NCL Dawn review for first time cruisers 7/3-710

Hi everyone. I’d like to apologize in advance for the minor details I will include in my review. This review is mainly intended for first time cruisers. I am a nervous traveler and found the detailed reviews on Cruise Critic to be so helpful. I tried to answer the questions that I had before this trip. This is the first vacation I have taken, outside of Storyland (children’s mini amusement park in NH) in 15 years!

Pre-cruise Hotel park and cruise

We chose to drive into Boston the day before and stay at The Best Western John Adams inn in Quincy. We booked this hotel for the cruise and park option, as we were sailing on the NCL Dawn out of Boston's Black Falcon Pier. If you pay for one night you will get 14 days of free parking, free breakfast and free round trip shuttle service to the pier. (or airport). I reserved the room online, which was quick and easy. You will then need to call the hotel to reserve the time for the shuttle to the pier. When you return from the cruise, you simply call the hotel and a shuttle will come and pick you up. We only had to wait 20 minutes for the return shuttle!

The hotel was clean and quiet with a friendly front desk staff. The room was nice with a pretty view of the water. The bed was comfortable with plenty of pillows, which is important to me! The bathroom was fine, a little low on the water pressure, but clean.

We arrived a few hours before the official check in, but our room was ready. There is a T station about a 15 minute walk away, so we dropped our bags, freshened up, and spent the day exploring the City.

The breakfast was served buffet style and had a good selection for a complimentary hotel breakfast. They offered pastry, cereal, oatmeal, yogurt, fresh fruit, pancakes sausage and eggs. It was not crowded and there was plenty of seating. The grounds are nice and we had coffee on a quiet bench overlooking the water.

The shuttle service was prompt and the driver was friendly. It took about 20 minutes to get to the pier because the shuttle was full of cruise passengers and did not need to stop at the airport. Considering that I would have had to pay to park at the pier, the piece of mind involved in getting there a day early was worth it for me. ($289 total cost) to be continued:)

Embarkation:

We arrived at the pier at 10:30 am and found a porter waiting to help get our luggage out of the hotel shuttle. He was very friendly and helpful. We gave him a $5 tip for our two suitcases. I also brought a large beach bag as a carry on because we were not sure when we would have access to our room and/or luggage. Thanks to advice from these boards, I had packed our swimsuits and sun hats in the carry on.

The porter directed us to the check in area and the process was incredibly fast and easy from there, with friendly staff directing you every step of the way. I barely had time to get our documents out of the bag when we had arrived at the check in. They will ask you to put at least $300 per cabin on deposit. I used a credit card, but many people told me they prefer to use cash. You will get a card, and this will function as a room key, and is the way you pay for everything onboard. We were given a boarding number (12) and directed to a seating area. The seating fills up fast and many people who arrived later were standing. They began calling boarding numbers at 11:30. Every few minutes a new number is called and we were walking on the ship at about 11:50.

I bought lanyards and kept the card around my neck for easy access. It was easier than digging through my purse every few minutes. The lanyards were good for carrying my license and transportation pass while in port also. Many people who were digging through purses, wallets and pockets while getting on and off the ship asked where I got them. I ordered the lanyard with a clear card holder on ebay for about $3. to be continued:)

We were headed to the garden Café for lunch, when a nice family stopped us and suggested we try the Venetian main dining room as it was just opening and the buffet was VERY crowded. Many people on these boards mentioned this as well, so we were grateful for the suggestion. We were immediately seated at a table with a huge window. ( I will talk about our experiences with the food on the cruise in a little bit)By the time we were finished lunch our room was ready.

We went to our room which was an ocean view on deck 4, 4506. This was a nice location for us because it was isolated and quiet and it is the deck that you use to get on and off when in port. We don’t mind a longer walk to get to our cabin. However, this cabin is all the way forward and we felt A LOT of movement. If you are prone to sea sickness this is not a good choice. We did not get sick, but we also had the sea sickness patch. The seas were rough on the way to Bermuda and the waves were smashing into our port hole!

