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Philip M. Haggerty

Age: 70
Occupation: Retired City Attorney
Number of Cruises: 6
Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Lines
Ship: Norwegian Sun
Sailing Date: September 28th, 2002
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

INTRODUCTION

I am Philip Haggerty and my wife is Edith Goble. We are both retired; myself from the City Attorney’s Office of Phoenix, Arizona, Edith from a health care training position with Maricopa County. I am 70 and she is 58. This would be our sixth cruise. Our first was a Mexican Riviera cruise on Carnival’s Elation; the next an eleven day Eastern Caribbean trip on Enchanted Isle of the now bankrupt Commodore Lines; the third another Eastern Caribbean cruise on Celebrity’s Galaxy for seven days; the fourth a fourteen day excursion from Valparaiso to Buenos Aires on Mercury, also a Celebrity vessel; and lastly a 10 day cruise/tour of Alaska on Sun Princess.

REASON FOR CRUISE CHOICE

This was not a cruise which we had originally planned. What attracted my attention was a reasonable price and the fact that it would visit four western Caribbean ports where we had never been; Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize and Cozumel. We had free time since I had scheduled hip replacement surgery in August, and this would fit into a recuperation program. We like veranda cabins, especially in warm climates, and therefore started with one. The travel agency with which I am associated came up with a good upgrade price on a “Penthouse Suite”, and the price was still pretty low, so we said “Why not?” and went for it.

Were also curious about Norwegian Lines. We had been very spoiled by Celebrity, and treated pretty well by both Princess and Carnival, but I had read that NCL was trying to improve its reputation and using Norwegian Sun as a showpiece. We also were curious about “Freestyle” cruising. Sun Princess had a modified form of this for one of its two main dining rooms, but NCL is really promoting it on Sun.

PREPARATION FOR SHORE EXCURSIONS

The cruise itinerary called for one sea day, four shore visit days and one final sea day. Since shore excursions were part of the reason we selected this cruise, we did some extensive advance research. We read all the reviews on this website as well as looking for comments on “day trips” in travel books. We also read the descriptions found on NCL’s website printed material. We have found that for the popular stop-off places that there is great similarity between what is offered by the cruise line and what you can find on the net, especially if you use other reference sources. For example, at our first scheduled stop, Grand Cayman Island, there are a number of tour providers who offer snorkeling and a “sting ray encounter”. A cruise review had favorably commented on “Captain Marvin’s” tour, and since it was a few dollars less than the NCL sponsored tour, we signed up for it on the net. The next stop, Roatan Island, did not offer much that appealed, but we did locate a website that gave 20 pages of detailed reviews and locations, with a map, of the best snorkeling and scuba diving sites. For dedicated divers, this site is: http://roatan island.awwm.com/roatandiveguide.htm

Edith and I discussed Belize without reaching any conclusions. I believed that when we arrived there I would have had two snorkeling days, with a third to follow at Cozumel, so I did not want to go to “Shark Alley” or any snorkeling sites on the Cays off the coast. For Cozumel we had read good reviews of a five hour Jeep Jungle tour with lunch and snorkeling on the east or Caribbean side of the island. The cost was $75.00 per person, again less than a similar sounding trip sponsored by NCL. The only problem was that the website indicated they would only take Visa to reserve a spot, and I use MasterCard. A phone call worked out an arrangement whereby I sent a check for  ½ the cost and agreed to pay cash for the balance on arrival. We received 4 pages of detailed directions on how to find them when we landed.

THE WEATHER WATCH

Sailing the Caribbean from the middle of August until the middle of November always poses the possibility of a hurricane. As we got closer to sailing we started watching the National Weather Service Hurricane and Tropical Storm site. Our route would take us west south west from Miami parallel to the northwest coast of Cuba, and then east south east to the Grand Caymans. We next would proceed almost due west to Roatan, which is just off the Honduras coast and after that north along Honduras until we reached Belize City. Cozumel is due north of that point, and then we would sail north east past the western tip of Cuba and back to Miami. Hurricane Isadore went right through part of that route, coming north past the Caymans and hitting shore at Yucatan, north and west of Cozumel. But Isadore came and went several days prior to our arrival in Miami. Unfortunately, along came Lili.

This was a strange storm, not always up to hurricane strength, and uncertain as to its course. Initially it looked as though it would hit Jamaica and then central Cuba, but it shifted to the west and was moving slowly over the open sea near the Grand Caymans as our sail date approached. Since there are a lot of alternative routes open in the Caribbean, we were not overly concerned.

