The 4th of July Flashers are back from the Dawn!

[snorklinbarb]

The CC 4th of July Flashers are back from the Dawn! From embarkation to the holiday celebrations to the wacky and wild “Quest” game, we were flashing loud and proud! Thanks to SuzyS and PRFIRE45, our pins were a big hit on the ship and some of the staff will have a little flasher to remember us by.

 

Since we were last on the Dawn, they’ve added a special Latitudes waiting area (along with suites) on the upper level of the NY pier. We arrived at the pier right around noon and boarded shortly after. In the meantime, we had a chance to meet several of the other Flashers – a great way to kick off the week. Since cabins aren’t available until 2 pm, we headed right for the Venetian DR for a nice sit down lunch. Bob enjoyed the blackened tilapia and I had the mushrooms crepes in a béchamel sauce. Arnulfo our waiter made us feel welcome.

 

Our cabin, a porthole on deck 4, was adequate for the 2 of us. Though our cabin stewards were friendly and always addressed me by name, we did have a few issues with the cabin such as sticky drawers, a blinking overhead light and a couple of other things, but they got sorted out quickly. We did miss the towel animals, never receiving even one the entire trip. Others we talked to did get one animal during the week and we were told this is the norm on the Dawn.

 

Since we’ve been on the Dawn 7 or 8 times before (depending if you count a 1 night CTN!!), we just walked around happy to be back on this wonderful ship. Of course this trip was full of kids, maybe around 800 of them. Other than occasionally meeting up with a couple of packs of older teenagers whose vocabulary varied between “wasted” and “shots,” we thought the kids were well behaved. It’s a real testimony to the Kids Club counselors, who do a great job keeping the kids busy and happy.

 

Dinner that night was in Bamboo, the Asian restaurant that serves Thai, Chinese, Japanese and even some Indonesian offerings. Between Bob and me, we had dim sum, spicy Thai soup, Oriental chicken salad, lamb vindaloo, szechuan beef and crab cakes. Our server Nestor brought a couple of extra dishes with vegetables to compliment our meal. All week whenever he saw us, Nestor always went out of his way to say hello and ask about our day. Unfortunately when I asked for a comment card, he said they didn’t have any. In the main DR’s as well, sometimes there were comment cards but more often than not they were a rare commodity and never had the waiter’s and asst’s names on them.

 

Melisa from the Phillipines was another standout at Bamboo. Later in the week we returned to Bamboo, this time to the Teppanyaki area (which seats 18). Another CC family joined us and we had a great time and excellent food. They have an egg allergy and it was pretty impressive to see the chef change spatulas 3 times to make sure everything would be OK for them. Bob and I both thought the filet was terrific and along with edamame appetizers, salad, stir fry veggies and fried rice (not to mention all the garlic we requested), we had a delicious meal and enjoyed the “entertainment.” Maitre d’ Roosdin came around several times to make sure our evening was going well and the staff did a nice job with a double husband-wife Happy Birthday celebration.

 

We really enjoyed our CC Meet the Flashers gathering with about 20 showing up in the Star Bar Sun. morning. The charming and dynamic HD Hugo Vanosmael led his team in to meet us. We were so happy to see Tony Lockett as Food & Bev. Dir. as we’d already sailed twice before with him. Tony is the consummate host and later showed his skills at a special CC dinner we had mid-week with 4 of the Dawn’s officers.

 

From time to time as their schedules permit, they like to organize special events and are planning to have a few Officers Dinners onboard for passengers to enjoy. Asst. HD Jamie Petts, Exec. Housekeeper Patricia, Group Svcs Coordinator Island Luxon and “good time” CD Matt Baker rounded out the CC greeting party and we were to see a lot of them all week long. Along with the magnetic Restaurant Mgr. Sladan, this team extended their gracious hospitality to us all week, making themselves available, helping with reservations, welcoming feedback and just making sure everyone was enjoying themselves to the max.

 

Bob will be eternally grateful to Tony for introducing him to a great seasickness remedy called Underberg, sold in the bars. It’s a potent drink (88 proof) with herbs from 43 countries (we did a google search when we got home) and calms the stomach effectively. That said, we were blessed with smooth seas pretty much all week. Even the Bermuda leg and Hatteras weren’t that bad and we thank Captain Trygve Vorren for the gentle ride.

