Norwegian Dream 10/19-10/26

[irishj&m]

:mad: Just arrived home from a week on the Norwegian Dream. I have renamed the ship the nightmare. We had a storm just out of Boston (I am not blaming anyone for that) but ate at Le Bistro and promptly got sick - food poisoning. First time I have paid to become very ill. It was our 1st cruise on NCL and most likely our last. The food was horrible, the service was extremely slow, had to ask for coffee, etc., not many choices of food. The ship is old and things are stained. On my first visit to our cabin's bathroom, I found it dirty and complained and a half-ass job was done. The fruit ordered never arrived. We left Boston late and with that and the storm arrived in Bermuda late in the afternoon. We were due to dock just before noon.

Once in Bermuda, the weather was lovely and we did enjoy the buses and ferry system, very efficient and an economical way to see the island. The beaches were beautiful and the sand is really pink.

The shows were okay but nothing spectacular. We heard crew members speaking harshly to guests. Overall, a very bad experience. I do know this week's cruise is the last for the ship and I for one say good riddance. One works too long and hard to have such inefficient service on a cruise.

We did meet some very nice people and everyone talked about the service and the horrible food.

[Dale]

:mad: Just arrived home from a week on the Norwegian Dream. I have renamed the ship the nightmare. We had a storm just out of Boston (I am not blaming anyone for that) but ate at Le Bistro and promptly got sick - food poisoning. First time I have paid to become very ill. It was our 1st cruise on NCL and most likely our last. The food was horrible, the service was extremely slow, had to ask for coffee, etc., not many choices of food. The ship is old and things are stained. On my first visit to our cabin's bathroom, I found it dirty and complained and a half-ass job was done. The fruit ordered never arrived. We left Boston late and with that and the storm arrived in Bermuda late in the afternoon. We were due to dock just before noon.

Once in Bermuda, the weather was lovely and we did enjoy the buses and ferry system, very efficient and an economical way to see the island. The beaches were beautiful and the sand is really pink.

The shows were okay but nothing spectacular. We heard crew members speaking harshly to guests. Overall, a very bad experience. I do know this week's cruise is the last for the ship and I for one say good riddance. One works too long and hard to have such inefficient service on a cruise.

We did meet some very nice people and everyone talked about the service and the horrible food.

You had better be putting on a hard hat and asbestos suit as you will be needing both and possibly more.

[VoyageVirgin]

Sorry you had such a bad experience on your first NCL cruise. If you do reconsider NCL my advice is to stay away from the Majesty as well. Small older ship - go for one of the newer ones. Much nicer. IMO

Now I'll get flamed too. ;)

[family cruisers]

I disagree, We just got off of the DAWN today and loved the smaller CROWN much better.

I'll post a review later.

 

Everyone has their own idea of whats nice, whats not , whats good, whats bad etc... In our opinion we didn't enjoy the Dawn as much as the crown.

 

We wish it were still here.

Sorry you had such a bad experience on your first NCL cruise. If you do reconsider NCL my advice is to stay away from the Majesty as well. Small older ship - go for one of the newer ones. Much nicer. IMO

Now I'll get flamed too. ;)

[rickechambers1@aol.com]

While feedback, good or bad, is great, please be more descriptive. Such anectdotal statements don't offer enough information to form an opinion.

 

"Just arrived home from a week on the Norwegian Dream. I have renamed the ship the nightmare. We had a storm just out of Boston (I am not blaming anyone for that) but ate at Le Bistro and promptly got sick - food poisoning."

 

What was done when you reported this? Are you aware of others getting food poisoning as well or was this isolated to you?

 

"Food was horrible"

 

Shipwide? NONE good? I actually despised the buffet food on the Sun, but loved the sushi and some of the specialties.

 

"Had to ask for coffee"

 

That's a bit much...how much effort does it really take to say "Could I please get a cup of coffee?"

 

"We heard crew speaking harshly to guests"

 

Not acceptable, what was said?

 

Thanks again for your review...looking forward to the details.

[VoyageVirgin]

I disagree, We just got off of the DAWN today and loved the smaller CROWN much better.

I'll post a review later.

 

Everyone has their own idea of whats nice, whats not , whats good, whats bad etc... In our opinion we didn't enjoy the Dawn as much as the crown.

 

We wish it were still here.

