lost it as "Sea Day" for future cruises (at least on the brochure I saw), so others likely complained about the same.

[Orygungirl]

As mentioned earlier, I was a bit annoyed that they made me go up to my room and get the 15% coupon for the wine. All Latitudes members get these coupons (you can print an unlimited number), and our stateroom cards say "Latitudes Bronze" right on the front, so this was just stupid and petty.

How did you get this coupon for the wine? I don't see anywhere on line.

[pokerpro5]

upon reading your review, I see that you mention you had two rooms, for 2 adults and 1 child. How were the sleeping arrangements made? I just fail to see the need for a second room if there were only three of you

 

We split up, 1 adult in each room. Having the second room was great, especially on the sea days. Also it was cheaper to get the second room than not to get it.

[pokerpro5]

How did you get this coupon for the wine? I don't see anywhere on line.

 

It was a link to print from my cruise ticket. I'll post it later.

[gerry1.10]

WHO I AM: I took a cruise from Vancouver to Alaska on the Sun from August 4-11, 2014. We had three passengers total -- two adults plus a 3-year-old boy. I am somewhat of a tough customer. I'm not an NCL cheerleader or one who automatically loves everything. At the same time, I'm fair with my expectations. I think you will find this review to be detailed, honest, and reasonable.

 

OUR ROOMS: I'm a Caesar's Seven Stars member, so I am entitled to an oceanview stateroom on Alaska cruises, for the cost of port taxes & NCF (about $440 per person). Seven Stars members get balcony staterooms on all other cruises, but NCL cheaps out on the Alaska benefit, where balconies tend to cost more. It also costs $599+tax (about $800) to bring a third person into the room. However, through some diligent planning and daily watching of ncl.com, I was able to turn this single oceanview room into a balcony room PLUS a second stateroom (inside cabin), PLUS get $250 back and $40 OBC. You read that right. NCL basically paid me $290 to upgrade my stateroom to a balcony AND get a second room. If you're a Caesar's Seven Stars member and want to know how I did it (it's completely legal & within the rules), let me know. Anyway, we had 2 rooms for 3 people, which was actually quite useful in case someone wanted to take a nap or stay up late. It was also nice to have extra storage space.

 

BOARDING: We flew in 2 1/2 days early (Friday night) so we could tour the Vancouver area over the weekend. We boarded on a surprisingly hot 87-degree day (Monday) in Vancouver. The process was much easier and quicker than our Christmas cruise on the Jewel. I also liked the fact that I was able to rent a car from National and return it at the cruise terminal. On the Jewel, there was a huge line for casino reservations. Here, there was no line and it was easy to immediately get checked in.

 

THE ROOMS: I read lots of mixed reviews about the Sun. It seemed everyone on Cruise Critic either loved or hated this ship. The pro-Sun contingent gushed about the comparitively big rooms, friendly staff, smaller size, and charming quirks. The anti-sun folks fretted about the age of the ship and the lack of onboard activities. So who was right? I would say both. Indeed, the Sun balcony room was bigger than my Jewel balcony. I also noticed that the staff, in general, was more softspoken and laid back than what I had encountered on the Jewel. While the Sun only has about a 15% larger passenger capacity than the Jewel, the Sun felt much more intimate. I rarely encountered crowds, aside from the buffet (which always seemed to be a zoo). However, the Sun naysayers had some things right. The ship is showing its age. When we arrived in our balcony room, about 15 (dangerous) bare carpet tacks were sticking out near the balcony door, and the balcony door itself was very difficult to open. The phone had issues, and was full of static. The room also hadn't been cleaned particularly well, but I forgave this because I know how difficult it is to turn over so many rooms so quickly between disembarkation and embarkation. I called to guest services, and they sent up a "carpenter". (Did you know that NCL has a carpenter onboard? I didn't.) The carpenter actually did a great job fixing the carpet and the balcony door. The steward was very nice and re-cleaned the bathroom. We were fortunate enough not to have any nearby balcony smokers. We could barely use our balcony on the Jewel because of the smoking situation. My wife is very sensitive to secondhand smoke. On this cruise, it was only occasionally an issue, but I think we just lucked into that. Really looking forward to next cruise when that problem will have been eliminated. The showers weren't very good on the Sun. They are only separated from the rest of the bathroom by a curtain, which tends to stick to your body while you maneuver in the tiny shower. It also had a real problem keeping the same temperature, and I found myself adjusting it about 10 times (not exaggerating) per shower.

 

THE MAIN DINING ROOMS: We did not utilize the main dining rooms. We never set foot in one, so I cannot review them. Sorry.

