If you are looking for a casual yet service oriented cruise, I would absolutely recommend this cruise on the Norwegian Sun.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
We ate at 3 specialty restaurants: Teppanyaki, Moderno and Le Bistro. All were absolutely great with service and most of the food. In Teppanyaki, I would have liked a little more seasoning (salt, spice) but overall very good for all.
The main dining rooms were excellent other than the Seven Seas had a couple of concerns: one breakfast I had shakshuka which had wonderful flavor but one of my eggs came with part of the shell. One dinner I had the broiled hake and the top piece of fish was dry and both pieces of fish tasted old. The buffet was excellent. And overall every meal was wonderful.
Onboard Activities
4 out of 5
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Children's Programs
we have no children
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Our cabin attendant was so very sweet and kind and thorough I wanted to mention her excellent service. Overall every staff member on the ship was fabulously kind and amazingly helpful. Excellent job to all!
Ship Quality
5 out of 5
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Ship tip
If you are with someone who has difficulty walking a long way, I recommend a cabin located mid or aft ship.
We went into town in the morning then caught the Bearing Sea Crab Fishing tour for the afternoon. The people on the boat were great and it was very interesting. Don't make the mistake of thinking you will actually get to eat crab (for free) like I did. They do have it available for purchase if you want, though. By the way - Ketchikan dock was the best shopping of the entire cruise. HUGE shop at the dock with TONS of items from clothing to chatchkis and very reasonable prices.
It was one of our coldest stops (they were all quite chilly) and we did the Whale Watching and Seafood Feast excursion. We did absolutely see whales (mostly humps and tails). Boat staff was very good. We also got to view a sea otter colony as well as some sea lions on a buoy. We got to the seafood feast and it was a southern style crab boil with crab, sausage, potatoes, corn, etc. We also got to grill marshmallows to make smores. It was so cold though, that the drawn butter for the crab solidified pretty quickly. (I could see my breath here!) But all in all it was very good food and the hosts were great. I would make a suggestion that a whale watching boat tour could be done in TWO HOURS rather than three. This is the second whale watching tour I have been on which was three hours and both times I was very satisfied with the whale watching at the two hour mark and ready to get back.
We did stop and took the White Pass train to the summit and back into town. Skagway was a cute "old-timey" town with some interesting history. The views and scenery on the train were good along with the narrator who gave some great and interesting history of the train, area, gold rush and more. We did eat at the Red Onion Saloon (and brothel) which was kitchy and a fun throwback to the old saloon days. We had pizzas and both were excellent but I would recommend sharing the "personal size" pizza. We each ordered one and it was way too much food. But both were very good. Some great shops here in Skagway as well and it was a pretty nice day weather wise.
We did the Mendenhall Glacier and Mount Roberts Tram excursion. Mendenhall was very interesting and beautiful with the lake, the falls and of course the glacier. The visitors center was nice and I do recommend watching the movie. The tram offered spectacular views of the town, water and mountains and I recommend that movie as well. Juneau was actually some of the best (warmest) weather we had and got into the 60s with sun that day.
We did the Horse Drawn Tolley excursion here. It was disappointing that the weather was cloudy, rainy, windy and cold but the trolley and driver were great. Some wonderful history about Victoria and a nice way to see some of the town if you're not interested in walking. It's a pretty town with lots of flowers and interesting buildings to see.
@tanjan4evr - Embarkation was fairly quick. We had no VIP or specialty upgrades to go in "the fast lane" and over all from being dropped curbside until we were checked in and having a cocktail by the pool took less than an hour. FYI - cabins are not ready for you to enter until the afternoon (3pm for us) so you can find a spot on board to relax, eat, have a drink, read etc until your cabin is ready
we are doing this cruise July 28th. Just wondering how embarkation went. we fly into Seattle 9:15 am from Oregon that day and bus over with NCL to pier. since this is small ship hoping it goes fairly fast. TIA
Thanks for the detailed review. Liked all of the comments about the ports in this itinerary. We did this in 2015 on the NCL Sun and really enjoyed Alaska.
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