Just back - Norwegian Dawn - May 17th to May 25th - Ask me questions!

[Milaandra]

We don't eat seafood either, so yes, I found it limited. Remove items that you just don't like for some reason (the Dijon-crusted pork tenderloin at the Venetian was really garlicky) and it's even more limited. If I recall correctly, every single Chef's Choice meal incorporated seafood.

 

I like the concept, I just think they need more choice. Pastas, for instance, with a choice of sauces would expand the menu options considerably for minimal effort and cost. I would also like to see a choice of sides...in particular vegetables. Broccoli would be nice. Glazed carrots, maybe.

 

The food is good at the Garden Cafe and there is a good variety, but the atmosphere! It's more like a cafeteria than a buffet. We still ended up eating there sometimes.

 

I wish the specialty restaurant fees were consistant and more reasonable. Saturday night I would have loved to go to Tepanyaki but $25 pp??? We have a similar restaurant just down the street in Niagara Falls and $25 US pp would pay for the entire meal and some saki. I just couldn't justify it.

[grandarm]

I agree - they could do this but in a better way. I ate the same appetizer for three meals. We wound up going to Impressions not necessarily because we wanted to, at least initially - although the food was excellent. They have pasta choices like you suggest and I think if they had incorporated that at the main restaurants it would be a lot better.

[AVShockey]

My husband and kids will be happy with the new menus. They all love seafood, lobster, and lamb. I hate seafood and fish. Maybe I will lose some weight on this cruise!!

I would agree that they need more choices that are not seafood, many people have allergies or just don't like seafood. Maybe they could do 2 daily specials, one a seafood and one not??

 

I was surprised that now that they are serving Pepsi products, they are not serving Mountain Dew. Mtn Dew is the number one soft drink now.

 

Thanks so much for posting the menus, I really appreciate them.

[CarRex]

Thanks for posting the menus.

After reading them, I noticed a complete absence of the chilled fruit soups that I especially like. That's a real disappointment for me.

[CarRex]

grandarm:

 

Who was the CD on your cruise? Just wondered if John was back from vacation yet since we will be on the Dawn in two weeks. John was asst CD on the Jewel last year and was really good.

[peg013]

 

I was surprised that now that they are serving Pepsi products, they are not serving Mountain Dew. Mtn Dew is the number one soft drink now.

 

Don't they have Mountain Dew? Crewmom said they had Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist and 7Up.

[Milaandra]

Shona was the CD, but she was getting off the ship.

 

I saw a chilled fruit soup at the Garden Cafe. You may have to head topside for appetizers!

[Milaandra]

For specialty restaurants, we only did Le Bistro and La Salsa.

 

Le Bistro was amazing, from my seat between a Van Gogh and a Monet to our Crepes Suzette (not flaming, though, despite what it said on the menu). I had the tenderloin, which is accompanied by a perfect little stack of thinly sliced potatoes...I think baked a la scallopped potatoes but with blue cheese. Very nice. Lovely peppercorn sauce and fork-tender beef. My husband had the chicken and it was even better than my tenderloin! Started with a great salad, but I personally think the salads are the highlight of the Dawn...they are all wonderful. (My husband would like me to warn you that they use real whole anchovies in the Venetian caesar salad...poor thing didn't know and ate one. Thankfully he has a strong stomach)

 

La Salsa was a nice atmosphere, beautiful view and really tasty food...I think the portions are larger than some of the other restaurants. It was $10/pp and they gave everyone a complementary margherita! I don't know if they do that every night, but it made it a great value. Excellent service.

 

We wanted to do another on Saturday, but again, I couldn't justify spending extra for pizza and couldn't justify spending $25/pp for Cagney's or the Tepanyaki.

[Milaandra]

AVShockey...no chance! The desserts are wonderful and they put out a basket of different breads... You'll just have to waddle back to port like the rest of us! :p

[CastawayCruiser]

Grandarm thanks for posting the menus. We are on the June 7th sailing and I had been hearing about the new menus. I can understand why some might be dissapointed but I like the new menus and can't wait to have lamb and crab cakes more than once. It is too bad that the chef's daily selections are mostly seafood. But hopefully this is something they can adjust as they get customer feedback.

[grandarm]

Our CD was Shona but she said she was being transferred to another ship the day we disembarked. Her assistant was better, I thought. His name was Sinan.

 

grandarm:

 

Who was the CD on your cruise? Just wondered if John was back from vacation yet since we will be on the Dawn in two weeks. John was asst CD on the Jewel last year and was really good.

[holiday07]

You mentioned that they run a ferry to Hamilton (The Big Ferry) specifically for the Dawn right on the dockyard where you come off the ship which leaves approx. every 30 minutes.

