Ship info
The Norwegian Sun cruise ship departs from San Francisco,
CA, Los Angeles, CA, and New Orleans,
LA. Throughout the year, she offers ocean cruises to Alaska,
Caribbean, and Panama Canal.
Check Dates & Prices for cruises to Alaska,
Caribbean, and Panama Canal.
Began service: 2001
Guest capacity: 1,936
Total staff: 800
Length: 853 feet
Passenger decks: 13
CDC
inspection score: 95
Norwegian Sun Overview
Norwegian Sun has been considered Norwegian
Cruise Line's first real innovator. NCL's Freestyle Dining
concept first debuted on Norwegian Sun, which raised a few
eyebrows with nine restaurants. Even its launch was unusual -- the
ship shared a dual premier ceremony with Norwegian Star
in Miami.
Norwegian Sun sparkles from top to bottom with bright colors,
happy staff, spacious accommodations and cheerful public spaces. Upon
embarkation, I was immediately impressed with the level of attentiveness
I received. I was greeted and directed to my cabin location, and several
times was asked if I needed assistance with my carry-ons. Each staff
member I passed offered a cheery "hello," and I felt welcome.
In fact, with so many ships and cruise lines from which to choose,
it's often the little things that make a difference between a great
experience and one that is so-so. For me, it's usually staff and crew
behavior that drives my appreciation, and then touches like porcelain
cups and real cream at the coffee stations, well-maintained and clean
public rooms, attentive room stewards and enjoyable activities for
all age groups. All of these factors are present on this ship.
The 78,309-ton, 1,936-passenger ship will continue its exotic Western
Caribbean itineraries from Miami, calling at Roatan, Belize, Cozumel
and Grand Cayman, through the spring of 2005. The ship spends summers
in Alaska. After the 2005 season, beginning in fall, 2005, it will
be home-ported in New Orleans calling at Belize, Roatan, Cozumel and
Playa del Carmen.
Cabins
The staterooms on Norwegian Sun are attractive and
spacious. The color scheme is bright with primary reds, blues, yellows
and greens. The beds are very comfortable and the storage space ample,
with tons of drawers, shelves and closet space. Attached to the closet
is a console with a coffee pot or water boiler (complimentary coffee
is included), a cupboard with a room safe, several drawers, and more
shelving curved out at the ends. At the other end of the room is a
desk/vanity, and a nice-sized mini-fridge.
Rooms designated as triples have a long sofa, (others have love-seat
sized sofas) which is really a kind of day-bed; some of these are
actually double beds, which can make the room a quad. There are also
rooms for five with the double day-bed/sofa and a drop-down berth.
There are 368 cabins with balconies, or just about
61 percent of all outsides. The standard balcony is spacious, about
five-feet deep and as wide as the room. The aft corner cabins on Decks
9 and 10 are slightly smaller (with a love-seat-sized sofa
rather than a long one) but have larger balconies that wrap a bit
to the aft. And if you are looking for a non-balcony stateroom, are
able to handle stairs, and want total privacy and quiet, look at the
cabins on Oslo Deck (6A).
There are 52 suites on the Sun, ranging
from single-room mini-suites with bathtubs, to luxurious
owner's suites with hot tubs on the veranda and in-suite
laptops. The "top 20" suites get butler services and all
suite guests enjoy concierge services.
Twenty cabins are configured for guests in wheelchairs, and 42 for
hearing-impaired guests.
The Sun uses a team concept for its room stewards. They work
extremely hard, are polite and cheerful, and will make every effort
to accommodate you and your family.
Dining
"Freestyle Cruising" allows cruise
guests to dine when, where, and with whomever they wish. You can dine
as late as 9:30pm, or as early as 5:30pm. There's also a 24-hour snack
area and 24-hour room service for lighter fare.
Freestyle may not be for everyone; those who prefer set-seating, set-tablemate
dining, can be accommodated in one of the ship's main restaurants.
