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J Terrell

Age: 43
Occupation: Sales
Number of Cruises: 3
Cruise Line: Norwegian
Ship: Sun
Sailing Date: Novermber 2nd, 2003
Itinerary: Western Carribbean

Although the weather was a bit cloudy there wasn't anything else bad about this cruise. The ship is great. The crew was good, we had good service in the restaurants we tried. The theater is nice, comfortable seating and generally good views no matter where you sat. The entertainment was good - not as good as I've had on previous cruises - but certainly every show was fun and professional. The dance company was quite large considering it is only a cruise and they were excellent. Other on board entertainment was good too - piano players, guitar players, bands etc. None of them were great but they were all good enough. While there was plenty of bingo and art auctions etc there didn't seem to be as many activities as other cruises (i.e. galley tours, afternoon teas, etc) but we never found ourselves bored my any means. And the casino had everything you wanted. Even a generous amount of nickel slots for us gamblers who don't want to risk a lot. And one machine (I'm not telling which one!) paid off well for nickels. Hit it for $100 once then my wife got it up to $200 a couple of nights later. Also if you like table games NCL gives you $15 of chips for $10 (one offer per person) so you can't beat that deal.

FOOD, this is what you want to know about anyway, right? The freestyle dining is great. Eat when you want anywhere you want. Rarely were the dining rooms crowded enough to have to wait for a table. But on nights where there is only one showtime, the restaurants do get busy about an hour before showtime so be warned. All the restaurants were very pretty. We did not take advantage of all the various choices and instead dined in the Four Seasons or the Seven Seas dining rooms for all our dinners (other choices do charge a $10 per person fee). We had planned on using the other restaurants but the service and food were good so we figured why pay $20 additional when the other restaurants suited us fine. Be sure to check the menus each night - although the two have similar menus there are often slight variations. Filet Mignon might be served in one while NY strip was the beef choice in the other. But there is always at least one beef, one fish/seafood, a chicken, a pork etc choice for main dishes. The buffet looked OK and many people stuck to them but I like to get pampered on a cruise and be waited on. Snacks are plentiful (sports bar has popcorn in the afternoons and chips and dips at night) and the Tapas bar offers interesting appetizers in the evening if dinner wasn't enough!

 Pool area was nice and 4 hot tubs was an unexpected pleasure. There is also a kiddie pool and a hot tub next to that pool as well. The deck chairs get gone early as with most cruises but we never had a problem finding a place on the upper level above the pools. Shore excursions were good - overpriced as most are but good. We used NCL for Costa Maya and Cozumel but booked over the internet for Montego Bay and Cayman. Sting Ray city was great. Used Barrett Adventures (private van) in Jamaica which is OK too - Mayfield falls is great - similar to Dunns River but never a crowd. Did Chochobben ruins in Costa Maya - very nice but not large. As Costa Maya is such a new port your guide may or may not speak English very well but they try very hard. The Costa Maya port has some shopping and free tram from the ship to the shops so for someone who doesn't want to do an excursion you can kill several hours here. They also have a pool with beach chairs, swim up bar etc right in port by the shops. Cozumel we did Xcaret and it was great and the shore exursion was much more convenient than doing it yourself as the ferry picked you up and delivered you back to the ship (no taxi needed for anything) although you had to leave the park earlier than we would have if we had done it on our own.

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