TO MIAMI AND OVERNIGHT

Our sail time was 4:00 P.M., and short of finding a “red-eye” and spending the night in the air, we thought it best to fly to Miami the day prior to departure. I was using American Airlines frequent flier miles so we had to change planes in Dallas, and I always leave plenty of time for transfers at DFW, so our flight left at 9:00 A.M. and we arrived at about 7:00 P.M. Our hotel was the Howard Johnson on Biscayne Boulevard. We had only visited Miami once before, and thought that the hotel would be on a main street close to restaurants. Unfortunately it was a two star commercial hotel, and not near anything except a 24 hour convenience store attached to a gas station where we were able to buy some snacks for our evening meal. Despite the semi-grungy nature of our accommodations, we slept well. After a minimal continental breakfast we joined a number of other guests to take the complimentary shuttle to the pier, which was about a mile away or less. The trip took about half an hour through horrible Miami traffic.

CHECK-IN, BOARDING AND OUR STATEROOM

Thanks to our “Penthouse Suite” status, check in was as fast and easy as we ever experienced. Even though we could not board immediately, a pleasant lounge with snacks and coffee was provided, all superintended by our concierge, Julie from Canada. We boarded at about 12:30 and proceeded, without accompaniment, to our suite, which was located at the aft end of Deck 10. Our quarters for the next week had a separate living room, bedroom and bath. The living room has space for a sofa [which also could have been made into a bed]. two arm chairs, several tables, and a wall unit containing a desk, TV, mini-refrigerator, and lots of drawer and shelf space, some of the shelves containing a selection of glassware. The bedroom is a little small, but has room for a closet, drawers and another TV. The bathroom has a vanity, another closet and drawer unit, a single sink with very adequate shelf space, a jacuzzi tub with shower, a separate stall shower and an enclosed commode. The bathroom walls are entirely marble, as is the sink. All in all, the whole arrangement is very nice. We have always admired the ability of ship’s architects to build sufficient storage space even into fairly small cabins, and the amount of space we had was more than enough. Both the living room and bedroom opened on to a large, curving veranda overlooking the stern. The wall units were a light mahogany veneer and the wallpaper was a pleasant beige. The lighting system was the most complete I have ever seen on a ship. The bedroom and living room had separate thermostats. Suite guests receive a complimentary bottle of champagne, bottles of Evian and Pellegrino water, and a tray of hor d’oeuvres. The overall impression was, and remained for the rest of the trip, very favorable. It is most pleasant to come back to one’s cabin and stretch out on comfortable chairs or a sofa without maneuvering around a bed. And it certainly was nice for two of us to use the bathroom at the same time. I am not sure what the “brochure” rate for the “Penthouse Suite” is, but we feel that for the comparatively small upgrade price we paid, ir was worth it. We truly enjoyed the Jacuzzi tub.

After admiring our quarters, we went up to Deck 11 to the buffet for lunch. The setup is a little unusual since there are two buffet service areas, the Garden Cafe being inside and the Great Outdoors Cafe outside. The food was not bad, and the set-up system between buffet line and seating area was better that on Sun Princess. We explored the ship after lunch. It is fairly typical for vessels of this size (77,000 tons), with the main difference being the number of specialty restaurants. There are three elevator banks, including four “panorama” glass enclosed smaller units traveling from the 5th floor deck of the atrium up to deck 11. I had noted on Sun Princess that their elevator arrangement of two banks, with multiple separate buttons resulted in slow traffic. We seldom had any delays on Norwegian Sun. The library was small, and the internet cafe large. There are the usual bars and lounges scattered about, but few, if any, with sea views. The Casino is in the center of Deck 7, making it difficult to avoid if you are on that deck. The ship is still very new, having made its maiden voyage in 2001, and physically is still in excellent shape. The staff seemed to be well trained, and polite and friendly. Our luggage was delivered at about 3:00, so we were unpacked and ready to enjoy the trip even before we sailed at 4:00.

