NCL Dawn limping from port to port

[Globaliser]

This sounds a lot like my cruise on the Dream a few years ago - collision at sea, missing the front end of our ship, engines stopped working - dead in the water somewhere near Cape Horn, missed ports, passengers up in arms, anchored at sea because we could not enter a port, lost power (lights, elevators, etc).

 

One of the best cruises we ever took!:D

Now, here's a cruiser who knows what it's all about!

 

Can't ever say thank you enough for your great reviews - looking forward to the next one.

[islndbnd]

We just got off the Dawn, my 7th cruise and 3rd. on NCL, this was far and away the worst cruise I have ever been on.

 

Two years ago we were on the Dawn and had a fantastic cruise that I told everyone I knew about. On that cruise I missed the picture of a life time when a Whale breached completely out of the water, (due to a slow old camera). So I bought a new camera and booked a cruise that included the same stop, Samana in the Dominican Republic, for a chance to see if I could get a picture of something more than a big splash. It also included another Island that I had not been to, St. Kitts, as well as a return to Tortola Antigua and Barbados.

 

When we were on the last cruise on the Dawn, it was not the newest ship but it was clean and the staff went above and beyond to exceed our expectations. Any company that worked that hard deserved our loyalty.

 

So we booked the cruise and brought 8 people along with us, many for different reasons, some wanted a chance to see the whales, and others were excited about an excursion on St. Kitts or the opportunity to see Barbados or the baths in Tortola.

 

Since when did Free Style cruising start to include the ports of call, we did not miss one port due to weather we missed 3 out of 5 of the scheduled ports of call. This was not due to nature but due to multiple mechanical failures. One out of 4 engines temporally down would be one thing, but when one of those 4 engines catastrophically failed last fall NCL decided to gamble that they could keep the ship running on the other 3 engines until the scheduled dry dock in May. They no longer had enough backup capacity to get to all of the ADVERTISED! ports of call, if another engine went down. NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Two islands were replaced with islands of NCL’s choice. Yes we made the best of it and these are nice ports for shoppers and beach lovers, and some of our party had a good time although not what they had planned.

 

The announcement that we would not be able to go to St. Kitts or Barbados was made while we were sitting at dinner about 7 PM, on the night before we were scheduled to be in Barbados. With only a few hours notice and being on a ship, it was pretty hard to replace the planed Sugar Train excursion on St. Kits, or the Island Tour on an air conditioned tour bus for the two 80 year old + travelers with us. They had been waiting for the last two islands, (St. Kitts and Barbados). NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Some folks are just happy to be on a cruise, but most of us shop for a specific value that we are looking for. For us it is a combination of the islands, price and length of the cruise.

 

Had I wanted the 4 islands we got, I could have scheduled an Eastern Caribbean and done it in 7 days for allot less money. Now I don't have the extra money or time off from work to go on another cruise any time soon. Again NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Diesel engines have been around for quite a while and I don’t think that catastrophic failures are all that common, when well maintained.

 

As you can imagine the 11:20 PM fire that broke out somewhere in the vicinity of the incinerator on deck 3 Thursday night did nothing to detour the general atmosphere of concern on board the ship. For 30 min. everyone on board this ship was up and nervous. An update was give about 10-15 min after the first announcement and then the all clear was given about 11:55. Some of our party was on deck 5 and we went to check on them, guests that had evacuated cabins around the fire location were dressed and standing in the halls. There had been smoke in the halls, fortunately the crew did a great job of putting the fire out and evacuating the smoke but it was pretty scary given the events to this point.

 

I can tell you first hand that this cruise went from a few upset people on day one, who were disappointed because we were not going to get to the Dominican Republic, to every conversation that I heard by Saturday. Complete strangers were coming up to me and asking how I felt about this cruise. ALL of the conversations that I overheard in at the breakfast buffet were about this. I think that NCL has a serious PR problem on their hands.

The question is not what NCL owes us, the question is what will they have to do to, earn our future business and turn this in to a shining example of customer service that concludes this story. Or will it be an example of how a corporation took a gamble on when to do major overhaul or replaced the engine parts that were worn out, to squeeze a little more life out of an aging ship.

 

I told many folks about our last success and brought 8 of them with us on this Disaster of a cruise. You can bet I will relay this experience to many, many, many more. I would think NCL would like this story, told by thousand of guest to 10’s of thousands of friends to have a positive ending that shows how much they care about their biggest asset, their customers.

[ike97756]

Thank you for your account,

Just ignore the flaming sure to come from the "frequent cruisers", few in number but loud in voicing their OPINION, about to tell you that this experience is EXACTLY what you signed up for and should be EXPECTED when you book a cruise.