 

THE BUFFET: The quality of the buffet was acceptable, though I felt the one on the Jewel was better. The Jewel definitely did a better job with the pizza (this pizza kind of had a school cafeteria look and taste to it), and in general the Jewel's buffet had a lot more variety and frankly better food. Keep in mind that I'm not a big buffet lover (despite living in Vegas for 8 years), but I was pleasantly surprised with what I found on the Jewel on my last cruise. This buffet was a lot more in line with what I had found on other cruise lines in the past -- okay, not great. This buffet was also excessively crowded and chaotic most of the time, which was strange considering that the rest of the ship always seemed so empty (despite a full sailing).

 

CRUISING THE INSIDE PASSAGE -- IF YOU'RE AWAKE AT 3AM AND HAVE NIGHT VISION: The itinerary of this cruise claimed that you would be "cruising the inside passage" on Day 2. I looked forward to this beautiful scenery, only to find myself highly disappointed in NCL for misrepresenting what is basically a scenery-challenged sea day. The definition of "inside passage" is a rather loose one in general, but it definitely implies sailing in between land on both sides, to where there is scenery on both sides of the ship. Unfortunately, that's not what we did or saw on Day 2. We were in the middle of a very wide strait for the entire span of daylight hours, where you see nothing but water. You don't make it to an actual inside passage until well into the middle of the night when it's pitch dark. Despite fairly good visibility throughout the day, I saw almost nothing besides water in every direction on Day 2. So it looks like this "cruising the inside passage" was a marketing gimmick to avoid making it look like there are any non-scenery sea days, and they can legally get away with it because technically you're in an "inside passage", just a very wide one that looks the same as the open ocean. Still pretty shameful. Anyway, they might have learned the error of their ways, as future cruises on this itinerary now list Day 2 as simply "Sea Day".

 

WHERE ARE THE SEA DAY ACTIVITIES? Day 2 wasn't exactly the NCL Sun's brightest moment. In addition to the misrepresentation of "cruising the inside passage", for some reason they barely provided any activities on this otherwise boring sea day. Movies? Nope. Fun, interactive games, like "Win, Lose, or Draw"? None. How about at least a little Nintendo Wii? Not even that. For some reason, these activities didn't start until Day 3 -- the port day in Ketchikan! What was there to do on Day 2? A beanbag toss (I'm not joking) where they closed entry after about 7 minutes, a basketball shooting contest in 30 mph wind, some trivia, and that was pretty much it until the evening. Then you look at Day 3 -- the Ketchikan port day, and there are all kinds of other things to do during the morning and afternoon. The Sun's staff got this backwards. On Days 6 and 7, you see the glaciers (Glacier Bay and Hubbard) in the morning, so the afternoons are basically sea days (this was especially true of Day 7, where you again see nothing but water after leaving Hubbard). Again, the list of activities was rather light, and while better than Day 2, were still inferior to the offerings during the port days. Overall, the Sun just isn't a good ship for onboard activities. It doesn't even have a real movie theater.

 

THE ULTIMATE DINING PACKAGE: I can't say enough good things about the UDP. Definitely get this. There is no charge of any kind at the specialty restaurants, aside from drinks. Want to order 5 main dishes? Go ahead, it's included in the UDP. Want to order from the "$10 upcharge menu" at Le Bistro? Do it -- you won't get charged if you have the UDP. The specialty restaurants are FAR superior to the Main Dining Room. While the service could use some improvement (it still trails far behind fine dining on land), the food is good, and the whole experience is quiet, upscale, and tasty. Best $119 you will ever spend, unless you enjoy eating MDR slop and fighting crowds. Keep in mind that you don't get sushi included in the UDP. A staff member told me you get 20% off sushi with the UDP, but I never verified it. Aside from Teppanyaki, the restaurants were wide open and easy to get seats without reservations at nearly any time.

 

KARAOKE: Karaoke went every night from 9:30-11:30pm. It was a small but lively crowd in the Las Ramblas Tapas bar. All ages were allowed. The karaoke machine was modern and computerized, though it had a few quirks/bugs, and honestly the song selection wasn't very good. Many major songs could not be found. (A good example: The Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" was missing.) BTW, here's a suggestion when looking for songs: Always search by title, not artist, or your song may not be found by the system. I don't know if the song selection on the Jewel was the same as here, because I only went one night on that cruise due to coming down with a cold. On this cruise, we went to karaoke 5 nights. My wife sang every night too (she's really good), and our son watched us and behaved himself very well. On Day 6, they had a "qualifying" contest for the Day 7 karaoke finals. Oddly, the audience doesn't vote for the qualifiers, as was the case on other cruise lines. The NCL staff picks the qualifiers, and then the audience votes for the finals. My wife made the finals, and I didn't (which is what I expected). She didn't win, though. Overall, karaoke is one of my favorite features on NCL. They run karaoke every night for 2 hours, while other lines don't run it as long or as often.

 

ROOM SERVICE: Being less than impressed with room service last time, I didn't bother with it this time until disembarkation day. That meal, while just a continental breakfast, did not come as ordered and some of the fruit didn't look good. Bleh. Also, I still maintain NCL should get a pizzeria like other lines, and stop using room service as a way to make $5 each on pizza.

