Is the Dream a nightmare?

[NCLDreamer]

DH and I are hoping to sail the Dream in August but are hearing mixed reports about the onboard experience. We're hearing about rude staff, terrible food and sewage smells. We have sailed her twice in the past and though we know she isn't the biggest, shiniest ship on the seas we thought she provided a very pleasant cruise vacation and can't imagine that she has fallen so far so quickly. Can anyone who has sailed her recently tell me about their experience onboard?

Thanks so much.

[biker@sea]

My cruise to Bermuda June 15th sailing was wonderful. My room stewards Rose and Anthony were all smiles and very attentive.

We dined in every venue. Never had to wait. We always had friendly servers. Enjoyed every meal.

The 8th deck we were on smelled fine with the exception of the smokers on the aft deck. JMOhttp://boards.cruisecritic.com/images/smilies/biggrin.gif

[discjoker]

DH and I are hoping to sail the Dream in August but are hearing mixed reports about the onboard experience. We're hearing about rude staff, terrible food and sewage smells. We have sailed her twice in the past and though we know she isn't the biggest, shiniest ship on the seas we thought she provided a very pleasant cruise vacation and can't imagine that she has fallen so far so quickly. Can anyone who has sailed her recently tell me about their experience onboard?

Thanks so much.

 

I had a great time on the Dream. I sailed her last year out of Houston (not overly recently....but). I had no complaints about the food. Everything I had met or exceeded my expectations. I never encountered rude staff. Yes, some were more attentive than others but all did their job well. The sewage smell is real. There really is no denying that. However, it isn't a huge issue. We smelled it only a couple times while onboard (and it was very brief).

 

The Dream was my third cruise on NCL (after the Sun and Spirit). The key is going in with proper expectations. I knew that it wasn't as large or modern as the other ships. I had a fabulous time!

[biker@sea]

Had a great cruise on the Dream in June. Never encountered the problems others have complained about. I thought the crew was great. We were nice to them and they were nice back. Quite a few times I had to bite my tongue as passengers were nasty to the crew. Some passengers definitely needed an attitude ajustment. Go with a positive attitude and you will have a nice time.

[rohudd1]

I do agree with everyone. One of the male cashiers in the casino is extremely abrupt and appears very dissatisfied with his position. He was the only person with whom I noticed to be unprofessional.

My husband and I loved the cruise so much, we have communicated with Casinos at Sea to go on another before we return back to our classrooms in September!

The food was best at the Italian restaurant.

[amd1234]

We just returned from Bermuda and we all had an awesome time. We were very apprehensive about doing a NCL with all the negative comments. We went with an open mind and we loved the trip. The staff was very attentive especially the cabin stewards. We had superior oceanview rooms with two closets a real plus lots of storage. The room was immaculate but a little worn. We had our granddaughter and two daughters with us as we were celebrating our wedding anniversary.Our grandchild(age 3 and 1/2) was at the Kid's crew a few times a week and she truly loved it. Cried when she had to leave. Food was good and and overall a wonderful cruise... Don't worry have a super time..:)

[macdays1]

You're all making me feel good about my upcoming cruise in October, that's for sure. I have heard so many stories about the Dream. I am going with an open mind though. I'm a big fan of the Majesty, and although I'm not expecting it to be the same experience, I'm sure we'll have a wonderful time. After reading your responses I am feeling much more positive than I was. It's a cruise! I'll be on vacation with no dishes, laundry, etc. to do. How bad can that be?