 

But I wasn't implying you had to go to a larger ship - as you weren't the person complaining about it. Geesh

[family cruisers]

Never said you were.. Just stating our opinions, not everyone elses :)

But I wasn't implying you had to go to a larger ship - as you weren't the person complaining about it. Geesh

[southnevada]

They took my wine away! ;)

[newmexicoNita]

:mad: Just arrived home from a week on the Norwegian Dream. I have renamed the ship the nightmare. We had a storm just out of Boston (I am not blaming anyone for that) but ate at Le Bistro and promptly got sick - food poisoning. First time I have paid to become very ill. It was our 1st cruise on NCL and most likely our last. The food was horrible, the service was extremely slow, had to ask for coffee, etc., not many choices of food. The ship is old and things are stained. On my first visit to our cabin's bathroom, I found it dirty and complained and a half-ass job was done. The fruit ordered never arrived. We left Boston late and with that and the storm arrived in Bermuda late in the afternoon. We were due to dock just before noon.

Once in Bermuda, the weather was lovely and we did enjoy the buses and ferry system, very efficient and an economical way to see the island. The beaches were beautiful and the sand is really pink.

The shows were okay but nothing spectacular. We heard crew members speaking harshly to guests. Overall, a very bad experience. I do know this week's cruise is the last for the ship and I for one say good riddance. One works too long and hard to have such inefficient service on a cruise.

We did meet some very nice people and everyone talked about the service and the horrible food.

Did you go to the doctor on board? did you get the food poisining as soon as you ate at Le

Bistro or the next day? what makes you sure that is where you picked it up? To claim you got food poisining form someplace without being sure that is where it came from is a pretty strong statement.

 

Nita

[SNicksed]

:mad: Just arrived home from a week on the Norwegian Dream. I have renamed the ship the nightmare. We had a storm just out of Boston (I am not blaming anyone for that) but ate at Le Bistro and promptly got sick - food poisoning. First time I have paid to become very ill. It was our 1st cruise on NCL and most likely our last. The food was horrible, the service was extremely slow, had to ask for coffee, etc., not many choices of food. The ship is old and things are stained. On my first visit to our cabin's bathroom, I found it dirty and complained and a half-ass job was done. The fruit ordered never arrived. We left Boston late and with that and the storm arrived in Bermuda late in the afternoon. We were due to dock just before noon.

Once in Bermuda, the weather was lovely and we did enjoy the buses and ferry system, very efficient and an economical way to see the island. The beaches were beautiful and the sand is really pink.

The shows were okay but nothing spectacular. We heard crew members speaking harshly to guests. Overall, a very bad experience. I do know this week's cruise is the last for the ship and I for one say good riddance. One works too long and hard to have such inefficient service on a cruise.

We did meet some very nice people and everyone talked about the service and the horrible food.

I agree 100%. I have posted my experience in another thread so I won't here. I have NEVER been on a bad cruise until now. It was horrible all the way around. :mad:

[prg2101]

They took my wine away! ;)

 

 

Where have u been???Not allowed to take wine without paying Corkage which I am sure u didnt:cool: :cool: duh

[Tiger55]

On a lighter side of all of this..I've had bad flights that had horrible turbulence, horrible food, crammed in a seat between larger folk for hours. Paid in the $500-$600 range for the airline ticket. You don't see me gassing Delta, United, American Airlines etc.... I still had great times once I reached the destinations.

 

I do feel bad for the folks on the cruise last week, and the ride they went through. The food might have been bad in certain peoples eye, but hey can you cook better? Did you have to do dishes after? Did you have to lift a finger at all except for packing and unpacking your bags.

 

When I went on the Dream about a month ago, I was freaked by all the negatives that I have read about on this website. Yes the ship was old, my only negative response was those bed spreads should have been tossed years ago:D. I think that is why they do your bed up with the white blanket at night, and fold those retro blankets aside. I found something I liked in every dining venue, except for the burgers(which were good at 1am on certain nights).

 

I noticed on the cruise people complaining about the smallest things. Yes, if you goto dinner at 7-8pm, you probably will wait. We happen to hit everything at 5:30, and never waited, have 5 star service. Read and learn from these boards.

 

Point is, I've spent almost just as much for a 3 hours crappy plane ride, than I did on a single ticket on the Dream. The payoff is Bermuda, Bermuda was great, and I bet it was last week also. I'm not going to dis an airline cause the travel sucked to where I was going. If you were staying in a suite, then I could see your complaint. You can't control mother nature,and just think how the employees of the ship felt also, I bet they weren't having a good time!! Trying to people smiles on the faces of 1700+ people in bad conditions. Everyone has a bad day...

