Another Sun 3/18 - 3/25 report

[jaylb31]

Just back from the Sun's Eastern Caribbean trip March 18-25. There is already a fine, detailed review by reporterjen available here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=317234

 

I will try to avoid repeating some things already described in that review.

 

I have cruised once before on NCL, on the Dawn back in August '05 with my Mom, sister, and Mom's boyfriend. I had heard reviews claiming that things had gone downhill since then especially in terms of food quality. My co-cruiser this time was my girlfriend, and this was her first cruise. We are 28 and 25 years old living in Illinois and were trying to keep costs down where possible without being cheap, so...

 

Our main "cost-saver" was finding the cheap flight from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale, less than $400 total for both of us. The problem--it left Chicago at 5:30 am on Saturday and returned at midnight the following Saturday. Since we live 2 hours from Chicago, we decided to spend the night Friday and start our trip a little early in Chicago. We still had to get up at 3:15 am or so, but it was surprisingly easy since we were ready to get to the ship anyway. As we were getting ready to go to the lobby to catch the airport shuttle we realized one hotel room key was missing, and being the nice boyfriend that I am I went out to the car and found it between the seats. This small event would turn out to be important later on, but you will have to read the whole review to find out why.

 

A plug for Air Tran airline: we had 4 flights total on the round trip since we had to connect in Atlanta each way, and all four were right on time both leaving and arriving. Not always the airline's fault when you are late, but still a good thing, even though we had about a six hour window we didn't want to cut it close.

 

At the baggage claim we met the NCL reps, easy to find and we were on the list for the bus to the pier ($30/pp round trip reserved prior to the cruise, since we booked the cruise with Travelocity when I called NCL to get the tansfers they made me go through Travelocity, which I am fine with but the extra middle man seemed to make it impossible to get any kind of written confirmation from either one of them prior to the trip, but it didn't matter) Our bags were loaded onto a UHaul parked nearby and we waited about 40 minutes for the next bus to the pier, which was soon loaded with passengers and carry-ons. 45 minutes or so later we got to the pier and saw the Sun, a beautiful ship very similar (or so it seemed to me) to the Dawn.

 

Embarkation: VERY easy, we did not have to wait for even one person in the Latitudes line, although it took a few minutes to fill out the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands forms. Tip: look for the forms first, there are tables in the middle with a bunch of people hunched over writing on little forms. Security very smooth, I had 8 bottles (10 oz I think) of cranberry juice and 8 12 oz Diet cokes in my carry-on, not told to open the bag or anything. Either they didn't look like alcohol on the scanner or they weren't really looking. Anyway, while we were in line I never saw anything searched but we weren't there long. The liquor confiscation guy looked very bored and his big basket o' booze looked pretty empty.

 

The atrium of the Sun is very pretty and reminded me color-wise of the Dawn, though a slightly different set-up. We went down one flight of stairs to our cabin, 4031 which was an Oceanview. I wasn't sure what to expect as far as a view but the porthole was very large and completely unobstructed. As far as I could tell, all the Oceanviews on deck 4 are unobstructed. Bad news for Oceanview cabins on deck 6, though, but I will get to that in a minute. Our cabin was big enough for two, with the beds already pushed together and a small couch next to the bathroom. The closet had about 15 wooden hangers, and the only real difference between our cabin and my inside cabin on the Dawn was that the bathroom on the Sun was slightly smaller with a curtain instead of glass door on the shower. The minibar was set up, with maybe four beers in the fridge, but we needed the room so removed those and left the whole set-up untouched for the week. I read on cc that you can ask to have it removed, but didn't really need to bother Garfield, our room steward, with the request because there was plenty of space either way. There was also a DVD player which would have been nice had I not accidentally left the DVD and CD case in the car. Oh well. there was what looked like a decent selection of DVDs and CDs available for rental for $5.95 apiece or $32.50 for unlimited week of rentals, which would be a very good option for a family with kids but we did not rent any.

 

One thing was missing from the cabin--the bar setup I had ordered (thanks to cc posters' tips) over a month in advance. One bottle of Absolut, not there. Not the end of the world, but I had just lugged a bag with 16 bottles of various mixers and now there was nothing to mix it with. I had read another poster on cc who had a similar thing happen and said they straightened it out immediately so I was confident in the NCL staff. Called reception, they seemed confused and asked me to come to the desk. When I got there the reception desk lady seemed to have never heard of the bar setup idea, she and another person looked through a folder labeled "manifest" that had all the romance packages, gifts, etc but nothing listed about the bar setup. Throughout the whole conversation everyone was calm, polite, and professional, which should be a lesson to all the people who think they have to be rude or whatever to handle a problem. The reception desk lady wrote out a complaint form or something and promised to talk to some other person who was in charge of all such pre-ordered things. At that point was somewhat disappointed in NCL at the HQ level because I had called to confirm the order two days before the cruise and they said that even though it had yet to be charged to my card it would be there. Unfortunately I did not have the number saved on my cell phone nor did I think to bring it with me, so there was really no way to prove that I was not just trying to get a free bottle of Absolut other than my word.

 

Back to the 6th floor oceanviews-- while we were at reception another guest was somewhat irate saying "we don't want people looking in at us all week". didn't really know what he was talking about until later on walking on the promenade on deck 6, noticed that all the views there were of the people walking by, which of course goes both ways so you could open the blinds in your boxers only to be greeted by a smiling jogger leering in at you. Not sure if they moved those people to another cabin but obviously not the oceanview they had in mind. Another thing about deck 6--it was more of a jogging walking track as opposed to the similar mid-level outdoor deck on the dawn which had chairs for sitting or reclining. I liked the Dawn's version better, as it is a nice place to sit without the crowds of the top deck or pool deck. On the Dawn the jogging deck was the top one which wasn't so great either because it was kind of narrow in places.

 

Next: the sailaway

[Catsailor]

This small event would turn out to be important later on, but you will have to read the whole review to find out why.

 

You didn't post the whole review? I want to know why it was important you went to the car! Hurry up and post the rest; I'm on the edge of my chair!:confused:

[jaylb31]

When we first got to the ship I felt that the temperature indoors was a little warm. the rest of the cruise I was always comfortable, so either I adjusted or the ship did. The cabin temp would always change a few degrees quickly if you were hot or cold but I was never cold the entire trip. So since we had missed lunch in the seven seas (which is where you can get a made-to-order lunch or breakfast in the second main dining room) we headed to the buffet. I think the buffet on the Sun is far superior to the Dawn in '05 both in appearance and quality of service. I never saw a dirty table for more than a minute or two. There were no trays, but you could tell that there used to be some because there were tracks for trays to slide as you went along the buffet. I just stuck our silverware halfway into my pocket which freed a hand for the plate and a hand to get food. There are two main buffets, but the names were similar, they were adjacent to each other, and they had almost the exact same food. The only real difference--outdoor vs. indoor. Either place was a good spot for breakfast, maybe lunch, but not a dinner spot of choice for us. The lunch wasn't terrible which surprised me, and another little thing that struck me was the quality of the plates. I know, I know, if it can hold the food it is good enough for a buffet. I thought they were a cut above the plastic or other cheapo plates you usually see at buffets, which brings me to the conclusion I have about NCL--they are trying to step up the buffet a notch and "bring down" the main dining rooms--but more on that later. The selection at lunch was pretty limited, and this was the only time I remember eating at the buffet at lunchtime. They had a stir fried beef that was decent is all I remember about it.

