Popsy_cruises

Teppenyaki Full disclosure: we’ve both been to a Teppenyaki restaurant before. My husband went to one in Manchester and I went to one on the Epic so we both knew what to expect. Didn’t stop us from loving it! They were excellent at catering for vegetarians, the chefs are very funny and the food was fantastic. Husband had the seafood option, I had vegetable yaki udon. We both had the garlic fried rice and vegetable stack. Husband had the fruit platter dessert and I opted for the green tea cake. All was excellent! If you don’t like talking to your fellow passengers this one may not be for you as you’ll be sat on a table with 6 other passengers all facing the chef. But if you’re able to book this I highly recommend it. I found the location a little odd as it’s within the Bamoo restaurant and not its own standalone restaurant but don’t let that put you off. Go with an open mind, sing and clap along and have fun 😊

Pool Deck I’m currently soaking up some Valencia sun so it seems appropriate to cover this area next. I really like it! It’s roughly the same size as the main pool area on the Epic but the ship holds half as many passengers so it’s not crowded. Yes, it gets busy when it’s sunny but I’ve not had an issue finding a lounger. The pool is lovely and refreshing today, the other day it was bloody freezing, but today it’s good. I’ve also sampled all the hot tubs and like them all. We’ve also never had an issue getting a drink, either at the main bar, Bimini’s or by waiter service. My main complaint is that they don’t have the Mango Meltdown cocktail which is my absolute favourite but that’s such a first world problem it’s not really a bother, especially with so many other good cocktails to try (smoked peach margarita is especially yummy). I think if you took a hot cruise on the Dawn you’d really enjoy this area. The Tropical Beat band who are often playing are also amazing and deserve all of the shout outs.

Bamboo Next up to be reviewed is Bamboo. Two main things you need to know about this complimentary restaurant if you’ve not been on the Dawn before: 1. It is very small. 2. Teppenyaki is inside the restaurant, behind a glass door but you can see and hear it. We arrived 15mins after it opened for dinner and had to wait an hour for a table. This didn’t bother us as we just went and had a drink in Gatsby’s but it was an excessive wait for the size of the ship I feel. My choices were limited but I had the harvest spring rolls and vegetable fried rice followed by the chocolate five spice cake, all of which was enjoyable. The cake especially. My husband opted for a pork dish with the combo fried rice. He said whilst it was ok, the food he'd had from the Asian station in the buffet was much better and he didn't think it was worth an hours wait. Overall we won't go back because of the wait times and the fact that husband prefers the buffet Asian food. I didn't think it was bad but veggie fried rice is on in the buffet frequently.

After my rant yesterday there were loads of fresh vegetables on the buffet! As much as I’d love to think I did that, they’ve clearly just had a delivery 😆 either way I’ll take it because the stir fried veg at lunch yesterday was really very tasty. I'm currently out exploring Palma but will do another post later on reviewing another part of the ship.

I haven’t but when I asked at the desk I was just told to speak with the restaurant and buffet staff and they’d tell me what I could have. Since the cruise is almost over I’m just going to carry on as I have been and contact NCL afterwards about it.

