I have been reading reviews of the Sun and how the food is not so good.

[dispachcops]

I have been reading the reviews of the Sun since our Sun cruise is coming up, and in most of the reviews the food has been rated as "horrendous" "slop" "lack of choices" "same stuff, different name" and not only referring to the buffet, but referring to the main dining and the paid restaurants. What is the course of action if the food is terrible all cruise? Just complain? Request a refund? Since food is a major part of the cruise, if the food is unbearable, what is the recourse? One of the reviews said that the best food that they ate was the hamburgers and hotdogs on the outdoor grill.... I hope that something is done about the food before our cruise.

 

Here is a direct quote from the last review about the Sun: "The menu for 13 days consisted of Pork, Lamb, Duck and more Pork, Lamb, & Duck. There was no variety. Everyone onboard was complaining about the food and saying the specialty restaurants were not any better."

[cruizinwithkids]

1. This review sounds pretty whiny. Do you really think there was NO chicken or beef or fish? I find that IMPOSSIBLE to believe.

 

2. I think a lot of people aren't willing to try things. For example did the reviewer have lamb, pork and duck or did the person just read those items?

 

The one thing you have to keep in mind in my comments is that I don't consider food a major part of a cruise so maybe I'm easier to please than others.

[cliffd64]

I have been reading the reviews of the Sun since our Sun cruise is coming up, and in most of the reviews the food has been rated as "horrendous" "slop" "lack of choices" "same stuff, different name" and not only referring to the buffet, but referring to the main dining and the paid restaurants. What is the course of action if the food is terrible all cruise? Just complain? Request a refund? Since food is a major part of the cruise, if the food is unbearable, what is the recourse? One of the reviews said that the best food that they ate was the hamburgers and hotdogs on the outdoor grill.... I hope that something is done about the food before our cruise.

 

Here is a direct quote from the last review about the Sun: "The menu for 13 days consisted of Pork, Lamb, Duck and more Pork, Lamb, & Duck. There was no variety. Everyone onboard was complaining about the food and saying the specialty restaurants were not any better."

 

As someone who is going to be on the same exact cruise, I think you need to take reviews like that with a grain of salt. This is exaggeration to the extreme. Remember, food is very very subjective.

 

First of all, your cruise will be 7 nights, which will be ONE cycle through a weeks worth of menus. You will invariably see a pork offering on one night, maybe a lamb chop offering on another, and maybe also a duck offering one night. However, each of these will be accompanied by other entrees of all types, at least 4 available each night. In addition to the 4 main entrees each night in the main restaurants, you can ALWAYS order the standby items like a grilled chicken etc... I have noticed that I never had a problem finding a beef entree each night of the week, or a seafood entree for that matter...

 

The specialty restaurants on the Sun are superb, and if you get the chance, I strongly suggest you partake of Il Adaggio, which is the finest Italian specialty restaurant in the fleet. (It's the only one NCL actually charges extra for.) Le Bistro will never disappoint.

 

Relax and remember for each one bad food review, there are several hundred good reviews that go unpublished.

[dispachcops]

Thanks Cliff for the comforting thoughts... as long as I have a place to get chicken stirfry I am usually happy. It would be nice if they had a Teriyaki place where you could get a quick stirfry (I remember on our last time on the Sun, there was a little Indian food stand.... it was really good). I am hoping to be able to do the Tepanyaki bar this time (I will be running to the reservation desk as soon as I get onboard to try to get reservations...)

[grumpycajun]

We sailed on the Sun out of N.O. this past February and I found the food to be pretty good overall. I was in the restaurant business for a long time, so I tend to be a bit critical. The only thing I can remember being dissapointed with was the leg of lamb, and not because of the flavor or presentation, but because there was way too much fat. They could have trimmed it a bit better. My 10 yr old daughter and I went to Le Bistro for a "date with daddy" night and it was very, very good. I would definitely take the review you read with a grain of salt. Or, maybe a whole shaker full! In fact, I will be very pleased if the food on the Spirit is as good when I go again in February.