After lunch we walked around a bit and then went for the muster drill. They were serious about it, and one guy was told to surrender his Red Stripe beer for the duration of the drill. Instead he chugged it, which was pretty typical for the level of drinking that first afternoon--you could tell some people were ready to get trashed, but I think everyone behaved themselves. After the drill we had drinks ourselves at Champs bar, which is on the top deck above the pool, and enjoyed the fine views of Miami as we walked around the top deck. Enjoy the sailaway from NYC or Miami because when you come back in you will either be sleeping or pretty much alone on the deck.

The drinks--even though I read it a million times we forgot to ask for our drinks in a regular glass and got souvenir cups, which was okay the first time anyway plus you seemed to get more and a better alcohol pour. Margarita and strawberry daiquiri--each $5.50 in a regular glass or $8 in the souvenir cup. 15% added in to every drink, we would usually add a dollar if a waiter or waitress brought it but not if we ordered from the bar.

After the sailaway we went to the CC meeting/party in the Borneo room which was through the library on the 6th floor. Thanks to Nicky for setting it up, I'd say 20 people attended if not more. NCL had set up a very nice spread of cookies, OJ, coffee, and water--again the little things--the juice was in a nice big container that made it look extra inviting, there were 6 or 7 varieties of cookies, and the coffee was in a quality silver pot with a flame below keeping it warm. We heard some interesting stories about REAL liquor smuggling (not the mini bottles onto the ship kind) into Saudi Arabia and it seemed like everyone (including us) was glad to have found CC and met up on the ship. Apparently we were only given an hour because a few minutes after 7 we noticed that the NCL staff was waiting in the wings to clean up the room, so we took some cookies for later and headed off for dinner.

About our housekeeping steward--we took full advantage of the Do Not Disturb/Please Make Up Room signs for the door. On the Dawn they had a little wheel that you turned to say clean, do not disturb, turn down, etc., but on the Sun there are just the two tabs you stick in the key slot which is really all you need. It seemed that most people didn't use them which could mean getting bothered when you are in the room or coming back to the room only to find it in the process of being cleaned. Since the hours of cleaning and turndown were always the same, you just keep the DND sign on until you are ready to leave and then replace it with the PMUR sign. Leave the room for an hour or so and you are all set because the staff is so efficient and fast. They were also very friendly, although the Dawn staff just seemed more personable because they learned our names whereas the few times we saw Garfield he did not address us by name, but then we never addressed him as Garfield so there you go. The room was always very clean with fresh ice and towels, though only one towel animal, an elephant, on the third or fourth day. Boo hoo, I think if you didn't get "enough" towel animals it was probably because the people were too busy cleaning up after the messy guests, so deal with it people.

We went to dinner the first night at the Four Seasons, the main dining room. It seemed smaller than the big dining room on the Dawn but the atmosphere was similar. We had prime rib, pasta, an empanada, mini shrimp cocktail, cake, and souffle. We weren't that impressed overall, I would say there were 2-4 fewer selections on the menu per meal than in August '05, and just something about it was not as good, which doesn't mean it wasn't an enjoyable meal or anything, because it was. A few things that stood out through the week--a different kind of risotto each night on three different nights for some reason, which I actually liked but why so many? The desserts seemed to be pretty universally the consistency of bread pudding, in the buffet, the main rooms, wherever. Not that it was not supposed to be like that, it just seemed like whoever chose the menu really liked desserts like that--few cakes, few cookies, in fact I never saw cookies at the buffet. On the Dawn you could walk by the blue Lagoon and snag a handful of pound cake or banana cake 24 hours a day, not so here. There is a delicious chocolate mousse on the room service menu and also cookies and brownies on the kids room service section. The ice cream bar Sprinkles is handled better on the Sun than on the Dawn. Better hours, plus always someone working there as opposed to a bartender at the poolside ice cream bar on the Dawn. Ask for chocolate sauce when you order the ice cream if you want some because it is hard to reach from across the divider, but the other toppings-gummy bears, chocolate chips, marshmallows--you can spoon out yourself. I thought the frozen yogurt tasted better than the ice cream myself, but I think my favorite of the week was the cherry sherbet. Besides the usual flavors I saw cinnamon and ginger one day.

We ended the night at the Sports bar which is also the all night snack place. The NCAA tournament and World Baseball Classic were in full swing that week and both were available on the ship's ESPN feed, although the NCAA coverage was on an unusual feed with no commercials and apparently unable to show the scores of other games. We definitely weren't complaining as it was great that they had any games on at all, a very unexpected treat. The 20 oz drafts were good, with Dos Equis, Heineken, Miller Lite, and Bud Light available for $4.50. A white russian was $5.75

next--day 2

[cmdchiefthom]

Great review. Keep it coming, I leave aboard the Sun on Saturday!:D

[ImpulsivePuppy]

looking forward to the next installment! just booked the sun for it's last alaska cruise of the season. first time on ncl. can't wait to hear about what is up with the hotel key you lost and found!

[jaylb31]

Before I get to day 3, I left out an important detail of day 1--when we got back from the CC party there was a bottle of Absolut sitting on the counter as promised. NCL had corrected the problem in a matter of an hour or two, very impressive. The message light was blinking, and once we figured out that you need to hit ** to hear the message it was explained that the order was in their system as being for the second day. Another person later told us a similar thing happened to them, so maybe it was just a clerical error or a flaw in their bar setup ordering system, I don't know. Anyway, problem solved.

The motion of the ship throughout the night was unnoticeable, and the beds were comfortable enough. The duvet cover and down blanket are somewhat thin but I liked them, never cold or too hot. The problem with having two twin beds pushed together is the inevitable gap in the middle, but what can you do.

The next morning I slept in a bit while my girlfriend hit the fitness center on deck 11, she said it was pretty full but she was able to get a treadmill. The towels were not obvious to spot, as the door to the cabinet was kept closed with only a small sign indicating that towels were inside. They are small blue hand towels and there are bottles for spraying down the machines located throughout the gym.

We went to breakfast at the buffet around 9:30, and it was not too crowded as many people had been tendered off the ship to Great Stirrup Cay already. By 9:45 or 10 the call was for open tendering, so no tickets were required after that point. The breakfast buffet seemed better to me than what was offered on the Dawn last year, with eggs, grits, crispy bacon, and some kind of potato offered every day. The round hash brown cakes were better than McDonald's hash browns in my opinion, but they were only available two days. The other days there were home fries or crustier hash browns. There were also a few varieties of small cereal boxes, "omelets" which looked disgusting, ham or sausage, toast, and other breads. The first two days had french toast which was very good, but the toast never reappeared on subsequent days. I understand there were waffle stations in Pacific Heights and omelets in Las Ramblas, but we never tried either. A big plate of eggs, grits, french toast, bacon, and hash browns did the job for me. OJ and apple juice were available as well as coffee and milk. A couple days I filled empty cranberry juice bottles from my mixer stash with OJ in the morning for nighttime screwdrivers.

