NCL Sun 4/19 One Nigher Review

[LegalCat]

Hi everyone...

 

A little background... husband and I... in early 30s and late 40s... also my parents, uncle, step daughter (20), sister in law and her three children.

 

My husband and I cruise usually twice a year for a 4 day and then a 7 day. We have sailed on Carnival and RCCL. Generally cruise in balcony or above.

 

Originally the trip was for us and my parents and we were booked in two outside cabins, but when the price dropped we were able to upgrade for free to balconies, also the uncle, stepdaughter, sister and her kids shared two balcony rooms.. We switched everyone around later. More on that...

 

Ok..

 

The paperwork said boarding time was 1. From our past experience we know that you usually can get on earlier. We arrived at the port of miami at 10:45-11.. Since it was only one night we parked in the garage. In the past, there was a security guard at the entrance to the terminals wh would check your tickets before you even entered the drop off/parking area. This time, there was someone actually checking the paperwork at the door. We had to show tickets and passports or birth certificates to go inside the terminal.

 

One nice thing was that we were in regular balcony cabins, there was a separate security line for balcones/suites vs. penthouse/owner vs. regular cabins... This was kind of pointless since there were only a handful of people going through checkin and security... checkin was very fast... we headed upstairs to get our keys at 11:15... at that time we were told that boarding would begin at 11:45.

 

We picked up our keys and then were seated in the rows of chairs. At around 11:30-11:45 they stayed letting people on by row. This is where a PA or loudspeaker of some kind would have worked really well... there is maybe 8 rows of seats with rows on each side, all full of people... then one guy at the end basically trying to yell over the crowd. So, of course as soon as they let one row out, every one in the other rows stood up and started moving forward, at which time they shut it down and refused to let anyone else go until all rows were seated, lol...

 

Immediately upon getting on the ship they sprayed your hands with sanitizing spray, I dont know if this was mandatory or optional but we werent asked, just sprayed... after that they handed out glasses of champagne...

 

We were told when they swiped our cards getting on the ship they told us our rooms were ready, so we went right to the rooms to drop our bags off. We were in 8251, 8252, 8245 and 8254. All balcony rooms on the Viking Deck.

 

The first thing I noticed was that the doors had no peep holes, also you could barely hear if someone knocked, you had to pound on the door... the rooms also felt very small.. I dont know the actual square footage but they felt smaller than a Carnival balcony cabin... We were surprised that they didnt give any samples in the bathroom, its the little things I notice. Yes they give you shampoo and body wash in the shower... On carnival they give you the little samples of other stuff, and its cheap and you hardly ever use the stuff, but it just seemed like a little extra....

 

About the ship... we felt like the ship was very small.. I don't know the actual size but we constantly were saying "wow its SO narrow"... everything just felt smaller... The ship did seem very clean, we didnt notice anything regarding the cleanliness of the ship or any odors or anything...

 

The first thing we did when we left the room after dropping our bags off was to go to the pursers desk to have our cards rekeyed... since half of our party booked after the first half had booked, we had to put people on tickets in an order other than where they would be sleeping (such as my 20 yr old step daughter with my 50+ yr old uncle).. we had no problems getting the cards reissued...

 

The second thing we did was make dinner reservations. Now that we had a party of 10 instead of 4, we decided that we would eat in the main dining room instead of a pay restaurant... We had 10 people and so we were told we should make a reservation so we would have a table for 10 etc.. well, we were told the only times we could make reservations for were 6 or 8, we actually had wanted 7 and felt like 6 was too early and 8 was too late, but we ended up taking 8.

 

After we took care of those two issues, we headed up on deck to find some lunch.

 

Back shortly to finish this review. Feel free to ask questions.

[CruisnGram]

NCL's policy on reservations for the main dining room for large groups is that you can only book prior to 6 and after 8. They cannot allow large groups to take up all the tables during prime dinner hour or other people would have to stand in line.

 

Regarding size, I guess the Sun is a smaller ship. I personally like the size as the mega ships are just way, way too big for my liking. I realize that is definitely a personal choice.

 

Hope you had a great time!

[BeachBumMama]

Just wanted to say that on a 'normal' cruise, they do have the little things in the bathroom. Lotion, shower cap, shoe mitt (always take those to use for my camera :) ) and the like. I guess on a one night cruise they don't feel it necessary or maybe forgot your room, but they do normally have things.

 

Also wanted to say that the one night cruises will give you a feel of the ship but not a true feel of freestyle as its crowded and everyone is trying to get everything in.

 

Looking forward to the rest as I hope you enjoyed yourself.:)

[LegalCat]

NCL's policy on reservations for the main dining room for large groups is that you can only book prior to 6 and after 8. They cannot allow large groups to take up all the tables during prime dinner hour or other people would have to stand in line.

 

Actually we were told we would probably have no problem getting seated at 7 without a reservation, but rather than take the risk, we opted to make a reservation just so we didnt end up standing around for ages. Actually my husband and I went down at 715 to go have some pre dinner drinks, and saw that the restaurant was less than 50% full and there were plenty of large tables set up... when the rest of our party showed up at 8, we were seated at one of the same tables that had been sitting empty the whole time... the dining room stayed more than 50% empty until we were at the desert course, we were very surprised at the lack of people...