[PangeanSir]

I have been reading the reviews of the Sun since our Sun cruise is coming up, and in most of the reviews the food has been rated as "horrendous" "slop" "lack of choices" "same stuff, different name" and not only referring to the buffet, but referring to the main dining and the paid restaurants. What is the course of action if the food is terrible all cruise? Just complain? Request a refund? Since food is a major part of the cruise, if the food is unbearable, what is the recourse? One of the reviews said that the best food that they ate was the hamburgers and hotdogs on the outdoor grill.... I hope that something is done about the food before our cruise.

 

Here is a direct quote from the last review about the Sun: "The menu for 13 days consisted of Pork, Lamb, Duck and more Pork, Lamb, & Duck. There was no variety. Everyone onboard was complaining about the food and saying the specialty restaurants were not any better."

 

Dispachops;

 

Although assessment of food quality is subjective, I don't think you will have any difficulty in finding meals that you'll enjoy.

 

We just got off the Sun on Saturday morning (13 day repo to Hawaii from Vancouver). We enjoyed the variety of menu choices, especially the appetizers and soups. We found the food quality (with the exception of desserts) to be good to very good in the main restaurants and excellent in the specialty restaurants. Although we never planned to eat in the buffet (and the layout and size of the buffet is somewhat problematic), we did stop in there to feed our kids a couple of times before they went to Kidscrew and found the food there surprisingly good (one evening they had a roast duck with cranberries that was excellent). In the main dining rooms if you don't see something you like, you can still order a steak or chicken (its not advertised or mentioned on the menu, but they will almost always accomodate you). The soups (both chilled and regular) were excellent, with notably less salt than previously and on other lines. The desserts, however, were rather lame. Fortunately, I was almost always full by the time dessert came around that the issue was moot.

 

For lunches the fried chicken from the buffet in the Great Outdoors was good and the made to order sandwiches at the sandwich station in the Ramblas were fabulous. Unfortunately, we didn't find these until our last sea day, but we definitely would have been repeat customers if we'd found them earlier.

 

Enjoy your cruise,

 

P.

[LVFire]

I Concur with the last few posts about cruise ship food. Im no expert but have cruised for years and HAVE NEVER been dissappointed by the food. There is too much selection, and on NCL many choices to eat at to not like something. Some people have a bad experience and vent at everything they can on this forum, including food. Now, I say this as a 30 year Firefighter who has eaten everything without much complaint as that makes you into the cook! Enjoy your cruise and read the neutral and good reviews, Leave the occasional 1 star reviews alone as they are few and NOT the consenses of all the reviews from the same ship same cruise. same date.

[ute_fan]

I seem to remember reading that same review complaining about the pork, lamb, and duck, and actually laughing. The menus are the same, fleet wide. Now, due to different chefs preparing the food, I can see that one ship might have better tasting food than another, but your menu choices will NOT be that limited.

 

We sailed in May (on the Pearl) and mainly ate in the main dining rooms. Each night, there was a beef entree, a fish entree, a pasta entree, a vegetarian entree (sometimes it also served as the pasta entree) and one more that consisted of a choice of lamb/pork/duck. Doesn't sound too limiting to me! Most nights, my DH couldn't decide what to have, and often ordered two separate entrees.

 

As mentioned, the chilled soups are back on the menu after a year's absence and we were thrilled to see them back, and as tasty as ever. I don't think I had anything that I wasn't satisifed with, so unless you're a super picky eater, I think you will be fine.

[starfamily]

We really LOVED the italian restaurant! I can tell you for certain there most definately is chicken daily- I am allergic to poultry and have to be super careful and every day there were many items I could not eat- there was also definately beef everyday as i had a lot of that :)

Don't worry you aren't cooking it or serving it so it will be good!

