NCL Sun to Alaska review - 9/14-9/21

[sarahrebel]

We sailed to Alaska (Ketchikian/Juneau/Victoria) on the Norwegian Sun from 9/14/08-9/21/08, Vancouver to San Francisco. Our first cruise and we LOVED it. We were in balcony cabin number 9044. Here’s our full review, keep in mind we were first timers with no comparisons to make, and this is just our opinion! Sorry so long, but I divided it by subject for easy reading!

 

Vancouver: We arrived the day before the cruise and stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn. Decided to take the Vancouver Trolley, which has a stop right outside our hotel. We had to wait quite awhile for one to show up; apparently this was a very busy weekend for them. We really enjoyed the trolley though – a great way to see the highlights of the city without a lot of effort, because we were starting to get tired after being up since 3 am. We got off briefly at the Rose Garden in Stanley Park, which was slightly past its peak but still beautiful. The part of the trolley through Stanley Park was just gorgeous – amazing old trees. Our trolley driver’s narration was good. We got off next at Chinatown – this was one of our favorite parts. Loved browsing through all of the unique shops. Our first experience with a Chinatown anywhere. We picked up some great sushi dishes for dirt cheap, and stopped for coffee to sit awhile.

Then we hopped back on the trolley, and got off at our hotel. I would have liked to browse around Granville Island and Gastown, but we were tired and didn’t have enough time. For dinner, we walked from our hotel to Robson Street (about 8 blocks or so, a nice walk) and ate at Tsunami Sushi. The nice part was the incredibly fast service – like crazy fast. Almost like they were rushing you out. I had several rolls that were good, but unimaginative. Steve had a plate of raw fish that he said was very fresh and delicious. The prices, in our opinion, were pretty good for what you get. Then we strolled around Robson Street awhile, picking up some gifts and socks for Steve, and Baskin Robbins ice cream before heading back to the hotel. We enjoyed the hot tub and then went to bed very early!

 

Embarkation: Our hotel’s checkout time was 11 am, so we got a taxi then to Canada Place and were there just as customs opened. It was a smooth process, a few lines but overall not much waiting at all. We were overwhelmed at first - what to do first??? But got a table outside the buffet and relaxed for a few hours. Toured the ship for a bit and then headed to our cabin as soon as they were available!

 

Dining: We loved the freestyle dining and don’t know if we could do regular dining after this. Loved being able to decide where to go on the spur of the moment, and not worry about time. We ate in Seven Seas most nights, and many breakfasts – liked having leisurely meals. Great food, no complaints. We liked Pacific Heights for lunch, where they serve made to order pasta and pizza. It’s a nice quiet lunch spot with great tables by big windows – much more peaceful than the buffet.

 

We ended up trying Il Adagio one night (called at 6 pm and got a reservation at 7, no problem), and it was great. One of the best parts was just the atmosphere of the restaurant - all of the tables face the windows. The food was good, and the tiramisu was EXCELLENT. Best I’ve ever had! We also went to Ginza one night, we are sushi fans, and loved it too. Nice small, quiet restaurant with a great waiter. Fun being able to order all the maki/nigiri we wanted!

 

The buffet was interesting. We ate there quite a few times for various meals, for the convenience and the fact that the food really isn’t bad. The crowds are the worst there though, and while a waiter one evening told us that there isn’t a line, just jump in and grab whatever you want, people persistently lined up every time and you felt like an idiot just cutting in (like we were told!).

 

Balcony Cabin: This has been such a nice leisurely vacation for us. We LOVE our balcony room – not sure if we’ll ever be able to cruise without one now! Even going to Alaska, it was worth every penny. Yes it was often chilly out there, but never really cold (of course, we’re from Wyoming!). We spent one evening just relaxing in our room, because we were still in our “port wear” of jeans & sweatshirts. We skipped all the shows, had dinner at the buffet and then just hung out in our room all evening, ordering dessert from room service which was such a treat. And we LOVE the room service breakfast! We saw humpback whales, orcas, and seals on icebergs from our balcony – that made it worth every penny.