There are two main dining rooms, Seven Seas, which
serves "contemporary" cuisine, and Four Seasons,
which serves "traditional" cuisine. The difference? In Seven
Seas, lobster might be grilled ("contemporary" style), while
in Four Seasons, it would be served steamed, with drawn butter ("traditional"
style). Meals in these restaurants are tasty, and the wait staff is
attentive and considerate.
Four other alternative dining venues have no surcharge, although one,
Pacific Heights, does require reservations. In partnership
with "Cooking Light" magazine, this restaurant
provides tasty food that is low in fat and sodium.
Other no fee options include the Garden Cafe, the
ship's buffet restaurant. Although it's fairly standard cafeteria-style
fare, some items are exceptional (the grilled tilapia I had at one
lunch was superb), and the carving station, with chicken, turkey,
roast beef or pork loin was always good. This is also the best dining
spot for breakfast, with fresh waffles, omelets made to order, scrambled
eggs, bacon, sausage, pastries and croissants.
In the afternoon and evening, there are separate dessert and fresh
fruit stations, and an Indian curry station. At its busiest times
it's occasionally difficult to find a table, but if the weather is
nice, outside seating is available. You can replenish your drinks
at the Great Outdoor Cafe, which
also serves fast-food items and snacks (hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza,
cookies and cake) during the day.
The last of the no-surcharge dining spots, Las Ramblas,
is not really a restaurant; it is a lounge located on Deck
12, a great spot to meet before dining. It's a beautiful
room that serves tapas.
Restaurants that do charge include Le Bistro ($15),
which offers French cuisine. The restaurant is gorgeous, with cozy
booths set around the edges of the room and a menu that is filled
with delicacies from escargot to foie gras. The signature dessert,
chocolate fondue, is not to be missed.
Il Adagio ($12.50) is another option that features
northern Italian cuisine, with specialties of pizza and pasta.
New to Norwegian Sun will be a steakhouse restaurant, similar
in style to Cagney's, the steakhouse found on Norwegian Dawn
-- and the surcharge will be $20.
Ginza serves a wide array of Japanese foods including
sushi; the teppanyaki bar only seats 12, so make reservations early.
Sushi is ordered a la carte at $2 to $5 per serving, depending on
type, but if you don't need the fancy stuff, there's an "all
you can eat" sushi menu for only $10. This is a terrific deal,
considering the freshness and presentation of the offer.
Room service is basic for guests in standard staterooms Breakfast
is continental, selected from a simple menu on a door-hung card.
One nice touch is that the restaurant phones before they send your
breakfast to make sure you are awake and ready.
Suite guests get hot breakfast options, including eggs, bacon, sausage
and oatmeal, and can order lunch and dinner off of the main dining
room menus during dining times.
Entertainment
Norwegian Cruise Line excels
in entertainment with its colorful production shows and Broadway-style
reviews. With the Jean Ann Ryan dance company and
many other performers (magicians, comedians, and a Cirque du Soleil-like
troupe of acrobats) the evening entertainment is stellar. The Stardust
Lounge is a nice venue with excellent acoustics; select
a seat carefully for a good view.
The bars and nightclubs around the ship have separate entertainment,
such as duos singing old rock and blues, a country western singer,
a guitarist/vocalist, pianist, and a calypso/reggae band at poolside.
Wherever you go in the evening, there is music.
The best and most outrageous show of the week was the Ship
'n' Males Review (a play on Chippendale's) where crew members
did a striptease down to their boxers or tighty-whities to tunes
like "Livin' La Vida Loca" or "I'm Too Sexy."
Dazzles Nightclub was the most crowded on that
evening, with lots of fun and laughter. It wasn't lewd, but definitely
not for youngsters.
Daytime entertainment is more low-key, but there's plenty to see
and do. Bingo, craft-making, art auctions, pool games, and trivia
contests are all available during the day, both at sea and in port.