After all 100% of readers will look at this and say "hey this sounds like the trip of a lifetime!". I think we need to sign up for a cruise now for this ship is surely going to instantly book up!

[tlm]

We just got off the Dawn, my 7th cruise and 3rd. on NCL, this was far and away the worst cruise I have ever been on.

 

Two years ago we were on the Dawn and had a fantastic cruise that I told everyone I knew about. On that cruise I missed the picture of a life time when a Whale breached completely out of the water, (due to a slow old camera). So I bought a new camera and booked a cruise that included the same stop, Samana in the Dominican Republic, for a chance to see if I could get a picture of something more than a big splash. It also included another Island that I had not been to, St. Kitts, as well as a return to Tortola Antigua and Barbados.

 

When we were on the last cruise on the Dawn, it was not the newest ship but it was clean and the staff went above and beyond to exceed our expectations. Any company that worked that hard deserved our loyalty.

 

So we booked the cruise and brought 8 people along with us, many for different reasons, some wanted a chance to see the whales, and others were excited about an excursion on St. Kitts or the opportunity to see Barbados or the baths in Tortola.

 

Since when did Free Style cruising start to include the ports of call, we did not miss one port due to weather we missed 3 out of 5 of the scheduled ports of call. This was not due to nature but due to multiple mechanical failures. One out of 4 engines temporally down would be one thing, but when one of those 4 engines catastrophically failed last fall NCL decided to gamble that they could keep the ship running on the other 3 engines until the scheduled dry dock in May. They no longer had enough backup capacity to get to all of the ADVERTISED! ports of call, if another engine went down. NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Two islands were replaced with islands of NCL’s choice. Yes we made the best of it and these are nice ports for shoppers and beach lovers, and some of our party had a good time although not what they had planned.

 

The announcement that we would not be able to go to St. Kitts or Barbados was made while we were sitting at dinner about 7 PM, on the night before we were scheduled to be in Barbados. With only a few hours notice and being on a ship, it was pretty hard to replace the planed Sugar Train excursion on St. Kits, or the Island Tour on an air conditioned tour bus for the two 80 year old + travelers with us. They had been waiting for the last two islands, (St. Kitts and Barbados). NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Some folks are just happy to be on a cruise, but most of us shop for a specific value that we are looking for. For us it is a combination of the islands, price and length of the cruise.

 

Had I wanted the 4 islands we got, I could have scheduled an Eastern Caribbean and done it in 7 days for allot less money. Now I don't have the extra money or time off from work to go on another cruise any time soon. Again NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Diesel engines have been around for quite a while and I don’t think that catastrophic failures are all that common, when well maintained.

 

As you can imagine the 11:20 PM fire that broke out somewhere in the vicinity of the incinerator on deck 3 Thursday night did nothing to detour the general atmosphere of concern on board the ship. For 30 min. everyone on board this ship was up and nervous. An update was give about 10-15 min after the first announcement and then the all clear was given about 11:55. Some of our party was on deck 5 and we went to check on them, guests that had evacuated cabins around the fire location were dressed and standing in the halls. There had been smoke in the halls, fortunately the crew did a great job of putting the fire out and evacuating the smoke but it was pretty scary given the events to this point.

 

I can tell you first hand that this cruise went from a few upset people on day one, who were disappointed because we were not going to get to the Dominican Republic, to every conversation that I heard by Saturday. Complete strangers were coming up to me and asking how I felt about this cruise. ALL of the conversations that I overheard in at the breakfast buffet were about this. I think that NCL has a serious PR problem on their hands.

The question is not what NCL owes us, the question is what will they have to do to, earn our future business and turn this in to a shining example of customer service that concludes this story. Or will it be an example of how a corporation took a gamble on when to do major overhaul or replaced the engine parts that were worn out, to squeeze a little more life out of an aging ship.

 

I told many folks about our last success and brought 8 of them with us on this Disaster of a cruise. You can bet I will relay this experience to many, many, many more. I would think NCL would like this story, told by thousand of guest to 10’s of thousands of friends to have a positive ending that shows how much they care about their biggest asset, their customers.

 

Was there anything at all that you liked about this cruise? Did NCL not do anything to your liking?

 

My husband and I had been planning this cruise for 3 years after I had to have a life saving surgery so the only thing that upset me was having to dis- embark this morning.

 

Under the circumstances, the captain, crew and NCL did everything they could possbly do to make the best out of a bad situation. We felt that the compensation offered was more than fair.

