On the Norwegian Sun, Day 2

[Written on the Norwegian Sun, which means it won't get posted until I
return to the US. I may have changed the sequence of events in order
to create a more nearly cohesive narrative.]

Day 1, Thursday (Embarcation, San Francisco)

We arrived at the dock, Pier 35 in San Francisco, around 11:30, after
having parked a block away in one of the garages that has cruise ship
parking. The parking will cost us about $130, but that's much less
than a van or limo, and much more convenient than the train.

The check-in took about half an hour, longer than it took for the
Celebrity Infinity a few years ago at the same dock, but faster than
for the NCL Pride of Hawaii in Honolulu last year. It seemed well
organized, but I'll be glad when I move up to the Gold level and get
my own check-in line (there were separate lines for regular cabins,
balconies and mini-suites, "real" suites, and Latitudes Gold and
Platinum). When we walked up the ramp to the ship, we could see that
the lines had grown substantially longer.

After getting on board, we immediately made restaurant reservations
for Le Bistro that night and teppanyaki the following night. We had
no problems getting a reservation, but the first night is often slow -
slow enough that NCL had given us two-for-one coupons for any
specialty restaurant.

The rooms weren't ready yet, so we decided to eat. I checked my
carry-on at the bellhop desk, and we went to the Seven Seas
restaurant. It was almost deserted, but the food was very good. I
had pasta with tomatoes and cheese. I explained that I couldn't have
onions, so they replaced the sauce with olive oil and butter; a simple
dish, but actually very good - the pasta was cooked correctly, and the
dish had a good flavor. My companions announced that they were also
happy with their choices.

After that, we went to our rooms. We (Jack and R.) went to our
midships balcony cabin, and our companions (S. and B.) went to their
forward "superior oceanview" cabin.

On our previous trips, we had been in a mini-suite, so we were
wondering how the cabins would differ. As it turns out, not much.
There were two differences between the superior oceanview and the
balcony: (1) The balcony cabin had a balcony and the oceanview had a
window, duh, and (2) The oceanview had a pull-down bunk by the window
over the couch, and the balcony did not. Otherwise, the two cabins
are almost identical. The room service menus were the same, which is
not what I had been led to expect.

There also wasn't much difference in living space between a mini-suite
and a balcony. The primary difference is that the bathroom in the
mini-suite was longer, with a full bathtub and a small separate room
for the toilet. There was also more closet space in the mini-suite.

After dropping our bags in our rooms, we went up to the forward
observation deck to watch the ship sail under the Golden Gate Bridge.
Which turned out to be impossible, because the fog had rolled in. We
saw the shadowy figure of the bridge about 15 seconds before we passed
under it. The forward observation deck was very pleasant, better
(because of the placement of the glass panels) than on the other ships
we have been on, but the periodic blasts from the ship's foghorn
drove us back inside.

We walked around the rest of the ship. First on the list was the
buffet (first because it was closest). Compared to the Pride of
Hawaii and Celebrity Infinity and Mercury, the buffet seemed small and
crowded. We were glad we had eaten in the restaurant.

Next was the spa tour. The spa had been the best feature of the Pride
of Hawaii (now the Norwegian Jade), and I was hoping for something
splendid. But alas, the spa was much smaller, and doesn't have
anything even remotely like the complex of showers, saunas, hot tubs,
and observation chairs that we had on the PoH. So we will have to
find something else to fill our sea days.

Surprisingly, the spa staff seemed to be entirely female except for
the hair stylist. On the PoH, the ratio was about 60% female and 40%
male. I have no idea what might account for the difference. Pay
scale, perhaps? I think the international staff is paid much less
than the American staff on NCLA ships (or, these days, ship).

The spa staff was mostly from Germany and the UK. Overall, about half
the staff is Filipino, I was told.

We also looked around the rest of the ship. It is pretty, and has a
central atrium (with *tiny* glass elevators that hold only 5 or 6
people at most). The two main sit down restaurants are single story,
without the atrium that some ship restaurants have. Deck 12 aft holds
many of the specialty restaurants, with Le Bistro and the Spanish
restaurant at rear starboard and port, and the Asian and steak
restaurants forward from the Spanish restaurant. The hostess at the
Asian restaurant was happy to show us around.

At this point, we decided to take naps. I was the only person in our
party who had even attempted to get on the ship not already exhausted.
R. had gotten to bed very late the previous night. S. and B. had
decided that before they could go on a trip they really should clean
their house, and to clean their house they needed to shampoo all the
rugs, and to shampoo the rugs they needed to move all the furniture,
and to move all the furniture they needed to rearrange all of their
vast collection of knick-knacks, and sort through every piece of paper
in the entire house. So by the time they got on board they were ready
to collapse.

Eventually we recovered sufficiently from our naps to go to Le Bistro.
It was a very good meal, although we did have to change tables to
escape the loud music blasting from the speaker directly over the
first table. Why do restaurants think we don't want to be able to
hear each other talk?

For an appetizer, I had the pate and the seared scallops with sweet
potato sauce. Both were very good, and I would order the pate again
(the scallops, though good, weren't sufficiently interesting to
repeat). I don't remember what the others had for appetizers.

I had the steak au poivre with blue cheese potato gratin - a really
good combination. R. had the swordfish, S. had the salmon, and B.
had the rack of lamb. Everyone was satisfied.

For dessert, R. and I shared the fruit with chocolate fondue. I also
had some cheese from the cheese plate, and by the way, there's a
reason you've never heard of a restaurant serving blue cheese dipped
in chocolate. S. had the fruit without the chocolate (and, by the
way, the fruit was actually ripe), and B. had a salad and the cheese
plate.

A very good meal, not up there with Charlie Trotter's but nevertheless
very good considering the circumstances. They coped very well with my
need for no onions and S.'s need for no dairy products, and with B.'s
general need for slight twists on everything.

And then to bed. As someone recently mentioned, the beds now have a
memory foam top, and it was very comfortable.