 

We were slotted for the afternoon Latitudes party on Tues. and sat with several of the CC’ers. Matt Baker came by to hang out with us some. He is a terrific high-energy and very funny CD, not to mention a talented harmonica player! You will enjoy the many events he hosts for sure. I’ve never heard so much laughter from a disembarkation talk either!

 

Latitudes Mgr. Nathan Manning, whom we met on the Jewel, is back on the Dawn with a team of 3. Through a series of champagne previews, they are introducing the new Freestyle Rewards program. The previous “Bonus Rewards” program is being replaced with this very simple program. It costs $250 with an immediate $100 OBC for the current cruise and secures your deposit. You have 18 months to book another cruise and lots of time after that to actually take the cruise. There are a few perks that go along with it as well. From what we saw, lots of people bought into this program and so did we.

 

Something a little different on the Dawn this time, there was one “optional formal” night and one listed as “elegant” later in the week. Though we chose to dress up, resort casual is always OK and it’s nice to see folks doing their own thing during the week. We did see people being turned away for blue jeans and shorts in 2 different restaurants. They do now allow blue jeans in the Italian restaurant La Trattoria and shorts are OK at the Garden Café.

 

Sorry we can’t comment on the buffet as we never went there once the entire week. A couple of sea days we had lunch by the aft windows in the Venetian. Wilbur from Grenada and his teammate Dinoh from the Phillipines were great servers and very funny, too. We always enjoyed running into them around the ship and they always came over from their stations to say hello.

 

In fact, this is a very happy ship judging by the wait staff. They are engaging and have great attitudes. The Maitre d’s and Asst. Maitre d’s are always circulating and stopping to ask how the meal is. Alex the head Maitre d' in Venetian always managed to have a wonderful table for two for us. It’s a relaxed atmosphere even in the middle of rather frenetic dining times. Andre from Trinidad served us a wonderful meal of lobster tails & Beef Wellington (it’s back!!) in Impressions on elegant night and Julito the Maitre d’ was right at our side several times to see how everything was going. Again at the end of the meal with Andre, I wished we had had a comment card so we could mark the meal as excellent.

 

On top of that, the HD Hugo, Food & Bev. Dir. Tony and Restaurant Mgr. Sladan themselves make the rounds constantly throughout all the restaurants. If you have any issues, compliments or complaints they are out and about all the time to help you. It’s a highly visible team and they have those restaurants buzzing. Sometimes we could barely take a sip of water or coffee and there would be a refill on the way. I only heard good comments about the service from people I talked to.

 

The one complaint I did hear a lot was the inability to get restaurant reservations as the week went on, or only at 9:30 or another late time. Under the old system, you could only make reservations for a specialty restaurant on the day of or day before, except for suite guests who could do their week’s booking all at once. So NCL changed the procedure and now anyone can make all their bookings for the week on day one, if they so desire. Consequently others not “in the know” can get closed out. We had lots of discussion about this and maybe the answer is to keep some % available instead of fully booking each restaurant right away. The restaurants were in such hot demand, they didn’t offer any ½ price earlybird specials.

 

We missed the Chocoholic buffet as it was held at 11:30 or midnight. Previously we’ve enjoyed them in the early afternoon. But we’ve seen pictures and it looked beautiful.

 

I had my chocolate fix at Le Bistro with the famous fruit fondue. Between us, we had escargots, asparagus in hollandaise, French onion soup, mushroom soup, filet and lobster tails! We hear that the famous paintings done by the Masters, currently in Le Bistro, will be headed for a new ship soon so it may have been our last chance to enjoy that on the Dawn. Ronnie is a friendly and very efficient waiter – we started off with our soups and then had the appetizers – which allowed us to make it to the show on time.

 

I had a lot of lobster this trip! The whole lobster up in Cagney’s is outstanding and Bob found his ribeye very flavorful. Cagney’s Maitre d’ Sunny is a special person and does his job so well. He served us our wine in a very dignified manner yet is down to earth. A few nights later we ran into him outside Cagney’s bringing in chicken fingers & fries for a child. He truly fills the shoes of what a maitre d’ should be. Our hosts had ribeye and grilled salmon and both looked good, too.

 

It’s the second or third week of some new DR menus. Caribbean night has been changed quite a bit, a striploin steak has been added to the “always available” menu and a few other items are being introduced or brought back. I had a chance to chat some with the Exec. Chef Colin from the UK who seemed excited to be rolling out some new choices.

