SUN report for Feb 9-16

[LynnTTT]

Took this Western Caribbean cruise and did enjoy it very much. A few comments:

 

We had cabin 6021- that deck is reached by stairs down from deck 7, so don't book if you don't like steps. Nice and quiet though. The usual: clean, small shower, fine for us.

 

Dining:

We found the food pretty good, but not as good as the RC and Celebrity cruises we took in the past. However, those trips were 15 and 7 years ago and many people say the food on all cruises has gone downhill. Le Bistro was good, but we think Il Adagio was better. It's well worth the surcharge at least a few nights to get a much higher quality of food and service.

 

We ate most nights in the Seven Seas main dining room. Signs were posted that shorts, T-shirts and jeans were allowed in the Four Seasons room, so people tended to look a little neater in Seven Seas.

 

Buffet food was fine, but a much more hurried , "gotta get there before it's all gone" atmosphere. My husband and I talked about this. There seemed to be a self imposed class distinction among people that ate almost exclusively at the buffet. First of all, let me say that I am overweight myself and really don't want to judge, but MY GOD, there were huge people at the buffet and at all hours. I would see the same people there eating breakfast, then again at lunch at 11:00 am , then again at 4:00 PM eating burgers and then getting dinner at 6!! ( I wasn't eating there usually but passing thru to the back deck or getting iced tea--- OK ,maybe I got a cookie).

 

When we talked to some people about where they were eating, some people seemed almost afraid of the more paced, stately service in the dining rooms. Maybe if you never go out anywhere but a country buffet, but honestly the food in the dining rooms is nothing complicated and you really don't have t go to the buffet and stuff the food down. The servings in the dining rooms are a little small, but you can get more. On prime rib night many people got an additional serving of the meat.

 

WE also tended to go to Las Ramblas for nice appetizers at about 5:30 or 6, have a glass of wine and then eat later. Ramblas had great olives, cheese, seafood appetizers, etc. Very quiet and relaxed. Again, people would come in, look at the selection, not see anything they think of as an appetizer ( no BBQ wings, fried cheese) and leave. It's free- try something new. Calamari salad, eggplant mousse on a cucumber was very good, olives, empanadas, chorizo in tomato sauce, great bread.

 

Wine- we did discover that if you buy a bottle of wine at bar or restaurant yoy don't have to finish it up. Drink what you want and the server will "tag" it with your name. The next night, go to any restaurant, give them your "tag" and they'll retrieve it and serve it for you. Good way to make a bottle last 2 nights.

 

Tours: Booked a tour of Roatan with Victor Bodden and liked it. Our own driver, who took us around the island then to Half Moon Bay for very good snorkeling. He stayed there and talked with friends while we swam so no worries about our "stuff". Had lunch there also. Good fish for $8-12. The ship snorkeling took you to a very pretty beach also and some people said snorkeling was good.

 

Belize- Took the ship excursion to Lamanai and New River. TIP-when you are at a port where you need to use a tender to get off, it sometimes pays to do the ship excursion since you'll be the first ones off the boat. This excursion was long, but well worth it-2 hour boat ride, saw crocodiles, bats, birds etc. Nice tour of the Mayan ruins and a decent lunch at the ruins..

 

Cozumel- been there several times so just went shopping and had lunch.

 

Great Stirrup Key- very nice and you don't need to race off the ship. There are tons of chairs and you'll have plenty of places to sit. There are chairs along the beach, among the trees and to the right of the pier also. The buffet lunch was fine, but maybe I'd even go back to the ship for lunch. Didn't snorkel because the water was a little too cold for me. Husband braved it though and said was good. Maybe later in the spring I'd try again.

 

All in all, we enjoyed this cruise very much.

[ChBoxers800]

Thanks for the great info Lyn.

 

One question: Was there a passenger talent show?

 

Thanks! :D

[Stout Drinker]

Lynn

 

Glad you had a good cruise. I am going to be on the sun in four weeks. I'm looking forward to it and enjoying what she has to offer.

[jetskier]

I was on this same cruise. Yes, there was a guest talent show. For the OP, I didnt notice that many over weight people. But then again I am a slender guy, everone is overweight compared to me. You have to remember that the ship is Freestyle which allows you do want you feel like or not.

 

Overall everything was great. There are some issues with tendering, it should not take 1 to 1 1/2 hours to get the first tender going from the time the ship is stopped.

 

A lot of folks commented that it is time for the Cruise Director to retire. The social hosts seemed a little held back. The folks on the Spirit know how to have fun.

 

The walk to the lighthouse on Great Stirrup Caye is good if you need some exercise. It is right past the airport. Along with playing volleyball on the beach for two hours.

 

Dave

[LynnTTT]

I didn't go to the Thursday afternoon Crew Show, but my husband did and I saw it on the TV. Don't miss it- the new "Fountain" segment was very funny.

 

Also, do go to the evening shows. We saw the preview show on Saturday Night and it was terrible; not at all a good represenation of the entertainment. Honestly, the two Ukrainian ballet dancers looked like an ad for Hitler Youth. BUT, they are actually fabulous. They are part of the Jean Ann Ryan group and do 3 great shows. All those shows are very good; two really good lead singers (one especially) and dancers and those 2 great ballet/adage dancers. She does some moves with him(her husband) that are astounding. She links her arms and somehow slides .... well it's simply very neat looking. We liked Rich Purpura, the comedian magician but didn't think the other comedian was all that good.