 

4x8 = 39??? Strange glass/bottle pricing on wine on NCL. My wife bought a $39 bottle of wine, but they were selling glasses of that same wine for $8 each. Given that 4 glasses make a bottle, that means you could buy the same amount of wine for $32 ($7 cheaper) if you just do it by the glass! Never seen that before! We bought the bottle anyway, simply it for the convenience of being able to pour exactly how much she wanted each night. They did have a 15% off coupon which brought it down to about $33 (before gratuity), but surprisingly made me go back to my room to get it! Keep in mind that they charge an auto-gratuity of 15% for all drinks ordered onboard.

 

TENDERING: There was no tendering on this trip. It was a nightmare in Belize on our last cruise, so I'm glad I didn't have to deal with this again.

 

I'M THE KING OF THE WORLD! The Sun has a little-publicized Deck 13, where you can go to (near) the very top of the ship, stand in front, and do your best Leonardo DiCaprio imitation. Actually, I thought this was cool, as they had slanted glass walls there where you could lie down, avoid the wind, and see what's coming head-on as the ship sails forward. I didn't find anything like this on the Jewel.

 

TELEVISION: Most of the channels were internal, and tended to be sales crap or super-obvious safety lessons. There was a cruise position information channel, which didn't exist on the Jewel. I had my TV on this channel (20) constantly, except the map was poorly programmed to where most of the time it was showing a super-zoomed-in view of the map which didn't provide you much useful position info. Instead, I relied upon the latitude/longitude coordinates and entered them into my iPhone to see where we really were.

 

CAGNEY'S: We went to Cagney's (steakhouse) twice. It was good both times. My wife really enjoyed their split pea soup, which is thin and totally different than what you'd expect. The meats were good, and while sometimes slow, the service was adequate, as they did get all of our orders right. The one exception to the good food was one of our filets on the first night, which simply didn't taste good, but they replaced it and it was much better. As mentioned earlier, I was a bit annoyed that they made me go up to my room and get the 15% coupon for the wine. All Latitudes members get these coupons (you can print an unlimited number), and our stateroom cards say "Latitudes Bronze" right on the front, so this was just stupid and petty.

 

LE BISTRO: My wife said that the boullabaise didn't taste as good as the one on the Jewel, which she loved. I ordered different items, and liked them all. We both agreed that the lamb chops are the best at this Le Bistro. We dined here three times.

 

LA CUCINA: We went here once. It was okay, just like last time. It's not fine dining by any means, but it's a nice change of pace in the middle of the cruise. My wife commented that the marinara sauce there tasted like Campbell's tomato soup! She had the veal shank (which didn't have marinara) and enjoyed it. I still think La Cucina is better than some people here claim (it's been compared on this forum to the Olive Garden), but it's far from anything special.

 

MODERNO: Ah, Moderno. Maybe one day you guys will get things right for us. On our Jewel cruise, Moderno was a disaster. On that ship, the servers were nasty and refused to give us "seconds" of anything (huge violation of the "Brazilian Steakhouse" concept), and we literally had to beg at the end to be allowed to have a few of the better items again. Overall, the food wasn't that good, either. I didn't bother to complain, and just chalked the experience up to a waste of time and money. This time, on the Sun, I approached the manager beforehand. "You can have as much as you want, and as many times as you want. That's our policy here," he assured. And he was right. In that respect, we didn't have a problem. However, our problem occurred when they served us three meats near the end of our "round" (filet mignon, lamb, and one other beef item), and all were cooked very "well done". Most people don't like beef or lamb cooked that much, as it ends up tasteless and tough. While they aren't taking these to order (and instead they're coming off a skewer), why not just go "medium" and satisfy most people? We complained, and were promised they would remake these items medium-rare for us. Well, they came, but this time they were clearly rare, which we don't like, either. I said, "How about you just do medium?", and they promised a quick replacement. Keep in mind it was 9pm by this point, and almost nobody was left in the restaurant, so it was the opposite of busy. They brought out the medium lamb in about 5-10 minutes, and that was good. However, the filet never showed up. I waited, waited, and waited. I kept asking where it was, and was repeatedly promised, "Just a few minutes, sir". 20 minutes passed, still nothing. At this point, I told them to forget it and that I was leaving. The server said that she kept asking the chef to hurry it up, but for whatever reason he wasn't taking her seriously. What a fiasco. I spoke to the manager later, who had already left for the night. He said that indeed they are supposed to serve these meats medium, and that the 20 minute wait was completely unacceptable. He asked if he could comp our meals, but there was nothing to comp, as we had the UDP. Instead, he offered to purchase us a bottle of wine, which I accepted. He also came down to Le Bistro the next night to make sure we actually received the wine. So Moderno gets good marks for the manager's customer service skills, but poor marks for operations.