 

Thankfully the crew did their job, and everyone made it home as safe as possible.

[CruisinCowgirl]

Having gone on the Dream the week before you, it surprises me that our travels were so different. While the Dream is an older, smaller ship, I thought that she had been well maintained. We had no major complaints about our trip. We also went on board (after reading many varied reviews of this ship) with a positive attitude.

 

I thought the food was pretty good and the service impecable. Never once had to ask for coffee. Even when I asked for a cappachino in the Four Seasons the staff informed me that the machine was broken so our waiter went to La Trattoria to get me a cup. Bad Service??

 

I am sorry to hear that your experience wasn't as great as ours. We will definately be cruising with NCL again.

[Tiger55]

Two big factors on above and beyond service for me were...

 

1)Sitting on deck 11 after dinner relaxing and one of the employees asked us if we wanted bar service. We both asked for a Sangria, and he said that was only served in the Sports Bar. He told us if we didn't mind waiting a few minutes he would go down to get us that. Sure enough, 5 minutes later he returned with our drink from the Sports Bar.

 

2)Last night of the cruise, sitting in the same location, another employee asked if he could have my camera as we sat in our chairs enjoying the sunset. At first I was like 'huh', so I gave him my camera anyways. He escorted us over toward the railing, found a spot, and took our picture for us. We didn't ask, we were just sitting and relaxing. (photo in our avatar). We went right down to the front desk and filled out a card to recognize him(he was off the clock enjoying his own personal time when he did this).

 

Yes those might have been small examples, but I did not encounter one employee on the ship who presented themselves as rude. Those small steps of going the extra mile made me want to get back on an NCL ship ASAP. I wanted to be on the Dream this week, but my girlfriend was unable to get the time off:(

[macdays1]

Having gone on the Dream the week before you, it surprises me that our travels were so different. While the Dream is an older, smaller ship, I thought that she had been well maintained. We had no major complaints about our trip. We also went on board (after reading many varied reviews of this ship) with a positive attitude.

 

I thought the food was pretty good and the service impecable. Never once had to ask for coffee. Even when I asked for a cappachino in the Four Seasons the staff informed me that the machine was broken so our waiter went to La Trattoria to get me a cup. Bad Service??

 

I am sorry to hear that your experience wasn't as great as ours. We will definately be cruising with NCL again.

 

 

I totally agree with you. We were on the week before and had a great cruise. The staff was fantastic. The entertainment was great. Loved Good Vibrations (Beach Boys Tribute Band), and the food was really good. We dined in the Four Seasons mostly every night, but we did experience the food in the Sports Bar and Pizzeria. Again, everything was fine. The only thing I didn't care for was the barbecue selections on deck. That's just me though. I really could not think of anything about the entire week to complain about. The slots were paying off too. I won three times $265, $389, and $250. I also won $132 at bingo. Definitely a good week for me. I do feel bad for those of you who had to endure that trip last week though.

[newmexicoNita]

Two big factors on above and beyond service for me were...

 

1)Sitting on deck 11 after dinner relaxing and one of the employees asked us if we wanted bar service. We both asked for a Sangria, and he said that was only served in the Sports Bar. He told us if we didn't mind waiting a few minutes he would go down to get us that. Sure enough, 5 minutes later he returned with our drink from the Sports Bar.

 

2)Last night of the cruise, sitting in the same location, another employee asked if he could have my camera as we sat in our chairs enjoying the sunset. At first I was like 'huh', so I gave him my camera anyways. He escorted us over toward the railing, found a spot, and took our picture for us. We didn't ask, we were just sitting and relaxing. (photo in our avatar). We went right down to the front desk and filled out a card to recognize him(he was off the clock enjoying his own personal time when he did this).

 

Yes those might have been small examples, but I did not encounter one employee on the ship who presented themselves as rude. Those small steps of going the extra mile made me want to get back on an NCL ship ASAP. I wanted to be on the Dream this week, but my girlfriend was unable to get the time off:(

you know I have had clients, more than once cruise the Dream, some have liked her, some loved her, a few been very unhappy, but 2 things all report: the cabins are nice sized and the crew are absolutely wonderful. NO, I didn't have anyone on this past weeks sailing, but have had them earlier in the summer..