After breakfast we put on our swimming attire and headed down one flight to the gangway on 3 where towels were signed out for the private island. We got on the big local tender, not a lifeboat, and we were on our way. I had been to GSC once before and had a great time swimming with the fish out by the rocks. I could not find the mask that I used last year so had purchased one at Wal-Mart for $15 before we left. This time I knew that you need to fill out one of the dive forms by the dive shack before going up to the window where the apparently all-Aussie staff will give you a life vest for free. I did not really feel like I needed it but didn't want to get out a ways and have a lifeguard yell at me to go get one. There were a fair amount of people snorkeling, many with equipment they brought from home. I personally don't feel the need for the mouth part as I can just come up for air and not have to worry about the waves, which were bigger this time, filling the tube with an unexpected salty beverage. I saw what seemed to be the same brightly colored fish that I had seen back in August, then headed back to our chairs which we had claimed a few rows back from the water. There were plenty of chairs to be had, but few closest to the water, though the farther you went from the tender drop off point the more chairs there were as apparently most people did not want to walk the extra 50 yards or so.

There were waiters taking drink orders occasionally, but I went to the bar to order us a couple of frozen drinks. The little stand closest to us did not offer frozen drinks, but before I could say no a waiter hurried off to the central bar to get a pina colada and a margarita. They did not have a card-swiping machine so just filled out a paper form, which this time charged us the "smoothie" rate of $9 apiece but it was a beautiful day so I was not going to argue over $2. According to the waiter only the souvenir cups were available for frozen drinks, but there were smaller plastic cups for sodas being poured from cans. I saw one guy apparently use his coke sticker at the bar to get a cup of soda from the can which I thought was not included so if you get the soda package that may be worth a try.

After about 90 minutes-2 hours we had had our fun and went back to the ship. At least at this point there were constantly tenders available to bring people back to the ship. On neither ride did I feel the waves much at all, although when people tried to get up and walk during the short trip they sometimes bumped into seated passengers.

The private island day was apparently the one day that you cannot get a "sit-down" lunch in The Seven Seas so we reluctantly had the buffet again. Blah.

After a nap we were ready for Le Bistro, which we had reserved for the second night as soon as we got to the cabin on the first day. Even then I asked for 7 pm and was told either 6:30 or 7:30, so we chose 6:30.

Le Bistro is a beautiful restaurant and probably worth the $15/pp cover charge. However, the service was initially very slow, as in we did not have a waiter/waitress for the first 10 minutes. Maybe they want you to take in the atmosphere or really build up a hunger, but that was not really necessary. After looking at the wine list we decided on margaritas instead because we saw someone else with one and it looked pretty tasty, but there were some wines by the glass that were as cheap as the other drinks for those interested. Between the two of us we had the escargot (delicious and buttery) and tuna with salad, the made at the table caesar salad, the salmon, and the filet with bearnaise. My filet was incredibly good, cooked medium, and my girlfriend's salmon was delicious as well. Dessert--the creme brulee for her, and for me, the famous chocolate fondue. I am about to say something that may get me tarred and feathered if I ever go to "Norwegia" which is what we call the land of NCL, but the fondue was disappointing. It was good, but I expected more after hearing 100% raves here on CC. Still, I wouldn't mind having some on my desk here right now. The waitress was very personable and joked with us, whereas I would say the staff in the main dining rooms were rather stiff and serious. Not a good or bad thing, just a difference I noted.

We next headed to the casino on level 7 for the first of what would turn out to be many visits to the roulette table. One thing we missed out on is the free slot spin to win offered daily, might as well do it and maybe win prizes but we just never happened to be there at the right time. Another must-do is the "triple play", where you go to the cashier's window and hand over 10 bucks for $15 worth of table chips. You can only do this once per cruise, but even if you are anti-gambling at least pocket the chips and trade them in later for $15. Apparently my girlfriend is some kind of Miss Cleo psychic because she went with the numbers 17 and 35 throughout the cruise and probably ended up $120 on the positive side. I on the other hand preferred the outside bets and only (ha ha, only) finished the cruise $50 up. Must have been our luck because most others were taking a pounding. There was only one roulette table but you could always squeeze in even at its most crowded. Inside bets were $3 minimum and outside $5. There were 2-3 blackjack tables and a few other games, craps, let it ride, etc.

After the casino we went down one floor to Dazzles lounge, the home of most late night entertainment as well as the ever-present daytime art auctions. Harmony and Rhythm were finishing a tribute to the Bee Gees and Abba, and we did not particularly care for their renditions of these nor any other songs on the cruise. We found a rare seat for the 10:30 late night comedy show with John Knight, who was nearly booed and also heckled a time or two before getting going with a few laughs about 10 minutes in. On the Dawn in '05 I enjoyed the entertainment much better, and on that cruise I didn't even drink any alcohol, so that just goes to show you that the Sun's entertainment was not as good as I expected. that being said, Mr. Knight had some good bits and some people were really busting a gut.

We then went to the observation lounge on 12 which is not well-known nor easy to find in comparison to the other venues. Twice as Nice, a husband and wife duo, were singing and we caught the last two or three songs of their set. We were prepared to order drinks but the waiters apparently had selective blindness so we did not get to order anything. Several couples were dancing to the music and the 40 to 50 people in attendance seemed to be enjoying the show, much more than Harmony and Rhythm's audience.

We went to the Sports bar again for some late night fish and chips and wonton soup as well as a Dos Equis draft and a Kamikaze ($4.50 and $5.25) The kamikaze was not good at all which was kind of a trend as far as I am concerned with the mixed drinks--I did not find them very good with the exception of the martini bar which I will get to later. Since there were no sports on we were trying to translate the spanish subtitles on the volumeless TV playing Gangs of New York on TNT and failing miserably. Apparently a combined 10+ years of Spanish instruction in high school and college did not do the job.

 

Next--Day 3

[ImpulsivePuppy]

another great installment! will you be posting pictures?

[jaylb31]

Day 3: (Monday)

Since this was a sea day we slept in a bit and missed breakfast. Lunch was in the Seven Seas, where the dishes I liked were the deep fried sweet and sour grouper and the first of three risottos over the course of the week. The peach cobbler with vanilla ice cream was probably the best dessert of the week, for me even better than the fondue.

This was the formal night and therefore specialty restaurants were half price, but since it was the only night you could get a lobster tail in the main dining room I don't know that there were any fistfights at the reservation desk. However, before the formal night was one of the highlights of the trip: the martini clinic.

