Dawn Bermuda - Aug 23-30

[willise]

Just got off the Dawn yesterday and wanted to write a quick review of my thoughts on the trip.

 

We have only been on four cruises - all to Bermuda. We have done the Spirit and three Dawn trips - so we know what to expect from this ship.

 

Overall, we had a great time. We had a balcony cabin and inside cabin for the kids forward Deck 9. Our cabin steward, Wilfred, was quite amazing. He remembered our names and was always around in case we needed anything (which we didn't, and if we did, we got it ourselves. I didn't feel it was his place to wait on me at my whim). Our kids loved him as well.

 

The food was good, not excellent, but better than average. We only ate at the Venetian and Aqua for the most part. We expected, and were not surprised, that the buffet was a zoo. Far too many people, taking far too much food and leaving it on the table to be thrown out. Just because it's free doesn't mean you take everything you see. It is a very wasteful place, IMO.

 

The entertainment, to my surprise, was not as good as I have seen on previous Dawn cruises - with one exception - Tim Kaminski. He was very entertaining, both in the theatre and outside. He sat with us around midnight on departure day at the Blue Lagoon and gave my 16 year old a comedic (but informative) chat on the dangers of always being on his cell phone, looking people in the eye when talking to them, etc. It seems to have reinforced what we have been telling him as well, so that was a good thing, and we all laughed quite a lot. His girlfriend is from Newfoundland Canada, which is where my wife and I grew up and lived until our 30's. My wife had many cruisers approach her after Tim's show and ask her if she was a good witch or bad witch LOL. Those of you on the cruise know what I'm talking about.

 

The singers and dancers were not that great though. I really enjoyed the last three Dawn cruises and the entertainment but this was clearly subpar IMO. I've played in bands all my life and the singers voices clearly needed some vocal compression - the high belting notes were far too piercing, and the sound was far too loud for me.

 

The Cruise Director, Matt, was not very good. Granted, I do not have a lot to compare him to, as all of our cruises had Paul Scally as CD. Paul was funny, entertaining, visible, always shaking hands and meeting people. Matt was none of these. I never saw Matt once, unless he was on stage. Maybe Paul was an exception, but that is all I have to compare.

 

Bermuda was, as usual, fantastic. We did have a rather ignorant female bus driver once, and I noticed the same bus driver yelling at a passenger in a wheelchair. Another driver had to leave his bus and intervene. She was just rude and obviously did not like tourists. I could hear her muttering curse words about tourists under her breath as we drove along. However, all other bus drivers and ferry staff were exceptionally friendly and helpful - she was just an exception.

 

Sommerset Watersports was the highlight of our trip - jetski tour was fantastic and I would recommend it to anyone!!

 

The Dawn staff was very friendly and professional at all times. They really went out of their way to make everyone feel great. 95% of the passengers were great too. I did witness a heated argument on the promenade between a man and woman, cursing quite loudly that ended in him threatening to "throw her off the *&*^^ ship". I saw another couple of young men arguing with security over being cut off from the bars and alcohol. Some people believe the ship is theirs and theirs only and make a point of telling you that :rolleyes: but thankfully, they were just a tiny percentage.

 

We are done with the Bermuda cruise for a few years now. We did buy a rewards certificate and plan on doing something different next year. We love the NCL cruises, the Dawn, and the Bermuda runs, but it is time for a change now.

 

I would highly recommend the Boston-Bermuda cruise to anyone!

[Sauer-kraut]

Thanks for taking the time to post your thoughts. Sorry to hear that the entertainment wasn't up to par, that is a shame.

 

Have fun looking at where to go next! :D

[eiffeltower07]

The entertainment, to my surprise, was not as good as I have seen on previous Dawn cruises - with one exception - Tim Kaminski. He was very entertaining, both in the theatre and outside.

 

We loved Tim on our first Sky cruise! I hope he is still on the Dawn this November.

[mosiegirl]

We were on this cruise also.. Aug 23 - 30 .. I disagree with a couple of statements you made.. this was our frist NCL cruise and our 5th in total.. 4 with Carnival. We totally disliked the food on NCL.. its basic cafeteria style food, bland, and not a lot of common comfort or familiar foods.. there was a lot of Indian, Thai and other such foods. The wings in the Blue Lagoon were good.. and the Tempura mushrooms offered in the main diningrooms on the last night was good.. but that was about it. The entertainment was great where the Shows were concerned.. we liked the dancers a lot.. and Tim K was awesomely funny as always. There was also Alex & Sally who were WONDERFUL .. lots of talent there, and a great Show.

[macdays1]

How much do you pay for that certificate? Is it a deposit for one person? I've been on 8 cruises with NCL, but I've never purchased one before. My 9th one is coming up on Oct. 25 to Bermuda.

[willise]

How much do you pay for that certificate? Is it a deposit for one person? I've been on 8 cruises with NCL, but I've never purchased one before. My 9th one is coming up on Oct. 25 to Bermuda.

 

You can buy up to four certificates, each one costs $250.