 

Entertainment: I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed the entertainment – I guess I was expecting it to be more cheesy J We loved Cat’s Pajamas – so talented! And loved the Cirque Pan show. The comedians were really funny – loved Liar’s Club especially. And don’t miss any of the “game shows” – they were hilarious! Brothers & Friends were great too.

 

Roll Call: We had a great Cruise Critic roll call – lots of people, and the Captain and lots of other officers came. That was nice that they took the time to chat with us. I think we had a great CC group – we had 3 actual meetups. Really great people, made some good friends. Gwynn & Dianne (the candy lady!) did a great job of organizing.

 

 

Clothes: We packed a fleece jacket and a waterproof (proof, not resistant!) jacket, and a sweatshirt, for each of us, and this was perfect. I wore a tank top in Vancouver but otherwise just t-shirts layered under jackets. I brought one dress and one skirt with various tops for the evenings. There were people in all kinds of dress, but we did feel too dressed down in jeans to eat in the main dining room for dinner (just our preference).

 

Packing: We loved the overdoor shoe organizer. We were also very glad we’d bought a zoom lens for our Canon Rebel – we’re total amateurs, but our Tamron 70-300 was worth every penny for the wildlife shots we got!

 

Ketchikan: we did the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour and we highly recommend it!!! Saw (& touched) lots of crabs, some random fish, and an octopus! The highlight of the tour for us was actually when they stop at an island with lots of bald eagles, and throw fish for them to swoop down and catch. We got some AMAZING photos here. The weather was foggy but no rain, and not terribly cold either – very nice. The fog lifted mid-morning.

 

Juneau: we elected to just see the glacier and do a little shopping. It was quite rainy the whole time we were there – very glad for our waterproof jackets. The ship was docked at the last spot, but they had a free shuttle to take you downtown, where we bought tickets from one of many vendors there for a bus to Mendenhall Glacier ($14 each, roundtrip). The visitor’s center at Mendenhall was free for us with our national parks annual pass. We got lots of souvenirs, shirts, etc. in Juneau for very cheap with the end of season sales.

 

Disembarkation: NCL has changed their disembarkation process (we wouldn’t have known except we were expecting the freestyle disembarkation from talking with other people) to eliminate the freestyle. Must have gotten to be too crazy. Anyhow it was an easy process. We got up at 6 am, had a nice breakfast in Seven Seas at 7 am (they stopped serving at 8:30), and I left breakfast for a moment to get a photo of the Golden Gate bridge. Then we napped in our room until 10 am when we had to be out, and went to sit in the Windjammer. They were calling you by luggage tag color, ours was “lime” and our time was 10:30 am. At 10:15 they called our color to the Stardust Lounge to go through immigration, which was just showing your room key & passport – very quick. Then we sat back in the Windjammer until they called us at 10:30 to disembark, which was very quick too – no lines. The hard part was getting at taxi outside – HUGE line.

 

San Francisco: We spent the day walking San Francisco – saw the Italian district, Chinatown, Japantown, and Fisherman’s Wharf. The highlight for us was the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf – how cool! We stayed at America’s Best Inn Fisherman’s Wharf (got a good deal on Priceline) which was just 3 blocks off the bay.

 

Tips for first-timers like us (stuff we didn’t know and found out)

 

Listen for the intercom in the hallway with announcements from the captain about wildlife. Unlike the muster drill announcements, the wildlife sightings aren’t announced in your room. During the Endicott Arm cruising, we propped our door open with a towel to hear the announcements.

 

We were glad we learned on Cruise Critic that you can ask for egg crate foam for your mattress – we did right away and it helped a lot. They were in the process of replacing the mattresses on our cruise, but I think we had one of the old ones the whole time. A little hard. So was the couch.

 

Print out the nice color, detailed map of the ship and take it with you. I saw it online but didn’t, thinking they’d have them on the ship – they just give you a little, vague one. There are detailed ones by every elevator, but it would have been nice to have a copy as we learned our way around.

