First Time on Dawn Questions about "Adult Beverages"

[amesisland]

Hi everyone! My husband and I are going on our first cruise the first week in August on the Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda. We have the Unlimited Beverage Package. I have read many reviews and complaints that the bar service has been terrible. :( I am wondering if tipping extra helps get better service from the bartenders and servers? Did anyone find better service in one bar versus another? Has anyone had a positive experience? Thanks!

[rvsullivan]

We find the Dawn is one of our favorite ships and actually have two more cruises booked on her. We have never found service to be lacking at any time, whether it was busy or slow.

I'm curious where you are seeing many reviews and complaints? I've noticed a half dozen or so in the review section. Bear in mind there are about 2000 or more cruisers a week just on the Dawn. So 8-10,000 per month on just that one ship. I think the math stands for itself. Some have expectations that are unreasonable or take one situation and make it a major issue.

I think you will find it will be fine.

Of course if you tip a buck or so per round you will likely get a little extra attention. Enjoy your cruise.

[letsgocruisin]

I was on the Dawn last week. There seem to be alot of complaints that the bar service is slow. Maybe it was but what is your hurry? Relax and enjoy your time. We spent most of our time at pearlys pub. There were 2 great servers doing the best they could. They will get to know you and come over quickly. Gatsbys was not too bad. First day the pool bars are crazy lots of people trying to get a drink. Find a seat a server will walk by. I found once you got your first drink they come over more frequently. They definitely need more bartenders at all the bars if they are going to continue with the UBP .....NCL needs to improve on this! The casino bar was usually quick so if you are walking by grab a drink!!

 

I never tipped extra so not sure if this will help but I always tip separately at the end of the week for great service.

 

Enjoy your trip I love the Dawn and already have next year booked!

[gail-s]

The only time I had an issue getting a drink was the Wednesday on the way back to Boston in the middle of the day by the pool. I probably was just impatient because I was tired and hungry. Other than that for a Fourth of Juky cruise we found the service great (and we used and enjoyed the UBP)

[Sauer-kraut]

I wonder if servers are being "slow" because people aren't tipping on top of UBP or because of the 18% auto grat.

[gail-s]

Toss an extra $2 on the tip and they came right back each time.

[Samstress]

We are 4 girls who do a yearly getaway. We have found that if you add a couple of bucks (in our case..$4=$1 each) to your drink order; you will never be on 'ignore'. When we cruised last year the UDP was not a perk so we will see what happens now that more people are in on the promotion.

Cheers,

Sandy

[cb at sea]

We've NEVER, EVER "pre-tipped" and we get fabulous service! If one bar is a bit "lax", go to another...there are plenty!

[amesisland]

Thank you to everyone for your insights. It is much appreciated! I think we will plan to tip a little each time we get a drink if the service is good :)

[ColinIllinois]

I've never had to bribe a bartender to get decent service. I rarely tip above the 18% automatic gratuity. That's plenty for opening a beer bottle.

[johnny42johnny]

I recently went on the Dawn to Bermuda (6/26 to 7/3) with my better half and 4 friends, and we all had the drink package.

 

There are a couple ways to rate service. When I think of bar service, I think of (in no particular order):

 

1) Friendliness of staff

2) Availability of staff (speed and ease of getting a drink when you want one)

3) Quality of drinks

 

1) In my experience, the staff was generally (but not always) friendly and personable. Specifically, I enjoyed the service of Mack (bartender in pearly kings pub), Mae (sp?) roving cocktail waitress near the topsiders bar, and Ricky roving cocktail waiter near topsiders bar.

 

2) Availability was generally not great. On prior cruises Ive been on (one w NCL and one on RC) where most of the guests didn't have a drink package, it seemed like every 5 minutes there was someone asking if you wanted to buy a drink (no matter where you were on the boat). On this cruise I legitimately found it difficult and tedious to get a drink. On sea days (especially the first two) I found the queue for the two pool bars was 4 people deep and generally took 15 to 25 minutes to get served. The roving cocktail waiters/waitresses did not roam very far away from the bar so unless you got a chair or table close to the bar, you were going to need to wait in the bar queue to get served (not fun).

 

3) Quality of drinks - except for beer and wine (which they cant really mess with) the quality was awful. The mixed drinks were ridiculously weak, and there was nothing you could do to make them stronger. Asking the server for a "normal" drink didn't work, tipping didn't work either. They were watered down to the point where you felt like they didn't add ANY alcohol. If you are someone who drinks once a year, you probably wouldn't notice, otherwise, you would be annoyed. We were told that if we wanted, we could purchase an additional drink (on our own dime) to make them stronger. So in other words, if you want anything close to a normal mixed drink, you could pay for it. Just so that we are all on the same page, I consider a normal drink to be one where you can taste the alcohol a little. On the cruise, you couldn't taste the alcohol AT ALL. Captain and Coke tasted like Coke with no Captain.

 

One of my friends said that she got a good (not watered down) drink at the Gatsby Bar. I also got a good drink once at the casino bar (I wish I could remember the bartenders name).

