Dawn 2 July 2023 Copenhagen embarkation letter

[insidecabin]

Home now so maybe the final update cruise disembarked 12 July .

Long lines at the CS desk and OBC desk the last couple of days.

There were definitively a few with account closure issues, ours was fine.

 

We did have a last minute panic to burn the rest of our $300 non refundable OBC as the shops are shut last day and because the missed port and  early arrival at 6pm the shops were shutting around 4pm rather than our planed evening shop. 

 

As reported before there had been a gesture of $100 per cabin OBC(non refundable).

 

In addition $40pp refundable OBC appeared on the account, they said port charges. 

 

At some point while we were out on the last day a new letter to the cabin upped the compensation/refund for the failure to provide the cruise booked.

 

This is in the form of a 25% discount coupon on a future cruise.

Although the letter said it would be on the account by(I think) 24th July it was on our account later the evening we got home(12th July),  along with our CN(they said up to 72hours)

 

For many that travelled a long way and have limited vacation time this will be a lost opportunity and the 25% can never make up for that .

 

For us this is pretty generous as the cruise was a last minute cheapy and after netting off OBC the base fare was around £200pp before tax and service.

 

A cruise we are looking,  at its current price, the 25% discount will cover most of that £200.

 

 

 

[Benjellos]

We just got back from this cruise on the Dawn.  3 tender stops cancelled.  1 tender stop when we booked.  We got the same letter when we boarded.  We are not happy missing out on 3 stops due to bad weather and unable to tender.  I don't agree on the practice of being able to change tender information last minute.  To me as a consumer, it's classic bait and switch.  I believe NCL knows in advance where they can dock and tender.  I think they are not being honest and their $100 OBC and 25% future cruise is terrible.  Knowing they can change this information does not want me to cruise with them in the future.

[cmph]

Yikes, thanks for posting the final updates. We were on the Baltic that disembarked on July 2nd, and some of the staff we talked to were excited about your (planned) itinerary. We had mentioned that we picked the Baltic for the itinerary and were really loving it, and it was suggested we try this one next. You're right, it would be pretty awful to fly all the way there from the west coast of the US and miss so much. 

[cfelbab]

2 hours ago, cmph said:

Yikes, thanks for posting the final updates. We were on the Baltic that disembarked on July 2nd, and some of the staff we talked to were excited about your (planned) itinerary. We had mentioned that we picked the Baltic for the itinerary and were really loving it, and it was suggested we try this one next. You're right, it would be pretty awful to fly all the way there from the west coast of the US and miss so much. 

I, too, was on the Baltic cruise that disembarked right before this ill fated journey. Our cruise was nearly perfect. The weather for almost the entire cruise was warm and sunny. We did not see a drop of rain until we were in Germany and even that was short lived. When we departed the boat in Copenhagen there was rain the last day as we wandered around town before flying home the next day. I was quite happy with the Dawn - decent service, good entertainment - especially the lady who sang with the piano guy in the Atrium multiple nights. The party band was also pretty good. Food was typical for NCL - not five star but certainly good. Having done a Baltic cruise about five years earlier I was thinking I would miss the Russia port but the "new" ports like Visby were quite interesting. I'm sorry that the next journey did not inherit our good fortune.

[cmph]

1 hour ago, cfelbab said:

I, too, was on the Baltic cruise that disembarked right before this ill fated journey. Our cruise was nearly perfect. The weather for almost the entire cruise was warm and sunny. We did not see a drop of rain until we were in Germany and even that was short lived. When we departed the boat in Copenhagen there was rain the last day as we wandered around town before flying home the next day. I was quite happy with the Dawn - decent service, good entertainment - especially the lady who sang with the piano guy in the Atrium multiple nights. The party band was also pretty good. Food was typical for NCL - not five star but certainly good. Having done a Baltic cruise about five years earlier I was thinking I would miss the Russia port but the "new" ports like Visby were quite interesting. I'm sorry that the next journey did not inherit our good fortune.

I agree with had wonderful luck, especially compared to the July 2nd cruise! We absolutely loved the itinerary. We don't know what we missed with St. Petersburg, since we've never been there, but we thought Visby was a very good stop (have the most gorgeous photos from the ruins) and even liked Hamina, which I guess was the oddest of them all. I think it helped that the ports were so easy - no tenders involved, and a short walk off the ship to the sites for a good number of them. The crew we chatted with gave us the impression that this July 2nd itinerary would also be like our Baltic - lots of interesting little ports, easily accessed. Clearly not how that worked out, though. Guess we'll cross that itinerary off the list of potential NCL cruises, just like the Iceland ones that never seems to get to their ports!

[insidecabin]

11 hours ago, Benjellos said:

We just got back from this cruise on the Dawn.  3 tender stops cancelled.  1 tender stop when we booked.  We got the same letter when we boarded.  We are not happy missing out on 3 stops due to bad weather and unable to tender.  I don't agree on the practice of being able to change tender information last minute.  To me as a consumer, it's classic bait and switch.  I believe NCL knows in advance where they can dock and tender.  I think they are not being honest and their $100 OBC and 25% future cruise is terrible.  Knowing they can change this information does not want me to cruise with them in the future.

 

They knew(should have know) and failed to notify in advance as people could cancel for full refund.

 

Dun Laoghaire has no berth.

 

I am pretty sure they knew that MSC had the berth in Kirkwall.

 

Stornaway berth is limited to 156m

(New berth under construction)

 

Falmouth has a 240m berth. 8m draft

Dawn is too big, longer and deeper

 

Last time a checked NCL still not updated future cruise itinerary.

 

Is there no one at NCL that can join the dots.

 

We were on the round Ireland on the Star in May they got the tenders for that one right.

 

Good thing is these cruise go really cheap if you can cruise in an inside or OV.

(Book UK prices, the US  don't drop as much)

 

There are some Gem cruises that are decent rates in the med end Aug-Sept.