 

By the way we were in the dining room at the back which I think is the seven seas...

 

So, the timing was ok, it didnt really matter..... we just would have preferred to eat earlier.

 

Ok so back to my review...

[island777girl]

I was also on the one-nighter. Just booked it two weeks ago. This was my first NCL cruise and a way for me to check out the cruiseline. Like the OP, I found the ship to be small and not a lot of open spaces inside and on decks, It felt very crowded. Obviously the cabins are much smaller than Carnival, but I knew that from before. Balcony was great, we were in 8072-Viking Deck. Didn't notice any soot on balcony. We did get shoe mitt and shower cap/lotion, but forgot to take them when I left this morning. My biggest and only real let down and difference from other cruiselines was the beds...very very hard and pillows lumpy. Usually I sleep like a baby on the Carnival comfort beds, but this bed was tough as nails, I have pain in my shoulder/back, etc today so does hubby and there was a ditch in the bed where they joined two twins that I kept falling into. Needless to say I didnt get much sleep. Service was great, staff VERY friendly. Food the usual, great baby shrimp cocktail, we ate in the Seven Seas. Nice library, game room, photo area. Love the large windows in the restaurants and upstairs. Casino kinda small and was very crowded and hard to find an open slot machine, but on the one night, you figure thats where everyone will be. Lady on a machine next to where I was playing hit on the $1 machine for $7500. She was very excited, she got two purple 7's and a 100xpay!! Casino wasnt so kind to me, I did make back a little of the donation I made on the 25cent pink panther slot game and it was a fun game. Didn't go to the show or the comedy club, just walked around, ate and stayed in the casino. Nice that they didnt have boat drill on this cruise. This morning, we left when they cleared the ship, so we were off by 830, the CD announced that we should come to the gangway with customs form in hand, so we were confused since we didnt stop at any ports and one wasn't left for us in the cabin last night. Anyway, hubby rushed around and got one from the steward for our huge $10 purchase of candy....LOL, then no one asked for it. I think the CD must have just announced it by mistake as he is used to doing so for regular cruises. My daughter spent most of yesterday laying out by pool and listening to the band which was good. No problem for her finding a deck chair on the level above the pool. Great strawberry yogurt in the Sprinkles ice cream place. Loved the split pea soup we got in the Garden cafe on embarkation. Overall, great one day cruise and no complaints, except the beds, if I was on a longer cruise, I would definitely ask for the egg crate mattress thing that people were mentioning on the boards....

[LegalCat]

Ok so to continue the review....

 

We headed up to the garden cafe (i believe? the buffet behind the pool area)... there was a large variety of food ranging from veggie burgers to bleeding rare beef which had to be sliced then grilled, lol, mac and cheese, hot dogs, fries and a bunch of other stuff... food was decent, not spectacular... I didnt go hungry but I didnt say ommgggggggg I have to have more of THAT... I did however, have to go back several times for water refills in the absurdly tiny water glasses... also of course as has been discussed many a time here, the absurd absense of trays... very annoying, lol... ok enough said...

 

Oh wait... lol... the ice cream bar.. I'm not a big ice cream eater... all i really eat is vanilla ice cream... instead what they had was chocolate, rocky road, lime sherbet and strawberry... ok i'm not normally so picky but whats a cruise without ice cream? LOL... I'll mention ice cream again later...

 

Ok after lunch we hit the pool, there was a good bit of chair saving going on but we didnt have any problem finding a table with some chairs next to the pool so we could keep an eye on the kids,...

 

Music was pretty good, drinks were good... we found a good bartender and stuck with him... at 4 they did a Sail Away BBQ on the pool deck... the food consisted of hot dogs, dark meat chicken quarters, pork chops, mini corn on the cob, fried rice (i think it was actually white rice with corn and peas or something in it --- not fried rice like you would get at PF Changs or Benihana etc)... there were also bread rolls and i'm not sure what else.... regular BBQ food, nothing amazing...

 

The pool wasnt too full... there was always plenty of room, one of the pools said Adults Only but had several kids in it, but mostly the kids were behaving and not running around like crazy... so everything was nice and relaxing...

 

Around 6 we went down to shower and change and relax before getting ready for dinner... just on a side note there was no sale of liquor or tabacco and several people we overheard were upset about that. We had no plans to buy either so it didnt bother us. This was because it was a 1 night cruise and didnt go into international waters we were told.

 

Before dinner we walked around and explored the ship, one thing we noticed that we liked was there were finger foods in the casino... as if you didnt get enough to eat...

 

We had great drinks in the casino bar, they made us some drinks by request and they were very strong... we did think the drinks were cheaper than on carnival and stronger...

 

Dinner was at 8 and was kind of blah... appetizers included baby shrimp, onion soup with a beef ravioli in it, potato and fennel soup, smoked salmon, cesar salad, and a few others... I had the onion soup and cesar salad... the salad was bathed in dressed and was room temp, it would have been much better colder... service was very slow, I had to ask for lemon three times before they finally brought two pieces... we were offered no bar service but didnt ask for a bartender either...

