Lots of questions about the Dream...

[schinz]

My W and I have been on 13 cruises. The last three have been on Celebrity. One Royal Carribean before that and then 9 prior Carnival Cruises. We are 39 and 42 years old. We have enjoyed all the cruises but have especially enjoyed the Celebrity Transatlantic last year on the Galaxy for 14 days. We are considering the Dream Transatlantic this year but have a few concerns. First, and foremost, there appears to be a considerable amount of negative reviews on this ship for various reasons. We don't actually mind a smaller ship, as long as it is in good condition. We have read that the freestyle cruise experience has diminished the level of service provided on board due to the lack of a "set" dining service crew. Is this true? We have also heard that it is expected to tip out of pocket in the various dining rooms you choose to dine at, in addition to the tips that are automatically charged to the card? We have heard that there are often long lines at the dining rooms. We have heard that the Dream has a very mediocre "buffet" casual eating area on deck near the pool, is this the case? Does the Dream have an internet package? <Like use all you want for a certain price?> Is there an internet room or does your own laptop work on board in the cabin? In certain areas? I guess I am looking for advice from people who have sailed NCL and the Dream and hopefully some people who have also sailed Celebrity/Galaxy...Thanks a whole bunch to anyone who can help!!

[Zeno]

I have not been on the Dream but I have been on 3 NCL cruises.

1. Before I went on my NCL cruises I was on 3 "traditional" cruises. I have found the service overall on NCL to be slightly better than on the traditional cruises.

2. You will be charged a $10 pp per day service charge. You will NOT be expected to tip ANYONE except room service in addition to this. On our last cruise we gave our cabin steward a small 'extra' amount because he had done a lot of extra things for us. He seemed genuinely surprised and pleased and was DEFINTELY not expecting a tip.

3. On all 3 of our NCL cruises an internet package was available

 

I hope someone can give you some "Dream specific" comments.

[Ocean Spirit]

I haven't been on the Dream, but have sailed on NCL. There can be long lines for dinner, the buffet isn't "out-standing" and since you don't have the same waiter each evening.... it is a "different" experience from RCCL etc. I use the word different because it doesn't state a positive or negative. I loved the traditional dining but I also like the Freestyle!

 

I believe that if you understand "free-style" it allows you to have a good experience. The advantage to Free-Style for us is "going to eat when YOU want to, not when not when the clock strikes 6"

 

Here are a few things that made our dining with NCL go well. We went early to dinner and never had to wait and then went directly to the show. We went to the manager of the dining room and asked for a "Experience & excellent waiter" ... If you like the waiter, ask him/her what dining room they are working for the following evening. (The waiters do work different nights in the other main dining room)

 

As far as tipping.... it has been an endless discussion with NCL. Yes you pay $10 pp per day. I have traveled with folks that never tipped at all, called the $10 was for the tips. We were tipping and noticed no one else was! Have a great time whatever ship you choose.

 

If you want grand service, a traditional cruise line might be better for you. NCL's service wasn't as good in my opinion but the service wasn't bad, just had to get use to a "New" dining experience. We love the Freestyle and planning our next trip with NCL.

[goldmom]

Although we haven't sailed on the Dream, we have sailed with NCL. For the most part if you eat either early or later there isn't usually a line in the dining room. We were recently on the Celebrity Constellation and have found that service on NCL is either equal to or above what we experienced on the Constellation. In addition, if you think that you would miss having the same waiter every night you can speak with the Maitre'D and request a particular waiter's station every night.

 

Hope someone else can be more Dream specific for you.

[packercruising]

How does the Dream stay alfloat if no one cruises on her?:confused: :rolleyes:

 

We haven't been on the Dream either but like NCL a lot.

 

I think you either have to not be breathing or have had a bad experience (it can happen) to not like NCL.

 

I thought what Merg55 said about eating when You want to was pretty funny because we were just on Costa and our seating time was 5:45. I was always checking the watch around supper time. If you were more than 15 minutes late you were supposed to check in with the Maitdre'D.

At least he was always available. On most of our other cruise we never saw hm more than once.:D

 

Although we haven't sailed on the Dream, we have sailed with NCL. For the most part if you eat either early or later there isn't usually a line in the dining room. We were recently on the Celebrity Constellation and have found that service on NCL is either equal to or above what we experienced on the Constellation. In addition, if you think that you would miss having the same waiter every night you can speak with the Maitre'D and request a particular waiter's station every night.

