RCCL cruiser considering NCL Dawn

[shamrox91]

Was hoping that some of you could help me out. My DH and I have cruised twice on RCCL's Voyager Class ships. We absolutely love them. We got back Friday from a 5 day to Bermuda and want to go back to Bermuda in 09. The only Bermuda itineraries that RCCL has are 5 day and we would like to spend extra time there. I was looking at the Norwegian Dawn since she does a 7 day and 3 of those days are spent docked at King's Wharf. The pictures of the staterooms have very colorful decor, more so than RCCL. Can anyone who has been on the Dawn or who has sailed both lines give me their feedback? We would be booking a balcony cabin, so any help with that also is appreciated. Thanks

[LOVETOTRAVELE]

if you like rccl you won't be happy with the dawn .

they now have 13 pay resturants and dining rooms are a long wait

 

pool area small lots of dead ends and stairs.

 

buffett is awfull.

 

state rooms are small.

 

if you like to dress down freestyle then its for you.

 

they have a kids pool but they don't use it they perfer the big/small pool with all their toys and gadgets. and they take over the hot tubs .

 

if you want to use the indoor pool no kids its $15.00 a day to use it. every think is a charge on ncl.:cool:

[newmexicoNita]

if you like rccl you won't be happy with the dawn .

they now have 13 pay resturants and dining rooms are a long wait

 

pool area small lots of dead ends and stairs.

 

buffett is awfull.

 

state rooms are small.

 

if you like to dress down freestyle then its for you.

 

they have a kids pool but they don't use it they perfer the big/small pool with all their toys and gadgets. and they take over the hot tubs .

 

if you want to use the indoor pool no kids its $15.00 a day to use it. every think is a charge on ncl.:cool:

Most of your statements are just plain not true, I don't know why you are making such statements, obviously you have never sailed NCL or are just here to see how many will disagree with you. Opionions are one thing, we all have them, whether we agree or not we need to respect them, but false statements are quite another.

 

13 restaurants: true: all extra charge, rediculous. Most NCL ships, the Dawn being one will have 3-5 extra charge dining choices, the others are all FREE like on any other ship.

 

Dining rooms, a long wait: not true; for large parties without reservations the wait can be an issue. For parties of 2-4 or even 6 rarely will you wait more than 10 minutes if that.

 

Pool areas small: not any different than most ships.

 

BAd food or buffets, this is strictly subjective. If you were to do a survey (which might be fun) I would guess 1/3 would prefer RCI, 1/3 NCL and 1/3 would rate them similar.

 

Cabin sizes: about the same, depending on the ship and the catagory booked.

 

Charge for the indoor pool? Yes, it is $15 a day charge to use the entire area including the pool.

 

Dress down, freestyle, that you are correct about. this is up to the individual.

 

NCL isn't for everyone, nor is RCI, Celebrity, HAL or any other line, but please get your facts straight.

 

To the OP, the Dawn gets mostly great reviews, I haven't sailed on a Voyager class RCI ship so can't compare, but if the 7 day itinerary is what you are looking for, give it a try. What one loves someone else will find fault with and visa versa.

 

Nita

[hazz24]

Most of your statements are just plain not true, I don't know why you are making such statements, obviously you have never sailed NCL or are just here to see how many will disagree with you. Opionions are one thing, we all have them, whether we agree or not we need to respect them, but false statements are quite another.

 

13 restaurants: true: all extra charge, rediculous. Most NCL ships, the Dawn being one will have 3-5 extra charge dining choices, the others are all FREE like on any other ship.

 

Dining rooms, a long wait: not true; for large parties without reservations the wait can be an issue. For parties of 2-4 or even 6 rarely will you wait more than 10 minutes if that.

 

Pool areas small: not any different than most ships.

 

BAd food or buffets, this is strictly subjective. If you were to do a survey (which might be fun) I would guess 1/3 would prefer RCI, 1/3 NCL and 1/3 would rate them similar.

 

Cabin sizes: about the same, depending on the ship and the catagory booked.

