Sukhothai on NCL: Here’s Everything You Need to Know - My Review
Let’s talk about one of the newest additions to the Norwegian Cruise Line fleet: Sukhothai. This venue was first introduced onboard Norwegian Aqua in 2025 at the point of her launch, and I gave it a try recently while onboard Norwegian Luna.
Norwegian Luna launched in March 2026, and is only the second ship to have a Sukhothai onboard. Whether or not this dining option will be rolled out to more ships across the fleet remains ‘to be confirmed’, but I’ll be interested to see… In my opinion, this venue offers you a very unique experience, when compared to the other available options across the NCL fleet.
In this post today, I’m going to tell you everything that you need to know about Sukhothai, including where you’ll find it on the ship, what the venue itself is like, what the menu and the food is like, how much it costs to dine here during your cruise, and also if I’d recommend you give this one a try on your future cruise(s).
I’ll also share with you some of my ‘top tips’ for dining in here - hopefully these will help you to enjoy the experience as much as possible.
Norwegian Luna, docked in Saint Thomas, USVI, © Fraser at Sea
First, where is Sukhothai located?
On both Norwegian Aqua and Norwegian Luna, Sukhothai is on deck 17 of the ship - it shares a space with Palomar, which is another Speciality restaurant. Both venues are at the end of a long corridor with no other venues alongside, allowing them to feel a little more ‘removed’ from the main buzz of this deck.
Deck 17 is home to very popular facilities like the onboard buffet, and also the pool deck, so it can feel particularly busy up here. The positioning of both venues at the end of this corridor is a very clever design touch - it effortlessly adds a degree of exclusivity as you walk towards the restaurants and away from the busier thoroughfares nearby.
Palomar (left) and Sukhothai (right) are located at the end of a long corridor featuring no other venues on deck 17. Photo: Norwegian Luna, 2026.
What’s the venue like?
Sukhothai is a Thai restaurant, but it hasn’t been intensely themed, like some dining venues that you’ll find on cruise ships. It feels modern, understated and incredibly unpretentious - I guess the latter is a key design principle of NCL’s whole ‘freestyle cruising’ product. Although you’re paying extra to dine in here, it doesn’t feel formal or stuffy in the slightest - it’s much more relaxed in here than even Palomar, which is just across the hall. I’ll show you that venue in another post - stay tuned!
Diners have the option to be seated at either a regular table seat or at the bar. Those seated at the bar area have direct views into the open food preparation area, which can make for interesting viewing. I often cruise solo, and I always really appreciate this as a seating option - I often find it much more comfortable to be seated at a bar for my evening meal when I’m solo, rather than dining at a table directly beside a couple or a group.
The colours in here feature rich (but again very discrete) golds, blacks, reds and blues. Lighting is soft in the evening, offering a welcome retreat from some of the much more brightly lit areas onboard this very modern cruise ship. I particularly enjoy the lighting choices that run between each of the window panes - they offer such a wide-spread light, and do a fantastic job of lighting up your table for your meal without casting lots of shadows. Note - this isn’t praise that I would offer to every venue onboard Luna!
One of the true highlights of this venue, which you may have seen when looking through the above photos, is the view. The views from up here are absolutely incredible, and hence it’s no surprise that the design team opted for floor-to-ceiling windows in this venue. Dining in here prior to sunset must be wonderful - what a sight!
What’s the menu, and what’s the food like?
Let’s move on to arguably the most important aspect of this whole experience: what’s the menu and the food like? Well, as you’ll be expecting already, it’s a Thai-orientated menu. Personally, I’ve never seen a Thai restaurant on a cruise ship before, so I found this to be a really refreshing option. I’ve dined at Asian-fusion restaurants on ships before and also Indian and Chinese restaurants, but never Thai.
Here’s the menu that was available during my recent cruise onboard Luna.
Sukhothai Menu (1 of 2) onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
Sukhothai Menu (2 of 2) onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
As you can see, it’s a varied menu, but it’s not overly large. It’s worth mentioning that it’s possible to ‘upgrade’ your thai curry to feature lobster for an additional charge of $25.
