This was the second cruise that Ruth and I took, only 2 days after the end of our first ruise. This was part 3 of our honeymoon which consisted of a 10 day Holland America cruise and a couple of days in Miami.

Itinerary
Dec 22 - Miami
Dec 23 - Sea
Dec 24 - Grand Cayman
Dec 25 - Roatan, Bay Islands
Dec 26 - Belize
Dec 27 - Cozumel
Dec 28 - Sea
Dec 29 - Miami

Travel to Port
We were already in Miami for Part 2 of our honeymoon, so we thought it would be a fairly easy trip to the port. Everything seemed okay, until we hit the hotel to turn in our rental. Things here were a bit hectic with lots of families and groups getting ready to head out to the port. I realized I never made the reservation for a rental after this cruise, so I thought it would be relatively easy to make the reservation when I turned the car in. After standing in line for about 15 minutes and not making any progress, I decided to use the express drop-off and go call the 1-800 number to make the reservation. After I got the reservation made, there were still some of the same people standing in line. We grabbed a taxi from the hotel to the port. When we arrived at the port, I had my first encounter with the porter's at the Port of Miami. His first, and only, words to me were "This is the last time you'll see me, so you can take care of me now." And of course, he stuck out his hand for a tip between reaching for our bags. I had planned on tipping him anyway, but the aggressiveness was a bit off-putting.

Embarkation: A
We had arrived early and found our way into a line waiting to check in. After standing in line for about 5 minutes, an NCL rep walked by and told us they were actually doing check-in at two terminals and directed us to a much shorter line. We stood in line for about 30-40 minutes, but once we were checked-in we got to go straight to the ship. To me, this worked really well and kept people moving.

Cabin: A
We had cabin 0250, 10th floor, starboard side, aft. This was a deluxe ocean view stateroom that included 2 twin beds made into a queen size bed, a sofa bed, and a balcony. The room wasn't as large as our cabin on HAL, but it was still a good size for us. The bed was high enough for us to store the suitcases under, which helped a lot. The bathroom seemed to be a fairly standard size for a cruise-ship with a circular shower. There wasn't much shelf space in the bathroom, which can be a problem for some, but we were able to manage. We really liked the placement of the in-room safe. On HAL Zaandam, we had to stoop down to look into the safe, but on the NCL Sun it was at eye level and well lit. There was just enough space in the closet. This room was located under the Garden Cafe, so we often heard people wandering around above us. Most of the time this wasn't a problem though. Overall, we liked the room.

Ship Overview: A
The Sun's first voyage was in Sept of 2001, so the ship was less than 4 months old when we cruised. Everything was in great shape. The downside was that the cabin doors were stiff and sometimes took a lot of effort to open. The color scheme and decor was tastefully modern. Being so new, there really weren't any problems that we noticed with the ship.

Dining: A-
Norwegian has begun to spread the concept of "Freestyle Dining" to the majority of its fleet, and the Norwegian Sun was built with this in mind. There are a total of 7 restaurants on board. The 4 Seasons and the 7 Seas are the two main dining rooms on the ship, one mid-ship off the atrium the other aft. There are no set dining times, so you get to go eat whenever you want. We never ate at the 7 Seas, and only ate at the 4 Seasons once. We weren't impressed with the service, so decided to eat at another restaurant most evenings. Although not required, we recommend making reservations for any restaurant you plan on eating at when on the Sun to help avoid the risk of standing in line waiting for a table. We ate breakfast and lunch at the Garden Cafe on most occassions. The food was okay, but lunch was definitely better than breakfast. At night we ate most of our meals at Pacific Heights which is a "no charge, but reservation required" restaurant on board. It is smaller than the main dining rooms, and provided a more intimate dining experience. The menu is from the Cooking Light magazine and everything we tried was wonderful. The only downside was that the menu did not change. Luckily there was enough variety on the menu to keep us happy throughout the cruise. The other restaurants include Le Bistro ($10 cover charge), Il Adagio ($10 cover charge), East Meets West (al a cart pricing), and Ginza Japanese (ala cart pricing). By going to the same restaurant every night we were able to get to know the wait staff and they got to know us as well. This is a part of the "traditional" cruising experience that often gets lost with "freestyle" dining. We liked being able to make our reservations for dinner at various times around our other activities. Whether you prefer traditional or freestyle dining really seems to be a matter of preference, and both of pluses and minuses. But again, with freestyle dining we recommend making reservations so you can avoid the risk of standing in line.

