Sun Review 5th September Northbound

[Naomigruis]

Hi everyone, i have found reviews very helpful and i thought i would give it a go.

 

This is our first time on a NCL cruise although we have Cruise 6 other lines including RCI, Curnard, Carival and P&O. This was my least favourite cruise lIne. I don’t think i will be booking another NCL cruise again.

 

Embarkment: Taxi dropped us off at Canada Place and our bags where taken right away and customs took about 20-30 minutes. We waited another 15-20 to board all up very easy and where on board by 12 noon.

 

Cabin: We had a inside forward, on the whole it was neat and clean although smaller than other lines. The showers have a curtain and are tiny. It took 3 days for our cabin stewart to introduce himself and we saw him only when we went looking, there where a few suites around us and he seemed to spend all his time on those. having said that the cabin where clean and the bed made but that was about it. In the past we have had little extras such as notes and towel animals (only had 2 for the whole cruise and i do enjoy a cute towel animal)

 

Food: We had the four speciality dinning restaurant included with the cruise and we book the Italian, French, Steak and Tepenyaki.

Cagneys (the Steak) the food here was good, the atmosphere was average with people in sneakers and t-shirts, i get that this is a casual restaurant but we would never dress like this to go out at home so i don’t get why you would on a cruise. We did have wine glasses delivered with lipstick on it and this is indicative of the type of service we had thought the cruise.

Italian (can’t remember the name) this was hands down the worst meal i have had on a cruise, the staff may as well have given us a apron and asked us to help serve we where sat so close to the serving station, then when we asked to move the reaction was shocked and took about 10 minutes despite the over 10 tables empty. I did not enjoy the food and did not finish one dish (not even the lobster in fact i didn't eat any of this) We where asked 6 times if we would like another drink yet it took 50 minutes for it to be delivered to the table at this point we walked out.

Le Bistro (French) this was the best meal of the cruise, the food was good the service was good but again with he t-shirts, track suit pants and sneakers (and this was the formal restaurant)

Tepenyaki - We did this not he last night and know most of the people there which made it fun, the food was good and so was the service so another winner.

Food in the Main Dinning room was good (better than the Italian) with the service hit and miss, we had one waiter not say one word for the whole 50 minutes of service!!!

Food in the Food Court- we ate here a few time and it was pretty much standard although no much verity.

 

Drink Package - We had this as our other perk and it was good, I'm not sure i would every buy it as i don't drink that much but my partner does so it was good for him. Overall the service was good and speedy and our favourite staff member was a girl from the Philippines named Maria, she was very sweet and always remembered our names.

 

Tours - i had booked private tours of which two where cancelled due to weather and the other was a total disaster, i have reviews this in the Alaska Section if you want to read it but it really had nothing to do with NCL. Due to our first tour being cancelled due to rain we booked at the last minute with NCL the lumberjack show and the Totem Park, they where great fun, with a great tour guide named ED.

 

Scenic Cruising- This is when this cruise came into its own, the day cruising through Glacier Bay was Magic, the sun came out we had great window seats in the sports bar and a great group of new friends to enjoy the day with.

 

Casino - Was often Smoky so i didn't stay long each night and as such came out $60 ahead - winning

 

The Shows - The quality of the show was very high and the three we went to where very enjoyable.

 

Activities - These where limited, only two trivia a day and one at 9am! This was most likely due to the hype of Itinerary we where on with most people out enjoying the views. A side note that there was no real night life, last night the only bar open past 12 midnight had 4 people in it, so a early night for us.

 

Public Spaces - This was my Least favourite part of this Ship. For the Size of the Ship they felt very Small. nearly every Bar/Restaurant doubled as something else and during the sea days many where closed “for private functions” thus reducing where you could go making those that where left feel crowed. Each time we settled with a group somewhere we had to move after about 45min so that a activity could be held.

 

Disembarkment this was very easy, we self disembark and at 7:30am was able to walk right of, no lines to meet our transfer (we booked this privately)

 

Overall: You know what they say no Cruise is a Bad Cruise and this was not a Bad Cruise but neither for us was it a great cruise. The people we meet on board where great and i loved meeting them all, it was a great mix of people from all over.

 

I would like to point out that this is just my opinion and i know that there are many others that love the Sun. This ship was just not for us.

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for taking the time to share your review. Sorry you did not have a good experience.

[karoo]

Thanks for your great friendship on the cruise! I enjoyed your fun company.

 

 

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Edited September 16, 2016 by karoo

[Naomigruis]

Thanks for your great friendship on the cruise! I enjoyed your fun company.

 

 

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Hi Ya mate :)

 

did you get home ok?

[oilman300]

Sorry to hear that the cruise wasn't to your liking. I guess it was luck of the draw. I was on the same cruise, my first in fact, and didn't encounter any of the shortcomings you did with the exception of not meeting my cabin steward.

