NCL Sun Review - Alaska - 9/2/06

[photomikey]

This is the second cruise we've taken. Our first was a repositioning cruise on HAL. I am 29, my girlfriend is 26. We cruised with my parents (50's), and my grandparents (late 70's), in celebration of my Grandmother's upcoming 80th birthday.

 

Before the cruise:

 

We pricelined a 2.5* hotel for before and after the cruise. We got the Summerhill Suites, downtown. Despite the name (and the website), it is NOT an all suite hotel. We ended up with a regular room, and a small one at that. The staff was uninformed and hard to deal with. The shuttle driver was slow and unreliable. That said, it was clean, well furnished, in good shape, and well located, with an enormous free breakfast. Overall, a decent value.

 

The ship:

 

Embarking was relatively painless. Personally, I think it's amazing they can get 2,000 people (plus luggage) off a ship, through customs, clean 1,000 rooms and all the public spaces, and load 2,000 people (plus luggage) back on in 8 hours. I give them a lot of leeway here, and they exceeded my expectations.

 

The ship was clean, and well appointed. She is 5 years old now, but for the most part, doesn't show any wear. Most of the public areas are centered around the main atrium. Smoking is allowed inside on some decks, and because of the open architecture, you can smell it (at times) from most areas in the atrium. Even in areas outside the atrium, smoking was allowed in all or part of almost all venues, and it was difficult to escape. I'm not asthmatic or anything, just a non smoker, and a bit of a smoke-phobe. Living in California, GF and I forget how many smokers there are out there. :-)

 

Because of the multitude of restaurants, there is little sitting space outside of them. Anywhere you sit – even those few spaces not located in eating areas – you can expect to be contacted by the bar staff immediately, and then frequently thereafter. Inside the entertainment venues (Dazzles, especially), there is one bar waiter for every three or four tables (literally), who, when not fetching a drink, will stand between his tables and look at you – waiting for you to get thirsty. When you're not being hassled by your designated bar waiter, others will walk by and ask you if you'd like to order a drink. One night in Dazzles, we were contacted 10 times in 30 minutes. It was comical.

 

Our room steward was great! We always had fresh towels, and the bed made twice a day. (We take a lot of naps!) Instead of swishing our glasses around in the bathroom sink with a dirty rag (hotel style), he would remove our glasses and return clean ones. GF chatted with him one day, and he said he and his partner were responsible for 35 rooms. They work 10 hour days, split shifts. They work 10 months on, two months off. He knew our names on day two and would greet us by name each time we left and returned to the room. I don't expect much from a housekeeper (you leave me clean towels and clean sheets, you get an “A”), but this guy really went above and beyond. On the last evening, our dirty towels disappeared, and clean ones didn't reappear. The same thing happened in the other two rooms as well. Peculiar. I showered with a pool towel.

 

We ate most of our breakfasts in the buffet. Many here have categorized the buffet as “just a buffet”, a la Hometown or Golden Corral, but I disagree. I thought the food was kept hot, and a good selection at each meal. GF complained that there weren't enough vegetarian options, and she is correct – both at the buffets and at the restaurants. We did venture to the sit-down restaurant for breakfast one day, and found slow service and the same food as at the buffet. It was like eating at the buffet, only you got less food, and it took twice as long. The breakfast menu in the sit down restaurants were the same each day, and very basic.

 

The layout of the buffet was positively horrible, with traffic jams in every direction, at all hours of the day. At no time (save late night) was it possible to walk up and pick something up -- there was always a line. The same can be said for tables – there was never one available. I don't even know how this is possible, but at no time was there a table for 2 or 4, inside, at the buffet, or in the surrounding restaurants. The buffet outside had shorter (or, at times, no) lines, and empty tables, but we are CRUISING ALASKA, with blowing rain and freezing temperatures. I find it insulting that a ship that costs this much to sail on expects its patrons to moooove through poorly designed inside lines like cattle, or freeze by going outside to get food. We found ourselves at the outside buffets 50% of the time, then scavenging for tables at the 12th deck restaurants.

 

Our favorite spot for lunch was the sandwich station upstairs at Las Ramblas. Most of our lunches were ashore anyhow, and we also hit the buffet for lunch a few times.