 

Main courses included an 8 oz steak with fries, a roasted chicken breast with mashed potatoes and veggies, mahi mahi with polenta, some kind of stuffed pasta, lamb and jerk chicken... I had the roasted chicken which was HALF of one chicken breast, it was thin, dry and over seasoned, the mashed potatoes were out of a box and weren't good, and the veggies consisted of ONE baby carrot cut in half and ONE bite sized yellow squash...

 

I was very disappointed with the food, no one at the table was impressed... the food was edible, but I can cook a better chicken at home for sure...

 

For desert they had strawberry, chocolate and buttersotch ice cream and several other items.. I specifically asked if they had vanilla ice cream and was told no. My dad ordered butterscotch ice cream and it was actually vanilla ice cream with butterscotch sauce on it, which I thought was pretty funny...

 

Nothing memorable happened after dinner, we relaxed, had drinks and just spent some time together... we did not go to the show which was latin singing and dancing... we also didnt go to the comedy show or the disco...

 

Overall I was not impressed at all.... I know its hard on a one day cruise to really experience everything etc... but based on that experience, I would never go on the ship again... it was too small and we just generally didnt enjoy it.. the food was below average... as a housewife who puts dinner on the table every night, every single person at our table said they would rather eat at home, lol... I dont expect super gourmet food, but just good cooking is expected...

 

I know we would have had a better meal at one of the pay dinners, and we had expected to do that when it was just the four of it, but when the group sized went to 10 it just seemed like it was a lot of money to spend in addition to what we already spent. After the poor meal we had, if I had another chance I would have spent the extra money.

 

The staff seemed nice enough, no problems, everyone seemed polite.

 

We have our honeymoon cruise on NCLA PoAm in just over a month... I wont have any hard feelings after yesterdays cruise, i'm very open minded and am always willing to give a second chance... I like to read reviews which are both negative and positive so I can always be fully prepared...

 

We just did not like the ship.. we will never take a cruise on the Sun unless there is an absurdly too cheap to pass up rate which goes to ports we really want to go to... but probably not...

 

I'm still really looking forward to our future cruise on the PoAm :)

 

Questions are welcommed.. I id bring a copy of the Freestyle Daily but since it was a 1 day cruise I dont know if it would be of any help to anyone...

[LegalCat]

Yes we also found the pillows to be lumpy and the bed to be hard... I woke up several time during the night but that could also have been that I was sharing a room with my mom and didnt have my husband next to me lol

 

We also were confused by the announcement to have customs cards ready but we figured either he was just reading from a script or perhaps it was pre recorded so ignored it

 

Another thing to mention was we did not get off the ship until around 930 because a couple of people in our group couldnt seem to wake up lol... something about not being in bed until 4, LOL... anyway, it was chaos to get out of the parking garage,.. a police officer came over and opened up the gate and just started letting people out without paying to try to regain order... all of the people in our group got out without paying, that had to be annoying for the people trapped in the lane with the cashier...

[LegalCat]

Something else I just remembered, the mini bar in all of our rooms was empty and there was no bottled water available in our cabin, I assume we could have ordered bottled water from room service but we just went to one of the bars and got it.

 

Also no towel animals... the room stewards came around at 6ish to ask if we needed ice, they did not come to turn down the beds or replace towels or anything like that, again I assume because it was a 1 day...

[LegalCat]

Another thought, LOL, sorry...

 

We didnt like that the doors didnt have peep holes... also the doors were easy to leave accidently unlocked... my husband and i are very safety concious as we both work in the legal field and we have never had a problem with the doors closing properly etc.. we did find that you really had to tripple check the cabin doors to make sure they were closed securely...

 

Also at one point during the afternoon we passed a man trying to open a cabin door and his key card wasnt working, the steward who was working closest came over and opened it for him no questions asked... that was a little concerning, it kind of seemed like most people were just boarding and could the steward really have known for 100% sure that was the guys room? Just a thought...

[BeachBumMama]

Congratulations early and have fun on your honeymoon cruise!:D

[island777girl]

Legal Cat:

 

OMG your review of the ship entirely reflects our views. I was very careful with what I said because I didn't want to appear that I was bashing NCL and after all I am a guest on their boards and I am a loyal Carnival cruiser (Platinum) but you basically wrote everything that I thought of saying and more!! The no trays in the dining room, very awkward trying to balance my soup plate and lunch plate. Dinner okay but nothing impressive. No water in room, always need that bottled water, nothing in mini bar/fridge. As you said it was a one nighter..However, in my opinion, a lot of people from Miami and of course other states took advantage as I did, of the low price to take the opportunity to check out NCL to see if they would want to cruise a longer cruise. You would think they would have been more eager to impress future customers, ie. putting towel animals, water, etc. We didnt even see a cabin steward...

The worse thing for me was the bed as I mentioned, it was the hardest bed ever and would really be a deciding factor for me in not booking NCL, I could barely manage one night with no sleep, much less 7. Our daughters pull-out couch was not much better and took up the whole room when opened. On a good point, I did like the champagne they offered at boarding, that was a nice touch and also found the staff to be very friendly. Everywhere I went they said hello. Anyway, a one night cruise is certainly better than working, and I do work weekends, so no complaints about the get away.

