An NCL Sun Experience: 22nd August to 5th Sept

[AquaMarineFerret]

Loving your review!

 

My parents were on your sailing. Reading this review really makes me wish I had joined them :rolleyes:

 

Sorry! :D At least you know it's probably worth going. ;)

[AquaMarineFerret]

Another beautiful sunny day dawned and the Sun docked at ISP ahead of schedule (again) at the new pier – no tendering required. What a lovely setting! We were in splendid isolation: no other cruise ships berthed. Unlike the other ports so far, the dock wasn’t in town; it is a recently installed pier that is tacked onto the land rather than being a traditional harbour/dock complex. It was quirky. It was pretty much low tide and I simply couldn’t get over the fact that our cruise ship was moored a matter of, what, 30-50m from the rocky shore and the woodland beyond? With the blue skies and the views across the water, it was really rather special.

 

So, this was the stop that was going to be the problem, if we had one. This was the port of call that combined the infamous NCL switch with an excursion we had booked independently. The excursion paperwork stated that the tour would start 30 minutes after the ship docked. That made me nervous – I was awake before 6am…before my wife! :eek: The scheduled arrival was 7am. We were up and breakfasted early. We were off the ship at 7am and waiting at the pick-up point before 7.15am after a swift route march through the blessedly small Adventure Center.

 

It was quiet apart from birdsong, chittering of argumentative squirrels and the periodic whine of the zip-wire accompanied by whoops and screams of its passengers dopplering past – weird! Gradually, small groups of tourists arrived: whale-watching, fishing, a bear tour (not ours) and more whale-watching. Of our party: no sign. :confused: We waited and we quizzed newcomers – nothing. I was fumbling with my mobile phone when my wife announced that the tour guide she had spoken to was calling our tour operator for us – how kind! This, I have to say, was entirely symptomatic of the attitude around here: can do and happy to help.

 

Well, it turns out that we were, in fact, 2hrs early! Our tour wasn’t scheduled to meet until 9.30am! What!? Ah, the light dawned: the original date had been changed but the time had NOT. The Sun had been scheduled to arrive at ISP at 9am on 31st August but the swap with Juneau and earlier arrival time had not altered the tour departure time. All our revised e-tickets said was that the tour would depart half an hour after the ship docked. The obvious assumption was that we would need to be ready by 7.30am – wrong! In my email in-tray, when we got home, was a further e-ticket revision, now including the revised time. Thanks NCL for a stress-free holiday.

 

With almost 2hrs to kill, despite my inclination to explore a little, the decision was made to return to the ship for second breakfast (the earlier one had been a bit hurried and light I will admit). This is where it got ‘interesting’. We thought it would be amusing to catch the crew a little off-guard with such an early return. We laughed about telling them we either didn’t like the place or had seen it, done it. What we didn’t expect was the minor hitch of the security scanning machine spotting my bottle of water and me being quizzed by security as to why I was trying to bring water aboard! I was told I couldn’t bring bottled water on the ship. I patiently explained that the bottle was one I had filled with NCL Sun water the previous night, stored in the fridge and taken ashore this morning for the day.

“You’re not supposed to do that, sir!” Eh?

“It’s water from the ship, not a bottle I have purchased ashore. It’s only full because we are returning to the ship earlier than expected.”

“You must not take food and water ashore or bring it aboard.”

“Yes, but it’s…never mind…do you want me to empty it?”

“Not this time, sir, but don’t do it again – you mustn’t take food and water off the ship.”

“Yes, sorry!”

 

You know what? I continued filling my bottle every night and taking it ashore…so there! :p

 

We returned to our meeting point at 9.15am where we waited with our fellow tourists and guide until almost 10am for someone who never showed. We then piled into our mini-bus for a drive across the island in search of bears and other wildlife. Our guide was Luke, looking every bit the part in cap, opaque sunglasses, beard, fatigues and hiking boots (and his ‘peacekeeper’). He was great: knowledgeable, full of information, humorous, enthusiastic and, importantly, always conscious of our comfort & safety.

 

Firstly, we enjoyed a quick tour of Hoonah (well, it’s only a small place) and then it was out into the sticks. The drive across to where Luke thought our best chance of seeing bear was very scenic but devoid of wildlife sightings. We learned a lot about ‘bear scat’ and also that bears prefer the cool shade of the forest when the area gets fine weather like today – oh terrific!

