Mitsugirly's extensive back to belly sun & sky review

[dna529]

Enjoying your review! I loved seeing the kids club on the Sun. The Sun was my kids' first cruise in 2011 and they loved it in there! Even though they got sick on the first night because we had rough seas and it is all the way forward, they always wanted to be there. The Sun got us hooked on NCL!

 

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[mitsugirly]

Great Review so far! Looking forward to sailing with you on the Dawn in May, hopefully celebrating your new job! Good luck at the Interview :)

 

I'm looking forward to Bermuda as well. I'm just really concerned now about the weather and whether or not it will be warm enough to swim in the ocean and snorkel.

 

You give such a feel for the ship!!! I feel like I'm there. I love that atrium and the pool at night.

 

So hopefully Sakari participated in Kids Club this time and didn't sit and refuse to join in the activities and never, ever do any art projects ;)

 

Hope your interview went well!

 

Thanks so much. Yep, Sakari had a blast at the Kids Club like always.

[mitsugirly]

I was on Sun in 2005 and the smoking policy was different then.

 

The card room was on the Promenade deck, but I don't remember the deck number.

 

DIL spent time near the sports bar, because she could smoke in there or right outside of it. Believe it or not, this was the first time I saw a bucket of beer. I'm picturing the beer in a helmet shaped bucket. Does anyone remember it served this way?

 

A lot of things were different back in the day. I remember when I first started cruising you could smoke anywhere, even at the MDR at the table. :eek:

 

Enjoying your review! I loved seeing the kids club on the Sun. The Sun was my kids' first cruise in 2011 and they loved it in there! Even though they got sick on the first night because we had rough seas and it is all the way forward, they always wanted to be there. The Sun got us hooked on NCL!

 

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Forums mobile app

 

Sakari has had great experiences with the kids club. I have to say that even though the Sky is layed out the same with the kids club, I did like the way it looked better. It was bright and beautiful with all kinds of colors. However the staff....well one particular...was a different story. :mad: :rolleyes:

[mitsugirly]

Next up is Sushi/Ginza/Teppanyaki/Cagney's area. These were all located within Cagney's, which I thought was a little weird and they are all spread out. You really couldn't tell where one ends and another begins IMO.

 

This is a specialty restaurant that you pay for.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Before we move on down toward the front of the ship, I'm going to include a few odds and ends still in this area and the back of the ship.

 

Here is the 12th floor smoking area. It is across the entire back and right outside of Las Ramblas and Le Bistro.

 

 

 

 

Just a random picture I took while up there.

 

 

The elevators at the back (right outside of Las Ramblas and Cagneys) have 4 elevators. Once again, that LAST elevator is the one that you will need to also push that button in order to call for that last elevator. Otherwise, you are only waiting on the 3 elevators.

 

 

 

One thing I liked about this ship is they had the rubber matting down on this entire floor/deck area. It made it easy to walk on without any shoes since it wouldn't burn your feet. I think this is an awesome idea! How many of you have had your feet burned when walking on the hot wooden deck? Yep, it's happen to me a lot and I'm doing a dance across the floor hopping like a bunny.

 

 

 

Random hallway

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

While walking toward the front, you have the Sports Deck which includes the shuffleboard (which I REALLY wanted to play but everytime the mood struck me, someone was already there), the basketball/volleyball court (which we didn't use on this ship, but did on the Sky).

 

Here you can see the enclosed net of the basketball court (shot from the 11th deck):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving along you have the rows of sun chairs lined up.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Champs bar is located up here and facing the pool area. I have to say that I really didn't see a lot of people utilizing this area (most were down by the pool itself getting drinks). Every once in awhile you would see 1 or 2 people up here (unless I was just passing by at the wrong times). A lot of the times I noticed it seemed closed too.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

If you go to the left and head inside, you have the Chapel located here. It accommodates 25 people and is cute. I ask my hubby to remarry when we were in here. He said yes and then proceeded to want to make out. :p Geesh...men.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Heading back outside and over to the right side of Deck 12 you will come across the kids pool/hot tub area. THIS is where I would tell Sakari has a slide. She did not find me amusing after she seen it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They also have a kids hot tub as well, which was nice, especially when it was a little chilly out. Now I do know that I read on these boards prior to going that this is a "unknown hidden gem for adults that want to get away from the crowded hot tubs and have the hot tub to themselves". Well, I did witness some adults using it for this purpose. However, it IS kids hot tub and area, so when I come along with my KID, who belongs in this area and not in the ADULT pool, don't sigh and get out like I just ruined your day....just saying! :rolleyes: My child is where they are supposed to be and not in "your" hot tub. End of rant.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Here are the doors to go inside and the restrooms. The restrooms are a single person restroom and quite roomy. It made it nice that you didn't have to go looking for one somewhere on the deck or inside...especially with children.