FREESTYLE DINING

In prior reviews I gave the run down on dining in each daily report, with comments on the individual dishes. Since “Freestyle” dining is so different, I think it would be more useful for people considering this cruise to use another format, focusing on the alternative food services offered . First of all, there are no “first seating” and “second seating” arrangements. There are two main dining rooms, Four Seasons and Seven Seas, both open for dinner from 5:00 P.M. to midnight (last orders by 10:00 P.M.) The menus here are traditional, and largely the same in both rooms with small variations, especially in the vegetarian dishes. One can make reservations, or simply show up. Both these restaurants are on Deck 5, but separated by the galley and the Il Adagio Italian Specialty Restaurant. These main restaurants have tables for two, four six and eight, and when you arrive you can ask to sit by yourself or with others. The night we sailed we ate dinner by ourselves for the first time on a cruise. On all the other nights when we were in one of the main dining rooms, we asked to be seated with others. While there was some benefit in dining with different people; we did miss the regularity of the same waiter and assistant waiter, and the same dinner companions. There seems to be much more “even” service when you have the same people; and in every instance our “team” knew our individual preferences and were able to provide them without our asking. [Besides, my wife greatly enjoyed being addressed as “Lady Edith” by our Jamaican waiter on Elation.] In addition, there is no nightly “learning curve” for the names and homes of your dinner companions.

There is some benefit in a vessel providing specialty restaurants. Norwegian Sun has five of these venues. As noted, Il Adagio on Deck 5 is the Italian Restaurant with a $10.00 per person “cover” charge. Three of the other specialty restaurants are on Deck 12. Le Bistro is the French restaurant of course, also with a $10.00 per person charge. We had one meal there. East meets West is a “Pacific Rim/Asian Fusion” restaurant on Deck 12 with a similar charge, and the same Deck has the Ginza, a sushi, teppanyaki restaurant which is a la carte. We did not eat at either of these. We did have one dinner at Pacific Heights on Deck 11, which has no additional charge; and this is described as “cooking light” restaurant. While the menus for the main restaurants change daily, of course, the menus for the specialty restaurants, which were provided to us in our rooms as part of the “suite” service, remain the same.

There is also a Tapas bar at Las Ramblas Cafe, but we did not sample anything there, and we assume that there was a charge. It is open only after 5:00.

The indoor buffet, the Garden Cafe, is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as is the Seven Seas main dining room. The Great Outdoor Cafe is open for breakfast and lunch. The Four Seasons dining room and the specialty restaurants are open only for dinner. Snacks are available in both cafes in the afternoon and in the garden cafe until midnight. There is an ice cream bar open near the Garden Cafe in the early afternoon. As usual, no charge room service is available. We had understood that the suites had a special menu for breakfast, but the room service staff seemed to think that the special menu was available only for honeymooners. So our one use of breakfast room service used the regular menu which, while reasonable in scope, is still a lot less extensive than either the buffet or the Seven Seas breakfast.

Reservations are recommended for the specialty restaurants, and can be made by all passengers after 8:00 A.M. in the morning. As suite passengers we could make them a day or two earlier by calling our concierge, and we did so. We had no problem with reservations at 7:00 or 7:30, but while both the Bistro and Pacific Heights were reasonably full, there was no waiting for either. There were occasions in which there were people waiting to be served in the main dining rooms, usually about 8:00 P.M.

The advantage of Free Style dining is in the “time” freedom. If you have the chance, and wish to make an extended shore excursion, you do not have to worry about getting back at 6:00 or 6:30 for an early seating. Similarly, on formal nights, you don’t have to start getting dressed at 5:00 or 5:30. However, if you plan on attending the early show, you still have to start eating by 6:00 or 6:30 at the latest in any event. Time planning is still the greatest headache of cruising if you are a person who likes to do things and go places as part of the cruising experience.

On the whole, we felt that the disadvantages of Free Style outweighed the advantages, and it seemed that most of our fellow travelers, especially the seasoned ones, felt the same way. Since most large cruise lines offer some variation on alternative dining sites, one can still have some variety along with the pleasure of familiar companions and familiar servers.

NCL FOOD

Generally we felt that the quality of the food on Norwegian Sun was equal to that on Sun Princess, more sophisticated than on Elation but not a match for either Mercury or Galaxy. This means that overall it was quite good. My wife was very appreciative of the variety offered in the vegetarian dishes, and we liked the “Cooking Light” dishes forming part of every meal. Except for the initial lunch, we had only one breakfast at the buffet, so we really can’t comment on that venue. We did have several snacks there after returning from shore visits, and they were okay. I ordered a “side” of bacon for my room service breakfast, and received a plate that must have had eight or nine slices on top of hash browned potatoes. Unfortunately, the coffee carafe for two contained about a cup and a half apiece!