 

Bring a watch! We don’t wear watches, normally rely on our cell phones, and wish we’d brought one. And we were glad we’d brought a travel alarm clock for the time in our room. The ship does have wake-up calls which worked great for us.

 

 

 

Sorry so long. I will post a link to photos as soon as I get them sorted out! I'd love to answer any questions as well.

[Lisa-UK]

Hi

 

Lovely report - sounds like you had a great time.

 

Do you know if they had something for the kids to do? We have a teenager and were thinking of an Alaska cruise next year, but after just sailing the RCI Independence (all singing and dancing ship ) we are worried if there would be enough for him to do.

 

thanks for your help.

 

Lisa

[sarahrebel]

I'm afraid I can't help much with that - I was just with my husband, we are 27 & 29. But I did notice that they had a Teen Club and saw teens running around, appearing to be having a good time! They have an arcade, lots of sports stuff available, etc.

[Lisa-UK]

Hi

 

thanks for that..........I am sure our son would have a great time if there is an arcade :D

[MalkyM]

Thanks for your review, Sarahrebel. We are cruising to Alaska on the Sun in September 09 and your descriptions have started us thinking about what to do.

 

Many, many months before we need to start planning excursions, shopping etc but the more information we can pick up, the better - for us :)

 

Thanks again

[ozsea]

Hi sarahrebel

Thanks for the good review. We are sailing on the Sun soon {South America} in a BB Balcony. Did you have bath robes supplied in your cabin? If they did supply them then it less for us to take from home.

Thanks for any information

[sarahrebel]

Yes there were bathrobes! That was a pleasant surprise. We were in BB as well.

[Elawies]

Thnks for the review of the Sun. We are sailing to the Mexican Riviera on Oct. 13th and enjoyed reading about your experiences. We were in Alaska two years ago. I was surprised that you mentioned the bed was hard. After reading so much about the changing of the mattresses here on cc, I thought that all that would be done by now. I guess I better check as soon as we are able to get into our cabin. We are in 9057 and also a BB. Which dinning room did you prefer, Four Seasons or Seven Seas? Was there a piano bar? We like to go after dinner, hubby has a cigar, we have a glass of port, and listen to the music for awhile. Thanks again for the review. Glad you had a good time. Elawies:)

[sarahrebel]

We saw mattressing being loaded onto the ship in Vancouver, and heard from other people that they were in the process of being changed. So I would think they would all be new by the time you get on. Hopefully!

 

The menu is the same at Seven Seas and Four Seasons. Seven Seas is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner - Four Seasons only open for dinner. They really are basically the same otherwise.

 

Yes there is a piano bar - the Windjammer.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

I was on this cruise as well. I was in 9063 and loved my bed and bedding!

Almost too much. lol.

 

They do not allow cigar smoking in the piano bar. The cigar bar is right next to the Windjammer and they don't allow cigar smoking there either! Not anymore. Sorry to tell you.

 

I personally didn't care for the piano bar guy, but Brothers and Friends were fun to listen to. They played in the Obervation Lounge and Dazzles and sometimes in Las Ramblas.

 

Seven Seas doesn't allow jeans after 5 PM , per their sign. I had one sit down lunch there. It was great! The buffet can get pretty crowded and annoying, if you dont have a lot of patience. The great outdoor cafe was way less crowded but had far fewer choices.

 

I enjoyed this ship. The crew, the entertainment.

[CaliforniaDreamer]

We sailed to Alaska (Ketchikian/Juneau/Victoria) on the Norwegian Sun from 9/14/08-9/21/08, Vancouver to San Francisco. Our first cruise and we LOVED it. We were in balcony cabin number 9044. Here’s our full review, keep in mind we were first timers with no comparisons to make, and this is just our opinion! Sorry so long, but I divided it by subject for easy reading!