Our room steward, Vincy met us at the door and welcomed us aboard. He explained the sign that we adjust to let him know when we are ready for the room to be cleaned or turned down for the night. He told us that this was important and that many people do not get their room attended to because they leave the sign on “do not disturb”. He gave us a pad to write requests on and explained that he could get us ice, new towels or anything we needed. I had read on cruise critic that a small tip to your steward will insure excellent service. I gave him $10 the first day and $20 on the second to last, as I felt he went above and beyond for us. We saw him every day and he was always friendly and helpful. The room was very clean every day. In fact, after we met he went and found our luggage immediately! He made cute towel animals each night and gave us helpful tips about the ship. Most people know this, but I did meet a few who did not, even on day 3: Your steward will leave the Freestyle daily, a newsletter, on your bed each night. This newsletter tells you everything that will happen the following day. This includes all activities, important things like time changes, the weather and all the other info you need to plan the next day.

The room was a little larger than I expected based on the pictures I saw on the NCL website. I was prepared to be cramped and disorganized. I had plenty of room for all of our belongings and the room had clever shelves and cubby holes everywhere. There is plenty of room under the bed for suitcases. The bathroom was big enough, and overall I was pleased. There is only one outlet, so if you need to charge multiple things, bring a power strip. There was a coffee maker and a hairdryer in the room. There is also a mini fridge which will be filled when you arrive. The items in the fridge are not included in the ultimate beverage or soda packages. You can ask your steward to empty it, if you want to use it for your own drinks. However, our fridge remained at room temperature the entire trip. There is a safe which is very easy to use. I kept out documents and extra cash and credit cards in the safe. I don’t think the safe would be big enough for a laptop, maybe not even an ipad. to be continued:)

Thanks for this review, my husband and I are booked for the New Year's cruise on the Dawn out of New Orleans. It will be our first cruise and we are nervous and excited. I will definitely be following this report. :)

Just a few more thoughts on the room then on to food and drinks!

The bed in the room was two twins, that can be pushed together to make a queen. You can ask your steward to arrange it to suit your needs. I found the bed to be comfortable. The room temperature can be adjusted using the thermostat on the wall. We did not have any plumbing issues, but several people complained about toilets that didn’t flush or overflowed.

The food and drinks

I can’t remember what we had each day in order, so I will give an overview of our experiences on the food and drinks we tried.

I booked a guaranteed obstructed ocean view room which came with the ultimate beverage package (UBP). A guaranteed room means that you do not choose the room, just the category. They will give you a room in that category or upgrade you depending on what is available. We were upgraded to a view that was not obstructed. The UBP allows you to order any drink alcoholic or not that costs less than $11. The exception is “premium” liquors, specialty coffees, energy drinks and mini fridge items. You can order these drinks anywhere. If you send your husband to get drinks for both of you, he needs to take your card to the bar as well. The server will ask you to sign for the drink, but your card will not be charged.

We are not really big drinkers at home, mostly wine and beer on the weekend. However, with the UBP and traveling without children we decided to try as many different things as possible. Different bars and lounges seemed to have different specialties, although you could get almost any drink in any venue.

At the poolside bar, Topsiders, we ordered simpler drinks because it was always very crowded. The wait at the bar was long and the table servers seemed overwhelmed. There were just so many people in this area! I could tell that the staff was trying to keep up, but it was really just too much for anyone. This was the only place that seemed to have long waits. To be continued

Slhopper, I hope you have a wonderful time!

I think my favorite bar/lounge was Gatsby’s. Their menu emphasized martinis, so we tried many. They were all fantastic from the apple to the raspberry, each one was unique. They had a rum cake martini that was too heavy for me, but most seemed to love it. The service was fast and friendly. We tipped a dollar a drink, but everyone seemed to receive excellent service here.

If she had time, the bartender would educate you on all of the different flavors and techniques. There was a piano player there in the evenings, and the chairs and tables were comfortable.

The only concern might be that it is connected to Havana, the cigar bar. If you find the cigar smell offensive, you may want to pick a seat at the opposite side, or avoid all together. It didn’t bother me, but some people mentioned it as an issue.