 

Charge for the indoor pool? Yes, it is $15 a day charge to use the entire area including the pool.

 

Dress down, freestyle, that you are correct about. this is up to the individual.

 

NCL isn't for everyone, nor is RCI, Celebrity, HAL or any other line, but please get your facts straight.

 

To the OP, the Dawn gets mostly great reviews, I haven't sailed on a Voyager class RCI ship so can't compare, but if the 7 day itinerary is what you are looking for, give it a try. What one loves someone else will find fault with and visa versa.

 

Nita

 

 

I have sailed on both the Voyager and the Dawn. Voyager in 2004 and the Dawn in 2006. If you are looking for the activities that Voyager provides Dawn is lacking. I personally dod not like the decor but each has their own opinion. Food is subjective as the previous poster said but as long as i do not have to cook it who cares I can always order something else. I did not like that we had a hard time getting reservations to the pay resturants and were turned away from them even if no one was in the dining room. WE ate most meals in the Aqua dining room because the wait staff was very nice. The pool is very small and there is no adults only pool. On our cruise the poolside bars closed at 7:00pm unless they had a buffet out on deck in which case they closed at 9:00pm. I prefer a more elegant decor and RCI provides that for me to others it does not matter.

 

Nita you really need to sail on a voyager class and do the comparison because there are major differences. Food is subjective like you said service is alos different at least in my experiance. NCL staff was very rude with the exception of a few (whom we tipped extra).

 

All said we willl not return to NCL. I did write a letter to them along with my TA's letter and NCL did not seem to care about any of the things we stated. My TA warned me that we would not be happy but the price was right at the time.

[newmexicoNita]

I have sailed on both the Voyager and the Dawn. Voyager in 2004 and the Dawn in 2006. If you are looking for the activities that Voyager provides Dawn is lacking. I personally dod not like the decor but each has their own opinion. Food is subjective as the previous poster said but as long as i do not have to cook it who cares I can always order something else. I did not like that we had a hard time getting reservations to the pay resturants and were turned away from them even if no one was in the dining room. WE ate most meals in the Aqua dining room because the wait staff was very nice. The pool is very small and there is no adults only pool. On our cruise the poolside bars closed at 7:00pm unless they had a buffet out on deck in which case they closed at 9:00pm. I prefer a more elegant decor and RCI provides that for me to others it does not matter.

 

Nita you really need to sail on a voyager class and do the comparison because there are major differences. Food is subjective like you said service is alos different at least in my experiance. NCL staff was very rude with the exception of a few (whom we tipped extra).

 

All said we willl not return to NCL. I did write a letter to them along with my TA's letter and NCL did not seem to care about any of the things we stated. My TA warned me that we would not be happy but the price was right at the time.

That is why there are so many cruising choices, everyone has his/her favorites. By complaint with the comments made by lovetotravelE was the outrageous, untrue comments. You gave an opinion and that is what these boards should be about. I may disagree with your ideas, but that certainly doesn't make you wrong and me right. I have clients that much prrefer NCL and others RCI or Princess, etc. I do get very defensive about any line when people make statements that are unfounded.

 

Nita

[capecg]

Colleen,

Like you, we had only done RCCL (5 x's) till we did the NCL Dawn last Thanksgiving - mostly because it was a family get together and cheaper to go out of N.Y.

I was very happy with the Dawn and NCL.

Really loved the freestyle, no watching the clock or being committed to a certain time to eat.

Thanksgiving Week is booked solid, and with lots of extended families, but we didn't find excessive wait times at the restaurants. Most might have been 20 min. and we had a cocktail at the lounge outside and relaxed.

The only down side was that the Dawn broke down, so we only got as far south as Norfolk, VA instead of the Bahamas!

But, NCL came through - refunded all our $, gave us $200 per/cabin for onboard spending, gave us 25% off future cruise.

We are booked this Thanksgiving again on NCL (the Sun) but will fly to Miami so we get into the warm weather.

I feel the breakdown could have happened to any ship/line.