 

ONCE YOU GO BACK, YOU WILL ALWAYS GO BACK: I took a chance on getting a "balcony guaranteed" room, as I knew it was possible I would be assigned a lousy room or location. However, knowing that all balcony rooms are on floors 8-10 (relatively the same), and that there isn't really a "terrible location" to have a room, I decided it wasn't that much of a risk. Besides, I had no choice but to accept the guarantee category if I wanted this free upgrade. We ended up getting the second-to-last aft balcony on deck 9 (9274), and I wasn't sure how I felt about that. However, it was a great location. Most things on the Sun are toward the back of the ship. The buffet, 3 of the 4 specialty restaurants, and theater are all in the back. The casino, while midship, is easily accessible from the back. The only two things requiring an appreciable walk were the front desk and the embarkation/debarkation points. If I had to do it all over again, I would hope for an aft balcony.

 

LOCAL FLAVOR: Most of the Sun employees are from the Philippines or India. We wondered why NCL doesn't take advantage of this, and offer some activities or food specific to those regions. There was no Filipino or Indian food onboard, but they did at least try to work in a few activites, including a Bollywood dance class and Tagalog language lessons. They should really do more of this stuff, as well as incorporate some of the food from that region. Why not? They definitely have the expertise on board.

 

UNHAPPY HOURS: The food options are surprisingly poor between 3 and 5pm. They close the buffet, and the replacement semi-outdoor buffet ("Great Outdoors") has a poor selection. Other than that, everything is closed during those hours, unless you want to wait for room service. This was especially noticeable when we got back from Ketchikan (3:30 mandatory back on board time), and struggled to find things to eat.

 

NORWEGIANS GET LAST PRIORITY: For whatever reason, our ship got the worst port location at all 3 ports. By "worst" I mean that we ended up with the location farthest from town. In Juneau, NCL provided a free shuttle to "town", but in reality it just took us from the Sun's worst location to the Pacific Princess' second-worst (but far better than NCL's) location. In Skagway, we had to pay $2 each way for a shuttle to town. Why does NCL get such poor port locations? I wonder if it was just this cruise, or if that's always the case with the Sun in Alaska.

 

POOL SCENE: Alaska cruises are not known for their pool scene, and that's good, because the Sun doesn't have much of one. The pool area is small and unspectacular. We didn't bother to go swimming, as the air was relatively cool outside for all but the first day (as expected).

 

LAUNDRY: I really wish they had self-service laundry. Given our last bad experience with the laundry on NCL (read my Jewel review, linked in my signature), I did a "preemptive strike" by asking them to make sure the clothes were cleaned well. If you read my other review, you will see that we did the $25 "all you can stuff in a bag" special, and the clothes came back smelling like they had just been rinsed and not actually washed. In all likelihood, with so many people doing laundry at once on these specials, they likely overstuff their machines, thus not cleaning the clothes well. I read many similar reports on Cruise Critic. I "pre-complained" this time, telling them I wanted them to be sure our clothes were cleaned properly. They eventually connected me with "the laundry master" (LOL), who assured me the clothes would be cleaned well. He asked me to write "special attention" on the form. The clothes came back cleaner than last time, but still not great. They're much cleaner looking and smelling when I wash them at home. Also, the price went up to $28. I think NCL might have read my last review about the laundry, because they changed something that I criticized here in the past. In December, the laundry bag read, "I Refuse To Do Laundry On My Vacation Bag". They were trying to be cute, but I found it offensive and obnoxious. I wasn't refusing to do laundry -- they were just refusing to let me. Funny enough, the laundry bag is now simply labeled "LAUNDRY BAG" without the cutesy "I refuse to do laundry on my vacation" crap. I wonder if they realized they were pissing people off who actually wanted to do their own laundry. I haven't seen any other reviews mentioning the writing on the bag, so maybe it really was my doing!

 

KIDS PROGRAMS: We didn't use them, so I cannot comment.

 

ITINERARY: I liked this itinerary, as you get to see two glacier areas (Glacier Bay and Hubbard), as well as the standard three Alaskan port stops (Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway), plus you get to spend time in both Vancouver and Anchorage at the beginning and end, respectively. I like one-way cruises for that reason. I had fun in all five places.