This lounge is right downstairs from Bamboo the Asian restaurant. We would get a drink at Gatsby’s before going to dinner there. We brought our drink to the table and didn’t need to worry about the slower drink service there. The bartenders advice “ never look at your drink when you carry a full martini, you will never spill it!” more to come

My next choice for bar/lounge was the Star Bar. This bar was the quietest and least crowded on the whole ship. It is on top of the ship with windows that overlook the pool. We went there a few times and there were never more than 5 people in the whole bar! Needless to say, service was immediate! It was dark and had a décor inspired by earlier times. The chairs and tables were very comfortable, a perfect place for a conversation. The menu had a lot of drinks that I didn’t recognize, like the Moscow Mule. This was a drink with ginger beer, vodka and lime juice. This one was a bit much for me, but DH loved it. I ordered a Mojito, very minty and delicious. Whenever we wanted a quiet minute after dinner we would head up there.

We spent time in the Pearly Kings pub, and English style pub that had karaoke every night. This place was anything but quiet! It was always filled to bursting with enthusiastic singers. Oddly, walking through this pub was the only way to get from one end of the ship to the other on one side. As packed as it was, the table servers were very attentive and service was good. The menu focused on whiskey and bourbon. According to some at the pub “All bourbons are whiskey, but not all whiskeys are bourbon”. I have no idea what this means However, I did try a whiskey sour, which was very good. Of course there were a lot of people drinking a variety of beer here as well. There are not a lot of seats, but people seem to come and go and after a few minutes a place would open up. During the day there was also a WII set up and the same few kids were bowling with their Grammy each afternoon. To be continued

Great review!!! Looking forward to more!!!:)

Fineaswine, I am glad you are enjoying the review!

The casino bar was usually fairly crowded in the evenings. However, the service was good. They seemed to serve just about anything here with no particular theme. The floor servers seemed to focus on the gaming tables, while I am strictly a slot player. This was not a problem for us, as DH is very unlucky and lost his budgeted $20 in about a minute. He would then go to the bar to get us drinks I tried a tequila sunrise and a Bahamas mama from this bar. Both drinks were great, but since it is hard to taste the alcohol over the sweetness, be careful and drink them slowly. I saw several people underestimate these little devils!( I will talk more about the casino later)

The Spinnaker lounge has a good size bar in the back. This was a main venue for a lot of the entertainment. We usually found ourselves here early so we could get good seats for the games and entertainment. Therefore, we used the table service which was great. Once the server gave you your first drink they would make a point to return. This place was busy, so we ordered simpler drinks here and they came relatively quickly. At one point I ordered a bloody mary and was very pleased, I like them very spicy and this was perfect!

There are other bars on the ship that we did not experience. The Bimini bar is on deck 14, above the pool area. The Moderno bar is on deck 8. We never saw a bartender at the sake bar, and finally we did not use the java Café which is in the atrium.

I am not sure I would have purchased the UBP if it did not come free with our room. I believe the cost is $54 or $59 per person per day, plus 18% gratuity. Most mixed drinks seemed to cost about $9-$10 each. Each day they had a drink special which was usually $6.95. There were also specials periodically in different venues. I think each person has to estimate how much they will drink each day and do the math. As it was, we enjoyed the freedom to try many different things without worrying about a bill at the end. Overall, the service was good and in some instances very good. On to the food, in the next post..lol.

Enjoying your review and report.

Keith

Never been on the Dawn, eager to read more.

I am enjoying your review its nice to see a first timer review…..You are pointing out some great things

Going to be on the Dawn this Friday for our honeymoon .... Can't wait!!!

Amybeth, I'm glad you enjoyed the trip. We were on the same one and that was one of the roughest crossings I've been on. My parents have done the trip 5 or 6 times and they agreed. Fourth of July the weather was not what we hoped for. I agree, the UBP if it comes with the booking is great.

Keith and mamatama-Thank you very much!

Suenelson and Mugtech-I hope your cruise is wonderful!!

Gail-s-Wow, I was so surprised by the size of those waves! I am so glad we had the sea sick patch.

An overview of our experience with the food and restaurants

I will start by saying that we really didn’t know what to expect in terms of the food on the Dawn. I spent a lot of time looking at the NCL website and reading reviews on these boards.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to write them! It was so helpful!

