Back from SUN, May 22nd-May 29th

Wow. My wife and I stayed in AD 8002, and my mom was in AC 9076 on the Sun from 5/22-5/29. It was just great, and was our first cruise.

The cabin was not huge, and probably was as big as the hotel room we stayed in Vancouver the night before. It had a dvd/cd surround sound system, and a huge balcony. The awesome bathroom had a safe, a vanity mirror w/ chair, 2 super comfy robes, 2 sinks, a whirlpool bathtub, and separate rooms for the shower and toilet.

At debarkation, I ran around and looked at every kind of cabin in the ship, including the ABs and AAs, the insides and outsides!

Claudio, the concierge, and Chris and Gede, the butlers, were all very friendly and personable. Gede’s English was not too great at times, though.

We ate at Le Bistro twice, and Il Adagio, East Meets West (which is Cagney’s Steakhouse right down to the menu and $20 cover charge, just without the name), Ginza Sushi, Teppanyaki grill, and the Seven Seas once each for dinner.

All the rumors are true: The Filet and the chocolate Fondue at Le Bistro are AMAZING! East Meets West was OK, but certainly not worth $20. Il Adagio was pretty good, not great, but for 12.50 was worth it. The sushi rice at Ginza had WAY too much vinegar and ruined things. The Teppanyaki grill was a lot of fun and delicious.

We went on the Zip Excursion in Ketchikan, the Glacier Trek in Juneau, the Backcountry highlander hike in Wrangell, and we did our own hike (Upper Dewey Trail) in Skagway.

Please ask away! I am still exhausted from my redeye this morning.

DCD:

Thanks for the review! We'll be doing the Glacier Trek in Juneau next week off of the NCL Dream and are anxious to hear your impressions!!!:D Please give details.

Thanks!

Hello,

The Glacier Trek, though expensive, was definitely one of the highlights of Alaska. Northstar is a real class act. They pick you up and take you to their office, where they orient you to the harness, the boots, the crampons (ice-spikes for the bottom of your shoes), and the helicopter etiquette. They also give you water and snacks. You then proceed to the helicopter pad where you will be treated to one of neatest things you'll ever do.....a half-hour flight over the icefields and glaciers was heavenly. Bring your camera! Then, you set down on an icefield near a big orange tent, and get setup for the hike. We walked up and over ice that I would've thought impossible. I think we walked about 2 miles, and saw crevasses, water falls, and filled our water bottles with glacier water. Excellent! Chris, our guide was great.

Oh, and by the way, smoking was NOT a problem.

Thanks, DCD! We are so looking forward to this, but I'll admit I'm a bit nervous about the flight itself.:p How many people were in your helicopter? How many people were in your group on the ice? How cold was it on the ice? Some people say 10 degrees colder, at least, than Juneau, but I read a recent review that said not to overdress because you may get overheated on the trek and have no way to remove layers because of the harness.:confused:

Thanks, DCD! We are so looking forward to this, but I'll admit I'm a bit nervous about the flight itself.:p How many people were in your helicopter? How many people were in your group on the ice? How cold was it on the ice? Some people say 10 degrees colder, at least, than Juneau, but I read a recent review that said not to overdress because you may get overheated on the trek and have no way to remove layers because of the harness.:confused:

I wore a t-Shirt underneath the red jacket they gave us and was absolutely fine. My wife and mom both wore a very light sweater underneath and they also were fine. Your hands get cold (so the gloves they give you are nice), since it is kind of windy, but it really was warmer than I expected. You won't take off the harness during the hike, so I wouldn't wear too much underneath.

The helicopter holds 7. 3 up front and 4 in back, although the 3 up front includes the pilot. We lucked out and had a tour of 3 people plus the guide, since the other 2 in the helicopter were guides for the next tour.

Some glacier shots....

What was the weather like?????

What was the weather like?????

The first night out of Vancouver, there was a storm that caused some really heavy waves. The next sea day was raining again, and we thought the weather was going to stink all week. However, it was clear most of the rest of the week (except an afternoon spritz in Skagway Thursday) and the temps were great and comfortable, usually a high in the low 60s.

