Dawn review 5/13-5/20

[Luv4dacruise]

To start this off, i have been very busy with work trying to get everything back to normal. Not always the easiest task when going back to "reality" mode from "vacation" mode, but am finally there.

 

My Mother (53), Father (58), Niece (6) and I (25) were all on this cruise. We live about 30 minutes north of Boston. This was my Nieces first cruise, my 17th, Mom and Dads 22nd. Have been on Carnival, Costa, Celebrity, Norwegian and RCI.

 

Drove down the day beforehand and stayed at the Residence Inn in Stamford Connecticut as we do with any NY/Bayonne cruise that we go on. Just makes it easier embarkation day with only a 30-40 minute drive to the pier.

 

We had booked 2 cabins for the 3 of us, Mom is handicapped and uses a scooter, Norwegian had some rediculous rule that you can only book 2 people into a handicapped room now (even though their are in fact 4 berths in the rooms). Took me calling my TA for almost 2 months straight trying to get 1 handicapped cabin for Mom because there are so few on cruise ships and they sell quick. After we get the 1 handicapped cabin, guess what we got for the second cabin, what do ya know, a second handicapped cabin. Go Norwegian!

 

Got up on Embarkation day, had a nice continental breakfast, packed up the car and we were on our way. Arrived at the pier about 10:30 and were pleasantly surprised to see the Freedom of the Seas was in, while it was a pretty ship, i dont see all the hype about it. The terminal at that time was a ghost town, was the perfect time to arrive. Went and sat down and waited to be called, when called, we went up checked in and were on the ship in about an hour and a half, took longer than it should have, but who cares, i was on vacation at that point.

 

Went and dropped off our carry-ons at our rooms, we had rooms 8120 and 8122, rooms were pleasent and clean. Went to adjust the AC in my room because it was a bit warm, and lets just say, i dealt with the warmth the entire trip, the AC never worked right. Went up to the buffet to grab some grub, and while the buffet area has 6 stations, only 3 of them were open, hello, embarkation day, all six should have been up and running considering it was now abou 1 o-clock....Whatever, went down and ate in the DR, was kind of dissapointed with the service first off, very slow and the food was eh, i ate it. Walked around that ship a bit, went to the kids pool area with my niece, that was a blast, she really loved it there. Signed her up for the Kids Crew, she never wanted to leave there, really a great program with dedicated counselors.

 

Ended up going back to that same DR for dinner, service was definitely better, horrible menu selection though, what happened to the different courses?.....Its now an appetizer/soup/salad category and then the main courses. Food quality really was not good, was about hotel banquet quality.

Went to eh show that night and to our surprise, we were on the Dawn in December of '03 and it was the SAME SHOW?.....Almost 3 years later and they are still performing the same show! Went and sat on deck for a bit and enjoyed the fresh air. Forgot to mention weather has been great thus far.

 

Got up, had some coffee via. RS, arrived on time and was actually decent coffee as far as cruise ship coffee rates. Gathered up the rest of the family, went up to the buffet for breakfast, it was ok, just normal breakfast stuff, danish and pastries were bad though, not a vet big selection and were of poor quality, it was a buffet though, so i was not expecting much. The rest of the day at sea, just relaxed, brought my niece to the Kids Crew, was a good day.

 

The next morning we arrived in Bermuda. Were surprised to see that the Latitudes party was that day at like 11am or something to that effect. Lets take a look at this, we a in Bermuda for roughly 9 hours, and the repeaters party, is right smack dab in the midle of the day?.....Guess they are not expecting many people to attend, which we did not of course. Took a ferry into Hamilton, walked around a bit, doid some shopping. bermuda really in beautiful, probably one of the cleanest prettiest islands out there in my book. Got back to the ship, hung out for the rest of the day. Ate at the buffet that night, food was edible, nothing special at all. At this point i am starting to realize that NCL's food has gone WAY downhill, so am not really expecting anything spectacular anymore.

 

Day at sea, was nice, layed out, ate, layed out some more, took a few naps here and there and ate some more. This is what sea days are for, right?....I enjoyed myself, seas thus far have been like glass.

 

Private island day we got up and to our dismay, it was downpouring outside. Went up to the trough, i mean buffet and ate. Down to deck 7 to wait for the announcement for tender tickets. Watched the first tender which is always sent over with supplies before passengers head ashore. Watched the crew load supplies, take them back off, load them again, and take them back off as it is downpouring. Then realized we were not going to the island that day. Went to my room, grabbed a book and plopped myself on the pool deck, out of the rain of course. Dont know how many times the actually ended up loading and unloading that tender, but the offical announcment by the captain that were were not going to be able to go to the island was not made for about an hour. No big deal, we headed into Nassau early. That night ended up going to Senor Frogs, had an absolute blast, had some dinner and a few yards of Margarita and stumbled back to the ship. There was a deck party that night, attended that, was a blast, the CD (Matt Baker) is probably the best CD i have ever seen on any ship. Full of energy, he was just a real blast.

