NCL Dawn menus

[Planer's Edge]

Well we are back from another successful Dawn reposition cruise. As I said, before the cruise, I would come back with a report on the new menus and the food in general. These are strictly my opinions and observations that I will sprinkle in a few comments from other passengers. My travel group was myself, my DW and my SIL. I like just about any type of food, my wife is a supreme carnivore and my SIL does not like red meat. So, this allowed a pretty good cross section tasting of the menus.

 

In general the menus should have something for everyone. The "fixed" menu has 2 soups, 2 salads, 2 appetizers, 6 entrees, and 5 deserts. The entrees include a pork, beef, salmon, chicken, fish and lamb dish. The daily menus includes a salad, soup and appetizer. The entrees usually included a pasta dish, a seafood/fish dish and a beef/chicken/pork dish. The daily menu also included 2 deserts.

 

The general consensus in my little group was that everything seemed to be quite good and well prepared. Although we did not try any of the pork dishes because my wife is allergic to pork and I will always pick almost anything over pork and my SIL chooses not to eat pork.

 

The down sides that I saw were not deal breakers but well worth mentioning. The seafood dishes seemed to meager (small portion), or at least missing something. The dishes that were served over a polenta or risotto seem to be very small portions. While other fish dishes that came with some type of vegetable could have been improved with a scoop of rice pilaf or some other starch. I mentioned this to Alain Magnier (F&B Director) and things seem to improve later in the cruise.

 

The other thing that my wife noticed was that there seemed to be some quality inconsistencies in the New York Strip that was available on the "fixed" menu. The preparation was fine. But, the meat quality went from incredibly tender to rather tough and thick (1") cut to on the thin side (1/2") cut.

 

I have to make a few random observations:

 

The Ceasar salad that is available on the "fixed" menu is back to the old quality that NCL used to serve. Over the past few years the Ceasar salad had become quite boring and very watery on the dressing side. The Ceasar salad is back although not in Le Bistro. :(

 

The grilled Asparagus salad on the "fixed" menu is simply marvelous. It has a creamy orange vinaigrette dressing that is so good.

 

The Baked Florida Shrimp is a not to be missed appetizer on Sunday's daily menu. It is prepared similar to Le Bistros escargot but NOT swimming in garlic butter.

 

There was Escargot offered during the second weeks menu and was extremely good. It was served like the Shrimp above and NOT swimming in garlic butter.

 

The Cheese Tortellini and Vegetables served on the Tuesday daily menu is another don't miss dish. I had a small portion as an appetizer and wished I had made it my main entree. Although the Roast New York Sirloin and Lobster tail that I had was very good.

 

The Lamb Shank on the "fixed" menu was almost as good as that which is served in Il Adagio on the Sun. Anyone who has had this dish in Il Adagio know what I am talking about.

 

The Eggplant Parmigiana that available in the second week was about the best I have ever tasted. That might be saying alot, but, I grew up around very good Italian cooking and my MIL is an Italian from the North End of Boston.

I talked with a few fellow passengers about the food aboard the ship and got quite an array of comments. Mr. Lee (a self professed picky eater) was quite disappointed with the choices on the menus. He also made a comment about the quality of the New York Strip. Terrymtex01 went into the cruise a bit skeptical about the menu choices and came away with positive remarks that I am sure he will expound upon in his review. I heard comments ranging from, there are not enough choices to there are too many things to pick from. I also heard some people say they never got to try the specialty restaurants because they looked forward to the "great" choices in the main dining room. Conversely, I overheard people complaining that NCL was trying to drive them to the specialty restaurants because of the poor selections in the main dining rooms.

 

All in all, I found the menus to be very good with a wide variety of choices. The preparations seem to be much better than in the recent past.

 

It goes without saying that food is and will always be very subjective. So take this review as it is intended....One man's observation, YMMV.

 

PE

[mbisson]

Thanks Edge! I appreciate your comments (and those you included from some of the others in your roll call as well).

[sottovoce]

Conversely' date=' I overheard people complaining that NCL was trying to drive them to the specialty restaurants because of the poor selections in the main dining rooms.

[/color']

The mere fact that extra-charge dining rooms exist on NCL ships is enough to cause some to say the main dining room food is intentionally poor in order to force people to go to those extra-charge venues. I think this is nonsense, and analogous to the thinking by some that service must be "terrible" simply because there is an "automatic" gratuity and therefore no motivation to work hard.

