Background Information: This was our 29th cruise, our 3rd on Norwegian, 1st time on the Norwegian Sun. We are a couple in the 45-55 year range, no children and sail an average of 2 times a year. We live in the San Francisco Bay area so are more than happy to cruise out under the Golden Gate no airports to contend with.

Embarkation: We arrived at the port a bit early as that is when our ride was available. There were plenty of chairs and tables set up to house us early birds until check in was available. This was a bit disorganized as a new system was put in place and nobody knew quite what to do. Took us over 3 reps to get us checked in - but all is well that ends well. No foul, no harm. When allowed to embark, we were greeted with 1/3 glass of champagne. Not complaining, just seemed a bit skimpy to fill a glass 1/3 of the way. We were asked to go up to one of the public decks until our room was ready.

Ship Info: The ship's size appeals to us and the 11 night itinerary in a school month tends to keep the number of children down. The ship was nowhere near capacity for this cruise which lent to NO lines for anything! Nice. Think there were 1600-1700 pax onboard. Also, not a lot of kids running around but there were a few onboard. Poor things didn't have a lot of options of others to play with, though. They actually had one of the pools restricted to adults only and had a children's only pool available that away from the main pool area. Aside from this, there was only one pool area midship - with two pools and hot tubs covered by a much appreciated canopy. (The weather was extremely hot once down in Mexico.) The back area on deck 11 (where you might think there would be another pool) were tables and chairs for outdoor dining and the occasional BBQ. This was great as you could grab food from the buffet, the sports bar or the outdoor grill. There were many food options available, both those with no extra charge and many specialty restaurants. Lots of variety. The ship's flow seemed to be a bit choppy but not a deal breaker by any means. We found hidden stairwells and doors that opened into unknown hallways with a bit of investigation. Seemed odd to walk through Dazzles nighclub to move through deck 6. The theatre (Stardust Lounge) had ample room for the shows - both on deck 6 & 7 probably even if the ship was full. We never had trouble getting a seat as is sometimes found on larger ships. The stability of the ship was absolutely excellent although it became a bit rocky the last day leading up to San Francisco. Other than that 1/2 of rocking and rolling, you could never even tell you were on a moving vessel. Activities: Activities were average but all pool games were cut during the 2.0 upgrade, which was rather disappointing. The music at the pool was limited to 1 hour a day if at all. We were told that others complained about the pool games being 'cheesy' and people just wanted to relax at the pool and read a book. I really missed watching the games and hearing the music at the pool, but don't know if I am the minority on this. BBQ's up on the deck were fantastic, although only held 2 times during the cruise. Would have preferred a few more days of these BBQ's. We previously cruised on the Wind and enjoyed daily BBQ's and all day music at the pool as well as occasional games at the pool. I thought that since this was the first cruise to Mexico after being in Alaska, this might be the reason but inquired and found out this was part of the 2.0 upgrade. Disappointing to be sure!! Read more