Review of Sun/ 5 day Western Caribbean

[tmt3698]

Hello Fellow Cruisers, just got back from my 5 day Western Caribbean on the NCL Sun.  I've lots of pictures to download but wanted to give you some information while it's fresh in my head. I booked a balcony #9031, loved the cabin it was large with a king size bed, sofa and lots of storage.  The closet was very big with built in shelves on one side. There was also a mini frig and small coffee/tea maker. My room stewardess Adeline was great and very nice. The ship was clean and pretty, the carpet in the atrium and hallways is a pretty blue color and clean, there are two pools and four hot tubs on the main pool deck. I went to the Mandara Spa the first day for the free spa tasters, she rubbed my shoulders for about three minutes. She said the sauna and steam room were $15 per day to use. The ship is easy to navigate once you walk it a couple times, I've always been on this sized ship. Just counted all my cruises since the 1990's up to now I've been on 11 cruises on ships this size. The Seven Seas MDR and Four Seasons MDR are pretty they are one floor. Embarking with easy enough and went very quickly. I think around 2pm or so they announced all the rooms were ready. Once the muster drill was over I walked around a bit more got back to my room around 5pm and my luggage was there. 

[edspec]

Thank-you for this.  On the Sun in July and looking forward to seeing your pics.

[Pauser]

Looking forward to your review!

[tmt3698]

For lunch in the MDR I ordered calamari, tuna salad sandwich and peanut butter cheesecake. The calamari was cold, the tuna salad sandwich was delish, the peanut butter cheesecake was ok. That night I ordered stilton cheese soup delish, scallops awful, entree breaded flounder ok, apple cobbler good, chocolate lava cake ok. The buffet on this ship is the smallest I've seen but they have more options in the morning and afternoon Moderno is open so you can get a fresh made omelette in there and waffles. They also have the great outdoors with a buffet there, they all open at different times. There is plenty of food it's just the main buffet is small. The second day for breakfast I hit Moderno and they made me a fresh omlette he tried to make a fresh waffle but it stuck to the machine. For lunch I ate at the buffet: turkey chili ok, salad, coconut crusted fish delish, pizza in Moderno good. Oh almost forgot to mention in the main buffet they have a corner with ice cream and not just soft serve. There are four or five varieties to choose from. Somewhere along the way I caught a cold, there were a lot of folks coughing/sneezing on board. The second day I took it easy and was trying to rest up for my snorkeling tour in Costa Maya. I organized a snorkeling excursion with Gypsea Divers in Costa Maya it was $25 for 1.5 hours. I communicated with Catherine via email and Gala was our guide in the water along with another fellow that followed along in the back. It was very windy but we went anyway, we stayed in the lagoon area, there were patches of reef with purple sea fans and lots of fish we swam a lot and the waves made it challenging but we kept up with Gala she talked a lot and would point out different types of fish. After the snorkeling I got an hour massage for $20 she was great, one if not the best massage I've ever had! After that I got a beer at Ya Ya's beach club it was about 4pm now and most of the passengers were gone and the hawkers were gone too. I just walked around a little bit took some pictures then headed over to the taxi stand, shared a taxi back with another couple it was $4 each. Stopped at the buffet grabbed some lunch then back to my cozy cabin. Was still feeling a bit under the weather so rested, didn't want to miss my next snorkeling excursion in Cozumel. This excursion was through the ship the tour operator was Explora they did a good job too. It was a 3 stop by boat excursion, the first two stops were good pretty healthy reef lots of fish. The wind picked up so I think they just randomly picked a place for us to stop for the third stop it wasn't great and we didn't stay long. After the snorkeling was over they gave out chips, tea, and beer. I went back to the man made port and just wondered around at this point was getting tired. I really wanted to go out into Cozumel but didn't. Went back to the ship, took a nap got up and went to the buffet tonight was Mexican might and everything was delish. The next morning got up went to buffet had raisin bran, there was a Q&A session with the Captain and officers at 10:30 wanted to make that it was very interesting then they had a cake bake off at 12:15pm one of the chefs came out, the cruise director and someone from the audience decorate a pre-made cake it was funny then they give out samples. Had a reservation at 6pm in the MDR I ordered stuffed mushrooms ok not great, bruschetta delish, smoked raviloi delish, entree ordered potato gnochhi delish, dessert ordered flan it was ok and banana split it was good. There was a show at 7:30 watched about three songs and decided to head back to my cabin to pack. I carry my own bags off so the next morning went and had breakfast then headed out, they did facial recognition to disembark, basically walked right off. 

