Dawn Review 1/12/14 - First Time with NCL

[newmexicoNita]

Hi Aimathy,

 

Thank you for posting your review with the great pictures.

 

Sorry that the dining hours were crowded with long waits. We did experience this on one cruise, so we chose to eat at the buffet, rather than face a wait. That worked out well, and we arrived at the show with some time to spare.

 

Sometimes when cruising with kids, the buffet or Blue Lagoon are quicker options.

 

Fortunately last April, we were in a suite so our concierge, Virginia, was able to make reservations at the MDR for us.

 

I completely agree: I too enjoyed the review though it was a little too long for me. Thanks anyway OP. I will say though, I don't know why you think NCL did something just to encourage specialty dining. We all know what works for one, doesn't always work for another. That is why we have so many cruise line choices.

[aimathy]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you liked the review. I know the reviews (especially ones with pictures!) always help me in my planning, and let me get a chance to "see" the whole experience before I go. Hopefully it will help some of you!

 

Just to clear the record, we really were only half-kidding about them doing something "sinister" (not my words!) regarding the long waits and making people want to do specialty dining because of them. When you're waiting over an hour, you have a lot to talk about! Haha.

 

I don't think it's on purpose at all. I think it may have been a fluke that we had this experience, based on demographics of the crowd, preferences and who knows, maybe even crew illness or something that we didn't know about but affected things behind the scenes. I'm not sure why, or how....but I do know that these are kinks they should work out for the weeks it DOES happen. Because honestly, having it be that way every night for a week long cruise is just unfair for all the paying customers that particular week.

 

I hope those of you taking a cruise soon will have an awesome time and make great memories. :)

[che5904]

Thanks everyone. I'm glad you liked the review. I know the reviews (especially ones with pictures!) always help me in my planning, and let me get a chance to "see" the whole experience before I go. Hopefully it will help some of you!

 

Just to clear the record, we really were only half-kidding about them doing something "sinister" (not my words!) regarding the long waits and making people want to do specialty dining because of them. When you're waiting over an hour, you have a lot to talk about! Haha.

I don't think it's on purpose at all. I think it may have been a fluke that we had this experience, based on demographics of the crowd, preferences and who knows, maybe even crew illness or something that we didn't know about but affected things behind the scenes. I'm not sure why, or how....but I do know that these are kinks they should work out for the weeks it DOES happen. Because honestly, having it be that way every night for a week long cruise is just unfair for all the paying customers that particular week.

 

I hope those of you taking a cruise soon will have an awesome time and make great memories. :)

 

Thanks for clearing that up. Again it's really too bad that you didn't experience what most do when sailing NCL. But I can see how that would leave not such a good impression of freestyle. But really, you appear to be the average cruiser (non-suite status) and if everyone experienced this NCL certainly wouldn't be able to stay with freestyle dining because they would lose their passengers pretty quickly.

 

I do know the frustration (minus the hungry kids), that is exactly what we experienced on Carnival's MTD. But when reading about MTD on the Carnival boards, we had a heads up this could happen depending on the demographics of the ship, so we were prepared. Only Carnival just gave us beepers one night (no free drink), otherwise we had to just stand in line the entire time.

[Eeyoregon]

So I'm going to try to mix some of the bad with the good. It makes it more palatable when something not as great is followed by something wonderful, right?

 

The room. Here's where I know people will disagree. This is just my lowly opinion. I know that many of you get awesome amazing rooms (I saw them with my own eyes as I passed open doors around the ship). I am very certain that you will say "I have NEVER had that problem on NCL!". Well, you're right...because you probably never had a two person inside room on NCL! :D Since my very wonderful, amazing parent paid for my daughter and I to join them on this trip, we had an inside room. I have been on many cruises and have only had a balcony once, on my honeymoon. I know my way around an inside stateroom! And this is another area that I felt like NCL really paled in comparison to comparable rooms on other cruise lines.

 

Our room felt very worn and very old. Was it horrific or unlivable? Of course not. Do they update rooms often on most ships? No. I know that. But this room just felt like they could care less if your room was nice or not. I know we were low men on the totem pole....but really, it was hard not to notice how used the rooms really felt. I don't want to drone on about what was wrong, but the quick list would be hairs in the shower, on vanity and on floor upon arrival; chipped vanity and shower, crusted dirt/debris all around base of shower frame, chipped wood on desk, streaks of dried crusty dirt on desk, taped together remote, stained sheets, tv that faced the floor instead of forward, missing hooks on wall, stained toilet seat.

