Just back from the 1 April Sun Cruise

[cmdchiefthom]

I wanted to post a couple of thoughts about my experience aboard the Sun last week, and should anyone have any questions, please ask.

 

I booked four cabins for this cruise, an AC Penthouse suite, 0265, an adjoining balcony, 0266 for my oldest son, his wife and their two sons (4 & 6), and 0264 for my two other sons, (24 & 26) and 263 for my DW's ex-inlaws!:eek: Originally we were to leave out of New Orleans where one of my son's is stationed in the Coast Guard however, Katrina changed all that, as well as the Sun's itinerary. I have cruised all the ports before, with the exception of Samana, in the Dominica Republic, so I knew what to expect, from an excursion standpoint, and had cruised on the Sun, twice previously.

 

We arrived at the pier at 12:15, and immediatley were ushered to the Suite registration area. The staff was very nice about doing our whole group, and all 10 of us were completed and escorted to the VIP waiting area by 12:30. We barely had time to finish our refreshments before we were taken through security and were onboard and in our staterooms by 12:40.

 

Stateroom 265 was simply awesome. The rooms are spacious for two people and the balcony is huge. There are two chairs along with two lounges and a small table, but this still left plenty of room for additional chairs on the balcony. To be quite honest, we never needed to look around the other decks for sunning space, there was plenty on our balcony. I will admit, that after several days, our bed took its toll on my back, and in hindsight, I probably would have asked Rommel our butler for an eggcrate. There were 3 110 Volt outlets in the living room, the CD/DVD player had a nice 6 speaker sound system attached, the fridge under the TV sort of worked (especially if you slamned the door shout), the recessed lighting could be set to your mood, and the separate AC controls betweent the bedroom, and living room actually did react separately.

 

The bathroom, and separate dressing area was fantastic, as were the two separate wardrobes. I do suggest bringing extra hangers from home. There were enough drawers and shelves for anything else you need to store and the largest suitcases did fit under the beds. There is a stand up shower, as well as a whirlpool tub/shower combination. The first day we stuck to the shower, but it is kind of small, and we found showering in the tub the better option. Again, there was plenty of storage for everything in the bathroom.

 

There are two seperate sliding doors, one for each room, leading out onto the balcony, which was around five feet deep, and over 30 feet long. Yes, on occasion, things such as napkins and such did drop down from the Great Outdoor Cafe above, but it was no big thing, and privacy wasn't a big issue either. Our Butler Rommel was wonderful as was our Steward, Georgiana.

 

Being a military guy, a couple of issues did kind of bug me, regarding what I consider as attention to details. For instance, I made tea for my wife the first morning of our cruise using the in-room coffee maker. I used one of the larger coffee cups already in the room. The previous evening, we left a breakfast order with Rommel for a set delivery time the following morning. He first called our room to make sure we were awake, and promptly five minutes later, was at our door. We had our breakfast, and then left to explore the ship. When we returned, we were down to a single coffee cup, and the clear water in the coffee maker was to remain untouched for the following 6 days. Also, how many emptly wine buckets do you need three days into the cruise. Should empty drink glasses be collected at least daily?

 

For all you booze smugglers, beware. By the time the sail-away began, I was still missing a large suitcase containing all my SCUBA gear. I actually called down to the reception and expressed my concerns, but was told they were still in the process of delivering it. At about 5:30, still concerned because it hadn't arrived yet, I decided to head down to reception personally, and see if anyone could tell me where it might be. While shutting the door to my stateroom, I found a letter slid into the room numbers which informed me that they had found something in my luggage and I had to report to deck five to have my luggage inspected by security.

