Norwegian Sun Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,169 reviews

Back to Alaska with a Land Tour

Review for Alaska Cruise on Norwegian Sun
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tammyjw305
6-10 Cruises • Age 20s

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Sail Date: Sep 2015
Cabin: Inside

My husband and I (late 30’s) went on this trip without our kids, who were in school. We wanted a time when the kids would be in school, so their babysitter would get a break while they were in school. I also only counted 11 kids on the cruise ship. We planned the land tour on our own and booked the cruise, booking just one shore excursion that we booked independently. We first did an Alaskan cruise in 2003 as a sea only and wanted to return to see Denali National Park.

We had a direct flight from DFW to Anchorage on Sept 2nd, long and left later to get us there later, but direct. We left DFW at 3:30 pm and landing in Anchorage at 7pm Anchorage time. The flight was uneventful and went well. Once getting to Canada/Alaska the snow covered mountains with glaciers were beautiful! After arriving, we claimed our luggage and called the hotel (Ramada downtown Anchorage) from a compliment pick up using the courtesy phones. They needed about 20 minutes to get to the airport. When they arrived, another group caught them to wait for them, but their luggage had not come out yet. We waited. Before arriving, we could see the train that we were catching tomorrow morning – had a visual.

When we checked in, we got signed up for the compliment shuttle to the train. I was not prepared with what time we needed to be at train station. Another guest was prepared, and someone at the hotel knew you were supposed to be there 45-60 minutes early.

Cabin Review

Inside

Cabin ID

We had an inside cabin in the corner, so I believe it was larger than others. It was nice and roomy. We had one issue with the room the first night -- our toilet would not flush. That was annoying and embarrassing. You pushed the button and nothing. The signs warn of not flushing things because you will breaking 50 other toilets. I guess someone did this. Another issue that we had was the walls were squeaky. We normally enjoying being aft and hearing the engine noise and being rocked to sleep, but in this cabin the squeaking covered up some engine noise. Maybe it was due to us being inside instead of an oceanview, so we could not hear the engine as well. Besides the squeaking, the room was very quiet.

Port Reviews

Seward

The SeaLife center had large displays for both puffins and seals. We happen to be in the puffin area when they came out to feed them. They had a giant octopus. I likes the tiny jellies swirling around near the touch tank.

Icy Strait

We had not been here before. We did not go into town/Hoonah. We went through the cannery, some shops, and then hiked through the woods and along the beach. It was a nice stop. We have priority tender, so the process was no problem. You can see where they are building the future dock. It is around to the other side, so I’m not sure if they will move the cannery or just build other shops at the new port and have people walk to the cannery.

Juneau

It was very rainy in Juneau. We went to Mendenhall glacier and up Mt. Roberts tramway last time we visited, so we had just planned to walk around town this time. We were at the far dock (AJ), so we caught the shuttle to the main dock by Mt. Roberts tramway (it was closed this day due to the weather). We walked down to the capitol building (voted one of the most ugly state capitol building but I did not think that bad), and then walked back – pretty wet.

Skagway

We hiked the Lower Dewey Lake and Yakutania Point trails with lunch on the ship in between. The docks right by town were empty, and we were a 20 min hike to town. I’m sure they get one for all season, but geez. Last time, we had the close ones and are spoiled. The Lower Dewey Lake was nice and lake pretty. It was challenging to know which way to go. The Yakutania Point trail was well signed and pretty short. We could see the ship from the point. After hiking, we shopped some. Weather was good, and we had a very nice day in Skagway.

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