 

Hope someone else can be more Dream specific for you.

[NJGRANNY]

Haven't been on the Dream either, but will be in six weeks.!!!!!! Yea!!!!!!!!!

 

We love the freestyle cruising. All of our first cruises were "traditional" then my daughter and I went on an NCL cruise last July. Since then, my husband and I have been on 3 Norwegian cruises and have 2 more coming up. So - you can see we like Norwegian. We find the freestyle dining very relaxing.

 

The tips - I believe most people tip a little extra in the speciality restaurants, and we tipped our room steward extra because she was very helpful and also found my lost diamond ring in our cabin.

 

By the way, I've been on Galaxy twice and love that ship. She holds a special place in my heart.

[welove2cruise*]

We have sailed both the Dream and the Galaxy. We did the 11-night New England cruise on the Galaxy in 2002, and a 7-night last Easter out of New Orleans on the Dream.

 

We sail this Saturday on NCL's Majesty - this will be our 16th cruise on 5 different cruise lines.

 

We personally love NCL. We did have wait times sometimes for dinner as we ate at the most popular time of the evening, but it was never more than 20 minutes or so. The buffet area was the worst, however. It was extremely small and really not much available space for seating either. This did not hamper our vacation, however. Tips are not in addition to those added by NCL per day - unless you feel some need to offer someone an "above and beyond" reward. The Dream also had quite a bit of rocking - which may have been corrected during the drydock that she underwent the week after we disembarked.

 

The Galaxy was definately a very older crowd - but that may be due to the longer itinerary. The dining room experienced a very loud vibration occasionally. Otherwise, food quality (which we felt was outstanding on the Celebrity Century a few years earlier) was very comparable to NCL.

 

The fact that we sail again on NCL for the third time and have never experienced one of the newer NCL ships says something in itself. I believe if you are a traditionalist - and find it important to get to know your waiters and like to have a schedule to follow for when to eat, then you should probably stick with Celebrity. Otherwise, give NCL a try. You might just find like we did - that you would rather not cruise any other way.

[cruiser-dude]

My W and I have been on 13 cruises. The last three have been on Celebrity. One Royal Carribean before that and then 9 prior Carnival Cruises. We are 39 and 42 years old. We have enjoyed all the cruises but have especially enjoyed the Celebrity Transatlantic last year on the Galaxy for 14 days. We are considering the Dream Transatlantic this year but have a few concerns. First, and foremost, there appears to be a considerable amount of negative reviews on this ship for various reasons. We don't actually mind a smaller ship, as long as it is in good condition. We have read that the freestyle cruise experience has diminished the level of service provided on board due to the lack of a "set" dining service crew. Is this true? We have also heard that it is expected to tip out of pocket in the various dining rooms you choose to dine at, in addition to the tips that are automatically charged to the card? We have heard that there are often long lines at the dining rooms. We have heard that the Dream has a very mediocre "buffet" casual eating area on deck near the pool, is this the case? Does the Dream have an internet package? <Like use all you want for a certain price?> Is there an internet room or does your own laptop work on board in the cabin? In certain areas? I guess I am looking for advice from people who have sailed NCL and the Dream and hopefully some people who have also sailed Celebrity/Galaxy...Thanks a whole bunch to anyone who can help!!

Since our Thanksgiving 2005 cruise, there have been nothing but rave reviews of this ship, week after week. She is smaller & not new but so what? I have seen several posters begin by saying "there have been several bad reviews...". There have been consistent great reviews for 6 months, now...

This is not a transatlantic review, but the only difference will be the ports of call. Here's ours: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=260444

[Suthunman]

I cruised on the Dream 2 weeks ago. I can't make any comparisons because it was my first cruise. I can tell you I was surprised at what good shape the ship was in, considering its age. The only thing I noticed was a little wear on some of the upholstery.

Most of the people working on the ship have great attitudes and it shows in the service they provided. As for food, I thought the dining room food was particularly good but my wife didn't care for most it. We always had breakfast outside by the pool where they have the omelet and waffle stations, it was very good. The ship was at full capacity since it was spring break. We had to wait to be seated at dinner 4 times. The longest was around 20 minutes and the others from 5 to 10 minutes. I think I would have spent more time than that waiting for a set time to arrive with the traditional dining.