 

Even that wasn't a shortcoming to me. The room was made up every day and since I didn't care either way for towel animals, chocolates etc, I had the do not disturb sign on the door at night for my privacy.

 

The food was great, the shows were great, the scenery was great. The only thing not great was the weather and the chest cold I got from running around the rainforest in the rain. Oh well, you can't have everything :)

[easyboy]

Thanks for sharing.

[AquaMarineFerret]

We took the NCL Sun cruise from Vancouver on 22nd August, completing the back-to-back on 5th September. It was our first cruise (if you ignore the very different Nile cruise my wife did with a friend a couple of years ago). With all the build-up - the news of the sewerage smells, the Great Water & Soda Scandal, and so forth - it was with a certain amount of trepidation that we joined the ship at Canada Place. Yet, by the day we disembarked, we were both commenting that not only was our Alaskan holiday one of the best, but that we would cruise aboard the Sun again if the right itinerary comes along.

 

I hope to post my own more detailed review on the forum when I get time to sit down and concentrate on some 'purple prose', but in the meantime just want to say that though we haven't got another cruise line/ship as a standard with which to compare, the NCL Sun suited us almost perfectly. Loved it!

 

True, the destination itself was magical and the fine weather we enjoyed really helped. The crew were, almost without exception, lovely. We got along famously with an assortment of fellow passengers and also the members of Colibri (thanks to Katerina and the lads!) Nearly everything suited us, and especially the relaxed dining. OK, so not everyone followed the guidelines for attire, but we found it amusing to observe the wide range of what folk thought appropriate, particularly on the evenings when the option was to dress up! :)

 

No, NCL and the Sun, are not everyone's 'cup of tea', but for us it was an experience to treasure. Thank you NCL Sun!

 

:)

AMF

 

PS I almost forgot to say: in Karoo's honour I wore my budgie smugglers in the pool the first afternoon - just to tick that box! :p

Edited September 16, 2016 by AquaMarineFerret

[Sauer-kraut]

PS I almost forgot to say: in Karoo's honour I wore my budgie smugglers in the pool the first afternoon - just to tick that box! :p

 

Umm.....if there is no photo proof, it didn't happen! :D Pics please!!

[AquaMarineFerret]

Umm.....if there is no photo proof, it didn't happen! :D Pics please!!

 

Heh-heh! No photos, but just ask the Canadian Port Authority about the massed evacuation of the ship around 3pm! People kept asking us if the water was cold - why would they ask that? :confused:

Edited September 16, 2016 by AquaMarineFerret

[Beth_55]

hmmm I was on the ship that day. Sorry I missed it ! :D and I had to google "budgie smuggler" :eek:

[karoo]

Have to admit- I missed the budgie smuggler event! Even though we were blessed with great weather for Alaska my first 7 days I was definitely missing in action poolside. I also enjoyed and got lots of laughs observing and discussing with other passengers the dinner attire of some passengers, whereby track suits and sneakers/joggers = dinner wear in the smaller/more formal dining room. I've always thought fleecy lined trackies were only something you never dared wear outside the house. Where were the fashion police when we needed them? I guess they passed the dress code as they didn't have shorts, singlets and flip flops on. Maybe I was just a little jealous as I don't actually own a fleecy lined tracky. [emoji6]

 

 

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[AquaMarineFerret]

Our abiding memory was of one couple that seemed to have had a complete communication breakdown on the evening attire front: he was clearly following the NCL dress code and dressing as casually as he dared. She, on the other hand, was dressed to the nines in her cocktail frock! They had their photo taken together in the Atrium too! :)

[karoo]

Well they do say opposites attract! [emoji15]

 

 

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[AquaMarineFerret]

Well they do say opposites attract! [emoji15]

 

 

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Bless 'em! It was great to see so many having such a good time. To be fair, I can very readily forgive poor sartorial sense (lord knows I am guilty!) but bad behaviour is what spoils it for all and we witnessed none of that. Good show people! :)

[karoo]

Yes- bad fashion hurts no one, but badly behaved kids spoils it for everyone. I didn't notice any badly behaved kids on my Alaskan cruise 29th Aug- Sept 12th. If they were on my cruise they weren't where I was. I did avoid the pool and hot tubs- I was indoors keeping warm!

 

 

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[AquaMarineFerret]

"Indoors keeping warm?!" :eek: As I recall the voyage from 29th Aug to 5th Sept was surprisingly sunny. Here's evidence of both sunny weather (28th Aug) and kids being, well, kids in circumstances that would make the Health & Safety police in the UK have seizures. See attached - I hope this works because I've not submitted attachments/photos before on this site!

 

(Please ignore the people at top left, they're from Australia! ;) ).