This was our fourth cruise with NCL, second with the kids (two daughters 18 & 20). We booked our air with the cruise line and started our vacation on Sunday December 28th 2003 with a 6:30 flight from Grand Rapids MI to Memphis TN. We were bumped to first class, it was rough but we managed to suffer through it. We had a short layover in Memphis then on to Ft Lauderdale. Arrived on time around 1:00pm, found the NCL representatives and collected our luggage. We then waited over an hour for a bus to Miami.

Embarkation through the Latitudes line was a breeze and we were heading onto the ship within 10 minutes. We had the usual boarding pictures taken, last security checks and off to our cabin to change into shorts and t-shirts. We arrived on board around 3:00pm and by the time we found our cabin and changed it was time for the lifeboat drill. Our inside cabin (0121) was on deck 10. It was larger than we expected (191SF) with plenty of storage space for the four of us, even traveling with 3 women (you know how they like to over pack)!! There was plenty of room under the bed to store our suitcases. The bathroom was small but adequate. Our room stewardess Haydee and Jr Steward Ceslo were great, always friendly, smiling, and kept our cabin spotless. The only thing that I didn't like about the inside cabin was that it was extremely dark and I found myself waking up worried that I was going to sleep the day away. Maybe a nightlight on a timer would have been a good idea. Our bed was huge; it was bigger than a queen and maybe a king. The girl's bed was what they called a Pullman, however it was like a fold down couch. It was a little harder and smaller than the main bed but the girls found it to be adequate and as long as I didn't have to sleep on it, it was ok.

The ship was awesome! Just over two years old and the crew gets an A+ for keeping her sparkling clean, I never saw anything out of place and there was always someone cleaning and wiping down the hand rails, elevator doors, windows, etc. There weren't any signs of the mess left over from the (two) New Years parties around the pools the next morning; they must have worked all night long to clean that one up! Our last cruise in 2001 on the Norway left us a little concerned about pushy bar service staff but the Sun's staff were great, always there when we needed a drink but never pushy. They were all very friendly especially Orestes Banghal, on our first day he sold us some Krack-It's and we won $1,000.00. He was our buddy ever since, he even knew our family by name and we made sure we bought all our Krack-It's from him! He was a pleasure. The drink prices were a little on the high side but we were on vacation, who worries about price then? I was a little disappointed that they did charge for juice at dinner, and I think they should include soft drinks at dinner as well. I can't believe they would go broke over a little soda and juice, after all the juice is free at the buffets. Read more