The Dawn is a really beautiful ship and we didn't see any glaring inferiorities to RCCL. The cabin colors are bright, but there is alot of mahogany and cherry would also.

The only thing that was different is since you are free to eat anytime and anywhere, you don't form the friendhsips with the wait staff, but they are all just as to notch as RCCL.

We had a balcony - always do. This time we got an aft cabin to see if the bacony is larger as is usually the case. Sometimes they are big enough for a couple of lounge chairs.

Good luck with your decision, but I have no qualms about recommending NCL Dawn, and I had the same worries as you before my trip.

Cait

[hazz24]

That is why there are so many cruising choices, everyone has his/her favorites. By complaint with the comments made by lovetotravelE was the outrageous, untrue comments. You gave an opinion and that is what these boards should be about. I may disagree with your ideas, but that certainly doesn't make you wrong and me right. I have clients that much prrefer NCL and others RCI or Princess, etc. I do get very defensive about any line when people make statements that are unfounded.

 

Nita

 

Understandable.

[Mekamax]

Go for it. We have sailed RCL 6 times and NCL 3 with a 4th coming up. The freestyle is a great selling point and we really like it. You can request the same waiters each night by the way. You may or may not get them depending on time (waht time they are working) and the table would change but you can request them. You can also sit with people you choose like the ones you meet on an excursion or by the pool or at the show the night before. We like this much better.

 

Cabins should be comparable on size.

 

I always say try the line first and make your own judgement. People told us we'd hate NCL and we really like their ships. People told us we'd hate Carnival and we like them too. So I've learned to judge for myself. :) Debbie

[Marge106]

I have to agree with lovetotravele, having sailed both lines along with many, many lines, we would never sail NCL again. Service is lacking, food although subjective, imho, is not good at all. There is only 1 pool on the Dawn, always crowded, children allowed to run rampant, empty plates left along poolside.

Nita, I'm sorry to disagree with you. I would have to ask when was the last time you sailed on the Dawn and what other cruise lines have you frequented.

Every single person that I spoke to when I last cruised on the Dawn in July, who had cruised with NCL before, could not believe the down turn in all aspects of the cruise.

[newmexicoNita]

I have to agree with lovetotravele, having sailed both lines along with many, many lines, we would never sail NCL again. Service is lacking, food although subjective, imho, is not good at all. There is only 1 pool on the Dawn, always crowded, children allowed to run rampant, empty plates left along poolside.

Nita, I'm sorry to disagree with you. I would have to ask when was the last time you sailed on the Dawn and what other cruise lines have you frequented.

Every single person that I spoke to when I last cruised on the Dawn in July, who had cruised with NCL before, could not believe the down turn in all aspects of the cruise.

 

dup posting.

[newmexicoNita]

I have to agree with lovetotravele, having sailed both lines along with many, many lines, we would never sail NCL again. Service is lacking, food although subjective, imho, is not good at all. There is only 1 pool on the Dawn, always crowded, children allowed to run rampant, empty plates left along poolside.

Nita, I'm sorry to disagree with you. I would have to ask when was the last time you sailed on the Dawn and what other cruise lines have you frequented.

Every single person that I spoke to when I last cruised on the Dawn in July, who had cruised with NCL before, could not believe the down turn in all aspects of the cruise.

Kids running rampant is part of cruising during the summer and other vacation times. We have cruised twice during kids vacation time, never again. BTW, neither was on NCL. I can't give an opinion on the Dawn and your experiences because I haven't been on the ship, I do know, it normally gets very high reviews and is the most repeated ship in the fleet, one of the most repeated of all lines. That, of course, could have to do with it's location and for a few years was the only ship sailing out of NYC year around. Again, if you read my remarks they were directed to the overall NCL experience, not this ship. Lovetotravel made totally fraudulent statements, that is what I object to; she has not come back to clarify either. I respect anyones opinions even if I disagree. Making false statements ticks me off to no end.

 

As for how much have I cruised? Let's put it this was, I have been an agent for many years, have been cruising for about 30 years and on all mass marketed plus a few other lines, with the exception of Princess. I guess I would be considered a veteran cruiser.