I tipped for room service and tipped the cabin stewards the night before the end of the cruise because they had been so nice and friendly and took care of everything so well. The cabin stewards seemed surprised that we tipped them, the woman hugged my wife and me and the man shook our hands, both of them thanked us repeatedly.

When planning my cruise, I read many reviews. It appeared to me that some of the people that were longtime tradtional cruisers did not care for the freestyle cruising. I chose Norwegian because of the freestyle cruising. When I'm on vacation I don't want to HAVE to be anywhere at a certain time. I want to do it my way. Freestyle allowed me to do that. I went to relax and that's exactly what I did. I started every morning having coffee on the balcony with my wife and watching the water go by, it was one of my favorite things to do on the cruise. When I was out there every morning, I could have cared less about the concerns I had had before booking the cruise.

I hope this helps in some way.

[schinz]

Thanks so much to all those who responded. There has been a lot of good information. My W and I are going over our options and will defintely strongly consider the Dream based on the comments we have heard here. Thanks again!!

[HLR]

Hi there!

 

I sailed on the NCL Dream March 11th, 2006.

 

We preffered the Terraces for dinner and never head to wait for a table as a party of two. We often saw a line for the Four Seasons, but at night unless you are at a large table in the center of the room it is too, too dark! The tables for two near the windows...Dark!

 

I found the food a bit inconsistent...and sometimes what was on the menu was not what arrived. In the Sun Terraces Italian resturant the first night I ordered the Pasta of the day which the waiter said had a "Pesto Sauce". There was no pesto...it was a plain cream sauce. We ordered Blackberry Ice Cream but it arrived strawberry. When we asked about this the waitress said "Oh, we don't have Blackberry Ice Cream". We didn't question, but why is it on the menu and why when we ordered it didn't she say it's not Blackberry? Hmm???

 

There WERE some outstanding items. The oxtail Stew in the main dining room on Caribbean night...who'd have thunk it! I had a second entree of it and skipped the dessert.

 

Many of the appetizers were very good and I started a strategy of ordering only appetizers to make a meal. Memorable...Tuna Tartare, Asian fried dumplings, and a salad of endive, orange and beets...I had two of those!

 

Though the buffet in the Sports Bar was "okay" there was always an extra buffet table set up near the windows at lunch with Indian Vegetarian entres. Once I found this...I ate lunch there every day. I found the cappucino at dinner very good....the regular coffee was much better than I expected from reading these boards.

 

The entertainers were very good...though I thought there was a total lack of production value. There was no scenery...lighting effects...just some fog...

 

The Dream Orchestra was VERY good! We enjoyed dancing on the nights when there was ballroom, though it just wasn't enough!

 

Service on a whole was very good...and there was no extra tipping expected of us.

 

Any more questions? Drop me a thread!

 

Howard

[professional student]

My W and I have been on 13 cruises. The last three have been on Celebrity. One Royal Carribean before that and then 9 prior Carnival Cruises. We are 39 and 42 years old. We have enjoyed all the cruises but have especially enjoyed the Celebrity Transatlantic last year on the Galaxy for 14 days. We are considering the Dream Transatlantic this year but have a few concerns. First, and foremost, there appears to be a considerable amount of negative reviews on this ship for various reasons. We don't actually mind a smaller ship, as long as it is in good condition. We have read that the freestyle cruise experience has diminished the level of service provided on board due to the lack of a "set" dining service crew. Is this true? We have also heard that it is expected to tip out of pocket in the various dining rooms you choose to dine at, in addition to the tips that are automatically charged to the card? We have heard that there are often long lines at the dining rooms. We have heard that the Dream has a very mediocre "buffet" casual eating area on deck near the pool, is this the case? Does the Dream have an internet package? <Like use all you want for a certain price?> Is there an internet room or does your own laptop work on board in the cabin? In certain areas? I guess I am looking for advice from people who have sailed NCL and the Dream and hopefully some people who have also sailed Celebrity/Galaxy...Thanks a whole bunch to anyone who can help!!

 

You can do a search in the upper right hand, just type in Dream. It will take you to the posts about that specific ship. We are sailing on the Dream 4/15. I was on the Norway about 5 yrs ago, it was also an "older" ship, but it was beautiful! The service was excellent! My 80 yr old grandmother went with us, and she was the life of the party! :D She was in her motorized wheelchair, and everyone onboard went out of their way to do anything they could for her. I've read a few negatives about the ship, but there are so many more positive reviews about her. Hope this helps!