Just off the Sun 4/5-12

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

We were fortunate to have the Jean Ann Ryan dancers as this was their last week on board.

 

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? :eek:

Where did you hear about that?

:confused:

[Lowie]

i believe that it was that group of jean ann ryan who are leaving the ship not the company completely. denny, the CD announced it one night. also, at our m&g he said that 2.0 was starting on the sun next week (or was it the week after i forget??)

[newmexicoNita]

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? :eek:

Where did you hear about that?

:confused:

Maybe it was just this group of Jean Ryan entertainers. There are several groups obviously. At least let's hope this is the case. They are one of my favorite parts of cruising NCL.

 

Nita

[CruisnGram]

We were on the Sun mid March and got to be friendly with several of the JAR cast. At that time, they said that they only had a few weeks left till the end of their contract.

 

If I'm not mistaken, the Sun is changing itinerary real soon......maybe even as we speak. It was my understanding that when the itinerary changed,the show would be changing also, thus ending this groups contract. I'm sure another JAR group will be taking over with all new shows.

 

I'm glad I got to see this group also......they were phenominal!

[exstasie]

Maybe it was just this group of Jean Ryan entertainers. There are several groups obviously. At least let's hope this is the case. They are one of my favorite parts of cruising NCL.

 

Nita

 

 

 

I believe it was just that specific group of entertainers that were leaving. I remember that they kept saying that this will be their final show and that new people will be coming on.

 

 

I just got home (back to Canada, stayed an extra night in FT. Lauderdale) after sailing the Sun on the 5th!

 

This was my first cruise and having nothing to compare it with, but I thought that it was absolutely amazing and had a great time! This was both my GFs and my first cruise and couldn't have had a better time!

 

I thought the service was excellent. The waiters and staff were all very friendly and went the extra mile. I've stayed at dozens of all-inclusive resorts before and never received this kind of service.

I also loved how we got our rooms cleaned twice a day. Once in the morning and then once at night for the turn-down service, however the would pretty much clean up our room again during the turn-down service after our afternoon nap.

 

I thought the food was pretty good! We ate at the Italian restaurant and a few of the other sit down restaurants and never experienced any problems or any waiting time. The only place where we did experience some sort of issue was the in the Sports Bar. They seemed to be very short staffed (for the food) and you would pretty much have to go and find a waitress and give her your order if you wanted food, or else you would be waiting forever!

 

In Roatan, we also went on a tour with Victor Bodden and had Lenny. At first it seemed like he was quiet, however he was excellent and very informative. I think he became more comfortable as well as he didn't stop talking to us about everything! Definitely one nice guy! He took us on a tour around the island with stops at the Iguana Farm, orphanage and Victor's House. The monkey at Victors house (Koki) was absolutely adorable and so much to play with! Definitely worth $1.00! We then went to Half Moon Bay for lunch and came back to the boat.

 

In Belize, we went booked an independent tour with Coral Breezes for the snorkeling expedition to Ambergis Caye & Shark Ray Alley. I believe it came to $70US pp compared to $110US pp if you booked it through NCL. We did experience some sort of issue with the tendering. There was no real formal process to get the tender ticket if you were NOT on an NCL tour. We all had to meet at the Champagne Bar for a First come/First Serve ticket, however it was pretty hectic, and they were very late in getting us to the shore. We docked tendered at 8:00AM and I actually had Tender ticket #1 and #2 and we didn't get to shore until 9:10AM! We were talking to one of the staff while we were waiting for them to call our tender tickets and she mentioned that NCL is known for being one of the worst in tendering and taking most of the time.

Our tour originally was suppose to start at 9:00AM however our tour didn't really leave until 9:45AM because of all the late people. The tour companies also knew that NCL was bad at tendering and time so there isn't really a need to panic if you're late as they are aware of the issues.

The tour was fantastic and had a great time snorkeling with Coral Breezes! Was definitely worth the money and would definitely recommend the tour.

 

In Cozumel we just stayed to our own and did lots of shopping! Had a good time just wondering around town!

 

GSC (Private Island) was also a fun day. We took the first tender out as we wanted to get chairs and umbrellas however there weren't really any umbrellas and not much shayed on the sand, so we ended up hanging out in a tree'd area with hammocks which was nice. They had nice BBQed food and it was lots of fun, except it got pretty hot so we ended up leaving around 1:30pm to go back to the boat.

 

Overall I had an amazing time! Staff was great, food was great, entertainment was excellent (except for all my gambling losses lol)! I definitely go back on NCL but am interesting in seeing what the other ships offer!

 

The only real negative thing was about the tendering!

 

Edit: Also to comment on the pool: We did find that it was pretty busy on the days we were at sea, but it is no different than any resort i've been to. If you want a good seat around the pool, you need to get up at 7am and reserve some seats. There was also lawn chairs to be found. If you went to the 12th floor (sun deck - One floor above the pool) there were always tons of chairs, however it did get pretty windy up there. The only thing I wish the boat had was an adult-only pool. Having kids jumping on you and running around and screaming isn't always that fun...

