Cruise Ship: Norwegian Sun
Cruise Destination: Western Caribbean
Dates of Cruise: November 23, 2003
Guest Contributor: Tiffany Hall
We went on the cruise during the week of Thanksgiving holiday. The ship was filled with families with children and teenagers. In fact, all cruises had the same passengers profile during the same week. If you don't like children, don't go on a cruise during the week of Thanksgiving.
NCL customer service was great. We arrived at the Miami international airport the day of the cruise. There were representatives waiting at the gate to greet passengers. I mean you saw them the minute you step out of the plane. They directed passengers to the luggage claims and the shuttle bus. We didn't purchase the airport transfer from NCL because we were going to take a taxi to the pier. We asked the NCL representative about the transfer price, it was $12/person each way. Not a bad deal if your group was less than 3 people. We decided to take the shuttle instead of taxi since the price was reasonable and they took your luggage directly from the airport to your stateroom. It was a short 20 minutes ride from Miami airport to the cruise port.
The check in process was a breeze. There was no line when we arrived at the cruise port at 2:30. There was a waitress walking around with refreshing ice cold water to greet passengers at the check in room. Great service continued. It only took us 20 minutes from the time we arrived at the pier to get to our room. NCL had the usual picture taken spots for every Kodak moment by NCL photographers. At the gangway, there was a NCL staff to pass out antiseptic tissue to each passenger to clean the hands. That was a great service. And it didn't stop there, they hand out antiseptic tissue at every port when we return back to the ship. They also place the antiseptic pocket napkin at every buffet tray. In addition, there were clean wipes next to each public computer for computer users to wipe their hands before and after using the computer. NCL was germ phobia and kept things and people very clean.
Pubic Rooms
The name of the ship was SUN, so the decor was red and orange throughout the ship. The atrium was toward the front of the ship rather in the middle. It was a nice atrium but not too big. There
were bars everywhere and it seemed like smoking was allowed in all bars because the smell of smoke was in all public areas. The main disco lounge was the Dazzle. They had most of lectures and shows in
Dazzle. It was freezing cold in there. Ladies, remember to bring a sweater when you go there. The casino was good size and it always seemed to be busy with good spirited gamblers. There was a hallway parallel to the casino for non-gamblers to walk through. A great feature that not many ships have.
There were 2 pools and 4 hot tubs on the top deck. The pools were salt water and they were drained
and scrubbed every night. Another clean feature of the SUN. The pool was also a wave pool and
produced big waves that splashed over onto the hot tubs and deck. Fun place to be in if you like waves with no sand. The only downside of the ship is the design of all public rooms. They were
not easy to find and you had to walk up and down the stairs to get to places on the same deck. So
you really need to use the map placed on all strategic points to find your way around.
Freestyle
The best feature of the ship was freestyle. It really meant that you could eat at one of the
several dining rooms during their hours at anytime. There were 2 main dining rooms, Four Season
and Seven Seas. The Four Season restaurant was located on deck 5 across from the Reception Desk.
It was centrally located and easy to find, also more busy than the Seven Sea. The Seven Sea
restaurant was located on the same deck 5 at the back of the ship. Even though both of the
restaurants were on deck 5, you had to use the stairs to go from one to the other. The Seven Sea
restaurant wasn't easy to find. So it was less crowded and no wait at the first 2 nights. Slowly
people found their way to the Seven Seas as the week went by. Menus were mostly the same for the 2
main restaurants. Dining at the SUN was like going out to a restaurant. The wait wasn't long for
most nights. If you didn't mind sharing a table, the wait was only a few minutes. While waiting
for a table, we had appetizer at the tapas bar so the wait wasn't bad at all. The variety and quality of food were
excellent. There were a lot of small tables so small groups could have their own tables. The
Garden buffets restaurant open 24 hours a day. The food was very average and we only ate there when
we had to. The buffet food serving stations were small and not well placed. There was always a
line at breakfast. The breakfast selection was limited; pancakes and French toast were served only
once on our cruise.
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