Somewhat-reformed-lush that I am, we were the first ones to arrive at the Windjammer martini bar about half and hour before the clinic was to begin (4 pm scheduled start). The bartender was already there with the hostess to write out pay slips for $15/pp (no card swiping for some reason) and asked each passing person (since the bar is located on a main thoroughfare through deck six next to Dazzles) if they were there for the martini clinic, which brought in a few of the uninformed at the last minute. One minute we were among the only people there, the next minute it was packed. A late arriving couple joined us at our four person table and we talked with them during the four courses. As you can read in reporterjen's review, after the bartender's unrehearsed reading of martini history he started serving, in order, a grey goose martini, a grey goose with dekuyper sour apple martini, a grey goose cosmo, and a grey goose french martini which had chambord and pineapple juice. The last was my favorite, but all were delicious and probably 2-2.5 shots of alcohol apiece. Needless to say everyone was very chummy by the end, especially since the speed of the rounds did not allow you to pace yourself at all. Everyone headed to the formal night dinner with a less than clear head and a smile on their face.

There were 2 or 3 different backdrops for pictures in the atrium, and photographers were snapping away. Those seemed to be the best pictures of the trip for most people whether they went all out or not, and few people really looked like they were prom-bound. I didn't see any tuxedos, that's for sure. At the last minute when packing I decided to forego the suit jacket at home so I just had dress pants, shirt and tie and did not feel out of place, although I would probably just wear a suit if I was doing it over again.

The formal dinner was not much different from the other nights other than the lobster tails, which were quite good. My girlfriend decided to keep the martini thing going with a grey goose martini. At $9.25 it came in a much bigger martini glass but was a taste disappointment. I stuck with a margarita, again $5.25. The beef at the formal dinner was a bit dry, and the other courses unmemorable. Creme brulee was again the dessert, quite good, but the strawberry mousse was not a success in my opinion, again almost a bread pudding consistency.

After dinner we went to Dazzles to watch karaoke for a while, and a screwdriver there was $5.25. After Dazzles I broke two rules--#1 don't take a nap after dark because you will not want to get up and #2 don't take a nap after drinking several rounds because you will not want to get up. That was kind of a wasted evening after 9 pm or so, I would recommend drinking coffee or else keep drinking the booze and maybe wake up on the netting they put on the swimming pool at night. On second thought just go to bed like I did.

 

Next: Day 4

(I do not have many pictures of the Sun as most of our pictures were taken when we got off the ship at the various ports)

[jaylb31]

Day 4: Tuesday

We had the breakfast buffet again, but this time took our food out to the outdoor seating section overlooking the ship's wake. After all those grits, eggs, and hash browns I had been eating I figured I should at least put in a token appearance at the gym, so we went there for 25-30 minutes. I used the weight machines which were somewhat crammed together but there was enough space to use them. The abdominal exercise station was apparently out of order with a laminated sign taped to the seat. I was definitely more comfortable working out in the exercise room on the Dawn than the Sun's, just seemed more spacious and user-friendly, and I will stick with that excuse as far as why I only worked out that one time during the trip.

Today's port was Roadtown, Tortola, British Virgin Islands, but we were not scheduled to arrive until 1 pm. In researching the port prior to the cruise I discovered that you could take Speedy's ferry service to the Baths in Virgin Gorda for nearly the price of the identical NCL shore excursion, but looking at Speedy's ferry schedule online it seemed that we would have a hard time getting there, having enough time to see the baths, and getting back without missing the ship. Therefore, we decided to wait and book through the ship when we got onboard, which we did on Day 2 via the automated kiosk next to the reception desk. I really liked this feature, as the computer showed you a description of the excursion as well as the number of seats remaining. When we booked "Virgin Gorda Highlights" for $59/pp there were still 18 seats left. I believe Speedy's costs $35 for the identical service but you have to get to Speedy's dock which looked like a 10-15 minute hike past Pusser's and some other little shops.

Before we got off the ship in Tortola we planned to grab some deli sandwiches from Las Ramblas as we had read the day before in the freestyle daily that they were served in there at lunch, but apparently they are only offered on the two "at sea" days because the only other time they had deli sandwiches there was the second sea day. This forced us back to the lunch buffet for the third time, again not the place to have lunch if you can help it but then again it's food.

Our excursion ticket originally said meet at the end of the pier at 1:25 but the night before we had gotten a note saying the time was changed to 1:10, so we needed to get off the ship not long after it was scheduled to dock at 1 p.m. What happened next was not NCL's fault, but rather the overexcited guests who were all too eager to leave the ship without anyone announcing that the ship was cleared for unloading. The line of people stretched out two and a half floors of packed stairways for about 20 minutes before the line started moving. Then there was a bottleneck as one overwhelmed towel guy was suddenly bombarded with towel requests. He looked like he was drowning in a sea of impatient beachgoers as he said "you can get towels down on 3 also", which we did and there were maybe 2 other people who realized that level 4 was not the last chance for towels. Finally we were onto the pier and walking toward the gazebo at the end where various leaders held plastic signs with the name of the tour so they could direct you to the appropriate open-air taxi. After a few minutes ours joined the line and made the three or four minute drive to the dock where our large ferry boat was waiting. At this point they took our tickets, so I guess if you want a free ride to Speedy's just get on the "Virgin Gorda Highlights" tour for the first five minutes. We were each handed a little green "free drink" voucher, which was not good for the ferry's little bar but rather for a cup of rum punch at the end of the tour. There was a fair amount of outside seating on the top deck but we chose to sit inside out of the blazing sun for this leg of the journey, near the enclosed area where our captain piloted us toward Virgin Gorda. There were T.V.s playing "Madagascar" and then "Save the Last Dance" during the trip, which took about 45 minutes. At this point it was already after 2:30 because we got a late start so we were wondering how much time we would actually have to spend in Virgin Gorda.

As we all exited the ferry we were shepherded into another fleet of open air taxis, and it was during this ride that we were very digusted with our co-excursionites. Just some examples-- a house would have laundry hanging: "So much for a washer and dryer, ha ha ha" A sign for a rental car company: "look, it's spelled 'entrprise' without the second 'e', ha ha ha" and so on and so on. I felt like these people thought they were at the zoo and were looking at all the amazing wildlife, yuck. Speaking of wildlife though, chickens seemed to be plentiful, and they added to what must be described as the island's "rustic charm". If the yahoos were not on our taxi I would have thoroughly enjoyed the short drive to the baths, which I did otherwise. When we reached the top of the path down to the baths we were instructed to be back at the top of the hill by 5 pm, which gave us about 1:45 to explore, which was plenty. There was a bar and shop at the top but we didn't go inside, instead heading down the path behind some of the slowest hikers ever to walk a path. We remained patient even as people stopped to read the menu for the restaurant while blocking everyone behind them, and as we progressed further the pace quickened, maybe the slowpokes wandered off into the brush and got eaten by chickens, I don't know.

