My Review of the Sunny Sun 11 night 3/20-3/31

I can’t believe it is finally time for our cruise on the “Sunny Sun”. This is the name I have given my favorite ship. I cruised on the Sun in 2005 with my mom, and we loved the ship and our accommodations so much that I booked our first ever “repeat cruise”… the same ship and the same cabin. We really didn’t care where it was going. I had a choice between a 10 and 11 night itinerary, and since the 11 night was only about $50 more I said, “what the heck”. This was back in May of 2011. Then I posted in the Roll Call section and waited to see who would join us… I waited and waited… and then… Cruise Critic friends begin to appear and the cruise seemed “real”, not a “dream”. Our little roll call was growing… and here it was cruise time and we are “80 strong”… nice.

As we prefer, we left a day early, Tuesday, 3/18. Even in Texas things can go wrong with weather, mechanical issues, etc. Super shuttle arrives on time and we are off. Earlier that morning I had dropped off my pup, Lexie at “Dee’s Doggie Den” for boarding. She will have organized play with her friends in the daytime and at night retire to a “luxury suite”… lucky girl! I can access a webcam 24/7 which is an added plus. Gotta love modern technology!

Our flight is on time and my luggage was one pound under. Cha-ching. Arriving in Miami we take a cab to the hotel. We had pre-paid a night at the Holiday Inn Port of Miami and planned an evening at Bayside for shopping and dinner. Well… before I left home I tried my mini-blender and I had worn it out. Mom had given me a magic bullet and I couldn’t get that darn thing to work so I made a plan to just buy a mini-blender in Miami and carry it on. Sounded simple… not so. First we walked to CVS and they didn’t have any. Someone suggested Ross, so over I walked and found a child’s baby food blender with a teddy bear decal… that would have to do… then mom called me from Walgreen’s and had found the perfect thing. So, I trekked over and agreed and then walked back to Ross and returned the “baby blender”. Perfect… now I am set for the cruise.

Note: Miami has great little “people movers”, as we called them. Free transportation. How nice.

We went to Bayside for dinner and I let my mom choose… can you guess? She chooses Hooters. OMG. Well, as she explains, “I know they have a good burger”. Mom was right. After dinner, just a short walk back to the hotel. Watched a little TV and then to sleep.

I am an early riser, so I was ready and out of the room by 5:30. After a while I went back and we had coffee and instant oatmeal in the room. We like to board the ship early so caught a cab at 10:45 or so. About 10 minutes later we arrive and I see that Sunny Sun hull art. Yippee!!! We walk up to the scanner and put in our luggage. The attendant asks me to open it. Sure. She says we can’t take “it”. Now, I know I don’t smuggle… I have a nice liter bottle of Absolut waiting in my cabin which I had already paid for through the bar setup. She picks up the base to my mini-blender and says, “you can’t take this… you can pick it up AFTER the cruise”, firmly but politely I explain that I have taken a mini blender on all my cruises, even on the Sun previously. She remains firm. I ask to see a supervisor and I am told no again… but am told that I can go to the “naughty room” once on board the ship and maybe they will let me have it back after they inspect it. I joke, “what do you think I am gonna do, freeze the ship with my frozen cosmos?” Really, they were nice, but not budging. So, it’s into the VIP section for check-in, sans blender.

Check in was easy. And quick. We had barely had a glass of juice, mini-sandwich and a cookie before we were led parade style to an area that was cordoned off. This was a good opportunity to mingle and we met many other guests, including two gents who were on their 116th cruise. My heroes! I spot a family across the room, two young men… could it be 2boyzmom from the Cruise Critic roll call??? Yes! It was. So nice to put faces with some of the people I have chatted with online.

In a short time we were led onto the shop and immediately to Il Adagio for lunch. Now, this is my favorite restaurant on my favorite ship so I am just about giddy with delight. We are seated at one of the charming little window tables for two and we both order the shrimp and scallop risotto. I chuckle at mom who really doesn’t eat rice. I don’t much either… but risotto is better than rice. Soon we are introduced to Monica, our concierge and Teresa, our butler. Both are nice and eager to accommodate our cruise wishes and dreams, (and we came to realize they do this brilliantly).

While we were in Il Adagio I asked Monica about securing a place at the Chef’s Table dinner. In a matter of minutes I was signing the receipt. I am sure this will be a highlight of my trip. So excited.

To be continued...

hmm, sounds like they haven't confiscated the MB yet.....anciously awaiting the full story.

Thanks for the story so far. Can't wait to read more. :D

All 'ears' for a Sun review!!

Mom chose Hooters?!? Wow! Sounds like you're in for a fun cruise!

Bumping up so it doesn't get lost/buried again;)

Can't wait to read the rest of your review. I love the Sun also. (I would say it is a toss-up for me between the Sun and the Dawn....leaning slightly towards the Sun;)). I am always looking to see if we can get our same rooms again on the front of the ship...1001 and 1002 (right next to the owners suite.) They were awesome and since they are a balcony and mini-suite...we got both rooms at about $3800 total. I haven't been able to find that deal again though:(. I love the hull painting on the Sun...it is my favorite of all the NCL ships I have been on so far.

Just subscribing to what should an awesome report. Thanks. :)

What happened to the "rest of the story":)

Waiting to hear what happened to the blender...

Where are you Donna?

Where are you Donna?

Ditto :)

When I read about the Magic Bullet, I thought your "blender" might be pulling double duty!

Thanks for writing the review... looking forward to it as we sail on the Sun this December.