[sunluva7]

We just returned from Bermuda and we all had an awesome time. We were very apprehensive about doing a NCL with all the negative comments. We went with an open mind and we loved the trip. The staff was very attentive especially the cabin stewards. We had superior oceanview rooms with two closets a real plus lots of storage. The room was immaculate but a little worn. We had our granddaughter and two daughters with us as we were celebrating our wedding anniversary.Our grandchild(age 3 and 1/2) was at the Kid's crew a few times a week and she truly loved it. Cried when she had to leave. Food was good and and overall a wonderful cruise... Don't worry have a super time..:)

 

Happy Anniversary. What a wonderful way to celebrate! We will be on the Dream in less than four weeks.:D I just have one question - do you remember what time you had to be back on the ship on the day of departure from Bermuda? The itinerary says we leave Bermuda at noon, and I was wondering if I had enough time to squeeze in some last minute snorkeling at Tobacco Bay (providing, of course, the ship docks in St. George like it's supposed to).:)

[ManyMore]

I don't know of a ship or any cruise that you won't read mixed reviews about. Some people make their own good time and others look for thing to nit pick... just enjoy

[Cubechick]

Happy Anniversary. What a wonderful way to celebrate! We will be on the Dream in less than four weeks.:D I just have one question - do you remember what time you had to be back on the ship on the day of departure from Bermuda? The itinerary says we leave Bermuda at noon, and I was wondering if I had enough time to squeeze in some last minute snorkeling at Tobacco Bay (providing, of course, the ship docks in St. George like it's supposed to).:)

 

You have to be back on the ship at 11:30, plenty of time for a quick snorkel at Tobacco Bay.

 

BTW, we had a wonderful time on our June 8th cruise. Here's a link to my review:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=43422

[NCLDreamer]

Thank you all so much. We just booked it!

 

You all sound like just the type of people we like to cruise with.

 

Cubechick - I read you review right after I posted here and it went a long way in convincing us to go for it.

 

We loved the Dream when we first sailed her in 1994 (NYC to Bermuda) and then after her stretch we sailed her with my parents (NOLA to Western Caribbean) and they loved it her too!

 

We are really looking forward to just driving 10 minutes to the pier and walking onboard - that alone is a DREAM!

[sunluva7]

You have to be back on the ship at 11:30, plenty of time for a quick snorkel at Tobacco Bay.

 

BTW, we had a wonderful time on our June 8th cruise. Here's a link to my review:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=43422

 

Cubechick - I read your review as soon as you posted it, and loved it. It's bookmarked as the one I most refer to when I need info.:D

[Cubechick]

Wow! You two are making me blush! :)

 

I'm just glad that I could help!

[sunluva7]

Our first rum swizzles will be in your honor!:D

[KnitChick]

I'll be on the Dream in September and was wondering the same thing. Haven't been on NCL since 2001 but, I too, had heard there were issues with the Dream. And thanks to everyone who replied! I'm looking forward to lovely time in Canada!

[Boat_Drinks]

We're hearing about rude staff, terrible food and sewage smells.

 

I just got off of The Nightmare yesterday. What you have heard is true, worst food and service of any cruise I've been on to date.

 

Housekeeping did an excellent job, and La Bistro was excellent - but as a general (and brief) review I could only give this cruise experience, overall, a 1 or 2 on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being Perfect.

 

Sorry to be so brief, I have to go unpack......... :rolleyes:

[greywillow]

I just got off of The Nightmare yesterday. What you have heard is true, worst food and service of any cruise I've been on to date.

 

Housekeeping did an excellent job, and La Bistro was excellent - but as a general (and brief) review I could only give this cruise experience, overall, a 1 or 2 on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being Perfect.

See ManyMore's posting above.;)

[Smellytoes]

[quote name=

 

We are really looking forward to just driving 10 minutes to the pier and walking onboard - that alone is a DREAM![/quote]

 

The last time we left out of Boston it took 7 minutes from my front door to the pier. The real beauty of it is on the way home. No airport or 5 hour drive from NYC (no Yankees fans either:D :D )

[cassie55]

I just got off of The Nightmare yesterday. What you have heard is true, worst food and service of any cruise I've been on to date.

 

Housekeeping did an excellent job, and La Bistro was excellent - but as a general (and brief) review I could only give this cruise experience, overall, a 1 or 2 on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being Perfect.

 

Sorry to be so brief, I have to go unpack......... :rolleyes:

 

Interesting first post :rolleyes: .

 

We were on the Dream last summer in the Baltics and had a great time. Like some others have said, we knew the Dream wasn't the most modern of the NCL fleet and because it wasn't originally set up for Freestyle we did find we had to wait sometimes for a table for dinner which didn't happen on the Jewel or Gem.

