Ask4Jay

@taylortimes05

Entertainment on the Sun? Sorry, no idea. On something like 14 cruises since, we have 'done' maybe five shows. Just not our thing. However, we have a heck of a good time every time we are at sea.

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@Bootman4U

You talking about us? We belong to that group you mentioned, enjoying our aft balcony for a good portion of the day - far from the madding crowd. Can't wait for Oct. 15.

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@Ken -

I hope you'll get some responses from Rotterdam cruisers. In the meantime here are my comments: we (DW and I) have done a dozen T/As and a few others, mostly on NCL / ALWAYS in an aft/facing balcony cabin.

You are never on the 'wrong' side of the ship. Underway, which almost constant on a T/A, you have no wind to deal with. In port we have seen a car carrier behind us unloading cars, a small ship in Ponta Delgado unloading cattle containers by shipboard crane. Even on our Path of the Vikings cruise from Dover to NYC via Iceland we were able to spend time on the balcony, albeit with a light hoodie. Downside? Still trying to uncover one.

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The scheduled arrival time is not the determining factor - how early Customs & Immigration clear the ship will set the disembarkation in motion. I would say between 7 and 8 am - if you walk off will ALL of your luggage.

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Done 12 T/As on various NCL ships. Twice on Epic, never on Getaway, so ... next fall it'll be Getaway from Copenhagen - in an aft facing cabin, as always .

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Go to Roll Calls / Costa Cruises / Favolosa and pick your departure date. You may find that someone else has already started one. If not, knock yourself out. You may also want to lurk on other threads first.

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It was December 2004, on the Norwegian Sun. After the first night's sleep I woke up and realized that I was still on a ship, wow. Taking your bed with you, wherever you go, awesome. That's when it really sank in.

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On the back of the Daily you will find a listing of hours of operation for each venue. Before the buffet opens, they have a station somewhere with Danishes, cookies, juices and coffee. We travel with an empty McDonald cup, M or L which I use to take coffee back to my DW. Fill it just halfway to leave room for swapping without spilling any.

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Norwegian Sun from NYC, 2 weeks at sea, back to NYC.

The Sun is the smallest ship in the fleet with the best aft-facing balconies. Small means more motion in rough weather, great. Don't care about sightseeing. The ship is the destination . Hey, you asked. Whatever floats your boat.

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The Sun. She is the smallest in the fleet and has the best aft-facing balconies. Plus she is the one who got us hooked on cruising.

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One additional thought on balcony location - there is indeed little air on an aft-facing balcony. However, on on a transatlantic cruise in cool spring or fall weather, that is a welcome bonus.

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... the security officer swipes your card as you self-debark from your present cruise.

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First thing I do when we are in our cabin is to turn on the Nav channel and kill the sound for the duration of the cruise.

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We took NCL's policy and upgraded to include medical evacuation coverage. (We are both in our 80s.)

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Ship: Norwegian Sun

Cabin: Aft-facing Balcony

Itinerary:

Day 1 Lv NYC (close to home)

Days 2 - 13 at sea

Day 14 arrive NYC

Everything else is a compromise.

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My iPad mini beats NCL's laptop any time.

Got my own reading material, music and, most importantly, all email addresses that I need. Oh yes, I can also pictures and videos.

Why on earth would I want to stiff the staff, hard working or not? If I don't like the DSC, I have the option to cancel my cruise. So I have to pay a little more, big deal. If I can spend a few thousand on a cruise, I can handle increase DSC as well.

All these phony justifications for not paying are just acts of Nickel & Diming, an activity that NCL is usually accused of. Sheesh.

@Studebaker59

May I suggest that next time you take an aft cabin one deck lower and let the cabin above you catch all the debris. Yep, been there, done that. You may have noticed that the balconies on Deck 10 are deeper (longer) by a out a foot and a half and catch the stuff. J.

Just like ILoveSailing, we sail only in aft cabins. It's the place to be, best seats in the house. Did two trans-Atlantics on the Epic. When you leave your cabin, hang a sharp left or right and open the door with the porthole straight ahead. It's the staircase with a great view to the side. J.

Definitely YES. Next cruise will be in Nov.2015. Got our aft cabin at a decent price and will not sweat the small stuff. If I can no longer get 2 coffees and 2 cookies early in morning, we'll both get up to the buffet.

If I were an evil person who wanted to do nasty stuff, I certainly would not do it in a place that's crawling with thousands of armed guards with twitchy trigger fingers. As a tourist I would consider Greater Paris one of the spots right now.

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I usually buy a 100-minute Internet package to send a daily log home and download incoming mail. On our last Transatlantic cruise on the Epic Iin November, I managed to get one email out - after DW and I hiked to a McDonald's in St. Thomas and used their Wi-Fi (I am still sweating). I know for sure that I spent more time at the Wi-Fi desk than anywhere else. The guy at the desk was surrounded by unhappy passengers every time I went down there. He tried hard, but could not get connected. Yes, I did get mu money back. Lesson learned: Don't count on Wi-Fi onboard.

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Thanks for the update, Demonyte. J

We got off the Epic's Repo cruise from Barcelona last month. Didn't pay any attention to the price, but $25 per bag sounds about right. As Platinum members we got one bag-full free. That's a very nice perk, since they did away with the laundry rooms a few years ago. Don't even think of hand washing anything larger than a hanky or a sock in the Epic's sinklet, LOL. J

My take on Deck 10 on the Gem and Jewel. Deck 10 on these 2 ships is longer than the other decks by about a foot and a half. Not much, but enough to catch anything lightweight that gets blown off the tables in the outdoor café aft. And, of course, that is also where passengers (smoking and non-smoking) like to stand and watch the wake. (See pic). For us a better balcony would be on a lower deck. Let Deck balconies catch the trash. The soot "problem" seems to be a problem mostly when the ship swings at anchor and the wind goes straight aft. J