riggins
You can't always get what you want, but if you try
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2002
- Messages
- 880
Hi Everyone-
We just returned from a fantastic week in Alaska aboard the Norwegian Sun. While DH and I have sailed other lines before, this was the first time we sailed with the kids on any line other than Disney. I was very concerned about how NCL would stack up and found myself comparing the two all week. Since the NCL Sun is competing directly with the Magics 2010 Baltic itineraries and will start sailing Caribbean itineraries from Port Canaveral in the fall of 2010, I thought some of you might be comparison shopping. For background, DH and I were sailing with our DDs who are 6 and 7. My parents were also with us, and they brought along my nephew who turned 9 on the trip.
Ship
Overall, I thought the Sun was very nice, but DCLs ships are nicer. The Sun is slightly smaller, but it is newer. It has a refined, elegant kind of style and has been well maintained. My only complaint about the ship itself was that it has a really dysfunctional traffic flow. There are 9 restaurants on the Sun (see Dining for more info) and its tough to get from one end of the ship to another without cutting through a restaurant. After a couple of days, we figured it out, but its really odd.
Service
I have to say that the crew on the Sun was outstanding. I honestly thought theyd never be as good as the crew on DCL, but they were. Our room steward knew everyones name, asked my kids about their day and left them extra chocolates with their towel animals every night. We met a waiter in the buffet on our second day who made the kids origami animals. When we ended up in his section for dinner a few days later, he taught them how to make their own. We had another waiter who showed the kids magic tricks. With very few exceptions, everyone we encountered was really, really great!
Dining
As I mentioned above, there are 9 restaurants on the Sun and NCL has Freestyle Dining, meaning you eat wherever and whenever you want. I have to say, I LOVED not having a set dinner time. There are two main dining rooms, a buffet, an outdoor burger and fries kind of place, and 6 specialty restaurants. They also served food in the Sports Bar. You could make reservations if you wanted, but with the exception of a couple of the specialty restaurants, they werent needed. Some of the specialty restaurants were free; others had a $10-25 surcharge sort of like Palo. Generally speaking, I thought the food on the Sun was much better than DCL. That said, the Suns Italian restaurant, while good, was no where near as good as Palo. Also, the buffet on the Sun had a dysfunctional flow and seating was always a mess, but the food was good- much better than Topsiders/Beach Blanket. There is very little seating in the buffet area itself. There is a lot of covered outdoor seating, but no one in Alaska really wanted to eat outside. So, the buffet crowd overflowed in to the neighboring Sports Bar and Pacific Heights restaurants during breakfast and lunch. So you were often seated far away from where the actual buffet was located. This was a real pain with kids! I suspect this might be better on a warmer weather cruise when people want to sit outside, but in Alaska it was really painful.
Kids Club
This was the area I was most concerned about. We had three days at sea and while the adults in my group were really looking forward to watching the beautiful Alaskan scenery go by, I knew the kids would be bored with that fast. Fortunately, all 3 kids in our group loved the Suns Kids Korner and I had to drag them out of there when it was time to leave. The space itself is much smaller than DCLs, but there are a lot less kids. One of the counselors said there were 350 kids on our sailing. On our trip, they had the 2-5 year olds in one room, and the 6-12 year olds in another. There were typically only 10-15 kids in the club at anytime and the most I ever saw was probably 25. I dont know the exact ratio, but Id say there were normally at least 6 counselors there all the time. The kids really got to know the counselors well and they were able to do a lot of activities that the DCL Club/Lab simply cant do because of the large number of kids. Of course, NCL cant have Peter Pan come read them a story . . . no one can have activities that are that cool! Ive asked my kids several times who had the better kids club and they cant decide they love them both.
There are a few important differences between NCL and DCL that are worth noting. The club is technically closed while the boat is in port and after 10:00pm. You can notify them the day before and pay a fee and they have group babysitting in the club during those times. Also, they do not allow you to leave your child onboard while you go ashore. They do not provide lunch or dinner in the club, except for one night when they do a special Kids Crew Dinner. They only give out pagers for parents of kids in the 2-5 age group (for the older kids, they simply ask where you are likely to be found if they need you). Again, none of this was at all an issue for my family, but thought Id note it.
Activities/Shows
We actually only went to one show because none of the shows really seemed interesting or fit in with our schdule. The one we saw was called Cirque Pan. It was sort of a Cirque de Soleil meets Broadway with a Peter Pan theme. It was actually kind of odd, but the kids liked it. They had a couple production shows, a magician, a comedian, a singer, and a staff talent show. None of the shows seemed to be nearly as good as any of the shows on DCL.
