I just returned from the Western caribbean cruise from New Orleans to Costa Maya, Santo Tomas de Castilla, Belize City, and Cozumel from April 8th until the 15th. First off, if you arrive early, there isn't the long wait to get processed and board the ship. The line moved quickly and we were onboard the Norwegian Sun in no time. We arrived at the terminal around 12:30 pm and were onboard by 1:30 pm. We received our luggage around 3 or 4 pm and were settled in and up on the 12th deck watching the ship leave New Orleans at 5:30pm. There are plenty of drink servers walking around selling overpriced drinks. $9.00 for a Bahama Mama is a bit outrageous but it is a good drink. If you keep the cup, refills are $7.00. There are other drink choices too. You don't pay cash for anything on the ship. You use your cabin card and everything is billed to your room daily. I wasn't too fond of that because sometimes I would rather pay in cash and I think it should be left up to the passenger to decide how to pay for purchases.
Our stateroom was very nice, clean, and comfortable. We were on the 4th deck and had an awesome view. The rooms are kept clean as housekeeping cleans them twice a day. The housekeeping staff were probably the friendliest people I have ever talked to. There are drinks and alcohol in your room but I would stay away from drinking any of that because they are once again overpriced. A bottle of Evian water was $4.50, a small can of Coke was $1.75, and a Snickers was over $1.50 too. The beer served at the bars average around $3.50 and aren't that cold. A good deal is to get the football helmet bucket of 6 beers and ice for a little over $20. You keep the bucket for the trip and return it at the end and get $5.00 back. There is a Blackjack table and another gaming table set up on the 11th deck in the evenings so you can play outside and still see the great views. The casino was nice but didn't have much selection as far as variety of games but it was pretty cool. There are stores on deck 7 and there are many nice items in the store and not too pricey but a little high. If you are a cigar smoker, I recommend the Havana Cigar bar on deck 6. They don't open until 4:30 pm but you can sit in the smoking area anytime and enjoy a good stogie. The beverage servers remembered my name and what I drank every time I went to smoke. Very nice people as well. The 7 seas and 4 seasons restaurants have good food but are a little limited as far as menu choices. We ate breakfast and dinner in them pretty much every night. The food and service was excellent early in the cruise but by Thursday, the service and food seemed to lack something. The food was still good but not as good as earlier in the week. The servers mixed up our orders several times and once we waited 30 minutes to get water and 25 minutes to get our ice cream dessert which was melted by the time we got it. Our server disappeared for 30 minutes so I spoke to one of the managers and he practically ran to the kitchen to find our waiter and have our orders brought to us immediately. That impressed me. That was the only problem we had when dining. Other than that it was fine. Mixed drinks, and soft drinks you have to pay for but you can drink all of the water you want in the restaurants. The shows were pretty nice. We watched a slide show about how the Norwegian Sun was built and many of the features on the ship. The captain, who was very nice and actually a funny man, spoke to us as did the Navigator and Chief Engineer. There are quite a few things to do on the ship but the most aggravating thing is the small kids running around jumping in and out of the adult hot tubs and the teenagers yelling and being loud. There is a child's pool on the same deck but for some reason they small kids like the adult pool and hot tubs. There should be an age limit for the adult pools and hot tubs.
Excursions: There are alot of choices for excursions. We went to the Beach Break in Costa Maya on Tuesday. Gorgeous beach with an open bar. You have to walk what seems like 2 miles to get from the dock to the bus that drives you about 45 minutes to the beach. Once there, it is pretty relaxing and there are a few things you can do like jet ski, snorkeling, etc. Wednesday we were in Santo Tomas de Castilla, Guatemala and all we did was shop in a big warehouse. It was about 90 degrees outside and about 110 degrees inside the warehouse. They had many nice items but everything was basically the same. Thursday myself and my 2 nephews went ATV riding in the rainforest in Belize. We had the coolest tour guide. His name was Raymon and he was great. It was 104 degrees the day we rode the ATVs but they provided cold water for us and Raymon and the staff were always checking on us to make sure we were ok. It was a blast. They also throw in a little cave walk. You climb through a small opening and then it opens up to what I heard was a pretty cave. I was a bit big to fit through the opening but sat with a couple and talked while everyone explored the cave. The bus ride there was hell. Try going about 70 mph through bumpy streets then a long dirt and gravel pot hole filled road. We made it fun because everybody on the bus laughed and cut up. I recommend this excursion if you like ATVs. You can swim in a cool river after you return to the meeting place and cool off. It was so clear and cool. They serve salsa and tortilla chips and fruit. Friday my nephews and I went deep sea fishing in Cozumel. This was awesome as well. Take my advice and do this but if you get seasick, either take something before you go or skip it because you do bounce around out there. I got a bit nauseous and felt bad but I should have known better and taken something and eaten before we went. Our crew was great and we had a blast. They have water, soft drinks and Coronas for you to drink. The final highlight of this was my nephew catching a 50 pound MahiMahi. It was great and we had a blast. There were six of us on the boat and since we had all gotten there early, the company took us out early and stayed out a little extra. That was appreciated by all of us and we tipped the Captain and Mate pretty good. There is great shopping in Cozumel too so venture into town which is a little walk from the ship. There are great deals on things but if you buy alcohol make sure you check it in on the ship.