Hey Donna, Welcome back! Being another Sun lover, I can not wait to read about your experiences. Looking forward to your stories.

Jai

I have been sick. Feeling better today. Sorry for the delay. Will get back to it asap.

I have been sick. Feeling better today. Sorry for the delay. Will get back to it asap.

Yuk :( sorry you were sick. Looking forward to your review. I miss that ship. Can't wait to relive it through your review.

I have been sick. Feeling better today. Sorry for the delay. Will get back to it asap.

Glad you're feeling better. :)

I have been sick. Feeling better today. Sorry for the delay. Will get back to it asap.

Oh what a bummer! Sorry you got sick, but very glad you're feeling better, and anxiously awaiting the rest of your review. Rest up, and we'll all be here waiting when you're well enough to finish. ;)

Hope you're feeling better soon, Donna. I'm really glad you're doing a review because we're in your cabin next month :D and can hardly stand the wait!

Donna, can't wait for the "rest of the story" I am sorry you are sick, but glad you are on the mend.

You call her, the Sunny Sun, I have always called her the Sunny, Sun, Sun...We will be cruising her in early Dec. Our last experience on our favorite ship was also in 2005.

Once we were finished with lunch we started our long trek back to corner aft facing cabin 9076, a penthouse suite. As I previously mentioned, we have cruised in the exact cabin before and we loved it so much we decided to repeat. I knew the suite had been updated and I was looking forward to seeing it. When we made it to the door it just felt so familiar! Yea! Once inside it just felt so comfy and well, just right!!! The colors had previously been accented with red and yellow but it is now shades of blue. I liked it - much more calming and cool feeling. We liked that the old tube tvs were gone and had been replaced with flat screens. I did notice we still had the old Mr. Coffee type machine. Bummer.

Our luggage was delivered quite promptly and our stewardess, Daryl (a female) came by no meet us. She pronounces her name – Dair-ree-ull. We immediately found her warm and friendly. And throughout the next 11 days and nights we saw her often. She was always smiling and laughing. In fact we ran into her in port one day out of her uniform and she was just so cute! She brought me extra hangers!!! Thank you Daryl!!! She brought us each a robe. You know, the white waffle ones that are “one size fits most” haha.

Our muster drill was in Section S, outside and it was stinky. The water there was just gross. It was funny to see all the pax holding their noses. No life jackets were needed, so after a short drill we got outta there.

We unpacked a little bit and went to the spa for a raffle ticket to their introduction raffle but as luck had it we passed through the casino and stopped. We signed up for our casino cards and they also gave us a raffle ticket. On route to the spa a man from the art auction gave us yet another raffle ticket.

We finally made it to the spa where they were giving mini treatments to entice you and it sure worked on us. I got a sample of the Thai poultice massage and I really liked the way it felt and the grassy and herb-like aroma it gave. Mom signed up for a pedi at the same time as my massage, which would be in the afternoon on our first sea day (the next day). So we left the spa and as we made it through the fitness center, which has windows, we noticed we were moving!!! So much for the Frozen Cosmo sail-away I had been looking forward to. We weren’t even on our balcony and even if we were… no dang blender to whip up a cold one with.

We went back to the suite and finished unpacking. Mom and I decided to sit a spell on the wonderful balcony. She heard a noise from next door and I jumped up, stuck my head around the railing, and said “One of you must be JTEpic”!!! I knew Jerry and Nicholas from our roll call were to be our neighbors. We checked out each other’s digs and I noticed each of us had a Vodka bar setup. We should get along just fine! Haha. After a short visit it was about the time we had to go for the drawings. No luck this time. Mom missed the final casino prize by only being one off on the last digit on her ticket. Darn. We played some slots and I turned $50 into $118 on $1 Wheel of Fortune slots. Not too bad.

So we decided it was time to eat… again. Dinner Time! I was trying to coax mom into a specialty restaurant and she said she wasn’t very hungry so we just went in to The Four Seasons Main Dining Room. This is the smaller, mid ship main dining room. It is a little less grand and quieter than the other one. We were seated at the back near the kitchen. We both had Cream of Mushroom soup. It was ok, (not as good as my mom’s though). We had steak and lobster. Mom liked the steak better than I did. I thought the lobster was fine, but small. I had key lime pie for dessert. Mom had sherbet.

We had just about finished our dessert when something miraculous happened…

To be continued.

Glad you are feeling better.

Loving the review so far!

Glad you're feeling better. Can't wait to hear mirculous thing happened. :)

Donna, you tease! Loving this review, glad I finally caught up with it. It's great that you didn't get sick before or during the cruise, glad you are on the mend! :D

Donna, you tease! Loving this review, glad I finally caught up with it. It's great that you didn't get sick before or during the cruise, glad you are on the mend! :D

I do not mean to be a tease. In my new place I got cable and internet but needed to buy a new computer. I bought a mac desktop, ipad mini, new iphone and airport express. Then hooked it up and had probs. Finally a-ok, installed MS office and began typing in WORD. Don't know how but I jumbled it and can't figure out how to "cut and paste" into CC. So, I emailed it to my office and post the next installment or two in the morning. So sorry.

I do not mean to be a tease. In my new place I got cable and internet but needed to buy a new computer. I bought a mac desktop, ipad mini, new iphone and airport express. Then hooked it up and had probs. Finally a-ok, installed MS office and began typing in WORD. Don't know how but I jumbled it and can't figure out how to "cut and paste" into CC. So, I emailed it to my office and post the next installment or two in the morning. So sorry.

Thanks for checking in, looking forward to more of your review.