 

To say NCL failed is far too harsh IMO.

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

Does anyone actually read the cruise documents that all must agree to? I do and I accept the risks.

 

Your lack of understanding of the contract YOU agreed to is not NCL's fault.

[Newleno]

We just got off the Dawn, my 7th cruise and 3rd. on NCL, this was far and away the worst cruise I have ever been on.

 

Two years ago we were on the Dawn and had a fantastic cruise that I told everyone I knew about. On that cruise I missed the picture of a life time when a Whale breached completely out of the water, (due to a slow old camera). So I bought a new camera and booked a cruise that included the same stop, Samana in the Dominican Republic, for a chance to see if I could get a picture of something more than a big splash. It also included another Island that I had not been to, St. Kitts, as well as a return to Tortola Antigua and Barbados.

 

When we were on the last cruise on the Dawn, it was not the newest ship but it was clean and the staff went above and beyond to exceed our expectations. Any company that worked that hard deserved our loyalty.

 

So we booked the cruise and brought 8 people along with us, many for different reasons, some wanted a chance to see the whales, and others were excited about an excursion on St. Kitts or the opportunity to see Barbados or the baths in Tortola.

 

Since when did Free Style cruising start to include the ports of call, we did not miss one port due to weather we missed 3 out of 5 of the scheduled ports of call. This was not due to nature but due to multiple mechanical failures. One out of 4 engines temporally down would be one thing, but when one of those 4 engines catastrophically failed last fall NCL decided to gamble that they could keep the ship running on the other 3 engines until the scheduled dry dock in May. They no longer had enough backup capacity to get to all of the ADVERTISED! ports of call, if another engine went down. NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Two islands were replaced with islands of NCL’s choice. Yes we made the best of it and these are nice ports for shoppers and beach lovers, and some of our party had a good time although not what they had planned.

 

The announcement that we would not be able to go to St. Kitts or Barbados was made while we were sitting at dinner about 7 PM, on the night before we were scheduled to be in Barbados. With only a few hours notice and being on a ship, it was pretty hard to replace the planed Sugar Train excursion on St. Kits, or the Island Tour on an air conditioned tour bus for the two 80 year old + travelers with us. They had been waiting for the last two islands, (St. Kitts and Barbados). NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Some folks are just happy to be on a cruise, but most of us shop for a specific value that we are looking for. For us it is a combination of the islands, price and length of the cruise.

 

Had I wanted the 4 islands we got, I could have scheduled an Eastern Caribbean and done it in 7 days for allot less money. Now I don't have the extra money or time off from work to go on another cruise any time soon. Again NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Diesel engines have been around for quite a while and I don’t think that catastrophic failures are all that common, when well maintained.

 

As you can imagine the 11:20 PM fire that broke out somewhere in the vicinity of the incinerator on deck 3 Thursday night did nothing to detour the general atmosphere of concern on board the ship. For 30 min. everyone on board this ship was up and nervous. An update was give about 10-15 min after the first announcement and then the all clear was given about 11:55. Some of our party was on deck 5 and we went to check on them, guests that had evacuated cabins around the fire location were dressed and standing in the halls. There had been smoke in the halls, fortunately the crew did a great job of putting the fire out and evacuating the smoke but it was pretty scary given the events to this point.

 

I can tell you first hand that this cruise went from a few upset people on day one, who were disappointed because we were not going to get to the Dominican Republic, to every conversation that I heard by Saturday. Complete strangers were coming up to me and asking how I felt about this cruise. ALL of the conversations that I overheard in at the breakfast buffet were about this. I think that NCL has a serious PR problem on their hands.

The question is not what NCL owes us, the question is what will they have to do to, earn our future business and turn this in to a shining example of customer service that concludes this story. Or will it be an example of how a corporation took a gamble on when to do major overhaul or replaced the engine parts that were worn out, to squeeze a little more life out of an aging ship.

 

I told many folks about our last success and brought 8 of them with us on this Disaster of a cruise. You can bet I will relay this experience to many, many, many more. I would think NCL would like this story, told by thousand of guest to 10’s of thousands of friends to have a positive ending that shows how much they care about their biggest asset, their customers.

 

Thank you so very much for sharing your experience, it helps all of us to know the truth, it will help all of us receive justice

[islndbnd]

"Disaster"? With a capital D?

 

Why? What happened? Did the ship sink? Did people die?

 

Those events might constitute a "disaster". A few missed ports don't. But using the word rather underlines the slightly hysterical viewpoint adopted by those who want to complain endlessly about a changed itinerary.