[mbisson]

The mere fact that extra-charge dining rooms exist on NCL ships is enough to cause some to say the main dining room food is intentionally poor in order to force people to go to those extra-charge venues. I think this is nonsense, and analogous to the thinking by some that service must be "terrible" simply because there is an "automatic" gratuity and therefore no motivation to work hard.

 

Sotto-I knew there was a reason I like you :D

[MrLee]

 
Mr. Lee (a self professed picky eater) was quite disappointed with the choices on the menus. He also made a comment about the quality of the New York Strip

 

Quite true, but I would like to clarify a bit. The 1st time we had the strip it was so tough the knife had trouble cutting it. The next time though, it was excellent. My DW agrees with this and she's not an especially picky eater and, although I order mine medium-well, she wants hers with the cow still mooing. ;)

[Zeno]

Thx for food "review" of Dawn. We will be on her in Jan and look forwar to trying the new menu.

[jaja]

PE--thanks for the food review...very informative!!!

[mbisson]

 
Mr. Lee (a self professed picky eater) was quite disappointed with the choices on the menus. He also made a comment about the quality of the New York Strip

 

Quite true, but I would like to clarify a bit. The 1st time we had the strip it was so tough the knife had trouble cutting it. The next time though, it was excellent. My DW agrees with this and she's not an especially picky eater and, although I order mine medium-well, she wants hers with the cow still mooing. ;)

 

This reminds me of the comments a few years back about the steak "always available" on the RCCL threads at that time LOL

[pieshops]

i am in the restaurant/catering business and when i hear people say the quality of the food in the main dining room is low because they are trying to steer the people to the pay restaurants, i get a good laugh.

 

while i feel the food in the pay restaurants is better, it is better because they use better quality ingrediants, such as larger cuts of steak, etc. this is not to say the quality in the main dining room is poor, just not as good.

 

the surcharge for the pay restaurants probably barely covers the cost of the better quailty ingrediants, i am sure they make a few bucks off of it, but it is not significant enough to warrant a conspiracy by NCL to steer people towards the pay restaurants.

 

just my opinion.

[PangeanSir]

Thanks PE for a balanced and informative report.

 

How was the weather this year compared to last year?

 

P.

[Planer's Edge]

Thanks PE for a balanced and informative report.

 

How was the weather this year compared to last year?

 

P.

 

We had the most incredible weather this year. Very few showers on sea days because they were so scattered that the Captain could sail around them. We had a brief (10 minute) rain shower in Antigua. I think Hurricane Ida dragged everything north with her and left the beautiful (albeit hot in a few places) behind.

 

PE

[Shak]

The Dawn Repo was my second NCL cruise and first freestyle. I really had a great time on this cruise but I found the food in the main dining room mediocre at best. The grilled flank steak on night was simply awful. After a while we started eating at the buffet and I thought that was good. Interesting enough the buffet offered shrimp cocktails every night I ate there. A couple of times I even got a shrimp fix after dinner for a snack when we ate at another venue. We ate in 4 specialty restaurants and LeBristo was by far the best. We did not try Cagney’s though. Like MrLee findings I had a good steak one night in the main dining room and a not so good one another night. I did not find any desert very inspiring in any of the restaurant.

There was one thing I loved and that was the pool side BBQ’s. I love the taste of food cooked on charcoal.

Shak

[jkloni]

I agree with everything PE has written. I think I enjoyed the food on the Dawn more than any of the other 5 NCL cruises I'd taken.

 

I found the choices from the static menu more than adequate and the chef's choices very enticing. It took me about 6 days before I was finally able to order the Roasted Salmon on the static menu because I continued to choose chef selections instead of static ones. And it was phenomenal!! Pan seared and still juicy inside. And about 1 1/2 - 2 inches thick.

 

And that asparagus salad!!!! I'd get it every time we dined in the MDR.

 

One side note - the night prime rib was offered, 2 at our table ordered it. It was tender - but (literally) about 1/3 of an inch think. I thought it was a roast beef slice instead of prime rib. I saw it with my own two eyes, so I had to believe it.

 

Blue Lagoon food was great too. The breakfast was cooked to order - no powdered eggs there. And the french toast was wonderful, no matter where you got it - MDR, Blue Lagoon, buffet. I ate it without syrup because it was already sweetened. Yum.

 

It was so nice meeting you John. At least we saw one another from time to time on and off the ship. So many others I either didn't meet or met once and never crossed paths with again. I also saw during the cruise and chatted with Chia, Jean & Charlie (SaucieSue), Terry and Doug,

George and Michelle, Sonja and Jeff (Sonja from NJ).