[island777girl]

Legalcat:

 

Forgot to mention, congrats on the wedding and have a great honeymoon on the next cruise!! Wishing you many happy years together, I am going on 28!!

[LegalCat]

Thanks everyone!!!!

 

We have been together already 12 years!!!!And just getting married now lol... we will probably break up in 6 months... just kidding... if we havent killed each other yet we should be ok <G>...

 

My parents are married over 30 years so I have good role models...

 

Regarding NCL... I have never cruised NCL and I agree, I thought the point of this one nighter was in part for them to let people experience NCL in the hopes of getting them to come back... maybe I was wrong on that... based on that cruise I would never sail NCL again if I was a lot of people... If i had not already booked my honeymoon on NCL I probably would not have done so based on this experience... BUT.... I'm not one of those people that decides they would NEVER do it again... it doesnt worry me about my honeymoon... but I do think NCL could have tried a lot harder... I will still go back (and ont only cuz ive paid for my honeymoon already hehe) but I dont hold grudges... I would not go on the sun again though, I did not like the ship really... so unless like I said there was an absurdly good sale with really good ports that I wanted to go to.. I wouldnt put foot on the sun again...

 

Our honeymoon cruise will be an entirely different experience, we are in an owners suite and also will be having all our meals in the "pay" restaurants thanks to generous wedding registry visitors... so already it will be super different...

[blackerbys17]

Ok so to continue the review....

 

Overall I was not impressed at all.... I know its hard on a one day cruise to really experience everything etc... but based on that experience, I would never go on the ship again... it was too small and we just generally didnt enjoy it.. the food was below average... as a housewife who puts dinner on the table every night, every single person at our table said they would rather eat at home, lol... I dont expect super gourmet food, but just good cooking is expected...

 

Hey girl,

 

Sorry we missed you onboard. We got the surprise of a lifetime when Valdivia called our stateroom and said he was there too. We had no idea he was on the ship and we hadn't seen him since his wedding so it was great to catch up. We spent much of the night at the Observation Lounge hanging out with them and the wedding party they were with.

 

But back to your review, a few thoughts:

 

My embarkation papers said that boarding started at 12PM but I was told I could board as early as 11:30AM since we are Latitudes members. We actually got to the Port around 11:30AM and found parking at the garage next to the ship. It was unusual to find parking at that garage since it is usually full so that was nice. Embarkation was very fast and I liked the seperate check-in for balcony and suite guests. After check-in, someone took our luggage and personally escorted us to our balcony room which I loved! Especially since everyone else was being told the rooms weren't ready yet but we got to go straight to ours.

 

This was our first balcony and I couldn't have been happier. I wanted an aft cabin and that is excatly what I got. The room was a little smaller than Carnival rooms but I like the layout a lot better. Bathroom seemed to be about the same size as Carnival bathrooms but again, I prefer the NCL layout.

 

As for the soot on the Aft cabins, it's true, there is soot. Every know and then you'll see some fall. Not enough to bug us but I wouldn't be out in the balcony wearing anything white or dressy for fear of staining it. Even so, soot and all, give me an aft balcony cabin any day of the week. When the ship is sailing it is so calm and serene back there, not windy like the forward balconies. I loved it!

 

LegalCat, I know you mentioned you felt the ship was small but I know you've sailed on the Fascination before and the sun is actually bigger in tonnage by about 7,000 tons and only smaller by 2 feet in length. I think it's just the layout of an NCL ship that makes you feel that way. The NCL promenade is not as long and as wide as the Carnival promenade area.

 

Like you, we didn't go to any shows or the disco. Their was live music and singing at the Observation Lounge and many of us were dancing and had a good time. As for the restaurants we ate at Four Seas (I believe, it was the aft rest.) for lunch and the food was very good. Great service! We tried to make a reservation at 12:30PM for an 8:00 or so seating at the Steakhouse and it was already full by then! (We got to eat there anyways but more on that later..)

 

We grabbed some drinks and headed back to our room and enjoyed sailing away in privacy. Later on we played a little golf and ping pong on the sun deck while listening to the ambient music they were playing. Very relaxing! We signed up the kiddo for the Kids Korner and headed back to the room to start getting ready for dinner. Of course, that's when Valdivia called so our plans changed a bit from then on...

 

Dropped off the kiddo at Kid's Korner at 8:15 PM and headed to the Observation Lounge to meet up with the gang. Stayed there having a good ole' time until 10:30 p.m. or so when we realized we hadn't had dinner yet! A couple of people mentioned that they were headed to the Steakhouse for dinner and we mentioned we weren't able to get reservations. They asked us to join them and that they would just say the reservation was for 4. we didn't really know them and yet they were so nice to us! Well, it worked and we all got in.

 

The rest. wasn't full or anything, several open tables. Service was good, portions were good, my filet mignon was VERY dry but the Kahlua creme brulee was awesome! The table behind us was very drunk, very loud, and very obnoxious. Everyone kept staring at them but oh well, they were just having fun I guess. The company was great and that made all the difference. Would I pay $25 per person to eat here again? Probably not.

 

By the time we gt back to the cabin it was 1:30 a.m. and we had a sleeping 4 year old so we all went to bed. Quick side note: the steward NEVER made the small sofa bed for our son. That really ticked me off but oh well.