The beach at the bottom of the path was very pretty though not quite as beautiful as some have described it. There was a little bar and grill where we later had a hot dog and pina colada, $8 total. There was a chewed-ear cat wandering around the tables which was a nice touch. We just left our bag on the beach out of the reach of the waves and got into the water for a while. There are lockers but probably not necessary except for peace of mind because you can see your bag at all times on the small beach. After a brief swim we headed through the path between the giant rocks, which was probably the most interesting part of the baths. After reading the descriptions on CC we purchased two pairs of water shoes from Wal-Mart, $5.88 each, and those were very helpful during the hike through the boulders. Not necessary, but probably a wise idea. I can't imagine someone in even semi-fragile condition making that walk, but maybe some did. There were some very slippery parts, that's for sure, and the nearest doctor could not have been very close if you had slipped and knocked out some teeth or rearranged your face. Still, we made it through and stopped at the tidal-wave-pool-type area before the second beach, very pretty. Throughout the path there were ropes and ladders to help you navigate the rocks, and also to tell you which way to go which was not always so easy to tell. The second beach was nearly empty and just as pretty as the first. We frolicked in the water for a while and then headed up the path which we had been told led back to the car park area. After about 10-15 minutes on this path with no signs of anything or anyone we began to have second thoughts, especially after there was a fork in the path that had no indication which way to go. After we saw a garbage can on the path we figured we were close, and soon we were back by the taxis and getting our complimentary rum punch, which was a cup of fruit punch with a sprinkle of rum on top.

After the trip back, which was not narrated either by the driver or the passengers this time, we arrived at the dock to see Speedy's ferry pulling away. So much for the schedule problem, but I guess the peace of mind was worth the extra money because they won't hold the ship for non-NCL-excursion latecomers. The trip back seemed shorter but it was extended by some ill-fated attempts to transfer us directly from the ferry to the Sun. We went back to the other dock and got another taxi ride to the ship.

We were back on board by 6:30, just in time to get dressed and go sign up for the murder mystery dinner in the library, the dinner to be held the following night. There was a line of people which was only necessary because people were holding up the sign in sheet with a bunch of questions for the attendant.

This was Caribbean night, which for many people both on this cruise and others I have read about on CC means time to complain about the menu. We ate in the Seven Seas and had oxtail stew, tilapia, tortellini, and red bean soup. Here's the thing--the food sounded really good to us on the menu but what came out was probably the worst dinner of the cruise. The red bean soup and oxtail stew were probably the best tasting things, which brings me to an interesting sociological question-- what is this obsession with oxtail stew? I remember reading one review here on CC where the person said "we don't eat oxtail stew, that's peasant food". Later in the cruise we heard some drunken old biddy loudly exclaim "I wouldn't feed oxtail to my kids if they were starving and I only had $2 in the bank!" I would like to see some research done on this topic if possible. For NCL's purposes I think it may be time to scrap the Caribbean menu because I have heard very few good things from the customers. I personally think a Caribbean night is great but that tilapia and tortellini were pretty bad.

After dinner we went to the casino and won a little more money (ha ha suckers) and then to the weakest link gameshow in Dazzles at 8:30. We had a mudslide and white russian ($5.50 and $5.75), the mudslide was not very good though.

Next was the 9:30 show of "Que Noche", a musical number by the Jean Ryan or Ayn Rand or Jean Ann or whatever the hell the company's name is. I actually thought all three shows on the Dawn were pretty good, if not a bit lame, but this one was not up to par in my book. If the performers have to keep saying "come on, we're working hard for you folks" then maybe the problem is you. Plus every vocal break in every song had to be filled with the constant outburst of "Asi" or "Wooo" by the singers, eventually very annoying. It's funny that each show they do has a little phrase that just gets me laughing very hard. In Bollywood on the Dawn it was "And the jealousy---it would drive you maaaaaaaad!" and in Que Noche-- "Exciting, no? A ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Sorry, you have to be there--actually you don't but they are all gifted performers nonetheless.

Linda the cruise director gave an uninspired closing speech and we went to the Caribbean party on deck for some food. They had tortilla chips with guacomole/sour cream mixture, salsa, corn, and also grilled chicken. The party was EXTREMELY well attended, but the whole Caribbean line dancing thing isn't really our scene so we left the crowded, windy deck for our room. It was good to get away from the ever-present monkey-head cups which were apparently $9.95.

Next--Day 5

[4 of Harts]

I know that it's been posted before so I apologize in advance and anticipate being lit up but.... how exactly did you get the bottle of Absolut' ? Is it a NCL thing or an outside company ? How much do you think that you saved ? Did you consider a little smugglin' or not as you knew that you had the set up ? I'd like to have some beer, Bailey's and some sort of rum but I'm having trouble getting exactly how to do it. I certainly am considering a smuggler's world but would rather not if easily avoided (besides calling and running for drinks) Thanks...

[4 of Harts]

PS- thanks for all the great posts, my level of anticipation is getting more and more with every day. Saturday I cruise !

[jaylb31]

To everyone leaving Saturday or later in April--I wish I was going with you, you will have a great time. Here are some links about the bar setup:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=318292&highlight=bar+setup

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=300807&highlight=bar+setup

 

I wish I had read that second one about the email address before I left.

[4 of Harts]

Thanks , I just called and they are calling me back tomorrow to set it all up.

[atlmichelle]

I can't WAIT to hear all about the Murder Mystery Dinner, Jay! I may be out of luck, since our September cruise is only 4 nights. But I'm really hoping this is one activity that happens even on the shorter itineraries!....Anybody know?

[jaylb31]

Day 5: Wednesday

Today was St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, which meant that we had to "re-enter" the U.S. by going through a quick immigration screening in the Stardust Theater. The letter delivered to our door said 9:30 but we ended up going just after breakfast at the buffet and zipped right through. Just had to show birth certificates and IDs since we don't have passports (yet--hopefully next trip we will go somewhere that requires them).

We had booked a tour online with Godfrey Renal, same tour that reporterjen and her boyfriend were on and described in her review, link is at the beginning of my post. We opted for 10 am pickup instead of the 9 am which was earliest. When we got off at the pier (no wait this time because we had been docked for a couple of hours) Godfrey was standing nearby with my name on a sign and one other man's name on another sign. We introduced ourselves and he was very friendly but apologetic since the last person was late (a common theme throughout the tour which Godfrey handled very politely, too politely for some). After about 5-10 minutes the last people showed up and spoke only broken English which might explain their constant failure to understand directions throughout the tour. I thought they were probably Italian but at one point later on when they were late (again) Godfrey sent some guy to look for them and described them as "Mexican color" which brought some smirks from the peanut gallery.

There were probably 10 of us ready to go at that point and we loaded onto Godfrey's covered "safari taxi" as he explained the itinerary. First shopping downtown, then a tour of the island, then a choice of three beaches, with return to the ship scheduled for 4 p.m. The tour cost $25/pp which we thought was one of the best deals of the whole trip.

Downtown sucked. Sorry, just not my idea of a good time to be walking past 100 jewelry stores with the occasional perfume or liquor place thrown in, all the while people who varied from Ernest Hemingways to one armed ladies were shouting out the great deals inside where the proprietors were almost always Middle Eastern or East Indian. Godfrey had given us all little orange stickers that said "excursion" on them, ostensibly so he could tell who was on his tour, but in my opinion you look touristy enough walking around that area as it is without such a orange "scarlet letter" stuck to your shirt so I did not wear mine (ooh, what a rebel I am). My girlfriend picked out one 14k gold bracelet and necklace for $28 which was our only purchase in the shops.