 

You have every right to disagree with me,: we all have our opinions, hopefully based on experience and not she said/he said. Yours are based on your experience a few months ago. I respect that.

 

Nita

[DocJohnB]

13 restaurants: true: all extra charge, rediculous. Most NCL ships, the Dawn being one will have 3-5 extra charge dining choices, the others are all FREE like on any other ship.

 

Dining rooms, a long wait: not true; for large parties without reservations the wait can be an issue. For parties of 2-4 or even 6 rarely will you wait more than 10 minutes if that.

 

Pool areas small: not any different than most ships.

 

BAd food or buffets, this is strictly subjective. If you were to do a survey (which might be fun) I would guess 1/3 would prefer RCI, 1/3 NCL and 1/3 would rate them similar.

 

Cabin sizes: about the same, depending on the ship and the catagory booked.

 

Charge for the indoor pool? Yes, it is $15 a day charge to use the entire area including the pool.

 

Dress down, freestyle, that you are correct about. this is up to the individual.

 

NCL isn't for everyone, nor is RCI, Celebrity, HAL or any other line, but please get your facts straight.

 

To the OP, the Dawn gets mostly great reviews, I haven't sailed on a Voyager class RCI ship so can't compare, but if the 7 day itinerary is what you are looking for, give it a try. What one loves someone else will find fault with and visa versa.

 

I have been on both the Voyager class (Explorer, Mariner) and the Dawn. I will go along with Nita's format above to give my comments.

 

13 Restaurants - Nita is right on. There are 13 restaurants, 5 are pay as you go (Cagney's, LeBistro, Teppanyaki, Bamboo and the Sushi & Sashami Bar . . am not sure but Salsa's may also be pay).

 

Dining room - long waits: Disagree, but only to a point. On "at sea" days on our recent cruise (9/24), the wait was 45 minutes in the "main dining rooms". We saw people waiting up to 25 minutes for an already made "reservation" at the other restaurants. There were no waits for our party of 4 on any of the "in-port days".

 

Pool areas: We were on a Canada/New England cruise - no swimming up there for me. The pool did appear smaller than I have experienced, but the tiered arrangement of deck chairs may lend to this perception. The tiered arrangement has always been a good idea IMO.

 

Bad food on Buffets: Nita correctly states that this is subjective. I would be one of the 1/3 that prefers RCI over NCL in the buffet (and food in general) area. I would also prefer, HAL's, Celebrity's and Carnival's over NCL's food, whether in the buffet are or the dining venues. Dawn does have a super deli for the lunch buffet.

 

Cabin sizes: Nita is right again. However, because of storage, I prefer the design/layout of the NCL cabins.

 

Charge for indoor pool: I believe I paid $20 for the use of this facility . . . but it may have been $15. There is a reduced per day fee if you buy a voyage long pass. I believe for our 11 night cruise that charge was $110 or $10/day.

 

Dress down - freestyle: Agree - becuase this was a port intensive cruise, it was nice to come back and not having to worry about dressing up "to the nines". Made for easier packing. I do like to dress up in a tux on cruises though and that would really have been "out of place" for freestyle.

 

An (important) area not touched on by either Nita or LOVETOTRAVELE in the posts above is service.

 

Cabin service is comparable to any other cruise line out there in the mass market. All in my opinion provide excellent service and NCL does not fall down in this area at all.

 

Dining service is another story though. I, personally, rate NCL's dining service at the bottom of the list and always have. We have sailed NCL 3 times - - - 1994, 2000 and 2007. The service in the dining rooms has gotten progressively worse over those years. While good to excellent in the alternative dining rooms, it fails miserably in the main dining rooms. The wait staff is certainly friendly enough, but the service is slow, inaccurate and in general just plain poor.

 

I would definitely place RCI on a higher plane that NCL in overall worth. NCL does not put out a bad package by any means. I just feel the others are much better. However, you mentioned that RCI does not do a 7 day itinerary to Bermuda and that NCL does. In that case go for NCL . . . you will get what you pay for.