 

You are entitled to your opinion, but I was there, and all though this may be with in the contract, it was ADVERTISED as a 9 day cruise that went to certain islands, not a come on board and see where we go cruise.

 

I have missed islands for weather or rough seas but not for mechanical failures. NCL took a risk, that they could still deliver a satisfactory experience for most of the customers with the equipment in the condition that it was. Based on 800 + booing the cruise director at a mid week show I don't think they succeeded. Since NCL will likely need to appeal to more than just one person to stay in business, my guess is they will need to deliver on what they ADVERTISE or be looking for new customers each trip, and that is a very expensive way to do business.

 

 

If my business did this to customers (advertise one thing, deliver another) I would be looking for work as I would have no customers.

[Newleno]

You are entitled to your opinion, but I was there, and all though this may be with in the contract, it was ADVERTISED as a 9 day cruise that went to certain islands, not a come on board and see where we go cruise.

 

I have missed islands for weather or rough seas but not for mechanical failures. NCL took a risk, that they could still deliver a satisfactory experience for most of the customers with the equipment in the condition that it was. Based on 800 + booing the cruise director at a mid week show I don't think they succeeded. Since NCL will likely need to appeal to more than just one person to stay in business, my guess is they will need to deliver on what they ADVERTISE or be looking for new customers each trip, and that is a very expensive way to do business.

 

 

If my business did this to customers (advertise one thing, deliver another) I would be looking for work as I would have no customers.

 

In my opinion it is very important that all relevant information is given about any cruise, but again just my opinion, responding to nasty comments dont help anyone who is just looking for information, please dont respond to nasty, please just give your viewpoint, give your details but dont respond to the nasty, many here just want to fight dont give in to them, for some odd reason they get power out of making others miserable, just ignore their comments.

[sdmike]

Booing the cruise director? People should be ashamed of themselves. People who think cruise ships are reliable transportation to a specific place at a specific time should do some more research.

[sdmike]

Thank you so very much for sharing your experience, it helps all of us to know the truth, it will help all of us receive justice

 

Justice?

[biker@sea]

We just got off the Dawn, my 7th cruise and 3rd. on NCL, this was far and away the worst cruise I have ever been on.

 

Two years ago we were on the Dawn and had a fantastic cruise that I told everyone I knew about. On that cruise I missed the picture of a life time when a Whale breached completely out of the water, (due to a slow old camera). So I bought a new camera and booked a cruise that included the same stop, Samana in the Dominican Republic, for a chance to see if I could get a picture of something more than a big splash. It also included another Island that I had not been to, St. Kitts, as well as a return to Tortola Antigua and Barbados.

 

When we were on the last cruise on the Dawn, it was not the newest ship but it was clean and the staff went above and beyond to exceed our expectations. Any company that worked that hard deserved our loyalty.

 

So we booked the cruise and brought 8 people along with us, many for different reasons, some wanted a chance to see the whales, and others were excited about an excursion on St. Kitts or the opportunity to see Barbados or the baths in Tortola.

 

Since when did Free Style cruising start to include the ports of call, we did not miss one port due to weather we missed 3 out of 5 of the scheduled ports of call. This was not due to nature but due to multiple mechanical failures. One out of 4 engines temporally down would be one thing, but when one of those 4 engines catastrophically failed last fall NCL decided to gamble that they could keep the ship running on the other 3 engines until the scheduled dry dock in May. They no longer had enough backup capacity to get to all of the ADVERTISED! ports of call, if another engine went down. NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Two islands were replaced with islands of NCL’s choice. Yes we made the best of it and these are nice ports for shoppers and beach lovers, and some of our party had a good time although not what they had planned.

 

The announcement that we would not be able to go to St. Kitts or Barbados was made while we were sitting at dinner about 7 PM, on the night before we were scheduled to be in Barbados. With only a few hours notice and being on a ship, it was pretty hard to replace the planed Sugar Train excursion on St. Kits, or the Island Tour on an air conditioned tour bus for the two 80 year old + travelers with us. They had been waiting for the last two islands, (St. Kitts and Barbados). NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Some folks are just happy to be on a cruise, but most of us shop for a specific value that we are looking for. For us it is a combination of the islands, price and length of the cruise.

 

Had I wanted the 4 islands we got, I could have scheduled an Eastern Caribbean and done it in 7 days for allot less money. Now I don't have the extra money or time off from work to go on another cruise any time soon. Again NCL FAIL!!!!

 

Diesel engines have been around for quite a while and I don’t think that catastrophic failures are all that common, when well maintained.