 

For dinner, we dined in Seven Seas several times. We are a party of six, and found that the Seas' preset tables for six were all along the aft of the ship, with a breathtaking panoramic view, and the ship's wake traveling out behind us. Asking the maitre d' for one of these tables yielded success 100% of the time. Even when just two of us (GF and I), requesting a table by the window was always done with no trouble. We tried Four Seasons once, but found that, despite having the exact same menu, it was much more popular, and meant standing in line to get a table. (Also, by this time, we'd discovered the great tables at Seven Seas.) The main dining rooms had good food (4*), and the selection was always one fish, one chicken, one pork, one beef, and one vegetarian. I'd have preferred a little more choice, but I understand trying to cook 2,000 individual meals would be cumbersome. The dining rooms were well appointed, and you get the “silverware” treatment, where there are always forks and knives appearing and disappearing, that you don't necessarily know what to do with. This adds to the 4* feel, as does the multi-course meal. Others have said on this board that the service is slow, and for the most part I disagree – a four or five course meal with bread and coffee service should take an hour or so – and it did. At times I got anxious waiting for the dessert menu, but nothing to get upset about. Portions were on the small side, but after several courses, you're full anyhow. Instead of having one item that is huge, you end up with several smaller portions. The tables were very near your neighbors in the main dining rooms – only a 18” or so between them. On lobster tail night (Sunday), I finished my first lobster tail, and asked the waitress for another. She replied, “just one?”. Indeed, I only wanted one more. But I like a waitress who will bring you as many lobster tails as you can eat. :-)

 

The specialty restaurants were worth the price, and we ate at three. It is painfully clear that NCL takes the absolute best waitstaff for the pay restaurants. We had the best service in these three restaurants that I've had, land or sea, in some time. All the pay restaurants were half off for 5:30 and 6:00p reservations, and we cashed in on that special twice. When you're operating on ship's time, it's not hard to eat at 6pm.

The Steakhouse (“East meets West”) was, as many have advertised, the best steak several in my party had eaten in some time. Each steak was cooked perfectly. There is a long list of accompaniments for the steaks, and while the waiter would poke fun if you ordered a lot (my mom warned him he'd need a lot of ink when she started – he faked a hand cramp half way through), he'd gladly bring as many as you ordered. (Order a lot, as some are small – an order of onion rings is two.) The appetizers and desserts (especially the desserts) were a step above those served in the regular restaurants, as well.

Il Idagio (Italian) was incredible Italian food, with Caesar salad tossed right at your table. The booths (seat 4) and tables (seat 2) all face the windows. Your meal arrives with a cover over the plate, and with another waiter, they remove them all at once... “1, 2, 3, Prego!”. Again, the service was above par.

Teppanyaki was tasty, but book early, there is only one table on the ship. The two chefs were top notch. A little overboard on the salt and soy sauce, but funny guys, and did some good tricks with tossing the food that hadn't been overdone in the past.

 

I have mixed feelings about the food and service being so much better at the pay restaurants. As I mentioned, we ate half-price twice (Il Idagio $6.25 and Steakhouse $10), but part of me feels that after $1,200 (each) worth of fare -- food – sit down or buffet – should be free. That said, I'm not going to have mediocre service on my vacation to save $6.25.

 

The grandparents did run into a woman who, when my grandpa referenced my two-lobster tail experience, expressed shock that we were eating in pay restaurants after we'd already paid for the cruise. (Seven Seas is, of course, a free restaurant). I can understand her plight (and others I've read about here), it is difficult to tell how much the different restaurants cost, and which ones charge and don't charge. The cost isn't printed on ANYTHING but the menu of each individual restaurant, and even that takes some hunting to find. I didn't find out until the last night of the cruise that Las Ramblas wasn't a pay restaurant – and I'm a cruise critic nut!

 

NCL, if you're going to extort us for food – can't you at least tell us what it costs?

 

Ports of call:

 

Ketchikan: Our Ketchikan tour (booked outside the ship) was canceled when some family members found out it ended at 2:30, and we were due back at the ship at 2:30. (It ended on the dock.) The four of them ended up taking a ship tour, and GF and I walked through town. This was one of the highlights of my trip – it is such a scenic town, with so much to see. The salmon were still running (a few, perhaps those with slow internal clocks), and being able to sit by the stream and watch (as opposed to snap photos out of a bus painted to look like a duck) was priceless. We shopped some, had a beer with some locals, saw Dolly's house, and read a lot of history. My Let's Go Alaska book had a tour of town, and some out of the way tips that we really enjoyed.

 

Juneau: On the uproarious advice of the members of this board, we booked the Orca Enterprises (Captain Larry) tour. Captain Larry drove our boat, but the annoying “Dirk” was on the mic the whole time. I felt the trip was overrated and overpriced, and if I had it to do again, I'd have taken the $6 bus to Mendenhall Glacier and walked around. That said, we did see a number of whales. It's much less impressive than I thought it would be. Four or five breaths (a cloud of mist and a blowhole sighting) and you see the tail peek up for two seconds. Then you wait for it to repeat. Because of the timing of the tour (it's 2.5 hours, it started 1.5 hours after we docked), and the early departure from Juneau – we didn't get to see anything else in town. The Tracy Arm shore excursion didn't run on our trip, but the big ship did get far enough up the fjord to see the glacier – only the 2nd time this season!