 

Bob really enjoys stopping by Blue Lagoon for a quick bite, often the fried rice. I had chili and shepherd’s pie during the week and both were very tasty and quick. We were really pleased to see Reynold from the Phillipines, last year a waiter up in Cagney’s, now taking care of the Blue Lagoon. It’s great to see NCL promote from within and we’ve seen several of our favorite waiters become Asst. Maitre d’s. Restaurant Stewardess Lavinia from Romania stood out in Blue Lagoon. She always found us around the ship and came up with a big smile and hello.

 

This brings me to Salsa’s and Asst. Maitre d’ Keith Campbell from Jamaica. Keith is a natural with guests. Comedian extraordinaire, Keith puts on a great show and seems to be enjoying his new assignment in the Tex-Mex venue. We managed to polish off 2 bottles of wine with CC friends that night, but still remember the food we ate! The steak fajitas and mahi mahi were very good and our friends seemed to enjoy their ribs. We were not impressed with the tapas, however, as the hot and cold offerings were just a few tidbits compared to our many previous visits there. The onion blossom was delicious. Jennifer was our waitress and did a great job, too. We had a lot of fun with her. Best of Friends, the combo playing in the atrium below, provide the background music. This was our 2nd time hearing them and they are really good! They do a Beatles set and a Lettermans set during the week, too.

 

 

There are a number of excellent entertainment choices around the ship. Unfortunately we missed Fire & Ice’s Tina Turner tribute as we heard it was terrific, but we did enjoy them in Dazzle’s a couple of nights. Don’t miss Dan Hodge in Gatsby’s and also singing with the showband one night doing the Big Band beat up in Spinnakers. My “Name that Tune” team came in 2nd and Dan made it a lot of fun.

 

Since we had seen it many times, we missed “South Beach Rave” but did go to Bollywood for the umpteenth time! Though many are sad to see the Dawn leave NYC next year, it will be a real treat to get a brand new ship (the Gem) in the Big Apple and that means new shows!!

 

Second City was entertaining in their main show, unscripted second show and workshop. We’ve seen different ensembles on several ships and found this group to be excellent.

 

Matt Baker & his team do an awesome job with the entertainment. In particular, Paul Scally on his staff was an engaging MC for the Battle of the Sexes, Pool Olympics, the Quest, Majority Rules and other activities. In fact, I heard several passengers think he was the Asst. CD, he was that good! In past reviews I had mentioned we were ready for some new games and activities and Matt certainly offered a lot of new stuff. Even Liar’s Club had new words and one of our CC teams doing the Quest was a feast for the camera lovers! These fall into the Adult Humor category, so no kids allowed!

 

We’ve seen a lot of magicians onboard but truly found Gary Gleason outstanding! We liked his manner and personality as well as being astounded by his act. A little later on in the week Gary does a very interesting Memory Seminar, offering incredible tips to remembering names, faces, facts & figures. He was mobbed afterwards with people buying the 2 DVD set for $50 and I, too, plunked down my money to improve my memory!

 

One suggestion I heard several times was passengers would like Matt’s staff to be introduced early on in the cruise. If you didn’t play Bingo, you might not know who’s who and it would be nice to see them introduced as a group.

 

The Norwegian Dawn showband played a few nights up in Spinnakers under the direction of Johnny Munoz. We were happy to see Lavondo Thomas again on bass, having enjoyed his playing on the Dawn and the Jewel before. Bob was particularly impressed with Nicole on drums (another lady player, too, on trombone!!) One night in the atrium, Lavondo, Nicole and Mike (on guitar) did an acoustic set just for the fun of it. Played Dylan and had the crowd singing along to “Like a Rolling Stone,” if you could remember back that far!

 

The Group Svcs Coordinator from Canada, Island Luxon, is such a sweetheart and did a great job with us. She helped organize a CC dinner in Trattoria and sent invitations to all of our cabins. Ramona, the Asst. Maitre d’, arranged the back of the restaurant just for us in 2 long tables. Tony Lockett, Food & Bev. Dir., arranged a special menu for us and surprised one of the CC’ers with a huge serving of Shepherds Pie (or was it Cottage Pie?) It was a memorable evening for all of us and we thank all the officers for sharing their time with the Flashers.:D

 

We had great weather for the most part, so the pool and hot tubs were always full. Bob and I didn’t have a too hard a time finding chaises even mid-morning. One time, however, I was in the hot tub, about 20’ from my chair and 2 girls came along and emptied off our towels, hat, book and bag onto the deck and sat down. Boy did I fly out of that hot tub and reclaim our space! Yet there were chairs left with only a towel for hours. Wish people would take their used towels and drop them off so that someone else could have a chaise, but I guess that’s too much to expect. Or that the deck attendants would take the initiative after chairs sit "empty" with only a towel for hours.