 

As you can imagine the 11:20 PM fire that broke out somewhere in the vicinity of the incinerator on deck 3 Thursday night did nothing to detour the general atmosphere of concern on board the ship. For 30 min. everyone on board this ship was up and nervous. An update was give about 10-15 min after the first announcement and then the all clear was given about 11:55. Some of our party was on deck 5 and we went to check on them, guests that had evacuated cabins around the fire location were dressed and standing in the halls. There had been smoke in the halls, fortunately the crew did a great job of putting the fire out and evacuating the smoke but it was pretty scary given the events to this point.

 

I can tell you first hand that this cruise went from a few upset people on day one, who were disappointed because we were not going to get to the Dominican Republic, to every conversation that I heard by Saturday. Complete strangers were coming up to me and asking how I felt about this cruise. ALL of the conversations that I overheard in at the breakfast buffet were about this. I think that NCL has a serious PR problem on their hands.

The question is not what NCL owes us, the question is what will they have to do to, earn our future business and turn this in to a shining example of customer service that concludes this story. Or will it be an example of how a corporation took a gamble on when to do major overhaul or replaced the engine parts that were worn out, to squeeze a little more life out of an aging ship.

 

I told many folks about our last success and brought 8 of them with us on this Disaster of a cruise. You can bet I will relay this experience to many, many, many more. I would think NCL would like this story, told by thousand of guest to 10’s of thousands of friends to have a positive ending that shows how much they care about their biggest asset, their customers.

 

Thank's for telling us your about your experience .

[musicgal]

I've been reading this thread with some interest. I like the name of the ship;) Anyway, it seems as though NCL knows beforehand (at this point) that the Dawn is not functioning when they welcome their guests onboard- and hey, I get it. It's a business. But, as another poster just said, the days when you could hide this kind of thing are long gone. There are two sides to the old fine print contract... one is "I gotcha" by the cruiselines when the ride doesn't go as advertised or expected (notwithstanding all the caveats)- and the other side is "You had me once, but you will lose my next cruise money to someone else who is more consistent". Turnabout is fair play. Nobody's kidding anyone when we think this will hinder the next few sailings of the Dawn, whatever those morph into. But for the majority of us observers... who reasonably don't expect perfection- it looks like the bar is being set very low for Dawn until drydock. Engine trouble??? Fires??? Um.... that's serious stuff.

[CRUISIN_IOWA]

My group just disembarked this morning from the NCL Dawn. This was our first cruise with NCL. We cruise for the ports-best way to see several places in a week or 9 days in our case. First, let me state that our group was not informed of the engine problems before the trip and we booked in March 2010. Nor were we told before the ship sailed there were engine problems and we could cancel our trip. We are not upset about the missed ports so much as the way the entire debacle was handled and how rude NCL staff handled questions. And the ship was sailing around 11 knots most of the time. Elevators were out of order starting on the second day in our section of the ship - our cabins were on the 11th floor (four suites). The food is ordinary at best-opt for the chicken! The Lobster was the smallest portion I have ever had-more the size of jumbo shrimp (what they tout as jumbo shrimp is more like popcorn shrimp)! Room service is practically non-existent! The best food was the BBQ on the pool deck each day! There were small buckets sitting around in the public areas to catch dripping water(not sure where it was coming from). The balconies were not cleaned from the previous cruise and when we asked-still nothing was done! Housekeeping staff was very nice but rooms were not cleaned very well.Drinks are very high-priced (more so than other cruiselines), they remove juice and milk except for breakfast. The milk dispensers in the buffet were broken by the 5th day! Ship representatives were very rude, very defensive even for the most minor requests. We love St. Maarten and St. Thomas, but we booked this cruise for the ports-if we had wanted those ports we would have booked that cruise AGAIN! There were many senior cruisers on this ship and no assistance from crew members for many of them. When the engine was finally fixed and we doubt it was fixed on Wed as stated by NCL (if it was, why was the ship still limping so slowly until Friday?:confused:), there didn't seem to be anything to stabilize the ship the last two days-lots of seasickness. When they tell you the internet access is slow and sporadic-believe them! There is only 200 spots available at any given time for access. I had to use the internet in the middle of the night to get access. There is only one small pool on this ship! The entertainment on this ship is the best we have encountered;the cruise director and his staff do a GREAT job!:D Too bad that the rest of the staff is so subpar! We only met one waiter, in the Aqua dining room the last night, who really did his job with any enthusiasm - big tip for him. And the fire in the garbage room waking up everyone on the ship was about the last straw. If you are booked on this ship in the near future, take the opportunity to change your plans if possible. Most of the staff is undertrained, uncaring and unschooled in customer service. I actually felt sorry for those that did a great job. This ship looks good at first glance but it really needs to be drydocked and refurbished. It is the lemon of the cruise ships! Not really the cruise from hell, but there were a lot of things that didn't make it a great cruise!:( We will probably not book another NCL cruise - all our other cruises were on Carnival and we have never had a bad experience with them.