 

 

 

I really thought the painting on the walls and around the pool area was cute. I can tell you that Sakari could and has drawn these pictures before. I can gaurantee that she could have had a job painting this area. She's such an artist.

 

 

 

They also had a few showers here as well.

 

 

 

Now if you have children here and you want to sit down and relax, the hot tub kind of blocks your view of the kids if you are sitting on a lounge chair.

 

However...and of course this depends on the age of your children, if you go up a small amount of stairs on this 1/2 deck, you have the PERFECT view of the entire pool area. It was a great spot. But of course, like I said, this would be if you have older children (like Sakari) that would be able to be left below kinda alone and not have to worry about them drowning or anything.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The Observation Lounge is on the front of the ship and pretty huge with beautiful wood floors.

 

 

 

 

 

If you think you want to be a Captain of a ship some day, here's where you can practice your skills. I'm pretty sure Sakari wrecked us that day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

In front of the Observation Lounge is a huge deck. There's plenty enough room for everyone here and plenty of seats (or at least that's what we found when we were up here). It's also a great place for sailaway as well.

 

 

 

 

 

If you are up here at the right time during sailaway from the ports, you get to be blasted by the ship horn. (Always one of my favorite things to do to Sakari when she's not expecting it).

 

 

 

This is a little "in-between" deck (between 11 and 12) and this is the only other spot I could find that if you stood there, you could get a picture without having to battle the glare of the glass in your pictures. As you can tell, there's not a lot of room for people there and everyone wants that area for a picture.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Now it's time for just some random odds balls I'm throwing in.

 

 

Here's a bathroom (obviously)

 

 

 

 

This is a picture of them constantly doing work on the ship to keep it in tip-top shape. I watched them do repairs on the cove base along the hallways by the rooms, I watched them caulking areas, I found them painting, I found them scraping off the non-skid strips on the steps on deck 12 leading up to Champs Bar. There's always some type of cleaning and restoring going on on every ship that I have been on.

 

[mitsugirly]

I always give a tour of the artwork/painting on the outside of the ships on the decks. One day, later in the week, I discovered that I had not been outside on the deck (6) for these pictures yet. The hubby and I did a sprint walk around the entire ship taking these pictures (he's knows my true dedication and went along for the ride...errrr, I mean walk).

 

So here's the story. We are on deck 7 by the Stardust Lounge. I know normally there is a door there. I could not find such door to get outside. So, we are walking around inside looking for a door. Somehow we decided to go down to deck 6 and I finally decide to ask an employee how to get outside to walk. They pointed at the doors and I ask about the other doors on the other levels. I got a blank stare. Hmmm, why does she all of a sudden not understand me? Well I guess she must have thought I was nuts because....THERE IS NO OTHER DECK TO GET OUTSIDE. Oops. My bad. I'm not use to there only being 1 deck you can go out on. LOL (Embarrassed now).

 

So tail between my legs and out I go...here's your tour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Normally they paint on the outside something that relates to whatever is directly inside within that area. However, with only having 1 deck you can walk on like this, they had to mix things up a little and involved everything all on 1 floor.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notice that you have a side for "Walking" and a side for "Jogging"? I put MY side in the middle (and should have turned my name upside down) because this is my area and I can gaurantee that I wasn't EVER going in the right direction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

Yea, we made it to the aft (peaking up to see if I see the Ma'ams hanging over the balcony)....nope. They must be at some wine tasting event. hehe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Oh my gosh does it ever end?

 

 

 

Of course it does...want to know why? Because the other side repeats what you just saw. Hmmm, I guess that was a good thing. No double pictures I hope since it took me awhile to discover this after thinking to myself "hmm, I swear I've seen this before".

[mitsugirly]

Next on my list is the interior...stairwells, which for some reason always fascinate me. I inform the hubby we are now going to walk the stairs to take pictures of the artwork. He breathes a sigh of relief when I proceed to tell him that we will start at the top and walk DOWN the steps. hehe

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I thought I would squeeze in a picture of the Sun elevator carpet...LOL

 

[shelling4life]

Happy Happy Happy

[samiam0403]

I am LOVING this review! DH and I sailed on the Sun last year on a 10-night S Carib cruise in a suite for my 40th b-day, and fell in love with her and her crew. I loved the Sun so much that my mom and I are sailing on her in January. Just FYI, based solely on your review of Almaplena, Mom and I are now booked for our day there on our cruise. :) Looking forward to the rest of the review - you have a true talent for this!