 

The crew were generally helpful and friendly and our cabin stewards always had time to say hello or stop for a brief chat.

 

We went with realistic expectations, didn't expect everything to be perfect and had a great cruise.

[chief d]

The last time we left out of Boston it took 7 minutes from my front door to the pier. The real beauty of it is on the way home. No airport or 5 hour drive from NYC (no Yankees fans either:D :D )

 

Well it takes us about a hour and we are on VACATION. LOL Hey we understand that the Dream is older, (like us) and a little worn, (again like us) but so what. We've done bigger and newer, and yup thats nice. But to be on a cruise in just about a hour, and going to a place we love so very much, PRICELESS.

 

And being newer and bigger isn't always better. Besides being on a cruise sure as heck beats work anyday in my book.

[JPV072900]

I know that many others have already weighed in on their experiences on the Dream this year, but I wanted to let you know that I too had an AWESOME time on the Dream. My family and I went on 6/1/08, and even though the weather wasn't that great while at sea, we still had a great time throughout the whole week! I wrote 2 reviews about the cruise--The first one was about my 21 meals on the ship, and the second was about everything else and how great the week was. I'd love to do it again this year, but that would never happen. I'd love to go on the Spirit next year, but with the state of the economy, I think I need to hold off for now:(:(

 

Anyway, if you still need convincing that the Dream is a dream, then please read my two reviews. By the way, I put on 7 lbs from all the good food we ate!:eek:

[JPV072900]

I just got off of The Nightmare yesterday. What you have heard is true, worst food and service of any cruise I've been on to date.

 

Housekeeping did an excellent job, and La Bistro was excellent - but as a general (and brief) review I could only give this cruise experience, overall, a 1 or 2 on a scale from 1-10 with 10 being Perfect.

 

Sorry to be so brief, I have to go unpack......... :rolleyes:

 

Oh Boat_Drinks, do you really expect us to believe you? Forget unpacking, tell us what was wrong with your cruise on the DREAM. I had a great time eatting on the cruise! Sure, not everything was 5 star, but there were several great choices every night on the menus. Didn't you enjoy Bermuda? Come on, Boat_Drinks, back up your "nightmare"

 

There's nothing more frustrating then someone who comes on CC, says something negative, and then doesn't give legitimate reasons for it, doesn't everyone agree????:mad::mad:

[Boat_Drinks]

We went with realistic expectations, didn't expect everything to be perfect and had a great cruise.

 

(Sorry, long post ahead - but at least it's full of details.....) :D

 

Yes, same here. The problems we encountered were mostly due to staff attitude and poor food quality, much less-so related to the vessel itself. If you enjoy older, crowded, outdated ships serving (mostly) substandard quality food by servers who simply want to "move you along" like cattle - this is the ship for you. I'm confident your expectations will be met.

 

I originally had a large group that was ready to book 10 cabins on this cruise. We ultimately decided that the Boston/Bermuda cruise on the Dream was overpriced taking into account our expectations of quality and service (which, again, we had set very low). The others in my group made the right decision, Dream failed to meet even the lowest of expectations.

 

For those who think "any cruise is a good cruise", and "some people look for trouble" - I've been on many cruises, I know the difference between good quality and poor quality in terms of service, food quality and ship amenities, and I do not book a cruise so that I can "look for trouble" - nobody does. We book cruises to escape from reality and leave our troubles behind us, that's the WHOLE point of cruising.

 

The original poster in this thread asked some specific questions about the Dream. I answered her questions based on my first hand experiences on the Dream last week. Don't shoot the messanger because you don't like the message. ;)

 

So, here is what I discovered on the Dream:

 

Boarding

• Cruising out of Boston/Black Falcon is such a treat! No worries about air travel, fluids in carry-ons, arriving a day early so your airline doesn't cause you to miss your ship! Just hop in a limo and you are boarding 20 minutes later! This is my third cruise out of Boston, I just wish we had more itineraries/ships to choose from. The check-in was relatively orderly, but the Lattitudes check-in line was HUGE. I would suggest to Lattitudes members that you check the non-Lattitudes check-in line first, because you cannot see it from the Lattitudes check-in area. I expect that the Lattitudes line was actually probably much longer than non-Lattitudes (I've seen this many times in the past on both NCL and non-NCL cruises, but it's hard to tell in Boston given the two check-in areas are separate).