 

Skagway: Another highlight of the trip (despite the naysayers of this board) was renting a car from Sourdough, and taking the driving trip up to Emerald Lake. It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle for a few hours, and not feel like a camera toting tourist. Sourdough was just as ghetto in person as it was over the phone. I think I actually rented someone's car (as in, they leave it with Sourdough when they aren't in it), as it was fully stocked with bumper stickers, a national guard ID sticker, a bible and an assortment of other stuff. It had 191,000 miles (yes, count those zeros), but ran like new. $115/day (when you're the only outfit in town, you charge what you want), but we took a tour that cost others $120/each, and we didn't have to get on and off the buses like sheep. You will need your passport for this trip, as you do cross into Canada. Also, there is one gas station in town. The next one is 60 miles up the road. If you're looking for a gasoline bargain, look elsewhere.

 

Prince Rupert: The ship must stop here because it's a nice distance between Skagway and Seattle, because there is very little to do here. We shopped around and took a walking tour of town. You dock very close to a grocery story, so it's a good opportunity to pick up anything you may need. Everywhere in town TAKES American dollars, but gives you back Canadian ones, so carry small bills or use your credit cards.

 

Things I wouldn't leave home without:

 

I used my travel coffee mug A LOT. I even got comments from others about what a good idea it was. It was the single greatest thing I packed, and I owe it to this board.

 

I used my outlet strip a lot. It should be noted that there is a second 110v AC outlet behind the TV, and you can also put an outlet strip back there. Handy for things like cell phone chargers, etc, that you want to keep plugged in all the time, but don't want on the desk. There is also a 110v outlet in the bathroom that only turns on when the light is on.

 

I brought wire hangers, and used them, but there were a lot of hangers in the closet. I'm glad I brought them, I guess, but I'd have been fine without them.

 

To sum things up... re-reading this review, it sounds more negative than positive, and that's not the case at all. I give the vacation as a whole a 7.5 out of ten. While I probably wouldn't cruise NCL again (Freestyle just isn't my thing), I did enjoy myself a lot. The cruise staff were all friendly, and wouldn't hesitate to get you anything you asked for. Both the bar staff and the photographers were pushy and annoying, and wouldn't hesitate to interrupt any conversation you were having to force you into a picture, or harass you for a drink. The photo staff was especially difficult on de-embarkation, when they would slow the (already slow) line to a crawl, to take pictures of old people next to a guy in a tuna costume.

 

A note about cruising in general... and I wonder what kind of reaction this will get on this board. My girlfriend and I paid about $1200 each for this trip. Also, $70/per in tips and $300/per in shore excursions. That's $3200 for this trip, which breaks down to about $450 a day. It blows me away to think of the kind of hotels, restaurants, and land tours we could do for that amount of money... but didn't. We booked our first cruise (a HAL repositioning cruise) because it was a bargain, and enjoyed it. (We also enjoyed that it was shorter.) I think in the future, we will look closer at land vacations again.

 

 

If there is request for it, I have leftover Freestyle Dailies, Bar menus, TV listings, etcetera.

[gui888]

Thanks PhotoMike!

 

We will be going on the 9/16 cruise this weekend. Great review. I am really looking forward to the trip. Do you think it would be possible to post the Dailies, tv listings, etc. I would love to have these ahead of time. You can email them as well, if it is not too much trouble. Please let me know.

 

Guillermo

[newlywedcruisers]

Thanks for the review, I'm glad that while you didn't enjoy freestyle you seemed like you enjoyed the cruise. One response that is often given on this board when wondering if the cost of the cruise vs the cost of a land vacation is worth it ask yourself this:

Could you have seen as much of Alaska had you been travelling by land?

 

While you can visit a VERY nice hotel for that price, eat exsquisite food, and have every need catered, you are only seeing on spot. Plus you would still have to pay for an exscursions.

[hotspur]

A note about cruising in general... and I wonder what kind of reaction this will get on this board. My girlfriend and I paid about $1200 each for this trip. Also, $70/per in tips and $300/per in shore excursions. That's $3200 for this trip, which breaks down to about $450 a day. It blows me away to think of the kind of hotels, restaurants, and land tours we could do for that amount of money... but didn't.

You're leaving out an important part of the cost of the trip: transportation.

 

Checking the Alaska Ferry fares, I find it would be $104 to go from Ketchikan to Juneau, $48 from Juneau to Skagway, and $184 from Skagway to Prince Rupert, for a total of $336. Add to that the fare to get from Seattle or Vancouver to Ketchikan and the return from Prince Rupert and I'll bet you get at least $600 in transportation--apiece!!. Most hotels--of whatever "kind"--don't take you from place to place.

 

The "kind of reaction this will get on this board" is a thoughtful one that results in an apples-to-apples comparison, not an unfair one.

[DWJW]

We had a party of 11 on the 08/26 cruise and found the Sun to be in poor shape. The cruise was laden with walkers and scooters which made it even harder to get around. The review of the buffet is spot on, the area is poorley designed and not set up for Alaska's weather. Add to that when the weather went bad all the guest with I assume inside cabins camped in the buffet, complete with games and and whatever else was needed for a day's stay. We found the pay restaurants good, and ate dinner in one every night. Our suite was O.k. at best, with the furnature needing replaced badly. After sailing the Star to Alaska the Sun was disappointing. Having also sailed Holland and Carnival we have decided not to sail NCl again, the value does not add up for us.