My ultimate conclusions were that food is such a subjective topic, that it was hard to know what my experiences would be. My thought was to expect the best, but prepare for the worst. I read that it was common for dinner to take 1.5 to 2 hours in the main dining rooms. One of the things that most people seemed to agree on was that the specialty restaurants were very good. There were many mixed reviews about the complimentary venues. With these thoughts, I decided to make reservations in the Venetian and Aqua for the first two sea days. My thought was that we would eat dinner early and aim to attend the first show at 7pm. If we were late, the 9pm show was still an option. If we anticipated that we would be happier with the specialty restaurants, after trying both MDRs, I would make reservations for the remainder of the trip. As it turns out, none of this planning or worry was necessary for us!

We ended up eating all of our meals in the complimentary restaurants.

The Venetian is a complimentary main dining room on deck 7, aft. (Aft is the back of the ship). We ate here for both dinner and lunch a few times. When you walk up to the Venetian there is a hostess station, like any other restaurant. They will ask for your ship cards and will scan them. This is apparently for accounting and inventory purposes, you will not be charged.

There are plenty of tables for two and room for larger parties. We always ate between 5 and 5:30, there was never a wait and we were immediately seated. Beginning at about 6:15, it started to fill up very quickly. People traveling with larger parties or special needs, found it helpful to come about an hour before they wanted to eat and let the staff know what they would need.

The restaurant is very beautiful with chandeliers and columns everywhere. It is large, and I think the highlight is the rear windows where you can watch the ship’s wake as you eat. However, the seas were pretty rough and because this restaurant is at the very back of the ship we felt a lot of movement. Some people found that being seated near the windows was disconcerting and made their sea sickness much worse.

The service was polite and the staff was friendly every time we had a meal here. However, the whole dinner does take a long time. The later you eat, the more time you should allot if you want to get to dessert and coffee. If you are concerned about time, one waitress said that it is quicker if you order your started, main course and dessert in the beginning. Don’t worry; you will have plenty of time to finish one course before they serve the next!

When you are seated you will get a menu with starters, main courses and desserts. There are no prices listed and everything is included. The exception is drinks. If you order drinks they will take your card and hold onto it. It can be helpful to let them know when you are finished ordering drinks, otherwise you may need to wait a little while for your card to be returned after you are finished. There is a wine list on the table. Glasses of wine under $11 are included in the UBP. I used this opportunity to try wines I had never tasted.

It is perfectly acceptable to order more than one item from each section, if you want salad and the crab soufflé to start, go ahead and order it. Often we would each get a starter and then a 3rd to share, just so we could try it!

You should not expect to see your server in between courses, so if you need a refill or more butter, take the opportunity to ask in between courses.

Part of the menu will remain the same for the entire cruise. These items are listed as classic dishes. The other side has items that will change every day. There is also a chef selection each day that changes. The menu in the Aqua main dining room is exactly the same as in the Venetian each day.

Overall I found the food in the Main dining rooms (MDRs) to be ok to excellent in some instances. I thought the selection was good, but found myself repeating items if I really liked them. I will try to remember as many dishes as possible. I tried both the broccoli soup and the French onion. The broccoli was good, but the French onion was very good and I had that at least 3 times during the cruise. The highlight for me, in regards to starters was the crab and cheese soufflé. It was light and creamy at the same time, I loved it. DH took the opportunity to try as many “raw” or tartars as he could. I was not a fan but he loves this type of appetizer. We often shared the chicken nachos, they were really good. Most starters are small; however, the chicken nachos could be a full meal if you chose. I had the fried Brie, nice presentation, but a bit too heavy for me.

The main courses were always nicely presented with a good size portion. The highlights were the prime rib and the shrimp with penne and pesto, both very good. I tried the pot roast and the fried chicken, both were ok. DH had a few pasta dishes and he was impressed. I had the fish and chips, with excellent fish and ok chips. The spicy chicken with rice was also very good.

