Bermuda 10/11/09 - NCL Dawn Review

[soazlaney]

My experiences have been more similar than different on Carnival and NCL. Both had great food, friendly crew, wonderful cabins, fun shows and lots of activities for everyone. I must be really easy to please because I would gladly go either line at anytime. :D I don't understand why such strong language such as hate and never are used when writing about cruise lines. Cruises are just fun. JMO

[lyndyb]

 

 

Different ship different entertainment..

 

Yup, I know - which is why I posted which ship I was aboard - but during the same (but not identical, if we're splitting hairs) timeframe and destination (and yes, different ports) in terms of my reference to the weather.

[fig414]

The OP's review was perfect. Good and bad can always happen on any cruise. There was obviously no bias here. The only bias was when a poster insinuated the OP's review was tainted by the bad weather tried to imply that no NCl cruise could be criticized. It was a weather thing. That was truly funny. All reviews should be like this one....

[johnritt]

The OP's review was perfect. Good and bad can always happen on any cruise. There was obviously no bias here. The only bias was when a poster insinuated the OP's review was tainted by the bad weather tried to imply that no NCl cruise could be criticized. It was a weather thing. That was truly funny. All reviews should be like this one....

 

All knowing reviews that state that only people who have not sailed before or have only sailed on NCL would have a great time on the Dawn are hardly perfect.

[bobsfamily]

Well I see that knocking a review is not contained to the Carnival thread... :D

[nycruise]

Both Salsa & Impressions charge a cover of 10 dollars.

 

How much is the cover charge for Le Bistro, Cagney's and the Sushi Restaurants.:confused:

[kewcruiser]

Hello fellow cruisers from the 11th! We were on that sailing as well. It was a nice trip, but in some of the areas we would agree with you. We also felt the ship was very enclosed. That is a personal preference, as we know that we like the larger ships that just seem more open. The Dawn felt very confining to us, but others will like that about it.

 

We really enjoyed the freestyle aspect of not having to dress up if we didn't want to. The specialty restaurants we thought had wonderful food (sushi, Impressions, Salsa and Cagney's), but did feel the food was sub-par in the dining rooms and buffet. Again, food is completely subjective, so it is just our personal preference.

 

I don't think anything that we found negative about the trip ruined it for us, as it sounds is the case for you guys. There were others on the trip that we met that felt the same way, and others that felt differently. Everyone's reviews and opinions are what makes Cruise Critic a great resource to read before a trip... and after to relive the fun!!! :)

[Harleycat]

The OP's review was perfect. Good and bad can always happen on any cruise. There was obviously no bias here. The only bias was when a poster insinuated the OP's review was tainted by the bad weather tried to imply that no NCl cruise could be criticized. It was a weather thing. That was truly funny. All reviews should be like this one....

 

That was not what I posted at all and I didn't ever say that no NCL cruise could be criticized since I actually criticized some things myself like the comedian and the service in Cagney's.

 

I just didn't understand why the OP said the weather in Bermuda wasn't that great when I thought it was just fine. I did go on to say that I guess different people see some things differently.

[crisp1]

I agree with much of what the op said. As you can see in my sig, I have cruised most of the minstream lines- all within the past several years. I have found that they all are cutting back and the menus have been 'trimmed'- but the static menu on the Dawn was horrible- agree about the steak, crab cake and onion soup-no mashed spuds, no regular salad, no filet mignon ever. Impressions was good, but the ravioli portion extremely small- the chicken parm was huge and very good- Salsa was good also- they include a margarita with the $10 cover- there was one day where gave tastes and free drinks away.

Freestyle dining is a good idea, but if your looking to meet other people at dinner, NCL ( at leat on this cruise) doesn't do it- you sit with who you came with and the majority of the small tables are right outside the galley- the first night our water glasses were never re-filled- we had hot juice one morning and when I pointed this out to our waiter, he felt the glass and said " I'll bring you some ice". The wait staff is very overworked with people coming in constantly- maybe those at larger tables had better service and that would make sense- it's how traditional dining works- or how the other lines deal with anytime dining- they seat you at a large table and serve you all together.

Food in the Lido was always cold to lukewarm at best- they kept french fries in a cabinet underneath- no wonder they were never hot- best part of breakfast was the made to order waffles.

The live music was good overall, but the main shows poor. One poster mentioned that you're not getting Broadway because your not paying for it- just so you know, the Broadway show 'HairSpray' will be showing on RCI's Oasis- and for free, so will the zipline. I wonder if the Blueman Group and the Cirque dinner show will be free on the Epic?