A movie is shown in Dazzles in the morning and
another in the afternoon. In-room TV stations include local channels
while in port, CNN International, ESPN, an "oldies" sitcom
channel, several ship-specific channels, and a couple of movie channels
with a rotating selection. However, few of the movies were recent
releases.
Fitness & Recreation
There are two pools on the main
pool deck, and four hot tubs; a deck above, there is a kiddie pool
and another hot tub. Several adults on my cruise chose to relax
around the kids' pool when the main pools became too noisy or crowded.
The Body Waves Spa is on the starboard side
and Body Waves Fitness Center and Aerobics
Studio is on port side, all nicely equipped for exercising.
Use of the machines is free, but some classes have a small fee ($5
to $10). These include yoga, pilates and spinning classes. The spa
is nice with personnel who try not to hard-sell their products.
Treatments seem pricey but there are always specials, especially
on port days. A full body treatment will run around $129, a facial
around $89.
There are complimentary sauna and steam rooms for both men and women,
a basketball court, two golf driving cages, batting cage, and shuffleboard
court on Deck 12, and a ping-pong table on the
pool deck.
Public Areas
The layout of the ship makes it
easy to navigate with most of the public spaces located on Decks
5, 6 and 7, plus the pool/spa/Lido
Deck (11) and the alternate restaurants
and Sun Deck (12). A small, soaring
atrium is located towards the forward end, with two banks of glass-enclosed
elevators rising to Deck 12.
The Deck 5 atrium area houses the front desk, concierge,
shore excursions and the Java Cafe (specialty coffees
and pastries for an a la carte fee), plus the entrance to the Four
Seasons Restaurant. Deck 6 is the most
beautiful, and the most fun, with Dazzles, the
main disco-nightclub; Windstar Lounge; and Havana
Club, the cigar bar. The photo gallery, library, meeting
rooms and card rooms are also located here.
The whole atrium area of Deck 6 comprises the Internet
Cafe, run by MTN/Digital Seas. Computer
stations are scattered around the central core so anyone using them
doesn't feel isolated. Packages can bring your rate down from 75
cents per minute to as low as 40 cents per minute. Wireless internet
is available too (laptops and wireless cards are available to rent),
but the "hot spots" are limited to the atrium area and
right around the pool.
Deck 7 is home to the shopping arcade and the Sun
Club casino, with a variety of table games,
slots, video poker, and a space for nickel slot players. At the
forward end of Deck 7 is the Kid's Corner.
The Observation Lounge is located forward on Deck
12, a sunny viewing space during the day, a hopping music
and dance spot at night.
There is a small but lovely chapel on Deck
12 just adjacent to the Observation Lounge.
The ship has no self-serve laundry.
Kids
NCL is a family-oriented cruise
line, with a great children's program and group babysitting. The
Kid's Corner is a series of three rooms with age-appropriate
activities in each. You have to go down stairs to get to the rooms
but there are viewing "portholes" for parents up above.
The groups are broken down by compatible ages: 3-5, 6-8, and 10-12.
A lot of time is devoted to outdoor activities. There are also pizza-making
parties for parents and kids, and a child-sized Chocoholic's
Buffet arranged in the Pacific Heights restaurant
at the same time as the one for adults. The program is free of charge;
there is a nominal fee for after-hours group babysitting; plan on
about $6 per hour.
Teens (13- 7) have their own group activities, and a disco
is set aside specifically for them.
Expert Norwegian Sun reviews are edited by Michelle, and
provided by Ian and Cruise Critic.com, an award-winning cruise community.
This objective information can help you choose just the right ship
for your next cruise vacation.
Check Dates & Prices
for cruises to Alaska, Caribbean, and
Panama Canal.
Norwegian Sun cruise reviews
Cruise
Ship Inspection Report
All passenger cruise ships arriving at US ports are subject to unannounced
CDC inspection. Norwegian Sun
Score: 95
Cruise
Critic: Norwegian Sun
The Cruise Critic gives NCL's Norwegian Sun a 4-ribbon rating.
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