We tried almost every dessert offered at least once. The chocolate melting cake was very good. However, we did not care for the other desserts. They were always beautiful to look at, but the taste seemed a bit underwhelming. The cheesecake was ok, but the texture seemed a bit off. The good thing was that by the time we had dessert we were usually full and satisfied!

Overall, I was pleased with the Venetian. However, everyone approaches food differently and has different needs and expectations. There were many families with smaller children that found the MDRs a little frustrating, while others reported that they enjoyed a relaxing meal and discussing what each had been up to during the day. We enjoyed being able to try new things with out thinking about price. If it was on the menu and we didn't know what it was, we had it at least once. Also, please keep in mind that this opinion is from someone who believes that any meal I do not have to cook and clean up after is a good meal! to be continued:)

Aqua Main dining Room

Aqua is the smaller of the two complimentary MDRs and is on deck 6 in the middle of the ship. We had dinner at Aqua a few times. This is one of the most beautiful restaurants I have been in. The decor is blue of course, with waves a semi transparent glass. The best feature is the ceiling which has lights that twinkle like stars. Aqua is much smaller than Venetian and feels more intimate. We always ate between 5 and 5:30 and were seated immediately. The service here was good, with friendly staff and service was slightly faster than at the Venetian. You should still plan for about 1.5 hours, if you have all three courses. The menu in the Aqua is exactly the same as the Venation. The only real difference is the setting. Overall, we really enjoyed the Aqua.

The Garden Café

The Garden Café is the complimentary buffet located on deck 12, near the pool. The Café serves breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night snacks until 11:30 pm. It can be a little confusing at first in terms of layout. There are actually four separate buffet stations, 2 on each side. The dishes are mainly the same, but each one seems to serve a unique item, such as crepes, omelets, or has a carving station. The buffet can be busy during peaks times, but the lines seem to move swiftly. The lines can also be considerable shorter at the furthest stations. It can be challenging to find a seat and you may have to carry your plate quite a distance to your table. There are beverage stations where you can get water, tea, coffee and some juices for free. If you are an avid coffee drinker you may want to bring a travel mug, the cups are very small.

We mainly went to the garden Café for breakfast, late night snacks and coffees. For breakfast they have a variety of fresh fruit, cereal pastries and breads. The serve hot items like bacon, sausage, eggs, pancakes and eggs Benedict. I thought that the staff did a wonderful job of keeping things clean and refilling dishes. I can’t imagine how many people come through this buffet in one day!

For lunch and dinner they served a variety of dishes and there were sections that were themed, like Asian and Indian cuisine. It was a good opportunity to try a variety of new things like oxtail and lamb stew. Each night they featured a different main dish like prime rib, roast turkey or lobster pasta. They often had pizza, hamburgers and hot dogs at lunch and after dinner. They offered a variety of desserts. I tried a few and they were similar to what might expect at a buffet. They do have a soft serve ice cream station, which was welcome after a hot day. There was a lot of variety and we always left satisfied. .

They have a special children’s café area with a small buffet and scaled down table and chairs. I saw many families seated here. They served food that appeals to kids, like hot dogs and mac and cheese.

Overall, we were pleased with the garden café. I think some signs for the specialty stations would be helpful. We didn’t discover the made to order crepes until day 3. The staff was friendly and worked hard to serve so many people. The food had a nice variety and was hot and well prepared. To be continued.:)

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Bamboo

Bamboo is the complimentary Asian restaurant on deck 7 in the middle of the ship. It is only open for dinner between 5:30 and 9:30. It overlooks the Gatsby’s lounge and you can hear the piano player while you eat. We ate dinner at Bamboo twice during the cruise. This was the only place where we received unfriendly and indifferent service. It was odd because it appeared to be the least busy of all of the venues. The waiter never asked us about drinks and when we requested one it did not arrive. I sent DH down to Gatsby’s to get some and the next time we brought our own. Despite the service, the meal was wonderful, which is why we returned a second time.

The first night we ordered the hot and sour soup, dumplings and spring rolls to start. The soup was so spicy that I could not eat it, but DH thought it was the best he had ever tasted. When the waiter came to clear the dishes, he looked at my unfinished soup and back at me with a raised eyebrow. I said “it is a bit to spicy for me”. He then replied “that is why it is called HOT and sour”, in a mean voice. For dinner we had the spicy chicken and orange beef. It was wonderful! The next time we ate there we had the special rice and the lo mien, both were fantastic.