 

I arrived at the designated room in the Atrium, and saw a line formed at a set of glass doors. Inside were two crewmen and probably fity or more bags. The doors were locked, but you could see the crewmen and a female passenger going through her packed bag, underwear and all!:eek: Sure enough, demon rum was uncovered, and confiscated. I thought it was very demeaning! To add insult to injury, she had to repack and then was allowed to transport her bag, by herself to here stateroom! This scenario was replayed a couple of more times until it was my turn. The crewman unlocked the doors, let a passenger out and asked my wife and I to come in and locked the door behind us. I was told to identify my bag, which I did towards the back of the room. Please understand this bag is pretty large and weighs in at around 65 lbs. The crewman says please bring it here (the front of the room). There is certainly not enough room to roll it, so I simply said "please tell me what you're looking for, this is my SCUBA equipment"! He tells me to bring it up to the front, and at this point I told him come and get it, its heavy, and its SCUBA gear. He came to the back of the room, and I unzip the bag, and he sees the regulators, bouyancy compensators, fins, masks, and looks at me and says, "you have no booze?" and I say no, its SCUBA gear! He says OK, you can take it. I say, "excuse me, I'm in a suite, and I really don't expect you want any of your passengers carrying their own bags to their rooms, especially those in suites!" He says sorry, but there are only two of us here, so you must take your bag!" I said "excuse me, and let me go to reception and see if I can get the hotel manager to sort our luggage delivery"! After a short visit to the reception desk where I told a young lady about my experience and of my desire to see the hotel manager, she said she would take care of it, and within twenty minutes, she proved to be as good as her word. I really found this situation to be an embarrassment not only to the passenger, but to the two poor crewmen who had to face the passengers inforcing NCL lame attempt at increasing their profits.:eek:

 

More of this review later.;)

[tpear3]

Can't wait for the rest of your review!! I am in 0067 while my parents are in your room on the opposite side 0065. Please let me know what you think of the other rooms you booked for your family:D !

 

Thanks

[MadDog Cruiser]

Must be the folks at NCL are reading Cruise Critic messages about "smugglin' booze" and decided to do something stupid...wait until baggage is onboard rather than inspecting it onshore before boarding... go figure:D

 

Hoorah to you for standing your ground and having NCL deliver your luggage to your stateroom... not just because your in a suite but should this should have to all passengers "inconvenienced" by the "shake-down".

 

Anyway... looking to see the rest of your review, my son and his wife are in stateroom 0266 in December and are anxious to hear what your son thought of it!

 

Looking for your future installments...

[electricron]

It's not something new, or "stupid" to wait to hand inspect checked in bags until the bags are on the ship, 'cause you are already on the ship.

 

I suppose you prefer to wait for your check in bags to be inspected, and opened by you for a hand search ashore? Shucks, the ship wouldn't depart until midnight or later on every cruise. You will be stuck ashore starving waiting for your check in bags to pass.

 

Besides, they are already busy inspecting your carry on bags ashore, when you are with the bags.

 

Doesn't anyone ever think of the repercussions of their suggestions all the way through?

[MadDog Cruiser]

It's not something new, or "stupid" to wait to hand inspect checked in bags until the bags are on the ship, 'cause you are already on the ship.

 

I suppose you prefer to wait for your check in bags to be inspected, and opened by you for a hand search ashore? Shucks, the ship wouldn't depart until midnight or later on every cruise. You will be stuck ashore starving waiting for your check in bags to pass.

 

Besides, they are already busy inspecting your carry on bags ashore, when you are with the bags.

 

Doesn't anyone ever think of the repercussions of their suggestions all the way through?

 

I don't want to "hijack" this thread. Do not take this as a "flaming" reply electricron. To answer your question... In the wake of 9/11 (no pun intended), security must be "beefed" up in all areas of public travel as the airlines did following the horrible events that occurred on that date. Does that mean longer lines? Yes. Does the airline security process of checking "checked" and "carry-on" baggage cause delays? Yes. Is it sometimes embarrassing? Yes. Do they miss things conducting their searches? Yes. Is their system infallible? No. As in anything, it can be improved. The simple fact is that security searches are not conducted just to find booze. More dangerous contraband items exist and waiting until the ship is at sea is not the proper time to find or do something about it! Security searches are conducted in the best interest of the traveling public and the carriers they choose to use. To your "Doesn't anyone ever think of the repercussions of their suggestions all the way through?" question, my answer is yes... As a 26 year retired military member, I know a little something about security and the picture that cmdchiefthom portrays in his review is not a good security practice. Thorough security searches must be performed prior to departure. Finally, would I mind going through the process I suggested in my reply? No, I go through it every week when I fly.

