Day 1 Vancouver to Alaska Cruise on the Norwegian Sun

I am starting to write this post the evening of the first sea day on the Norwegian Sun on June 20 2025. We left Vancouver yesterday at 5pm and have been sailing all day today. I only have 150 minutes of free wifi so I am being careful on how much I am using. I don’t want to upgrade the  cost is reasonable but I am enjoying being forced not to scroll on my phone. YouTube videos will be posted in the future when I have data. Sorry for the lack of editing on this post, I am posting from the ship after a full day and trying to conserve wifi and the sea has been rough today. 

The days have already been full. I had a full day in Vancouver before the cruise. My friend from Edmonton flew on the next day. We both dont think it was enough time. If I do another cruise I would add 2 or 3 days in the port. We had the latest check in time we could get between 1:30 and 2:00 this worked out really well for us because we didn’t have to wait in lines. We were planning to take skytrain but a hail storm started before we left so we took Uber and it was great because we were dropped off underground. 

Everything is efficient once you arrive at the terminal. You do have to do some walking with your luggage similar to airport check in. We found things were not consistent. My other friend arrived 15 minutes before us and had a completely different experience at check in. At the desk my agent scanned my boarding pass and the agent my friend had didn’t look at hers.  They give you your room key which has your linked credit card on you no longer need to show your passport after this point. You go through security the signs said water bottles are allowed but I had thought liquids weren’t allowed nobody checked what food etc I brought with me. I should have brought plant milk and vegan baked goods with me. At the end point you get your picture taken there is a customs line after it. My friend and I were told to exit once our picture was taken we asked about customs they said we got a green check mark we didn’t have to. My other friend and her daughter had to go through customs. We are all Canadian passport holders.

After customs we went on the ship and there were people there that looked to see which muster station you are at. My person scanned something and said I didn’t need to come back unless there was an emergency. The friend that I was with we have the same muster station but she was told to go to another person who explained things to her more. My other friend didn’t know anything about the muster check in and she was told she had to go to a mandatory briefing today. At the briefing she was told to bring the life jacket from the room if there is an emergency.

Once we were on the ship our rooms weren’t ready yet. It was very confusing you just get on and there was directions. We asked someone if we could go to the rooms they said they just announced rooms aren’t ready yet. Our friend that was on before us was at the buffet so we went to meet them but it was too crowded we decided to go somewhere else and on the way there was announcement we could barely hear but rooms were ready. 

My friends and I all have separate rooms. Two of us have balcony rooms so we are on the same floor. The other has an inside room so they are on a different floor. I really like the room. YouTube room tour here. 

I had ordered a water package but it wasn’t in the room. I asked someone in the hall after a while. She said the bar brings it. There are waters for a charge in the fridge and told me I could drink the one that was the same and replace it later. My luggage came a little while after. My water hadn’t come by the time I went for dinner I called guest services they said they would check it did arrive when I returned. I never met my room Steward but my friend met hers and she gave her good info. I was thinking I would never meet mine but I met him today. 

The friend on my floor and I decided to go to the buffet at 4 it was closed but the outdoor buffet was open. The sail away party was at 4:30. There was only a few food items but we were planning to do an early dinner this was just a snack. There was vegetables in tomato sauce on the buffet and fries that were my options. I didn’t like the vegetables I think they burned the tomato paste and it was salty. My other friend was at the top deck sail away party we liked the view we had at the outdoor buffet but went up to see the party. Party wasn’t my vibe pretty much a Zumba class and a bar. My friend was working on the pool chairs. We have different ideas of what a fun party is. We went back down to the buffet deck on the way I saw there was Indian food on the buffet I took a little to try and I’m so glad I did because it was the only protein I had all day. We watched the sail away and I got some great pictures. Great I was worried about being charged for data so went into airplane mode. Later after learning that stores wouldn’t open until around 10pm because we weren’t in international waters I turned data on and posted some videos. I have learned if I don’t do it while I am at a place I never post. 

There is no way to communicate with friends on the ship without using wifi or being in the room to use the phone. If we don’t have our data on sometimes it’s hard to find each other. Last night we decided to meet at the restaurant called seven seas for dinner. Two of us were at the right place the other was at Four seasons. We were still able to use our phones to figure it out. 

I asked the restaurant about vegan meals they said they would send a manager over. The waiter just came and I asked and he said the vegetarian symbol was vegan I told him it’s vegetarian he said they can take the cheese out and walked away. Luckily I know how to customize my meal so I asked them to make bruschetta and pasta with no cheese and lemon sorbet for dessert. The diets coordinator left next days menu while I was in the bathroom and never came back. The service was so off, food wasn’t that great, and all of us decided we would be better off having buffet the next day. 

After we explored the ship a little. We did a spa tour. I ended up booking a haircut and colour for the last sea day. I find it easier to get my hair done while on vacation. 

Today the water has been really rough and writing this is making me nauseous so this is the end of day 1. We had a full day today I’m hoping to  write about it tomorrow but we are in port.