[newlywedcruisers]

We had a party of 11 on the 08/26 cruise and found the Sun to be in poor shape. The cruise was laden with walkers and scooters which made it even harder to get around. The review of the buffet is spot on, the area is poorley designed and not set up for Alaska's weather. Add to that when the weather went bad all the guest with I assume inside cabins camped in the buffet, complete with games and and whatever else was needed for a day's stay. We found the pay restaurants good, and ate dinner in one every night. Our suite was O.k. at best, with the furnature needing replaced badly. After sailing the Star to Alaska the Sun was disappointing. Having also sailed Holland and Carnival we have decided not to sail NCl again, the value does not add up for us.

 

Thank you for your opinion, your post count, and true lack of detail, not to mention assumption that inside cabin folks inevitably end up at the buffet, have all been taken into account when factoring the worth of your review.

[2inTul]

The grandparents did run into a woman who, when my grandpa referenced my two-lobster tail experience, expressed shock that we were eating in pay restaurants after we'd already paid for the cruise. (Seven Seas is, of course, a free restaurant). I can understand her plight (and others I've read about here), it is difficult to tell how much the different restaurants cost, and which ones charge and don't charge. The cost isn't printed on ANYTHING but the menu of each individual restaurant, and even that takes some hunting to find. I didn't find out until the last night of the cruise that Las Ramblas wasn't a pay restaurant – and I'm a cruise critic nut!

 

NCL, if you're going to extort us for food – can't you at least tell us what it costs?

 

 

Were the restaurants not listed in the Freestyle Daily? On all of my cruises they were usually on the back and listed what times they are open and which require an extra charge. I don't remember if the Daily lists the price but it might. If you have your Daily's you might look and see.

[photomikey]

I'd looked at the Alaska Ferry beforehand, and it does seem like a bargain. I do think we could have seen as much (or more), but this vacation was about seeing family and spending time with them, and we certainly did a lot of that!

 

Were the restaurants not listed in the Freestyle Daily? On all of my cruises they were usually on the back and listed what times they are open and which require an extra charge. I don't remember if the Daily lists the price but it might. If you have your Daily's you might look and see.

 

They were all listed in the Daily. They were not designated as which were pay, and which were not. Looking back, in Saturday's daily, the prices are listed below the restaurant. But only that once, and not again. I think it'd be easy to print "East Meets West - $20 - 5:00pm to 10:30pm", but apparently it's more difficult than I thought.

 

We had a party of 11 on the 08/26 cruise and found the Sun to be in poor shape.

 

Thanks for stopping by to piss on my review. Go home.

 

Do you think it would be possible to post the Dailies, tv listings, etc. I would love to have these ahead of time.

 

I'll see what I can do. It'll be a few days.

 

Thanks for the responses,

 

-MW

[hotspur]

I'd looked at the Alaska Ferry beforehand, and it does seem like a bargain. I do think we could have seen as much (or more), but this vacation was about seeing family and spending time with them, and we certainly did a lot of that!

Sorry to say but it looks like you missed my point completely.

[Zeno]

Thank you for your opinion, your post count, and true lack of detail, not to mention assumption that inside cabin folks inevitably end up at the buffet, have all been taken into account when factoring the worth of your review.

 

Well put!

[Zeno]

Were the restaurants not listed in the Freestyle Daily? On all of my cruises they were usually on the back and listed what times they are open and which require an extra charge. I don't remember if the Daily lists the price but it might. If you have your Daily's you might look and see.

 

That was my experience too. I can't remember if prices were quoted but there was an indication which ones required an extra charge.

[newlywedcruisers]

Well put!

 

Thanks

 

Thank you for stopping by to piss on my review

 

Eh, dont worry about him, he'll be a one hit wonder. BTW your response cracked me up.

[2inTul]

That was my experience too. I can't remember if prices were quoted but there was an indication which ones required an extra charge.

 

I think they may have had a (*) next to them and below it would say something like "Requires Extra Charge" or something like that.

[photomikey]

Sorry to say but it looks like you missed my point completely.

 

No, I respectfully disagreed. By "I wonder what kind of reaction this will get on this board," this is what I meant.

[Zeno]

This is the second cruise we've taken. Our first was a repositioning cruise on HAL. I am 29, my girlfriend is 26. We cruised with my parents (50's), and my grandparents (late 70's), in celebration of my Grandmother's upcoming 80th birthday.

 

Before the cruise:

 

We pricelined a 2.5* hotel for before and after the cruise. We got the Summerhill Suites, downtown. Despite the name (and the website), it is NOT an all suite hotel. We ended up with a regular room, and a small one at that. The staff was uninformed and hard to deal with. The shuttle driver was slow and unreliable. That said, it was clean, well furnished, in good shape, and well located, with an enormous free breakfast. Overall, a decent value.

