NCL Dawn review Feb 10-17, 2008 comprehensive review

[NickCDN]

http://community.webshots.com/album/562577859NUjHAI

 

pictures of the boat contracted by NCL for the Virgin Gorda tour and the waterfront in Dominican Republic.

 

Nick

[flarad]

http://community.webshots.com/album/562577859NUjHAI

 

pictures of the boat contracted by NCL for the Virgin Gorda tour and the waterfront in Dominican Republic.

 

Nick

Yuk!! I had tried to schedule that excursion through NCL but have had problems with their "system". I think I'll book it on my own. I read on these boards that NCL uses Patouche for that excursion but that's not any of the boats from their website. No way I"m booking that now.

I enjoyed reading your review. I hope that we find things differently next month.

[flarad]

This is the first winter the Dawn has left NYC. We took it 4 times out of here and it seemed OK. Now I see problems. maybe the crew doesn't like Florida.

 

So let me get this right. A crew on a cruise ship would rather sail out of snow and ice in cold, frigid weather through possible rough seas, than sail out of sunny Miami? There's a reason that the population in SFL swells for 5 months out of the year and it isn't because people want to be in NY in the winter.

[NickCDN]

They use ROMMNEY TOURS in Tortola now as the contracted provider of the virgin gorda highlights tours, at least they did last week when I was thier.

 

Nick

[zqvol]

http://community.webshots.com/album/562577859NUjHAI

 

pictures of the boat contracted by NCL for the Virgin Gorda tour and the waterfront in Dominican Republic.

 

Nick

 

Looks like a typical working ferry that you see in the region. What did you expect a ferry to look like? No where does NCL say that it is a cat, or a sailing vessel, the excursion description says that you will cruise along the Sir francis drake channel.

 

That ferry looks a lot better than most of the busses used for cruise tours.

[Sailaway Girl]

I am an NCL Silver member and was on the Dawn in December. It was my 3rd time on the Dawn and things have changed. First, I agree about Miami Airport. Flew AA out of JFK and it was beautiful, updated and clean. Miami is dismal, old and dirty crowded with no one to help you. I had always used Fort Lauderdale airport and after that experience remembered why. No more Miami.

Next, NCL food was very disappointing. They have the cheapest food around. No carving stations at the buffets like Princess, RCCL and Celebrity. Dishes were either pasta, some type of fish and chicken. No more ribs at the poolside BBQ just some precooked sausage, burgers , chicken and pork chops. Dinner choices were pretty limited and served in very small portions. Asked for a steak (off the menu) one night and was told to go to the pay restaurant if you want steak. S/w the maitre d and got a steak. The meat was not a top quality cut at all. Lower chuck I think.

On the Dawn, use the alternative restaurants to get a decent meal. Pay the cover charge where applicable (half price later in the evening) . Ship was clean; missed Samana because of weather; every other port great.

[Berniewin]

My wife and I were on the Norwegian Dawn cruise Feb 10-17. It was pretty much what we expected as far as the food and cruising experience. We have learned from doing 10 cruises that the food on most mega ships is not going to be 5 star quisine. Remember people, they are serving almost 3,000 passengers. As these ships get bigger and they have to serve more people, the quality of the food is going to go down. Get over it. Cruisers looking for great food should try the smaller ships where attention to quality is much greater. The Norwegian Dawn is a beautiful ship, although showing a little age, and it serves its mass market cruisers well. We enjoyed the Freestyle concept for dining. The food in most of the "fee" restaurants was only a cut above the food in the main dining rooms except for Cagneys, which we thought was exceptional.

 

Bernie