 

I CAN'T DRIVE $55: NCL did something very sneaky regarding their disembarkation port of Whittier. In case you aren't familiar with the area, Whittier is a TINY town about 60 miles south of Anchorage. This cruise disembarked there. I was very surprised how, at the time of booking, NCL did not mention at all how it is very difficult to get transportation out of Whittier! In fact, I tried to look up on NCL's site how much they charged for transportation from Whittier to Anchorage, and I couldn't find it. Maybe it exists somewhere, but even if so, it's not obvious at all. I wondered to myself, "What is going to happen to all of these cruisers who don't realize they need hard-to-find transportation out of Whittier? Will they be stuck?" Well, I got my answer. On Day 2 of the cruise, NCL put notices in people's staterooms stating, "You WILL need a ride to Anchorage from Whittier. There are no taxi cabs there. You will need to arrange transfers to Anchorage prior to disembarkation." Then, of course, it went on to sell you the $55-per-person Anchorage bus tickets, as well as the more expensive "bus tours". This didn't affect me, as I had already arranged my own bus ride on Anchorage Tours and Transfers for less than $30 each. (Great company, btw. Was very happy with their bus and service!) But indeed, NCL apparently took the approach of keeping the information hidden on this matter until they literally had everyone captive on the ship and unable to arrange independent travel at that point. They were stuck and had to go with NCL. I thought that was pretty crappy, and it seemmed very intentional. Out of curiosity, I took a stroll down the hallways on the final night to see the luggage tags, which were colored according to whether or not people had NCL transfers or tours booked. The majority of people bought their transfers with NCL, so it looks like their plan worked. For the most part, NCL seems like a pretty straightforward and honest company, but this was shady.

 

CASINO: I mostly avoided the casino, as the games there have poor odds. I did succumb to temptation and play the blackjack tournament, despite the brutal 50% rake (worse than other cruise lines, last I checked). For the first time in four cruises, I failed to make the final table. Oh well... it was just $15.

 

DISEMBARKATION: Super easy. We went through customs during embarkation in Vancouver, as all of the port stops are in the US. I did have trouble finding one of my suitcases, and it turned out it was toppled over in the corner. But that probably happened when others grabbed their nearby suitcases first, so I don't blame NCL.

 

WHAT I LIKED: Ultimate Dining Package, Cagney's, Le Bistro, itinerary, quick/efficient response to early stateroom problems, karaoke, stateroom size, embarkation and disembarkation procedures, staff friendliness, front of deck 13, the price I paid.

 

WHAT I DISLIKED: Lack of self-service laundry, bad showers, false advertising of inside passage cruising, casino rake, closure of buffet from 3-5pm, lack of pizzeria, pool scene, lack of sea day activities, aging ship, sneaky Whittier transfer sales scheme.

 

OVERALL: All three of us had a great time. I ate an obscene amount of food and gained 5-7 pounds (not thrilled about that). The glaciers were beautiful, and we enjoyed all of the ports. The NCL Sun staff was great. Really enjoyed having two rooms, even more than last time. Balcony stateroom is a MUST on Alaska cruises! Kept the costs of this cruise very low, as I did my own excursions (rode the city bus in Ketchikan and rented cars in Juneau & Skagway), and we spent very little on board. Don't ever fly Air Canada Rouge. It's awful (google it if you don't believe me).

 

Let me know if you have any quesitons.

 

Will post reviews/suggestions for our 5 ports (Vancouver, Ketchikan, Juneau, Skagway, Whittier/Anchorage) soon.

 

Hi PokerPro

 

Can you list who the officers were on your sailing?

 

thanks

[bagluvr]

Thanks for your review. We are sailing on the Sun next summer and I am really debating getting the UDP. I appreciated reading your thoughts on the matter. I look forward to your review of the ports.

[pokerpro5]

Here are the coupons, good til 12/31/2015.

 

The wine one is on the second page. Print multiple copes if you want to get the 15% off on multiple bottles.

 

http://www.ncl.com/csimages/938/568/OnboardCoupons2013.pdf

[pokerpro5]

Hi PokerPro

 

Can you list who the officers were on your sailing?

 

thanks

 

Sorry, don't remember their names. I know our captain was Swedish, and our hotel manager was an older black American man who had been with NCL for almost 40 years.

[pokerpro5]

Thanks for the review.

 

Curious as to what they are serving in Moderno for breakfast and lunch. When we went and it was called Pacific Heights they had calzones and pizza and pasta dishes in there and curious if that still is the same.

 

Pacific Heights is gone.

 

Did not go up to Moderno for breakfast, but it was listed as "deluxe continental", whatever that means.

[pokerpro5]

We go in little over a week. Looking forward to it. In regards to your paragraph about NCL telling people about lack of transportation out of Whittier - if NCL can make money out of people who didn't prepare or do their research like you obviously did (great you saved so much money) then I look at is as that's the passengers problem.

 

We are departing out of Whittier and luckily visiting friends who live on the Kenai peninsula so we have a ride - but I would hope passengers would at least search how far it is from Anchorage

 

Can I ask what excursions you did with your 3 year old - I know someone going next year and has young children. Thanks

 

Our 3-year-old is not typical, and has as much fun doing many "adult" activities as the kiddie ones. Not that he's super-sophisticated, but more that he can find fun in anything. (For example, he found fun in staying in the Holiday Inn Express in Vancouver!)