Service: A-
All of the service staff were wonderful and helpful. But, because of the freestlye concept you don't get to know them as well. We think we saw our cabin steward in the hall a couple of times, but we never knew his name... or even if it was really him. Part of the "freestyle" concept includes an automatic $10/day/person charge to your on-board account for tipping. As a result, there isn't the same sort of interaction with the staff. Also, if you want to tip one person more and one less, there isn't an easy way to do it. By the end of the cruise, we actually cancelled the $10/day/person charges and just tipped everyone ourselves. Again, this is going to be one of those personal preference things. I will admit having the tip automatically there has some appeal since you don't have to find people at the end. Also, the automatic 15% tip added to all bar bills was nice in some ways (you didn't have to figure it out), but at the same time the staff knew it was there already.

Entertainment: A
The entertainment was wonderful. The stage was actually large enough for the performances. The cast seemed well rehearsed and did an excellent job. The on-board entertainers that we saw (a comedian and a singer) were also great.

Ports of Call: A
Grand Cayman- If you need to find a bank, go here. We took a half-day tour to get out of the city and see somethings before hitting the stores. We stopped by the turtle farm, and Ruth got to play with the turtles. We also got to go to Hell. Wonderful tourist spot which exists primarily to sell postcards which will be postmarked in Hell. Also, so you can go around saying things like "We've been to Hell and back" or "Where'd you go on your honeymoon? We went to hell." The shopping was okay, but after a while if you've seen one piece of tanzanite you've seen them all... Overall, we would like to go back at some point and see some more of the island.

Roatan- This was Christmas Day. We went to Tabyana Beach & Resort for a day in the sun. This tour included a lunch. We passed on most of the lunch after hearing the complaints from those who wished they had passed. The beach was beautiful and the water was great. However, it was way too crowded to enjoy. Between the scuba divers, snorklers, kayakers, and swimmers, there wasn't a lot of room to do much. I think we had gotten spoiled with the beaches from our previous cruise. After 3 people got stung by jellyfish and I narrowly avoided getting hit by a kayak for the 4th time, we decided to call it a day. It would be nice to visit and go back if the beach wasn't as crowded.

Belize- We took a tour to Altun Ha to see some Mayan Ruins. The ride out to the ruins wasn't great, but once we were there we remembered why we wanted to do it. Everything was beautiful and the ruins were fascinating. Belize has decided to leave most of the ruins covered, to protect them from deterioration by the elements and has done no improvement to show what things "might have been like". What you get to see is the current state that structures are in which were built thousands of years ago. Our tour guide was very knowledgable and did an excellent job of guiding us through the ruins and some of the neighboring forest. We were able to climb up one of the larger temples and the views were amazing. Coming down from the top was a bit unsettling because of how steep the steps were, but still it was well worth it for the view from the top. Although not top on our list, we would recommend a trip to the ruins for those that haven't been.

Cozumel- We both live in Texas. I've lived in Texas my entire life. But, this was the first trip to Mexico for either of us. We opted for a tour that sounded like fun. A trip to "Passion Island" for sun, sand, and all the drinks we could get down. The lunch they served was good, and the open bar was a nice touch. The low to mid 60s, windy, and overcast sky didn't help things though. Also, the beach wasn't the prettiest one we've seen. Still, it wasn't a bad experience, but we would recommend staying away from the island during December. (It was windy and a bit too cold to enjoy.) After that we went into town to do some shopping before returning to the boat. At 5:30ish we met up with some friends from the cruise (2 other honeymooning couples) for drinks at Carlos-N-Charlies. Considering we were singing "God Bless America" at the top of our lungs on the elevator ride back up to our cabins and encouraging everyone who got on the elevator to join in, I think we had a good time. If I remember more I'll let you know...

Debarkation: A
Freestyle Debarkation. The plus, you get to stay in your cabin until your group is called. This was nice, but again we were one of the last groups off the ship. You could go sit in some of the public areas to wait if you wanted, but we chose to stay in the room so Ruth could write more Thank You notes. It was a very relaxing debarkation in comparison to our previous experience.

Misc:
There was a stark difference between the people on this cruise in comparison to our first cruise. The first cruise was on Holland America, with an average age of 67. This was a Christmas cruise with a much wider range of ages and more diversity among passengers. The activities kept us going and we had a blast the entire trip. As a warning, the word "freestyle" will drive you crazy after the first couple of days because EVERYTHING is "freestyle". The only odd experience we had was that our "do not disturb" sign was taken 3 times during the cruise. We have it narrowed down to 1 of two things: 1) kids on the ship being kids, or 2) our cabin steward took it out, realized we were in the room, and didn't put it back. I only think #2 is a possibility because that is what happened on the last day while we were waiting in the cabin to disembark from the ship.

Overall: A
Overall we thoroughly enjoyed this cruise. In part it was that we were relaxed and ready to enjoy and have fun. We enjoyed having the sea days at the beginning and end to relax. (The fact that Ruth got me a massage on each sea day didn't hurt either.) The people were fun, the shows were great, everything was wonderful! We will definitely be considering Norwegian in our future cruise plans and the Sun is a great ship.

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