 

Woke up at 7:30 a.m. to the sound of the "NCL guy" blaring through the speaker. Not a good way to wake up when you have a hangover. I packed up the bags and we headed to the Garden Cafe which was thankfully, directly above us for breakfast. Grabbed some plates (I know, no trays, it would have been really nice to have trays) and we headed back to our room for breakfast. The steward outside was like "Did you hear the announcements?" He was referring to the announcement of people on deck 10 getting off the ship at around 8:45 a.m. Yeah right, "I heard" I told him and I proceeded back into my room to have my meal.

 

When we were done we got our bags and got a quick sneak peek at the penthouse next to us. VERY NICE! (I have pictures, if anyone wants to see.)

 

I went down to the 6th deck to inquire about the cruise deposit vouchers only to find out they weren't selling them anymore. Bummer, I wanted more infor on how they worked and possible buy some for my next NCL trip. Oh well...

 

We finally got off the ship around 9:15 a.m. or so. The garage was busy but at our building we paid for parking downstairs at the machines so the line moved fast.

 

All in all I really enjoyed the cruise. I REALLY LIKE NCL! I did another 1 nighter back in Dec. 06 with them but this sealed the deal. Even with a few hiccups here or there I prefer them to Carnival. Doesn't mean I won't cruise with Carnival again, I will. It just means I prefer NCL.

 

Wish you would have had a better time LegalCat!

[LegalCat]

Because I am open minded I would sail NCL again... my reviews normally are all very positive... I"m really not a big complainer... time on a cruise is better than time at work or time cleaning my house lol.. just overall I wasnt impressed...

 

I wonder if your boarding time said 12 because your a latitudes member? I believe you get on an hour earlier? Ours definately said 1 but I knew from Carnival that it always is a lot earlier... we definately werent escorted to our room hehe, but we will be enjoying that perk in our owners suite in May woohooo....

 

 

I cant believe its bigger than the fascination, thats a BIG surprise, I love the fascination! lol

 

well back soon time for dinner

[budat2130]

Just want you to know that I appreciate you telling it like you saw it... Most folks can't accept that..They only want to hear what they want to hear and only want said about the Sun what they want to hear.. it's crazy almost..

Thanks for the truth....

[joanne59]

....last NCL cruise for me. Sorry, but it in no way compares to RCL and Celebrity. I don't like to make negative comments either for fear of getting bashed but I am agreeing with everyone that was on this trip that posted already. I had arranged a girls-night-out for a group of friends from work, most of whom had never cruised before. I've been on NCL a few times and have never really been impressed, so the reason I chose this was to benefit my friends, the price was right and since "nowhere" trips are not offered often, this was the only game in town.

 

Food: edible but selection in the buffet was awful for all meals, the shrimp cocktail was sad in the dining room, the small single plate in the buffet was a pain (I am not a big eater but it was not easy to handle), the lamb entree in the dining room was nice, dessert selection in dining room and buffet pretty limited.

 

Cabin: we had an aft-9277 and there was soot on the tiny balcony (aft on RCL huge balcony), cabin was tiny/narrow, bed was comfy (I bring my own pillow), shower normal and plenty hot w/good pressure. the pump for soap awkward in location and difficult to get much out of it, nice safe and fridge

 

Dining room: we were told for a group of 6 we did not need a reservation; showed up at 6:30 had a great table over looking the water and watched the sun go down, the dining room was pretty much empty when we arrived, but filled up as the night went on.

 

Pictures: we wanted at least one nice group shot so opted to have them taken when ever the photographer was available. Ended up with one nice picture, but a single sheet of the same photo (2 5x7's) was $24.95--I'll just scan it and email it to my friends. I am spoiled by RCL who offers an 8x10 for $20 but now I actually get them free with our diamond coupon booklet

 

Shows/lounge: we did them all, dancing/singing show was great and the comedians were a riot. We stayed in the lounge for dancing until 2 pm, it was extremely crowded, but my friends love to dance so we were up a lot later than my normal bedtime. I don't drink but ordered an expresso martini and was not too impressed by the taste or the $10 price tag. My friends did drink and never were very happy with the quality either.

 

All in all, we had fun because we were together, but this is really it for me and NCL. I cruised Carnival years ago and feel that the lines are pretty similar in quality. It does not seem that the perks for repeat cruising really amount to much. I will stick to RCL and the wonderful perks they offer. This is not meant to be a rant at NCL, it is just my opinion about the quality of the trip. Sorry to all those loyal NCL fans, if you enjoy this line, by all means keep on cruising with them. It's wonderful we have choices and this one is just not for me.

[CruisnGram]

My biggest and only real let down and difference from other cruiselines was the beds...very very hard and pillows lumpy. Usually I sleep like a baby on the Carnival comfort beds, but this bed was tough as nails, I have pain in my shoulder/back, etc today so does hubby and there was a ditch in the bed where they joined two twins that I kept falling into. Needless to say I didnt get much sleep. ....