 

Kathy

[jkloni]

The grilled flank steak one night was simply awful.

 

There was one thing I loved and that was the pool side BBQ’s. I love the taste of food cooked on charcoal.

 

Shak

 

 

I'm glad I didn't order steak in the MDR. I guess by choosing other items, I chose wisely. :)

 

I agree with the BBQ - the 2nd to last sea day the ribs were so tender the meat was falling off of the bones. And Jeffrey loved the hamburgers in all the places he got them - Bimini, Blue Lagoon and pool side.

 

Kathy

[njhorseman]

PE:

 

As someone who has butted heads with you on the new menu issue, I want you to know that I appreciate your honest personal assessment of the food.

 

By the way, I prefer my escargot to be swimming in garlic butter...so there's another area where we differ. ;)

[terrymtex01]

Ok... I wanted to throw my two cents in on this thread, if that is OK, PE...

 

I really did think the food in the MDR was terrific. I do agree about the steaks 100%. I had one that was delicious and tender and one that was so full of fat and other stuff I couldn't eat but maybe two bites of it. I do have to say I AM VERY picky about beef, however. It's not my fav so I might have a slanted view there. In fact, not the worst thing I had on the cruise, but probably the worst thing I have ever tasted in my life were the Sliders served in Cagneys for lunch. It tasted so bad to me I literally couldn't swallow the bite I took.

 

Probably the most outstanding two dishes that come to mind (and I will talk a lot more about the foods we had and if we liked them later on) but was the Baked Florida Shrimp (TO DIE FOR) and the Rasberry Creme Brulee in Cagneys (offered as a dessert for dinner in Cagneys). Another quick two that come to mind is I loved the Chicken Parm. served the final night in the MDR and also I believe that was the night they served the Apricott Cream Cake. Like eating air it was so light and so delicious. That and the Rasberry Creme Brulee were the only two desserts I completed for the whole trip. I'm not a dessert person so I usually just have a bite or two and leave the rest. Probably the dish Doug and I like second best was the Lemmon Pepper Shrimp in Bamboo. For every sea day (or was it port days....LOL.. I don't remember now) Bamboo, Salsa and the Italian restaurant were all half price between 5:30 and 6:30 and we took advantage of that when we could to get the delicious Lemmon Pepper Shrimp.

 

One HUGE disappointment I had was in my beloved PB&J's from room service. If you have ever seen me post about food on NCL I have always said these are not to be missed. But these were a joke on the Dawn. Honestly I ordered them two or three times and I have never seen something so thrown together I thought a monkey had literally put it together. On the Pearl and Star they were so well made and looked like such pretty little treats.. On the Dawn they were horrible.. LOL. The peanut butter would be in one huge clump, not spread out. The Mac and Cheese room service had was excellent though. 8-)

 

Sorry to take up so much of the posting PE, but I paid a lot of attention to the food on this cruise, as I am sure we all did, with all the talk of it here on the boards recently. I will have a lot more to say in my review..

[Planer's Edge]

 

Sorry to take up so much of the posting PE....

No sorry necessary, all input is very welcome.

 

I just remember you being somewhat against the menus before the cruise and after trying them you sounded fairly positive.

 

PE

[Planer's Edge]

PE:

 

As someone who has butted heads with you on the new menu issue, I want you to know that I appreciate your honest personal assessment of the food.

 

 

You are welcome. I just wanted to follow up as unbiased as I could. I went so far as to make notes on the menus (provided by Anoop and Alain) every evening so I would not forget anything.

 

PE

[mtwingcpa]

I agree that the new menus are fine, but I had no problem with the old ones, either. I guess I don't understand what they were trying to achieve with all the experimentation that apparently went on over the last several months.

 

At first it sounded like they were moving toward mostly fixed menus in the MDRs, with perhaps a different menu in each MDR. Now THAT would have been a significant change! But what they've ended up with (a slight re-balancing of the number of fixed versus variable items) seems like "same song, second verse" to me. Or, to quote another tired phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." :-)

[2Cruise4Ever]

PE ~ again, a fair, balanced, and informative review! Thank you so much for the feedback. It's interesting to watch all the different reactions and changes. We look forward to our next sailing on the Dawn in June....

 

Welcome Home!!!! We missed you!! :D

[luddite]

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you had a large time on the trip.