We liked both specialty restaurants. The menu items seemed to be individually prepared, and not part of the “hotel cooking” of the main restaurants; and the service was more personal. Le Bistro is a very attractive venue. The downside of the specialty restaurants is that you dine by yourself, with no opportunity for sharing your table; so we would not want to have very many meals in these places. Overall, and apart from the freestyle format, we were pleasantly surprised by the generally high quality of the food, given NCL‘s reputation.

THE FOOD POISONING INCIDENT

Having said that, we have to report a major apparent food poisoning incident. On Thursday the Captain came on the PA system to announce that “more than 60” people had reported illnesses to the ship’s doctor, mostly on Sunday. Since this exceeded 2% of the passenger count, (there were about 1950 passengers on board), he was required to notify the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta. This agency flew people out to the ship to investigate. As part of their efforts to locate the cause they prepared a four page, extremely detailed questionnaire which everyone was requested to fill out. Among other things, it listed every item on the menus for Saturday afternoon and evening and similarly for Sunday. My journal notes helped to refresh my memory. We turned this in on Friday. At dinner Saturday evening we were joined by two ladies, one of whom had been among the victims. She believed it was a shrimp dish that was suspect, and she also thought that there were more than 60 affected, although we had heard nothing prior to the captain‘s announcement. In any event, we were given the website [www.cdc.gov/nceh/vsp] which will have the results of the investigation in a few weeks. Anyone can go to that site and bring up the CDC inspection reports on all cruise ships which dock at any time in the US.

CHANGE OF ITINERARY

Before dinner we went to an excursion lecture. We were informed that due to Lili we would not go to Grand Cayman Island initially, as planned, but to Roatan Island, arriving at 11:00 A.M. on Monday after our regular Sunday sea day. We would then proceed to Belize City, with the Cozumel and Grand Cayman visits waiting on the weather. This caused some concern since we had made arrangements at both Grand Cayman and Cozumel for different dates. Since we had e-mail access, at fairly exhorbitant rates, I determined to use that method the next day contact our tour vendors and appraise them of our situation.

After dinner we returned to our cabin and met our cabin stewardess, Maryanne, from the Philippines, and her assistant, Suki, from Indonesia. She has been with NCL for 16 years, and he for 6 years. Before retiring we could se the lights of the Florida Keys off the starboard side. The room was a little cold so we requested an extra duvet for the bed. As usual at sea, we slept well.

1ST SEA DAY - SUNDAY

This was essentially a very quiet day. We had breakfast in the buffet and a pleasant lunch with two other couples in the main dining room. We attended two port talks which were reasonably informative. The impression given at these talks was that the re-routing to Roatan, Belize, Cozumel and Grand Cayman was fixed unless there was a major weather shift. The “Captain’s Welcome Party” was at 7:00 as this was a formal attire night. These parties are usually not much, and this was no exception. There were three different photo shoot locations, including one with the Captain. We saw him standing by himself briefly and went over to chat for a moment before the photographer called him back for the next shot. So much for command authority - photographers rule! At dinner we noticed that the percentage of men in black ties and tuxedos was less than other cruises.

After dinner we went to the Jane L. Powell show. The theater is fairly large. Some balcony seats probably have partially blocked sight lines; but we arrived early at each show we attended, and never had a problem. Despite the fact that this show had good reviews, and was apparently popular with the audience, we did not enjoy it at all. It was a much too loud, “in your face” presentation; totally lacking in charm, grace or musicianship.

