Beautiful, relaxing cruise marred only by terrible Internet. The ship is older but in good condition and manned by an outstanding staff. Lots of fun excursions and shopping in ports.
Embarkation
5 out of 5
Very efficient. We were in the first group and went from the sidewalk to the waiting area in about 15 minutes.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
4 out of 5
Main dining rooms and LeBistro and Moderno (specialty restaurants) were excellent. The Windjammer is a comfortable spot to relax in the evening; the bar staff is outstanding. My rating is lowered because of the buffet. It was fine for breakfast but lunch or dinner food was boring and bland. The grill when open was very good. The food in the Sports Bar was very good - but there were no sports except for soccer/rugby/Aussie rules football. It would have been a good place to watch a football game.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
There were some fun trivia games and the port talk was good.
Entertainment
3 out of 5
Tony (piano) and Matthew (guitar) in the evenings were very good. The room had a lot of energy when they performed. The Duo in the evening was not good. We went to the first production show and it was so bad, we didn't return for any others. The magicians and the comedian were OK.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
Waiters, bartenders, and room steward were top-notch. The woman at the Internet Cafe deserves a special shout out. The Internet is terrible and the line for help/complaints was usually long. She handled everyone and their issues politely and efficiently.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
It took a while to figure out the different elevator banks and floor layouts to access Floors 5 and 3, and then returning to our floor. Common areas and restrooms were usually clean and well-maintained. Sometimes tidying the restrooms by the buffet fell a bit behind.
Cabin / Stateroom
5 out of 5
Comfortable room with a good amount of storage. Putu, our cabin steward, always had the room clean and ready. We had great views of whales and glaciers.
Ship tip
Don't pay extra to upgrade the Internet. It was ridiculously slow - it took my husband 8 minutes to send 2 pictures. Watch your usuage. The minutes start ticking off as soon as you log on. This was annoyting when returning to the ship - you have to log on again just to access the app.
Enjoyed our three days in Seattle post-cruise. First day was Pike's Place and the Aquarium. On the second day we took the ferry to Bainbridge Island to partake in a few hours of wine tasting. The third day we tour a great tour to Mt. Rainer. We got lucky - it didn't rain until we were almost off the mountain.
Breathtaking. We sat in the Spinnaker Lounge for a few hours before heading to our balcony to enjoy the view from the ships' aft as we were exiting the bay. Spinnaker had a nice continental breakfast, coffee, hot chocolate, and an awesome hot drink - Glo-Wine. highly recommended.
We enjoyed this port the most. We took the White Pass Railway and then bussed to CarCross in the Yukon. The weather after crossing the border was sunny and not too cool and the scenery was beautiful. Our only disappointment came when we arrived back to town and saw the Red Onion Saloon closed for an employee event about 10 minutes before we arrived.
We were the first whale-watching ship out that day. It was foggy but we saw quite a few whales, however they were distant. The Mendenhall Glacier stop is worthwhile. The Visitors' Center is very interesting. There are lost of interesting places in the town however, by the time we returned from our tour, two more ships had come in and it began to rain. We stopped in the Red Dog Saloon gift shop - we couldn't get in the saloon itself - the line was out the door. My husband joked that the saloon was overrun by Norwegian Sun passengers who wanted to watch the Sunday football games.
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