Despite the minor issue with the waiter, we were very pleased with Bamboo. I loved the food and enjoyed the piano music while we ate. to be continued:)

Its Good!

This is the best review I have read so far on this website! We are going on the Dawn for the first time in a few weeks and your information is well written, concise and beyond helpful. I am looking forward to reading more from you. (You are posting more, correct?). :)

Amesisland,

Thanks so much, I do have a lot more to say, and will try to be as quick as I can. Being back to work and back to the kids makes things busy:)

Blue Lagoon

The Blue lagoon is a 24 hour, very casual, sit down restaurant located on deck 8 in the middle of the ship. It overlooks the atrium and can be a little confusing at first. There is another restaurant, Moderno, I believe, on the other side which seems similar in décor, when you first come up the steps, or exit the elevator. This is a large open area which is circular, look for the Blue Lagoon hostess station. With the central location and late night menu, I expected this place to be busy. The traffic was steady, but we were always seated immediately. Before they seat you they will ask for your room number, again for inventory and accounting, everything here is included.

The service here was quick and upbeat, an accomplishment in my opinion, because the people just keep coming, 24 hour a day! The tables and chairs are wood. I found them comfortable, but a few ladies said they were too hard.

They offer a limited menu which remains the same each night. I know they offer a breakfast menu, but we did not eat here for breakfast. The theme here seems to be late night comfort food. For starters we tried the tomato soup, chicken wings (mild and spicy), and the artichoke dip with tortilla chips. The tomato soup was ok, but the wings and dip were excellent. They were so good, that we ordered them several times. For main dishes we tried a hamburger and the fish and chips, both were good. However, we mainly came here for a cup of coffee and midnight snack and just enjoyed the wings and dip. They have a few desserts like cheesecake and cookies.

One thing that I really liked about the Blue Lagoon, is that they have a list of sides that can be ordered separately. A server told me that in the MDR the meals are pre-plated with all the sides. You can change them or request more of one side, but it will significantly increase the time it takes to get your meal. She said it is actually easier for them if you just order two meals. The Blue Lagoon offers fries, chips and potato salad as sides. I really liked the potato salad because it tasted like my mothers, mayonnaise based rather than oil and vinegar. The fries are shoe string, like you might find at a fast food restaurant.

The Blue Lagoon can be loud and you should expect large groups, between 5-15, of tweens and teens hanging out here. I found the kids to be very well behaved for such large groups. It was nice to see them having such fun with each other on vacation. However, I always have a house full of kids, and liked seeing kids without having to worry about what they were up to..lol. I mention this because quite a few people talked about how much the kids bothered them, so be prepared if you come to the Blue lagoon for late night snacks. ( I will talk more about the kids when I talk about the ship)

Overall, we really enjoyed the Blue Lagoon. I liked to watch all the people and have a snack before bed. It felt like a very welcoming place. more to come:)

Sprinkles Ice cream

Sprinkles Ice cream is located right in front of the pool on deck 12. This is complimentary and they serve hard ice cream from 1-5 pm. Look for the Sprinkles sign right in the middle of the Topsiders bar. They serve scoops of Vanilla, Chocolate, and on the day we went, Rum Raisin. They will scoop the ice cream for you and you can add your own sprinkles and sauce. The ice cream was similar to grocery store ice cream and the sauce was like Hershey syrup. This little area was very popular with the folks hanging out on the pool deck. I thought it was a nice addition and welcome coolness after being in the sun. I do wish they offered a larger variety of flavors, but the Rum raisin was good.

There were two other complimentary venues that we did not try. We were just too full to try everything! The Bimini grill is on deck 14 at the front of the ship. This place always seemed crowded when we walked by. They also had a poolside BBQ on some days from noon to 5pm. We also did not order anything from room service. If you would like room service there is a menu in your room. Everything except the continental breakfast has a sur charge of $7.95 per order. I will continue in a little while with the Entertainment!