Staterooms

• We had an EE cabin on Deck 7 (Promenade). It was small and dated but overall kind of comfortable. For anyone crusing on Dream I STRONGLY suggest avoiding OceanView cabins on Deck 7 and all of the bow facing OceanView cabins on all decks. Check the floorplans on ncl.com, these cabins actually look out onto gangways that are in constant use (particularly Deck 7). During the daylight hours, your window has a reflective quality so passers-by can't easily see in. At night, they can see EVERYTHING - so you have to close your curtains, effectively making your OceanView an Inside cabin(!). This was really annoying for me because I cannot wake up in a pitch-black room (that's why I always take a balcony or OceanView) - and even during the day it was very uncomortable having people constantly passing by your "view" (whether they could see in or not).
  
• Go to ncl.com and check any room on Deck 7 (in fact, just about ALL rooms on ALL decks). Read the details about the room. They all have refrigerators, right? WRONG! There are practically NO refrigerators in ANY staterooms on this ship. I am an insulin dependent Diabetic, so this is an absolute requirement for me. Prior to departing, I had called NCL's Miami office twice to confirm that my cabin had a refrigerator and was told on both occasions that it absolutely did. When I called the customer service desk to request one, I was told there were NONE available and that I would have to give Room Service my insulin for them to store in a refrigerator somewhere else on the ship. When I needed insulin I could just call them and they'd bring it to me. Well, that doesn't work! I take insuling multiple times during the day and during the middle of the night, and I can't stand around waiting 20 minutes for access to my medicine while I quietly slip into a Diabetic coma! It took about a dozen calls to customer service before they finally agreed to provide what I had already contracted for.
  
• Bedding: thin, lumpy, uncomfortable mattress. Ancient looking bedspread that should have been retired decades ago.
  
• TV: You have your choice of maybe 4 or 5 channels, mostly news (forget about TCM on CH60, it's not there!). I've never watched so much CNN in my life (and hope to never watch it again!).
  
• Housekeeping: Exceptionally good. Friendly, accomodating and efficient staff that respected YOUR schedule (I often sleep in late).
  
• Storage: Very good storage provisions, large closets given the overall size of the cabin, lot's of shelf and drawer space.
  
• Desk: None to speak of, there is a tiny little protrusion where the 4 electric outlets are about 12" x 18". If, like me, you need to do a bit of work while travelling, don't expect a comfortable desk to work at (use the coffee table in the sitting area).
  
• Bathroom: Tiny, but servicable (incredibly small shower, smallest I've seen on any ship to date). The shower has trouble maintaining a constant temperature, but has excellent water pressure. Speaking of the shower, at some point in your cruise the crew will perform their emergency drills. They will make an announcement that during this time the elevators cannot be used. What they DON'T tell you is that they may cut the water too! My friend AR was in the shower covered with soap when they did this. They expected him to wait 20-30 minutes until the water came back on. When I told them that was unacceptable, they offered to bring some buckets of water to throw at him (I'm serious, that was their response!). He eventually had to towel off all of the soap and wait for the water to come back on, NOT a good way to start the day.
  
• You may have heard "rumors" about sewage smells on Dream. We did not have any such smells in or near our stateroom. However, I did speak with guests who indeed had these smells in their staterooms, and in walking the corridors I would occasionally notice such smells. So they are there, but I cannot say exactly which cabins are impacted.

Internet

• Surprisingly good WiFi, and of course they have hard-wired terminals in a small "internet cafe" on Deck 9. I took the 250 minute package, but WARNING for Lattitude members - they don't publish the fact that you can get an extra 30 minutes by showing your Lattitudes card in the Internet Cafe itself, you have to know to ask for it!
  
