norwegian cruise line
 

was considering a cruise on the Norweigan Sun for the week of Thanksgiving to western caribbean. Have only cruised once on celebrity. We are a family of 4 with a 19 and 16 yr old . was looking to either book to adjoining oceanview rooms or 1 inside 1 oceanview. How easy is it to get rooms very close to oneanother? Most important to us is good variety food. Also does the ship offer wireless internet, and soda cards? I am selecting this cruise based soley on itineray. Any thoughts?

While I have no experience with this particular ship, I have sailed both Celebrity and NCL - both times with teens.

When we have booked cruises, we always get a look at a little diagram of the deck and can select specific cabins - so cabins near each other should not be a problem. Be aware that we were told that you must officially book one adult and one teen into each cabin - but no one cares who sleeps where.

Having sailed both cruiselines, we will likely not go with NCL again. We are spoiled after Celebrity. Food was much better and the concept of "freestyle dining" was less desirable than standard seatings. While we took our trip on NCL (Boston-Bermuda) to spend time together as a family, sitting at a table with just the 4 of us every evening for a few hours got old really fast. (And we are a family who does sit down together for dinner at home). We much preferred having the company of others on Celebrity.

PS - If your Western Carib. itineray includes Grand Cayman, you must go to Stingray City - a little touristy, but touching these huge sea creatures was one of the highlights of my travels.

I have cruised Celebrity and NCL twice. Celebrity food seemed much better to me. On NCL one must go to the pay restaurants to enjoy a good meal. It depends on the ship as well. We were on the Pearl last Jan. and it was very nice. The Pride of Aloha was below standards. I don't know about the Sun. You can go to cruisecritics.com and check out the reviews.

I have been on 3 NCL cruises (2 on the Sun) and 3 non-NCL cruises (not celebrity though).
I enjoyed all my cruises but preferred NCL - I love Freestyle dining. (The only things I truly disliked about the other cruises were having to dress up for formal night and eating at the same time with the same people at the same table every night.) Obviously if you enjoy those things, you may not like Freestyle dining. We found that overall the food was comparable on all the cruiselines we have been on. Ship food (prepared on a large scale) is never going to be as good as food at a really good restaurant. We found NCL food was fine and some items were quite good. I liked the desserts we had on another cruise better but of the 3 different cruiselines we have been on I liked NCL's mains the best. Food is so personal it is hard to predict who will enjoy what. Just my opinions: NCL does lamb well. Fish is hit or miss. Pork is pretty good. Beef is hit or miss. Veggie dishes are usually good. Breads and rolls are excellent. Their buffets are adequate but nothing special. We found that a good variety of food was available - lots of choices for places to dine.
The Sun itself is a pleasant, friendly ship with a great crew (overall the nicest, politest and most efficient I have encountered on a cruiseship). It is NOT a new ship but it is also not really old (I believe, it went into service in 2000 or 2001.)

If you look at the reviews on cruise critic for this ship its pretty interesting. The latest reviews for Alaska sailings are very good while its previous route in the western Caribbean have several very low marks.
Usually most veteran cruisers rate the food on NCL well below other mass market lines and I have seen several posts which state to get a really good meal consistently on NCL you must book (and pay the surcharge) for their specialty restaurants. Personally i would advise you to look into the RCi Voyager class ships especially with teens. There are alot of activities for them and w/o a doubt that ship class outshines the Sun. Cheers, Larry :-)

Gail...our last trip on the Majesty was such a disaster going to Bermuda food wise I spent months ranting and raving.On the cruise I started "discussing" this with the hotel manager, the sales person and anybody else who would listen..I mean I was really ticked off.. after eleven times on that ship.. Then we went on the Celebrity Century and what a difference..we asre scheduled for the Galaxy in December T/A.. Reading now that "it ain't the same" quality,etc. on the board. Freestyle is great in that you can find a wait staff and ask for their table..Having a fixed dining time and table mates at dinner on the Celebrity gave us three alcoholic sisters, an overbearing "southern" gentleman and his mousy wife whose meal was ordered by her husband and an odd couple who barely spoke. Our Century (17day cruise) service was above anything I had ever experienced... although being from MA the fish meals left much to be desired, but the meat...incredible, desserts wonderful...BUT like everybody in N.E. I await the NCL Dream... a favorite with cruisers to go to Bermuda once again next summer.

I ranted and raged at the Pride of Aloha ship when I returned. I wrote letters etc. I did receive a $200 ship credit to be used in a years time frame. The Pearl was a good experience. It can vary from ship to ship. I would like to try Bermuda on the Star as well one day.

You can always request a private table for your dinner seating or try to change you table if your tablemates don't suit you. For us we have been lucky I suppose. In fact last yr. we sat with three other couples and we all enjoyed each others company.

www/cruisereviews.com is another good place to see what people have to say. I was didsppointed in NCL`s food

I know some of it is luck, but they do make an effort to match dining companions. On Feb cruise with teenage dtr, our salvation was being seated at a table with 4 other teens and their families.