2ND DAY - MONDAY - ROATAN, HONDURAS

Due to the route change we did not dock at Roatan until 11:00 A.M. I sent off my e-mails to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. The CNN weather report on our stateroom TV undicated that Lili was now a full scale hurricane, headed for Jamaica and Cuba, with the possibility of hitting the Caymans. Our weather was sunny and warm, with no sign of a problem. Roatan is an island off the coast of Honduras, shaped like Cuba, but only 30 miles east to west by 2 miles north to south. Our port advisor had recommended a vendor who was not on the official “tour” list, and we decided to try this. The tour was basically a trip across the island to the north shore to a restaurant called Salt & Pepper owned by an Englishman. For $28.00 you get a ride there and back (about $15.00 otherwise) and a lobster lunch. Snorkeling was available at the beach adjoining the restaurant. The location is Half Moon Bay and is in the West End area. We easily found the man with the Salt & Pepper sign and followed him to a van which was driven by a frustrated NASCAR driver, racing other vehicles across the island. We had been told that the roads were bad and breakdowns common, but we had no trouble. The area we saw on the drive over, about a half hour trip, was basically a third world experience. The restaurant proper was on the second floor and the dining area was an open porch with a good view of the bay. The meal was pretty casual, but quite tasty. Drinks were extra of course. We met the owner who said he had lived on the island for 30 years. The owner’s wife, apparently a Honduran lady, was also the cashier, which explained her vigilance in collecting our money. Afterwards I went down the stairs to a dive shop and spoke to a young girl who was clearly from the UK. She said that there were no snorkel tours, only SCUBA, but that I could simply swim out to where I could see a reef line across the bay. She told me to stay at the west end to avoid boats coming in the center and east end. I had brought my own snorkel gear so I swam out some distance and did get some nice views and fair selection of fish. I was a little concerned when the only other snorkelers, two of them, went back to shore, so I cut my expedition short. This was the first free swimming I had done since my hip replacement, so I was a tad concerned about remaining out by myself. On the whole I was pretty pleased with the experience. The restaurant had a beach area with Adirondack chairs, and Edith had set one up under a tree by the sand a few yards from the water. When I returned, she went for a beach stroll while I sat in the chair and watched our stuff. There was a security type present also. We then went back to the restaurant and the cashier had a waiter take us out to a taxi so the driver could return us to the pier knowing that the return trip was paid by the restaurant. We went back by a different route, and at a more relaxed pace, seeing a much nicer part of the island; complete with Century 21 real estate signs. Roatan is trying to develop itself, and promoting its excellent snorkeling and SCUBA diving sites. It still is relatively remote, although it does have a good sized airfield. There is no reason why it should not become more popular, although I do not think that any other major cruise line visits there.

This was the night we ate at Pacific Heights, and enjoyed it. The service was especially good, although we suspect that the menu is not for everyone, leaning to very light food. We went to the later show afterwards and it was a typical production performance based on Broadway shows. It was not too bad, but not great either.

3RD DAY - TUESDAY - BELIZE

After considering the options, and listening to the port talks, we decided to buy a tour from the ship rather than just wander around Belize City. This involved a bus trip to the Belize Zoo followed by a river cruise. Our local guide was extremely knowledgeable about the local flora and fauna; and while the zoo collection was limited to Central American animal and bird species; it was very attractive. Some of the animals were quite used to humans as their cages were very close, and I actually got to reach in and pet a beautiful ocelot. The zoo is about a 40 minute bus ride from town, in which we rode on a comfortable touring bus that had recently been part of the New Jersey Transit fleet and still had a sign warning that harassing the driver was a violation of a specific New Jersey statute. Belize was once British Honduras, so English is the official language and all the road signs and roadside advertisements were in English. As a switch from the normal practice in former British countries, the auto traffic is on the right side of the road. The boat trip was also enjoyable, although I am glad we wore long sleeve shirts, full trousers and hats. The boat pulled over to the shore to give us views of a monkey family and later, a large crocodile, and well as iguanas. There were a number of very nice homes along the river. As we moved out into a wide bay at the river mouth we had a view of a couple of manatees and three dolphins quite close. Altogether it was worthwhile although quite warm, even for Arizonans not accustomed to 85° temperatures when coupled with 90% humidity.

At dinner we requested a table with other diners, and enjoyed a nice conversation with a young couple from Dallas and a very widely traveled couple from Gloucester, England. This reminded us of the enjoyment possible with regular dinner companions at traditional assigned seating. We decided not to attend the show, but listened to, and danced to, a traditional small dance band in one of the lounges.

