Norweign sun - opinions

Good Day, I am thinking of booking our family cruise in December on Norweign Sun. We have always done RCCL in the past, Independence of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas, both are pretty big ships with a promenade on both ships. Can anyone give me some information and opinions about this Norweign Sun since this would be a new cruise line for us. Thanks so much in advance.

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Been on her three times, and next to the Pearl (five times), our favorite ship. She's certainly a smaller ship than what your have cruised. But for us, that small is very nice, comfortable.....and a wonderful crew....but all of the NCL crews we've met are that. Try one of her mini suites. The bath and dressing areas are super. We also like the forward observation lounge, same as the Spinnaker lounge on some of the other ships. We like her Great Outdoors rear grill outdoor eating area. Just like all of her.

Good Day, I am thinking of booking our family cruise in December on Norweign Sun. We have always done RCCL in the past, Independence of the Seas and Freedom of the Seas, both are pretty big ships with a promenade on both ships. Can anyone give me some information and opinions about this Norweign Sun since this would be a new cruise line for us. Thanks so much in advance.

 

 

Pay It Forward. Be kind.

The SUN is a more relaxed ship. If you are looking to have fellowship with your family in a more traditional setting you will enjoy it. It does not have the large Spa found in the newer ships.

If you are looking for a waterpark or Broadway show type entertainment I would recommend one of the new builds...

All depends on what you are looking for

We sailed on the lovely Sun nearly two years ago now and have very fond memories of our trip. You can read a bit about our adventure in the link in my signature. Like others have said, she's a small ship without a lot of bells & whistles, but she's absolutely lovely and we would sail her again in a heartbeat.

Its a smaller ship--nice layout, But the group rooms are tight---the white hot party we were squished. Get there early to get a table

OP you mentioned family, if you have children there isn't much outside of the kids clubs to keep them occupied. IF they are able to have fun in the regular swimming pools and such (the baby pool is tiny!) and enjoy the kids club you won't have a problem.

As stated the SUN is indeed a 'smaller' ship, but as it goes she was pretty huge in her day. She does have a promenade deck, aft outside dining area (get to it through the buffet or the Sports Bar) and she does have a lovely observation lounge and outside deck forward.

Great ship! but without all the 'new fangled' rock walls, water parks, etc. The cabins on the SUN are larger than most other NCL ships, the mini suites are very nice and the suites are fantastic as she doesn't have that many and they are special.

If the itinerary is something that is compelling for you, I would book her in a heartbeat. In the SUN's case, the ship really isn't the destination, its where she takes you.

We sailed the Sun last year so much so we will be back on her in 15 days and cant wait.

Like others have stated if you are looking for a ship with all the bells and whistles then the Sun is not it. She is on the smaller side just but extremely well kept and the Crew is wonderful.

My son is older so he doesn't use the kids crew anymore and usually spends his day either at the pool or basketball court.

The Sun is terrific, IMHO. we have sailed her so often DH jokes that we should own a bit of her by now;). she has a great crew and wonderful officers. there are some nice itineraries.

That said, she is not at all comparable to Freedom class. If you want the Royal Promenade, you have to stick with RCI, with maybe S class of Celebrity as a bit of a substitute. If You want all the stuff on Freedom class, including the Flowrider, you have to go with Freedom or Oasis class (and maybe Quantum when she arrives, we will see). If Flowrider and such are not absolutes, you have lots of choices of big ships, but the Sun is more a classic mid-sized ship, not a big one.

Its a smaller ship--nice layout, But the group rooms are tight---the white hot party we were squished. Get there early to get a table

I always thought that the white hot party was held outside on one of the decks. I guess they bring it indoors if the weather is bad? Thanks for the tip to get there early. I will be sailing on the Sun in March.

Thanks for the input, the kids are more about the ports than the ships themselves. Which is really kind of nice because then we see alot of different things both on the ships and in the ports.

Pay It Forward. Be kind.

I would pick another ship for your first NCL cruise.