 

Bedding is supposed to be upgraded with 2.0 so hopefully on your next cruise, you won't have the same problem. :)

[CruisnGram]

:D

....last NCL cruise for me. Sorry, but it in no way compares to RCL and Celebrity. I don't like to make negative comments either for fear of getting bashed but I am agreeing with everyone that was on this trip that posted already. I had arranged a girls-night-out for a group of friends from work, most of whom had never cruised before. I've been on NCL a few times and have never really been impressed, so the reason I chose this was to benefit my friends, the price was right and since "nowhere" trips are not offered often, this was the only game in town.

 

Food: edible but selection in the buffet was awful for all meals, the shrimp cocktail was sad in the dining room, the small single plate in the buffet was a pain (I am not a big eater but it was not easy to handle), the lamb entree in the dining room was nice, dessert selection in dining room and buffet pretty limited.

 

Cabin: we had an aft-9277 and there was soot on the tiny balcony (aft on RCL huge balcony), cabin was tiny/narrow, bed was comfy (I bring my own pillow), shower normal and plenty hot w/good pressure. the pump for soap awkward in location and difficult to get much out of it, nice safe and fridge

 

Dining room: we were told for a group of 6 we did not need a reservation; showed up at 6:30 had a great table over looking the water and watched the sun go down, the dining room was pretty much empty when we arrived, but filled up as the night went on.

 

Pictures: we wanted at least one nice group shot so opted to have them taken when ever the photographer was available. Ended up with one nice picture, but a single sheet of the same photo (2 5x7's) was $24.95--I'll just scan it and email it to my friends. I am spoiled by RCL who offers an 8x10 for $20 but now I actually get them free with our diamond coupon booklet

 

Shows/lounge: we did them all, dancing/singing show was great and the comedians were a riot. We stayed in the lounge for dancing until 2 pm, it was extremely crowded, but my friends love to dance so we were up a lot later than my normal bedtime. I don't drink but ordered an expresso martini and was not too impressed by the taste or the $10 price tag. My friends did drink and never were very happy with the quality either.

 

All in all, we had fun because we were together, but this is really it for me and NCL. I cruised Carnival years ago and feel that the lines are pretty similar in quality. It does not seem that the perks for repeat cruising really amount to much. I will stick to RCL and the wonderful perks they offer. This is not meant to be a rant at NCL, it is just my opinion about the quality of the trip. Sorry to all those loyal NCL fans, if you enjoy this line, by all means keep on cruising with them. It's wonderful we have choices and this one is just not for me.

 

Sorry that you didn't have a better time. No rant here from me, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion for sure.

 

I do have one question tho. Have you ever sailed NCL before? Other then a 1 night cruise? If not, I honestly don't think that it's fair to compare it to any other cruise line unless you've sailed their 1 night cruise also. I jsut don't feel that a 1 night cruise is any real way to judge any cruise line.

 

Our 7 day sailing on the Sun last month was fantastic. And, some of the criticism that I've read here just didn't happen on a 7 day cruise.

 

Happy sailing in the future! :D

[LegalCat]

:D

 

Sorry that you didn't have a better time. No rant here from me, as everyone is entitled to their own opinion for sure.

 

I do have one question tho. Have you ever sailed NCL before? Other then a 1 night cruise? If not, I honestly don't think that it's fair to compare it to any other cruise line unless you've sailed their 1 night cruise also. I jsut don't feel that a 1 night cruise is any real way to judge any cruise line.

 

Our 7 day sailing on the Sun last month was fantastic. And, some of the criticism that I've read here just didn't happen on a 7 day cruise.

 

Happy sailing in the future! :D

 

I have to agree that a 1 night cruise cannot be compared to a regular cruise... but if I were the kind of person who judged in that particular way, I would never sail NCL again based on that experience... Ive rarely had complaints about Carnival even though I guess they are kind of bottom of the barrel... I chose NCL for our honeymoon because I thought it was a step up from Carnival and would be nicer over all... based on my experience on the one night cruise, I would be more than happy sticking with Carnival lol...

 

I think maybe for me a 1 night seemed more like a waste of time... it just seemed like a big hassle... I wish we had stuck with just the four of us and I think it would have been a lot better... insead of two other people to coordinate with we had 8 people... my sister in law had a lot of problems getting to the ship, first she was mad that we didnt coordinate to travel there together (which we had never discussed and she only raised after we were already on the road and she wasnt even ready to leave)... then when she was half way there she called and said oh i didnt need to print my tickets did I? And I said well as long as you printed the profile thingy that you registered... and she says no i didnt print that either.. so she had to go back... so she goes back, prints it, comes all the way back to the port, gets to the front door after parking and everything, and realizes she has no picture ID on her... so she was in a crabby mood all day... then my step daughter swore she was sea sick the entire time and so she was in a crabby mood all day even though at one point the boat was still docked, lol...

 

So, it just goes to show when you try to do something nice for some people they just are never happy or appreciative, and I think that played a part in the fact that I didnt have a great time...

 

So, I know that this is just part of my experience and I will go on PoAm with a completely fresh outlook and will not hold this one nighter against NCL... I just felt like they should have tried harder... I think there was a lot of first time NCL sailers and when I booked the cruise I was told that NCL was trying to attract new customers etc... I thought they really should have aimed to impress.... A lot of people arent as open minded about giving second chances and I think they probably lost a lot of potential customers because I heard a lot of people complaining....

