Norwegian Sun to Alaska

Our family just returned from a week cruise on the Norwegian Sun to
three ports in Alaska, departing and returning to Vancouver.

It was a wonderful cruise.

We enjoyed the ship ... first time on NCL since we sailed on the GGC2000
(is that the right abbreviation?) cruise.

The weather was very good ... temperatures averaged about 50 degrees F
and we had a spectacular sunny day for the trip in to the fjord, with
the ice flows being amazing colours.

We were upgraded to a cabin with a balcony ... our first time ever with
a balcony... and I suspect it won't be our last. What an amazing benefit
to have this type of cabin on a cruise with so much incredible scenery.

I'm not totally sold on the freestyle mode that NCL has ... still kind
of like the set dinner times, and, I did note that while the meals were
good, the best offerings were in the added fee dining rooms. That is too
bad. Our situation did not lead us to do any of the extra dining price
options, and I'm not so sure that even if it had, we would have done so.
I did like the meals in the dining room... don't get me wrong about
that, but have had much nicer options on other cruiselines.

I would say the the buffet was about the best on any ship I've been on,
and far superior to any of the all inclusives we have gone to. Always
fresh, well labelled, and quite tasty. I specially enjoyed the Wok
station for lunches and the omelette station for breakfast.

Staff was very friendly and though I did not have as much luck as I
sometimes do in the casino, I did enjoy the staff and the regulars at
the blackjack tables. My schedule did not allow me to play poker, but
that seemed to be quite a busy table.

Check in took just over an hour and we were there relatively early. It
was a bit tedious, not much you can do about that. Getting off was much
different than any other cruise I have been on as we got to choose our
time and it was quite easy and comfortable.

If I get some of the photos posted online, I'll return and post a link.

Cheers... Bob

--
If replying by email, please remove the removes.
Visit my home course at http://www.sunshinecoastgolf.com

On Wed, 20 May 2009 04:48:53 GMT, Bob Cotter
wrote:

Our family just returned from a week cruise on the Norwegian Sun to
three ports in Alaska, departing and returning to Vancouver.

It was a wonderful cruise.

We enjoyed the ship ... first time on NCL since we sailed on the GGC2000
(is that the right abbreviation?) cruise.

The weather was very good ... temperatures averaged about 50 degrees F
and we had a spectacular sunny day for the trip in to the fjord, with
the ice flows being amazing colours.

We were upgraded to a cabin with a balcony ... our first time ever with
a balcony... and I suspect it won't be our last. What an amazing benefit
to have this type of cabin on a cruise with so much incredible scenery.

Yes, it really is good to have a balcony in Alaska. Less so in Hawaii
(though still worth having), and even less so on the Mexican Riviera,
where it was often too hot and humid to want to go outside.

I'm not totally sold on the freestyle mode that NCL has ... still kind
of like the set dinner times, and, I did note that while the meals were
good, the best offerings were in the added fee dining rooms. That is too
bad. Our situation did not lead us to do any of the extra dining price
options, and I'm not so sure that even if it had, we would have done so.
I did like the meals in the dining room... don't get me wrong about
that, but have had much nicer options on other cruiselines.

I was not overly impressed by the dining room on the Sun (Mexican
Riviera, October 2008). The first meal was really good, and most of
the meals after that were varied in quality.

The extra cost dining rooms were really good, though, especially the
steak and Italian restaurants.

I would say the the buffet was about the best on any ship I've been on,
and far superior to any of the all inclusives we have gone to. Always
fresh, well labelled, and quite tasty. I specially enjoyed the Wok
station for lunches and the omelette station for breakfast.

Staff was very friendly and though I did not have as much luck as I
sometimes do in the casino, I did enjoy the staff and the regulars at
the blackjack tables. My schedule did not allow me to play poker, but
that seemed to be quite a busy table.

Yes, the staff was excellent. They seemed to be having a good time,
and aimed to please.

I did miss having a thermal suite to go to, and the spa staff was not
as good as that on previous trips.

On 5/20/2009 12:48 AM Bob Cotter conferred with the ghost of Faye Wray
and said:
Our family just returned from a week cruise on the Norwegian Sun to
three ports in Alaska, departing and returning to Vancouver.

It was a wonderful cruise.

We enjoyed the ship ... first time on NCL since we sailed on the GGC2000
(is that the right abbreviation?) cruise.

The weather was very good ... temperatures averaged about 50 degrees F
and we had a spectacular sunny day for the trip in to the fjord, with
the ice flows being amazing colours.

We were upgraded to a cabin with a balcony ... our first time ever with
a balcony... and I suspect it won't be our last. What an amazing benefit
to have this type of cabin on a cruise with so much incredible scenery.

I'm not totally sold on the freestyle mode that NCL has ... still kind
of like the set dinner times, and, I did note that while the meals were
good, the best offerings were in the added fee dining rooms. That is too
bad. Our situation did not lead us to do any of the extra dining price
options, and I'm not so sure that even if it had, we would have done so.
I did like the meals in the dining room... don't get me wrong about
that, but have had much nicer options on other cruiselines.

I would say the the buffet was about the best on any ship I've been on,
and far superior to any of the all inclusives we have gone to. Always
fresh, well labelled, and quite tasty. I specially enjoyed the Wok
station for lunches and the omelette station for breakfast.

Staff was very friendly and though I did not have as much luck as I
sometimes do in the casino, I did enjoy the staff and the regulars at
the blackjack tables. My schedule did not allow me to play poker, but
that seemed to be quite a busy table.

Check in took just over an hour and we were there relatively early. It
was a bit tedious, not much you can do about that. Getting off was much
different than any other cruise I have been on as we got to choose our
time and it was quite easy and comfortable.

If I get some of the photos posted online, I'll return and post a link.

Cheers... Bob


Thank you for your cruise review. It is short and very concise. I've
never sailed NCL but have heard many complaints about the food not being
up to par. Your comments shed a different light on the topic.

--
________
To email me, Edit "blog" from my email address.
Brian M. Kochera
"The poor dog is the firmest friend, the first to welcome the foremost to defend" - Lord Byron
View My Web Page: http://home.earthlink.net/~brian1951

In article ,
Brian K wrote:


If I get some of the photos posted online, I'll return and post a link.

Cheers... Bob


Thank you for your cruise review. It is short and very concise. I've
never sailed NCL but have heard many complaints about the food not being
up to par. Your comments shed a different light on the topic.

I did end up posting less than 10% of the photos I took and none yet
taken by my daughter and wife... here is a link to the ones I did post.

http://bit.ly/qU5qP

Cheers... Bob

--
If replying by email, please remove the removes.
Visit my home course at http://www.sunshinecoastgolf.com