 

 

[tmt3698]

[tmt3698]

[tmt3698]

This is the man made port of Costa Maya

[tmt3698]

This is the Malecon/pedestrian walk way once you are over by all the beach clubs in Costa Maya, I didn't know what to expect from Costa Maya but once you get to this area it's very nice. The hawkers were out in force in the morning by 4pm they were all gone or just tired out. There was no sea weed problem last week. 

 

[tmt3698]

Forgot to mention the casino is steps from the atrium so the smoke billows into the atrium, guest services, excursion desk area, basically the whole area. It was awful. We docked in Costa Maya and anchored in Cozumel with tenders going back and forth. Some folks were complaining about the tenders being to hot and uncomfortable, I sat both times in the lower section that is enclosed with AC and cushioned seats. I was very comfortable. I did a ship excursion in Cozumel so didn't have to stand in line for a tender ticket. Coming back the tender wasn't full because I came back around 2-3pm we waited about 15 minutes for it fill up more then they left. Overall the seas were calm for us I think 5 ft seas was the most. The one day the wind was 39 knots very windy but we had great weather. 

[mumbumone]

I leave on the Sun Feb 17th and will be going to Cozumel.  Did you know before hand you were tendering?  We have 7 or 8 ships that day and our reservations confirmation says docking.

[tmt3698]

2 hours ago, mumbumone said:

I leave on the Sun Feb 17th and will be going to Cozumel.  Did you know before hand you were tendering?  We have 7 or 8 ships that day and our reservations confirmation says docking.

Looking at my paperwork it says dock at both Costa Maya and Cozumel. 

It looked like the larger ships got to use the docks,

I think I counted five large ships docked, NCL Sun and a Carnival were anchored. 

[tmt3698]

[julieb6]

On 2/8/2020 at 10:47 AM, tmt3698 said:

Forgot to mention the casino is steps from the atrium so the smoke billows into the atrium, guest services, excursion desk area, basically the whole area. It was awful. We docked in Costa Maya and anchored in Cozumel with tenders going back and forth. Some folks were complaining about the tenders being to hot and uncomfortable, I sat both times in the lower section that is enclosed with AC and cushioned seats. I was very comfortable. I did a ship excursion in Cozumel so didn't have to stand in line for a tender ticket. Coming back the tender wasn't full because I came back around 2-3pm we waited about 15 minutes for it fill up more then they left. Overall the seas were calm for us I think 5 ft seas was the most. The one day the wind was 39 knots very windy but we had great weather. 

I was on this ship too and the smoke was terrible. We were on 6A and I would run up or down stairs  immediately to avoid the stench of the casino

[montecarloss]

Were you able to select your own food from the buffet or were you served?  We will be boarding on Wednesday.

[julieb6]

10 minutes ago, montecarloss said:

Were you able to select your own food from the buffet or were you served?  We will be boarding on Wednesday.

By the end of the trip we were able to select our own food from the buffet. We could not serve ourselves, even drinks, for the first 3 days (or more, I kind of forget). They did not necessarily have enough staff to accommodate this, so meals did take a little longer. I would definitely recommend not stopping at the first buffet or drink serving station you see, those ones tend to be much more crowded!

[C cruise]

nice report and lovely pictures

[nicsmama649]

We are leaving in this cruise next Saturday. I'm glad to hear there is not seaweed problem in Costa Maya right now 🙂

[cincicruisers]

Thank you for sharing.  How  was the pool loungers availability?

[rnr4thatsme]

Did they show movies anywhere on the ship?  Love your photos!