[Lib0007]

WHAT? WHAT? WHAT? :eek:

Where did you hear about that?

:confused:

 

 

 

Maybe I stated it wrong . . . . that group of JAR singers/dancers ended their contract last week. They announced it during the last show. At Great Stirrup Cay, I chatted with one of the male singers and he said they were all going different directions but not on another ship. but he did say that a couple of the dancers were going to stay on the Sun. They were really outstanding.

 

We also had a juggler who was very entertaining and a male opera singer - this is totally not my kind of music but I enjoyed his show very much. I did not see the comedian's shows.

[ande54]

After planning for months am on the Sun this Sat. Chose the itinerary verses the ship. Still want things to be good. Nothing is perfect and whether land based or on a ship have had issues. Sometimes they are so minor it is not worth the time and trouble to deal with it. If something to our mind is major, if it is attended to with a well placed polite complaint then we are happy. The one thing I have found on this thread is that maybe staff is at the end of their contract. With 2.0 coming right now that is what I have been wondering. Are they bringing a fresh well trained crew to implement this or have they been taking time to train the "old" crew? Everyone that has cruised knows how hard those jobs are and I am wondering if things have slipped while they are trying to train for this new service. Hoping it is a fresh, trained crew. Also hope it is not hit or miss with some trained and others not. Any experts with a take on this? I intend to have a wonderful time no matter what but it is true that enough minor issues can add up when you just want to have the best vacation that you have planned for, dreamed of and paid a pretty penny for.

[ande54]

Oops, Sunday. Easy to make mistakes like the crew and waitstaff. Guess as long as safety issues are addressed and all that is good should have no complaints, yes? After all the MAIN thing is to have the ship be sea worthy and have all in place in case of emergencies! Still want the icing on the cake, though. Seems that many have forgotten the task it is to go to sea with a floating hotel ,gym, restaurants, shops, cabins, pools, etc. LOL! Sort of. And if everyone would just stop saving chairs at the pool that they never go back to it would be sublime!

[exstasie]

And if everyone would just stop saving chairs at the pool that they never go back to it would be sublime!

 

 

That'll never happen!

 

But they did have the little flags that you could put on the end of your chairs to flag down the servers for drinks.

 

Also, there was a guy who was walking around all day spraying us with his Evian water bottle to keep us all cool from the sun! It was a nice added touch!

[kebboli]

Well my family and I were also on the April 5th cruise on the Sun...just got home last night.

I agree everything was not perfect and was probably not our favorite ship but had a great cruise. Would I go again? Ya if I found another good deal, you bet.:D

We were also at East meets West the first night and had the longgggggg wait (2-2 1/2 hours to complete dinner), but the food was great. Food in the buffets was just ok. Lobster night in 4 seasons was wonderful......I had 2....lol The Teppakini (sp) restaurant was really good.

Wish they would have chairs all around on the Promanade deck for people to sit like on other ships. My husband is not a sun person and there was no real shade places to relax and read etc.

The ship is small and older but I thought very clean.... always saw people sweeping, polishing etc all the time. did have a problem the first day or 2 getting around but after that it was ok.

Loved the ports and our excursions- Great Stirrup cay day was a beautiful day, I loved it....

[NEW 2 CRUISIN]

I believe it was just that specific group of entertainers that were leaving. I remember that they kept saying that this will be their final show and that new people will be coming on....

 

That's good to hear!

 

They were very good for cruise entertainment! Would be sad if others could not enjoy them too!

 

We had 3 good shows by them on the Sun and they are a well rounded group. The rotation of the groups will keep the shows "fresh" anyways!

 

:)

[Chipster2]

My understanding, and I might be wrong is the JAR and NCL are parting ways. As each contract ends JAR will be leaving the ship.

 

Please correct me as I really enjoyed most of their shows on the Star.

[newmexicoNita]

My understanding, and I might be wrong is the JAR and NCL are parting ways. As each contract ends JAR will be leaving the ship.

 

Please correct me as I really enjoyed most of their shows on the Star.

 

Where did you get the info? I am not saying you are not corrct, but they have been with NCL for about 10 years. Rumors circulate about these types of things all the time.

 

Nita

[stan1]

From what I could tell, the cleaning & polishing people only do what they are directed to do, and there was no supervisor directing themn to clean the crusted windows in some public areas, unlike Princess, Royal Caribbean & HAL which assign someone to over every foot of public areas using a diagram indicating what has to be done where. The dirt problems would not be there if the workers were better supervised. The same defective (missing)supervision is apparent in the Seven Seas Dining Room, with incredible and inexcusable delays in table service.

Stan