I never thought i would ask this - ncl dawn will i really hate it???

[tuggers]

Boy, did this come as a surprise! I'm actually considering this cruise. X has about given up on stopping in Tortola (and the last two cruises I was on with a stop there, missed it). I LOVE Tortola and I need a FIX! This 10 night is unbelievably cheap! They have over a dozen restaurants so shouldn't one of them be decent????

Anyone have experience with Dawn or NCL???

My expectations are VERY low. Will I still be disappointed????

[cruzeluver]

We have sailed with NCL 3 times, all prior to sailing with X. Our last NCL cruise was on the Dawn's "sister" Norwegian Star. For the prices they charge, NCL is a decent line. Just go in expecting a different (not better not worse) experience. Dress is very casual so accept that now. :D Food in the main dining rooms is usually alright, but nothing to write home about. I like their specialty dining, particularly Le Bistro and Cagney's. Food in both are excellent as is service. And speaking of service, while not as polished it is on X, I have found NCL to have very friendly crews that really do try to make your cruise as good as they can.

[tuggers]

I heard from one friend who has sailed on NCL (granted it was a while ago) and they thought everything tasted of the same seasoning.

I guess it would be good to go and not LOVE the food. Maybe I wouldn't gain so much weight???:eek:

[franma]

We sailed on Dawn a couple of years (?) ago and actually enjoyed it. After our first cruise on NCL, we thought we might not try again, but our issues on that cruise were more a factor of the ship (Majesty), not the line.

 

The dining is not ideal, but it was ok as was the food. We really enjoyed the entertainment on the Dawn. Can't remember what was so good about it, except for one hilarious comedian and a really good CD, but I remember commenting that they had some of the better shows.

 

If I'm not mistaken, I think the ship has been renovated recently.

 

Our favorite line currently is X and we are Elite, but we are open to other lines/cruises. If it's going where you want and the price is right, give it a try. At least you will be on a cruise and will get to Tortola.

 

Fran

[CaroleV]

I've been on the Dawn & didnt care for it. The food & service in the main dining room were sub par. Ate in Le Bistro twice & there the service & food was on a Celebrity level. Liked the Mexican place too. We ate in all the free restaurants hoping for a good experience but were disapointed. If you don't expect Celebrity food or atmosphere, go for it.....if the price is right. We prefer Celebrity, Princess or Royal Carib. more. JMO

[CaroleV]

I forgot to mention that the shows are MUCH better than X, if you are into that. We saw Bollywood & it was really something to see. Therfore, if you like shows better than food, the Dawn might be a great fit for you. I'd love to read your review from the decks of the Dawn!!

[kacurl]

We just got off the Dawn to Bermuda and had a great time. dh thought food better than x or holland Crew and staff excellent small pool nice casino was just refurbed well maintained. Never had problem with deck chairs would def go you won't be sorry

[Orator]

What's not to like, your on a cruise. You know what you like. If the port is the most important factor, go for it.

[dkjretired]

Boy, did this come as a surprise! I'm actually considering this cruise. X has about given up on stopping in Tortola (and the last two cruises I was on with a stop there, missed it). I LOVE Tortola and I need a FIX! This 10 night is unbelievably cheap! They have over a dozen restaurants so shouldn't one of them be decent????

Anyone have experience with Dawn or NCL???

My expectations are VERY low. Will I still be disappointed????

 

 

Gail:

 

We were on Dawn a couple of years ago and it was in need of a lot of work. I understand it just came out of a major drydock. There are some differences from Celebrity which are obvious.

 

On NCL, they are constantly selling everything, in the theater all they do prior to the show is sell bingo tickets. The shows were much better than on Celebrity having the usual theatrical show but at the time they also had "Second City." We also had an excellent comedian on the Dawn. Also had a couple of pay shows, I believe one of them was a murder mystery...

 

Food was okay, not as good as Celebrity. The MDR did a decent job but then I am easy to please. Dress was definitely not what you expect on Celebrity. The funniest thing I found was the tshirts worn by the waiters and waitresses that had an imprint of a tux on front and back. I wanted to buy one of those shirts but couldn't find them.Much more variety in the buffet as many on board skip the dining rooms and eat their dinners in the buffet.

 

They do have several specialty restaurants, we only tried Cagneys Steak House which I thought was about the same as going to Outback.

 

I also found that smoking was everywhere on the ship, casino was like a chimney....

 

With all this, I would not hesitate to take another NCL cruise if the condtions were right...

[ghstudio]

Tuggers .... I believe the cruise will meet your expectations

[bethd]

I was on the Dawn to Bermuda this past June. Staff was fine, food all tasted the same and none of it was really good.The breakfast selections in the buffet never changed for 7 days. We had one good dinner in the Aqua Dining Room.

 

I have cruised on X and Holland America and knew NCL would be a different expierence and it was. The Dawn is older and is showing her age. Cabins need to be updated and the beds were very uncomfortable.

 

I would not go back on NCL. Just not my kind of cruise.