4TH DAY - WEDNESDAY - COZUMEL

We were able to dock alongside the pier in Cozumel, perhaps because, as we learned, none of the three other cruise ships scheduled to arrive that day actually showed up. We disembarked at about 8:30. The original itinerary called for us to stay in Cozumel until 8:00 P.M., but because of the fact that we had to sail to Grand Cayman overnight, we were forced to depart at 4:30, which meant being back on board at 4:00. We had a rather full trip planned, so this left little time for shopping, but the stores were open for us and Edith did buy some loose gemstones before we met our tour. It turned out that only one other couple had bought this tour and they were late showing up. The guides were both young Americans, and we went with Heather from New Jersey. She had lived on the island for about six years and had a three year old son with her former Mexican husband. Cozumel is about ten miles from west to east and about eighteen miles north to south. Heather stopped briefly on the way out of town to talk to the tour owner, who is also American. We then went on a major road which went straight across the island to the Caribbean shore. As soon as we got there we turned north and were on a sand “road” the rest of the way. There had been rain that night and there were extensive puddles that we had to navigate. Heather was an expert at this and maneuvered the Jeep without putting it into four wheel drive until we had to leave the road and climb over a sand dune to reach the shore. We stopped at two Mayan ruins, one very small and tumbled down. The other was a single room about 10 feet by 10 feet, facing out to the sea and on a rise along the shore. Heather explained that this room was used by prospective high priests to meditate for 13 moons, at the end of which they were presumed competent to assume their duties. It really was an impressive place, although not very large by Mayan temple standards. We then went to a shore stop wit a small ramada where we met the other couple and their driver, The water was too stirred up for snorkel viewing close to shore, and no one wanted to venture out very far, but the swimming was pleasant anyway, and we had a tasty pork taco lunch. There were a number of other tours along this track, some jeep tours like ours, others with the tourists driving ATVs. I am glad we had our tour. All the other guides were Mexican, and it was nice to have someone totally fluent in English. [Heather also spoke fluent Spanish to the other guides as we passed them.] Her length of time in Cozumel and connection with the local community, [her fiance is Mexican], gave us a good insight into the community and living there. Among other tings we found out that the cost of water and electricity have tripled in the last three years. Her boss’s home has electricity bills of about $350.00 per month. Living in Cozumel is not cheap.

We again had a pleasant dinner and went to the show, which was again a song and dance review. I was a little tired and really did not appreciate it much.

5TH DAY - THURSDAY - GEORGE TOWN, GRAND CAYMAN

Here again the re-routing affected us. Not only did we leave Cozumel early, but we did not arrive at George Town until almost 11:00 A.M. Three other cruise ships had preceded us. We tendered ashore and looked for Captain Marvin’s tours. After getting misdirected several times, we finally found someone who pointed out its location on a map; and it is really a small town. The tour office is in a store, and they had our names and knew about our time changes. We waited on a bench out front and shortly understood what offshore banking involving 47 of the worlds largest 50 banks as well as over 500 banks in total means to an economy. The parade of vehicles up and down the street would have been typical as to model, age, quality and condition to a typical day in Pasadena, Scottsdale or any other affluent American suburb. Grand Cayman is doing very well, thank you. We also found out that Lili had not directly touched Grand Cayman, although it did some damage when it went over Little Cayman, about 65 miles to the east.

Our tour had about 16 participants from our ship. We shoehorned ourselves into a van to travel to the dock and set out in a fairly small launch out to a very large bay on the north side of the island. There was a reef about two or three miles out from our starting point where we did some snorkeling. The surface was a little choppy, which caused water to splash down the tube, but the fish viewing was fairly good. We then moved over to a place where there were half a dozen or so small boats like ours stopped, and people in the water. This was a sand bar in the middle of the bay on which you could stand with the water about up to your waist. Here is where the sting rays were. This was truly an amazing experience. They happily swam around us, curling around our bodies, and freely allowing us to touch them, hold them and even try to lift them up. It helped that the boat crew supplied us with small pieces of fish which the rays would lake out of your hands, or more accurately, your fists, since we were told to hold the fish in a clenched fist with the fish protruding. We did not touch their tails, and we avoided a series of small but sharp protuberances down their spines, but there was no danger from these very tame creatures. They obviously know a good lunch bet when it comes along. We then did one more short snorkeling stop, and returned to the Sun in plenty of time to catch a tender. In fact the last tender did not arrive at the ship until almost 6:00, an hour after the announced departure time. Altogether this was a very delightful day, and we can also recommend Captain Marvin’s Tour. You might ask for directions to their office if they do not plan to have a person with a sign at the landing pier; keeping in mind that there are two tender piers in George Town.

The daily ship’s paper was a little confusing as to dinner that night. The first page said: “Suggested Attire: Resort Casual” while the last page said “Evening Attire: Resort Elegant/ Formal Optional”. Based on the trend observable as we proceeded, we decided to skip the tuxedo/black tie - formal wear routine, and I wore a light blue jacket, white dress shirt and tie with blue slacks. Edith wore a long dress and we were just fine. We saw only a very few black ties. We had a nice dinner, and one of the couples at our table turned out to have been on our sting ray tour. This was a honeymoon trip for them, although they had actually gotten married a few months earlier, a plan which sounded like a good idea.