 

 

Deck BBQ’s were in full swing just about everyday up on the pool deck. Even the ribs are back! Oh, did I mention the helmets of beer are also back? I guess NCL is really listening to feedback. Manny & Mohammed head up the bar staff and they were always milling around the decks checking on everything.

 

 

Rhythm Explosion, the Caribbean band, played a wide variety of reggae music. They’re really versatile and go way beyond “Yellow Bird.” Bob and I are big reggae fans so we really enjoyed the music. But it was also nice when Modal Magic came on and set a completely different tone. On the private island, Action Jackson performed a truly unbelievable limbo show, so if you’re hanging out on a chair at the end of the beach, wander over to the grassy area to see this 139 lb. contortionist in action! :eek:

 

We went snorkelling at the private island. Water temp was something around 81 and it was just delightful floating around in the clear water before the crowds got there. Our snorkeling around the rocks was cut short, however, when we found ourselves surrounded by jellyfish. They didn’t seem to come into the shallow area where people were hanging out, but they were around the small currents on the far side of the big rocks.

 

Wherever we went, the crew always had a smile and hello. This is the Dawn we have come to know and love over the last few years.:D

 

The only unfriendly crewmember I met all week was Silvia from Romania in the casino cage. I thought it was peculiar that she didn’t say hi or “good luck” to me (3 times), so I stood watching her interact with other guests. They, too, got the cold shoulder. I mentioned directly to her that she didn’t wish anyone good luck (which they always do when they give you your money) and she responded, “I don’t need to wish you luck. Luck comes from there (pointing upwards).” If she can’t be nice to guests, she shouldn’t be working in the cage.:(

 

We were lucky enough to be on the Miami to NYC repo that brought the Dawn up here in May 2003. I was particularly looking around to see how the ship was holding up. We thought the ship is clean and nicely maintained. It’s amazing with the amount of sand that comes in from beach days that you don’t even see a speck on the carpets! There are some small details, however, that have slipped. For example, some of the elevator buttons, toilet buttons, bathroom door hooks are missing and should be replaced. The last morning I went into Spinnakers to take some pictures and found about 10 teens kicking and banging the large video action machine (about 10’ long). Of course they stopped when I advised them I’d be making a phone call if they didn't.

 

 

We also went snorkeling at Snorkel Park on a beautiful sunny day in Bermuda. It’s a nice quiet bay and perfect for families. Clean beach. But the water was rather murky. Bob said it was a low slack tide and might be better under different conditions. We heard from guests who had gone to Horseshoe that it was rough over there. Midday the buses went on strike. We met one couple who had waited and waited for a bus back to the ship only to be told by a local that there was a strike. They had to get to Hamilton on foot and take a ferry from there, just making it back to the ship in time!

 

Since we’d been to Nassau several times, we decided to stay on the ship and enjoy the peace and quiet. People seemed to enjoy having the overnight on Nassau to get off and go to Atlantis or other nightspots, but still, they were calling quite a few names the next day @noon when we were scheduled to leave. I’m not sure if they were left behind but it seemed they called names a couple of times!

 

We arrived back to NYC ahead of schedule and were off the ship around 10 am, into a cab and back home in about 15 minutes! Although we’re planning to join the Groundhog cruise Feb. 5th on the new Pearl out of Miami, there’s nothing like being footsteps from your door in Manhattan! The Dawn is truly our home away from home!:cool:

[rpsinnj]

great review buddy nice job

 

how is ny today with that incident

 

remember barbara the dare is on.....groundhog for saint and sinner #3

[Diamond Girl]

I really enjoyed reading your review. Last week, we booked the Dawn leaving August 12th. There will be 14 in our group, all family members.

 

Based on your review, I guess we should make our dining reservations as soon as we board.

 

I have cruised before but only as a group of 6. I hope things will not be too crazy with 14.

 

Anyway, I'm glad you had a great time! I'm sure, we will too.

 

One question, if you don't mind. What is the helmet of beer special?

Thanks,

[snorklinbarb]

Hi Diamond Girl,

 

Sounds like you have a nice trip planned. They don't set up the little restaurant kiosk in the atrium the first day, so you have to go directly to the restaurant you're interested in.

 

You don't need a rsvn for the Venetian, Aqua or Impressions DR's (each very different decor but same menus).