[DocJohnB]

ooops, double post.

[DaytonGirl]

By complaint with the comments made by lovetotravelE was the outrageous, untrue comments.

 

Miscounting the number of pay restaurants hardly rates as an "outrageous" lie. I think lovetotravelE just worded the sentence badly.

 

I would have to agree with every thing else. It was all certainly true when I was on the Dawn.

 

If the OP is used to the service on RCI I think they're going to be very unhappy on the Dawn. The service (other than the room steward) was by far the worst I've ever seen.

 

If they think of the Dawn as just transportation to get to Bermuda then it should be adequate.

 

On the plus side - it was great not to have any formal nights.

[Sooners]

I can't help with the NCL Dawn but I have sailed both NCL and RCI this year. We went on the Pearl to Alaska and just got back from the Eastern Liberty of the Seas. We loved both of them so much so that we have booked them again next year.

 

IMO, Service on these two ships were comparible. I prefer freestyle dining and happen to like the dinner choices available on the Pearl. I have had great service on all of my NCL cruises. I also find it more relaxing to not be locked into a fixed dinner time each day.

 

I really like the promenade on the Liberty. The ice shows and parades were great and the Liberty had more things for my kids to do. While bigger than the Pearl, it really didn't feal that way during the week. The only time you felt the crowd was on departation day. Amazing ship for kids!

 

If you love traditional dining, then freestyle might not be for you. Otherwise, give it a try.

 

Jeff

[StarCruiser]

I have been on both the Voyager class (Explorer, Mariner) and the Dawn. I will go along with Nita's format above to give my comments.

 

13 Restaurants - Nita is right on. There are 13 restaurants, 5 are pay as you go (Cagney's, LeBistro, Teppanyaki, Bamboo and the Sushi & Sashami Bar . . am not sure but Salsa's may also be pay).

 

Dining room - long waits: Disagree, but only to a point. On "at sea" days on our recent cruise (9/24), the wait was 45 minutes in the "main dining rooms". We saw people waiting up to 25 minutes for an already made "reservation" at the other restaurants. There were no waits for our party of 4 on any of the "in-port days".

 

Pool areas: We were on a Canada/New England cruise - no swimming up there for me. The pool did appear smaller than I have experienced, but the tiered arrangement of deck chairs may lend to this perception. The tiered arrangement has always been a good idea IMO.

 

Bad food on Buffets: Nita correctly states that this is subjective. I would be one of the 1/3 that prefers RCI over NCL in the buffet (and food in general) area. I would also prefer, HAL's, Celebrity's and Carnival's over NCL's food, whether in the buffet are or the dining venues. Dawn does have a super deli for the lunch buffet.

 

Cabin sizes: Nita is right again. However, because of storage, I prefer the design/layout of the NCL cabins.

 

Charge for indoor pool: I believe I paid $20 for the use of this facility . . . but it may have been $15. There is a reduced per day fee if you buy a voyage long pass. I believe for our 11 night cruise that charge was $110 or $10/day.

 

Dress down - freestyle: Agree - becuase this was a port intensive cruise, it was nice to come back and not having to worry about dressing up "to the nines". Made for easier packing. I do like to dress up in a tux on cruises though and that would really have been "out of place" for freestyle.

 

An (important) area not touched on by either Nita or LOVETOTRAVELE in the posts above is service.

 

Cabin service is comparable to any other cruise line out there in the mass market. All in my opinion provide excellent service and NCL does not fall down in this area at all.

 

Dining service is another story though. I, personally, rate NCL's dining service at the bottom of the list and always have. We have sailed NCL 3 times - - - 1994, 2000 and 2007. The service in the dining rooms has gotten progressively worse over those years. While good to excellent in the alternative dining rooms, it fails miserably in the main dining rooms. The wait staff is certainly friendly enough, but the service is slow, inaccurate and in general just plain poor.

 

I would definitely place RCI on a higher plane that NCL in overall worth. NCL does not put out a bad package by any means. I just feel the others are much better. However, you mentioned that RCI does not do a 7 day itinerary to Bermuda and that NCL does. In that case go for NCL . . . you will get what you pay for.

