Tell me about the Sun

Thinking of switching from the Pearl to the Sun for my Alaskan cruise. I currently have the 9000 SE Suite booked on the Pearl and was wanting a forward facing on the Sun.

From the pictures I have seen the rooms on the sun look quite old. I also read in another post that it will be going to dry dock in 2016.

We have been on the Dawn before and we're looking for something with the same sort of vibe.

The Pearl and the Sun are both of our favorite ships. The Sun is smaller though, without as many bells and whistles. The both have great crews and both well maintained. The Sun is a relaxed ship. However, can't go wrong with either. Without considering the rooms selection, I would take the Pearl to Alaska first.

Sun is a classy old school style ship .

She only has a few Suite with a great crew for a more personal experience . ;)

We took the Sun to Alaska 2 years ago and by far is our favorite ship to date. Loved here crew. The Sun does the 1 way trips and by far it is the best of the Alaskan cruises with more port time and more views.

The Sun is older but she is a very nice ship. It takes a bit to get used to the layout but it really is not an issue after the first day.

We did a round trip Glacier Bay out of Vancouver on the Sun, was a beautiful vessel with many things to offer. The suite life is just as good as any other vessel in the fleet, no suites had just as good of a time as there is no segregation per say (Haven) so the fabled green eyed monster didnt rear it's ugly head [emoji23] would sail the sun over and over in any stateroom, if and when we return to NCL

Norwegian Sun Dry dock: When in 2016 is the Sun going in for servicing? Does anyone know? Please and thank you! :)

After returning to San Diego from South America next spring. At least that is what I heard while onboard.

Just spent 19 days in a forward suite on Sun. I can only describe it as old and dirty.

Just off the Sun on 3/15, it's a smaller ship with lots of nooks and crannies to get away from the masses. There's a walkway out front on deck 12 that you can only get to through from the Observation Lounge bar. Great forward views from the lounge as well.

One of the best crews I've encountered - very friendly and attentive.

Daily poolside BBQs were excellent. Plenty of chairs and tables on the deck.

Loved the Great Outdoors. Drinks from the Sports Bar and the bar by the Great Outdoors were the best.

Lost my way many times on the ship - getting from mid-ship to La Cucina requires walking through the mid-ship MDR as a shortcut. Strange elevator layouts - mostly concentrated towards mid-ship forward - there's 6 within very close proximity.

The buffet layout still confuses me, but I didn't do the buffet except when looking for a snack. Had cold soups too - I remember the blueberry one.

I appreciated the fact that they posted menus for both MDR in one place in the main atrium.

Not quite sure what to make of Las Ramblas. Seems a waste of space, and the tapas were passable. Get the spinach pastry.

Loved the Le Bistro location and layout on this ship. La Cucina was also very nice.

There was one day late in the afternoon when the crew officers, concierge, CD, etc. held a big rally in the main atrium - listed as "Sing-Along with the Norwegian Sun Family". Fun to hear them singing "Take Me Home, Country Roads", "Sweet Caroline" and other songs.

A real small ship feel. One of our better cruises.

Just spent 19 days in a forward suite on Sun. I can only describe it as old and dirty.

Yikes...old doesnt bother me but would really like for your to elaborate on the "dirty" part please.

Yikes...old doesnt bother me but would really like for your to elaborate on the "dirty" part please.

Me too. We are on the Star for a repeat South America cruise. Suite 8003.

Sorry on the sun.

DW and I did a cruisetour last year that finished with a southbound. We had an aft balcony and aside from soot issues we had an incredible trip!

Here is a link to the lengthy review w/ pics:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2089424

Me too. We are on the Star for a repeat South America cruise. Suite 8003.

