We chose this cruise because we have never been to Alaska and this cruise offered additional stops in British Columbia at Prince Ruprt and Nanaimo. There were 8 ports of call so we knew we would have the opportunity to see a lot. We chose the Sun as we have sailed on it three times before and enjoyed each of the other cruises. We were last on the Sun in March 2016 for a South American cruise ...
A brief background on this cruise is in order before commencing the review. The NCL Sun was originally scheduled for a two week drydock in San Francisco. For reasons known only to NCL, that drydock was shortened to one week. This led to the creation of an unusual Alaska cruise itinerary and an unusually good deal for an Alaskan cruise. Instead of the usual departure points of Seattle or Vancouver, ...
Embarkation
My timing was perfect to miss most of the crowd getting on the ship. I was on the ship my noon in time for lunch.
Somehow I missed the porters so I took my own suitcase on. Had to drag it around with me as our rooms were not ready until sometime after 2 pm but that’s Ok, my suitcase isn’t big.
Food:
Well, I guess cruise lines like you to pay extra for those specialties ...
Flew to San Francisco 2 days before our scheduled cruise departure, to see the sights around the area. Wanted to be there because too many things can go wrong flying in the same day as the cruise. This way we are rested rested and ready to board at our scheduled time. The problem was NCL gave us the notice of delaying departure by 1 day, less than 24 hours of our scheduled boarding time. We were ...
We had two balcony cabins for the PoA cruise in March 2016 to bring her from dry dock in San Francisco back to Honolulu for her usual year-round island hopping. Departure was delayed by one day as the bad weather in SFO impacted some of the renovations. Boarding at Pier 27 was the most chaotic and unprofessional procedure that I ever had to witness, it took us 3,5 hours to get on the ...
We took the cruise out of San Francisco where the ship had been in dry dock for 5 weeks. We expected everything to be refreshed and new. Unfortunately, the dry dock repairs were not completed. This created a one-day delay in the sail date. We didn't mind that so much since NCL provided hotel accommodations for an additional day in San Francisco. It gave us an opportunity to visit the Academy ...
This was our second time on the POA as Hawaii is a favorite destination for us. It offers the best itinerary and is the most relaxing way to see all the islands, offering overnights in Maui and Kauai, two ports on Hawaii, and an hours long sail by of the Na Pali coast which I don't believe anyone else offers. POA is the only cruise ship which sails strictly inter island and weekly, year round. ...
Have taken this cruise 3 times now. Usually from HNL to HNL. Last time from San Francisco as POA was in dry dock for refurbishment. Gave us 5 sea days which I badly needed. (4 with a small delay because rain hampered NCL from finishing work) BUT they made good for the small delay with credit for the 1 day delay, 50% credit back what we paid for Hawaii cruise toward future cruise, and hotel in SF ...
We have cruised Norwegian Sun, Pearl and Getaway.
On the Pearl, we started our cruise in Vancouver. Embarking went very quickly and efficiently.
The Pearl was a great ship with friendly, helpful people. The food was tasty and hot. We ate at both the dining rooms and the buffets as some of the menus were repeating and towards the end, we ate so much and drank so much that we just did not ...
Overall this was a great cruise. This was our second cruise on the Pearl and our 8th cruise with NCL. The itinerary was great with the canal being the highlight and Columbia being a close second. All the crew were outstanding. The ship was always very clean and well maintained.
The food is mostly very blan with not enough spicing (we forgot to bring our spices with us this time and we knew ...