I say that because the Sun is an older ship and was built before NCL went to the Freestyle concept. So there aren't the dining options on the Sun and mealtime can get really crowded with really long wait times. Long waits for a table in the main dining room and then really, really, really long waits to get your food. Expect dinner to take 2.5 hours or more. it really is that slow because they get overwhelmed and paralyzed.

Unless you are willing to eat at a specialty resteraunt or the buffet every evening. That would be a good solution.

I love the Aft suites on the back of the ship. The one's that have the wrap around huge balcony, I can't remember the name of the exact suite. I didn't want to leave our suite! Other than the dining situation, the Sun is a well run ship. It is smaller but there is plenty of room around the pools for all of the guests that want to be there. The newer ships have so little outdoor deck space that you are just sitting around like sardines.

If you're going to give NCL a good try, I'd recommend the Pearl.

Are the lineups really that bad for the MDR? Maybe we should consider the new dining package. On a ten day cruise would you have to eat in a specialty restaurant every night to make it pay? How is the evening buffet?This will be our first cruise with NCL and do like the smaller ships with more outdoor space. Any thoughts?

Are the lineups really that bad for the MDR? Maybe we should consider the new dining package. On a ten day cruise would you have to eat in a specialty restaurant every night to make it pay? How is the evening buffet?This will be our first cruise with NCL and do like the smaller ships with more outdoor space. Any thoughts?

Sailed on The Sun 1/1-12/14. We ate every evening meal in The Seven Seasons Dining Room. We ate as early as 1730 hrs and as late as 2000 hrs. We NEVER had more than a 3 minute wait for a table and were offered either a table for two, or to sit with others if we preferred. Service was very good, food was very good, and we were in and out in less than an hour. We were very pleased eating in this MDR. They do require men to be in long pants, for dinner, no ball caps are allowed, and the environment was pleasant and quiet. :-) There is another larger MDR, on The Sun, that is perhaps used by those who don't like the simple dress code in The Seven Seas.

We sailed on the Sun the end of October and wish we were sailing on her again. We had a great time on the actual ship itself. We are a younger middle aged couple who likes to relax on vacation but also have fun. We love the freestyle concept - do what we want when we want.

There were three negatives to our whole trip:

1. Desserts were bland. I'm not a dessert eater but my husband and friends who were didn't care for them. I found the dessert crepes in the buffet the last night. If I had found them sooner I would have had dessert every night.

2. CHAIR HOGS - We got into an argument with a large family for moving their stuff after the security told us we could. Security had to come over and enforce the rule. They saved 7 chairs the next day ect....

3. My neighbors decided to go on this cruise last minute.

The food was good. I had one bad entree the whole 11 nights and they brought me something different. We had dinner in the buffet the first night and it was really good. We ate in Moderno and Le Bistro. Both were very good. There seemed to be a lot of turnover with the dining staff and we did find service to be off in the dining rooms. We had to ask for refills of water and if we wanted to order an alcoholic drink. By the end of the week the service was much better.

We've been on mega ships and smaller ships and prefer the smaller ships because we don't feel like we have to do everything. We also feel relaxed after vacation. When we went on the Oasis, the last two days we were trying to cram everything in that we hadn't done.

Just remember that your vacation is what you make of it. When we returned home my friends were anxious to hear about our vacation and if we had a good time or not. They had already seen our neighbors and they had a terrible time. Our friends said you would have thought we were on two different ships because we had an awesome time and our friends not so much.

I was on the same cruise with PROCRUISE and similarly had no problem with dining in the MDR. I was traveling solo, and about half of the nights I asked to join a shared table. I never had to wait, and didn't find the service horribly slow. It's not fast food, after all.

I agree with the dessert comment -- they were OK but didn't have the "wow" factor. That's fine. Food should not be the central point of the cruise. If it is, go on luxury line, not NCL.

I have never been on one of the mega-ships from NCL or Royal Caribbean, but I've enjoyed every one of my cruises. Join the roll call on Cruise Critic and you'll meet people to hang out with. It worked well for me!

Delawarealan

Thanks so much. I feel better now. Will probably just do specialty dining 3 or 4 nights.