 

Sorry for the small "hijack" cmdchiefthom... I just wanted people to take security seriously... we live in a dangerous world but we can still have fun cruisin' safely and securely. I'm anxiously awaiting your next installment...Carry on!

[newmexicoNita]

Must be the folks at NCL are reading Cruise Critic messages about "smugglin' booze" and decided to do something stupid...wait until baggage is onboard rather than inspecting it onshore before boarding... go figure:D

 

Hoorah to you for standing your ground and having NCL deliver your luggage to your stateroom... not just because your in a suite but should this should have to all passengers "inconvenienced" by the "shake-down".

 

Anyway... looking to see the rest of your review, my son and his wife are in stateroom 0266 in December and are anxious to hear what your son thought of it!

 

Looking for your future installments...

As Electricron just posted: this isn't new by any means. They always check as the luggage is put on board, then they ask people to report to the dept if they suspect alcohol. Can you imagine the backup if they did all this prior to anyone boarding? NCL does read CC, but the smuggling thing has been discussed for years now, it isn't anything new to them. As for the shakedown as you put it: Maddog wasn't trying to smuggle andthing and I don't blame him for standing his ground, but most who are summons are trying to smuggle booze. I am not so self righteous to pretend I have never tried, but if one does choose to disregard the policy and get caught it serves them right. NMnita

[electricron]

Golly, Check In bags are different from Carry On bags.

 

Yes, I bet all bags are sent through the scanners before they are taken to the ship.

 

But can you imagine the delays that would occur if everyone had to be with and carry all their bags during the boarding process, without any Check In bags?

 

The line at the x-ray machines are already long enough with just Carry On bags. As it is, the Check In bags aren't delivered to your rooms until they have been passed by security.

 

It's a better policy to have passengers to open their Check In bags aboard the ship after it has set sail, than doing so and causing extremely long delays on the pier.

[newmexicoNita]

Golly, Check In bags are different from Carry On bags.

 

Yes, I bet all bags are sent through the scanners before they are taken to the ship.

 

But can you imagine the delays that would occur if everyone had to be with and carry all their bags during the boarding process, without any Check In bags?

 

The line at the x-ray machines are already long enough with just Carry On bags. As it is, the Check In bags aren't delivered to your rooms until they have been passed by security.

 

It's a better policy to have passengers to open their Check In bags aboard the ship after it has set sail, than doing so and causing extremely long delays on the pier.

Agree, it would take forever.

[cmdchiefthom]

First, a quick comment on my luggage experience: the fact that they held it for inspection didn't bother me quite as much as the idea that I, or any other passenger should then be responsible to lug it to their stateroom. I'm rather glad they xray the bags from a security standpoint.;)

 

Despite the little issues about attention to details I mentioned in my previous post, our butler, Rommel (he calls himself the Desert Fox), introduced him self in a very gracious and friendly manner as did our room stewardess, Georgiana. I took the liberty of tipping Rommel at our first meeting within an hour or so or boarding. He was superb throughout the entire cruise and I was generous in the tip I gave him the last morning. He, and Georgiana both took the time to talk each and every time wwe interacted and were very kind and thoughtfull towards my entire family. Rommel will only be on the Sun until the 23rd when he begins his vacation.

 

A group of around twenty fellow Cruise Critics met in the Observation Lounge around 6 the first evening, and had a few beverages together, but that was as formal a get-together as we had. It was great placing faces to the names we've used here on the boards.