 

The ship:

 

Embarking was relatively painless. Personally, I think it's amazing they can get 2,000 people (plus luggage) off a ship, through customs, clean 1,000 rooms and all the public spaces, and load 2,000 people (plus luggage) back on in 8 hours. I give them a lot of leeway here, and they exceeded my expectations.

 

The ship was clean, and well appointed. She is 5 years old now, but for the most part, doesn't show any wear. Most of the public areas are centered around the main atrium. Smoking is allowed inside on some decks, and because of the open architecture, you can smell it (at times) from most areas in the atrium. Even in areas outside the atrium, smoking was allowed in all or part of almost all venues, and it was difficult to escape. I'm not asthmatic or anything, just a non smoker, and a bit of a smoke-phobe. Living in California, GF and I forget how many smokers there are out there. :-)

 

Because of the multitude of restaurants, there is little sitting space outside of them. Anywhere you sit – even those few spaces not located in eating areas – you can expect to be contacted by the bar staff immediately, and then frequently thereafter. Inside the entertainment venues (Dazzles, especially), there is one bar waiter for every three or four tables (literally), who, when not fetching a drink, will stand between his tables and look at you – waiting for you to get thirsty. When you're not being hassled by your designated bar waiter, others will walk by and ask you if you'd like to order a drink. One night in Dazzles, we were contacted 10 times in 30 minutes. It was comical.

 

Our room steward was great! We always had fresh towels, and the bed made twice a day. (We take a lot of naps!) Instead of swishing our glasses around in the bathroom sink with a dirty rag (hotel style), he would remove our glasses and return clean ones. GF chatted with him one day, and he said he and his partner were responsible for 35 rooms. They work 10 hour days, split shifts. They work 10 months on, two months off. He knew our names on day two and would greet us by name each time we left and returned to the room. I don't expect much from a housekeeper (you leave me clean towels and clean sheets, you get an “A”), but this guy really went above and beyond. On the last evening, our dirty towels disappeared, and clean ones didn't reappear. The same thing happened in the other two rooms as well. Peculiar. I showered with a pool towel.

 

We ate most of our breakfasts in the buffet. Many here have categorized the buffet as “just a buffet”, a la Hometown or Golden Corral, but I disagree. I thought the food was kept hot, and a good selection at each meal. GF complained that there weren't enough vegetarian options, and she is correct – both at the buffets and at the restaurants. We did venture to the sit-down restaurant for breakfast one day, and found slow service and the same food as at the buffet. It was like eating at the buffet, only you got less food, and it took twice as long. The breakfast menu in the sit down restaurants were the same each day, and very basic.

 

The layout of the buffet was positively horrible, with traffic jams in every direction, at all hours of the day. At no time (save late night) was it possible to walk up and pick something up -- there was always a line. The same can be said for tables – there was never one available. I don't even know how this is possible, but at no time was there a table for 2 or 4, inside, at the buffet, or in the surrounding restaurants. The buffet outside had shorter (or, at times, no) lines, and empty tables, but we are CRUISING ALASKA, with blowing rain and freezing temperatures. I find it insulting that a ship that costs this much to sail on expects its patrons to moooove through poorly designed inside lines like cattle, or freeze by going outside to get food. We found ourselves at the outside buffets 50% of the time, then scavenging for tables at the 12th deck restaurants.

 

Our favorite spot for lunch was the sandwich station upstairs at Las Ramblas. Most of our lunches were ashore anyhow, and we also hit the buffet for lunch a few times.

 

For dinner, we dined in Seven Seas several times. We are a party of six, and found that the Seas' preset tables for six were all along the aft of the ship, with a breathtaking panoramic view, and the ship's wake traveling out behind us. Asking the maitre d' for one of these tables yielded success 100% of the time. Even when just two of us (GF and I), requesting a table by the window was always done with no trouble. We tried Four Seasons once, but found that, despite having the exact same menu, it was much more popular, and meant standing in line to get a table. (Also, by this time, we'd discovered the great tables at Seven Seas.) The main dining rooms had good food (4*), and the selection was always one fish, one chicken, one pork, one beef, and one vegetarian. I'd have preferred a little more choice, but I understand trying to cook 2,000 individual meals would be cumbersome. The dining rooms were well appointed, and you get the “silverware” treatment, where there are always forks and knives appearing and disappearing, that you don't necessarily know what to do with. This adds to the 4* feel, as does the multi-course meal. Others have said on this board that the service is slow, and for the most part I disagree – a four or five course meal with bread and coffee service should take an hour or so – and it did. At times I got anxious waiting for the dessert menu, but nothing to get upset about. Portions were on the small side, but after several courses, you're full anyhow. Instead of having one item that is huge, you end up with several smaller portions. The tables were very near your neighbors in the main dining rooms – only a 18” or so between them. On lobster tail night (Sunday), I finished my first lobster tail, and asked the waitress for another. She replied, “just one?”. Indeed, I only wanted one more. But I like a waitress who will bring you as many lobster tails as you can eat. :-)

 

The specialty restaurants were worth the price, and we ate at three. It is painfully clear that NCL takes the absolute best waitstaff for the pay restaurants. We had the best service in these three restaurants that I've had, land or sea, in some time. All the pay restaurants were half off for 5:30 and 6:00p reservations, and we cashed in on that special twice. When you're operating on ship's time, it's not hard to eat at 6pm.

