Review of the 7/18 Sailing of the Norwegian Dawn

[JPV072900]

I am FINALLY getting around to writing a review of the 7/18 sailing on the Dawn. There's a lot of good to write about and a lot to write about that was not so good!

 

This was my 15th cruise, and 4th with NCL. It was also my first time on the Dawn, but my 3rd NCL cruise to Bermuda.

 

There were 7 of us on this cruise. My dad, my stepmom, my niece (age 8), my wife, my two sons (ages 11 & 9), and ME! This was supposed to be a cruise to celebrate my stepmom being cancer-free, but we found out that the cancer returned shortly before the cruise. Despite the bad news, we didn't let it get in the way of enjoying our cruise.

 

Okay, we started this vacation the night before. We decided to stay at the Residence Inn on Congress Street which is only 1 mile from the Black Falcon Terminal. The hotel was gorgeous, but it wasn't quiet during the night.

 

Embarkation was okay. We should have gone earlier than we did, but we didn't, so we had the typical lines to get through. Once we got rid of our luggage, the lines moved VERY quickly even at a busy time.

 

ROOM 11586 & 11588

 

Once on board, we were able to go to our rooms. We had connecting mini-suites. The rooms were very nice. We loved the balconies, but I wish someone could give us a reason as to why they couldn't have connecting balconies! It was nice that the room had a coffee maker, though we never used it since coffee was only one floor up. The room also had a fridge which was good to keep soda in. The room has a TV which gets 3-4 channels like FOX News and CNN. The balcony had two chairs and a small table, but there was enough room for 4 chairs and another small table.

 

The bathroom was nicer than other rooms. It had three tiny sections. One part was the shower which was actually a tub. It was SO much nicer than those tiny showers in most cruise ship bathrooms. The toilet was also in a separate section, and the sink was in the middle section.

 

There wasn't much drawer space. There were only 2 drawers in the room, but the closet space had plenty of shelves.

 

Our room steward did a good job at keeping our room clean. The only thing I didn't like was that there appeared to be dust on the top of some of the shelves, but it turns out it was salt.

 

The bed was nice. I like a firm mattress, but my wife likes a softer mattress. I slept well, but she didn't sleep as well! The hallway outside the room was pretty quiet except for the occasional kid running down the hall. I brought a fan so it drowned out most of the noise.

 

The room is also located directly below the pool and the pool deck, so sometimes at 4:00am, you'd hear the crew cleaning and preparing the deck. Quite annoying!

 

THE SHIP:

 

I was a bit disappointed with the ship. It was definitely well kept and clean, but there are some things I didn't like. HOW could it ONLY have ONE pool?? There were about 2,000 people on this ship, and ONLY ONE POOL? It was pretty ridiculous! It was a wonderful place to go from 6:00am till about 10:00am, but then once it filled up, it was loud and obnoxious! The pool was full of people, and the 4 hot tubs were filled over capacity. There is one hot tub at the front of the ship on deck 13, but the one time I went in it, it was cold, and the wind was too much!

 

Alright, I'm going to bed now, and I'll try to write more this weekend. Please post questions.

 

I plan to talk about the food, Bermuda, my opinions on NCL and their service, entertainment, and whatever else I can think about!

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report!

[JPV072900]

Alright, I think I'll talk about the food now! I have mixed feelings about the food. For the 7 nights on the ship, we ate in the Venetian for the first 2 nights, the Aqua for the 3rd and 4th night, the Garden Cafe for the 5th night, Le Bistro for the 6th night, and Moderno for the last night.

 

The reasoning for this was simple. We tried to enjoy the Venetian on the first two nights. The dining room itself is BEAUTIFUL! It's huge, it's the fancier-looking of the two main dining rooms. We wanted to love this dining room, but we felt that the service in the dining room was less than we expected. We had the same waitress by chance for the first two nights. Her name was Aimee, and she was not the type of waitress you'd expect on NCL or any cruise line. She wasn't friendly, she didn't seem happy to be there. She seemed overworked. I'm sorry, but you work on a cruise ship, you should expect to be overworked! The first night did not leave us walking away happy, and so I filled out a comment card letting them know that she was not very pleasant!