 

But for any of the spec. ones (free & surchg) it's best to make rsvns as soon as you can. For example, if all 14 of you wanted to go to Teppanyaki, there's only seating for 18 so you'd pretty much take over an entire seating. There are 3 seatings a night 5:30, 7:30 and 9:30.

 

Trattoria seemed to fill up mighty fast as did Salsa's (both no additional charge). Cagney's & Le Bistro were quite busy. Bamboo is a little easier.

 

People do cancel as the week goes along, too, so it's always worth calling the rsvn # or stopping by the atrium if you get closed out.

 

The helmet of beer is essentially buy 6 for the price of 5. Someone else can probably tell you how much it costs. I do know they put a $5 deposit on your a/c in case you don't return the helmet.;)

 

Enjoy your trip!

[mbisson]

From embarkation to the holiday celebrations to the wacky and wild “Quest” game' date=' [/quote']

 

Thanks for the review Barb. Are they really playing Quest on this ship now? And if so, have they changed it from the version that RCCL has had for years?

 

thanks

-Monte

[sweetpea-2]

great review and very detailed also.....glad you had such a great time.....

[immargaret]

Thanks for the review Barb. Are they really playing Quest on this ship now? And if so, have they changed it from the version that RCCL has had for years?

 

thanks

-Monte

 

They are playing Quest on the DAWN, I've heard it was a little milder than the RCCL version but that may have been because the CD Matt Baker wasn't feeling well last week and his assistant filled in.

 

Here's a link to the photos of the Quest on the DAWN from last weeks cruise.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/NCLCruiser2

[snorklinbarb]

Thanks for the review Barb. Are they really playing Quest on this ship now? And if so, have they changed it from the version that RCCL has had for years?

 

thanks

-Monte

 

Hi Monte,

 

Matt Baker,the CD, came over from RCCL so I think he brought Quest with him. They had it at 10:45 pm.

 

According to Robert in our CC group, this version was a bit "softer" than Royal's.

 

I've never seen it before so have no comparison.

 

Wouldn't want to give it away, for those who haven't seen/participated before, but it was a lot of fun and we had a rather frisky group of Flashers. Let's just say the Flashers lived up to their name and immargaret (if she comes on here to give you her link) has some photos to prove it!:eek:

[JAM810]

Snorklin'barb -- What a great review of the Dawn and thank you for sharing. I was on the Dawn (out of NYC) in June last year and had a wonderful time. Our CD was Colin; a very, funny man and he too interacted quite nicely with the passengers. We always enjoyed his ... "the captain says, Colin ... come to the bridge" comment with his Scottish or English accent (I can never remember where he said he was from). But my kids just had to get their photos with him ... he in their eyes was a true celebrity, which I find is a wonderful compliment (even it is from a 4 and 14 year old). My children also loved the bar staff, they both had their wrist bands and enjoyed bellying up to the bar, saying "can I have another." They ejoyed this especially in Pearly's Pub where we spent each night before dinner playing trivia. We had 11 in our group (5 kids and 6 adults) and had a total blast. Never had any problems with reservations even in the specialty resturants in seating us all together or getting a reasonable seating hour. The pool staff couldn't have been more plesant and was always ready with a refill of our beer helmut. We saved ours from our Crown cruise in 2003 and we weren't the only one; I saw many of them brought aboard. The $5 was well worth it and we'll carrying on our next NCL cruise too :D ! We are about an hour and a half drive out of NYC so we couldn't agree with you more on NCL NYC cruising. Can't wait for our next cruise, NCL out of NYC I'm sure. Maybe on the Spirit as we feel the need for some new ports and will enjoy the 2 day trip back. Again, thank you for the detailed review, my compliments to you on your thoroughness! Awesome job!!! :)

[snorklinbarb]

They are playing Quest on the DAWN, I've heard it was a little milder than the RCCL version but that may have been because the CD Matt Baker wasn't feeling well last week and his assistant filled in.

 

Here's a link to the photos of the Quest on the DAWN from last weeks cruise.

 

http://community.webshots.com/user/NCLCruiser2

 

Hi Margaret,

We were posting at the exact same moment about the exact same thing. How cool is that.

 

Guess Quest was unforgettable, huh?:D

 

Hi to Kevin!

[immargaret]

Hi Margaret' date='

We were posting at the exact same moment about the exact same thing. How cool is that.