 

Do they run a special ferry near Dawn to St George? How far a walk is it from the ship to the bus stop to take #7 from Dockyard to Horseshoe? Can you still take a van from the #7 bus stop to the beach -- or --how far a walk is it?

[grandarm]

Here is the link to the Freestyle Daily's:

 

[Milaandra]

It is maybe a five minute walk from the ship to the bus & ferry stops. There is a free shuttle trolley if you don't want to walk. I didn't take the ship ferry, only the Bermuda transit, but the transit has a direct ferry to St. George from the dockyard.

 

It takes maybe 10 minutes to walk from the bus stop on the #7 route to Horseshoe Bay. The shuttle is running, but it's up to $2/pp.

[grandarm]

That Big Ferry only goes to Hamilton - you need to walk to the ferry terminal to get to St. George - less than 1/2 mile. The bus stop is in the same location. When you get off the bus you need to walk downhill to the beach, maybe a 5 minute walk. There is a van that will take you up the hill for $2 per person - very much worth it after a hot day on the beach.

 

You mentioned that they run a ferry to Hamilton (The Big Ferry) specifically for the Dawn right on the dockyard where you come off the ship which leaves approx. every 30 minutes.

 

Do they run a special ferry near Dawn to St George? How far a walk is it from the ship to the bus stop to take #7 from Dockyard to Horseshoe? Can you still take a van from the #7 bus stop to the beach -- or --how far a walk is it?

[antsnanny]

Here is the link to the menus:

 

Thanks grandarm

 

 

I was also on the 5-17 cruise and only tried the Aqua because I was told by someone that the menu was the same in the Venetian and believe it or not I never checked. Thanks for clearing that up for me. We ate at specialty every night except the one night we went to Aqua. Aqua was just ok, nothing special although our service was excellent. We love the specialty restaurants!

[sailingnut]

I too was not very happy about the menu's, my daughter and I got tired about the same thing on the menu every night. We went to Cagney's on Saturday night, Salsa's and Impressions.

[peg013]

What exactly is this Latitudes Members Unite! right after Muster in Dazzles.....did anyone attend? That's when we're having our informal M&G at the Bimini Bar.

[Dolphins]

The lack of choices is a problem, especially if you hadn't planned on going to the restaurants that charge a fee. How many times in a week would you go to the same restaurant? There are five choices, many of them seafood, which we don't eat. We were definitely dissapointed. I had the same appetizer for three meals - it gets old real quick and we wound up going to some of the specialty restaurants. I've said it earlier - I think it's an underhanded way of getting people to eat at the restaurants that charge a fee. Plus, if as you said - most people plan on going to the other restaurants at least once - you're still left going to Aqua and Venetian 3 times each. You start to not look forward to prime rib.

 

Don't know where you find too many seafood choices? There is only salmon in both Aqua and Venetian. They have Steak and lobster in Venetian, if you don't like lobster, you can order double steak instead. I think seafood lovers might feel they are being shortchanged? Between the two restaurants, you have 8 meat entrees- Pork, Prime Rib, Steak & Lobster, Turkey, Chicken breast, NY strip steak and my favorite Rack of Lamb. Hardly, low priced menu items. As for the appetizers and soup, different in each restaurant and certainly quite a variety for a 7 day cruise.

Finally, most passengers dine at least once in a specialty restaurant. I think there is enough variety in the Aqua and Venetian for the six other nights. I will look forward to enjoying lobster and rack of lamb more than once on a cruise.

[Suesan Jean]

It is new. They each have a seperate menu but it does not change from night to night. They do have one appetizer, soup and entree called the Chef's Daily Selection that changes each night but that is the same in both the Venetian and Aqua.

I hope I don't sound like a dope, but, just to clarify,

The Venetian and Aqua Restaurants have different Menu's, that stay the same the ENTIRE cruise. The only thing different is the "Chef's Special".

Day in, day out, same exact choices in these two restaurants? That sound's terrible.....

I always looked forward to the variety each day.

I am bummed.......:(

[BillyBuff]

I too was not very happy about the menu's, my daughter and I got tired about the same thing on the menu every night. We went to Cagney's on Saturday night, Salsa's and Impressions.

 

We were at Cagney's on Saturday night too. :D

[AVShockey]

Don't they have Mountain Dew? Crewmom said they had Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew and Sierra Mist and 7Up.

 

The bar menu posted only shows Pepsi, diet Pepsi, Ginger Ale, lemon lime (Sierra Mist), diet lemon lime and orange.

 

I guess I will still be trying to find a store to get some Mtn Dew.

[CarRex]

Does NCL still offer half price for speciality restaurants on embarkation night?

[flowerchild]

Thank you so much for posting all this information!

[pinstripes4887]

Was NCL still offering the Photo Frenzy on your cruise? I went about a month ago and took advantage of it.