 

Fortunately, the landscape was beautiful in the sun and Luke kept us entertained with facts and anecdotes about life in the area (including The Farm & The Bush People – you think Big Brother is daft!?) He was also kind enough to try to avoid the worst of the potholes in the road. Boy, oh boy! And there was I thinking the roads in the West Midlands were bad – they’re nothing by comparison!

 

Unlike other, less fortunate tours of the day, we did actually get to see a couple of bears. Down in a shaded valley we had the thrill of meeting the gaze (from a prudent distance across the waters) of Little B (and the B does not stand for Bear!) He’s a handsome fellow with fetching white-trimmed ears and collar (due to some polar bear DNA in his heritage) but has something of an attitude apparently. We watched and heard him enjoying the buffet of dead and dying salmon along the stream shore: crunch, crunch!

 

When we eventually returned to Hoonah, Luke very kindly timed it so that we had a while to relax in the Icy Strait Point Brewing Co where he was heard to arrange his evening meal of authentic, locally-made Thai curry! We returned to the Sun not a little jealous. As we boarded, we were treated to the view of a bald eagle perched in one of the trees near to the pier – how I wish I had brought my 100-400mm zoom on the cruise (but that’s a different tale). At least this bird was a genuine native…unlike the very obviously out-of-place penguin that greeted us earlier in the day as we disembarked. Yes, among the photographic opportunities of the morning was some poor twit garbed as a penguin! I did a double-take and cried: “God, you’re lost!” before hot-footing it away up the pier, running the gauntlet of more photographers wanting to take pictures of us with the ship in the background.

 

That evening we learned that we had been lucky to see two bears – others had drawn a blank – the weather was too sunny & hot. Apparently, like dogs, bears don’t have sweat glands and do their best to stick to cool and dense undergrowth to shelter from the heat. You might say that every cloud does, indeed, have a silver lining when bear-spotting. We also learned that the whale-watchers had done quite well; I enviously heard of various Orca sightings – one of the things I had really hoped for on our holiday.

 

At some point I popped back to the cabin to see if the daily had arrived. I was disappointed to see there was no towel animal on the bed – had Julius run out of repertoire? No. I happened to turn toward the desk unit and found a stripy towel monkey hanging in front of me. I resolved to keep this to myself and, sure enough, when she returned later that night, it took my wife ages to spot the latest addition to our menagerie. :)

 

But I get ahead of myself – after our evening meal we retired to the Observation Lounge to meet up with our friends, have a drink and listen to the music. During the final set of the evening, around 10.45pm or so, a lady burst in from the front deck crying: “The Northern Lights!” Now, I thought it a rather rudely over-enthusiastic way to make a request for the classic piece by Renaissance, but an excess of alcohol works strangely on some... “Oh! Hey! You really mean?! Gangway!!!” I doubt that the clarion call of the ship’s emergency alarm could have emptied the Observation Lounge quite so rapidly. I still have in my mind’s eye an image of Katerina and the guys watching their audience evaporate before their very eyes! Yes, we did apologise the following evening. :)

 

Out on the front observation desk we gathered and watched the show: the sky was swirling with curtains, waves and flashes of greenish light. It was kind of, er, “AWESOME!!” What a wonderfully unexpected bonus to our cruise! We stood there caught between a kind of trance and hugging in celebration. It was breathtakingly gorgeous. And here I do have a teensy admission to make: :o this was the one evening out of seven we had decided to drink the ‘spare’ bottle of wine from our Viva Vino package – I couldn’t muster the coordination to capture the event on camera! I just had to be content to surrender to the experience and go with it. I don’t even recall what time it faded away, but it was certainly long after Colibri and the bar staff had given up and gone to bed! I am told that the show revived again later, but we were done.

 

What an amazing end to the day!

 

[And now for another minor rant: would it not have been a good piece of public service to announce over the PA that the Northern Lights were out? The PA doesn’t get blasted into cabins, only into public areas, so why not let everyone know? I understand that there were passengers who completely missed the show because no-one alerted them to it. How sad is that? The same goes for wildlife sightings – surely it is not beyond the capabilities of the ship’s personnel to let their guests know about whale sightings and such? It’s why many go on these Alaskan cruises. It’s not as if a sudden stampede of passengers is going to tilt the ship to port or starboard is it? Er, is it?]