 

I have been on RCCL Mariner and Explorer as well as NCL Star and Dawn. Over all I have to agree with what John B wrote. I would also add:

 

There is no charge for Salsa's. Also, in October of 2006 they had a 2 for 1 (or maybe half price) deal between 5:00 and 6:00 at the charge specialty restaurants.

 

I personally felt that the balcony cabins were a little smaller on NCL. I haven't looked into the actual square footage, so may not be correct, but that was my impression. (could be furniture arrangement, etc.)

 

As for service and quality of food, I would have to say that the specialty restaurants (including the free ones) were just a good as what you would get on RCCL. The dining room was good, but not quite as good as RCCL.

 

I would also say that each NCL dining venue alone does not have as wide of a variety of choices as RCCL, but combined they offer a wide range of choices. In other words, the choices at NCL's main dining room would not match the range of choices at RCCL's, but with NCL you also get all of the specialty restaurants.

 

Overall I would say if either the price for NCL is cheaper or (as in your case) only NCL is doing the itinerary that you like, go with NCL. I don't think you'll be disappointed.

[DaytonGirl]

I can't help with the NCL Dawn but I have sailed both NCL and RCI this year. We went on the Pearl to Alaska and just got back from the Eastern Liberty of the Seas. We loved both of them so much so that we have booked them again next year.

 

IMO, Service on these two ships were comparible. I prefer freestyle dining and happen to like the dinner choices available on the Pearl. I have had great service on all of my NCL cruises. I also find it more relaxing to not be locked into a fixed dinner time each day.

 

It's great to hear service is good on the Pearl since I agreed to give NCL another chance and will be sailing on her this April.

 

My comments were strictly related to the Dawn.

[newmexicoNita]

Miscounting the number of pay restaurants hardly rates as an "outrageous" lie. I think lovetotravelE just worded the sentence badly.

 

I would have to agree with every thing else. It was all certainly true when I was on the Dawn.

 

If the OP is used to the service on RCI I think they're going to be very unhappy on the Dawn. The service (other than the room steward) was by far the worst I've ever seen.

 

If they think of the Dawn as just transportation to get to Bermuda then it should be adequate.

 

On the plus side - it was great not to have any formal nights.

I would like to think you are right, but with her not coming back to clarify this I have to go along with what she said: 13 pay restaurants: the remark about the small cabins is a issue; NCL cabins are very similar to RCI, Celebrity and Princess, catagory to catagory and class of ship to class of ship. HAL and Carnival have larger ones. Most everything else she wrote is opinion, not fact, again I say "most"

 

Nita

[MrLee]

if you like rccl you won't be happy with the dawn .

they now have 13 pay resturants and dining rooms are a long wait

 

pool area small lots of dead ends and stairs.

 

buffett is awfull.

 

state rooms are small.

 

if you like to dress down freestyle then its for you.

 

they have a kids pool but they don't use it they perfer the big/small pool with all their toys and gadgets. and they take over the hot tubs .

 

if you want to use the indoor pool no kids its $15.00 a day to use it. every think is a charge on ncl.:cool:

 

 

I can't believe you booked a cruise on the Dream for next may if you disliked the Dawn that much. Being a much older ship, and having gone through stretching, you'll at least have something else to complain about when you get back! :rolleyes:

[harewego]

I would like to think you are right, but with her not coming back to clarify this I have to go along with what she said: 13 pay restaurants: the remark about the small cabins is a issue; NCL cabins are very similar to RCI, Celebrity and Princess, catagory to catagory and class of ship to class of ship. HAL and Carnival have larger ones. Most everything else she wrote is opinion, not fact, again I say "most"

 

Nita

 

Well, according to Expedia, I reviewed a Oceanview w/balcony cabin between the NCL Dawn and RCI Radiance of The Seas;

 

The average cost for each cabin was about the same.