When we arrived at Sukhothai, our server explained to us that you’re encouraged to order a few starters, which allow for a bit of a ‘Tapas-style’ dining environment. I ate in here with my friend, and we opted to share three appetisers, before moving on to our own individual main courses. This allows you to sample a large percentage of the menu - there are only actually 6 starters to choose from, so it would be relatively easy to sample a little of everything available in here if there are a few of you dining together.
Here’s an overview of what we ordered across our starters and main courses.
Chicken Satay served onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
Nam Tok Neua served onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
Salt and Pepper Prawns served onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
Almond Beef served onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
Pad Thai served onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
We found all of the food that we ate in here during our meal to be absolutely delicious. In fact, we ate everything from all of the plates across our 5 dishes that you can see above - we had no leftovers to worry about!
Personally, the Pad Thai was different to how I’d make it at home, but it was still a 5-star dish, in my opinion.
Food-aside, we both also really appreciated the crockery used throughout this meal. All of the plates, bowls and dishes were beautiful in here - I really like the ‘speckled’ design style, so this won me over straight away.
How much does it cost to dine at Sukhothai?
The cover charge to dine at Sukhothai is $50 per person. For bookings made on the ship, you’ll also need to pay a ‘gratuity and speciality service charge’, which was 20% at the point of my cruise in April 2026. This would take the onboard price of Sukhothai up to $60 per person.
Interestingly, when we got onboard the ship, we noticed that there was a 2-for-1 offer on for some of the speciality dining venues. This offer, which included Nama (the sushi and sashimi restaurant), Sukhothai (this Thai restaurant) and Los Lobos (the Mexican restaurant), offered two meals for the price of one. This meant that, in theory, we paid 50% of the cost each to eat here. In other words, our final price (including the gratuity and service charge) was only $30.
To take advantage of this offer, you need to be prepared to dine either early or late, which wasn’t an issue for us at all - we’re more than happy to have a snack late afternoon, enjoy some of the facilities around the ship, and then sit down for a later meal (especially if it means that we’ll pay HALF!). Here’s the offer that we were presented with after boarding - it’s well worth thinking about!
2-For-1 Speciality Dining onboard Norwegian Luna, © Fraser at Sea
So, would I recommend that you dine at Sukhothai during your cruise?
This is an easy answer for me: yes. Both my friend and I had a fantastic experience here, and we found it to be great value for money. Even if we hadn’t taken advantage of the above ‘2-for-1’ offer and paid full price, we’d still have been satisfied with what we ordered - the food and the service was great!
Personally, I’d love to see this venue rolled out across more Norwegian Cruise Line ships - it’s such a great addition to an already strong dining offering.
What are my ‘Top Tips’ for dining at Sukhothai?
1) Try to secure a window seat! Remember back to the photos I showed you earlier of this venue - it’s got so much glass throughout, and the views outside are absolutely stunning as a result. Securing a window seat will undoubtably make this experience pretty difficult to forget. That said, if you’re booked in here after sunset and therefore in the hours of darkness, don’t worry about booking a seat by the window for obvious reasons - it’ll be dark outside…!
2) Either eat early or late - avoid the peak rush! We found the experience of dining in here to be relaxed and laid-back, probably helped by the fact that we were dining later in the evening. I’d recommend doing the same if you want to relax while you enjoy your meal, rather than dining in a busy environment.
3) Go for a walk on deck after your meal! The location of this venue makes it perfect for taking a walk around the outside decks once you finish your meal. What better way to prepare for the rest of your evening, or to get ready to head back to your cabin, than a bit of fresh ocean air out on deck?
4) Find out about the 2-for-1 offer! If this offer is also available on your cruise, aim to book it! We found this to be fantastic value for money, and so would really recommend taking advantage of it if possible for your cruise.
Want to see more of what it’s like to cruise onboard Norwegian Luna? The video below shows your our embarkation experience, our cabins, what you can do onboard and so much more - say ‘hello’ in the comments if you do head across to YouTube!