A note for newbies or CCers with short memories: OP and I have been at odds regarding the fixed-menu concept. Maybe some issues with dress-codes for dinner, but I'm old, so cannot be certain there.

 

Did you end up with repeat meals from the fixed menu side or did you tend to choose the daily special?

 

One of the stated reasons for the concept was to allow the chef to concentrate on preparing a narrower menu in a better manner. Did you find that the food was better prepared than on past trips?

 

Is it true that the menu for lunch is the same all week?

 

Was there any talk of when NCL is planning to roll the fixed-menus fleetwide?

[Don Haynes]

I prefer my steaks grilled over a fire, otherwise its not a steak.

 

Unfortunately, the only fire on a cruise ship is the poolside BBQ. So when I cruise I order lamb, pork, chicken and fish most of the time for dinner. I can find great steaks at home, but not lamb, and pork. Its great to eat different chicken and fish dishes which in my home town is fried KFC and LJS.

 

Frankly, I look forward to cruise line fare continental cuisine.

[pex]

i am in the restaurant/catering business...while i feel the food in the pay restaurants is better, it is better because they use better quality ingrediants, such as larger cuts of steak, etc. this is not to say the quality in the main dining room is poor, just not as good. the surcharge for the pay restaurants probably barely covers the cost of the better quailty ingrediants

 

Fascinating. I am not in "the business" but I would have never guessed that I was getting $15/20/25 worth of better quality ingredients in the specialty restaurants than in the main dining rooms. My WAG would have been a couple of bucks, if that. I'll have another 13 days to test this out soon, but I really didn't find a major qualitative difference between the MDR's and the specialty restaurants. We dined at the specialty restaurants for variety, and for somewhat better service.

[Planer's Edge]

Thanks for the report. It sounds like you had a large time on the trip.

 

I always have a "large" time when I cruise NCL. I am just sort of wired that way.

 

A note for newbies or CCers with short memories: OP and I have been at odds regarding the fixed-menu concept. Maybe some issues with dress-codes for dinner, but I'm old, so cannot be certain there.

 

Did you end up with repeat meals from the fixed menu side or did you tend to choose the daily special?

 

I only had 2 meals from the "fixed" menu. The only reason I had those two is that Braised Lamb Shank is one of my all time favorite meals. This version was almost as good as that which is served in Il' Adagio on the Sun.

 

One of the stated reasons for the concept was to allow the chef(s) to concentrate on preparing a narrower menu in a better manner. Did you find that the food was better prepared than on past trips?

 

The preparation and presentation was much better than in the recent past. I would equate it to what was being done back in the 80's and early 90's.

Is it true that the menu for lunch is the same all week?

 

I did not eat in the dining room for lunch as I had Cagney's privileges or just grabbed something from the buffet or Bimini Grill. But, my understanding that it is the same for the whole cruise. Cagney's had the same menu for lunch everyday and it would have gotten very old if we ate there more frequently.

 

Was there any talk of when NCL is planning to roll the fixed-menus fleetwide?

 

Hugo is known for being quite optimistic and said the menus will be rolled out fleet wide very soon. The thing he did say that I believe is that it will be done one ship at a time not en masse.

PE<---is never at odds with people, just strives for clarity not agreement...

[terrymtex01]

No sorry necessary' date=' all input is very welcome. [/color']

 

I just remember you being somewhat against the menus before the cruise and after trying them you sounded fairly positive.

 

PE

 

Actually I was excited about them, it was Doug who was disappointed in not being able to go by the MDR daily to see what great new interesting items they had in store for us that night. However with the special daily section he had that part of his cruise experience that he loves so it worked out great for us. I can honestly say we both now give the Dawn's menus two thumbs up. I loved the way they made the Baked Florida Shrimp and can't wait to make them that way here at home. As far as the menus, I my stand on them here on CC was it wasn't a big deal to me either way, static or changing, because I can usually find something to eat that I would like, and I always enjoy salad and appetizers, so I knew I would be good either way. I just knew it seemed very important to some of my CC friends so if push came to shove I would vote for the changing menu, for their and Doug's benefit. 8-)

 

And I agree.. after meeting you I find it hard to believe you are ever at odds with folks, just enjoy a healthy discussion.. 8-)

 

I do want to also add that I have read people posting about the food being cold when it was supposed to be hot. I can say I never noticed that on any NCL ship however I did pay attention to that on the Dawn and all I can say is their food was always very hot. So hot that often we had to wait before eating it.