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your review, dcd34!! :D I really appreciate your feedback. I also have some questions...

~ what time did you arrive at Canada Place?

~ were the lines still bad like we have seen on the Alaska boards in previous weeks?

~ did you hike Rainbow falls in Wrangell?

~ was Tracy Arm still fairly limited as far as making it to Sawyer Glacier? (ice flows?)

Thanks again!! :)

Thank you SO MUCH for sharing your review, dcd34!! :D I really appreciate your feedback. I also have some questions...

 

~ what time did you arrive at Canada Place?

~ were the lines still bad like we have seen on the Alaska boards in previous weeks?

~ did you hike Rainbow falls in Wrangell?

~ was Tracy Arm still fairly limited as far as making it to Sawyer Glacier? (ice flows?)

 

Thanks again!! :)

Good morning,

We drove our rental to Canada Place at about 11:30. The lines were already starting to form. Initial security took only 2 minutes, with customs then adding about 10-12 more minutes. However, due to the fact that we were there so early, and that the line was getting worse as we stood there, I could imagine it getting much worse later in the day. My recommendation is to get there as early as possible.

We did the Backcountry Highlander hike in Wrangell, and the first baby portion of our hike was the Rainbow Falls portion (we kept going up, up, and more up for a total of 7 miles....pretty strenuous hike). Very nice. The rainforest is pretty with some neat trees/vegetation, and I liked it better than the trees in Skagway where we did our other hike.

Yes, we could only get 5 miles away from Sawyer Glacier because of all of the little icebergs. The word was that it would be a long time before they could make it through again. My mom took the catamaran excursion and got much closer.

Almagetty - two valium and you'll be fine. :)

We went several years ago, but it was the most awesome experience.

I wasn't kidding about the valium if you get nervous. I did take two and had no fear problems.

Almagetty - two valium and you'll be fine. :)

 

We went several years ago, but it was the most awesome experience.

Thanks, NJGranny, for the advice! ;) I'll keep it in mind!

dcd34 ~ Glad you had a great cruise and thank you for taking the time to write about it. By the way, how was the wind on the balcony?

OceanDreams

The wind was not bad at all. You could stand out there as long as you wanted. Again, you had to mostly stand to see over the railing, but hey, it was worth every second. Most beautiful place I've ever been.

Are you going to post them? I would love a copy/link to them if you do.

If not, could you fax them to me? We are on this cruise the end of July!

Thanks!

Jacquelyn :D

Canuck-columbus posted the ones from the week before. Thanks anyway!

Jacquelyn :D

We just returned from our May 29th sailing on the Sun. We are first time cruisers and the trip was all we hoped it would be.

We were convinced to purchase a balcony and were glad we did. Many times we would stand on our balcony and watch the world go by without having to fight with others on deck. We also ordered room service for breakfast to make a quick getaway when we reached ports of call.

We will have a review posted soon and some of the 1200 photos will be on our website as soon as we can get them all sorted out. We also scanned all 8 days of the FreeStyle Daily and will have them available for review soon.

I know the Tracy Arm excursion from Juneau was expensive, but we both thought it was one of the best we did. You leave Juneau ahead of the Sun and then reboard her in the Tracy Arm. The smaller vessel was able to get all the way to the face of the Sawyer Glacier. We saw whales and seals on the 5 hour trip.

Mike went on the Pilot's Choice helicopter trip from Juneau. He said the only thing better than the view was the pilot, Chip. I don't think you will be disappointed if you go.

Hope you enjoy as much as we did. BA cabin 0205

Thanks for the review... I did this cruise last August and you are bringing back memories!

I would love to see pics of 8002. We had 8202 & 8203 - I want to see if they are the same.

I regret not taking the excursion from Juneau that went to Sawyer Glacier, the Sun did not get close enough to see calfing or anything like that. Tracy Arm was fabulous, and with the forward facing balcony - we had one of the best views on the ship.