 

Let me just comment a little on the food. Rommel brought us breakfast in our room every morning, nothing special, but it filled the void. For lunch, we ate at the Great Outdoor Cafe most days, or ashore. The food again was nothing special, and having sailed before on NCL, it met my expectations. Our entire group ate three evening meals in the Seven Seas dining room and were pleased with the quality of the meals as well as the service. We never waited longer than 10 minutes for a table for eight, and typically finished our meal in no more than 90 minutes. We ate as a group in Adagio one evening and the meal was excellent! Two other evenings we ate the Fish and Chips in the Sports Bar and were very satisfied with the quality and the service. We also ate in the Garden Cafe Buffet one evening and found the food to be somewhat better than our school cafeteria. I might mention that I heard that several passenger became ill after eating ashore in Tortola. From that point on, for whatever reason, passengers were no longer allowed to serve themselves in any buffet line. Crewmembers dished out everything, even the glasses in the beverage line. To me, that was kind of strange.

 

The entertainment was excellent with Joe Yannetty the Comedian being the best act I've ever seen onboard a cruise ship. He is too funny!:eek: It was great to see Twice as Nice in the Observation Lounge as well, they always put on an outstanding show. I personally don't do the production shows, so I won't make a comment.

 

My wife and I are SCUBA divers and dived through SHOREX in Samana, and Tortola and privately in St. Thomas. In Samana, we dived Caya Lavantado, the Bacardi island. It was absolutely the worst dive experience I've ever had in the Caribbean. Its sad to seen how the locals have destroyed not only the reef, but also the sealife that should have been living there. :( The divemaster remarked to me that the locals will hunt and kill anything on the reef that might be considered edible, including the beautiful anglefish common on any other reef around any other island. I understand that NCL will not make Samana a port of call for any of its ships in the future, and personally, I won't miss it, although I did get a great buy on a box of Cohibas!:D In Tortola, we dived the RMS Rhone, so again, we didn't have enough time to do anything else. Although we've been to St. Thomas on many occasions, we usually have docked at Havensight and did a SCUBA trip from there, never making it to the downtown area. This time we booked privatley with Admirality Divers, made a fantastic wreck dive on the Hospital Ship, as well as a great reef, and were finished by 12:30 and had enough time to get to the shopping district. I was not impressed! Afterall, most every store had the same items as every other store! Can you say boring?:rolleyes:

 

I had a fantastic time with my family aboard the Sun, and it was well worth the bucks I spent to get them all there. Our two grandsons, 4 and 6, loved the Kids Crew and the caretakers there were fantastic! There is no question I would cruise the Sun again, depending on the itinerary. The crew was great, friendly, and happy to please. I'm just waiting for NCL to announce the Caribbean itinerary for the Pearl for the first week in April, 2007 and if its the 9 day trip, consider me booked!

[snorklinbarb]

Hi Thom,

Enjoying your review. Glad that you & your family had a good time on the Sun.

 

Fyi, the itins for the Pearl next Apr. are already loaded into the website. For example, Apr. 8th is the 5 day Western followed by Apr. 13th 9 day Southern. We are looking for the Pan. Canal repo but can't find that one yet, though the Alaskan itins starting in May are also already visible.

 

Good luck & happy sails.

[newmexicoNita]

Hi Thom' date='

Enjoying your review. Glad that you & your family had a good time on the Sun.

 

Fyi, the itins for the Pearl next Apr. are already loaded into the website. For example, Apr. 8th is the 5 day Western followed by Apr. 13th 9 day Southern. We are looking for the Pan. Canal repo but can't find that one yet, though the Alaskan itins starting in May are also already visible.

 

Good luck & happy sails.[/quote']Same thing here and I am the TA or I claim to be one. I have clients that, I am sure would love to do the Sun. They have cruised her before. I am giving them suggestions on other lines as well as probably the Crown. Hopefully we will know in the next few weeks. Maybe I will pick up new information while on the Sun this coming week. NMnita

[lovetocruise99]

I just returned from your cruise also and had a good time. I was interested in the comment you made about several passengers getting sick after eating ashore in Tortola. My ten-year-old child and I both became very ill during the night of the Tortola port and we didn't eat anything at all on the island because we went to The Baths. We were so careful about washing our hands and sanitizing that we could not figure out how we caught something. But...we both did have a delicious pineapple coco loco (non-alcoholic for her!) served inside a pineapple at Cayo Leventado. Later I wondered if that was a bad idea considering the ice wasn't purified. I usually know better but they looked so good!