 

Next day we were in Nassau again until 12, got off the ship, did some shopping, hit Starbucks and was quite surprised that they must use fresh water for the coffee. Was at Dunkins in Nassau a couple of years ago, had 1 sip of my coffee and spit it out, it tasted like French Vanilla salt, ewwwwwww. Got back to the ship and realized i had missed the Captains Cockatil party, looked back at all of the dailies and realized, Norwegian has done away with it. They now have something to the effect of "Meet the Captain" where you can take a picture with him or something for a fee. Thought back and figuired out that was the night where you could not get throught the atrium because every entrance and exit was blocked off with photographers. Went to dinner that night in the DR, all i really wanted was a steak, considering i had not had one all week, what do ya know, no steak.

 

The last day at sea i rested, and rested, and ate, and rested. Was a good day.

 

Debarkation day was horrible, what ever happened to letting the handicapped people off first?......For the 20 or so handicapped cabins on board, you would think that would be the easiest group to let go first. Every opther line recognizes that, why not NCL?.....Got off the ship finally, at about 11:30 mind you, am home now, looking for my next cruise.

 

To sum it up, would i reccomend NCL to anyone, no i would not. All NCL has turned into is your typical revenue-run corporate affair. There is no caring for the customer. Latitudes party, saved money on drinks because no one showed up. Captains Cocktail party, no free booze there either. All week long, no steak or lobster on any menu. Oh wait, Cagneys, it was on that menu, so isn't an extra fee, as well as an extra fee on top of that for lobster. Food in general was sub-par to any other line i have been on, icluding Carnival. Service, service really was not good, all around, the cabin attendents have WAY too many cabins to deal with, bar staff was good, but again, revenue-run, NCL will make money off of the drinks, so they should put the extra percentage of staffing in the bar areas. Everything on ship was, pay a fee and get this, pay a fee and get this. Well, bottom line, i have been on 7 NCL cruises, and this was my first one with them for a few years, but they have gone WAY downhill all around. I love cruising and work very hard to be able to do it, but will not waste my money on NCL. If anyone from NCL is reading this, you might want to rethink your overall product, with all the year-round competion moving to NY/Bayonne in '06 and '07 you are going to lose alot of business. Never again, Goodbye NCL!

[razberrirainbow]

My worse fear is having just a so-so time on my cruise. Sorry you didn't enjoy it as much. There have been many posts that tell the secret that "steak is available every night". Yours is the second review I've read today that says it isn't.

[Maxima81]

I thought it was "You get what you pay for." Not "pay for what you get". Anyhow, as other threads have mentioned already, although steak wasn't listed on the menu as an everyday available item, you certainly could have asked for it. One of the best tips I picked up was to not be afraid to ask for anything, no matter how out of the world it may sound.

 

As for the food, I find that most people who aren't satisfied with NCL's (Dawn's) food are comparing it to what they have experienced on a previous cruise in terms of quality and quantity. I sailed on the Dawn the week after the OP and found the food just fine. But I had nothing to compare it to as it was my first cruise. From other reviews, it seems like they have reduced the portion sizes. But nothing is stopping anyone from ordering more portions (and nothing is certainly stopping anyone from going back to the buffet line). In fact, I was kind of disgusted to see the amounts of food people piled up on their plates and ended up leaving over half of it to go to waste.

 

And finally, as stated on another post about the Dawn's menus, lobster was indeed available one night... unless they just happened to change the menus for that one week. There should be other reviews of this same sailing that might indicate that the OP just missed it.

[chessie68]

We are booked in 8120 , There will be 3 of us. Our friends are booked in 8122. Could you give me a bit of a review of the room. How much of an obstructed view was it? I have heard that the sideways rooms are a bit larger. Was it noticeable. How convenient was the location and anything else you might think of that I might like to know about.?

[Luv4dacruise]

Yes, it was definitely noticeable. The lifeboats are more under the window vs. in front of it. You can see straight out. Whoever is in 8120, be sure to let maintenance knoew as soon as you get in the room if the AC is not working too well.

[EileenRow]

I was on the exact sailing May 13-20th and had a blast. I have not one bad thing to say. My family and I really enjoyed our lobster dinner, sorry you didn't go to any restaurant that night I guess. Every place, free and paying had lobster......