 

Vancouver: We arrived the day before the cruise and stayed at the Marriott Residence Inn. Decided to take the Vancouver Trolley, which has a stop right outside our hotel. We had to wait quite awhile for one to show up; apparently this was a very busy weekend for them. We really enjoyed the trolley though – a great way to see the highlights of the city without a lot of effort, because we were starting to get tired after being up since 3 am. We got off briefly at the Rose Garden in Stanley Park, which was slightly past its peak but still beautiful. The part of the trolley through Stanley Park was just gorgeous – amazing old trees. Our trolley driver’s narration was good. We got off next at Chinatown – this was one of our favorite parts. Loved browsing through all of the unique shops. Our first experience with a Chinatown anywhere. We picked up some great sushi dishes for dirt cheap, and stopped for coffee to sit awhile.

Then we hopped back on the trolley, and got off at our hotel. I would have liked to browse around Granville Island and Gastown, but we were tired and didn’t have enough time. For dinner, we walked from our hotel to Robson Street (about 8 blocks or so, a nice walk) and ate at Tsunami Sushi. The nice part was the incredibly fast service – like crazy fast. Almost like they were rushing you out. I had several rolls that were good, but unimaginative. Steve had a plate of raw fish that he said was very fresh and delicious. The prices, in our opinion, were pretty good for what you get. Then we strolled around Robson Street awhile, picking up some gifts and socks for Steve, and Baskin Robbins ice cream before heading back to the hotel. We enjoyed the hot tub and then went to bed very early!

 

Embarkation: Our hotel’s checkout time was 11 am, so we got a taxi then to Canada Place and were there just as customs opened. It was a smooth process, a few lines but overall not much waiting at all. We were overwhelmed at first - what to do first??? But got a table outside the buffet and relaxed for a few hours. Toured the ship for a bit and then headed to our cabin as soon as they were available!

 

Dining: We loved the freestyle dining and don’t know if we could do regular dining after this. Loved being able to decide where to go on the spur of the moment, and not worry about time. We ate in Seven Seas most nights, and many breakfasts – liked having leisurely meals. Great food, no complaints. We liked Pacific Heights for lunch, where they serve made to order pasta and pizza. It’s a nice quiet lunch spot with great tables by big windows – much more peaceful than the buffet.

 

We ended up trying Il Adagio one night (called at 6 pm and got a reservation at 7, no problem), and it was great. One of the best parts was just the atmosphere of the restaurant - all of the tables face the windows. The food was good, and the tiramisu was EXCELLENT. Best I’ve ever had! We also went to Ginza one night, we are sushi fans, and loved it too. Nice small, quiet restaurant with a great waiter. Fun being able to order all the maki/nigiri we wanted!

 

The buffet was interesting. We ate there quite a few times for various meals, for the convenience and the fact that the food really isn’t bad. The crowds are the worst there though, and while a waiter one evening told us that there isn’t a line, just jump in and grab whatever you want, people persistently lined up every time and you felt like an idiot just cutting in (like we were told!).

 

Balcony Cabin: This has been such a nice leisurely vacation for us. We LOVE our balcony room – not sure if we’ll ever be able to cruise without one now! Even going to Alaska, it was worth every penny. Yes it was often chilly out there, but never really cold (of course, we’re from Wyoming!). We spent one evening just relaxing in our room, because we were still in our “port wear” of jeans & sweatshirts. We skipped all the shows, had dinner at the buffet and then just hung out in our room all evening, ordering dessert from room service which was such a treat. And we LOVE the room service breakfast! We saw humpback whales, orcas, and seals on icebergs from our balcony – that made it worth every penny.

 

Entertainment: I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed the entertainment – I guess I was expecting it to be more cheesy J We loved Cat’s Pajamas – so talented! And loved the Cirque Pan show. The comedians were really funny – loved Liar’s Club especially. And don’t miss any of the “game shows” – they were hilarious! Brothers & Friends were great too.

 

Roll Call: We had a great Cruise Critic roll call – lots of people, and the Captain and lots of other officers came. That was nice that they took the time to chat with us. I think we had a great CC group – we had 3 actual meetups. Really great people, made some good friends. Gwynn & Dianne (the candy lady!) did a great job of organizing.