[biker@sea]

My group just disembarked this morning from the NCL Dawn. This was our first cruise with NCL. We cruise for the ports-best way to see several places in a week or 9 days in our case. First, let me state that our group was not informed of the engine problems before the trip and we booked in March 2010. Nor were we told before the ship sailed there were engine problems and we could cancel our trip. We are not upset about the missed ports so much as the way the entire debacle was handled and how rude NCL staff handled questions. And the ship was sailing around 11 knots most of the time. Elevators were out of order starting on the second day in our section of the ship - our cabins were on the 11th floor (four suites). The food is ordinary at best-opt for the chicken! The Lobster was the smallest portion I have ever had-more the size of jumbo shrimp (what they tout as jumbo shrimp is more like popcorn shrimp)! Room service is practically non-existent! The best food was the BBQ on the pool deck each day! There were small buckets sitting around in the public areas to catch dripping water(not sure where it was coming from). The balconies were not cleaned from the previous cruise and when we asked-still nothing was done! Housekeeping staff was very nice but rooms were not cleaned very well.Drinks are very high-priced (more so than other cruiselines), they remove juice and milk except for breakfast. The milk dispensers in the buffet were broken by the 5th day! Ship representatives were very rude, very defensive even for the most minor requests. We love St. Maarten and St. Thomas, but we booked this cruise for the ports-if we had wanted those ports we would have booked that cruise AGAIN! There were many senior cruisers on this ship and no assistance from crew members for many of them. When the engine was finally fixed and we doubt it was fixed on Wed as stated by NCL (if it was, why was the ship still limping so slowly until Friday?:confused:), there didn't seem to be anything to stabilize the ship the last two days-lots of seasickness. When they tell you the internet access is slow and sporadic-believe them! There is only 200 spots available at any given time for access. I had to use the internet in the middle of the night to get access. There is only one small pool on this ship! The entertainment on this ship is the best we have encountered;the cruise director and his staff do a GREAT job!:D Too bad that the rest of the staff is so subpar! We only met one waiter, in the Aqua dining room the last night, who really did his job with any enthusiasm - big tip for him. And the fire in the garbage room waking up everyone on the ship was about the last straw. If you are booked on this ship in the near future, take the opportunity to change your plans if possible. Most of the staff is undertrained, uncaring and unschooled in customer service. I actually felt sorry for those that did a great job. This ship looks good at first glance but it really needs to be drydocked and refurbished. It is the lemon of the cruise ships! Not really the cruise from hell, but there were a lot of things that didn't make it a great cruise!:( We will probably not book another NCL cruise - all our other cruises were on Carnival and we have never had a bad experience with them.

 

Thank's for your opinion. Welcome to Cruise Critic.:)

[kerrytens]

Glad you enjoy the "reviews." My last review was a couple of weeks ago on the Crown Princess. If you haven't read it the link is in my signature.

 

Next cruise is on the Splendour of the Seas in May - a cruise in the eastern Med.

Nice! Surprise me with the last minute thing;). My evening is set now .. I have a SailorJack 'review' to read!!! Life is good:D

 

BTW, I'm thinking the Dec. 10th sailing of the Epic would be a good followup to the SotS:D

[sdmike]

I suspect that what you were seeing was very stressed out staff reacting to getting yelled at by passengers with misguided anger. Most reports are that the staff on the ship are top notch, but we're all human. People start yelling at me and I'm going to get irritated real fast.

 

Sorry your cruise turned out the way it did. Sounds like you still tried to enjoy yourself.

[islndbnd]

Was there anything at all that you liked about this cruise? Did NCL not do anything to your liking?

 

My husband and I had been planning this cruise for 3 years after I had to have a life saving surgery so the only thing that upset me was having to dis- embark this morning.

 

Under the circumstances, the captain, crew and NCL did everything they could possbly do to make the best out of a bad situation. We felt that the compensation offered was more than fair.

 

To say NCL failed is far too harsh IMO.

 

I would agree that is was not the crews fault, I would give them a satisfactory for performance overall, (see entertainment below). The cruise I did on the Dawn in 2009 was a 10 this was about a 6, just my opinion.

 

Entertainment

Cruise Director worked hard and did a great job

Shows were actually a little better than the 2009 cruise.