[AquaMarineFerret]

With the end of our cruise beginning to loom on the horizon, we had one more excursion planned: the Ocean Raft Adventure. But, since our booking wasn’t until 12:45pm and the Sun had docked before 7am, we had plenty of time to enjoy breakfast before taking a stroll into and around town where we decided to join one of the free Ranger-led guided tours. These run pretty much every hour on the hour from the main Park Visitor Centre on 2nd & Broadway and are well worth an hour (or more) of your time. Each tour has a different theme, so you can do more than one during the day and learn a range of new and interesting things about Skagway and its role in the Yukon Gold Rush each time.

 

We enjoyed the informative tour, stopping off at several main points of interest, and made all the more entertaining by crossing paths with one of the tours originating from the nearby ‘house of negotiable affections’. They sure know how to have fun in Skagway! ;)

 

Afterward we took a leisurely wander back toward the tour rendezvous point at the docks where we joined a small group of about other eight tourists and were given a quick introduction to what was ahead of us (first chance to chicken out). Then we all piled onto a bus for the very short ride across the docks to what they call the Thunder Dome.

 

In the Thunder Dome we divested ourselves of spurious outer layers and extra baggage (stored securely away for us) and donned our very stylish and fetching orange coverall, one-size-kind-of-fits-all, suits (second chance to chicken out). We then waddled down to the quay (some of us humming “I’m Leaving On A Jet Plane” if you get the reference) to board the high-power coastal rigid inflatable ‘raft’ (last chance). With all safety briefings done and with assurances that this bright sunny day was ideal for the trip – nice calm sea and no rain lashing down at us – we set off serenely away from the moorings and out toward where the cruise ships sat at their berths (chickening out no longer an option).

 

It was at this point our captain for the day ‘put the hammer down’. We accelerated from a few knots to something far more exhilarating in mere seconds and suddenly I was put in mind of another hit (ooer!): “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun” as we sped straight for the side of the NCL Sun before veering off as we whooped, cheered and waved.

 

This set the tone for much of the rest of this excursion: whizzing along just above the cold, deep waters at speeds in excess of 40mph, usually headed toward a sheer rock wall, before turning abruptly away or coming to a surprisingly swift halt, or doing high-speed ‘doughnuts’ (“raise your arms in the air if you want more!”) Between these we visited waterfalls, bald eagle nests, seals and even a surprisingly nonchalant mink who viewed the cluster of bright orange floating beings as a minor diversion to the day’s business.

 

My wife and I had managed to secure the front seats but agreed to do a midpoint changeover if anyone else fancied being at the bow. Strangely, no-one did – maybe it was due to the one 'small' bucketful of icy water that emerged from nowhere to make my wife scream as it struck her full in the face as we travelled at speed across the waters? (I meant to check the vessel for suspiciously positioned nozzles later but forgot).

 

Returning to the docks where a little more grand-standing was done for the benefit of those still aboard the cruise liners, we disembarked somewhat unsteadily, grinning like idiots and walking a bit like John Wayne after 2hrs+ on those saddle seats. My wife admitted to me afterward that part of the enjoyment was the thrill/fear engendered by her not being able to touch the floor with anything more than her toes as we pulled those tight turns! We think that a couple of our group may have wished they’d done something a little more sedate, but if we return to Skagway that trip will be high on our list of repeats. “Awesome ride!”? Just maybe. :)

 

Departing Skagway in the late afternoon sun, we were treated to a procession of fine mountainous vistas, largely missed on the cruise northward. To port sunlight kissed the scenery with a warm glow, picking out ever-varying colours and textures; to starboard there was the strong contrast of sun through clouds hitting ice-capped peaks versus the shadowed slopes. Dramatic! It went some way toward further vindicating my decision to take the two-week itinerary. It was very difficult to drag myself away from the forward observation deck to get ready for our evening meal – the sights kept on coming and my memory cards bulging ever more full.

 

Later the Northern Lights made a subdued encore. To the naked eye it was rather like seeing the glow of a city on the horizon where you knew no city stood. However, put the camera on a long exposure and it picked up quite a nice display (yes, I was much more ‘with it’ – shame I wasn’t the previous night when they were at their best!) So, I do recommend that even if the light show seems a bit disappointing, find somewhere stable and try a long exposure – you might be surprised.

[AquaMarineFerret]

Saturday morning was admittedly a little ‘flat’, although we did see whales as we breakfasted on the Great Outdoors deck and also not long afterward. There was little to see for much of the morning as we crossed a stretch of ocean with only distant mountains to view. Ahead it was looking ominously cloudy: I began to believe our run of good fortune was about to end – perhaps the weather was finally closing in to give us another taste of ‘normal’ Alaskan conditions? :eek:

 

However, as we approached Ketchikan for our second visit, it stayed bright on the coast, though looking gloomier inland, turning into a day of mixed cloud and sunshine – certainly nothing to complain about. The coast once more closed around us to provide interest on either side, particularly on the approach to the port itself where we docked centrally again, joining another couple of ships at the dock. Indeed, contrary to one review I have recently seen, of the ports on the schedule only the first visit to Juneau involved the Sun being inconveniently docked furthest out.