 

 

Clothes: We packed a fleece jacket and a waterproof (proof, not resistant!) jacket, and a sweatshirt, for each of us, and this was perfect. I wore a tank top in Vancouver but otherwise just t-shirts layered under jackets. I brought one dress and one skirt with various tops for the evenings. There were people in all kinds of dress, but we did feel too dressed down in jeans to eat in the main dining room for dinner (just our preference).

 

Packing: We loved the overdoor shoe organizer. We were also very glad we’d bought a zoom lens for our Canon Rebel – we’re total amateurs, but our Tamron 70-300 was worth every penny for the wildlife shots we got!

 

Ketchikan: we did the Bering Sea Crab Fishermen’s Tour and we highly recommend it!!! Saw (& touched) lots of crabs, some random fish, and an octopus! The highlight of the tour for us was actually when they stop at an island with lots of bald eagles, and throw fish for them to swoop down and catch. We got some AMAZING photos here. The weather was foggy but no rain, and not terribly cold either – very nice. The fog lifted mid-morning.

 

Juneau: we elected to just see the glacier and do a little shopping. It was quite rainy the whole time we were there – very glad for our waterproof jackets. The ship was docked at the last spot, but they had a free shuttle to take you downtown, where we bought tickets from one of many vendors there for a bus to Mendenhall Glacier ($14 each, roundtrip). The visitor’s center at Mendenhall was free for us with our national parks annual pass. We got lots of souvenirs, shirts, etc. in Juneau for very cheap with the end of season sales.

 

Disembarkation: NCL has changed their disembarkation process (we wouldn’t have known except we were expecting the freestyle disembarkation from talking with other people) to eliminate the freestyle. Must have gotten to be too crazy. Anyhow it was an easy process. We got up at 6 am, had a nice breakfast in Seven Seas at 7 am (they stopped serving at 8:30), and I left breakfast for a moment to get a photo of the Golden Gate bridge. Then we napped in our room until 10 am when we had to be out, and went to sit in the Windjammer. They were calling you by luggage tag color, ours was “lime” and our time was 10:30 am. At 10:15 they called our color to the Stardust Lounge to go through immigration, which was just showing your room key & passport – very quick. Then we sat back in the Windjammer until they called us at 10:30 to disembark, which was very quick too – no lines. The hard part was getting at taxi outside – HUGE line.

 

San Francisco: We spent the day walking San Francisco – saw the Italian district, Chinatown, Japantown, and Fisherman’s Wharf. The highlight for us was the sea lions at Fisherman’s Wharf – how cool! We stayed at America’s Best Inn Fisherman’s Wharf (got a good deal on Priceline) which was just 3 blocks off the bay.

 

Tips for first-timers like us (stuff we didn’t know and found out)

 

Listen for the intercom in the hallway with announcements from the captain about wildlife. Unlike the muster drill announcements, the wildlife sightings aren’t announced in your room. During the Endicott Arm cruising, we propped our door open with a towel to hear the announcements.

 

We were glad we learned on Cruise Critic that you can ask for egg crate foam for your mattress – we did right away and it helped a lot. They were in the process of replacing the mattresses on our cruise, but I think we had one of the old ones the whole time. A little hard. So was the couch.

 

Print out the nice color, detailed map of the ship and take it with you. I saw it online but didn’t, thinking they’d have them on the ship – they just give you a little, vague one. There are detailed ones by every elevator, but it would have been nice to have a copy as we learned our way around.

 

Bring a watch! We don’t wear watches, normally rely on our cell phones, and wish we’d brought one. And we were glad we’d brought a travel alarm clock for the time in our room. The ship does have wake-up calls which worked great for us.

 

 

 

Sorry so long. I will post a link to photos as soon as I get them sorted out! I'd love to answer any questions as well.

 

Thanks for posting your review. Was great to meet you and your husband.

 

I am looking forward to seeing your photos!

 

Wasnt the weather great in SF? I had a great day there with my brother.

[watchdiva]

Sarah - what a great, well-written review. Especially helpful were your tips at the bottom (helpful for new and experienced cruisers as well).

