Norwegian Sun Review

Sewers of Mexico or Sun Sewer?

Review for the Mexican Riviera Cruise on Norwegian Sun
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linda r
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Oct 2008
Cabin: Family Balcony

The appeal of this trip was a departure from our home town of San Francisco. Embarking and disembarking could not have been easier and it was a very special experience sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge! Our cabin was spacious and relatively clean, given the age (old) of the ship. Bulk containers of toiletries were suspect and upon request, we received individual soaps, lotion, etc. The cabin staff was most pleasant and tried to be accommodating, given what they had to work with. Beds were surprisingly comfortable. As a veteran cruiser I have never come up against NCL's policy of prohibition of personal liquor being brought on board. Confiscation of my one bottle of wine and one bottle of gin (for an 12 day cruise)was offensive and random, as most of the rest of the ship's passengers were quite smug about how much they were able to smuggle aboard. Had I know of this prohibition, I too would have been more secretive about my packing. I suspect this was done so that the only liquor one could have was that which they obtained on board. Drinks were expensive and watered down. (Take advantage of the free liquor tasting before purchase certain nights during the trip). The booze was not all that was watered down: salad dressings, soups, juices, just about everything liquid. Even room service made jokes about how watered down the juices were. And room service: a most limited menu and you were not able to order what was being served in the dining room, as you can on most other ships. The 'lobster' was not merely logostinos, the meatloaf was mealy, the steaks tough and there was more pork served than you would want to eat in a month, let alone 11 days! The buffet was a mess! The food all tasted the same and consisted of the leftovers from the dining room the day before. After 11 days of looking at the same food, it became repulsive. Desserts were unimaginative (jello!)and the cookies did NOT seem to be scratch-made. No trays were available in the buffet, making it very difficult for elderly or infirmed to eat there. (I suspect this was NCL's way to keep you from eating/wasting too much food.) All food was boarded in San Francisco, so everything was frozen, and tasted it. There was limited fresh fruit, lettuce and on our cruise they ran out of eggs and real milk. There certainly was not an excess of food available the way it is on other cruiselines.The coffee was dreadful and the dining room's idea of a cappuccino was regular coffee with scalded milk. Entertainment aboard the Sun was mixed and did not offer enough variety. The 'disco' was really just a meeting/all-purpose room. The lectures, with the exception of the jewelry lectures, were horrible, especially the 'expert' on Mexico and it's culture. Several times we showed up for scheduled activities and there were no-shows by the cruise staff. The cruise director was difficult to understand as he talked too fast in a heavy accent. The ports of call on this cruise were dull and very commercial/touristy. We had jokingly told friends we were touring the sewers of Mexico. . .and we were. It was very hot and humid (with lots of smoke residue from LA fires). Garbage and graffiti are found everywhere in Mexico and all the ports were cheesy tourist traps. The bays were dirty and smelly, with floating trash and styrofoam. Throughout the trip we smelled sewer; it turned out to be more than just the Mexican waters. We inquired throughout the trip with the front desk about this and were stonewalled three different times. On the last day we found out from a sheepish Captain that our cabin was above the sewage exhaust fan. It also appeared in one port that the ship was off-loading sewage (brown turgid substance) right below our cabin. After two confrontations with rather rude front desk personnel, we were given a free dinner at one of the fee restaurants, where the food was FINALLY what you expect from a cruise ship. There was a token amount taken off our bill as well. Since our balcony was virtually 'unusable" throughout the trip, I have been endeavoring for a month to get a refund from NCL for the dollar difference between a window and a balcony cabin. They are merely "sorry for my dissatisfaction." I have a philosophy about vacations: If not in a third world country, I want to experience living conditions and food that are AT LEAST that which I have at home. With NCL, that was definitely not the case! I can cook better than the food that was served on this ship. I do not feel someone should have to pay a service charge (and yet another ADDITIONAL charge if you want lobster) in order to get a decent meal on a cruise ship. The cost of wine and the watered down drinks should have been enough. It felt like we were being nickeled and dimed to death on this cruise. Every time you turned around, they were trying to charge you for something!!! You even had to pay for a glass of orange juice! The free 'juice' was so watered down, it tasted like Tang. One of the benefits of cruising is the abundance and quality of the food; NOT the case here. Perhaps people from San Francisco have higher standards and more refined palates, but on the Sun, I felt like I was back in my 20's, visiting Club Med.

And then there is the issue of the sewage exhaust fan. ANY cruise line that is too cheap to install a double exhaust system, and then sails in the hot tropics, burning human waste for the passengers to smell, is NOT a cruise line I will ever sail on (or recommend) again. Certainly, we could not have been the only passengers to notice this! Several passengers mentioned it,repeatedly. For a refund of $400, we would have been pacified, but NCL obviously does not care about passengers who hope for more than 11 days of sewer smells on their balcony.

Cabin Review

Family Balcony

Cabin B2

AVOID AT ALL COSTS: Aft cabins on the port side. They are over the sewage processing exhaust fan. A disgusting smell permeates this part of the ship, whether running on the promenade deck or sitting on your balcony. It ruined our trip

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