 

After the previous day’s high jinks on the waves it might have been a pity to try top the experience so we took it easy despite the vague temptation to grab a last minute bargain trip once in port. We decided that, since the ship was arriving around lunchtime, we would give Fat Stan’s pizzas a go rather than dine on-board (oooh, the extravagance!) The problem was that when we sat down with our drinks and checked out the pizza menu, we were informed that the lady who prepares the pizzas wouldn’t be in until 4pm and the lady at the bar couldn’t guarantee that she could reliably provide a gluten free version in her absence. Bother! We decided to scour the bar menu for something obviously GF as a snack to go with our drinks and then return later – these pizzas were highly recommended!

 

Suitably topped up a while later, we browsed Ketchikan, searching for end-of-season bargains and our last batch of freebie trinkets. Annoyingly, the economics worked against us: contrary to expectation, there were few bargains to be found in Ketchikan – the pickings were much richer in Juneau and Skagway - maybe season end was not so close here! I snapped up one rather nice half-price soft cotton dark grey T-shirt (sporting a monochrome bear on a motorbike design since you ask) and that was about it. Maybe it was just as well; this was probably the 6th or 7th shirt I had purchased along with other gifts for folks back home – our suitcases were going to be bulging (as it turned out, one was over the 20kg limit at the airport, but they turned a blind eye).

 

The cloudy dark sky inland made a splendid contrast when photographing the sunlit buildings of Creek Street before we ventured up Park Ave along the creek to the next bridge, falls and salmon ladder. Here we were rewarded with views of the salmon doing their thing. I have never, ever seen so many fish gathered together in one place outside captivity! I was almost prepared to swear I could walk across the pool at the foot of the falls and barely get my feet wet – it was packed! They weren’t there the previous week – I’m sure. Watching them hurling themselves at the rushing water, driven by the need to reach their spawning grounds, only to be swept haplessly back down again, made us want to shout at them to use the ladder provided. Yes, silly isn’t it?

 

I also discovered quite how difficult it is to get a good photo of the classic leaping salmon. I was prepared to stick at it – sooner or later I was sure to succeed. However, half of our little party of two wasn’t so keen; we moved on. We took a bit of a tour around the back roads that lead to the hatchery and totem heritage centre, but in the end didn’t bother with either. If I had been alone I probably would have, but the instinctive imperative to sample some more retail therapy meant that we left a little something to see next time…I hope. At least, unlike the salmon, we theoretically do get a next time. Meanwhile, it was interesting to see a little more of more normal Alaskan residential life as we walked streets away from the tourist hub. Sadly, no sign of the otters by the creek, as described by fellow passengers the previous week – ho-hum. :rolleyes:

 

As promised, at 4pm we shared a 10” gluten free pizza at Fat Stan’s. Worth the wait? Oh, yes! Very enjoyable, thank you! I washed my portion down with a combination I would never have considered at home: a pint of Alaskan pale summer ale with a dash of Alaskan cider added. Surprisingly good – the fruit lifted the taste and balanced the bitterness of the hops. I almost forgot to mention: they even have gluten free beer should you want one.

 

Returning to the ship, we were greeted by the crew performing yet another one of their ‘impromptu’ displays of ‘flash mob’ entertainment. We walked down an avenue of singing and bopping staff in the Atrium. We have to admit that this was one aspect of the cruise we thought added an extra degree of fun and friendliness. From the unexpected birthday choruses and sudden dimming of the lights and rousing renditions of “Hey Baby!” (Why? :confused: Why not? :D) in the MDR to the organised events in Atrium and Stardust, the NCL Sun staff were always entertaining us and underpinning the holiday atmosphere.

 

It also helped that of almost 2000 passengers, every now and again it was nice to be recognised and greeted by crew with whom we had chatted or at least passed the time of day previously. OK, to some degree it ‘helped’ that my wife is coeliac which made us stand out so that we had plenty of conversations with the senior restaurant staff about how we were faring, but lower down the pecking order there were always others who remembered us and were willing to spend a moment or two out of their busy day to be friendly. Even the severe-looking Nicoletta in the Four Seasons would light up with a smile and laugh when provoked.