Dave Hennan was the same, as he was on in 2009 as well, in fact he has a really good singing voice that we got a chance to hear.

The South Side singers were fantastic, really enjoyed them.

Piano Player was great as well.

Jose and Patty were popular but not my cup of tea.

Magician and Hypnotist were also fantastic.

 

Wait staff in Aqua and Venation were pretty slow, it would be nice to have the coffee with the desert, food was good.

Service and food in Impressions Italian was really good and in Le Bistro the French Restaurant was fantastic.

 

Garden Cafe, (buffet) was very good, did many breakfasts here. They ran out of all but half and half in the Garden Cafe this morning and the 2% was gone a couple of days ago.

The floor in the Garden Cafe always seamed a bit slick due to grease, that was never a problem in 2009.

 

General condition of the ship was pretty pour, killed a cockroach on the wall in the bath room on day one, have not seen one on a ship ever before, never did tell the wife that one.

 

Carpet in my brother-in-laws room was filthy. Ours was slightly better.

Door hinges on the balcony are corroding away, not critical to the ship but don't think it would feel to good if one hit you, plus it looks pretty nasty dripping on the balcony.

Balcony Railing supports where they attach to the rails were rusting away as well, I have pictures of all of this and will post when I get home.

[tlm]

My group just disembarked this morning from the NCL Dawn. This was our first cruise with NCL. We cruise for the ports-best way to see several places in a week or 9 days in our case. First, let me state that our group was not informed of the engine problems before the trip and we booked in March 2010. Nor were we told before the ship sailed there were engine problems and we could cancel our trip. We are not upset about the missed ports so much as the way the entire debacle was handled and how rude NCL staff handled questions. And the ship was sailing around 11 knots most of the time. Elevators were out of order starting on the second day in our section of the ship - our cabins were on the 11th floor (four suites). The food is ordinary at best-opt for the chicken! The Lobster was the smallest portion I have ever had-more the size of jumbo shrimp (what they tout as jumbo shrimp is more like popcorn shrimp)! Room service is practically non-existent! The best food was the BBQ on the pool deck each day! There were small buckets sitting around in the public areas to catch dripping water(not sure where it was coming from). The balconies were not cleaned from the previous cruise and when we asked-still nothing was done! Housekeeping staff was very nice but rooms were not cleaned very well.Drinks are very high-priced (more so than other cruiselines), they remove juice and milk except for breakfast. The milk dispensers in the buffet were broken by the 5th day! Ship representatives were very rude, very defensive even for the most minor requests. We love St. Maarten and St. Thomas, but we booked this cruise for the ports-if we had wanted those ports we would have booked that cruise AGAIN! There were many senior cruisers on this ship and no assistance from crew members for many of them. When the engine was finally fixed and we doubt it was fixed on Wed as stated by NCL (if it was, why was the ship still limping so slowly until Friday?:confused:), there didn't seem to be anything to stabilize the ship the last two days-lots of seasickness. When they tell you the internet access is slow and sporadic-believe them! There is only 200 spots available at any given time for access. I had to use the internet in the middle of the night to get access. There is only one small pool on this ship! The entertainment on this ship is the best we have encountered;the cruise director and his staff do a GREAT job!:D Too bad that the rest of the staff is so subpar! We only met one waiter, in the Aqua dining room the last night, who really did his job with any enthusiasm - big tip for him. And the fire in the garbage room waking up everyone on the ship was about the last straw. If you are booked on this ship in the near future, take the opportunity to change your plans if possible. Most of the staff is undertrained, uncaring and unschooled in customer service. I actually felt sorry for those that did a great job. This ship looks good at first glance but it really needs to be drydocked and refurbished. It is the lemon of the cruise ships! Not really the cruise from hell, but there were a lot of things that didn't make it a great cruise!:( We will probably not book another NCL cruise - all our other cruises were on Carnival and we have never had a bad experience with them.

 

 

That's strange...we were in a suite on the 11th floor and found the elevator service fine. I also had no problem getting Internet access and I went on the internet every day.

 

And the service I received from the crew was outstanding...not sub par. Are you sure you were on same cruise as me?

[inlinesick]

yjust got off the dawn today, i admit ship need a refresh asap. What got me really pissed off is the letter we all received, it says : you were all free to choose to disambark the ship when we annouced the changes BULL**** they never, ever even getting close to mention something like that. Ill let them know tomorow, for those who's going on the 9 days cruise before the drydock.... GOOD LUCK

 

BTW someone mention about the fire in the middle of the night?

