This was the third cruise on NCL for my husband and me. Previously we've cruised aboard the Pearl (our first-ever cruise, in 2010) and the Jewel (in 2011). We would've rated both of those ships excellent. We are a bit concerned that either the Sun has not been maintained to the level of those other two ships, or the entire maintenance of NCL has slipped in the intervening four years. The Sun ...
My second cruise with Norwegian, I love the freestyle dining idea. The food was very good at the beginning of the trip. Towards the end they changed the menu for the Alaskan run, I did not like that menu much. Seemed to be mostly fish and seafood, very little choice if you are not into things from the sea. I ate mostly in the buffet after that. Cagneys Steak house was excellent, but I thought ...
Our cabin was awesome and we really enjoyed having a balcony.
Entertainment in the theatre was really quite good, and the group that played every night in the Observation lounge were excellent, but the rest of the music was only fair, especially the guitar player and the piano player.
I enjoy Free-Style Dining, but Free-Style Cruising is too much ! Jeans and stained Auto-Body T-shirts in the ...
Norwegian Sun
Repositioning Cruise
LA to Vancouver BC - May, 2009
A group of friends and family joined the Norwegian Sun for the three night repositioning cruise from LA to Vancouver BC. Below are some thoughts on the ship, and on repositioning cruises.
EMBARKATIONBecause of the swine flu scare it took longer than normal to embark. We arrived at 11:55 and were not on board till 2:10 PM. ...
Embarkation - This was my first time EVER using the Bell Street Pier (#66) in Seattle and I actually thought it was okay, although parts of it were strangely laid out. We got our luggage dropped off and got inside. We were about 40 minutes early for boarding, but lots of chairs and they had juice and water if I saw right. On the way in, we had to go through the photographers (we just said no ...
Since others have already posted detailed reviews of this trip, I won't attempt a complete blow-by-blow description. Rather, I'll just mention a few things that occurred to me, especially in my capacity as a "first time" and "solo" cruiser.
FREESTYLE DINING: This really worked for me! Since I was traveling alone, I initially thought that I might eat most meals in the buffet, but it always seemed ...
My wife and I planned an eight-day getaway from Vancouver to Los Angeles and back, with the southbound portion on Amtrak, two frantic days in LA, and the return trip on the Norwegian Star. I have been wanting to do this rail/sea excursion for decades, and this year the opportunity finally arose. The primary goal of the vacation was to relax and forget the real world back at home. Other goals were ...
My parents, my younger sister and myself went on a one day cruise the previous September on the Norwegian Star and we wanted to experience something a little bit more than one day. We discovered that there was a relocation cruise from Los Angeles to our hometown in Vancouver for three nights and we decided to book it and combine it with a small Las Vegas trip as well. It turned out that my older ...
Considering a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line? Especially if you're thinking about the Norwegian Star, this very lengthy review is for you. Hopefully, it will answer some of your questions and help you make an informed decision.
BOOKING AND EMBARKATION
Having never taken a cruise before, I was excited to see such low fares for Norwegian Cruise Line's 3-night "Pacific Coastal Cruise" from Los ...
We were a party of 21 going on a 3 day Pacific Coastal cruise on board Norwegian Sun. Most of us had not cruised with Norwegian before. We had 2 sets of grandparents in their early seventies, 3 sets of middle aged parents with 3 University students, one 15 yr old High school daughter and a 7 year old who had not cruised before. The other members of our group were female, travelling without their ...