 

We didn't do the casino or spend much time at the other shows. However, the on board bands were very good, if odd. PRIZM has a great guy vocalist with a huge voice and he and the girl singer are from Thailand I think. The guy who sang Tom Jones songs was probably from the Phillipines and the R&B guys were jamaican I think. Go figure.

 

No complaints about the cruise director; all they really do is may announcements and try to pump you up.

 

COMPLAINTS

The crew is always trying to sell some of raffle packets for $5 a strip to win a free cruise or money. Stop hustling me.

 

Photos: They make you get your picture taken constantly. Yes, I guess you could argue with them, but it's easier to stop for 5 seconds and move on. And, looking for your pictures posted everyday does pass some time......

[Us2inFL]

We were on the Sun 2/9-2/16 in a BA stateroom on deck 10. The ship is clean, but somewhat dated. The chaises on the pool deck are the old type blue and white plastic stripe that NCL used 6 years ago. The chairs in the buffet and the dining room are worn. They have upgrade the Great Outdoors seating to the newer type plastic "wicker." The chairs and chaises on all balconies is the newer type blue nylon.

 

We did not dine in either the Seven Seas or the Four Seasons, but heard good things from others who did. The buffet for breakfast was good, nothing of note; and had a rather limited and routine menu day in and day out. Some days they offered smoked salmon, other days they didn’t. The manager did bring a plate up from the dining room when asked. The buffet service area is small and they do not have the luxury of the space that the newer ships have. If we ate lunch onboard at the buffet, they had a carving station with tasty (hot) turkey, ham, pork loin and beefs. The salad bar was nice with fresh mixed green and spinach, mushrooms, nice crisp string beans, radish, tomato and green peas. The salad bar menu listed ingredients that we never saw. The salad bar selections never changed for the seven days.

 

Il Adagio (extra) not to be missed. The lamb chops were terrific as were the side dishes. Everything that our friends had there was first rate, as is the service.

 

We went to Le Bistro twice, because I’ve always liked their escargot. The shrimp and scallop martini salad appetizer was rather tasteless, something I have never seen on any other NCL ship. The salmon, chicken, short ribs and filet are all good and again the service is just first rate.

 

The steakhouse, East Meets West is always a hit. Their 8 oz filet is done to perfection, tender and perfect. The appetizers are very good, and their Caesar salad (which is sometimes hit and miss on other NCL’s) was good.

 

Pacific Heights (no extra charge but reservations needed) specializes in “healthy” eating. I had the mussel appetizer, then a bowl of lentil soup, both quite good. The perch wrapped in paper with vegetables tasted “healthy.” (let’s leave it at that, we went to the buffet for something after Pacific Heights) Not recommended but worth checking the menu for something that might catch your eye. I heard the pork chops were good but somewhat out of character with the rest of their menu.

 

Las Ramblas was enjoyable for pre dinner tapas. A glass of wine or beer and some tidbits around 5:30 is the perfect preamble if you’re dining at 8ish.

 

We did not go to Teppanyaki on this ship, but have been at three others on other NCL’s. I heard people were disappointed in the entrée’s and no one was offered a salad. That might be a new change since we didn’t get any salad after the Miso soup in the sushi bar.

Now, the sushi restaurant, a place that has been a major hit on the Sky, Jewel and Pearl, was a TOTAL DUD. The rice was the stickiest, gluiest mess I’ve ever tasted. The fish was totally dried out and tasteless. We ate there on the sixth night, so it’s possible it might have been better on another night earlier in the cruise, and with someone else steaming the rice. The service was slow and poor.

 

The ports were very nice. We took a private 3 hour tour in Roatan. We hired a driver and a tour guide and took off into a really beautiful countryside. If you’re going to do a beach trek on your own, head to the West Beach, it’s not far and the inlet there is just breathtaking. There are small stores, bars and shops along the colorful street right at the beach.

 

In Belize, we did the river tubing and Mayan ruins tour through NCL. It was fun, but the river was never anything more than a slow roll. We had been on a similar tour in Dominica (twice) and the river tubing took you through some rather interesting rapids. Nowhere on this Belize tubing excursion was there any real challenge, but it was fun.

 

We had been in Cozumel (on the Pearl) last month when we did the Tulum ruins tour. This time we did some shopping along the main drag and had a drink. There were eight, yes EIGHT ships in port, and it was very crowded everywhere.

 

The NCL private island was okay, as usual. They had added real chaises since the last time were there. We also were on the first tender out (9 AM).

 

_________________________________

 

The Cruise Director, Linda is a prize. She has a great personality, and I feel is one of the best we've ever had. She is always running around doing something, always visible.

 

The Concierge, Erika is new to the ship, and seems like she is just getting her footing. She made our dinner reservations, tender tickets and an occasional call to see how things were, but we never saw her on the decks. (Carlos for those of you that know him, is always seen running somewhere, very approachable.) I think given time, Erika will be fine.

 

The first show "Hey Mr. Producer" was knock out terrific. Friends of our (travel agents) said this was the best show they've ever seen on any cruise. Every one of the singing and dancing cast were superb.

 

The second big production show is not as good, a medley of Latin pop songs.

 

The third production "Peter Pan" was ..... well let's leave it there. That is the show they do before the "we are your home" staff thank you, and people were walking out before it was over.

 

All in all, a very nice, fun cruise with good weather, nice people and interesting ports. I heard when I came back that the Pearl was going to be doing this itinerary next year. Wait for that one.