 

For each certificate, they credit your account $100, so you really only pay $150. Then when you book your next cruise, you can use the reward certificate of $250 to book the room. Normally you need to put a deposit of $250 for each person, but with the certificate, you only need it to book the room.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for sharing your comments! Welcome home.

[extremez]

We were on this cruise also. There was a total of 7 of us. I might take the time to write a lengthy review but overall it was a fairly straight forward enjoyable cruise. If you were on the port side of deck 9 you may recall the little blonde boy that was running up and down the hall wanting to be chased. Yup that was us. Apologies if he was too much. He's a ball of never-ending energy.

 

Food was pretty good. We don't spend the money on the pay restaurants. And with 7 that will get pricey quick. We stopped doing that when the Italian restaurant became pay. We stuck to the Venetian for breakfast and Aqua for dinner mainly with a couple stops at the buffet and Blue Lagoon. Wings are always decent at BL. Seems like they always drizzle the sauce over though instead of soaking them in the sauce. Service there isn't exactly top notch either. Getting certain things at different times from everyone else. Buffet food is like main dining room food that sat a little too long.

 

Entertainment was ok. The two gymnasts were really good. Singers and dancers were fine. My wife refers to them as the T&A show. Tim K was good. Enjoyed his 3:00 show more than the night show. I just felt that show was mainly audience members running his idea. But it's comical either way when folks are up on stage so I give them most of the credit.

 

Bermuda was better this time around. We purchase the 2 day bus/ferry pass and go around on our own. Other than the 1st day being a little rainy the rest was great. 1st day was Dockyard walking, 2nd was beach day visiting Horseshoe and walking all the way up to Warwick with a stop at Jobsons Cove. 3rd day was St Georges walking to the churches and over to Tobacco Bay with a bus ride over to Hamilton with a few shop stops. Then to the ferry.

 

Any word on what happened the 2nd night with the ship? My wife was really worried for a bit thinking we were going to be stranded for a couple days.

 

This was our 1st time out of Boston. Wasn't really impressed with security and customs coming back though. We were off the ship and out of the terminal in minutes which is great but for screening/safety purposes that's a little scary. You could take ANYTHING off that ship and no one would know. A lot different than NYC customs.

 

Looks like I wrote my review in your review.

[mosiegirl]

We were on this cruise also. There was a total of 7 of us.

Any word on what happened the 2nd night with the ship? My wife was really worried for a bit thinking we were going to be stranded for a couple days.

 

.

 

omg yes.. I remember that night.. we were in the Stardust watching the show when the lights flickered and the emergency generator lights kicked in.. seemed odd, suddenly the lighting on the stage looked "different".. the dancers and singers were great they kept right on going.. then when the show was over and we were walking in the hallway was when we heard the captains announcement that the electrical power(??) was out, the ship had no A/C and was now "drifting" at sea.. it didn't help when he said we were ok, but in the middle of the ocean.. (ACK!!!!) and that his voice seemed very wavering.. his voice seemed to quiver when he talked.. and his voice did NOT give us any sense of security that we were going to be "ok".. omg! scared the crap out of us.. good thing it was all resolved in about 1-2 hrs I think, if I remember right..

[extremez]

Yeah we were in the Stardust also when it happened. My wife was walking around with our 3 year old. I noticed the flicker also. At 1st I was like hmmm. Then after 1 minute or so I was like where's all the flashy stage color lighting? Somethings not right. Then as soon as the show ended my wife was right behind us and whispered "The ship's dead, we're not moving"

 

yeah, we're 4?? miles form land and drifting, woohoo.

[Chesneygirl]

Yeah we were in the Stardust also when it happened. My wife was walking around with our 3 year old. I noticed the flicker also. At 1st I was like hmmm. Then after 1 minute or so I was like where's all the flashy stage color lighting? Somethings not right. Then as soon as the show ended my wife was right behind us and whispered "The ship's dead, we're not moving"

 

yeah, we're 4?? miles form land and drifting, woohoo.

 

omg yes.. I remember that night.. we were in the Stardust watching the show when the lights flickered and the emergency generator lights kicked in.. seemed odd, suddenly the lighting on the stage looked "different".. the dancers and singers were great they kept right on going.. then when the show was over and we were walking in the hallway was when we heard the captains announcement that the electrical power(??) was out, the ship had no A/C and was now "drifting" at sea.. it didn't help when he said we were ok, but in the middle of the ocean.. (ACK!!!!) and that his voice seemed very wavering.. his voice seemed to quiver when he talked.. and his voice did NOT give us any sense of security that we were going to be "ok".. omg! scared the crap out of us.. good thing it was all resolved in about 1-2 hrs I think, if I remember right..

 

There's a small mention of the incident already listed on the Wikipedia website :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_Dawn

 

2013 Power Outage

On August 24, 2013, Norwegian Dawn lost power in the evening. Lighting was restored almost immediately, but the Dawn floated for nearly two hours in the Atlantic. After fixing the issue, evening events went on as planned and the Dan reached Bermuda the next morning at her scheduled time.

[lanceholt]

Does anyone know what happened re the power outage, what caused it?

[macdays1]

Willise, thank you so much for answering my questions. I understand completely now.