• The Internet Support officer was surprisingly knowledgable (a rarity on most ships), helpful and friendly.
  
• Setting up was simple and unintrusive. Speed was generally good (don't plan on doing any online gaming or streaming videos, of course).
  
• There is no in-room service of any kind. The WiFi spots were totally inappropriate for doing any real work. The area on Deck 9 (outside Internet Cafe, Coffee Bar and I think the Rendezvous Bar) is often very busy and noisy (one time I went there to get some important work done, they were conducting an art auction, the second time there was a LOUD piano player). The Stardust Lounge is a WiFi spot, WHY I do not know - how can you work in a theater?!?! The Observatory Lounge on Deck 12 is a WiFi spot, but again it is a lounge that is in regular use - the two times I tried to work in it there were bands (or music of some sort) playing. I think the pool area on Decks 11/12 were WiFi spots, but again I don't know who thinks this is a good idea since you cannot see your notebook screen in the sun(!).
  
• They really need a quiet room where businesspeople can work with some amount of quiet and privacy, but don't expect it to happen since the ship is already sold.

Dining

 

This is where it gets really ugly. Let me preface my comments by saying that not ALL staff were bad, and not ALL food was of poor quality - but the MAJORITY of my visits to ALL dining rooms (except La Bistro) revealed serious problems that resulted in a negative dining experience. An for those members who dismiss such comments as being those of "someone looking for trouble", I guarantee you the last thing I wanted or expected was a poor dining experience, and I was accomodating (VERY accomodating) with minimal expectations. Your dining experience will depend entirely on WHO you get as a server, how busy the restaurant is (they back up very quickly and easily) and whether you prefer freshly prepared food over microwaved frozen food.

• La Bistro. Here you will find exceptional quality food and service, for a price (or two prices, actually). You will pay a cover charge of $15/pp - but what wasn't clear until our first meal is that the $15 charge ONLY gives you access to items on the LEFT side of the menu, NOT the right side. I may be wrong, but I thought the left side of the menu was called the "Chef's Tasting Menu", I don't know about you but I go to the dining room to DINE, not "taste". You pay an additional $10/pp to order from the RIGHT side of the menu (which, of course, we did). The Chateaubriand was perfect both in terms of quality and presentation. AR doesn't generally eat beef, but had an entire serving of the Chateaubriand and loved it. The Chocolate soufle was lovely, but tiny (hint: order two/pp at the start of dinner as I believe these are made to order). Service was exceptionally good. As others have reported, the dining room itself, while nicely appointed and comfortable, has no views and is in the middle of the ship.
  