Garden Cafe Buffet I have a love hate relationship with this place. Let’s start with the good: my husband and I have genuinely not had a bad meal here. All the food we’ve tried we’ve really enjoyed and the Indian station in particular is excellent. Now onto the not so good. The layout isn’t great. It’s very closed off and awkward meaning the buffet often feels much more crowded than it actually is because people are squashed into a small place waiting for their food. On the Epic the buffet is much more open and easy to navigate. It’s not enough to stop me sailing on the Dawn in future but it is annoying. My biggest gripe is the food labelling! I’m vegetarian and I can’t eat a lot of cheese. On the Epic I just looked for the green which made finding suitable food very easy. On the Dawn absolutely everything is coloured brown and I have no idea why. It’s not helpful in the slightest and whilst the staff will tell me what I can have when I ask, I have queued up more than once only to discover that I can’t eat anything at that station. This has annoyed me so much I’m contacting NCL about it as it’s really poor in my opinion. Colour coded labels should not be that difficult to do and they had them on the Epic so there’s no excuse. The variety is also significantly less than on my last cruise. I don’t know if that’s just because I’m on a smaller ship, if it’s down to NCL cutbacks or both, but there isn’t a lot to choose from especially for a vegetarian. I’ve ended up eating curry for most meals and whilst the curry is excellent and I always love a good daal, it would be nice to have some variety each day. The salad bar has been halved as well. On my last cruise I got a three bean salad, bulgur wheat salad or giant couscous salad most days for lunch and none of these have been on offer during this cruise. The salad that is out doesn’t look particularly appetising and I’ve yet to find a dressing that’s not cream based (where is the balsamic glaze?!). I’ve hardly seen any vegetables either, just some dry looking steamed veg mix. I know I keep referring to my last cruise but on the Epic they had grilled Mediterranean vegetables, vegetable skewers, several types of potatoes, just much more choice. I’ve seen none of that on the Dawn. The desserts also aren’t that appetising. I avoid gelatine being a vegetarian which means besides the ice cream, I’ve not been able to have a single dessert in the buffet so far. There are also no cookies! I have asked repeatedly and been told they’ll be out during the afternoon tea time, they weren’t. When I asked again I was told I can get them on room service. I believe sometimes they’re served in the casino but I’ve not checked yet. Again, none of this would stop me sailing on the Dawn in the future but it does make using the buffet more effort than it should be in my opinion. I do love the buffet staff though! We’re always greeted with smiles and they’re always happy to help.

Stateroom We booked an inside cabin and were assigned 8015, right at the front of the ship. We have no complaints at all. The decor is a little dated but this doesn’t bother us. The cabin is always clean, the bed is comfy, we have plenty of storage and a nice powerful shower and that’s all we need. Being at the front of the ship means it’s quiet. We very rarely hear people walk past our cabin and we can’t really hear the engines which is great. We did hear the theatre which is directly below on one night but that’s because we went to bed stupidly early, the music stopped just after 10pm and wasn’t that loud. One thing people may feel is a negative is you really feel the ship move in this location. We’ve had bad weather for the last 2 days and we can feel the ships movement a lot more than we can when on the same deck at O’sheehans which is mid ship. This hasn’t bothered us at all but may bother some people. Couple of photos below when we first arrived.

Stateroom We booked an inside cabin and were assigned 8015, right at the front of the ship. We have no complaints at all. The decor is a little dated but this doesn’t bother us. The cabin is always clean, the bed is comfy, we have plenty of storage and a nice powerful shower and that’s all we need. Being at the front of the ship means it’s quiet. We very rarely hear people walk past our cabin and we can’t really hear the engines which is great. We did hear the theatre which is directly below on one night but that’s because we went to bed stupidly early, the music stopped just after 10pm and wasn’t that loud. One thing people may feel is a negative is you really feel the ship move in this location. We’ve had bad weather for the last 2 days and we can feel the ships movement a lot more than we can when on the same deck at O’sheehans which is mid ship. This hasn’t bothered us at all but may bother some people. Couple of photos below when we first arrived.

I’m currently on the Dawn and thought I’d do a few posts detailing my experience in case anyone is feeling nosy! Some context: I’m English and this will be my third cruise (last two were on the Epic, all around the Med and Greece). I am by no means a cruise expert however I have travelled a lot and I know what I like and what I don’t. We booked the cruise as it was on a great deal and had a good route, the ship was secondary to us. We are currently sailing on a 10 day cruise from Civitavecchia to Barcelona, the first since the Dawn got out of dry dock. So far I really am having a lovely time! I’ll try to split the posts up into categories for easier reading. So far, there are more positives than negatives but there are definitely a few niggles.