We thoroughly enjoyed this cruise. The sun is an older, smaller ship, but by nature of that, there were far less passengers, even at capacity and you never felt that it was crowded. In general it does not have a big "wow" factor like the Breakway or some of the newer, larger ships but is very comfortable easy to navigate. Embarkation took no more than five minutes and there was no waiting - anywhere (online to get to the check-in or onto the ship). Since the southbound trip leaves at 9:00 pm at night, we embarked just after 1:00 pm and spent the afternoon exploring the ship and enjoying a few cocktails and BBQ outside.

As I say in my room review, the only downside to our cabin was the extremely small bathroom (even by cruise ship standards, the smallest I have had on 8 or so cruises) but not an issue that would keep me from sailing on this ship again. There are some signs of the ships age (chips in the fiberglass bathroom floor), old looking tiles at the outdoor bar, a small atrium, some older looking carpet in the cabins, but in general the ship is very well maintained, particularly in the public areas.

The pace of this cruise is much more relaxed than most, even for NCL, and there are fairly relaxed dress codes in the dining rooms. Speaking of dining rooms, we did the three night UDP and thought that was perfect (hit Le Bistro, Cagney's and Teppanyaki - our favorites). The main dining rooms were not crowded at all (why does everyone want buffet on vacation?) and had great options. Yes, there is an upcharge for lobster or rib-eye in the MDR, but there are plenty more options (strip steak, chicken cordon bleu, salmon) and the food is way better than the buffet.My only disappointment was the grilled shrimp and rice the first night. The flavor was good but the shrimp were the small mini-cocktail variety. I could have ordered something else but had enough with the app and dessert. ;) Read more