 

Good Luck with your decision

[Toronto Guy]

The secret with NCL is to eat at all the specialty restaurants. I quite like Norwegian....think u will be pleasantly surprised. At least there is a lot more activity in the evenings than you will find on Celebrity...and a younger crowd too. For me that is a good thing, others not so much. To each their own. :)

[Zubsin]

I agree with trying the speciality dining ... we loved Teppanyaki (I don't think I spelled that correctly). NCL is different not better or worse than X. I didn't have the sense that they were always trying to sell something. I liked the casual dress code but we did dress up on dress up nights. Now we were not on the Dawn we were on the Jewel and I would go again in a heart beat.

 

One thing...the cabins are smaller but the bathrooms are nicer...we had a shower door not a curtain. We were in an aft cabin and it was a great balcony. I actually prefer it to X AFT balconies which I find a bit cavelike.

 

I loved the entertainment way more then X...but the Jewel has an amazing Cirque de solie show.

 

GO just know it's not X....and follow the fish on the carpet in the hallways they will lead you forward or aft. Donna

[cynbar]

As mentioned above, the main difference is the dress code ----- basically, NCL just doesn't have one. They will have an optional dress-up-or-not night once at least, but it was our experience that very few dressed up (of course, that could vary from cruise to cruise.) But it's common to see people in jeans or sweatpants or even shorts in the dining rooms, and the overall ambiance is VERY casual. I'm not sure if this is good or bad, but you should be prepared if you are used to the more elegant atmosphere of Celebrity. We have done 2 recent NCL cruises on the Gem, found the staff very accommodating and the entertainment to be a cut above Celebrity. It's just a different experience, overall. And if you budget for the specialty restaurants , you'll be more satisfied with the food which isn't up to Celebrity in the MDRs.

[jackdiamond]

We have some neighbors who have cruise NCL a number of times; and, they advise that it is not in the same league as Celebrity. Also, they opine that they do not have high expectations with regard to the food thereon; hence, they are no displeased with the poor quality thereof.

[4774Papa]

Boy, did this come as a surprise! I'm actually considering this cruise. X has about given up on stopping in Tortola (and the last two cruises I was on with a stop there, missed it). I LOVE Tortola and I need a FIX! This 10 night is unbelievably cheap! They have over a dozen restaurants so shouldn't one of them be decent????

 

Anyone have experience with Dawn or NCL???

 

My expectations are VERY low. Will I still be disappointed????

We have cruised twice on NCL (Jade and Gem). Both ships had great staff, service and the entertainment was pretty good. The MDRs are generally pretty good, but the specialty restaurants are very good. I like the French and Italian the most.

We have our first X cruise 3 December, so I will be able to compare NCL vs. X.

I do like NCL's freestyle approach, but my DW is excited about X's three nights of formal wear. I have rented a tux. Will report back after the Infinity cruise.

[sloopsailor]

You might be interested in what people have said about NCL on this thread titled "What's the worst cruise line ....."

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1481929

[shorefolks]

OP, as you are seeing, NCL produces some rather diverse reactions. Yours will depend entirely on how strongly you value each aspect of the cruise. We have sailed on the Dawn, Star, and Jade, and also twice with Princess. We're now booked on X, but we have not sailed with them yet. We are essentially port-intensive people. Thus, although we found we preferred Princess to NCL, the right itinerary at the right price would see us on NCL again.

 

If you like formality and really care about how other people dress, you will hate NCL. If you hate having to pack a lot of formal clothes and like a casual atmosphere without the spring break-type party crowd (of the sort usually attributed to Carnival), you will love NCL. If you like interesting food, you will be happier in the specialty restaurants (Le Bistro, Teppanyaki, and others depending on your tastes) than in the main dining room. We last sailed on Jade in Europe and found the food boring and bland but, of course, plentiful. (On the same cruise, many of the Brits found the food wonderful.) Service was quite acceptable, though.

 

If you book a suite, you will be treated well, including being able to have breakfast in Cagney's, which can be a peaceful morning haven. We had great experiences on Dawn and Star staying in suites, especially with a butler.

 

I can't judge the entertainment because I usually fall asleep. I do remember Second City, though. Apparently, they send their younger, newer members on the cruises. They were so unfunny that we walked out.

 

However, since your purpose in looking at the Dawn is the itinerary, you should probably just go ahead and book it. Whether you find NCL to your taste or not, Tortola will still be Tortola. Meanwhile, you will either find a new line that you like, or you will feel happier about returning to X- or going elsewhere. Give it a try.

[bessinfl]

My first cruise, last year, was on the Norwegian Sun; since then I've been on the Celebrity Solstice, which I loved. On NCL, my sister and I really liked not having to bring formal attire, although we (and most people) did spruce up for dinner. We don't remember seeing anybody in shorts or sweatshirts at dinner. The two specialty restaurants we tried were lovely; I preferred the French one on the Sun to Murano on the Solstice, which was entirely too fussy for me. I also found the crew on the Sun to be friendlier, and our cabin attendants were much more attentive.