 

Ahh well... I definately dont think I will ever do a 1 day or 2 day cruise again, just not for me I guess... I will stick with my 4 days and 7 days...

 

Oh one thing I never mentioned, there was NO lifeboat drill which was a reallly nice surprise...

[blackerbys17]

Oh one thing I never mentioned, there was NO lifeboat drill which was a reallly nice surprise...

 

Yeah, on the other 1 nighter I did there was no lifeboat drill either. Apparently they are required by law to do it within 24 hours of the cruise's start. Since it gets back before the 24 hours are up, no drill!:D

 

I'm sure having all that family there spoiled things for you. Our 1st 1 nighter was aboard the Pearl. It was just DH and I and it was soooo romantic. This time we had friends onboard and it was just really fun. You should've come and hanged out with us, I bet you would have had a ball.

 

Mind you, I'm not saying the Sun is fantastic, but it is very charming. The Pearl is MUCH better and if you can go on the 2 nighter in October you will not be disappointed. It's a great ship with a very different feel.

 

I will say this. I've never tried RCCL before and I am really tempted to do so just for comparison sakes. I'll also be trying Celebrity next Jan. I basically want to try them all before I plan my Alaska cruise because I plan on spending mega bucks on that cruise and going all the way so I don't want to be disappointed.

 

I hope you have a great honeymoon on NCL. I bet you'll love it!

[Paul_76]

....last NCL cruise for me. Sorry, but it in no way compares to RCL and Celebrity. I don't like to make negative comments either for fear of getting bashed but I am agreeing with everyone that was on this trip that posted already. I had arranged a girls-night-out for a group of friends from work, most of whom had never cruised before. I've been on NCL a few times and have never really been impressed, so the reason I chose this was to benefit my friends, the price was right and since "nowhere" trips are not offered often, this was the only game in town.

 

Food: edible but selection in the buffet was awful for all meals, the shrimp cocktail was sad in the dining room, the small single plate in the buffet was a pain (I am not a big eater but it was not easy to handle), the lamb entree in the dining room was nice, dessert selection in dining room and buffet pretty limited.

 

Cabin: we had an aft-9277 and there was soot on the tiny balcony (aft on RCL huge balcony), cabin was tiny/narrow, bed was comfy (I bring my own pillow), shower normal and plenty hot w/good pressure. the pump for soap awkward in location and difficult to get much out of it, nice safe and fridge

 

Dining room: we were told for a group of 6 we did not need a reservation; showed up at 6:30 had a great table over looking the water and watched the sun go down, the dining room was pretty much empty when we arrived, but filled up as the night went on.

 

Pictures: we wanted at least one nice group shot so opted to have them taken when ever the photographer was available. Ended up with one nice picture, but a single sheet of the same photo (2 5x7's) was $24.95--I'll just scan it and email it to my friends. I am spoiled by RCL who offers an 8x10 for $20 but now I actually get them free with our diamond coupon booklet

 

Shows/lounge: we did them all, dancing/singing show was great and the comedians were a riot. We stayed in the lounge for dancing until 2 pm, it was extremely crowded, but my friends love to dance so we were up a lot later than my normal bedtime. I don't drink but ordered an expresso martini and was not too impressed by the taste or the $10 price tag. My friends did drink and never were very happy with the quality either.

 

All in all, we had fun because we were together, but this is really it for me and NCL. I cruised Carnival years ago and feel that the lines are pretty similar in quality. It does not seem that the perks for repeat cruising really amount to much. I will stick to RCL and the wonderful perks they offer. This is not meant to be a rant at NCL, it is just my opinion about the quality of the trip. Sorry to all those loyal NCL fans, if you enjoy this line, by all means keep on cruising with them. It's wonderful we have choices and this one is just not for me.

 

I'm not sure I entirely understand your review.

 

I don't really see the complaints/problems to warrant the "last NCL cruise for me" comments. It seems that you viewed the cabin and food to be generally ok on balance, the drinks and photos overpriced, and that you prefer your RCI Crown & Anchor perks.

 

I too was on the Sun this past weekend.

 

I thought the food in the non-specialty restaurants to be generally on par with what I've had on RCI & NCL in the past. We ate dinner at Le Bistro, and I felt the quality was higher than the lunch in the main dining room (although, I don't know if it really warrants the additional $20/pp).

 

High prices for what are often so-so drinks seem endemic to the travel industry... as I've paid as much (or more) at hotels on land for cocktails, wine, and beer. I think any mixed drink is a bit of a risk (the worst drink I've ever had in my life was at the NY Marriott Marquis -- $20 for a Bombay Sapphire Martini that was completely undrinkable). Thus, I opt for known quantities like wines, beers, or single-malt scotches. For the record, I drank Bass Ale (about $22 for a bucket of 6, half of which I carried off the ship) and a glass of Hogue Chenin Blanc (for about $6). My wife had a frozen strawberry daiquiri ($6). All were fine and consistent with landside hotel bar prices.

 

As for the “frequent cruiser” perks, I’ve not cruised enough to appreciate the benefits on any one line let alone comparing between them. As a frequent flier, however, I do appreciate the benefits of being a Delta Platinum Elite. Thus, I can understand the preference for one provider over another. That said, I’ll opt for another airline over Delta (or one of its partners) if the route or price is significantly better. Thus, my return to the original premise of my post – why the “last NCL cruise for me” based on this experience alone, especially given the low $ of the cruise to nowhere?