We were in suite 8004. When we first walked in there was a terrible odor coming from the bathroom, opened the shower door to find items from the previous people in the suite. There was black mold growing in the shower, there were food crumbs on the carpet, and the inside of glass door to balcony had apparently not been cleaned in a very long time. The cushions of the balcony loungers were in shreds and stained. During the next few days, we had leaks from the bathroom appearing on the carpet next to the bed. The steward said the leak was from the bath tub and that we had to be careful when using it. We explained that we had not used the tub because it was filthy. We came back to the room to find that they had caulked around the tub but had not done anything about the brown water coming from behind the shower stall. In 19 days I think the room was vacuumed once and that was only after the butler spread confetti around on my wife's birthday. The glass or the balcony was never cleaned the entire time. We found the our suite to be indicative of other areas on the ship. For example, we watched the same dirty glass and trash roll around on the floor of the observation lounge for at least three days. We never saw anybody cleaning in public spaces as you do on other ships.

They did try to correct things but only when they were pointed out to them and they kept giving us free bottles of wine, but that only goes so far. And before anybody asks, we did not ask for any compensation.

We did enjoy the specialty restaurants and breakfast and lunch in La Cucina and our concierge, Leah, was outstanding but I doubt if we will ever cruise on the Sun again.

We have not had these problems on any other NCL ships. I hope this is not an indication of the new direction in which NCL is going.

I just got off the Sun yesterday and found the Sun in decent condition. It sounds like Colorado had a lot of trouble with a suite, which is a problem. I had a regular balcony and it was okay ... I expect a little less given the price I paid (not a suite). We noticed that the windows in the common areas were cloudy and needed a good cleaning, but we just went outside if we wanted a better view. We like the smaller ship size, and the tall atrium is beautiful. We had a few small complaints, but overall we would sail the Sun again.

Just spent 19 days in a forward suite on Sun. I can only describe it as old and dirty.

That is interesting. We also had a forward suite on Sun and it was clean for sure!

I did not have a sense of old either. We also did a cabin crawl and saw the suite next to ours and the Owner's suite. All were clean and well cared for.

This was in February.

I have cruised on the sun in an aft penthouse twice. I would choose the sun over any NCL ship if it was going where I wanted to go. Favorite.

This will be our third year in a row to take the Sun to and from Alaska. (B to B) (This is our 22nd year in a row to Alaska.)

First off... this is not a fair comparison. Pearl is round trip out of Seattle. That is NOT the best way to see Alaska. It is convenient, but leaves much to be missed due to leaving out of the states. You go to Alaska to, well, see Alaska. That will never match up with ships leaving out of Seattle vs Vancouver.

Due to the size of the ship, it goes some places the large ships do not go! (The Grenville channel is NOT done by many ships any more. Such a shame.)

The ship may be old, but wears it well, and I for one really like the smaller ship, as even the Sun can get crowded on deck when in Glacier Bay or Hubbard.

Once again, it is about the itinerary, NOT the ship! Alaska is NOT like any other cruise destination that is for sure.

If you really want to see more of Alaska, take a cruise out of Vancouver, NOT Seattle. We have found the Sun to be very good. (Third year in a row says volumes.) We have done several cruise lines in Alaska, the Alaska ferries and driven up over the years. Hard not to take a cruise these days due to the very reasonable prices.

We were in suite 8004. When we first walked in there was a terrible odor coming from the bathroom, opened the shower door to find items from the previous people in the suite. There was black mold growing in the shower, there were food crumbs on the carpet, and the inside of glass door to balcony had apparently not been cleaned in a very long time. The cushions of the balcony loungers were in shreds and stained. During the next few days, we had leaks from the bathroom appearing on the carpet next to the bed. The steward said the leak was from the bath tub and that we had to be careful when using it. We explained that we had not used the tub because it was filthy. We came back to the room to find that they had caulked around the tub but had not done anything about the brown water coming from behind the shower stall. In 19 days I think the room was vacuumed once and that was only after the butler spread confetti around on my wife's birthday. The glass or the balcony was never cleaned the entire time. We found the our suite to be indicative of other areas on the ship. For example, we watched the same dirty glass and trash roll around on the floor of the observation lounge for at least three days. We never saw anybody cleaning in public spaces as you do on other ships.

