Opinions Please

[soprano2]

We are new to Norwegian Cruise Line having sailed on RCCL in the somewhat distant past and most recently on 5 Disney cruises in the past 7 years. We are currently booked in an AA cabin on the Sun for Jan 2011 but I'm considering switching to a Spa Balcony on the Epic. I know this will not include as many amenities but the ship seems so spectacular. For those of you who have perhaps sailed in a suite on the Sun or similar ship and then sailed on newer, bigger ships, would you please list some of the pros and cons in keeping or switching my reservation? Thank you for your opinions!

[time2cruise1]

I would have a very hard time giving up an AA on the Sun for a 151 SQF spa balcony on the Epic. You will be spoiled rotten on the Sun and she is wonderful mid sized ship. You will be one in the crowd on the Epic. You will never wait for anything on the Sun with your butler and concierge making sure of that. In the AA you are King and Queen of the cruise.

If you do move to take in the spender of the Epic at least book a Spa Suite or better yet an A3. They can not be more then the AA on the Sun. Take the perks and the ship.

[Cruiser#5]

I agree with time2Cruise1, stay with a suite or if you prefer to experience the EPIC, book a suite if you can.. Having sailed many times in an owners suite, I'm addicted. I just love the perks, the royal treatment, space in the suite, did I say perks :D.

[soprano2]

We are bringing our 9-year-old daughter with us as well so perhaps this makes some difference in deciding which ship we should sail on. I know there's not as much to do on The Sun but she's pretty happy with a pool and hanging out. She goes to kids' clubs sometimes and I'm hoping we can find another family or two with a similarly aged girl so she can make some friends. I think we may be spoiled by Disney's attention to getting kids together in the dining room but I'm hoping for the best. I'm assuming there are activities like trivia and origami that we can all do together. Any thoughts regarding family activities?

[CanadianTwosome]

I think my daughter and I have done maybe two activities together on our last three cruises! By that I mean outside of kid's crew activities like the orientation scavenger hunts they sometimes have or the family pizza making. I think we did trivia and a craft. Other than that, when we're at sea, I rarely see her because she always has so much fun at Kid's Crew. She's been 8, 9 and 10 so far and is looking forward to the Sky's kid's crew at 11. She'll be 12 on the Epic and is eager to experience everything it has to offer.

I'll know more after our little mini-cruise this December, but from my understanding, there are quite a few family activities on the private island also. :)

[14ersco]

The Sun and the Sky are now the oldest NCL ships and the oldest and smallest kid's clubs. We were on the Sky when she was the Pride of Aloha and after being in a newer NCL kid's club (Dawn) would not go back to the Sky or the Sun. The kid's club is in a sunken area within the bow of the ship. It is one large room broken up with movable dividers. Our DS was in the 3 to 5 group on both the PofA (Sky) and the Dawn. The amount of features were significantly less on the PofA. No ball pit, no movie theater (just a portable small TV with VCR), limited tables, and about only a third of the space. Also being in the bow a number of the kid's got sick on rough sea days; one day they actually moved the group to the library. Kid's pool is no larger than a double size hot tub and a couple feet deep. Even with limited facilities the kid's club crew on the PofA was a great as the Dawn.

Only problem we see with taking DS on the Epic next year is that he will enjoy himself so much that he will not want to go back to some of the other NCL ships. :rolleyes:

[CanadianTwosome]

The Sun and the Sky are now the oldest NCL ships and the oldest and smallest kid's clubs. We were on the Sky when she was the Pride of Aloha and after being in a newer NCL kid's club (Dawn) would not go back to the Sky or the Sun. The kid's club is in a sunken area within the bow of the ship. It is one large room broken up with movable dividers. Our DS was in the 3 to 5 group on both the PofA (Sky) and the Dawn. The amount of features were significantly less on the PofA. No ball pit, no movie theater (just a portable small TV with VCR), limited tables, and about only a third of the space. Also being in the bow a number of the kid's got sick on rough sea days; one day they actually moved the group to the library. Kid's pool is no larger than a double size hot tub and a couple feet deep. Even with limited facilities the kid's club crew on the PofA was a great as the Dawn.