 

The second night was "formal" night, so we got all dressed up and went back to the Venetian. This time, I requested a spot near the piano and away from her section...turns out they move around, and we had her AGAIN!! We couldn't believe it! Was this some sort of joke?? Since my whole party hadn't arrived yet, I told her that one of our family members wasn't well, and she seemed to be nicer than the previous night. As for the food, I ordered the linguini with clams...it was not good! It was a giant plate of pasta with 5, yes FIVE, tiny clams in it!! It was not good.

 

The third night, we went to the Aqua. It started off GREAT! We got a very nice waiter, Alejandro, and he treated us great. We ordered, and then something strange happened. It seemed like the dining room suddenly got swamped, and what ended up happening was that we ALL got a cold meal!! Sadly, we wanted to like him, and he was very nice, but the meal was cold.

 

The 4th night, we got EXCELLENT food, but mediocre service! The service in the main dining room was right up there with the service you'd expect at Applebees!! I was floored when another CC person described it that way!! The 4th night in the Aqua, I had the Chateaubriand, and it was EXCELLENT!! It was mouth-watering, cooked to perfection...DELICIOUS!!

 

After the lousy service for 4 nights in the dining room AND a long day in Bermuda, we decided to have dinner in the Garden Cafe. The food was good, it had a good selection, and there was plenty of it!!

 

For the 6th night, we decided to let the kids have their own dinner in the Garden Cafe, and we decided to have dinner for 4 in Le Bistro. Everything about Le Bistro was GREAT! The waiter was very nice, the food was excellent. The beef tenderloin was perfect! I was also happy they had escargot. I was disappointed that it wasn't in the main dining rooms.

 

The last night was in Moderno, and we only ate there because the steakhouse was booked solid! Moderno was great. The service was very good. The buffet they provided was EXCELLENT! The meat that they brought out was very good. Dessert was okay!

 

I felt that the dinners and the service in the specialty restaurants were what we used to get for FREE in the main dining rooms. It's VERY disappointing that we have to pay extra in order to get good food and service on a cruise ship!

 

To be honest, we were so disappointed in the service in the main dining rooms, that we went to guest services and complained about it! We requested that they adjusted our daily service charges, and we basically adjusted it so we could take that money and use it in the specialty restaurants for the last two nights.

 

I think a clear message should be sent to NCL that we're not going to be satisfied with their lousy dining room service. Although I sure not every person on their waitstaff gives lousy service, we certainly feel that they cannot consistently provide enough good service to everyone!

 

I'm interested in what others think who have been on the Dawn lately :D

[www3traveler]

What you are saying is a system wide problem not just on The Dawn. A lot has been said to the Company about it. Hopefully someone in the corporate world will listen.

[JPV072900]

What you are saying is a system wide problem not just on The Dawn. A lot has been said to the Company about it. Hopefully someone in the corporate world will listen.

 

Yes, I think more people need to complain to guest services. There was once a day when people would receive envelopes and personally give the tips to their waiter, busboy, room steward, and headwaiter. Now, it's just a charge on your room account. My dad was telling me that he used to give way more than the daily recommended tip because the service was above and beyond what was expected, now we're not giving the minimum amount of the DSC.

 

Do I think NCL will listen?? Probably not!! So if you're unhappy, take the 5 minutes and go to Guest Services and let them know!!!

[Bonnie&Jim]

You do realize the dsc you rescinded on go to everyone, not just dining room staff. So everyone was punished even if they did great work.

 

Bonnie

[www3traveler]

You do realize the dsc you rescinded on go to everyone, not just dining room staff. So everyone was punished even if they did great work.

 

Bonnie

I would never withhold the DSC. I wrote a letter (snail mail) about my cruise on The Getaway in June and the poor dining room service.