 

We didn't go on any tours or excursions. We took the city bus in Ketchikan to Totem Bight State Park, as well as went to see the salmon ladder in town. We rented a car in Juneau and Skagway, driving to Mendenhall and the Glacier Highway in Juneau, and up the Klondike highway in Skagway. Some kids would find this stuff boring, but my son enjoyed it all, especially the tidepools at Totem Bight (a little known feature there).

[Orygungirl]

Here are the coupons, good til 12/31/2015.

 

The wine one is on the second page. Print multiple copes if you want to get the 15% off on multiple bottles.

 

http://www.ncl.com/csimages/938/568/OnboardCoupons2013.pdf

 

Thanks! I got these too, just didn't remember the wine one.

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[sjbdtz]

OUR ROOMS: I'm a Caesar's Seven Stars member, so I am entitled to an oceanview stateroom on Alaska cruises, for the cost of port taxes & NCF (about $440 per person). Seven Stars members get balcony staterooms on all other cruises, but NCL cheaps out on the Alaska benefit,

 

Actually....that's Caesars. Casinos At Sea would give you a suite, if your play warranted it, Alaska or not.

 

 

CRUISING THE INSIDE PASSAGE -- The definition of "inside passage" is a rather loose one in general,

 

Actually, it's fairly well-defined, and used similarly by other cruiselines too. You are in a sheltered passage. If you had binoculars, as people 'typically' do when they go to Alaska, you could easily see the shore on both sides.

 

 

You don't make it to an actual inside passage until well into the middle of the night when it's pitch dark.

 

So you WERE awake at 3 a.m. and you DO have night vision?

 

 

Still pretty shameful. Anyway, they might have learned the error of their ways, as future cruises on this itinerary now list Day 2 as simply "Sea Day".

 

LOL. Just LOL.

 

 

 

WHERE ARE THE SEA DAY ACTIVITIES? It doesn't even have a real movie theater.

 

Why on earth would you need a cruise ship to have a movie theater?

 

 

THE ULTIMATE DINING PACKAGE: I can't say enough good things about the UDP. Definitely get this. There is no charge of any kind at the specialty restaurants, aside from drinks. Want to order 5 main dishes? Go ahead, it's included in the UDP. Want to order from the "$10 upcharge menu" at Le Bistro? Do it -- you won't get charged if you have the UDP. The specialty restaurants are FAR superior to the Main Dining Room. While the service could use some improvement (it still trails far behind fine dining on land), the food is good, and the whole experience is quiet, upscale, and tasty. Best $119 you will ever spend, unless you enjoy eating MDR slop and fighting crowds. Keep in mind that you don't get sushi included in the UDP. A staff member told me you get 20% off sushi with the UDP, but I never verified it. Aside from Teppanyaki, the restaurants were wide open and easy to get seats without reservations at nearly any time.

 

So Teppanyaki was included?

 

 

4x8 = 39??? Strange glass/bottle pricing on wine on NCL. My wife bought a $39 bottle of wine, but they were selling glasses of that same wine for $8 each. Given that 4 glasses make a bottle, that means you could buy the same amount of wine for $32 ($7 cheaper) if you just do it by the glass! Never seen that before! We bought the bottle anyway, simply it for the convenience of being able to pour exactly how much she wanted each night. They did have a 15% off coupon which brought it down to about $33 (before gratuity), but surprisingly made me go back to my room to get it! Keep in mind that they charge an auto-gratuity of 15% for all drinks ordered onboard.

 

Based on a 5oz serving size, you should get 5 glasses per 750ml bottle, thus saving $1 by buying the bottle vs. by-the-glass.

 

 

 

TELEVISION: ...except the map was poorly programmed to where most of the time it was showing a super-zoomed-in view of the map which didn't provide you much useful position info. Instead, I relied upon the latitude/longitude coordinates and entered them into my iPhone to see where we really were.

 

How much airtime on your iPhone did that take? Did you buy a special plan, or just pay-by-the-minute onboard?

 

 

CAGNEY'S: We went to Cagney's (steakhouse) twice. The one exception to the good food was one of our filets on the first night, which simply didn't taste good, but they replaced it and it was much better. As mentioned earlier, I was a bit annoyed that they made me go up to my room and get the 15% coupon for the wine. All Latitudes members get these coupons (you can print an unlimited number), and our stateroom cards say "Latitudes Bronze" right on the front, so this was just stupid and petty.

 

If you had a discount coupon, why would it surprise you that they wanted you to actually HAVE it, in order to use it? I've never been able to use any coupon, anywhere....simply by claiming I have one at home.

 

 

MODERNO: Ah, Moderno. Maybe one day you guys will get things right for us. On our Jewel cruise, Moderno was a disaster. On that ship, the servers were nasty and refused to give us "seconds" of anything (huge violation of the "Brazilian Steakhouse" concept), and we literally had to beg at the end to be allowed to have a few of the better items again.