 

It was interesting all the different excuses the staff at the Garden Cafe came up with when i asked why they suddenly starting serving everyone once we hit St. Thomas...everything from "we wanted to give you better service" to "we had a kitchen inspection in st thomas". I was happy with the switch over in any case.

[BILLP1]

Great to be made to feel like a criminal for smuggling liquor to your room on your vacation. What's next ,stop me from bringing my own soap so they can sell that to me.

 

How about pay as you go elevators. You can always use the free stairs.

 

For us it's back to land bases vacations where we are made to feel like guests and not criminals.

[Catbiri2]

Great to be made to feel like a criminal for smuggling liquor to your room on your vacation. What's next ,stop me from bringing my own soap so they can sell that to me.

 

How about pay as you go elevators. You can always use the free stairs.

 

For us it's back to land bases vacations where we are made to feel like guests and not criminals.

Interesting thought here, follow the rules, that you agreed to when you signed your cruise documents, and the cruise line won't make you feel like criminals. Just my suggestion.

 

Maybe if you had used a different term than "smuggling", I would not have responded, but by saying "smuggling" you are stating that you know it is wrong, yet you do/did it anyway, and take the chance of being caught *shrug* Your choice.

[newmexicoNita]

Interesting thought here, follow the rules, that you agreed to when you signed your cruise documents, and the cruise line won't make you feel like criminals. Just my suggestion.

 

Maybe if you had used a different term than "smuggling", I would not have responded, but by saying "smuggling" you are stating that you know it is wrong, yet you do/did it anyway, and take the chance of being caught *shrug* Your choice.

I totally agree; we all know the policy, if we choose to break it and get caught we should just shrug it off and get over it. NMNIta

[sweetpea-2]

very interesting and detailed review.....I must say due to 9/11, the security has been gone up the scale ( hench them jumping to conclusions)....... however with their x-ray machines I am surprised that they didn't know the contents without asking you ........ and there is a right way and a wrong way to do things as far as I am concerned and no one should have to take their luggage to their own rooms unless it is a carry on....no matter what room they are in.....;)

[stogeycruiser]

I was on this same cruise with Thom. Our experience was the same without the luggage search.

 

I believe this was some of the best entertainment I've experienced on a cruise ship, which includes the ice show on Adventures of the Seas on Royal Caribbean. We really enjoyed Twice as Nice, in the Observation Lounge, as well as, Joe Yannetti the comedian, very, very funny.

 

Since we don't dive or snorkel, we didn't do any of those execursions. In the Samana we were on our own and very disappointed in the experience there even though I did get a great deal on a box of Cohibas!:D Other than the cigars I wouldn't even leave the ship. We've been to Tortola before and it was great to see that the port shopping has expanded. We did take the Banananas Pub Crawl. This was a fabulous excursion. We got to see both sides of the island, including Garden Cane Bay. Plus everytime we stopped to get photos we were all treated to a shot of rum.

Our guide Kumbia was great. Two stops one to eat at Quito's (famous Reggae musician) and Full Moon (who knows what goes on there on a full moon, some of the pictures posted on the wall gave you a clue).;) St. Thomas, again was someplace we've been to many times in the past. We've seen Megan's Bay,etc. and mostly do shopping, as well as, eat lunch at the Green House. Unless you have something in mind to purchase in St. Thomas, Thom is right its boring. That wasn't the case with us as we pick up some good buys on jewelry (Star Jewelers) and a new Digital Camera (Royal Caribbean). From here it is was on to our last stop Great Stirrup Cay NCL's private island. Not much of beach people, but I would say that it was a beautiful small island. Outside of being very crowded, it was a wonderful experience. I would suggest getting your tender tickets early so that you can stake out your piece of the beach and get a umbrella and chairs.

 

All in all, we enjoyed the Sun and all of the ports of call, except Samana, D.R..:)

 

Ron