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Ramona
Guest
I have posted a Sun review-check it out!
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NewMexico Nita
Guest
Ramona, I am certainly glad most others don't feel the same about the Sun as you. If they did no one would ever sail NCL. It's too bad your expectations were not met; our experience with the Sun was quite different. I am about to embark on my 14th cruise, have cruised most of the major lines (not HAL or Princess) and consider myself pretty knowledgeable seeing I was a TA for many years. As for entertainment, NCL is noted for her outstanding entertainment. Though I am not into some of the contempory shows the Jean Ryan group did on our Sun cruise, the talent was still outstanding. NCL's food, (I love freestyle) is good to very good, but not gourmet, with the exception of the alternative dining rooms. I haven't found the food on any competitive line any different, even Celebrity. NCL's buffet leaves something to be desired as most buffet do. Even the $30 buffets in Vegas don't excite me. We found both embarkation and debarkation to be a breeze. We arrived at the peir about 11am, didn't bother with Lattitude cause non of the lines were long, checked in, waited for the ship to be ready and were in our cabin by 11:45. I do know, from experience if you arrive about 2pm you will wait for ever as has happened to us before on other lines. We have learned to arrive as early as possible. If you think NCL was bad let me tell you about a really bad situation we encountered a few years ago? I do prefer not to knock other lines so will refrain from giving details at this time. As you can tell I am an NCL loyalist, but do know they are not perfect. Most of what we get out of life is what we put into it. There is a reason there are so many cruise lines sailing. For each taste there is a place for them. I am sorry NCL isn't for you. Your first experience with the, then Seaward probably left a negative taste that you tried to shake but couldn't. By the way we liked her also cause everyone on the ship and the crew were so friendly. I could care about the size of the cabin (within reason) or the size of the ship. The best gifts come in small boxes I have been told. NMNita
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RG
Guest
Nita come on! I understand you are an NCL loyalist, but now you are trying to put words and situations in other people's mouths. I was on the X-Mas sailing and found many things needed improvement. NCL needs to get better. Ramona and I had a great time on our cruise, because we don't let things get to us. The cruise was fun! NCL simply didn't meet our expectations. We are simple people and merely found NCL lacking in too many areas for our return business. I am glad that you enjoy cruising NCL so much, but understand they have some major shortcommings that need to be adressed. I know, so do other lines, but we have had better service, food and entertainment on Celebrity and RCCL. As far as a negative taste from the NCL Sea, I have no idea what you are talking about, we look at each trip as unique, or we wouldn't have tried NCL again. It appears you need to take in consideration that we have a choice when we travel and we want the best available for our vacation dollar, as a former T.A. you should realize that, and allow people to voice their honest opinions without feeling wounded because of the truth. Also we were in line very early to board the ship, (10:00) the lack of organization and training made for long delays in embarkation. I hope you don't take this as a Nita Bashing Party, but please allow others to have their opinions heard without excuses or assumptions made for the sake of protecting NCL.
Happy New Year and Cruising to ALL
Ross and Ramona
Happy New Year and Cruising to ALL
Ross and Ramona
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NewMexico Nita
Guest
Ross, I didn't mean to put you on the defensive and if you read what I wrote carefully I said "there is a reason we have choices and NCL wasn't for you. Ramona mentioned you did not like the Sea, that is why I brought the ship up. As for NCL versus other lines, of course you have a right to your opinion and so do I. Saying that NCL need to improve in many should be restated as, NCL needs to improve in many ways in your opinion. That's my point. As I said, I do understand. My hubby doesn't want to try RCL again, I had a good time. The last time we cruised RCL was a disasterous cruise I will admit. The first time was fine, but he wasn't with me. I say fine, cause I like you we don't go looking for problems. I also understand Hubbys view and hope this cruise is wonderful, cause if it isn't I don't think he will ever cruise again. That's how bad RCL was. Just one of those things. Please don't think I was attacking Ramona, I simply was giving my views of the Sun, as I said even our embarkation differed from yours. I did notice the remarks made by the person on Cruisemates just before yours had a different experience than you with embarkation. Timing does have a lot to do with it I feel. Anyway, I certainly was only giving my view though it differs from yours considerably.......Have a good week, NMNita
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Squeaky
Guest
Ross and Ramona.....How can you conclude that Nita was bashing you or putting words in your mouth???? She was simply disagreeing and giving her experience. We sailed the SUN last year and enjoyed it. We did not sail NCL this Christmas so I am not a devoted NCL fan by the way.
That she doesn't agree with you and experienced the cruise differently is not putting words in your mouth; she is expressing her opinion.
Nita...perhaps you could take the time to write a review and post it on this site so that viewers could garner two differing opinions and decide for themselves.
And be realistic...every cruise line has shortcomings that need to be addressed. Each may be different and, the importance of the issues obviously are different weighting to individuals. Assuming we are all adults, can't we each post our thoughts even if they are in conflict?
That she doesn't agree with you and experienced the cruise differently is not putting words in your mouth; she is expressing her opinion.
Nita...perhaps you could take the time to write a review and post it on this site so that viewers could garner two differing opinions and decide for themselves.
And be realistic...every cruise line has shortcomings that need to be addressed. Each may be different and, the importance of the issues obviously are different weighting to individuals. Assuming we are all adults, can't we each post our thoughts even if they are in conflict?