 

Nita

[mal's boy]

Well, I too was on this cruise and agree with irish J&M. After 8 cruises in 5 years, this past week will be ranked at the bottom of the list. Yes, we had very rough seas out of Boston Sunday through early Tuesday morning. Having sailed before, I just accepted it. But, when lunch lands on your lap from sliding off the table, and the crew just looks at you like you have two heads, or, when dining in the Four Seasons dining room, and half the waiter stations emptied out onto the floor, including hot coffee when we listed to port, and the remaining stations emptied out when we listed starboard, or another passenger and myself helping an elderly guest try to stand while the broken dishes, glasses and trays are all over the floor, well that is unacceptable. I know we all have good stories and bad stories, but the crew on this particular cruise needs to have a refreshment course in customer service. The sevice in all but the Terrace was well below par from any other cruise I had been on. On sail away in the Observatory Lounge, while standing at the bar (and not in the service area) I actually had a server put her tray down in front of me, yell at the top of her lungs to the bartender to come over and take her order, and then look at me and say "Well, are you going to move or what?" Bermuda, on the other hand is a lovely place to visit. The island is very clean, and I felt very safe throughout the island. The people were very nice, accommodating, and friendly. I enjoyed the itinerary, but I would have to think twice before sailing with Norwegian again.

[zamboni_girl]

you know I have had clients, more than once cruise the Dream, some have liked her, some loved her, a few been very unhappy, but 2 things all report: the cabins are nice sized and the crew are absolutely wonderful.

 

I know we all have good stories and bad stories' date=' but the crew on this particular cruise needs to have a refreshment course in customer service. The island is very clean, and I felt very safe throughout the island. The people were very nice, accommodating, and friendly. I enjoyed the itinerary, but I would have to think twice before sailing with Norwegian again.[/quote']

 

While I don’t doubt the negative experiences that people have on this ship, I just wonder about how people on the same ship can have polar opposite experiences. I have been on the Dream twice in the past two months (One trip to Canada, one trip to Bermuda) and both were fantastically pleasant experiences. I really look forward to trying a newer NCL ship.

The Canada trip I was with my family, including my father who is a paraplegic. The Bermuda trip I was on my own (and after I told my dad the craziness I think he was bummed he missed out! Sicko! :)

I had a great time on both cruises and didn’t have the negative experiences that other people have had. And we were all over the ship utilizing different types of services and as a solo cruiser I was out and about even more, so I could meet people. Maybe I was just at the right places at the right time, which is odd considering I am usually not that lucky. :)

Although I will agree the coffee was sort of comical. Sometimes it was awful sometimes it was great, it became a fun game on the cruise.

[newmexicoNita]

While I don’t doubt the negative experiences that people have on this ship, I just wonder about how people on the same ship can have polar opposite experiences. I have been on the Dream twice in the past two months (One trip to Canada, one trip to Bermuda) and both were fantastically pleasant experiences. I really look forward to trying a newer NCL ship.

The Canada trip I was with my family, including my father who is a paraplegic. The Bermuda trip I was on my own (and after I told my dad the craziness I think he was bummed he missed out! Sicko! :)

I had a great time on both cruises and didn’t have the negative experiences that other people have had. And we were all over the ship utilizing different types of services and as a solo cruiser I was out and about even more, so I could meet people. Maybe I was just at the right places at the right time, which is odd considering I am usually not that lucky. :)

Although I will agree the coffee was sort of comical. Sometimes it was awful sometimes it was great, it became a fun game on the cruise.

this has always been my feeling as well: I don't understand how some can find a particular sailing without flaws or almost while another person, on the same ship can find nothing positive to report back. I don't know if it expectations, overall life style, past experiences, or what? I do know sometimes several little disappointments can add up to one gigantic disappointment.

 

More than anything attitude plays the number word role!!!

 

Nita

[prg2101]

this has always been my feeling as well: I don't understand how some can find a particular sailing without flaws or almost while another person, on the same ship can find nothing positive to report back. I don't know if it expectations, overall life style, past experiences, or what? I do know sometimes several little disappointments can add up to one gigantic disappointment.

 

More than anything attitude plays the number word role!!!

 

Nita

 

 

I just dont get the fact that mothernature is really who is to blame here

and not the ship:rolleyes:

[bostongal]

I have taken many NCL cruises and have always managed to enjoy them. I think attitude plays a big part in your experience and I always say that cruising is better than working. This past cruise was good in many aspects for us but we definitely had some experiences that we would have skipped such as our cabin flooding with several inches of sewage twice in one evening and then having to wait for several hours to get the situation resolved. We saw passengers treating the crew poorly and we saw a few crew members being rude to passengers. We could have done without witnessing both. I can understand that if you paid alot of money for this cruise then you might not have been thrilled but most of what happened on Sunday/Monday was not NCL's fault (with the exception of Room Service which was just a service meltdown). I know that they eventually closed Terraces on Monday evening because it just was so bad in that dining room.