The Steakhouse (“East meets West”) was, as many have advertised, the best steak several in my party had eaten in some time. Each steak was cooked perfectly. There is a long list of accompaniments for the steaks, and while the waiter would poke fun if you ordered a lot (my mom warned him he'd need a lot of ink when she started – he faked a hand cramp half way through), he'd gladly bring as many as you ordered. (Order a lot, as some are small – an order of onion rings is two.) The appetizers and desserts (especially the desserts) were a step above those served in the regular restaurants, as well.

Il Idagio (Italian) was incredible Italian food, with Caesar salad tossed right at your table. The booths (seat 4) and tables (seat 2) all face the windows. Your meal arrives with a cover over the plate, and with another waiter, they remove them all at once... “1, 2, 3, Prego!”. Again, the service was above par.

Teppanyaki was tasty, but book early, there is only one table on the ship. The two chefs were top notch. A little overboard on the salt and soy sauce, but funny guys, and did some good tricks with tossing the food that hadn't been overdone in the past.

 

I have mixed feelings about the food and service being so much better at the pay restaurants. As I mentioned, we ate half-price twice (Il Idagio $6.25 and Steakhouse $10), but part of me feels that after $1,200 (each) worth of fare -- food – sit down or buffet – should be free. That said, I'm not going to have mediocre service on my vacation to save $6.25.

 

The grandparents did run into a woman who, when my grandpa referenced my two-lobster tail experience, expressed shock that we were eating in pay restaurants after we'd already paid for the cruise. (Seven Seas is, of course, a free restaurant). I can understand her plight (and others I've read about here), it is difficult to tell how much the different restaurants cost, and which ones charge and don't charge. The cost isn't printed on ANYTHING but the menu of each individual restaurant, and even that takes some hunting to find. I didn't find out until the last night of the cruise that Las Ramblas wasn't a pay restaurant – and I'm a cruise critic nut!

 

NCL, if you're going to extort us for food – can't you at least tell us what it costs?

 

Ports of call:

 

Ketchikan: Our Ketchikan tour (booked outside the ship) was canceled when some family members found out it ended at 2:30, and we were due back at the ship at 2:30. (It ended on the dock.) The four of them ended up taking a ship tour, and GF and I walked through town. This was one of the highlights of my trip – it is such a scenic town, with so much to see. The salmon were still running (a few, perhaps those with slow internal clocks), and being able to sit by the stream and watch (as opposed to snap photos out of a bus painted to look like a duck) was priceless. We shopped some, had a beer with some locals, saw Dolly's house, and read a lot of history. My Let's Go Alaska book had a tour of town, and some out of the way tips that we really enjoyed.

 

Juneau: On the uproarious advice of the members of this board, we booked the Orca Enterprises (Captain Larry) tour. Captain Larry drove our boat, but the annoying “Dirk” was on the mic the whole time. I felt the trip was overrated and overpriced, and if I had it to do again, I'd have taken the $6 bus to Mendenhall Glacier and walked around. That said, we did see a number of whales. It's much less impressive than I thought it would be. Four or five breaths (a cloud of mist and a blowhole sighting) and you see the tail peek up for two seconds. Then you wait for it to repeat. Because of the timing of the tour (it's 2.5 hours, it started 1.5 hours after we docked), and the early departure from Juneau – we didn't get to see anything else in town. The Tracy Arm shore excursion didn't run on our trip, but the big ship did get far enough up the fjord to see the glacier – only the 2nd time this season!

 

Skagway: Another highlight of the trip (despite the naysayers of this board) was renting a car from Sourdough, and taking the driving trip up to Emerald Lake. It was nice to get away from the hustle and bustle for a few hours, and not feel like a camera toting tourist. Sourdough was just as ghetto in person as it was over the phone. I think I actually rented someone's car (as in, they leave it with Sourdough when they aren't in it), as it was fully stocked with bumper stickers, a national guard ID sticker, a bible and an assortment of other stuff. It had 191,000 miles (yes, count those zeros), but ran like new. $115/day (when you're the only outfit in town, you charge what you want), but we took a tour that cost others $120/each, and we didn't have to get on and off the buses like sheep. You will need your passport for this trip, as you do cross into Canada. Also, there is one gas station in town. The next one is 60 miles up the road. If you're looking for a gasoline bargain, look elsewhere.