 

Please understand that I don’t intend this post as any kind of a “bash.” I’d really like to better understand the differences between NCL and other lines.

 

I have only a limited number of data points for reference, but I’ve generally found NCL and RCI to be pretty comparable. Indeed, in a head to head match-up I think:

• RCI has better ships (in terms of layout and nautical architecture).
  
• NCL appears to have slightly better cabins (probably more a reflection of the particular ships I’ve experienced).
  
• NCL seems to have better shows/entertainment.
  
• Food/drinks are a tie (in terms of quality, quantity, and availability).
  
• Service has been equally good on both lines (although admittedly more personal on RCI due to the “relationships” established with wait staff and cabin attendants).

Net-net, I thought the one-night cruise was fine for what it was. And, it didn't really sway my opinion of NCL one way or the other.

[Paul_76]

Mind you, I'm not saying the Sun is fantastic, but it is very charming. The Pearl is MUCH better and if you can go on the 2 nighter in October you will not be disappointed. It's a great ship with a very different feel.

 

I'd be curious to hear more about how the Sun compares to other NCL ships, especially those of the Jewel-class (like the Pearl). In particular, how does it differ?

 

It seemed like the layout / design of the Sun was somewhat “rabbit warren-esque” compared to the openness and flow of other ships I’ve been on (such as the RCI Sovereign of the Seas). For example, on more than one occasion I had to go up to another deck, cross the ship, and then back down to get to a different venue. Likewise, the shops were arranged oddly and weren’t (in my mind) especially inviting. Finally, the ship seemed to lack a sense of spaciousness / grandeur inside (for instance, the Sun’s Atrium was far less grand than Sovereign’s Centrum). Indeed, aside from the paint job, even the exterior of the vessel seemed to have less architectural interest than other lines' ships (such as the distinctive Crown Lounge atop RCI ships or the big “wing” on the Carnival vessels).

[blackerbys17]

I'd be curious to hear more about how the Sun compares to other NCL ships, especially those of the Jewel-class (like the Pearl). In particular, how does it differ?

 

It seemed like the layout / design of the Sun was somewhat “rabbit warren-esque” compared to the openness and flow of other ships I’ve been on (such as the RCI Sovereign of the Seas). For example, on more than one occasion I had to go up to another deck, cross the ship, and then back down to get to a different venue. Likewise, the shops were arranged oddly and weren’t (in my mind) especially inviting. Finally, the ship seemed to lack a sense of spaciousness / grandeur inside (for instance, the Sun’s Atrium was far less grand than Sovereign’s Centrum). Indeed, aside from the paint job, even the exterior of the vessel seemed to have less architectural interest than other lines' ships (such as the distinctive Crown Lounge atop RCI ships or the big “wing” on the Carnival vessels).

 

Paul, those are great questions. I'll answer those that I can:

 

The Sun actually has a larger atrium feel than the Pearl does. I believe the Pearl has a 3 deck high atrium at the most while the Sun has a 7 deck high atrium. I normally sail Carnival which has huge grand atriums and sometimes I miss that when I don't sail Carnival. However, the atrium aboard the Pearl was VERY nice. Sort of lounge like and swanky. Very South Beach if you know what mean. There are also better lounges in my opinion aboard the Pearl. The Bliss Lounge with it's bowling alley and lounge areas is much more contemporary and lounge like than anything on the Sun. The Pearl has a very bright colorful contemporary color scheme while the Sun has a much more traditional feel with lots of wood everywhere.

 

It may have felt that you had to go up a deck or down a deck to get anywhere aboard the sun but most of that depends on knowing the layout. For example, the elevators in the Sun's atrium go from deck 6 - 11. I stayed on deck 10 in the aft so I walked down the hallway past all the cabins until I got to the atrium eleveators. From there I could get just about anywhere. Or, if I wanted to eat all I had to do was go up a deck and the food and pool was right there. It's not the Pearl but the Sun really was very charming and cozy I thought. My husband says that Carnival ships look like Russian Discos on the inside so he really like the Sun which was much more elegant.

 

I can't compare to RCCL because I have never sailed them but I will agree that RCCL has the most beautful exterior architecture of all ships from what I have seen. I actually think Carnival ships are mostly ugly outside. In exterior appearance I would rate RCCL #1, NCL #2, and Carnival #3.

 

I have pictures of the Pearl if you want to see how it compares. Overall, I like the Sun better than the Carnival Fascination I just sailed on in March. The Sun is 7,000 tons bigger than the Fascination yet it accomodates less guests. I like that because at Carnival I felt packed in like a sardine. I just prefer the NCL ambiance. However, I can't wait to try RCCL!

[Carnac767]

The Sun is a 78,000 ton ship. 78,000 tons is not a small ship. She's only 15,000 tons smaller than NCL's largest ships. These are big ships. By comparison, the Titantic displaced 52,000 tons, about the size of the Norwegian Dream. Too bad you didn't have a good time. We loved the Sun and had a blast aboard her.