 

To answer your original questions about tipping, I found that if you were on deck and close enough to the bar to be in the radius of a waiter or waitress, that tipping resulted in them coming back to you more often (still didn't help with the drink quality but you could say that at least you got more watered down drinks that way). Other than that, I didn't find that tipping helped very much.

[amesisland]

Thank you so much for your detailed information. It is extremely helpful. How you rate service is exactly how I would rate it. I am curious to see what our experience is like. I will be sure to report back after our cruise in a couple of weeks. Thanks again!

[newmexicoNita]

Hi everyone! My husband and I are going on our first cruise the first week in August on the Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda. We have the Unlimited Beverage Package. I have read many reviews and complaints that the bar service has been terrible. :( I am wondering if tipping extra helps get better service from the bartenders and servers? Did anyone find better service in one bar versus another? Has anyone had a positive experience? Thanks!

 

Don't believe everything you read, here or anywhere. For us, we have never had a problem, evne since the UBP started. Of course there are bars that are busier than others and no, you may not get waited on the second you want satisfaction; but we only waiting more than a second or so, once on our last cruise. It was in the atruim bar, always busy. They had 2 bar tenders working, it was mid morning with Bloody Mary specials still in effect. I think I waited maybe 5 minutes. Before dinner there will also be a lot of people at some bars, but that is the case anywhere most of us go, just before a meal.

 

As for tipping extra, we never have, so I can't remark about that.

you might want to try without the extra tip and see, if you think service is too slow, add a buck or two see what happens?

 

Enjoy your cruise and don't expect bad service, expect to have a great time. As for quality of drinks, I have rarely been to any bar that serves great, strong drinks, if that is what you want. I think the best way to assure a decent drink if you feel yours are too weak, order them on the rocks with no mixer.

Edited July 27, 2015 by newmexicoNita

[johnny42johnny]

"order them on the rocks with no mixer"

 

 

That's good advice.

[detroitlions]

"order them on the rocks with no mixer"

 

 

That's good advice.

 

That's what I do then I order a coke and do it myself if they are weak. The pool area was the only area on the epic that was slow . I did find one server that was good so I threw him a buck or two here and there not every time. I liked the bar in h2o wait was bad but not horrible like the main pool.i found the best service at the bar by the humidor and oshehans

[Mr Owl]

Thank you to everyone for your insights. It is much appreciated! I think we will plan to tip a little each time we get a drink if the service is good :)

 

In six cruises with NCL (three on the Dawn), I have found this to work very well. While the service is always acceptable no matter what, it's clear to me that another "dollar per drink" goes a long way in getting you better service.

[amesisland]

Since I posted the question and we have returned from our trip, I thought I would give an update about our experience with the beverage service.

 

My husband and I found the beverage service to be just fine. On sea days, we spent time out by the pool from about 9am to 2pm. The service by the pool was great. We did tip a dollar per drink each time so I am not sure if this made a difference in our service but all week the same waiter would come by often to take our drink order. He would even yell our names across the deck and put up 2 fingers asking us if we wanted 2 more. Walk up service at the pool bar took a little longer but never more than 10-15 minutes when it was super busy. There were usually about 4 servers in that area during busy times.

 

The only time and place we would wait for a drink is when the Spinnaker lounge was busy. It was hard to get a server's attention and the line at the bar was long and it took forever to get a drink. This is easily remedied by just going to another bar close by to grab a drink if you really didn't want to wait (which we did once).

 

The drinks at Gatsby's and Pearly Kings seemed to be stronger than out by the pool. They were delicious!

 

All in all, we had a good experience with no complaints.

Edited August 25, 2015 by amesisland

[rvsullivan]

Since I posted the question and we have returned from our trip, I thought I would give an update about our experience with the beverage service.

 

My husband and I found the beverage service to be just fine. On sea days, we spent time out by the pool from about 9am to 2pm. The service by the pool was great. We did tip a dollar per drink each time so I am not sure if this made a difference in our service but all week the same waiter would come by often to take our drink order. He would even yell our names across the deck and put up 2 fingers asking us if we wanted 2 more. Walk up service at the pool bar took a little longer but never more than 10-15 minutes when it was super busy. There were usually about 4 servers in that area during busy times.

 

The only time and place we would wait for a drink is when the Spinnaker lounge was busy. It was hard to get a server's attention and the line at the bar was long and it took forever to get a drink. This is easily remedied by just going to another bar close by to grab a drink if you really didn't want to wait (which we did once).

 

The drinks at Gatsby's and Pearly Kings seemed to be stronger than out by the pool. They were delicious!

 

All in all, we had a good experience with no complaints.

 

Thanks for the follow up!! Dawn is a great ship and the servers really try to make you happy. Glad it all went well for you.

[calmpets]

The drinks at Gatsby's and Pearly Kings seemed to be stronger than out by the pool. They were delicious!

 

All in all, we had a good experience with no complaints.

 

The martini bar on each ship, regardless of what it is named, has always been one of my favorite spots for a cocktail. Glad to hear they are still one of the go-to spots!

[DMH15]

With UDP do you sign a ticket? Can you add a dollar? Or do you take ones?

[wndmom]

With UBP, you can add a dollar. At least it worked that way on the Getaway in July.