 

Bad spots: The Sun stateroom was showing its age just a bit (it's since been in drydock). The games at the pool in the afternoon were irritating; we left whenever the assistant cruise director showed up. There were more tattoos than I'd care to see (although this may have been attributable to a very large tour group on board). And, while there wasn't a lot of smoke and it was relatively easy to avoid, there was still smoke. Celebrity is way ahead on that front.

 

All in all, I'd say the major difference is really in how much you like to get dressed up, how much you care what your fellow travelers wear and how much you hate smoking.

[Highlander1]

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised, our first two cruises were on the Dawn, we liked it so much we booked it again. To satisfy our curiousity, we then booked, RCCL Explorer, Princess Caribbean and Celebrity Summit consecutively, have to say NCL Dawn trips were as good as any of the others.

 

NCL has better entertainment, a 24 hour wings and burger restaurant (free), a more relaxed feeling from the all casual approach, and the pay restuarants offer many different choices at reasonable fees. Some are only $10-15. In addition, the best staff we've encountered yet, although Princess had a great crew.

 

We are booked on Celebrity Silhouette in March because its a new ship and its in our area and offers a 12 day to the Caribbean. We wouldn't hesitate to book NCL again. In fact, one of their new ships will be out of NYC to Bermuda beginning 4/13, we may just go for that.

[islandgirlejfan]

We're about to take our first Celebrity cruise so I can't compare the two, however we have been happy on our NCL cruises. Our last two cruises were in suites and I just can't say enough great things about the service we received. We were impressed with everyone with the exception of a well loved concierge. IMHO I would say he was just ok, but he has a reputation that follows him and we didn't find him all that.

 

Dining was mostly ok. We've never been bowled over by Le Bistro like many who cruise NCL or the Teppanyaki. Le Bistro has to be the poorest representation of French food ever and the Teppanyaki just didn't do it for us We love Cagneys, LaCucina and surprisingly the buffet was very good to excellent on the Pearl. The steak at Cagney's isn't Morton's, Ruth Chris or Flemings quality....more like the Outback which we personally find just fine. LaCucina's food reminded me of New York's Little Italy which I find much better than Baltimore's. Some of the Mexican food turned out to be very good....I think the only thing I didn't care for there was the Tex-Mex ribs....the server brought me lobster soft tacos and they were amazing! Hubby had a swordfish kabob over a tropical rice that he thought was great. The oriental food was good, but the service was hit or miss in that restaurant. There can be just off nights where the kitchen and the wait staff just aren't working together I guess.

 

I loved Bliss bedding in our suite so much that I would actually buy one of their mattresses! My son just cruised on NCL a few months ago in the regular stateroom and said they found the mattress a little hard. They do have toppers that they will add if you find them not to your liking.

 

I don't think you will see the sweatpants or shorts on the longer cruises in the evening...at least we didn't. On dress up or not night, many people were smart casual and beyond. It's an opportunity for many families and couples on board to have a portrait taken and many take advantage of the chance to do so. Shorter cruises are always a little more hair raising because it's a chance for the younger people to get their feet wet and catch the fever...they tend to be a little more informal.

 

We loved the shows on NCL! The comedian was fabulous and we liked him best. We loved the themed dance parties and the Newlywed/Not So Newlywed game....always cute.

 

We were only pestered one time on our last cruise which was we went to disco night and one waiter kept bothering us to get a drink. It ended with us leaving, more because I was having an issue with my equilibrium and the seas were rough. Other than that, we were never bothered unless we asked specifically.

 

The downsides for us were basically smoking which we really don't care for and the biggest reason we are giving Celebrity a try and the fact that we are spoiled and will only cruise NCL in a suite which comes at a higher price and we want to cruise more, not less. Other than that, it's a cruise....how bad can it be??! :D

[mafig]

If you can get a suite on NCL ~ go for it. Their suite experience is the best. Sometimes you can get a deal where the OBC on suites ($300 or more), makes the price very close to that of a balcony.

 

NCL Dawn, as others have mentioned, has been recently refurbished. They have also added new suites on Deck 12. So those suites are not refurbished, they are brand new.

[floridacruisers]

tuggers......

Although it has been a while since my last NCL cruise, I do think there are two specific things that are quite dissimilar.

First: Don't know how you feel about smoking but be prepared for quite a bit of it.

Second: The passenger demographics are "different". I noticed it on our stop in Costa Maya when an NCL ship was docked next to the Solstice (which we were on). JMHO.

 

Phil

[dabear]

While we've been on X a number of times we tried the NCL Jade earlier this year and found it acceptable. Actually we thought that the cabin value & entertainment was better than X but the food in the MDR, service, ambiance, etc was not as good. Also the constant loudspeaker announcements & pushing of xtra cost items was a little annoying. The 3 specialty restaurants on NCL were very good, but plan to add that to your trip costs when comparing. While we would take NCL again if the itinerary was better, we would choose X over NCL if all else was equal.

[nasamom]

We were just on the Dawn several weeks ago. As other have said, much more informal (which my husband prefers). We only ate in the main dining rooms-Venetian & Aqua. Meals were just ok, to some really good. We really enjoyed the entertainment. Staff was very friendly and helpful. Took a peek into the new family suites, and they are beautiful!! I'm sure you'll have a great time!