 

RCI does appear to be slightly bigger 179 sq ft - Balcony 41 sq ft

NCL 166 sq ft. - Balcony 37 sq ft

 

 

The additional 13 square feet basically calculates out to: take an 8 ft wide room and extend the length with an additional 7.5 inches.

 

But you still can’t eat your main dining anytime on RCI? Sounds similar enough to me...

 

:D

[newmexicoNita]

Well, according to Expedia, I reviewed a Oceanview w/balcony cabin between the NCL Dawn and RCI Radiance of The Seas;

 

The average cost for each cabin was about the same.

 

RCI does appear to be slightly bigger 179 sq ft - Balcony 41 sq ft

NCL 166 sq ft. - Balcony 37 sq ft

 

 

The additional 13 square feet basically calculates out to: take an 8 ft wide room and extend the length with an additional 7.5 inches.

 

But you still can’t eat your main dining anytime on RCI? Sounds similar enough to me...

 

:D

wouldn't you consider the cabin size of 166 sq ft and 179 similar? I think that is what you were trying to say or were you saying RCI is considerably larger?

 

Nita

[dtiger]

I've been on the Dawn twice and thought it was a beautiful ship. The restaurant choices were great and the ones with an additional charge were well worth it.

[harewego]

wouldn't you consider the cabin size of 166 sq ft and 179 similar? I think that is what you were trying to say or were you saying RCI is considerably larger?

 

Nita

 

I guess my opinion was to say that the cabin size in this example would not have been my decision maker since the size difference was not that significant. My example of a cabin being 8 ft wide was just an assumption, but 13 sq ft added against 8 ft in width will only net about 7 ½ inches in length. That's not much. In this case I would be looking at what differences each ship has to offer, (aka: freestyle or Rock Wall, (guessing on the wall)).

Just my opinion....:D

[shamrox91]

I guess my opinion was to say that the cabin size in this example would not have been my decision maker since the size difference was not that significant. My example of a cabin being 8 ft wide was just an assumption, but 13 sq ft added against 8 ft in width will only net about 7 ½ inches in length. That's not much. In this case I would be looking at what differences each ship has to offer, (aka: freestyle or Rock Wall, (guessing on the wall)).

Just my opinion....:D

 

And that is part of what my concern is. I am so used to the layout of the RCI Voyager class ships that I want to be sure that I would be finding something comparable with NCL. I love to walk along the Promenade and pop in and out of the shops, drop by the Cafe Promenade and pick up snacks to bring back to the room or to eat there and people watch as everyone goes by. I love the Solarium pool on RCI since it is adults only and you can have a more relaxing time. We don't eat in the main dining room on RCI, we prefer the Windjammer buffet and the alternative choices with Portofino, Chops & Johnny Rockets so we already experience freestyle in our own way with RCI.

And to be honest the bright bold colors of the staterooms that I have seen on the web have put me off as well. Neither RCI or NCL has their 09 Bermuda dates published yet so it's not like we have the decision to make right away. But we are potentially going to be cruising with 15 other people and only 4 of those besides my DH and I have cruised before. The other 4 have only cruised with Disney and RCI so we will be the ones that the other 11 will be looking to for information. We will only be able to answer from our own experiences and would only have the comfort level in recommending what we have experienced in the past.

I truly do appreciate everyone's feedback. As someone stated previously we will need to decide what the main objective is with choosing one line vs. another. Certainly choosing NCL will get us an extra day to Bermuda and I think that may ultimately have to be the deciding factor.

[fin]

My Dawn cruise was in Nov 04. From reading the comments of seasoned cruisers who have RECENTLY compared the experience to other cruises unfavorably, I have to conclude that the ship may have deteriorated somewhat. I saw her in NY earlier this month and the artist names formerly painted all over her exterior are gone.

 

I know that the concierge who was so helpful to me is gone to another ship, and likely the Food director and hotel director etc may have moved as well. I will therefore undertake to limit my own input to more recent cruises, where my experience is more apt to be relevant and useful.

 

It amuses me when people will jump into these discussions and it later turns out that they were never on the Dawn:D