[ike97756]

just got off the dawn today, i admit ship need a refresh asap. What got me really pissed off is the letter we all received, it says : you were all free to choose to disambark the ship when we annouced the changes BULL**** the never, ever even getting close to mention something like that. Ill let them know tomorow, for those who's going on the 9 days cruise before the drydock.... GOOD LUCK

 

BTW someone mention about the fire in the middle of the night?

 

 

Going on the next 9 day and a bit concerned. Prepared to make the best of it but if our experiance comes close to yours, especially seeing as the condition of the ship is well understood by NCL and they are saying " future iteneries will go as scheduled", it certainly has the potential to be our last with NCL.

[swedish weave]

The balconies were not cleaned from the previous cruise and when we asked-still nothing was done!

 

Housekeeping staff was very nice but rooms were not cleaned very well.

 

Ship representatives were very rude, very defensive even for the most minor requests.

 

There were many senior cruisers on this ship and no assistance from crew members for many of them.

 

There is only one small pool on this ship!

 

Too bad that the rest of the staff is so subpar!

 

Most of the staff is undertrained, uncaring and unschooled in customer service.

 

-------- End of quote ---------------------------------------------------------------

 

Do you have anything to support these statements?? I have doubts about each of them and would like to know how you came to these conclusions. Also, did you report these problems to the senior officers to give them a chance to correct the problems

[swedish weave]

 

You question the legitimacy of the posters personal experience on the ship when you were not there? So I question your hazing of the individual.

 

 

Is asking for support of questionable statements hazing? If you can answer, please do so, otherwise leave the questions to the person to whom I directed.

[sdmike]

I'm am seriously curious about one statement. The poster said many of the seniors didn't get assistance. Assistance with what, and how would they know how many seniors received what kinds of assistance?

 

I'm certainly fine with the poster saying they were disappointed with the cruise and they service they received. That's their opinion and they are certainly entitled to it. What I have issues with are exaggerations or opinions presented as fact. Saying the staff is untrained or unschooled in customer service is flat out incorrect. Saying their experience with the staff they encountered didn't meet their expectations could certainly be true.

 

Sorry the cruise didn't work out for you. I tend to make the best of situations that I can't change. Different people handle disappointment different ways.

[oldguysandgalls]

We are very troubled to read some of the passenger's less than satisfactory experiences on the Dawn. However, what is somewhat puzzling is that there's a certain amount of inconsistency in the various posts.

 

Some passengers appear to have enjoyed their cruise while others appear to have been through quite an ordeal on the same cruise, and on the same ship, The Dawn.

 

What we need is fair and balanced passenger reviews, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly to give us all a better understanding of the problem(s). It's difficult to understand and appreciate the various "rants" without knowing the facts, especially since we were not on their cruise.

 

What we also need though is a response from NCL and on this Board, addressing each and every issue, how it was dealt with and compensated for.

 

We believe that NCL must address all these issues and thereby alleviating the anxiety of many future passengers booked on the Dawn.

[electricron]

We are very troubled to read some of the passenger's less than satisfactory experiences on the Dawn. However, what is somewhat puzzling is that there's a certain amount of inconsistency in the various posts.

Some passengers appear to have enjoyed their cruise while others appear to have been through quite an ordeal on the same cruise, and on the same ship, The Dawn.

What we also need though is a response from NCL and on this Board, addressing each and every issue, how it was dealt with and compensated for.

We believe that NCL must address all these issues and thereby alleviating the anxiety of many future passengers booked on the Dawn.

 

Why should NCL respond to anyone here? It's great when they do, but they aren't required to do so. How NCL compensates other cruisers isn't your business. Different people experience life differently, some see a glass half full while others see it half empty. That's why you read so many inconsistent reviews.

I've read somewhere years ago that passengers filling out the cruise line's questionnaire are twice more unfavorable if it rains or there is other bad weather on a cruise. Something completely out of the control of any human or cruise line.

The Dawn is having some engine problems which should be fixed at its next drydock. On its shorter 5 and 9 day cruises, it apparently made all the ports on its itinerary. But that wasn't true with its recent longer 10 and 11 day cruises.

It's limited on maximum speed, and couldn't go fast enough to make all the ports. I doubt we'll ever know the entire truth. I might not even have the facts straight, because what I've read is just information passed along on these boards.

Never-the-less, the Dawn drydock has been moved up and is scheduled for May, it had been scheduled for October. If you're future cruise is later, there's a great chance all the engines problems will be fixed by the time you sail. There's always the chance new engine problems could arise after the drydock as with any and every ship in the world at any time...