[newmexicoNita]

What you are saying is a system wide problem not just on The Dawn. A lot has been said to the Company about it. Hopefully someone in the corporate world will listen.

 

Service and quality of food has gone down on all cruise lines. We sailed the Dawn in April/May for 12 days and had good service, most of the time outstanding. Maybe some of us are don't expect as much as we did years ago. We have cruised enough to know things have changed. There was a time when cruising was for the upper end people, now it is a family vacation, priced for the middle class family and it shows. Our first cruise was 30 years ago on a now defunk line that was budget then. Yes, the service was better than now and so was the food, but they were not serving 2000 plus people. Ships then held closer to 900 passengers. It was a very different experience.

[JPV072900]

I understand what you both are saying about the DSCs, BUT why am I paying for this service if I'm getting nothing out of it? Our room steward did a very good job. I had no issues with him! I did what I could in filling out the comment card on the first night. I also filled out the survey that came after we got home. But let's be honest, no one cares what we fill out on the comment cards or surveys. NCL doesn't care what we write about on CC either! When people start complaining more and there are less funds that come in through the DSCs, maybe THAT will get their attention.

 

I certainly am not expecting the service we received back in the 80s and 90s, but a general respect and warm food, is THAT too much to expect? If I can't get that, then they can't get my $$$!!

[www3traveler]

Service and quality of food has gone down on all cruise lines. We sailed the Dawn in April/May for 12 days and had good service, most of the time outstanding. Maybe some of us are don't expect as much as we did years ago. We have cruised enough to know things have changed. There was a time when cruising was for the upper end people, now it is a family vacation, priced for the middle class family and it shows. Our first cruise was 30 years ago on a now defunk line that was budget then. Yes, the service was better than now and so was the food, but they were not serving 2000 plus people. Ships then held closer to 900 passengers. It was a very different experience.

What most passengers do not realize either is that almost every embarkation day, new staff arrive just like passengers. Some staff is just new to a particular dining room, may be new to a ship or on their very first contact and away from home for the very first time. I can remember many years ago, the first time I ever waited tables and how scared I was.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Service and quality of food has gone down on all cruise lines. We sailed the Dawn in April/May for 12 days and had good service, most of the time outstanding. Maybe some of us are don't expect as much as we did years ago. We have cruised enough to know things have changed. There was a time when cruising was for the upper end people, now it is a family vacation, priced for the middle class family and it shows. Our first cruise was 30 years ago on a now defunk line that was budget then. Yes, the service was better than now and so was the food, but they were not serving 2000 plus people. Ships then held closer to 900 passengers. It was a very different experience.

 

I have never been on the mega ships which hold over 4000 passengers, only the Jewel class sized and smaller. The service and food were ok.

 

Working on the mega-ships, cooking and serving for thousands daily, would be an overwhelming experience. I would not want to do it. However, I am greatful for those who do it so well.

[sinclaj]

I was enjoying your review until I read about you "adjusting" the DSC. That's not OK.

[declansdad]

OP, we were on the July 4th sailing and I agree with you about the service and the food. Both the Venetian and Aqua has mediocre food and mediocre menus. We also saw many servers who didn't seem happy.

 

The worst server was at the Tepenyaki restaurant. She never smiled and made it seem that everyone in the room was a burden to her. I can't say the same about the two chefs though, they were fantastic.

[Johnsmomkathy]

I was enjoying your review until I read about you "adjusting" the DSC. That's not OK.

 

I was thinking the same thing!

[herdingdogmom]

I understand what you both are saying about the DSCs, BUT why am I paying for this service if I'm getting nothing out of it? Our room steward did a very good job. I had no issues with him! When people start complaining more and there are less funds that come in through the DSCs, maybe THAT will get their attention.

 

When you adjust your DSC so significantly (to approx. $6.30/day), all the crew members in the pool get less $ which will make service decline further vs. improve it. I sure hope you tipped your room steward directly.

 

The only thing that will really get the attention you want is if people stop booking cruises because of the food and service in the MDR's - which seems unlikely.