 

Yes, I am sure they are paid, trained and expected to be friendly, cheery and helpful – I expect all cruise lines have similar standards - but it really helped make the holiday atmosphere that bit more special.

 

Back to the cabin at the end of the evening and we find a cute little towel mouse peeking out from under the turned down sheets. :)

[AquaMarineFerret]

Was my lunchtime activity profitable?

 

 

[ No, this isn't the aftermath of a forest fire in Juneau! :) ]

[BlueLadyBlue]

Was my lunchtime activity profitable?

 

 

[ No, this isn't the aftermath of a forest fire in Juneau! :) ]

 

Absolutely. Amazing photo. Tks

[OhJinkies]

Was my lunchtime activity profitable?

 

 

[ No, this isn't the aftermath of a forest fire in Juneau! :) ]

 

Very nice!

[AquaMarineFerret]

Oh, your poor naive fools! Little do you realise what you have unleashed by encouraging me! :D I have enough photos to bombard CC until we cruise again in a few years! :p

[AquaMarineFerret]

And another from Juneau...

 

 

This is easy once you know how - bad luck folks! ;)

[rochelle_s]

Oh if this is just a sample of your vast number of photos then bring 'em on. Looking forward to seeing some more of Alaska through your talents.

 

 

Rochelle

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[OhJinkies]

I love the fluke shot (not doing a quote since that takes up so much room)!!

[BlueLadyBlue]

OK bring them on. I'm ready for an Alaska photo cruise. 🙃

[AquaMarineFerret]

OK bring them on. I'm ready for an Alaska photo cruise. 🙃

 

To tide you over until January? :)

[AquaMarineFerret]

This is a shot I took as we sailed out on our little whale-watching boat, out of Juneau. It was easy to imagine we were on Loch Ness, hunting Nessie. :)

 

 

I do have some sunny shots somewhere... ;)

[AquaMarineFerret]

Another fine Alaskan day dawned. We were beginning to take this for granted! Sunday was another Sea Day, cruising the Inside Passage down past Vancouver Island toward our final destination. However, the timing and geography mean that the first part of the day involved crossing open sea – nothing of major interest unless the local wildlife cooperates and someone is kind enough to raise the alert (are you reading this NCL people?)

 

We had been alerted by a passenger ‘in the know’ the previous day, however. He told us that sometime in the region of 3-4pm in the afternoon we would be passing through a nature reserve in which the chance of seeing Orca was reasonably good. Ah, finally!

 

So after a relatively unexceptional first part of the morning (during which I took time to do the bulk of my packing), the Sun commenced its run of the Inner Passage. Remember, this is the part of the journey north we missed seeing because it was night-time travel. We were now treated to the scenery of “Beautiful British Columbia” on either side of the ship – very green and pleasant. The convoluted coast passed with its islands, islets, inlets and occasional coastal vessels or lighthouses, so no chance of me having my nose stuck in a Kindle all afternoon for sure.

 

I was rewarded by sightings of porpoises, a couple of Humpbacks (one passing almost under the bow but diving before a better view could be had) and…lo and behold…admittedly more distant than I would prefer…a small pod of Orcas. Yay! I had decided to move from port to starboard through the ship’s interior when I spotted them through the railings as I emerged on the starboard – pure random luck! They were a good couple of hundred yards or more away, but those dorsal fins were unmistakable. I joined a gentleman from Chicago (it turns out) at the ship’s rail and watched companionably in hope of a better sighting. Unfortunately, they stayed distant and we saw no more, but at least I had seen some. My holiday was, arguably, complete.

 

That evening we partied in the Atrium with Colibri and our fellow passengers, starting to say our goodbyes with the sad realisation that we would soon be ejected from this special little world, this floating bubble, back into the real world. Ugh, what an unpleasant thought!

[AquaMarineFerret]

For flexibility we opted to continue the Freestyle theme: we went for the self disembarkation, keeping all our luggage with us. We’re reasonably fit and really didn’t want to be tied to the schedule imposed by the ship – we would get off when we felt like it (well, subject to the 9.30am deadline anyway). Therefore we finalised our packing before and just after breakfast.

 

The flaw in our plans was that the breakfast buffet was very popular that morning: finding two seats at a suitable table was a challenge. We were forced outside onto the pool deck where, wouldn’t you know it, it was finally raining. Yes, we arrived in a wet Vancouver after all those days of sunshine since leaving Skagway for the first time back in August!