We went to the show, but left after about twenty minutes, and fell into bed.

6TH DAY - FRIDAY - AT SEA

By this time we were really looking forward to a sea day with no grand plans. I finished my book in time to get it back to the Library. Edith attended another of her Feng Shui classes. I hit a few golf balls. We went to the “$100.00” art auction which we found amusing. We had a nice lunch where we chatted with one of the food poisoning victims who was enjoying her first regular meal since Sunday. This would not be anyone’s idea of a fun cruise, but it does happen occasionally.

We received debarkation information in our cabin, and it really could not have been easier. Norwegian does not require the bags to be placed outside the cabin until 3:00 A.M.; not 10:00 P.M. like Celebrity and 8:00, as does Princess. You get a printed schedule of when you color will be called, and you can stay in your cabin until then, rather than being herded like cattle in a lounge area. Breakfast is served in both the buffet and main dining room.

For our last night we opted to dine in Le Bistro, the French specialty restaurant with a $10.00 per person service charge. I have a hearing problem, and we do not like to dine at one of those “tables for two” with the seats facing each other. When they attempted to place us at one, we resisted and shortly got a table when we could be seated at the “corners” and chat much more easily. Both the service and the food were very good, typical of first class restaurant dining. The restaurant was reasonably full, but, while we had made reservations through our concierge, we did not see anyone turned away for lack of reservations or room. We returned to our stateroom with plenty of time for leisurely packing.

7TH DAY - SATURDAY - MIAMI

We arrived about 8:00, but had gotten up to have breakfast in the dining room at about 7:30. We returned to our cabin, and since our color was set for 10:00, simply waited until then. I had purchased a larger back pack, and found it had plenty of room for all my toiletries, pajamas, underwear etc. Debarkation was easy, although accompanied by the usual lines to go through immigration and customs. The pier in Miami is well set up, and it is a short walk with your luggage to a bus loading area. We had purchased bus tickets to the airport on board from the tour/trip desk for $10.00 per person charged to our on board account, and that worked out well as we easily found the correct bus, had the bags loaded and shortly after made our way to the airport. American Airlines has a huge number of check-in stations, and the signage was somewhat confusing. When we did arrive, we had an agent who was extremely efficient and helpful, and switched our DFW routing so that we flew through St. Louis, and arrived home about 3½ hours earlier than our AA website scheduled flight.

DOS AND DONT’S FOR THIS CRUISE

Do bring sunscreen, a broad brim hat, sun glasses and loose, fully covering clothing if you intend to do any shore excursions. Bug spray and anti-itch hydrocortisone cream is also a good idea. Do at least some shore excursions. Don’t bring too much dress up clothing, this is a “casual“ cruising experience. Don’t expect too much by way of personalized service or attention. Don’t plan on a grand cuisine, gourmet dining experience, and you won’t be disappointed by the food. Don’t bother with binoculars or fancy camera equipment - a point and shoot or digital is fine. This is not a scenic tour like Alaska or South America. If you can budget for a veranda cabin, do it. Sitting outside watching the Caribbean slip by is a delightful experience, and the weather is almost always fine. If you feel the cold, bring and wear long sleeve shirts around the ship and especially at the shows, because the air conditioning is on full force almost everywhere. Make dinner reservations, even for the main dining rooms, the waiting areas are small, and unlike land restaurants, there is no bar attached where you can sit while you wait. If you are going to the main show room, get there about 20 minutes early. It will not fill up, but you will have a very good choice of seats, and will not take the chance of ending up behind a pillar.

OVERALL IMPRESSION

We found this to be an enjoyable cruise; rating it at 8.2 out of 10. We thought our Penthouse Suite was delightful. However the cabin service was often slow; which was not the fault of the steward staff, but simply a product of NCL shorting staff size compared to any of the other lines we sailed on. Carnival and Celebrity particularly seemed to have our room cleaned and made up minutes after we left in the morning, whereas on Norwegian Sun several hours passed before the rooms were visited. With our separate living room this did not inconvenience us, but if we had been in a regular cabin, it would have been a bother at times.