 

Prince Rupert: The ship must stop here because it's a nice distance between Skagway and Seattle, because there is very little to do here. We shopped around and took a walking tour of town. You dock very close to a grocery story, so it's a good opportunity to pick up anything you may need. Everywhere in town TAKES American dollars, but gives you back Canadian ones, so carry small bills or use your credit cards.

 

Things I wouldn't leave home without:

 

I used my travel coffee mug A LOT. I even got comments from others about what a good idea it was. It was the single greatest thing I packed, and I owe it to this board.

 

I used my outlet strip a lot. It should be noted that there is a second 110v AC outlet behind the TV, and you can also put an outlet strip back there. Handy for things like cell phone chargers, etc, that you want to keep plugged in all the time, but don't want on the desk. There is also a 110v outlet in the bathroom that only turns on when the light is on.

 

I brought wire hangers, and used them, but there were a lot of hangers in the closet. I'm glad I brought them, I guess, but I'd have been fine without them.

 

To sum things up... re-reading this review, it sounds more negative than positive, and that's not the case at all. I give the vacation as a whole a 7.5 out of ten. While I probably wouldn't cruise NCL again (Freestyle just isn't my thing), I did enjoy myself a lot. The cruise staff were all friendly, and wouldn't hesitate to get you anything you asked for. Both the bar staff and the photographers were pushy and annoying, and wouldn't hesitate to interrupt any conversation you were having to force you into a picture, or harass you for a drink. The photo staff was especially difficult on de-embarkation, when they would slow the (already slow) line to a crawl, to take pictures of old people next to a guy in a tuna costume.

 

A note about cruising in general... and I wonder what kind of reaction this will get on this board. My girlfriend and I paid about $1200 each for this trip. Also, $70/per in tips and $300/per in shore excursions. That's $3200 for this trip, which breaks down to about $450 a day. It blows me away to think of the kind of hotels, restaurants, and land tours we could do for that amount of money... but didn't. We booked our first cruise (a HAL repositioning cruise) because it was a bargain, and enjoyed it. (We also enjoyed that it was shorter.) I think in the future, we will look closer at land vacations again.

 

 

If there is request for it, I have leftover Freestyle Dailies, Bar menus, TV listings, etcetera.

 

I enjoyed your review. Although I do think if you factored in all the costs of a "land" vacation to Alaska (ferries etc) you might find it at least as expensive as your cruise (if not more so). Hotels/motels in Alaska are generally much more expensive than their equivalent counterparts elsewhere and so are restaurants.. I got a chuckle out of your dining service experiences because it contrasted so much with our last cruise (on the Sun). Our worst service was actually at Le Bistro and our best in Seven Seas. I have decided that service seems to depend a lot on luck.

It's nice to know that even if everything was not "perfect", you still had a good time!

[Zeno]

 

Thanks for stopping by to piss on my review. Go home.

 

 

 

-MW

 

Lovely response! I am still laughing!

[ChelseaM]

Great review! We were on the Sun during the end of June, and I wholeheartedly agree with your description of the buffet. It was horribly crowded. Thankfully the weather wasn't too bad (upper 50's to mid-60s) when we were on the ship, so we felt comfortable eating outside. Also, our cabin was one floor down, so we just loaded up and ran back downstairs to eat on our balcony!

 

I've already decided that the next time we go to Alaska won't be on a cruise ship - which the savings of that type of trip may be disputed, at least we know we won't have to deal with drink waiters constantly in our face. ;)

[hotspur]

No, I respectfully disagreed. By "I wonder what kind of reaction this will get on this board," this is what I meant.

Rather bizarre that you can "disagree" with including the cost of transportation when trying to determine the value of a cruise. But, given your blatant contradiction regarding specialty restaurants (on the one hand describing them as "extortion" and on the other saying "specialty restaurants were worth the price"), nothing you write would surprise me.

[newlywedcruisers]

Rather bizarre that you can "disagree" with including the cost of transportation when trying to determine the value of a cruise. But, given your blatant contradiction regarding specialty restaurants (on the one hand describing them as "extortion" and on the other saying "specialty restaurants were worth the price"), nothing you write would surprise me.

 

I believe the OP was remarking on the fact that on top of paying appx 2400 for his cruise, he should have to pay an additional fee to recieve a higher level of food. He stated at the end of that section that it was worth it. I don't believe he was contradictory.

[hotspur]

I believe the OP was remarking on the fact that on top of paying appx 2400 for his cruise, he should have to pay an additional fee to recieve a higher level of food. He stated at the end of that section that it was worth it. I don't believe he was contradictory.

No one forced him to go to the extra-charge restaurants. He appeared to enjoy the no-charge restaurants, so there was no real need to go elsewhere. If NCL just shut down those restaurants he would have gotten what he wanted: free food everyplace.

 

Makes no sense to me to complain when the cruise line offers additional options for you. Sort of like saying: "I paid for my mass-market cruise, why wasn't the food as good as it was on Regent Seven Seas--where I paid three times as much. All mass-market cruise lines now offer additional charge restaurants, for those who CHOOSE to dine in them. CHOOSING something is not being "extorted."

