My wife, myself and our 13 yr old daughter yr old daughter were on the Jan28/06 sailing of the Norwegian Sun. Overall we enjoyed the cruise, although it wasnt the best one weve been on, it still was great value for the price we paid.
We flew into Miami two days prior to our cruise and stayed at the Fontainebleau Resort on Miami Beach. They upgraded us to a nice bay view room on the eleventh floor that had a view of downtown Miami. Our room was a good size and in excellent condition, contrary to many of the reviews we had read. The rest of the hotel was in OK condition, but there was construction going on next to the pool area. The cost for staying two nights in this hotel was more expensive than what we were paying to take our daughter on the cruise. Miami is an expensive city for hotels and when you compare it to the value of a cruise, it does seem pretty expensive for what you are getting in return.
We checked out of the hotel on Saturday morning around 10:30 a.m., and we were at the port just after 11:00 a.m. I dont know whether it was because we were a little ahead of the initial rush, but the entire check in process from the time we got out of the cab until we were standing in the atrium was less than half an hour. By far the best embarkation we have had in six cruises. We went to our cabin to drop off our carry ons, and to check out our balcony cabin which was on the eighth floor starboard side slightly aft. We were pleasantly surprised to see how spacious it was in comparison to other cabins that we have had. It had a nice futon style couch that folded out to a bed for our daughter, and a decent size balcony. And yes the chairs on the balcony do leave something to be desired. We are not real big people so it wasnt a big issue, but if you were 250+ I doubt you could even fit in one. Our cabin steward quickly came to our cabin and introduced himself and explained that they had not quite completed their service of the cabin. This was the only time that everything wasnt done to perfection in our cabin. The stewards worked as teams and did an excellent job, especially considering they had to deal with different times associated with freestyle cruising. With a regular dinning time on other ships, the steward knows he has a set time to turn down your room in the evening. This style of cruising, he didnt know if youd be eating at 5:30 or 10 p.m., but some how they did it without intruding on your privacy, so kudos to the steward staff.