 

Having breakfasted, we collected our luggage, did a final ‘sweep’ of our home of the last 14 days to make sure we had everything we intended and that we weren’t leaving it in too much of a mess, and then bade it a fond farewell. Our menagerie of towel animals was lined up along the back of the sofa and, in the case of the stripy monkey, still hanging over the desk. Julius, our steward, was nowhere to be seen, but we had already left him a ‘thank you’ note and a small extra tip (our remaining US dollars) for his creativity. No reason to get all misty eyed – we would soon fade into the constantly changing sea of occupants for room 0324…even though I did take the time to hide his little towel mouse creation in the room safe! :D

 

We made our way to the Atrium to sit and let the crowds disperse, reluctant to join the real world just yet. We passed the time filling out the Canadian customs declaration and saying goodbyes to those we knew (and some we didn’t). Even now we had one last meeting with Colibri – on their way into Vancouver for a bit of a break from the ship.

 

Eventually, we could stand it no more: no use putting off the inevitable! Gathering our bags about us, we headed out one last time through the cheerily jingling kiosks and down the gangway…

 

THE END

(For Now)

[AquaMarineFerret]

Ssssshhhhhhhh, it's all gone quiet. Do you reckon they're all asleep? If we sneak away quietly they might not wake up, hush...bless 'em.

;)

AMF

[purepixie67]

Not asleep - already in the office!

 

Thanks for a brilliant review - I really like your writing style

[AquaMarineFerret]

Not asleep - already in the office!

 

Thanks for a brilliant review - I really like your writing style

 

In the office?! Ditto!

 

Thanks for your kind comment - it's my inner John Grisham trying to get out (I wish!) :rolleyes:

 

AMF

[BlueLadyBlue]

Thoroughly enjoyed your review. Going to miss you. 😢

Maybe your inner JG would like to create a cruise ship mystery? Perhaps starting with finding a mouse in the safe? I would be happy to follow along.:D

[OhJinkies]

Thank you for your review, I enjoyed it as well. Each review I read has a little influence on my choices as I plan my cruise for next summer.

Did you read that NCL will be debuting the new Norwegian Bliss in 2018 with a homeport in Seattle, sailing roundtrip to Alaska? I would not give up my one-way journey but maybe someday I'll return on the Bliss!

[AquaMarineFerret]

Thoroughly enjoyed your review. Going to miss you. 😢

Maybe your inner JG would like to create a cruise ship mystery? Perhaps starting with finding a mouse in the safe? I would be happy to follow along.:D

 

Maybe I should just take a look at a few itineraries and create my own cruise experiences from them? Failing that, the first draft of Alaskan Mouse Murder Mystery is well on its way, look for it on Amazon soon...

;)

AMF

[AquaMarineFerret]

Thank you for your review, I enjoyed it as well. Each review I read has a little influence on my choices as I plan my cruise for next summer.

Did you read that NCL will be debuting the new Norwegian Bliss in 2018 with a homeport in Seattle, sailing roundtrip to Alaska? I would not give up my one-way journey but maybe someday I'll return on the Bliss!

 

I hope my 'little' travelogue provided a representative taste of what this NCL Sun cruise offered. I have a few odds and ends to add, but don't have time right now.

 

What concerns me is that my signature statement is true: having tried it, we are now tempted by more. It doesn't help, of course, that both NCL and our holiday club are sending through information on more cruises as early as December this year. The temptation is hard to resist! :eek:

[AquaMarineFerret]

As featured elsewhere on the forum - the NCL Sun had a brand new installation aboard: :)

 

 

The motion of the ocean and the ship's direction combined to give the kids a really fun time - an unexpected new feature.

[karoo]

PS - I thought I'd keep you in the loop, the budgie nine apologized, got acquitted and are now back in Aus trying to keep a low profile.

Don't feel guilty about contemplating a December cruise. I was home a week and booked my next cruise- Nov 2nd-19th '16-San Diego to Santiago. After all those mountains, glaciers, trees and wildlife I see over here in more abundance, (except for bears and moose of course, loved those), I'm off to cross the equator, be warm, see deserts, palm trees, beaches, zipping in rainforests, snorkel with tropical fish, a few crocodiles, (hope they're not as mean as the Aussie ones), I think I've got penguins scheduled in there one day, Mexican food- oh and Halloween in San Diego! Check it out!!!![emoji6]

 

 

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Edited October 15, 2016 by karoo