They also had other activities that youd probably expect trivia, dance lessons, bingo, wine/beer/martini tastings, family game shows, etc. While none of these had the Disney themes, they were all very similar to what weve done on DCL. Every afternoon at 3:30, there was a family activity for parents and kids to do together which were really great. Our favorite was a photo scavenger hunt which required we go around the ship and get a photo of everything on the list like us shaking hands with an officer, someone eating a hot dog, etc. We then showed our photos (on the digital camera) to the person running the event, and the kids won an Alaskan coloring/activity book.
Cabins
Our cabin was really nice. We had a mini-suite on the back of the boat. The room itself was really large, the linens were great, and it was in excellent condition. The bathroom was huge. It had a 6-foot bathtub, granite counter tops, a separate room for the toilet, and tons of storage room. There was also a walk-in closet/changing room that had lots of built in drawers, a small vanity table, and a big mirror. Our balcony had plenty of room for 4 of us and overlooked the back of the boat.
I really hit the jackpot on scoping out other rooms on this trip. On our first full day, the couple in the Penthouse suite 2 doors down asked if they could check out our mini-suite for a trip they were considering next year. They invited us in to see their Penthouse suite (which was awesome by the way). While we were at it, they invited a bunch of our neighbors who were in the hallway in to check out their suite too. So we did a little Ill show you mine if you show me yours. So, I got to check out a Cat AC Penthouse, a Cat BB Balcony, a Cat J inside and a Cat II inside.
The Suns standard inside and window cabins are substantially smaller than DCLs they are nice, but tiny. That said, the Suns Cat II superior inside, was really good sized and very similar to DCLs sideways Cat 11. The Suns standard balcony cabins are smaller than DCLs, but are laid out similarly. There is no split bath and no curtain between the living area and the bed. The couch converts to a twin with a bunk above. The Sun also has two kinds of mini-suites and a large number of full suites that are well priced.
I just thought Id share my thoughts here since the Sun is competing directly with the Magic on some upcoming cruises. The Sun certainly didnt have all the great Disney-touches that most of us on this board really love, but it offered an excellent family vacation and for the savings over DCL, Id hop aboard again in a minute. If you have any specific questions, Id be happy to answer.
Best Wishes
Leslie
We just returned from a fantastic week in Alaska aboard the Norwegian Sun. While DH and I have sailed other lines before, this was the first time we sailed with the kids on any line other than Disney. I was very concerned about how NCL would stack up and found myself comparing the two all week. Since the NCL Sun is competing directly with the Magics 2010 Baltic itineraries and will start sailing Caribbean itineraries from Port Canaveral in the fall of 2010, I thought some of you might be comparison shopping. For background, DH and I were sailing with our DDs who are 6 and 7. My parents were also with us, and they brought along my nephew who turned 9 on the trip.
Ship
Overall, I thought the Sun was very nice, but DCLs ships are nicer. The Sun is slightly smaller, but it is newer. It has a refined, elegant kind of style and has been well maintained. My only complaint about the ship itself was that it has a really dysfunctional traffic flow. There are 9 restaurants on the Sun (see Dining for more info) and its tough to get from one end of the ship to another without cutting through a restaurant. After a couple of days, we figured it out, but its really odd.
Service
I have to say that the crew on the Sun was outstanding. I honestly thought theyd never be as good as the crew on DCL, but they were. Our room steward knew everyones name, asked my kids about their day and left them extra chocolates with their towel animals every night. We met a waiter in the buffet on our second day who made the kids origami animals. When we ended up in his section for dinner a few days later, he taught them how to make their own. We had another waiter who showed the kids magic tricks. With very few exceptions, everyone we encountered was really, really great!
Dining
As I mentioned above, there are 9 restaurants on the Sun and NCL has Freestyle Dining, meaning you eat wherever and whenever you want. I have to say, I LOVED not having a set dinner time. There are two main dining rooms, a buffet, an outdoor burger and fries kind of place, and 6 specialty restaurants. They also served food in the Sports Bar. You could make reservations if you wanted, but with the exception of a couple of the specialty restaurants, they werent needed. Some of the specialty restaurants were free; others had a $10-25 surcharge sort of like Palo. Generally speaking, I thought the food on the Sun was much better than DCL. That said, the Suns Italian restaurant, while good, was no where near as good as Palo. Also, the buffet on the Sun had a dysfunctional flow and seating was always a mess, but the food was good- much better than Topsiders/Beach Blanket. There is very little seating in the buffet area itself. There is a lot of covered outdoor seating, but no one in Alaska really wanted to eat outside. So, the buffet crowd overflowed in to the neighboring Sports Bar and Pacific Heights restaurants during breakfast and lunch. So you were often seated far away from where the actual buffet was located. This was a real pain with kids! I suspect this might be better on a warmer weather cruise when people want to sit outside, but in Alaska it was really painful.