A few words about this whole phenomenon of the jewelry shops and liquor stores--I understand supply and demand and there is obviosuly a big market among tourists to the Caribbean for jewelry and duty free liquor. Apparently the cruise lines recognize this and cater to it, hence the "port shopping expert lectures" and such. Godfrey also had business cards for a jewelry store that he offered everyone before leaving. I just think it is unfortunate that the exchange on most visits to the Caribbean is limited to the tourists seeing a street full of jewelry stores and the "locals" seeing a bunch of fat pasty morons haggling over a $50 pendant (speaking in general terms here, I didn't see that specific scene). Then again, judging from the comments of some of the passengers I don't know that we want many of them set loose on the normal parts of town with their "Ameri-centric" way of thinking.

There was also a little open air market where my girlfriend found little Caribbean outfits for her niece and nephew for $20. She probably could have gotten the price down some but it was worth $20 to her so she didn't argue. After an hour or so had passed we walked back to Emancipation Park where Godfrey told us to return. This time the bus was nearly full as we had the 9 and 10 am pickups all together. Godfrey wisely filled the last seats with some "walk-up" traffic from the sidewalk, so there was only one more thing to do: wait for the people who couldn't seem to come back on time. After 10 minutes and one traffic-cop relocation of our bus later, they finally straggled their way back and we began the tour.

The driving tour went up and down windy roads (they drive on the left side even in the USVI, which some idiots referred to as the "wrong side" as if God came down from heaven and declared which side of a road was to be used by traffic and then used lightning bolts to paint the road stripes) and stopped at some scenic locations for photo ops and a brief informative talk about the hurrican damage, particularly from Marilyn in the 90s which caused 95% damage to the island according to Godfrey.

The next stop was the "top of the mountain" which had a nice view as well as a bar and shops. Sunny Liston's tour (same price, same itinerary) was there at the same time and Sunny gave a little talk pointing out which other islands could be seen from our mountaintop vista. He also peppered his speech with a few jokes, which prompted one of the passengers with Godfrey's tour to ask Godfrey if he told jokes, which I thought was kind of rude. The guy is an excellent tour guide, not a comedian. After some pictures everyone paraded in for the "world famous banan daquiri", $7.50 apiece. We shared one, not bad but nothing to drive to the top of a mountain for, and we also ordered a burger and fries to share ($8.50). The burger was quite good but since we were short on time we had to eat it in the taxi. Others who did not order food were eyeing it hungrily, though, and despite being overpriced it was worth the money.

After some more tour it was beach time, and everyone chose Coki Point over Magen's Bay or Sapphire. As we were dropped off my girlfriend spotted a jetski rental stand, and the guy running it said it was $50 for 2 people for half an hour. We said we would be back and walked 30-40 yards across the road to the beach. First, a bathroom was needed, but the closest one was locked and the only other one had a $1 charge, which I guess is better than taking care of business in the ocean. We were going to get a locker but then realized we needed some things from our bag to rent the jetski so headed back there. At this point there were 7 or 8 kids standing around the shack so we thought we missed our chance, but the guy said "they were here first" and let us put our things in the big wooden box in the stand. They took credit cards, too, which was fortunate because we did not bring enough cash. After we quickly got ready and put on life jackets we were on the jetski, and the guy told us how far we could go (to the house with the red roof, very far down, and not near the main Coki beach). The jetski was easily one of the top two or three parts of the whole trip, very fun and beatiful water. After our 30 minutes was up (a small watch was attached to show our time) we sadly gave back the jetski and walked back across the road to the beach, where we enjoyed 45 minutes of beach time before buying a frozen Bahama Mama for $6 from the beach bar (a chicken was strutting around along with a cat inside this one) and getting into Godfrey's bus. Because of a traffic accident Godfrey was forced to pick us up in a crowded back lot, and before we could leave some jerk bumped into the bus and drove away with some harsh words. He didn't look local to me, which is why if I lived on that island I would not want to allow car rentals unless my last name was Hertz. After the late people finally came back to the bus we were off to pick up their other late friends, who had requested to go back to downtown instead of going to the beach. After one lap around the park Godfrey drove on because the idiots were not there and we had one group on the bus from Oceana cruise lines who had to be back within the next 20 or 30 minutes. After dropping them off at the closer port we were driven to the Sun and thanked Godfrey for a wonderful tour. Godfrey's site is www.godfreytoursvi.com

Next--Murder mystery dinner

[reporterjen]

Jay, reading your posts is like being back on the ship. After reading all your installments so far, I can't believe all the things Christopher and I missed out on...and *now* you're going to write all about the murder mystery dinner we were eager to do. :P

 

(Clearly, we're just going to have to book a new cruise soon).

 

Congrats on the casino winnings!

 

Jen.

[jaylb31]

Day 5 continued

A murder mystery confession: I did the murder mystery game on the Dawn and the one on the Sun was the exact same thing. That being said, there was only one way that my knowing who the murderer was would not be a problem--for me to be the murderer. 1 in 8 chance, and of course it was me, bwahahahaha. We went to the Stardust Theater fashionably late (which was my plan, as on the Dawn we got there early and just sat there while we waited for the rest of the people to arrive). We were placed with a group of 6 others which included two married couples who apparently knew each other and a pair of female travelers. We made some small talk until the "snuff film" which showed the murder. We were given little booklets and stickers which assigned us roles and gave us details on what to reveal during dinner and what to ask others. The booklets are broken up into 4 parts, ostensibly one for each course but I think that was more designed for the old NCL menus when they had two separate sections for appetizers/salads unlike now when they are combined into one.

After the short movie we proceeded in our groups of 8 to the Four Seasons where our table was reserved. One complaint: the NCL guy running the game said "for the rest of the meal stay in character." On the Dawn there was a nice mix of acting out the roles and then taking a break and getting to know each other. On the Sun it was taken literally and I don't know anything about the people I had dinner with other than the characters. Still, it was fun to act out the game and make little jokes, even if some of my hilarity went unappreciated. The meal was served quickly, and we had mushroom crepes, salmon bisque (a favorite), an unremarkable beef main course, and a forgettable raspberry cheesecake parfait for dessert.

I won't tell any details of the game, but after the dinner we were directed up to the "Tech-Styles Room" on Deck 6 with one other group of 8 to reveal the murderer. The NCL guy asked "who thought it was X, who thought it was Y" etc., and then told who was the murderer. Only one person at our table had picked me as the killer, so I guess I fooled them as far as my evil capabilities.

We left the Tech Styles Room around 7:45 and went to Las Ramblas to try the much heralded tapas. Have to say we were disappointed, the selection (at least at that time) was very limited and the "acoustical guitarist" Dan Dunn had his amp way too loud for the small, quiet room. He apparently was unhappy with the response he was getting for his soulful ballads because he even accosted one couple about doing "his and hers crossword puzzles" while he was playing. We left as soon as we finished our not-so-good chorizo.

