very nice route to take a cruise

Norwegian Sun Cruise Review to Alaska - Gulf of Alaska

GeorgeLin

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 52

Overall rating:

5 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Alaska Glacier Bay Northbound (Vancouver To Seward)

Sail date: August 03, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Sun

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 8122

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

This is a very scenary route for cruising which I recommend to everyone.

The on board experience is standard although the food is nothing special, which is not what I expect for this route of cruising since I am more interested in the places the ship stops and scenery views on the ship's path. Free style gives you the comfort as you go off and on board. Meals for all the eight days are almost the same. For those who likes food and formal events, this may not the choice. Camera with a long zoom lense or a binocular definitely add more joy for your trip. If one is looking for pool side activities, this route may not be the choice since the weather is a bit too cold.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Since I spend very little time in my cabin other than sleeping. The rooms are nice and comfortable. The outside activities such as onshore excursions, and onboard activities, as well as the scenery views on the top deck or walking/jungling on deck 6 while seeing all directions will keep you busy from staying in your own stateroom.

Ship tip

This is a free style cruise. You don't have to bring a dress to save you luggage space and bring one less checked-in luggage for your flight. Very comfortable. I would be horrified to put on my tie every day as there are so much to do onshore and you don't want to waste your time dressing up.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Vancouver (Canada Place), British Columbia

5 out of 5

Cruise Inside Passage, Alaska

3 out of 5

standard cruise day. the mountains are still visible.

Thumbs Up 0

Ketchikan, Alaska

5 out of 5

the length of the time is just right, enough to see some local life and history as well as do some shopping. It is a good place to shop for winter coat if you did not bring one as in you will not have much time to do shopping in Juneau nor skagway. It is very windy and could at the glaciers.

Thumbs Up 2

Skagway, Alaska

5 out of 5

there are many options to stay here for over ten hours. We rented a car to drop all the way to whitehorse to the Yukon mountain scenery. definitely worth the trip. there is not mcu to to do in Skagway itself.

Thumbs Up 1

Cruise Glacier Bay

5 out of 5

Very impressive seeing many glaciers. The park rangers on board is very helpful to understands how the glaciers are formed. Thanks the ranger onboard!

Thumbs Up 5

Cruise Hubbard Glacier

5 out of 5

very impressive glacier.

Thumbs Up 1

Seward (Anchorage), Alaska

5 out of 5

We took the bus along the beautiful scenery high way. A stop at the wild animal park definitely brings you to alaska if you are not going further north to Denali National Park!

Thumbs Up 1

Traveler Photos

Waiting time for checking in for the cruise was almost a hour, a bit too long.

The room is large enough with a couch for two people

towel animals were provided each day. Here is one of them.

3 Comments

glomarrone 9 years ago

We took two HAL cruises and the ships had domes over the pool. We swam in the pool as we watched huge pieces of ice glide by the ship. The naturalists gave the commentary poolside, too. We had a blast.

Thumbs Up 0

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Bubba54 9 years ago

Thanks for the review, glad you fad a good time.

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CruisingDelight 9 years ago

I totally agree with your comment on bringing a camera with long lens or good zoom capability, and with this not being an ideal poolside route. I will say to anyone considering this cruise to bring at least one nice outfit. Norwegian has a dress up(or not) evening called Norwegian night out where you CAN get all decked out and you can meet the captain and other directors of the ship. Also, at some of the restaurants, they do prefer you dress up a little. My husband and I happened to bring a few nice outfits and I'm glad we did, as it was fun to dress up for dinner on occasion(we were celebrating our anniversary and husbands birthday on the cruise), though GeorgeLin is right, you don't have to with Freestyle cruising in most cases.

Thumbs Up 1

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