 

We don't blame NCL for the weather or rough seas and believe that the crew in Terraces was working in crazy circumstances and did the very best they could do. We did wonder why things on the ship were not better secured - such as the desk in the library that moved across the room and tipped over or the tvs that fell off of the shelves in the cabins - it's not like the ship never gets rough seas and we just found it peculiar.

 

I won't say that the cruise was awful or the food was all horrible. It was downright fantastic a lot of the time in the dining rooms. We didn't care for the buffet but we just didn't eat there. I can only think of a few items in the dining rooms that I didn't care for and it was never a problem getting a different item or a cup of coffee if I wanted one. The coffee was about the only thing that I never cared for and it wasn't a big deal.

 

The service from the crew was for the most part pleasant, friendly and we had experiences where a crew member went above and beyond to make our cruise pleasant. I found that you got from the crew what you gave to them.

 

I loved every moment in Bermuda and enjoyed being at sea with my family. I found areas onboard that I enjoyed very much such as the seating on Deck 8 aft, the Nightclub or Piano Bar during the day was a nice place to read. I liked that I was able to get seats on the pool deck on deck 9 on the sea days - something that was always impossible on the Majesty. I was lucky in the casino on our last day. Our cabin was nicely laid out and spacious for the two of us.

 

Will we cruise NCL again? Absolutely we will. There was so much more positive than negative for us on this cruise.

 

I mentioned in another post our experiences on this cruise not as a complaint but more as a sharing of the experience with fellow cruisers who were there or wanted to know what it was really like onboard.

 

YMMV

 

Meg

[myyogibear]

Don't rule out NCL - We were on the Dawn to Bermuda and it was awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!

[newmexicoNita]

I just dont get the fact that mothernature is really who is to blame here

and not the ship:rolleyes:

huh? I don't know that mother nature had much to do with this or did I say that somewhere????

 

Nita

 

,

[irishj&m]

I am responding to several comments and I do appreciate them. Had dinner at Le Bistro on Sunday night and within 2 hours was deathly ill, have enough medical knowledge to know that I had food poisoning. It didn't last very long but I was miserable and then the ship rocked and rolled all night. During the long night, we had loud smashing noises and when I opened my eyes could see light - and we didn't have the lights on. It turns out that one of the wall panels came loose and was smashing back and forth wildly and we could see into the next cabin. The hole was top to bottom and was 2-3 feet wide. It finally jammed mostly closed but there was part of the panel all over the floor. When I called down for help, the person asked me if it was a vertical or horizontal panel, this after I said it was a wall panel. I know they had bigger problems to fix but was most unsettling. People in the next cabin (one a first time cruiser) had life jackets at the foot of their beds. They finally came in the early afternoon and repaired it (put shims under one part of the panel to hold it in place).

 

Regarding the coffee, our waiter disappeared and while leaving the restaurant I told the maitre'd and he asked what table it was and promptly went to look for the waiter. We had only one meal that was hot, the rest cold to lukewarm. We have cruised many times and know this is not the norm.

 

The people in the next cabin tried to have their room moved but were talked out of it. We decided to hang in as we really didn't want to have to repack and then unpack again, too tired after all this.

 

I will say Bermuda was beautiful, we went to the street fair and had a great time and enjoyed the beaches, ferry/bus service, etc. What's not to like about Bermuda.

 

I felt very sorry for some of the elderly and disabled on the ship. When the elevators shut down, they were really stuck in their cabins. We saw many injuries and saw an ambulance as we docked and also another ambulance during our stay.

 

Would we cruise on NCL again? At this point, I doubt it but maybe "tincture of time" will change my mind. This is just our evaluation of the trip.

[biker@sea]

I also ate at LeBistro Sunday with my wife. We had a wonderful meal. Did you have the mussels? They can be iffy anytime, anywhere.

 

This was our second cruise on the Dream this year, both were great. Put a deposit down on a future cruise with NCL. I know the ride will be better than this last one. It was an experience of a lifetime, would not have missed for the world.

 

P.S. Hi, zanboni_girl!