IMHO, food from best down- Cunard, HAL and X- all very good- Carnival was better than RCI and NCL. Entertainment, overall CCL, NCL and RCL are about the same ( newest ships having the best), Cunard has a great jazz band, X is ok here and HAL is the worst- no live orchestra and the 'hot' entertainment each night was string quartet that played for 4 hours :eek:

[Elationismyship]

This is an absurd comparison. I've been seeing "real Broadway shows" since Edward G. Robinson and Kim Novak in Middle of the Night, Judy Holliday in Bells Are Ringing, and Cyril Ritchard in A Visit to a Small Planet. A ticket to a Broadway show today costs from $50 to $150. An inside cabin on Dawn to Bermuda costs $70 to $90 per night, including room, three meals and snacks, transportation to Bermuda and back, on top of free entertainment all night long. And this guy expects to see a Broadway-quality show as well.

 

Ruins your credibility, eh, pal?

 

Goodness sakes, settle down a bit -- eh, pal! It was just a review . . . . .

[smokie36]

maybe you should of hired a helicopter to fly you to a carnival ship cause there was no pleasing some people

[flowerchild]

Don't beat up the OP because you may disagree...not cool. Everyone is entitled to thier opinion.

 

The first time I sailed NCL was in 2002 on the Sun. Freestyle was brand new and was very different from my previous cruises. We were a party of 10 and were hard to seat and although we made reservations at the MDRs, we still would wait for up to 45 minutes for a table. I remember also thinking that that food was not as good as I remembered on previous cruises, with the lobster being complete mush, you could actually cut through it with your fork. We didn't do the specialty restaurants at all since it was a family cruise and some were more budget conscious that others.

 

Fast forward to 2007 and I'm shopping for an Alaskan cruise. NCL's pricing was unbelievable compared to RCCL and Carnival, HAL and Celebrity. I got a balcony cabin for what the other's wanted for an inside. I couldn't pass the opportunity up (a balcony! in Alaska!) and booked the Star, on a late May sailing. Prices kept going down and we eventually upgraded to a mini suite for another $75 pp.

 

We were really surprised that we liked the Star. It was laid back and more casually designed, not so glitz and glam as Carnival or over the top on RCCL. Service was the same in a sense, more laid back and in the shadows than other lines. The food was much better. Freestyle had been smoothed out and we tried some of the specialty restaurants (Le Bistro, the italian and the mexican ones, forgot the names) and had good experiences. It changed my mind about NCL.

 

The last NCL cruise I took was on the Dawn in late May of this year. I liked the Dawn, it is the sister ship to the Star after all, and it felt very familiar. This time around, we weren't as thrilled with the food as on the Star. The buffet was dissapointing compared to previous l had seen on different lines. We did not like the static menus in the MDR's and found the menus to be limiting. The food in the Blue Lagoon had even gone downhill. We tried the chinese and the italian restaurants this time around and they were good.

 

I dont' see why anyone would knock the OP for preferring Carnival. Price and itinerary are my priorites and price wise, they are close to NCL and are a viable option. Food and entertainment are better on Carnival, IMHO, the buffet in particular blows NCL away. Loved the afternoon tea parties. I hate dressing up and prefer to pack light. Baggage fees on airlines are cramping everyones style nowadays so Carnival's pared back thier dress code on formal night (not even called that anymore BTW) to a dockers,golf shirt casual with the option to dress more formally if one desires. That flexibility with Carnival's adapting to Anytime Dining are big plusses.

 

I want to add that NCL has the best loyalty program between Carnival, RCCL and Carnival. I also like the current future cruise program for the onboard credit and reduced deposit with 4 yrs to use...

[Budget Queen]

I have a lot of cruising experience, over many years. I do agree with the above about food. NONE of the major lines have the food quality they did several years ago. All have cut back.

 

I almost went on this cruise, since the inside rate dropped to $299/ 2 weeks prior, got called for jury duty and couldn't guarantee I'd not be selected. So, at those rates, I wouldn't have had any complaints about anything. And actually, cruising now is still cheaper then my cruises in the 90's.

 

It's a bargain adventure, that offers plenty to a lot of people. So what, if it doesn't appeal to some, hopefully with the low prices, they can go again and find something else more to their likeing??? Thanks for the review. :) It worked out, that I didn't go, as I am an avid snorkeler in Bermuda, so would have been a disappointment for me based on the weather. :)

[Skyhawk61]

The OP should not be criticized for his opinion. Some people think that any negative review is a personal attack. Chill people!!

I do think however that a cruise should be judged on it's own merit. We were on the Dawn in August - previously sailed on Disney and RCCL. I enjoyed this cruise very much - because I received what I expected. My wife on the other hand compared everything to Disney - and she had a less enjoyable time than I did. NCL is alot less $$$ than Disney, so I was expecting a bit less in quality, so I was not disappointed.