My husband and I were aboard the Norwegian Sun's 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise on January 12th. This our 12th cruise, but our first with Norwegian. While we have had a few cruises on some of the mega-ships, we have decided we enjoy the smaller ships, like this one, much more. We found this cruise to be our best ever.

We arrived at the port in Miami by 11:30 AM. It was busy, as passengers were still debarking from the ship. Our initial impression was not very good. Security reminded me of TSA and the processing through check-in and staff was not particularly friendly or cheerful, but it was fast. We all waited in a large area for embarkation. The bathrooms there were out of order, and it was quite a jaunt to find restrooms. Norwegian had ice water available and later put out some punch. If there was music, I didn't notice it. It would be been a nice touch to have a more festive atmosphere to kick off the cruise. Perhaps some coffee, cookies, bright colors, available staff to get people fired up. We boarded by numbers handed to us at check-in. The wait wasn't too long. My skepticism vanished the minute we boarded.

Staff was on hand to receive us with a very warm welcome. Music, dancing, smiles and answering questions. Our initial impression with the Sun was that even though it was an older ship, it was meticulously clean and well-maintained, remaining that way through the duration of our cruise. During our cruise there was never a wait for an elevator. Read more