 

I know, I know. Impossible right? It's not. I have pictures for all of these things, but don't think that posting 15 or more pictures of this will make the point any clearer. I'll post a few so you know I'm not making this up, but long story short, this room just felt like an afterthought. One day I'll make it to the big leagues and get the robes and butler and balcony....but in the meantime, it doesn't feel very good to hand over your hard earned money and then feel like you got the bottom of the barrel. As I said before, we've sailed in very similar rooms on other ships and did not have this problem. I know (again) that the NCL purists will jump in and say "oh get over a few hairs and some stains"....but really, if this were YOUR room for the week, would you think it was great? Probably not. And, yes, it could've been worse. I get that and we slept well, got showered and changed in our rooms with no issue, so overall, it was ok. Here are some of the pictures:

 

 

 

 

 

I think you get the point! Our room attendant was good, not great. He smiled and said hello when we saw him, but that was about it. My sister's attendant was extremely nice and always went out of her way to say hello to the girls and ask how their day went. Most of the rooms attendants in the hallways were very pleasant and friendly.

 

My parents had a balcony. Balconies are definitely lovely! It was fun to go in and watch the world go by and we especially loved it in the ports, to watch people getting back on the ship. Another downside for all of us non-smokers, was that you can smoke on the balconies still and most of the time you were smelling smoke from someone else. Again, that doesn't bother some people and some are smokers themselves and love that as a perk....but it wasn't our cup of tea, as they say.

 

Oh my. I am so sorry about your room. I 100% think that you need to forward those photos to NCL. Without a doubt, your room was NOT acceptable. Period. Inside or suite, that is NOT an acceptable product for ANY line...those pictures make the Carnival cabins that I've been in look like the Tag Mahal!! What cabin number were you in?

 

Thank you very much for taking the time to write such an honest review. I appreciate it. I sail the Dawn in 70 days.

 

Gina

[jlasda]

OP, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this thread of your experience on the Dawn recently and appreciate your sharing. DH and I are also trying 'something new', first timers with NCL in a months time, though no kiddies to worry about (40-50s age group). Wasn't at all sure about the ports and which excursions to take, but your post of your excursions reminded me on what I'd researched last month about Roatan French Key - really does look great. Also the cave tubing in Belize. We are higher on the 'totem pole' regarding accommodation (so hopefully won't see them sheets anytime soon - they need to be incinerated!). Glad you all still had a great cruise and again thanks for the pics and reviews, very helpful and informative. ;)

[aimathy]

Gina, we were in 9723. I hope you have a wonderful time! Now that you have a heads up, I'd say that you'll know what to look for, and now I know that I also should have complained early on. We still had a good time though, so don't worry!

 

jlasda - I hope you have a wonderful time too! There are some great excursions that you can take on this itinerary. :)

[epwv82]

Aimathy, I read your review and was thinking many of the same things the whole time! We don't have ids, so it was just my fiance and I. We sailed from Jan. 18-26. He's never cruised, and I've cruised twice with Royal Caribbean. I really missed the main dining room aspect of RC. I like sitting in the same spot, with the same people and especially the same wait staff. The wait staff on NCL just seemed disinterested in us. We ate in the Ventian twive, with a wait one night, and Aqua one night, with a short wait, and after that we at at either the buffet or specialty dining. Cagney's was GREAT! Best filet Mignon I've ever had.

We also went to Maya Chan and I absolutely loved it. The food was phenomenal, and Mark and Jane were great hosts. I couldn't have asked for a better day (except for the weather).

I, as well, decided by the end of the cruise that I would be sticking to what I know and like, and go with RC when we cruise again.

[gnvdude]

Who did you book with in little French key?

 

Did you book in advance or when you arrived?

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[aimathy]

Epwv- I agree with you. Again, it wasnt bad, I've jut had better experiences with other lines. Wasn't Maya Chan awesome? I'm so glad we went!

[aimathy]

Gnvdude- we booked in advance, directly on their website. They are quick to respond and it was very easy. You will love it!!

[KCinBAMA]

mpcaruth- I remember your family and it was fun to see us in your second picture. :) We had a great time on that excursion. I hope you did too!

 

KCinBama - Thanks! I'm glad you can post them for everyone. That is perfect. I will send them out, hopefully by the end of this week. Thank you!

 

 

Thanks aimathy. Posted in a new thread.