[debberannne]

hubby and I were on the Sun in February, and the food was very good. He had the lamb a couple of times, and I had beef almost every night. We ate in the steakhouse and it was great, but the best meal was the pork chop in Pacific Heights.(no extra charge, but you need a reservation)

The array of foods was overwhelming to me. I never did get to try all the assorted salads on the buffet. And the chocolate buffet was amazing. Who knew you could take ANYTHING and mix it with chocolate!

Honestly, there is plenty of wonderful tasting food on the Sun.

[daisydu]

My husband and I were on the Sun this past March and in our opinion, the food was wonderful. We enjoyed every meal -- we ate at the main restaurants only, didn't try the specialty places. I would go on this ship again in a heart beat! Enjoy.:)

[isles1]

One thing I always notice about "over the top" negative reviews, whether on this site or for hotels, retaurants, etc. on other sites, is that they always seem to start off with or center around some specific, personal occurrence that seems to taint the ENTIRE trip for the reviewer. I always ignore those.

 

The review you reference does not fit that category, but it almost seems someone else wrote the "food" part of the review. I am not exactly sure what the reviewer is used to dining on such that every single restaurant on the Sun failed to meet their needs. And it is always upsetting to know someone did not enjoy ANY meal over the course of 13 days; except of course for the room service sandwiches and the burgers and fried checken that they were "forced" to eat from the outdoor grill.

 

Like others here said, take that review with a grain of salt. The food portion (no pun intended) of the review is fraught with apparent exagerations. I would not let it get you nervous about your trip on the Sun.

[mummsie]

We were on the Sun in May. We found the food to be very good - my husband is fussy (won't eat red meat) and always found something to enjoy on the menu. The only thing I found not as good as Princess was the soups. They were ok but not great. The main courses are excellent though so don't worry. Mummsie :D

[hunter954]

I have been reading the reviews of the Sun since our Sun cruise is coming up, and in most of the reviews the food has been rated as "horrendous" "slop" "lack of choices" "same stuff, different name" and not only referring to the buffet, but referring to the main dining and the paid restaurants. What is the course of action if the food is terrible all cruise? Just complain? Request a refund? Since food is a major part of the cruise, if the food is unbearable, what is the recourse? One of the reviews said that the best food that they ate was the hamburgers and hotdogs on the outdoor grill.... I hope that something is done about the food before our cruise.

 

Here is a direct quote from the last review about the Sun: "The menu for 13 days consisted of Pork, Lamb, Duck and more Pork, Lamb, & Duck. There was no variety. Everyone onboard was complaining about the food and saying the specialty restaurants were not any better."

 

We were on the SUN end of 2005 and the food was wonderful. The italian resaurant was especially good. There is alwasy such a varity to choose from and if you specifically want beef or fish there is always the steakhouse. You should always take caution of any review that states "Everyone on board was complaining about the food." EVERYONE??? That person was probably complaining to any one that would listen. Besure to check out Pacific Heights. The views and the food were great and you would never guess the dishs are from "Healthy Living Magazine".

[3dblouder]

I have been reading the reviews of the Sun since our Sun cruise is coming up, and in most of the reviews the food has been rated as "horrendous" "slop" "lack of choices" "same stuff, different name" and not only referring to the buffet, but referring to the main dining and the paid restaurants. What is the course of action if the food is terrible all cruise? Just complain? Request a refund? Since food is a major part of the cruise, if the food is unbearable, what is the recourse? One of the reviews said that the best food that they ate was the hamburgers and hotdogs on the outdoor grill.... I hope that something is done about the food before our cruise.

 

Here is a direct quote from the last review about the Sun: "The menu for 13 days consisted of Pork, Lamb, Duck and more Pork, Lamb, & Duck. There was no variety. Everyone onboard was complaining about the food and saying the specialty restaurants were not any better."

 

We where on the Sun in August and thought the food in the Main dining room was some of the best we have had from NCL and this is our fifth NCL ship but found the Buffet to be just so so (soups and the ceasar salad where ok)when it comes to the buffet I thought the Pearl was the best.