 

Side note: I'd have paid to see this... :p

 

 

While they aren't taking these to order (and instead they're coming off a skewer), why not just go "medium" and satisfy most people? We complained, and were promised they would remake these items medium-rare for us.

 

Little-known fact about Moderno (at least on the last 4 ships, when we realized it was possible), you can ask for any type of meat, cooked to your preferred temperature, outside of the skewers the gauchos are carrying around.

 

 

 

Well, they came, but this time they were clearly rare, which we don't like, either. I said, "How about you just do medium?", and they promised a quick replacement. Keep in mind it was 9pm by this point, and almost nobody was left in the restaurant, so it was the opposite of busy.

 

Is that "not busy"? :confused:

 

 

 

LOCAL FLAVOR: Most of the Sun employees are from the Philippines or India. We wondered why NCL doesn't take advantage of this, and offer some activities or food specific to those regions. There was no Filipino or Indian food onboard, but they did at least try to work in a few activites, including a Bollywood dance class and Tagalog language lessons. They should really do more of this stuff, as well as incorporate some of the food from that region. Why not? They definitely have the expertise on board.

 

 

Just because their crew are Filipino or Indian, doesn't mean most of their guests are looking for a Filipino or Indian experience, or food. That's typically why they wouldn't incorporate those things.

 

NORWEGIANS GET LAST PRIORITY: For whatever reason, our ship got the worst port location at all 3 ports. By "worst" I mean that we ended up with the location farthest from town. In Juneau, NCL provided a free shuttle to "town", but in reality it just took us from the Sun's worst location to the Pacific Princess' second-worst (but far better than NCL's) location. In Skagway, we had to pay $2 each way for a shuttle to town. Why does NCL get such poor port locations? I wonder if it was just this cruise, or if that's always the case with the Sun in Alaska.

 

Just this case. We had a good parking spot when we were there.

 

 

I CAN'T DRIVE $55: NCL did something very sneaky regarding their disembarkation port of Whittier. In case you aren't familiar with the area, Whittier is a TINY town about 60 miles south of Anchorage. This cruise disembarked there. I was very surprised how, at the time of booking, NCL did not mention at all how it is very difficult to get transportation out of Whittier! In fact, I tried to look up on NCL's site how much they charged for transportation from Whittier to Anchorage, and I couldn't find it. Maybe it exists somewhere, but even if so, it's not obvious at all. I wondered to myself, "What is going to happen to all of these cruisers who don't realize they need hard-to-find transportation out of Whittier? Will they be stuck?" Well, I got my answer. On Day 2 of the cruise, NCL put notices in people's staterooms stating, "You WILL need a ride to Anchorage from Whittier. There are no taxi cabs there. You will need to arrange transfers to Anchorage prior to disembarkation." Then, of course, it went on to sell you the $55-per-person Anchorage bus tickets, as well as the more expensive "bus tours". This didn't affect me, as I had already arranged my own bus ride on Anchorage Tours and Transfers for less than $30 each. (Great company, btw. Was very happy with their bus and service!) But indeed, NCL apparently took the approach of keeping the information hidden on this matter until they literally had everyone captive on the ship and unable to arrange independent travel at that point. They were stuck and had to go with NCL. I thought that was pretty crappy, and it seemmed very intentional. Out of curiosity, I took a stroll down the hallways on the final night to see the luggage tags, which were colored according to whether or not people had NCL transfers or tours booked. The majority of people bought their transfers with NCL, so it looks like their plan worked. For the most part, NCL seems like a pretty straightforward and honest company, but this was shady.

 

Strange, I'd have blamed the taxi companies. They knew there was a ship coming in, why wouldn't they have taxis there?

 

I blame the bus companies. Why wouldn't the $30 company have a bus just sitting there selling $30 tickets?

 

 

sheesh.... NCL sells cruises, and they sell shore excursions, and they sell booze and they operate a casino. They're not obligated to spoon-feed every tid-bit of information (whether they knew it or not), about every destination they serve. In fact, they fairly prominently advise passengers to do their own research.

 

Clearly some people had, or you'd have been on the $30 bus alone. So this notion that this was a setup is REALLY hard to swallow...but then again, I'm not 'typically' a conspiracy theorist.

 

 

 

 

DISEMBARKATION: Super easy. We went through customs during embarkation in Vancouver, as all of the port stops are in the US. I did have trouble finding one of my suitcases, and it turned out it was toppled over in the corner. But that probably happened when others grabbed their nearby suitcases first, so I don't blame NCL.

 

I'm surprised you don't blame NCL. Seems AS much their fault as the other things you blame them for.

 

 

 

 

If the process for getting $290 back, and a 2nd room is within the rules, etc. then why not share the process with all of us?

[davesgirl51]

Sorry, don't remember their names. I know our captain was Swedish, and our hotel manager was an older black American man who had been with NCL for almost 40 years.