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NewMexico Nita
Guest
I did a review on CC and Cruise mates, but not cruise addicts so will do one later tonight after we watch Ohio State kick Miami around (Miami fans please don't jump at me and Yes, I know I may have to eat my words) Anyway I will give my views, of course I usually do; sometimes more than I should proably.
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Chris209
Guest
Wow- we were on the same sailing of the Sun (Dec 21) but it seems like we were on a different ship! Our previous experience includes RCL and Celebrity Galaxy and I must say that my husband was not a fan of cruising until this NCL Sun trip! I would definitely rank it as the best of our sailing experiences ( and we tend to stay in 5 star resorts regularly).
I am not sure what happened to you on embarkation but we were also there early and I was VERY pleased. We showed up at 11:15 and there was no one there and no lineup. We were done within 10 minutes and then waited for customs to open- when NCL saw there were about 10 people in line they told Customs to open early and we were on the ship 10 min later and escorted to our room- AE mini=suite on deck 11. I am a physician and was well prepared with Gravol, Bonine, ginger and sea bands as myself and one of my children are prone to seasickness- however we were shocked by how stable the boat felt! Not sure why your experience was so different . We never used any of the remedies. There were a few nights in the theatre when we felt some movement but not in a bothersome way and our experience on RCCL was much worse (for that one I needed the bonine)
We were also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and felt it surpassed the Galaxy hands down- which I had not expected. Our experience in Le Bistro and Il Addagio was excellent- both in terms of food quality, service and atmosphere. Did not care for the Garden Cafe but never really ate there other than 1 lunch when there was no BBQ and we were too late for the restaurants. We also felt the Sun staff excelled in terms of service. The concierge was wonderful and we did not meet one staff member who did not go out of there way for us- we of course aLSO tend to be very pleasant and friendly with the staff. I was surprised that after eating the 1st night at Seven Seas and then again on 6th night that our waitress recognized us and even called my 8 year old by name! She had only seen us once almost 5 days earlier - not sure how she did that as we didn't even recognize her! Cabin steward and all wait staff equally as good!
Thus our experience seems completely different than yours on the same sailing so experiences certainly can be subjective! We however have booked the NCL Dawn for March 8 and have decided NCL will get our business in the future!
I am not sure what happened to you on embarkation but we were also there early and I was VERY pleased. We showed up at 11:15 and there was no one there and no lineup. We were done within 10 minutes and then waited for customs to open- when NCL saw there were about 10 people in line they told Customs to open early and we were on the ship 10 min later and escorted to our room- AE mini=suite on deck 11. I am a physician and was well prepared with Gravol, Bonine, ginger and sea bands as myself and one of my children are prone to seasickness- however we were shocked by how stable the boat felt! Not sure why your experience was so different . We never used any of the remedies. There were a few nights in the theatre when we felt some movement but not in a bothersome way and our experience on RCCL was much worse (for that one I needed the bonine)
We were also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the food and felt it surpassed the Galaxy hands down- which I had not expected. Our experience in Le Bistro and Il Addagio was excellent- both in terms of food quality, service and atmosphere. Did not care for the Garden Cafe but never really ate there other than 1 lunch when there was no BBQ and we were too late for the restaurants. We also felt the Sun staff excelled in terms of service. The concierge was wonderful and we did not meet one staff member who did not go out of there way for us- we of course aLSO tend to be very pleasant and friendly with the staff. I was surprised that after eating the 1st night at Seven Seas and then again on 6th night that our waitress recognized us and even called my 8 year old by name! She had only seen us once almost 5 days earlier - not sure how she did that as we didn't even recognize her! Cabin steward and all wait staff equally as good!
Thus our experience seems completely different than yours on the same sailing so experiences certainly can be subjective! We however have booked the NCL Dawn for March 8 and have decided NCL will get our business in the future!
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Chris209
Guest
Forgot to mention that we quite enjoyed the entertainment and thought the thetre was quite spacious with good sight-lines. The only show we didn't care for was the Holiday show on Xmas eve.. Cirque Pan was kind of strange but well done!
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Sarah
Guest
I have posted a review of this cruise as well. I agree totally with Chris. We thought that the cruise was excellent. The shows were quite good (especially the Jean-Ann Ryan company). I never felt seasick (although I did feel the boat rock on some nights).
I would cruise NCL and visit each of the ports again. It's too bad that not everyone had the same experience...I guess it really depends on what you are looking for and what is important to you.
I was looking for a nice vacation with my mother and a chance to visit islands I had never visited before. We chose NCL for the itinerary, the freestyle dining and the price. We feel that we made the right choice for us.
Sarah
I would cruise NCL and visit each of the ports again. It's too bad that not everyone had the same experience...I guess it really depends on what you are looking for and what is important to you.
I was looking for a nice vacation with my mother and a chance to visit islands I had never visited before. We chose NCL for the itinerary, the freestyle dining and the price. We feel that we made the right choice for us.
Sarah
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NewMexico Nita
Guest
Sarah, we choose NCL for about the same reasons you do; itinerary is number one, followed by friendly crew, entertainment and of course price has to be a consideration. Freestyle dining may not be for everyone, but we love it and it's the trend anyway. Just read an article in the ABQ Journel this morning about cruising. The very long article stressed, amoung other things the trend to freestyle type of dining is here to stay!!!
Nita
Nita
