Norwegian Sun Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,171 reviews

Norwegian Cruise Sun

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Sun
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ncpiggie
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Sail Date: Apr 2011
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony

We embarked at Port Canaveral. We took a shuttle there from the Radisson hotel. We were able to park there for free and take a free shuttle. Just tipped the guys well. It was pretty organized there but crowded. NCL Sun was a nice size ship. It wasn't too big or too small. It was a little awkward to get around to some of the places on the ship. The Seven Seas dining room was hard to find because it was on the 5th floor but you had to take the aft elevators. It was the only thing there on the 5th floor aft. So if you wanted 5th floor mid or forward you had to go up and then back down on a different elevator or remember to use the mid or forward elevators to begin with. You also had to go up and over because you couldn't go through the Four Seasons restaurant either. It is also on the 5th floor. Other than this flaw in the floor plan it was a very nice ship. The Brazilian restaurant was hard to find also. There were some little things that people were being negative about but a minor annoyance to me. Some of the elevator lights were burnt out and you had to figure out if it was going up or down...not hard to do. The other complaint I had was that the indoor cafe buffet shut down certain hours of the day. During that time you had to use the outdoor cafe. No biggie since they are on the same deck. There was also a few hours in the afternoon and late night that you could only get room service which was a limited menu but worked in a pinch. Some of the bars where not manned at all times. We had purchased the soda program and sometimes it was a pain to get a soda. The biggest annoyance was the Garden Buffet. The wait staff there were almost too efficient. They were ready to take empty plates but sometimes you were putting the last bite in your mouth when they were taking the plates. The ice machines seemed to be out of ice a lot. Otherwise, we had a very wonderful trip and nothing big to complain about. The photographers at the ports of call were sometimes obnoxious. I didn't not want my picture taken at some of the ports but was forced to have them taken. That was really annoying. You have to be very very firm to not have your picture taken. Our seas were very calm and hardly any motion on the ship. We had a balcony and it was so wonderful to have coffee there before going to breakfast.We had a wonderful time in Cozumel. It got off to a rocky start with the tour guides being late. Once underway it was wonderful. We did the jeep and snorkel excursion. This was great because we got to drive a manual jeep all around the island. It was 4 people to a jeep (or 3 if that is what was in your party) and we made several stops along the way. We saw a Mayan ruin, saltwater crocodiles, a light house, beach time with snorkeling, and beautiful landscapes. The only drawback to this was there wasn't any real time to shop. By the end of the excursion we were hot and tired and a long walk back to the ship from the jeeps. The tour guides were excellent with knowledge about the island. Easy on and off of the ship.Santo De Tomas Guatemala this port is in a cargo port. No beauty there! there were no cabs at the port or shopping but we found out later that they did not allow cabs onto the pier area. you had to walk out a way on the pier to get a cab and there was a little souvenir store there also. But again we didn't know that at the time so we did not get off the ship. Unless you wanted to know about diamonds international the shopping guy on the ship wasn't helpful. I do not recommend this port unless you do an excursion which were all very physical when we were there. They did have a small band at the dock and what we think was Miss Guatemala!Belize: We had to tender to this port. The tenders were just fine. Pretty good size and very smooth to the pier. The guys on the tenders were great to help people on and off the tenders. We did not have trouble getting back and forth on time. We did an excursion here of Altun Ha ruins and Belize City tour. We had an air conditioned tour bus and the two guides we had were knowledgeable and funny. It took about an hour and a half to travel 26 miles to the ruins. The roads are small and rough but the bus was comfortable. They also stopped at several photo op spots and information was given. At the ruins the guide explained a lot about the ruins and the area. There are some small shops there by locals and some have some nice, interesting things. Others was just junk but it was all good. We enjoyed this tour and would recommend it. There is not much walking except to walk around the ruins. It was very hot and humid but the tour did give us bottled water.I did enjoy Key West but the shipped docked at 7am and none of the shops opened until 9am so not much to do before then but walk around. We took the hop on and off trolley tour. It was good to do to see the area and learn some facts about them. You could get on and off any stop you wanted to but the tour was actually for one loop around. There are 8 different stops and the bus drivers didn't care if you took more than one loop, however, there wasn't much time to do more than one loop if you wanted to get off and see things at some of the stops. It is a short walk from the ship to the main shopping areas. The bars are open early so it is always 5 o'clock there! Would recommend the tour but don't plan on doing anything too early there if you arrive before 9am. I only gave it a 3 since there was nothing to do for 2 hours after getting there.Nassau: When we arrived in port there were 4 other cruise ships there! so lots of people. We did an excursion here of the Blue Lagoon Island and beach break. Would not recommend this tour if you really want beach time. The excursion was for 4-5 hours but it came back early and the beach time was minimal. The dolphin experience is also at this dock. We tendered over to Blue Lagoon Island from the pier where the shipped docked. This took about 20 minutes. Nice smooth ride with beautiful landscape around. The beach had plenty of hammocks to relax in. There was a bar, a picnic area and small, overpriced gift shop there. There are locker rentals available for $5. The rental equipment was expensive. $8 for a noodle for the day! A little outrageous since you can buy your own for a couple of bucks. The beach area wasn't very big and it was filled with water equipment to rent. There was a small area on the other side of the beach to get into the water but not much area to sit around on. There was a covered area to eat at and lunch was included but they started serving it at 10AM!! shortly after we arrived there. Last call for the boat back to the ship was 12:45pm. Not much quality time there. Oh yes, Carnival had a much better looking lunch then NCL did. We got either a hamburger or hot dog, fries, an apple and a drink. We did enjoy the relaxing atmosphere there but the beach experience could have been better. Not worth the effort of changing into bathing suits. the boat ride back from the island dropped us off in town to shop but not much time. It was also a long walk back to the ship from customs. The line was going slowly because the customs guys were giving out Jesus papers and it took them forever.St. Thomas: We did not take an excursion here. Just hopped off and did some shopping. Many touristy shops there at the docks. Taxi's were a little pricey unless you could find a small taxi to take you around. The island is just beautiful. We enjoyed our time there.St. Maarten: We did the Best of St. Maarten and Beach excursion. It was a great way to find out about St. Maarten. We rode on an air conditioned bus and had a great guide. We only one hour at the beach and it was crowded. We sat at the bar there and had a drink and some fries ($6 for a plate). The drink was only $7! We made a stop on the french side to shop in Margot at an outdoor market. Overall it was a great time but the walk from the ship to the bus was quite a haul.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony

Cabin BB

Our Balcony was very private except for the people in the cabin next to us insisted on talking very loud on their balcony. But other than that is was almost mid ship and not far from anything really. Very quite most of the time!

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