• La Bistro Brunch at The Terraces. We enjoyed the high standards and fine quality at La Bistro dining room so much that we opted to pay for the La Bistro brunch on Saturday. We were REALLY looking forward to a sumptuous brunch, what we discovered was a total train wreck! The restaurant was pretty much empty, maybe 6 or 7 tables in use, so we did not expect any waiting due to "volume". There was a live band that was WAY too loud (not just our opinion, EVERYBODY I spoke to that attended this brunch had the same comment, take it down a few decibals guys!). We were promptly seated with menus, and promptly ignored. For the next 20 minutes we tried to simply get a cup of coffee and glass of cranberry juice, as did the couple at the next table (but they were ordering OJ). We finally managed to "snag" a female server who had a very annoyed look on her face, reluctantly she took our order and the order from the adjacent table, and then disappeared. I should note that both tables ordered coffee with CREAM (not milk, cream or half and half). It is next to impossible to get CREAM of any kind for coffee on this ship, except at The Pizzaria, Buffet/Sports Bar and from Room Service. NO OTHER DINING/BAR LOCATIONS STOCK CREAM! Even the Coffee Bar does NOT have cream (read on). If you order coffee with cream, be prepared to wait 15-20 minutes while they go get it from the cream vault somewhere else on the ship. Anyhow, I digress - after a very long delay I complained to the male server that I had been waiting over 20 minutes for coffee and asked where I could get it myself. Finally our coffees and juices arrive, sort of. AR's cranberry juice has become OJ, and one of the OJ's at the next table didn't arrive at all. When AR returned to our table and realized he had the wrong juice, the server took the juice from our table and put it on the table of the other couple (hint: NEVER re-serve ANYTHING that has been served to another table, the server had no way of knowing whether or not AR had already sipped from it! Yuck!). Meanwhile, the male server (with typical scowl on face and looking very annoyed) took the orders from all of the tables around us (including people that were seated AFTER us), completely ignoring us even though we were less than 1 foot away! I decided I couldn't wait any longer and had to eat SOMETHING (I had taken insulin a good 40 minutes earlier anticipating a large brunch). I proceeded to the buffet, which looked like it was all left-overs from some OTHER brunch! 3 lonely pancakes, a few picked over pastries, NO bacon (a couple of scraps, not even 1 complete piece of bacon), watery scrambled eggs, some french toast triangles that looked like they had been there since Boston. Reluctantly I took some of the eggs, a micro-croissant and one of the french toast triangles. I put the eggs in my mouth and discovered they were ICE COLD (not the cool side of warm, ICE COLD). Foolishly, I swallowed them (something I regretted later that evening when I had stomach cramps, no doubt from the eggs that had been germinating for what I later discovered was AT LEAST 2 hours, I talked to another passenger who dined at the 10:30am brunch and the eggs were ice cold THEN!). The french toast had a hint of warmth. I saw Michelle, the La Bistro Maitre'D, and pulled her aside and informed her of ALL of these problems, including the fact that we had now been seated for 20-30 minutes and STILL nobody had taken our order! To her credit, she immediately started addressing all of the buffet problems (it turns out the heating element for the eggs had failed, evidently hours earlier, nobody ever bothered to check whether the food was hot!). We waited a bit longer, chatted with the couple at the next table about all of the problems, STILL hadn't placed an order and decided we had enough. We left and went to the Buffet/Sports Bar (better to deal with the zoo-like atmosphere up there than pay to wait 30 minutes to order and be served SICKENING food!). One final annoyance was that the majority of the serving staff at the brunch are the same people who work La Bistro's dining room, at the brunch they were a bunch of scowling zombies who looked annoyed with EVERYTHING, it was uncomfortable being served by some of these same people in La Bistro later that evening, now sporting insincere and disingenuous smiles. :mad:
  
• Buffet/Sports Bar: Others have compared this to an overcrowded High School cafeteria. They were being kind. It's an absolute zoo at all hours of the day and night, tables crowded so close together that you literally are back to back with the person behind you, and neither can push their chair out to stand. They are constantly running out of silverware. The layout is INSANE, one cramped bottleneck after another. There is no table service at all, whether "free" items like ice tea/water or paid items like alchoholic beverages. There is a tiny little understocked bar with one overworked bartender, be prepared to wait 15 minutes for a drink (longer if she has to run to fetch stock!). Hint: Order your drinks and secure a table BEFORE getting your food, these two things could take so long that your food will be cold by the time you are actually ready to dine! It's not unusual to wait 15+ minutes for a table to open up, and you had better be fast if you expect to claim it.
  
• Four Seasons: We had very mixed experiences in this dining room. Our very first visit was the worst, we went for lunch and I seem to recall our choices being a hot dog, a hamburger or fish with little else! I ordered a hot dog WITHOUT sauerkraut and the female server (who had been apathetic until this time) literally glared at me as if I had asked for her first born! I made the mistake of ordering coffee with cream, and 15-20 minutes later when I still hadn't received it (I hadn't discovered that it involves a long walk to the cream vault yet!) I politely asked how much longer it would be, the server snapped at me and said she would "take care of it". That lunch, the food was mediocre to bad (what do you expect, it was a hot dog and hamburger!) and service was literally rude. We dined there a couple of other times, both the quality of food and attitude of the servers seemed to get better over time, nothing "exceptional" mind you, but better. We tried to eat there one evening (I think it was Friday) and found a HUGE line with a 45 minute wait, we decided to go "wait it out" in the casino. I later learned it was a smart move, in speaking with other guests who dined during that time they not only waited 45 minutes for a table, but their dinner service took 2.5 HOURS (they ended up missing a show they had planned on seeing). I don't know what to say about this dining room other than it's hit or miss, you may or may not have a pleasant dining experience here - and again a lot of this hinges on whether you get a server that's not having a bad day/week/life!
  
