Pacific Coastal Cruise from Vancouver to Los Angeles

The day finally arrived to embark our ship... floating hotel and resort for a week!  After a week of planes, trains, and automobiles... and schlepping luggage... getting on the ship was just what we needed!  As we were a group of 6, we hailed a large van to take our luggage and 3 of us to Canada Place where we would board the ship.  Three of us walked and we all met up at the cruise terminal only to discover that our ship was late arriving and boarding would be delayed about an hour and a half.  After waiting in a very long line for an hour or more with no seating, the line finally started to move and we were indeed onboard by 1 pm or so. 

 Playing games on IPhone while waiting in line!

First on the agenda:  lunch!!!  To avoid the chaotic embarkation buffet mass of people, we opted for the main dining room where could sit down and be served.  Our rooms were ready for us after lunch so we dropped off our carry on bags and explored the ship, made specialty dining reservations, got our beverage package validated, and had a glass of wine!  Sailaway from Vancouver was absolutely gorgeous!
 

 Departing Vancouver.. beautiful city, dramatic clouds (photo courtesy of George Burn)

The Norwegian Sun, is one of Norwegian's older ships and I must say that it showed its age.  The service could not have been better and that was a huge plus.  Our stateroom with a verandah was small but well laid out.  The verandah needed to be refurbished a bit, in my opinion.  The bathroom was fine; my only pet peeve with NCL is that the shampoo and soap are not individual, but are in large bottles that are attached to the shower wall.  Ken doesn't "do" liquid soap so top of our list was to purchase a bar of soap in our next port of call!

The specialty dining that we experienced was top notch.  Le Bistro and East Meets West Steakhouse were excellent; in fact we ate at the steakhouse twice. 

My dinner at East Meets West Steakhouse - Yum!

Food in the main dining rooms (there are two:  Four Seasons and Seven Seas) was OK.  Nothing special or even worth mentioning.  I didn't have anything that was excellent but I didn't have anything that was awful.  Service was again excellent. 

We had breakfast most days in the Great Outdoors, which was less busy than the main breakfast buffet. Omelettes made to order were excellent.. I especially loved my combination of spinach, tomato, onion, peppers, and cheese!

A highlight of the ship for me was the special Chef's Dinner.  As we knew this would be a sell-out, we booked this early on embarkation day.  The Chef prepares a nine course dinner with wine pairings for a small group.  We were greeted by ship's officers and introduced to our executive chef.  Oh What a Night!  If you get the opportunity, do this one! 

Having purchased beverage packages on previous cruises on other cruise lines, we opted for Norwegian's Ultimate Beverage Package.  We purchased this in advance and upon embarkation had to run around to get it validated.  It was not automatically associated with our key/charge card.  I would have to say that it is most definitely NOT an ultimate package as it was very restrictive, not including special coffee drinks, water, and fresh squeezed juice.  It was also a bit annoying as we had to sign for every single drink and could not "run a tab".  That being said, however, the bar service was fine and we were served without waiting.

I have cruised seven times prior to this cruise on Norwegian.  I was disappointed in the ship, the food, the shows, the entertainment for the most part, and of course the beverage package.  I am going on the Epic in January and hope that my past NCL experience holds true as I really enjoyed all of those past 7 cruises!