The ship seemed at its rockiest this night, as we were probably going our fastest speed to get to Samana on time. Still, the entire cruise was virtually motionless as far as what was noticeable, and I did not feel that disorienting sensation of solid ground after the cruise that I felt after the Dawn cruise in '05.

After a stop at Sprinkles for some frozen yogurt, we went to the casino for a little while, then went to the magician's performance in the theater. Jeff Moche, what can I say, a little too whiny for our taste and not enough magic. He was even kind of mean to the young lad he brought on stage although I guess you could say it was part of the act. The magician on the Dawn, can't think of his name, did the "escape from the chains after being thrown in the pool" trick. Jeff Moche did the "escape from the restraints on stage" trick. Hmmm, which was more impressive? Also the guy on the Dawn did the trick where he takes the watch off the guy's arm and puts it on his own, that was pretty good. Jeff Moche did the moving knots on the rope. Okay, I can't do it, but come on, I have higher expectations.

 

After the show we went back to the room and ordered room service, a cheese pizza, a veggie pizza, and a chocolate mousse. All three were very good and probably came within 15-20 minutes. The woman who brought the food seemed surprised when I tipped her a couple dollars, but maybe that was just my imagination. The pizzas reminded me of Pizza Hut personal pan pizzas at least in the size department, so don't hesitate to order several if you are ordering for hungry people. As I said before, the chocolate mousse was pretty good. After we ate I left the tray in the hallway and although it was there the next morning it was eventually taken away by someone. Whenever we had extra glasses or anything in the room I usually took them on our way to somewhere else and left them on a table somewhere near the champagne bar (closest bar) instead of either letting them pile up or having the housekeeping staff remove them, which they may not be equipped to do.

Next: Day 6

[reporterjen]

It sounds like the murder mystery dinners are frequently on Wednesdays. We worried about that right after scheduling our dinner at Le Bistro for the same night, though, in the end, I never heard about the dinner. Jay, how did you and your girlfriend learn about it? Did I just miss it in the Freestyle Daily?

 

BTW, I had the same reaction when I tipped the folks who brought our room service breakfasts to us. One woman seemed particularly taken aback.

 

Anyway, keep these updates coming! They're great. :)

[jaylb31]

I noticed that it was only in the freestyle daily as far as signing up and nothing on the day when it was actually held (which I assume is because they needed to reserve X number of tables so if you didn't sign up they were not letting you do it).

[jaylb31]

kind of old news now but I will try to finish this behemoth of a review soon.

[tpear3]

Thanks for all the info. Can you tell me what was on the Room Service menu--the kids will get too tired many nights to go to dinner with us. And us big kids like to have a sandwich on the balcony every once in a while!!

[danyelle]

I'm LOVING this review! Can't wait for the rest

[jaylb31]

If I remember there were maybe three kinds of sandwiches, three pizzas, some grilled cheese and maybe a hot dog or something on the "kids menu", plus a few other things. Reporterjen had posted scans of freestyle dailies and menus but not sure if she did the room service one or not, you might do a search for her post.

[jaylb31]

Day 6: Thursday @ Samana

We couldn't get ready in time for breakfast but weren't too hungry anyway. I had read time and time again on CC that if you want to do anything activity-wise in Samana you need to book it through the ship. I also heard from a fellow passenger that the "Samana Highlights" or something like that where you go to the beach had been cancelled because of "concerns of the tour director". In post-9/11 America most people assume that means there is some "local unrest" or something, but I figure that another cruise line rented the beach for the day and NCL didn't want to sound like chumps. We did see another cruise ship anchored a ways from the Sun, so I would not be surprised if that was what happened. In any case, none of the tours offered through the ship looked absolutely "must-do" although I'm sure they were all fun. In the end, we decided to just tender over and walk around what we anticipated would be an area with nothing much to do, and that's about what it was. We tendered over in a Sun lifeboat around 11:00 am and did not have to wait in line. The 5-10 minute boat ride was very calm, few waves at all. We got off at the dock and walked through the bottleneck where you are encouraged to exchange currency or pose for pictures with some poor NCL employee in a furry dolphin suit which in those temperatures had to be hell. I doubt the currency exchange is necessary because it appeared that everyone accepted dollars, but it would be wise to bring small bills because there is definitely no guarantee that the seller of whatever you want to buy will have change.

We walked along the sunny, tree lined street along the water's edge and didn't mind the occasional huckster selling palm frond hats or whatever those things were. They actually reminded me of the Mickey Mouse ear hats that people buy at Disney World because when are you ever going to wear that again after the trip? Much of the traffic on the fairly busy street was small motorbikes, and there were a few cabs with postcards to show the fabulous beaches that they would take you to. Not sure what the rates were though as we did not ask. A few blocks down we saw the little corner open air market with a few souvenir type things being sold and a bar in the middle. Again, nothing we were interested in so we kept walking a little further but not much there. We did see a restaurant which probably would have been very good but we did not go in and that is my only regret of the Samana trip. After about 20 minutes of aimless walking we just went back and got on the next tender back. Couldn't say that we hadn't been warned so we were not disappointed or anything because it was what we expected, and it is always a treat to see another country even if it is only a non-representative area swarming with cruisers.

Back on the Sun by noon, we went to lunch at the Seven Seas and had what I thought was a delicious mahi mahi skewer (my girlfriend didn't like hers, more for me) and thai chicken salad. Again, the dessert selection was so unappealing that we had to go to the buffet in search of something good, and of course there was nothing appetizing there either. this was probably a good thing in retrospect because you really don't need a dessert after every meal and there was no shortage of good food being eaten on the ship.

We changed into swimsuits and went to the covered area that holds four adjacent hot tubs on the pool deck. All of the hot tubs were occupied but we found room in one. Funny thing about hot tub etiquette--you don't want to get out as soon as someone else gets in just out of politeness, but I didn't necessarily want to be squeezed into that tub with too many people especially if I was going to get the accidental foot/leg bump which can be unpleasant in some circumstances. I'm exaggerating here of course, but you know what I mean. The hot tubs are a little tricky as far as getting the jets going because they have what look like knobs but they are actually buttons so remember to push, not turn.

After a nap (yes, we like to sleep on vacation, what can I say) we went to have our own martini clinic at the Windjammer lounge. I would have to say that the best drink values by far on the ship are either martinis or draft beers. We each had two martinis which come in the bigger martini glasses unlike the ones at the clinic. You also get a dish of assorted nuts which were very good. I can't remember all four of the martinis we had, but I know the chocolate one was pretty good and the cajun one, which was only different from a regular vodka martini in that it was made with Absolut Peppar instead of normal vodka, was not as good as some "hot" ones that I have had in the past with hot sauce added. The prices were between 8-10 dollars apiece which is pretty standard for martinis at any bar. After the two martinis we felt pretty tipsy, even moreso than after the martini clinic, which was only unusual due to the fact that every other time we drank on the ship we felt that the alcohol might have been watered down or something. This time there was no way because the feeling was right on point with the way you should feel after drinking two martinis :)

 

We staggered (just kidding) to the casino and did well in roulette but I gave some back at the blackjack table. After a little pre-dinner gambling we went down the atrium stairs to the Four Seasons, where swordfish, another risotto, beef carpaccio, and a fruit minestrone were enjoyed. The fruit minestrone only made me remember the last cruise and all the delicious cold soups that were probably the highlight of every meal that included them and were conspicuously absent on this voyage. The tiramisu for dessert was very good as well.