• La Trattoria: We only dined here once, that was enough. The server was exceptionally good, but the food was mediocre to bad. I had a pork cutlet that closely resembled cardboard in both it's taste, appearance and presentation. Beneath the cutlet was a tablespool of lovely Ragu marinara. I don't recall what else I had, nor what AR had other than it was equally mediocre to bad.
  
• Pizzaria: This tiny, tiny food service station is on Deck 11 near the pool. It's a mini-buffet, and one of the few places you will find cream with coffee on this ship. It is open until 11:30am with breakfast foods, but if you want a fresh omlette or waffle you need to get there before 10am - because they take these away at 10am! No comments on service, because it is self-serve. The food quality varies widely, but at least you should be able to get a fairly good cup of coffee here. There are a ton of tables in the surrounding pool and deck areas, unfortunately only 7 of them have umbrellas - so be prepared to roast in the open sun. Depending on the angle of the sun, you can sit at the bar to the left of the Pizzaria but BE WARNED - every time I ate there there was a stench eminating from behind the bar, a disgusting "rotten" smell of some sort (I don't even want to speculate what it might have been).
  
• The Terraces: Aside from the Bistro "train wreck" Brunch, we dined here once or twice. Again, hit or miss on all counts - you may or may not get a server with a terrible attitude, and may or may not get good quality food.
  
• Room Service: Surprisingly, pretty good! And they have cream for coffee (imagine that!). One oddity is that while they offer eggs, they do NOT offer bacon(!). AR ordered eggs with a BLT and instructed them to hold the lettuce and tomatoe, so he got his bacon and eggs with a side of toast.

Bars

 

On this cruise I actually spent very little time at any of the bars, but I did notice that during the day most of them were closed, I think they mostly opened around 2-3pm. Just about every ship I've been on ALWAYS has their bars open (huge profit centers!).

 

I did discover Debbie, one of my favorite staff people at the Dazzles bar outside the casino. We visited her bar once, and she immediately noted our first names and addressed us by them for the remainder of the cruise. She ALWAYS had a smile and a friendly greeting, somehow managed to ALWAYS remember our names (even though we weren't "regulars" at her bar and weren't over-tipping) - the rest of the food service staff could learn a LOT from her (Thanks again Debbie!!!).

 

I'll also point out that the Coffee Bar is not what you might expect from Coffee Bars on other ships. You won't find any gourmet coffees here, nor will you find any cream(!!!). What you will find is a coffee machine that makes a single cup of coffee at a time (you know the type I expect, it does a quick grind on the beans and instantly brews a single cup of coffee, I don't think you have a choice of beans - just "coffee" beans!). It takes about a minute or so to brew a single cup, longer if you are turning it into some kind of latte. I tried to buy coffee here on 3 mornings, and gave up when I realized that despite there only being 3 or 4 people ahead of me, it would take at least 10-15 minutes to get a cup of coffee (with no cream!!!). I ended up going up 3 decks to the Pizzaria and grabbing a couple of tiny cups there (note: It SURE would be helpful if there were "to go" cups at the Pizzaria coffee station).

 

Casino

• It's very small and very crowded, it's been many years but I seem to recall the casino on Majesty (a smaller ship) being (or at least FEELING) larger than this casino.
  
• It's very, very smokey - if NCL hadn't sold the ship I would STRONGLY encourage them to upgrade the HVAC systems in this area. But what do you expect? It is the ONLY indoor smoking area on the entire ship (and, after all, it IS a casino!). They REALLY need a lot more ash trays as well, it's impossible to find a (glass) ashtray in this casino, you don't want players to stop gambling so they can stand next to a free-standing ash tray.
  