Only problem we see with taking DS on the Epic next year is that he will enjoy himself so much that he will not want to go back to some of the other NCL ships. :rolleyes:

I'm not worried. Our first cruise as a family was on the Dream, and it wasn't designed with a Kid's Crew, so they basically had two meeting rooms across the hall from each other and some 'baby toys', as my daughter described them. Since then, we were on the Star, whose Kid's Crew was her favourite so far, and the Pearl, whose Kid's Crew was great (but not as good as the Star's). Even though the Pearl's was newer, bigger, and had more 'stuff', our daughter's preference was with the Star, and I am convinced that it is entirely due to the staff and the kids that were on board with us. I'm not sure we're actually going to be able to evaluate the Sky's that well, since we're just on a three nighter and there are no actual sea days, but based on our experience, it could be a hole in the wall and as long as there are good counsellors and there's at least one kid for ours to play with, she'll have a good time.

The kids' facilities ships have now are crazy!! Not that I'm complaining, since I'm glad my child has such great options on her vacation, but I started cruising when I was 10, so I've got a baseline to compare to. The facilities I described on the Dream are pretty close to what we had on those early cruises, except that there was only one individual assigned to supervise the room and there were no actual organized activities. There was just a room, with a few toys and some craft supplies. My sister (freak!) did have a fun day cleaning and tidying the kid's room on one ship though... (did I say freak? ha ha ha)

I really think we're much more concerned about it than the kids are, though. I spend time here on CC, I scour the 'net for images and descriptions of the kids' facilities, and I get very excited about the prospect of things like climbing walls. Then when we get on board, I'm all ready to hear how thrilled she is about the 'stuff', and all she really cares about is the people - how nice the counsellors are and whether there are other kids her age on board. :)

[14ersco]

In my previous post I was just bringing up to the OP (who has recently been on 5 Disney cruises) that the Sun is going to be one of the two (along with the Sky) NCL ships farthest from Disney in regards to kid's club amenities. It sounds like your daughter is like our son; as long as there are some other kid's to play with and the kid club crew is good. We are soon going to see how Carnival kid's club compares to NCL.


I'm not worried. Our first cruise as a family was on the Dream, and it wasn't designed with a Kid's Crew, so they basically had two meeting rooms across the hall from each other and some 'baby toys', as my daughter described them. Since then, we were on the Star, whose Kid's Crew was her favourite so far, and the Pearl, whose Kid's Crew was great (but not as good as the Star's). Even though the Pearl's was newer, bigger, and had more 'stuff', our daughter's preference was with the Star, and I am convinced that it is entirely due to the staff and the kids that were on board with us. I'm not sure we're actually going to be able to evaluate the Sky's that well, since we're just on a three nighter and there are no actual sea days, but based on our experience, it could be a hole in the wall and as long as there are good counsellors and there's at least one kid for ours to play with, she'll have a good time.

The kids' facilities ships have now are crazy!! Not that I'm complaining, since I'm glad my child has such great options on her vacation, but I started cruising when I was 10, so I've got a baseline to compare to. The facilities I described on the Dream are pretty close to what we had on those early cruises, except that there was only one individual assigned to supervise the room and there were no actual organized activities. There was just a room, with a few toys and some craft supplies. My sister (freak!) did have a fun day cleaning and tidying the kid's room on one ship though... (did I say freak? ha ha ha)

I really think we're much more concerned about it than the kids are, though. I spend time here on CC, I scour the 'net for images and descriptions of the kids' facilities, and I get very excited about the prospect of things like climbing walls. Then when we get on board, I'm all ready to hear how thrilled she is about the 'stuff', and all she really cares about is the people - how nice the counsellors are and whether there are other kids her age on board. :)

[soprano2]

Thank you for your responses so far. They've been great observations and very helpful to me.

Our daughter used to live in the Oceaneer's Club on our Disney cruises. I mean, having Snow White as your storyteller is pretty cool. But I think that meeting other kids and making friends is the real thrill of the clubs for her. She loves seeing someone she's met when she's out at the pool swimming or somewhere else on the ship. During our last cruise, she really wanted to spend time with us and spent just a bit of time at the club. We're going on NCL mid-January 2011, during the MLK holiday, so I'm hoping a few other kids will be on board.

Does anyone have a hunch about how many kids would be travelling on the Sun at that time of year? It will be leaving from Port Canaveral so do you think others might combine Disney World with the cruise?