Norwegian Sun - 25 Mar 2006

[BUNGLE73]

I will be travelling on the NCL Sun with my partner on 25 Mar 2006, around the W Carribean. I have only been on a cruise once before, when I sailed with Celebrity on the Century. Just wanted to find out more about NCL, particularly the NCL Sun. I am looking forward to the flexible dining as this avoids the hassle of formal dining with a load of strangers (and of course avoids having to carry lots of luggage). I found the disembarkation process onboard Century efffortless, is it the same for NCL. We need to get off the ship quick as we are catching a flight back to London, UK. Look forward to hearing from you.

[Ron Clark]

I'll be sailing on the same week on a different cruise line to the Western Caribbean, maybe will run across one another ashore.

The Norwegian Sun is a beautiful ship which is maintained very well. I recently sailed on her in December 2005. You're going to have a great cruise.

NCL has express disembarkation along with the normal disembarkation. Express disembarkation isn't effortless while normal disembarkation is. With express disembarkation, you carry all your bags, so pack light. With normal disembarkation, you place your packed bags outside your cabin door the night before, and the crew move your bags ashore, where you pick up your bags. When you depart the ship depends on the color tags you attach to your bags.

When's your flight? You can reach Miami International Airport easily within an hour off disembarking the ship if you use a taxi cab. You should also reserve an hour to get through security at the airport and to get to your flight's gate. It might take longer if many other cruise ships return to Maimi the same day.

But here's a rub, since you are not a native citizen of America, you'll have to meet at a public room aboard the ship to pick up your passports. I'm not so sure you'll be able to use express disembarkation. It will be important for you to inform the appropriate personel when you flight takes off so you'll get the appropriate color tag.

P.S. Here are two links to photos I took on my last cruise aboard the Norwegian Sun.

http://homepage.mac.com/donclark/PhotoAlbum34.html

http://homepage.mac.com/donclark/PhotoAlbum33.html

[BUNGLE73]

Ron,
Thanks for the information relating to the express disembarkation. I will speak to the cruise representative when we board the ship and arrange for the correct colour tag as well as transport to the airport.

Our flight to the UK departs at 1620 from Miami Internationalm, therefore we should have enough time to get checked in, pass through immigation and into departures.

Thanks for the picture links, I have been to Cozumel and it's sad to see the damage it experienced. Also, I hope we dont have a storm like you experienced in Deecember! When we left Fort Lauderdale onboard the Celebrity Century, we couldnt believe the weather. Hardly a great start to the cruise! My departure drink was blown out of my hand and was very very cold! That of course changed a day later when in the Carribean.

We are looking forward to our cruise. Last time I think we were the only British people on board the ship and we met some lovely people from the States. I am sure it will be the same again onboard the Sun.

I'll let you know when I get back!
Many thanks

[CruiserCanada]

Hi there,

We sailed the Sun the week of the 4th of March. I must say it was an extraordinary week, with only minor delays the first port stop (Cay Laventado) due to the medical evacuation of a crew member the day before.

To answer your question, we are Canadian citizens and took advantage of the Express disembarkation. As non-US citizens, as the above poster mentionned, we had to retrieve our passeports in the Stardust lounge between 6h45 and 7h15 a.m. You will get assigned a time the night before in a letter during those hours but even if yours says 7h15 you can go and wait in line any time, they don't check. The process was effortless and we waited in line for the passeports and to clear customs about 20 minutes. And yes, you CAN then use the Express disembarkation. That was my worry as well as I had a late morning flight to catch. Well, Express disembarkation started at 7h15 a.m. and we left the ship at 7h16 !!! So really a breeze if you can carry all your luggage as we did. A $25 taxi ride to MIA airport and we were checked-in for our flight at 8h00 a.m.!!!

All in all no complaints to formulate about NCL, the staff and crew were exeptional, tendering was well organized and the beaches in Cay Laventado, Tortola and Great Stirrup were all exeptional! The ship is immaculately clean, and the food is very acceptable. We have a teen girl and an 9 yr old son and they were very well taken care of in the teen and kids clubs.

Happy cruising!