1st Timer - Repo Sun in Sept. looks really good!

[roughd]

15th wedding anniv. this Sept. 21 upcoming, never been on a cruise but everyone I know says its awesome. Been searching various online sites, looking at 4 day cruises out of L.A. or Florida, but keep coming back to this repo cruise on the Sun from Vancouver to L.A. The price is awesome, I'm finding inside cabins for $260 or so, and BALCONIES for $379. This cruise appeals to me for several reasons. My wife works for JetBlue, so we can fly free (standby). From Utah we can fly directly to Long Beach, which is minutes away from the Long Beach and L.A. cruise ports, or we can fly into JFK and then on to 5 different Florida airports plus Puerto Rico, Bahamas, etc. That's what prompted me to look at the Mexico and Caribbean cruises, but the big negative on those for us is that both of us are "fluffy" and don't like the heat or humidity. Rather hard to escape humidity on a cruise I reckon' :D That's one of the big appeals of this Repo on the Sun, looks like the temps in the Pac. NW in Sept. would be very mild. Visits to Astoria and San Fran seem very nice. Would be a little more difficult to get us to Vancouver for embark, but we could either fly to JFK, spend the day in NYC, then fly to Seattle, or we also have the ability to buy "buddy passes" on some of the other discount airlines for cheap, might fly Frontier to Seattle by way of Denver. My sister lived in the Seattle area, imagine I could talk her into driving us to Vancouver.

 

Had a couple of questions, concerns:

1. Keep hearing about tiny bathrooms/showers on the Sun. I'm 6'1", 300+, and my wife is 5'11" and 200+, is that going to be a problem? are the BA cabin bathrooms any bigger?

2. We're on a pretty tight budget, that's why i'm looking at 4 days cruises. How much fun can we have if we don't spend much more than just the price of the cruise and the tips? We don't drink alcohol, and could probably do without soda, trying to quit anyway. Some here have commented that the upselling on NCL is aggravating, and that the quality of the no-surcharge dining options is declining vs. the surcharge restaurants.

3. It seems most NCL cruises are 7 days or more, for a 4 or 5 i'm mostly seeing RCCL and Carnival. Those of you that have sailed on NCL and one of them, what would appeal on NCL more than them?

 

Thanks in advance for any input!

[ute_fan]

Hi again fellow Ute fan. I keep thinking one of those fairly cheap repos might be nice myself -- but not this coming year. As far as the bathroom goes, we had BA balcony on the Sun and didn't have any problem. 3 of the 4 of us are fluffy -- in fact, I probably qualify as "extra fluffy". We had no trouble with the shower on the Sun -- the ones on the old Sea were much closer quarters, and the rest of the bathroom on the Sun is laid out quite nicely.

 

As far as the heat & humidity on the ships -- I hear you! Coming from this wonderfully dry climate, the humidity can be a real problem. However, it's not bad on the ship at all -- in fact, the air conditioning works well enough that I tend to need a sweater on at night in the dining room and theater areas. The ports on the Western Caribbean can be pretty hot and humid -- I think my kids thought they were going to melt in Belize last May. May have been the smartest thing we ever did -- my 22 year-old son now realizes he doesn't want to live anywhere but Utah :D . One our first cruise in January, 2004, it was actually quite cool and overcast, which was WONDERFUL as far as I was concerned.

 

We also don't drink alcohol, but my husband does get the soda card. Other than the $10 automatic daily "service charge" for tips, the other main expense on our on board account is for shore excursions. You can definitely control those costs, however -- especially on a repo cruise. I imagine you'd be able to see the sights in both San Francisco and Astoria without a lot of additional expense. Most of the entertainment on the ships is free, except for the casino and Bingo. My guess, knowing the Utah culture, is that you probably wouldn't run up lots of money there either.

 

As far as the food quality, we have been very satisifed on all 3 of our NCL cruises. In fact, we've never paid to eat in one of the alternative restaurants. The meals they have served in the main dining rooms have been so delicious that we've never bothered to venture elsewhere. I guess it could have changed since our cruise last May, but it seems like I've been hearing the same thing ever since we started cruising, and we still love the food.

 

One disadvantage to the 4 and 5 day cruises is that you tend to get a younger, heavier drinking crowd. More of the "party boat" atmosphere. Since those cruises do tend to be cheaper, the college students and recent grads tend to be more attracted to those ships. Our friends who hooked us on cruising weren't happy at all with the 4 day Carnival ship they took that did the CA-Ensanda-somewhere in Mexico itinerary. They've been much happier on NCL and Celebrity. For the repo cruise, I'd imagine you eliminate some of that "rowdy" atmosphere by virtue of the different starting and ending ports, with the associated costs that come with the air fare to and from 2 different cities.

 

Good luck with your planning!

[Cruise_More_Often]

We've been on two of the NCL repo cruises and are booked for our third in May. We love them! And, the price can't be beat. Ute_fan mentioned the party atmosphere with the shorter cruises, but we sure haven't seen that on our NCL repos. The repo cruises are generally when school is in session, so you won't see many college-age kids, and very few children are on them.

 

We have eaten in the main dining rooms on the Sun, Star and Spirit only a few times, but we enjoyed the food very much. To us, it's such fun trying the alternative restaurants that we build the extra cost into our cruise budget. Having the choice is what keeps us coming back to NCL.

 

You mentioned that you've heard the "upselling" on NCL is aggravating. I didn't even notice any. What did I miss?

 

Adele