• The slot machines are primarily a mix of older (1980's/90's) IGT machines and somewhat newer WMS models (nothing "current", I think the "newest" machines you will find were released around 2004). They are ALL coin-op only, no paper tickets - so expect to waste a lot of time either handling a ton of coins, or waiting for a hand pay (and a hand-pay is triggered for as little as $60 on most machines, there doesn't seem to be a set amount that is consistent across all machines). There were also a number of "odd-ball" machines that I've never seen, including some interesting ones from Australia (I forget the name of the manufacturer).
  
• Belinda (I'm sorry, I don't know her exact title - I'm pretty sure she is not the General Manager, but she is in a management capacity and seems to be the primary customer liason) is good people, one of the small handful of people on the ship that you could always count on getting a smile and a greeting by your first name. Thanks Belinda, it was a lot of fun (now give me some of my $$$$ back!!!). :D
  
• The Casinos at Sea program is active here, but it's the old paper tracking system (which is really only a "guestimate" of what you actually played, electronic tracking being absolute of course). Again, NCL has sold the ship so they won't be upgrading this casino to electronic tracking and paper ticket pay out/in. Try to make sure the attendants make note of your play, and be sure to see Belinda on the last full day of your cruise to have your room charges reduced by your casino play comps.

NightClubs

 

Non-existent. There is a tiny little open area with a microscopic dance floor (maybe 15 feet by 15 feet) called "Dazzles". You may have walked right by it and not realized it is a "nightclub". 99% of the time it seemed to be infested with rug-rats.

 

A few other quick notes:

• Dream has the "Express Disembarkation" option. I personally think this is a TERRIBLE idea (other than for folks with early connections that must be met, i.e. airline, etc.). They started disembarking at 8am, starting with the "express" people. We were in the first "normal" disembarkation group, so I figured having the limo come at 9am would allow plenty of time for this "express" group. WRONG! Imagine a line wrapping AROUND the promenade deck full of hundreds of people, all dragging huge bags (usually MORE than they could move on their own). An hour into disembarkation the "express" people weren't anywhere near being done.
  
• As I said before, cruising out of Boston is fantastic. I wish there were more ships/itineraries to choose from. Fortunately, the Nightmare will be over for us this year, and Spirit (a much nicer ship) will be replacing Dream.
  
• We encountered a tremendous number of servers and staff that ranged from apathetic to outright rude. Others have had the exact opposite experience. I don't know what to make of that, I can only tell you what WE found first-hand. As I said, my expectations on this cruise were set very, very low - but the Dream crew (overall) failed repeatedly to meet even the lowest of standards. Is it really so hard to smile and say "Good Morning Sir, How May I Help You Today"? For those that presently do this, good for you and keep up the greate work! For those that do not, you really should consider a career change - you are hurting the reputation of this ship, clearly you are unhappy in your work, and your "negativity" and poor job performance is making it harder for your fellow crew members to do THEIR jobs.

Will I cruise NCL again? Yup, booking a Villa on the Jade in Europe in 2009. I'm calling it the Redemption Cruise, either NCL will be redeemed in my eyes, or I will give them no further business. There are a lot of cruise lines that WANT my business, and will do what it takes to EARN my business.

 

Happy Cruising folks!

[Boat_Drinks]

Didn't you enjoy Bermuda?

 

Yes, I did. It's my second time visiting Bermuda.

 

What does Bermuda have to do with a review of this SHIP?!?!?!

 

I wouldn't blame NCL if I had a "bad time" in Bermuda, and I certainly wouldn't blame Bermuda for NCL's problems. Try to stay focused JVP, two entirely different subjects. :cool:

[lambchoplady]

I'm sorry you had a bad cruise! Based on the details you provided, I can understand your "nightmare" opinion.

 

I can understand and excuse almost everything except the difficulty you had in obtaining a refrigerator for your insulin! How can they not realize that it was a potentially life-threatening medical issue?

 

I applaud you for being willing to give NCL another try!

 

BTW, i agree with you about the limited options for sailing from Boston. I'd love to do a transatlantic crossing from Boston.