 

Hope this helps.

3dblouder

[TCF]

We posted a review of our cruise to Alaska last month so you may want to check that out.

We found the food on the Sun to be more than adequate except for the Buffet and the East Meets West. Even the Executive Chef on Sun knows he has a serious problem with the Buffet, but the corporate office controls much of what happens on board so there is little he can do about it. I would however avoid the Buffet because it was consistently bad.

We had a problem with Le Bistro, but, it was a service problem, not a food problem. We were unlucky in that there was a crew change in Vancouver the day we left and many of the food service crew were still new and getting up to speed as to the service requirements and proceedures for some of the menu items.(If you go there and order the Chateaubriand make sure they slice the fillet across the grain!!!)

The East Meets West was a disaster...but frankly that could have been one bad night in the kitchen and again the crew change.

Food and service in the main dining rooms for all three meals throughout the cruise was always good to better. Broad selection, well cooked, well served. Pork, yes! Lamb, yes! Duck, yes! Now add, steak, chicken, beef, fish and lobster to that list and you'll have a pretty good idea of what was on the main dining room menu for the week's dinners!!

Il Adagio was magnificent....so good in fact we ate there twice...as did another couple we met here on CC!! Make sure you go there!

Also...the earlier poster that talked about the Pacific Heights....do not miss this restaurant!!! The menu was as superb as the food and the service...in my opinion the best restaurant on the ship!

It's all subjective...but that's the way we saw it, and I am a Chef that does not suffer bad food well!!!

Have a great cruise!!!

[Carnac767]

We just finished a cruise on the Dream and found the food to be quite good, with a wide variety of options. Friends with us on the cruise had been on the Sun earlier this year and said they'd enjoyed that ship even more. It was because of this recommendation that we booked a March cruise on the Sun. Also, the Sun has twice as many restaurants as the Dream.

[marysb]

Here are the Sun Menus - I think you will find that they are not just pork, lamb and duck.

 

http://www.zydecocruiser.com/ncl_sun_2006/menus/menu2.htm

[petesgirl]

We sailed on the Sun out of N.O. this past February and I found the food to be pretty good overall. I was in the restaurant business for a long time, so I tend to be a bit critical. The only thing I can remember being dissapointed with was the leg of lamb, and not because of the flavor or presentation, but because there was way too much fat. They could have trimmed it a bit better. My 10 yr old daughter and I went to Le Bistro for a "date with daddy" night and it was very, very good. I would definitely take the review you read with a grain of salt. Or, maybe a whole shaker full! In fact, I will be very pleased if the food on the Spirit is as good when I go again in February.

 

Food on the Spirit is great. Three things about the Spirit (if nothing has changed since last January).

1) hairdryers are the vacuum hose variety in the bathroom :(

2) there are no refrigerators in cabins below suite level :(

3) 50 % of the diners in Le Bistro will be looking straight into the kitchen :eek: (and that restaurant was actually our worst dining experience of the whole trip).

[Lib0007]

I have booked the Sun for next April. I read the review that the OP was referring to and the next five or six are very similar. Now I've been afraid of negative reviews here or there before only to find out for myself that people generally overreact . . . but all of the recent reviews on the Sun are terrible when referring to the food.

 

Could this have anything to do with the fact that this was a repositioning cruise and 13 days versus the usual 7? Hawaii vs Alaska?

 

Just trying to justify the recent negative remarks . . . as when I booked several months ago, the reviews were very good at that time. Now I'm thinking I made a huge mistake and should change my reservation.

 

Would appreciate any opinions. Thank you!

[babynurse06]

I don't really know about the recent reviews, as the last time I was on the Sun was for my honeymoon in Dec. 2003, but I've been on 7 NCL cruises and am leaving for my 8th next Sunday, and I can tell you that I've never been on an NCL ship that I would classify the food as bad. I have had maybe one or two meals that were not excellent, but I am also kind of a picky eater. Overall, I've very much enjoyed the food on all the NCL ships I've been on. I do keep coming back to them. I haven't been on a single cruise on a line other than NCL since my very first cruise with them.