 

They did try to correct things but only when they were pointed out to them and they kept giving us free bottles of wine, but that only goes so far. And before anybody asks, we did not ask for any compensation.

 

We did enjoy the specialty restaurants and breakfast and lunch in La Cucina and our concierge, Leah, was outstanding but I doubt if we will ever cruise on the Sun again.

 

We have not had these problems on any other NCL ships. I hope this is not an indication of the new direction in which NCL is going.

I was on the cruise with COCoasty and was aware of their issues...and certainly not trying to downplay them at all....but, we were in one of the forward balconies (not in a suite) on Sun (Deck 11) and our room was pretty much spotless.

I wonder how much it has to do with the particular room steward? Again not an excuse for Norwegian....I believe that all should be treated the same and if a steward isn't doing his/her job then they need to be retaught or let go. Our steward vacuumed our room TWICE a day, not sure why since sometimes we hadn't even been in the room since it was done...but he did. Perhaps it was just his work ethic or something but we noted that he was always on the hall before the steward on the other end and was usually there long after the other one had finished. I presumed he was just slow, but maybe he was doing it right and the other one was doing less than a good job.

I recognize that you are getting significantly varied advice....but thought I would throw in my two cents just to confuse it even more!:eek:

Spent two weeks on the Sun in January We had a facing mini suite. It was great. Clean and a perfect place to hang out on the balcony. We have been on over 100 cruises from mega to tiny and we just booked the Sun for a 11 day Mexican Riviera cruise. In our opinion, it is the perfect size ship, great staff, and all around very nice. Not a fan of the buffet, but really enjoyed the wings at the sports bar. Yes, its older, but after 40 years of cruising, we would rather enjoy an older smaller ship, to the mass marketed Mega ships. I would assume that those that thought the cabins were dirty, that they did mention something to information and they took care of that problem. Maybe they went to their cabin too early before it was cleaned. This does happen. Like any hotel, resort, or ship, nothing goes 100% perfect.

Just got off the Sun Mon. in Vancouver. Classy smaller vessel with a great crew. We were in suite 8203, (forward, starboard)could have used a facelift. Mattress was terrible, and cleaning during our 10 day was kind of spotty. We had stayed in a penthouse a couple yrs. ago during a Panama Canal repositioning and fell in love with the Sun. Like most things the second time is never as good, I suspect there were far less passengers on the canal trip. We still loved it though. The forward facing cabin was great in the canal, but a little chilly when underway in Alaska.

We were in suite 8004.

Must be a typo because cabin 8004 is not a suite.

We were in forward facing suite 8202 a couple of months ago on the Sun and we loved it! We'd sail on the Sun again any time.

The Mini-Suites are the best in the NCL fleet - larger with lots of usable

storage space and bath vanity par-excellence. Forward location with a

quick trip to deck 12 and the observation lounge and it's viewing deck !

She maybe OLD but not that old and was in fine shape for my Alaska

cruise of 2013. NCL with it's recent management changes could

have let the ship shape go to pot - Cavet "If it is not broken don't try

and fix (or change) it" !

We were just on the Sun in November and loved her. We didn't have a suite, we had an interior, so I can't offer anything on that (but can say that this interior on this ship is one of the biggest compared to most of the fleet, so don't know if it holds true for other rooms as well).

We had a great time on the Sun. She may be small, but we found her easy to navigate and it never felt crowded at all!!! (Even though we sailed full capacity).

I have a complete review on the Sun listed in my signature line and it has tons of pictures of the ship itself if you are interested.

I have also been on the Pearl and have a review with tons of pictures in it as well. :)

HI all!

Loving this thread as I'm going on the Sun to South America next November,

in part because of mitsugirly's review.;)

Also just booked the 4 day Sky today for April so will have to read that review again.

Have fun on the Dawn, mitsugirly! Looking forward to your review as I've been on that ship twice but never to Bermuda. I took the inaugural Breakaway there.

~ Jo ~ :)