 

Most of our Captains are Swedish and your Hotel Director was Brian Walters, whose name you would have known if you had taken your complaints to Guest Services (his picture is right there), rather that's waiting to air them here.

 

Now that I know that I am 'older', I can officially smack you upside your face for not knowing his name. As an aside, not only is Sir Brian one of the kindest, gentlest man I have met and a great HD to boot, he is the "oldest" employee with the longest service record. You would do well to get to know him. Sheesh. :rolleyes:

[pokerpro5]

Most of our Captains are Swedish and your Hotel Director was Brian Walters, whose name you would have known if you had taken your complaints to Guest Services (his picture is right there), rather that's waiting to air them here.

 

Now that I know that I am 'older', I can officially smack you upside your face for not knowing his name. As an aside, not only is Sir Brian one of the kindest, gentlest man I have met and a great HD to boot, he is the "oldest" employee with the longest service record. You would do well to get to know him. Sheesh. :rolleyes:

 

My complaints were minor and not worthy of bothering the hotel director.

 

Yes, his name was Brian Walters. Sorry for not memorizing his name. I also don't know the names of the hotel managers of any of the hotels I stayed in before the cruise. Why do I deserve a "smack upside the face" for not memorizing the guy's name? I can guarantee that the vast majority of passengers also would not be able to name him a few days after disembarking.

 

You are getting uppity over nothing.

 

No criticism of Brian, btw. He seemed like he was doing a good job, and if I felt otherwise, then I would have visited him.

[Host Jazzbeau]

Sorry that you didn't find the Cruise Critic Alaska Forum, which has lots of good information about how to get to/from Whittier.

 

A little pre-cruise planning is so much better than a lot of post-cruise complaining.

[pokerpro5]

Sorry that you didn't find the Cruise Critic Alaska Forum, which has lots of good information about how to get to/from Whittier.

 

A little pre-cruise planning is so much better than a lot of post-cruise complaining.

 

Read it again.

 

I planned just fine and arranged my own transportation. My "complaining" about Whittier was on behalf of the many cruisers who don't read CC.

 

Moderators like you should try reading more carefully before making snide comments to members here.

[aubreyc1988]

Read it again.

 

 

 

I planned just fine and arranged my own transportation. My "complaining" about Whittier was on behalf of the many cruisers who don't read CC.

 

 

 

Moderators like you should try reading more carefully before making snide comments to members here.

 

 

Honestly, I felt like the moderator was trying to provide constructive help. The internet is a perfect place for innocent comments or helpful tips to be considered snide or rude, because it is hard to decipher the tone in which things are said.

 

 

Don't take this as as slight to you, because I do not mean it that way. I appreciate your review. I do not agree with several things that you wrote about, however, I enjoy reading things from different perspectives and that's what makes CC so useful. You don't have to agree with me and I don't have to agree with you, and I definitely don't think the moderator meant to be snide, but to offer advice.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[orchid72]

Pokerpro5, thanks for what I thought was a well-balanced review.

 

The Sun was the first ship I cruised on with NCL and we will be sailing on it again in a few weeks, so I was curious to see what it is like now. Based on your review and those of others, I am quite sad to read (but not surprised) that there seems to be a consensus that the cruising experience has been declining the last few years (and this is not exclusive to NCL either).

 

I agree with you on your take about the Inside Passage, because that was my experience in 2012, which was vastly different from my experience in 2007.

 

In 2007, we too sailed on the east side of Van Island, but we sailed the "true" Inside Passage. We sailed between the islands slowly and at times it felt like I could just reach out and touch the trees. I think that particular route was made possible by the fact we did not sail as far as Glacier Bay and just stuck to Tracy Arm. It's a shame as I was looking forward to that again.

 

P.S. Sorry for all the snarkiness hurled at you. :( I think this is the reason I've stopped posting reviews on CC. (That said, I think people here are much kinder than the ones on the Rick Steves forum! ):D

[jskinsd]

I loved your review:). You are a person who doesn't sugarcoat it. Just tell it like it is. Now I am going to sail on the Sun tomorrow doing a back to back. This will be my 5th and 6th cruises on the Sun this season alone. Everything you mentioned in your review I totally agree with. Now, I may not have a extra room but I have been able to cruise the Sun solo 6 times this season and for less than $5000. That's it, total costs for all 6 cruises. All insides and one balcony. I too , get my moneys worth and more. My goal is to cruise like Budget Queen. She is my hero. I travel for value and itenerary. It is to bad you didn't take the southbound cruise. You travel thru the inside passage during the day. Land everywere. And you pass Robson Bight which is where Orcas like to feed. They were feeding on my last cruise and I saw more killers whales that day than all my Alaskan cruises combined. Just luck.

Thanks again for your honesty. I know you will cruise Alaska again and probably NCL.:)