Dawn Review 4/3/05

[BoscoBreaux]

There have been many reviews of this ship recently, so I’ll just give a summary, with some personal observations and complaints that may have differed somewhat from other reviews. My sailing was the 4/3/05 Florida/Bahamas voyage of the Norwegian Dawn–-the last voyage before "The Rogue Wave."

 

The Ship.

 

It was lovely, and was probably the cleanest ship I have been on. (Granted, I have only been on three others.) But, it had the most confusing layout as well, with some entrances to dining rooms actually between floors, and traversing from bow to stern not possible on many floors. The lobby was huge, and made the ship feel even bigger than it was. Also, the main buffet area doubled as a hallway to get to the stern of the ship, which made traffic for traffic jams aplenty. Also, for some reason, they let children hang out in the hot tubs, making few opportunities for adults to even get near them, which was a shame since the T Rex kids area looked like lots of fun!

 

The Restaurants.

 

This was my first "Freestyle" cruise, and I must admit, I loved it. Not only could you eat any time you want (between 5:30 to 10:00), but if you were creative, you could eat at two places on the same night! The food quality was good, although I think the portion sizes were smaller than any other cruise I have been on. In fact, on a couple occasions, I had to go to the buffet afterwards to "fill up." But, perhaps that was my fault–-I could have ordered two entrees in the dining room.

 

Service was excellent, as good as "traditional" dining cruises I have been on, but there was more rushing about the dining room on the part of the staff. This, I take it, is a function of serving so many tables of two, and taking orders at different times. The "all-female" crew in Aqua was quite good, but rushed the most, with tempo slowing down as the restaurants got bigger. Le Bistro was awesome–great food and atmosphere. Bamboo was a disappointment–the food portions were tiny and the decor seemed inappropriate to the cuisine. Impressions was my favorite dining room for service and decor (even with the "Masters" in Le Bistro).

 

Entertainment

 

Cruise Director staff was fair: the CD was entertaining and had a good voice, but was unremarkable. Bollywood was unique, and spectacular. Second City’s main performance was very entertaining, but while I admire their improvisational skills, it doesn’t make for hilarious comedy usually. Their stock comedy skits were very funny, however. The rest of the entertainment was rather lame, since I am not a fan of the "audience as entertainment" propensity of cruise director staffs on cruise ships, or magicians for that matter. I adored Pamala Stanley, who played in the Gatsby bar area nearly every night. She was a wonderful pianist, was very genial, and could play anything-–and play it well. I’d definite take another cruise just because she was playing there.

 

The Ports

 

My trip to Kennedy Space Center was the highlight of the trip, and Miami’s South Beach was funky fun.

 

Great Stirrup Cay. Picture 2,000 New Yorkers on a 1 acre beach, and you get the idea: Coney Island in the Caribbean. It wasn’t worth the tender trip.

 

Nassau=Bummer. We got there at 9pm, just in time to watch all of the stores close (assuming we’d want to venture to downtown Nassau at night). And, we had to be back to the ship at 11:30ish the next morning. This is silly in my opinion, since most of those younger passengers who may have taken advantage of the Nassau "nightlife" seemed to have children with them. There obviously is a reason the itinerary was changed, and it had nothing to do with making passengers happy I suspect.

 

Port of New York

 

I could go on for days how awful the experience was. Let’s just say that I think I have a sense of what the folks at Ellis Island went through early last century. I am sure the employees there were less rude, however.

[judyf]

Thanks for the report. Can you give me more details on South Beach in Miami? How you get there? What do you do, ect.?

 

Thanks

[1cruise4us]

I was on the 3/20 sailing and agree with a lot of your review. I think it will be very informative for people who come to the boards for an unbiased opinion.

[BoscoBreaux]

Thanks for the report. Can you give me more details on South Beach in Miami? How you get there? What do you do, ect.?

 

Thanks

If I recall, for $18, NCL has something called "BB Hopper," which is basically bus service from the dock to both South Beach and a shopping mall on the bay, somewhat near the ship. The buses run every 20 minutes or so, so when you've had enough of one you can just go to the next, or back to the ship.

 

In South Beach, you can go to the beach, take a walk along the bike/rollerblading pathway, or just walk the streets and look at the art deco buildings. Of course, NCL has excursions that are guided, but just walking around was okay for me, but if I went again, I would want a guided tour of the area, since I didn't really know the significance of what I was looking at as far as architecture is concerned.

[judyf]

Thanks, I agree with you about a guided tour. They are worth the extra monry to learn the little details. I'm really trying to decide this weekend about the do in the 2 ports P.C and Miami.

 

Thanks