 

We spend the rest of the evening at the sports bar and watched LSU beat Duke in basketball (ha ha, good to see Duke lose for once). We had more drafts and pina colada along with fish and chips (always good), a hot dog, and many, many fries.

 

I believe this was the night of the chocoholic buffet but we did not go (again, we would be outcasts in "Norwegia" for such an outrage as to miss the chocolate buffet). It was at 11:30 p.m., I had been to the one before and didn't think it was so wonderful, and we didn't feel like fighting the crowds that were sure to be battling to stuff their faces full of that addictive chocohol.

 

Next: Day 7

[jaylb31]

Day 7: Friday

There was a disembarkation talk given at 10:15 by Linda the cruise director but we skipped it since it was replayed constantly on one of the tv channels anyway. After another buffet breakfast (still satisfying with good grits and potatoes) we went to the Latitudes party. It did not matter that my girlfriend was not a Latitudes member, and I think if you had walked up there with ten people and one invitation (the paper which was left in the room describing the party-although the date of the party on the flyer was a day before we got on the ship so that was a typo) you could all come in.

The party was held in the theater and servers were circulating with trays of snacks and drinks--the drinks were mimosas, bloody marys, and non-alcoholic punch. I think it might have been possible to order a different type of drink but I think it might have taken a while for it to get back to you, in any event we stuck with the bloodys and mimosas which were both good. The snacks were tasty, too, with caviar, shrimp, egg, and other little bite sized morsels, and the captain gave a semi-rambling speech for 10 minutes before some raffle prizes were given away. One prize was 15 minutes of internet time given to a lady who said she had never used a computer, and the "grand prize" was a bottle of champagne. (We did not get any prizes) The whole shindig lasted about 45 minutes but at the end the emcee said the next hour was "happy snappy" and all photos in the photo gallery were buy one get one free for Latitudes members. We ended up getting an 8 X 10 for $24.99 and another 8 X 10 for free. That was a pretty smart promotion because we probably would not have bought just one for $24.99, but one lady got very upset with the counter guy because as she put it "I asked specifically yesterday if there were going to be any sales or specials later on and he told me no." The guy said "this was not planned" (yeah right) but told her to come back (it was pretty hectic and crowded at the counter as you can imagine) and he would take care of her, so she was appeased.

We went up to Las Ramblas for deli sandwiches (apparently only offered on sea days) and they were excellent. There were some pre-made behind the glass counter but the servers would make you what you wanted from several different meat, bread, and cheese selections. I had a tuna salad sandwich and also a salami on a baguette, both very good.

For the remainder of the early afternoon we walked around the ship and made a final stop in the casino, again about $175- $200 up between the two of us in total, so somebody does win there believe it or not.

One event that looked interesting in the freestyle daily was "name that tune" trivia in Windjammer featuring Dan Hodge on piano. We ordered an espresso martini and a "kurant affair" martini and sat in the crowded lounge for the game. I went to trivia a lot on the Dawn but this was our first on the Sun, and Dan Hodge did things a little differently in that he had each team of 5 or less shout out their team name and then at the conclusion of each round (3-4 songs each round) he would have you shout out your score for the round, which in our case was fairly pathetic because most of the songs were not of our generation nor musical preference. Still, we managed to finish near the top thanks to the surprising failure by many groups to identify "At Last" by Etta James in the Final-Jeopardy-style last round. After some of these groups had been coming up with some correct answers on pretty obscure songs I was surprised that they didn't recognize that one. Dan Hodge was a pretty good piano player and singer, though.

We returned to the Windjammer a few hours later for some regular trivia and had a Melontini and a Peachie martini, again both quite good and fairly priced at about $8.50. We did pretty well on this trivia but were defeated by some group that got like 92% correct, tough competition.

For our final dinner we went to the Four Seasons, where a woman who was not the normal hostess tried to fill in for the temporarily-occupied person who was supposed to do it and led us to the wrong table. Not a problem, except no one seemed to realize that they had a table to serve apparently because of the system they use so we had our slowest servie of the cruise. Eventually we decided to tell the hostess about the mix-up not because we were angry or anything but because it was starting to look, after 10-15 minutes without menus, like we were caught in a seating chart black-hole. After that the service was speedy and apologetic and of course we felt bad for any bad impression cast on the waiter because it was not his fault at all. Dinner consisted of risotto (yes, another different one), stroganoff, tuna tartar, chicken broth, salmon, caesar salad, chocolate cake (good) and strawberry cake (not so good).

After dinner we went to the Passenger Talent Show in the theater, and there were some very good performers. The guy that won was not the best in our opinion, but we were not judges. After the show we went to Dazzles for Jeopardy, and one guy kind of ran away with that as the other two were not doing too well. A tequila sunrise ($5.25) was pretty good, and we went to the sports bar for some fish and chips. It was pretty crowded this night with a NCAA tournament game on and the food waitress was trying hard to get everyone's order. Before we went to sleep we made sure to have our luggage (not carry-on stuff) out in the hall before 3 am as instructed.

Day 8: Saturday

When we woke up the bill was under the door, $319 and $302 respectively. This included $70 each for the $10 a day service charge, $59 each for the Virgin Gorda excursion, and various other purchases like the photo, $30 Le Bistro cover charge, and a $12 gold bracelet. One thing about the bracelet, they sell you the chain "by the inch" but there is a fee (I think it was $5) for the clasp and the "labor" so keep that in mind when you are shopping "by the inch". All told the bar bill was less than $150 apiece which is more than we spend weekly at home on bars but not bad at all for a week's vacation when you are sometimes drinking in the afternoon because it can add up. I suppose my $43 Absolut liter (charged to credit card directly, not room) helped keep the bar bill down, too.

There was a chart to determine which color tags you were to put on your luggage, and the color was based on your method of departure from the port, ie NCL transfer to Ft. Lauderdale with flight leaving after 4 pm. Our white-tagged bags were gone in the morning and we went up to a final breakfast. It was surprisingly not completely packed although this was the last chance for free food, and hallelujah, the good hash browns were back. Back in the room, our "scheduled" time for the white tags to be called was 9:45 am but we thought we might have missed the call so we went up one flight to deck five with our carry-ons and proceeded to leave the Sun. Disembarkation was very fast though a bit confusing if you didn't know anything about what you were doing, which probably applied to some on the cruise. The white tag bags were together in one corner of the giant disembarkation "room" and we gathered them up to head for the exit. We had to show our identification one last time and then went right out to a waiting NCL greyhound. The driver loaded the bags on after asking our airline, which was a good try but still difficult because with different people getting off at different terminals it was destined to be a mess trying to sort through the luggage at the airport--he handled it very well. By the time we drove away from the pier there was already a line waiting for the next Ft. Lauderdale airport bus.

Next: the End