[moondance55]

I think LIB0007 may have hit the nail on the head.... I just got off the Sun repos cruise 4 days ago, and we got the impression that not only were they training many brand new staff but were working with a skeleton crew in the dining rooms and buffet. If the food was routinely as bad as what we encounted on a daily basis during our 10-day sailing, NCL would be out of business by now... I talked to several people who, like me, added extra PAGES onto their guest satisfaction surveys, in order to address the food issue.... hopefully this will help them get back on track before your sailing...In any case please let us know how it turns out!

[Lib0007]

Moondance, thanks but thats obviously not what I wanted to hear!! I'm hoping that there's a reason - new crew, etc. and that things will improve once the ship arrives in Miami and over the next five months before I sail.

 

we were looking forward to the Sun's itinerary and the great prices were an added bonus . . . but I'm not going to take a chance unless I hear good things in the next couple of months. I've also been watching the Pearl, whose rates have dropped significantly for the 9 day the same week. We have a first time cruiser going with us and I don't want to disappoint him.

 

Is there a way I can email the cruise director or someone on the ship to ask what is going on?

 

Thanks!

[cod]

We were just on the Sun..Honolulu to Ensenada. We found the food - over-all - to be very good. I was a little worried the first night but had no complaints thereafter. (First night was a slab of tough leg of lamb over some yukky soy bean concoction, preceded by a salad of wilted lettuce!)

 

Examples:

I had strip steak twice in the 10 days and it was tender, flavorful, and cooked to perfection - medium rare - both times. I mention flavorful because the last couple of times I've bought steaks at home they've tasted of 'nothing'.

 

Lamb shank (lunch menu) and rack of lamb during the cruise were wonderful!

 

"All" the beef dishes were very good. My husband, a fish lover, said the same for his choices.

 

The pasta dishes were hit and miss. Very good or too bland. My husband, an Italian who loves to cook, said they just usually just needed some spices which he feel the chef forgot to add.

 

All in all, the food was good. I've certainly had worse on a cruise or two.

 

And remember, you can choose the pasta dish listed as an entree (there was always one it seemed) as an appetizer if you don't see anything in that category that sounds good.

 

I want to mention one item that was soooo good. Fried mushrooms on the last day for lunch. I've eaten a lot of those over the years, but these were wonderful. Small portions of everything and so only 2 were on the plate. When she picked up my plate, I kidding said that I've like '2 dozen more please' to which I didn't even get a smile. My husband said 'no sense of humor'. BUT, I wasn't kidding!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Cruise_More_Often]

Yes, the Sun's buffet is small and way too crowded. However, you can find so many other areas on the ship for breakfast -- for waffles, pancakes or omelettes, try Las Ramblas or Pacific Heights, and you can sit in any of those restaurants or the Sports Bar to eat. The Great Outdoors Cafe, just out the back doors of the buffet, has the usual breakfast fare -- eggs, bacon and sausage, fresh fruit, all kinds of breads, and you get to enjoy the great outdoors while you're eating. And don't forget that Seven Seas serves a wonderful sit-down breakfast every day.

 

We have been on the Sun three times, and I cannot remember a single bad meal. Like others have mentioned, Il Adagio is superb if you'd like a special Italian meal. We had wonderful steak and lobster in East Meets West (the "Cagney's" on the Sun), great Asian food there also, and Teppanyaki is just a kick (entertainment with your meal). Four Seasons is the smaller of the main dining rooms and was our favorite, as we do not like the huge dining venues on any ship.

 

We just returned from a 2-day on the Coral Princess, and I was less impressed with the food on that cruise than any I have had on an NCL ship.

 

Please do not let a few food posts scare you away from the Sun. She's a great little ship.