Kids Club
This was the area I was most concerned about. We had three days at sea and while the adults in my group were really looking forward to watching the beautiful Alaskan scenery go by, I knew the kids would be bored with that fast. Fortunately, all 3 kids in our group loved the Suns Kids Korner and I had to drag them out of there when it was time to leave. The space itself is much smaller than DCLs, but there are a lot less kids. One of the counselors said there were 350 kids on our sailing. On our trip, they had the 2-5 year olds in one room, and the 6-12 year olds in another. There were typically only 10-15 kids in the club at anytime and the most I ever saw was probably 25. I dont know the exact ratio, but Id say there were normally at least 6 counselors there all the time. The kids really got to know the counselors well and they were able to do a lot of activities that the DCL Club/Lab simply cant do because of the large number of kids. Of course, NCL cant have Peter Pan come read them a story . . . no one can have activities that are that cool! Ive asked my kids several times who had the better kids club and they cant decide they love them both.
There are a few important differences between NCL and DCL that are worth noting. The club is technically closed while the boat is in port and after 10:00pm. You can notify them the day before and pay a fee and they have group babysitting in the club during those times. Also, they do not allow you to leave your child onboard while you go ashore. They do not provide lunch or dinner in the club, except for one night when they do a special Kids Crew Dinner. They only give out pagers for parents of kids in the 2-5 age group (for the older kids, they simply ask where you are likely to be found if they need you). Again, none of this was at all an issue for my family, but thought Id note it.
Activities/Shows
We actually only went to one show because none of the shows really seemed interesting or fit in with our schdule. The one we saw was called Cirque Pan. It was sort of a Cirque de Soleil meets Broadway with a Peter Pan theme. It was actually kind of odd, but the kids liked it. They had a couple production shows, a magician, a comedian, a singer, and a staff talent show. None of the shows seemed to be nearly as good as any of the shows on DCL.
They also had other activities that youd probably expect trivia, dance lessons, bingo, wine/beer/martini tastings, family game shows, etc. While none of these had the Disney themes, they were all very similar to what weve done on DCL. Every afternoon at 3:30, there was a family activity for parents and kids to do together which were really great. Our favorite was a photo scavenger hunt which required we go around the ship and get a photo of everything on the list like us shaking hands with an officer, someone eating a hot dog, etc. We then showed our photos (on the digital camera) to the person running the event, and the kids won an Alaskan coloring/activity book.
Cabins
Our cabin was really nice. We had a mini-suite on the back of the boat. The room itself was really large, the linens were great, and it was in excellent condition. The bathroom was huge. It had a 6-foot bathtub, granite counter tops, a separate room for the toilet, and tons of storage room. There was also a walk-in closet/changing room that had lots of built in drawers, a small vanity table, and a big mirror. Our balcony had plenty of room for 4 of us and overlooked the back of the boat.
I really hit the jackpot on scoping out other rooms on this trip. On our first full day, the couple in the Penthouse suite 2 doors down asked if they could check out our mini-suite for a trip they were considering next year. They invited us in to see their Penthouse suite (which was awesome by the way). While we were at it, they invited a bunch of our neighbors who were in the hallway in to check out their suite too. So we did a little Ill show you mine if you show me yours. So, I got to check out a Cat AC Penthouse, a Cat BB Balcony, a Cat J inside and a Cat II inside.
The Suns standard inside and window cabins are substantially smaller than DCLs they are nice, but tiny. That said, the Suns Cat II superior inside, was really good sized and very similar to DCLs sideways Cat 11. The Suns standard balcony cabins are smaller than DCLs, but are laid out similarly. There is no split bath and no curtain between the living area and the bed. The couch converts to a twin with a bunk above. The Sun also has two kinds of mini-suites and a large number of full suites that are well priced.
I just thought Id share my thoughts here since the Sun is competing directly with the Magic on some upcoming cruises. The Sun certainly didnt have all the great Disney-touches that most of us on this board really love, but it offered an excellent family vacation and for the savings over DCL, Id hop aboard again in a minute. If you have any specific questions, Id be happy to answer.
Best Wishes
Leslie
We are booked on the 
We're from NC and throught it was way too cold for swimming. The day we left Vancouver, it was sunny and in the low 70's. That was the warmest time of the trip and it made for a pleasant sail away party (not as good as 