NCL food had been poorly rated by reviewers, but we were not so critical. We liked the fact that there were vegetarian items every day and marked “light eating” items also. The breads were good, as were most soups. The appetizers were successful about half the time, and I felt that the dessert options, although good, were somewhat limited. The filet mignon I ordered at Le Bistro came exactly as ordered, not still mooing as in some restaurants. The vegetable fare accompanying the entrees lacked imagination. The table service was pleasant and adequate, but somewhat rushed at times, while smooth and relaxed at other occasions. I had not been pleased with the rushed atmosphere on the Sun Princess, which was clearly the product of short staffing. A waiter and assistant simply cannot take care of three full tables at a traditional seating. Celebrity lightens the load; the waiter and his assistant are not stressed out; and the experience is delightful. On Carnival’s Elation we had a very good waiter, but we thought that the efficiency of the service on that ship owed a lot to the assistant headwaiter assigned to our group of tables. This fellow; who was probably hated by the waiters; was everywhere all the time, checking on everything, and making sure all the guests were taken care of. We never saw his equivalent on Norwegian Sun or for that matter, on Sun Princess, and the lack of supervision showed.

The onboard activities were fine, actually offering more than on Sun Princess. Edith participated more than I do, and she had a good time. The only problem, and it is true of virtually all cruises, is that there is often a time conflict for events, forcing you to make choice between things you would like to do. I don’t think there is a cure for this. We did not think much of the entertainment as you might have gathered by now. There was a piano on Deck 7 which was used once or twice by a fairly good musician, but not often enough. The shore and port presentations were very thorough and they seemed accurate, although the comments as to driving conditions on Roatan were much more pessimistic than realistic. We were provided with a “Port and Cruise Guide” for each stop, and these were handy, although limited to the areas near the docks or tender piers. The ship’s daily newsletters were typical, but no national or international news was provided. You could buy a compressed daily newspaper for $3.50 a day. We missed the complimentary Celebrity daily news sheets with major stories and sports reports, but then Princess provided no general news reports either. We were able to watch CNN throughout the trip, but without a schedule of the shows, catching the news you wanted to see was hit and miss, and it tended to be mostly international news and sports.

We always like to know where we are, but like Princess, NCL uses a ship information system hooked in to the television which displays poor maps and useful but infrequent information on our heading, speed etc. It repeated information on the ship’s pool temperatures over and over, even though these change very little, and I suspect no one cares anyway. Celebrity has a couple of large charts available at different locations on the ship with lines and pins showing our true location and route in relation to the whole trip and surrounding waters and islands.

The PA system was only used for true messages, not Bingo or art auction announcements; but it suffered from some intelligibility problems, and we had to go out of our cabin and into the corridor to hear at all.

The demographics on this cruise were much wider, especially as to age, than any other cruise we had taken, with a far greater representation of young adult passengers. There also seemed to be a number of family groups.

The cruise as planned had a wide range of shore excursions, but some of them, notably the Belize and Cozumel trips to Mayan ruins in the interior, could not be taken because of the shortened time allowances created by our rerouting. We would not have taken any of these due to the extended travel time required prior to arrival at these sites. I think the only way to see these places and do them justice is to take a week long tour to each area. Cruising is not the best way to get into a country’s history or culture in a major way. The one ship’s excursion we took, the Belize Zoo and river cruising trip, was quite good and not overpriced as these things go. The Roatan lunch trip, which was simply a suggestion of the port guide, and not a ship’s excursion, was fine also, as were our two internet purchases. For your information, the Cozumel Jungle Jeep Tour is run by Aventuras Naturales, owned by Gail and Richard Ralston; cell phone 044-987-87-87817. We contacted them through a Canadian Company called Travelnotes, and their website is: www.travelnotes,cc. Their e-mail address is: info@travelnotes.cc. Our Grand Cayman snorkel and sting ray tour is found at: www.captainmarvins.com; with the e-mail address: captmvn@candw.ky

Would we recommend this cruise? If you have not visited the Western Caribbean, or only been to one or two of these stops, this would be an excellent choice. There are so many Caribbean cruise possibilities that we would not be likely to duplicate this same trip; but this was a nice clean ship with very good accommodations, respectable food, and a pleasant atmosphere. We were disappointed with the entertainment, but we don’t place much importance on that aspect of cruising in any event. Overall Norwegian Sun matches Princess, and from what I have heard, any Royal Caribbean International vessel. I have heard that Holland American is quite elegant, but we have never been able to match a HAL itinerary to available dates yet. Celebrity still outdoes every other cruise line with which we are familiar in all categories.

I will be happy to answer any questions which any reader may have.

Happy Cruising!

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