NCL Sun review with comparison

[Naismith]

I am posting this to both the NCL and HAL boards, since I am doing a comparison review.

As background, we are not dedicated cruisers.  We have been on five lines, and might do a cruise every other year or so; most of our vacations are land-based self-driven road trips.  And the cruises are based on itinerary not ship. 

As fate and deals worked out, we were on Nieuw Amsterdam in December 2022 and then on the Norwegian Sun in April 2023, just a few months later. 

Both of those ships accommodate about 2,000 pax, and both cruises were a bit undersold.  Both times we had an Oceanview on the lowest passenger deck.  So it should be a fair comparison.  A few stark differences that I noticed:

1.       THE APP.  The HAL Navigator just worked.  From the time we booked, it was full of information, with no drop-off in quality on our cruise.  We did not purchase a wifi plan on either ship.  The NCL app worked only when on ship’s wifi, which took at least three tries to get on, and regularly fell off.  The HAL Navigator included free access to the New York Times website, and a free messaging app.  NCL charges $10 for their messaging app; I am guessing that would also stop working when one fell off the network. 

2.       On the NCL Sun, menus for the MDR were available outside the main dining room, if one wanted to take a hike.  The menus on the HAL NA were available for both the MDR and buffet on both the television and app, with a clear explanation of where items could be found in the buffet, which is larger and less crowded on that ship.  Indeed, ship menus were available on the Navigator before our cruise, which helped me realize that some theme meals might be served on our cruise, and we watched for them and adjusted plans as needed. 

3.       The gym on the NCL Sun is wonderful, with a separate fitness center that allows one to do floor exercises and stretching when a class is not going on.  It is well equipped with balance balls and foam rollers and all kinds of equipment.  This really helped my back.  It was open until 11 p.m.  On the HAL NA, the gym was closed at 9 p.m., and the limited floor space was often claimed by other events.

4.       The food on the buffet on the NCL Sun was excellent; they are known for the Indian dishes, but they also had a lot of great Mediterranean choices every day:  lentil salad, hummus, baba ghanoush, and so on.  They did not have much Southeast Asian food, and none very spicy, whereas HAL NA had great lunchtime Asian choices including sushi. 

5.       The soft-serve ice cream was broken on the HAL NA when we were on, and there were two on the NCL Sun. 

6.       The buffet on HAL NA was much more hygienic, with most serving by crew.  But the NCL Sun had two sinks for handwashing, which I always did before eating.  Norovirus is not eliminated by hand sanitizer. 

7.       NCL Sun had much more outside seating available, which was important to us having come from a place where Covid and flu are still a thing.  We ate most meals outside on deck. 

8.       HAL NA had free room service when we were there, which was nice when returning from a strenuous excursion.

9.       NCL Sun had three big production shows: a Bachrach tribute, rock & roll, and world stage.  They were good if you like that kind of thing.  But too loud (I could mitigate with earplugs) and too many flashing lights (hate lights in my eyes).  I missed the simple elegance of Lincoln Center Stage. 

10.   We were really there for the ports that we were visiting; the ship was NOT the destination.  But both cruises did have some sea days to fill; HAL had incredible multi-media shows on sea days.  I really enjoyed the ones about radio and writers in the Caribbean, etc.  Although people who cruise a lot with HAL find them to be repetitive.  NCL Sun was lame by comparison.  I did enjoy the class on Filipino language, but when I went to the one on Serbian language, it was a waste—he had no handouts or powerpoint and just told stories, and even said that Albania was part of Yugoslavia, which it was NOT.  And while we are not trivia people, we did go to the “landmarks of the world” trivia.  But the pictures were hard to see, taking up only a fraction of the screen, and the questions were in illegible outline text, with a moderator who was too busy cracking jokes to actually read the questions well. 

11.   Both ships had TV news available from BBC, MSNBC and Fox.  But the HAL NA had a whole catalogue of on-demand movies, that kept track of where you stopped viewing so that you could spread a movie across a few nights.  NCL Sun had 4 channels of entertainment, but no guide as to when movies began and ended, so it was not very satisfying.  On these port-intensive cruises, we were sometimes tired when returning from port and just wanted to veg.

12.   Drinks.  We don’t drink alcohol, but might enjoy a Coke Zero in the late afternoon.  On the HAL NA, there was a 2-for-1 happy hour in the Ocean Bar from 4-6, where we were given two cans of soda and a container of peanuts.  The NCL Sun served a glass of soda with mostly ice, which we were not going to pay for.  We were not interested in a package, because a friend who had it earlier complained that she drank so many calories that she did not enjoy the cruise as much, and also because our travel agent confessed some other pax did not think it was worth the cost of the required gratuities.  As it happened, we did have a Coke Zero most afternoons, but on shore before returning to the ship.  One sea day there was a reception for veterans and so we had a glass there (I almost didn’t go because I feared that I would be the only female vet there, but about 7% were women). 

13.   On NCL Sun, even the “sailaway/guarantee” room came with a $50 excursion credit, which could be used to book in advance for one ship excursion we needed (the trip would take us far enough away that I would not do a non-ship excursion).  This credit was more flexible than waiting for onboard credit to book an excursion, a dilemma that I had faced before.

[Travelling2Some]

Thanks for the interesting comparison.  We are eyeing HAL for Alaska and, like you, chiefly interested in the ports.  I have noticed the excessive ice in NCL drinks, which would be bothersome if you were paying out of pocket rather than having the FAS.  I do wish NCL would "get with it" with furnishing menus at least a bit in advance.  As you said, there are theme nights at the buffet we would be interested in (or not) and would like the heads up so we could book our specialty dining around those.  Also, a big thanks for your service.  There are so many sacrifices for military members and their families and they are deeply appreciated.

[smillerholmes]

4 hours ago, Travelling2Some said:

Thanks for the interesting comparison.  We are eyeing HAL for Alaska and, like you, chiefly interested in the ports.  I have noticed the excessive ice in NCL drinks, which would be bothersome if you were paying out of pocket rather than having the FAS.  I do wish NCL would "get with it" with furnishing menus at least a bit in advance.  As you said, there are theme nights at the buffet we would be interested in (or not) and would like the heads up so we could book our specialty dining around those.  Also, a big thanks for your service.  There are so many sacrifices for military members and their families and they are deeply appreciated.

Agreed. I am on the Sun right now and I have to remember to go down to check the menu. Annoying, but I did remember and tonight will be Specialty Dining 🙂

[itsnotjustme]

We were on that Sun cruise, and immensely enjoyed it mostly for the great ports. But the ship as well.

 

Concur about the very poor photos on World View Trivia.  Marc with a C I believe was host, and he did talk/joke too much.

 

Thanks for the run down.  We have cruised both (actually many) and have come to nest with NCL, reaching Sapphire status with the whopping 64 points for this cruise.