[newlywedcruisers]

No one forced him to go to the extra-charge restaurants. He appeared to enjoy the no-charge restaurants, so there was no real need to go elsewhere. If NCL just shut down those restaurants he would have gotten what he wanted: free food everyplace.

 

Makes no sense to me to complain when the cruise line offers additional options for you. Sort of like saying: "I paid for my mass-market cruise, why wasn't the food as good as it was on Regent Seven Seas--where I paid three times as much. All mass-market cruise lines now offer additional charge restaurants, for those who CHOOSE to dine in them. CHOOSING something is not being "extorted."

 

I believe the OP's tone was more of a joking/sarcastic one, than one that truly expressed anger over paying at the surcharge restuarants. OP stated that he received the best service at the surcharge restuarants and that it was worth the extra money he paid to go to those restuarants. JMO

[abirder]

I appreciate that you took the time to write and post a detailed review. We will be sailing for the first time on NCL at the end of the month and can learn from others experiences. At the same time it would be more enjoyable if the replies were not written with flaming tones.

 

What I would like to see is that NCL picks up on comments made on this board and, if not, maybe those who do this type of extensive review should consider emailing it to the company. For example, I would like to see the cruise lines change their smoking policies to make it more comfortable for the non smokers and at the same time make it very clear where are the allowed smoking areas. The problem is smoke carries long distances. My experience with Royal Caribbean Lines is that the comment cards do not allow for any detail when you are trying to pass on suggestions.

 

BTW-if you scan you ship board information, I would be interested in a copy.

 

Thanks again,

Joe

[photomikey]

I appreciate that you took the time to write and post a detailed review. We will be sailing for the first time on NCL at the end of the month and can learn from others experiences. At the same time it would be more enjoyable if the replies were not written with flaming tones.

 

I agree, it's a shame that when someone takes the time to write a l-o-n-g review, the NCL cheerleaders pick apart the small complaints.

 

However, I'm glad you enjoyed the review! I had a great time writing it. I didn't think I was going to write one, and then I made a few notes, and then I added a few, and before I knew it I was wrestling it down from three pages!

 

I'm sure you'll have a great time on your cruise - I know we did!

 

I was in a situation where some other family members picked this cruise without any input, booked it, and then invited us along. It's not the cruise (or perhaps line) that I would have picked, but it's very difficult not to enjoy oneself when you're taking the inside passage, looking at America's most beautiful scenery, while being waited on hand and foot!

 

Hotspur: The above comment, "America's most beautiful scenery," was not meant to qualify that I am a judge of scenery, nor is this the definitive list of beautiful sceneries world-wide. Just a comment on how nice last week was. Please keep this in mind in your next nit-picking reply.

 

Regards,

 

Photomikey

[2inTul]

I agree, it's a shame that when someone takes the time to write a l-o-n-g review, the NCL cheerleaders pick apart the small complaints.

 

However, I'm glad you enjoyed the review! I had a great time writing it. I didn't think I was going to write one, and then I made a few notes, and then I added a few, and before I knew it I was wrestling it down from three pages!

 

I'm sure you'll have a great time on your cruise - I know we did!

 

I was in a situation where some other family members picked this cruise without any input, booked it, and then invited us along. It's not the cruise (or perhaps line) that I would have picked, but it's very difficult not to enjoy oneself when you're taking the inside passage, looking at America's most beautiful scenery, while being waited on hand and foot!

 

Hotspur: The above comment, "America's most beautiful scenery," was not meant to qualify that I am a judge of scenery, nor is this the definitive list of beautiful sceneries world-wide. Just a comment on how nice last week was. Please keep this in mind in your next nit-picking reply.

 

Regards,

 

Photomikey

 

I just want to add my thanks for the review. I appreciate you taking the time and effort to sare you thoughts with us.

 

By the way....I LOVE the small print.

[GoHuskies!]

Thanks, Mikey, for your well-done review. I didn't think it added up to a negative review at all--just that there were some things that appeared negative to your individual experience of the cruise, and many others that were clearly very positive. I thought your review was quite even-handed, thoughtful and informative.

 

Every person who cruises has a huge number of variables that create a unique experience, and to my mind I would rather hear all the positives AND the negatives when it's clear that the approach is balanced. An all-positive review sounds like something out of an NCL advertisement, and an all-negative one (see the one-post wonder above) is even more useless. I don't see why your balanced review was criticized, just because you included items of opinion--that's what this whole board thing is about, for crying out loud! Although you may have found the costs of the cruise high compared to a land trip, the cruise itself is worth it to many of us; yet your review merely stated your opinion about this. I think that's honest and refreshing.

 

By the way, add me to the list of people who would like to see the Freestyle Dailies and other information published here.

 

Cheers!--I'll be on the Sun at the end of this month and am looking forward to everything on it, with the exception possibly of the LINES at the buffet! :eek:

Jim