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise:) .

[Elawies]

They do not allow cigar smoking in the piano bar. The cigar bar is right next to the Windjammer and they don't allow cigar smoking there either! Not anymore. Sorry to tell you.

 

Thanks for the info. I wonder why they call it the Havanna Bar if they don't allow smoking. This puts a cramp in our after dinner drink. Elawies:confused:

[Deeg67]

I was on this cruise as well - Dan, if you remember me... I pretty much concur with your review - while there were a few small glitches (no Alaska lecturer, for one) it was a great experience for this first time cruiser. I remain puzzled about the no-smoking cigar bar, which was still advertised as a cigar lounge in the on-board literature. I never got a straight answer on that, and it was a bit of a pisser for me, as I was really looking forward to it. It was cooold on that pool deck a lot of the time!

 

I think i would also find it tough to go with a more formal dining system after Freestyle - I really enjoyed that aspect a lot. And it was nice not having to pack a suit.

[sarahrebel]

It was great to meet you all - getting to know the CC people was a bonus on our cruise!

 

Yep the weather in SF was fantastic (of course I hear it always is!). We met my brother too, he's at Stanford so took the train up to meet us. My legs are still sore from all the walking we did - SF has some serious hills!

[shoreless]

Thanks for the nice review. We took this cruise last summer and we loved the Sun. Il Adagio was our favorite restaurant; it felt kind of like being on the Orient Express (not that I ever have been :) ).

 

We didn't have much good weather either (here I am in pictures from Ketchikan, Juneau, and Skagway), but we had a great time anyway.

[98Charlie]

Hi Sarah

 

Great review! We really enjoyed the cruise also. It was too bad we didn't get any further in to Endicott. But, the way the fog was closing in the Captain did the right thing.

 

I have to agree that it's really strange about the Havana Cigar Bar. I wonder if that was just for our cruise or Alaskan cruises or a permanent change?

 

Thanks again for posting the review.

[Dewsmom]

Hi Sarah,

 

Very nice review. I agree, the cruise was great. We were in 9012 and had the new bedding -- and it was wonderful! We've been on a number of Norwegian ships and this was the most comfortable bedding we ever had. Last year on the Spirit we had to get the "egg crates" so we must have had the new mattresses on the Sun.

 

It really was the best Cruise Critic group I've met yet. There was good participation at the three get-togethers and I loved meeting everyone. I hope I get to cruise with you all again sometime.

 

Also, thanks for putting together your pictures for posting. I didn't take a single one, and now I have nothing to show my friends/family about our trip.

 

I'm so glad that your first cruise was a good experience - are you planning #2 yet?

 

Carla

 

PS: Weren't the Cats Pajamas great??? I even bought one of their CDs - and I never buy CDs.

[sarahrebel]

Finally sorted through all my photos - here they are:

 

Cruise Photos on Flickr

[LoisGriffin1]

Thanks so much for your review. We are going to book on the Sun next year. I am 25 and my husband is 27 and I was a little worried me may be a little young (there was a post on the Alaska boards about Alaska being the OAP cruise). I don't mind too much though because I have always wanted to visit Alaska and we tend to get on well with older crowds.

 

Do you feel the boat move much? I read the sea can be a little choppy.

[dsdancer]

We were going to do the Mexican Riviera on the Sun in October, but we weren't able to. We have just booked for Oct 09, so I'll be interested to hear what you have to say when you get back. I am really interested to know if there is good dance music. Ballroom dance, not hip hop stuff.

 

Have a great time and be sure to post the details of your trip when you get back.

 

dsdancer

[dsdancer]

Hi there, we were going to do the Mex Riv in Oct this year, but it didn't work out. We actually just booked it for Oct 09 on the Sun. I'll be anxious to hear how you enjoy it and what you think of the ship. We have done 1 other NCL cruise on the Jewel and I really enjoyed the ship. We like to do ballroom and latin dancing and on the other ship we were on there was tons of dance music.

 

Have fun and I'll be anxious to hear from you when you return.

 

Donna