 

Guess Quest was unforgettable, huh?:D

 

Hi to Kevin![/quote']

 

Hi Barb,

 

Great minds think alike I guess....

 

The DAWN was one of our best cruises so far, and we can't wait to go on her again in FEB. '07.

 

Some of our photos seem to be on a corrupted disk so I'm hoping to get more posted soon.

 

It was great meeting everyone, and thank you so much for setting up the CC meeting........and thanks to Phil for starting the roll call thread.

[rpsinnj]

on the voyager of seas rccl with ken rush who is cd on freedom of seas now, at the end of quest I was on stage wearing nothing but underwear and bra with 7 other guys also had stocking on..i have that on video...i think the guest is so good, we told our group prior to cruise how good it was and they saw it first hand and matt cd didnt even do it wow

[rpsinnj]

barbara i never saw anyone move that fast on a cruise ship, seeing you get out of that hot tub was amazing wish i had a video or picture of that, then you gave the chair to another guy was the best you rock lady

[JuneauMe]

I really enjoyed reading your review. Last week, we booked the Dawn leaving August 12th. There will be 14 in our group, all family members. One question, if you don't mind. What is the helmet of beer special?

 

Diamond Girl,

My DS and I will be on the cruise with you. The beer helmet is 6 beers for the price of 5. You leave a small deposit for the helmet, and if you want you keep it as a souviner or return it for a refund of your deposit.

Donna

[rpsinnj]

you know what is great about the flashers my wig was red white and blue and it will go on ever cruise that i will go on in the future given to me by shell the flasher will live forever with me

[johnql]

Great review! I really enjoyed reading it. Thanks.

[HB]

I have read most of your review and will finish reading the rest later when I'm not so busy. The Dawn does sound just as good as it was when we sailed on her in May 2003.

Harold said I should write you and tell you we booked the Dawn for Sept. if I remember right the 23, 2007 doing New England and Canada for 11 nights and that Bob should try and get a job on there to show him how to spend his money. HA! Yes it would be nice to see you both on there too. We have 4 cabins booked as for now. some family and friends. Rick will be on there too if it works out that he can make it then, it is a little early for him to know for sure but he does have a cabin booked.

Have got to run, we are getting ready to sail on the NCL Sun to Alaska on July 22 with our children and grandchildren. Look forward to reading the rest of your review. Norma

[snorklinbarb]

Hi NJR,

 

The Dawn is full of wonderful memories for me. We broke records with our 110 strong CC group back in May 2003, didn't we!!

 

Have a great time on the Sun. I know you've had good trips on her before.:D

 

It would be nice to go back on the Dawn before she leaves NYC. For now we're looking forward to Feb. 2nd, 2007 with the Groundhogs on the new Pearl.:)

 

Big hello to Harold! Bob did lecture on the Dawn on sea days and enjoyed it very much. Fortunately we didn't get any rough weather so he was OK up in the cinema.

[Diamond Girl]

This is my first cruise with NCL so I wasn't too sure about how Freestyle dining works. I thought you had to make reservations every night no matter where you ate, especially with a large group.

[Diamond Girl]

Diamond Girl,

My DS and I will be on the cruise with you. The beer helmet is 6 beers for the price of 5. You leave a small deposit for the helmet, and if you want you keep it as a souviner or return it for a refund of your deposit.

Donna

 

Thanks for the info on the beer helmets. I see you are going with your DS. Is the S for your son or your sister?

 

We just booked this cruise last week. There are 14 of us. My DH, my DSis, her DH and her DD, and my 5 kids with their SO's. I checked over on the NCL roll calls and didn't bother posting over there, since there only about 9 postings to the whole roll call. I will post over there though if you plan on doing that.

We are all excited!! August 12th will be here before you know it.

[4merlurker]

Great Review!!! Thanks for sharing!

~Connie

[immargaret]

This is my first cruise with NCL so I wasn't too sure about how Freestyle dining works. I thought you had to make reservations every night no matter where you ate, especially with a large group.

 

With a large group they will let you make reservations in the main dining rooms as well, just stop by and see them when you get on the ship. I believe they only have the reservations for early or late dining. The larger tables are set up for 8 people usually. I would suggest splitting up for the specialty restaurants since they are more intimate settings and they tend to stagger the reservations.

[snorklinbarb]

Diamond Girl,

 

If all 14 of you want to eat together in the DR, it would be a good idea to stop by and talk to one of the Maitre d's. They do arrange big tables for groups like yours. Then you won't have any waits.

 

They might split you up into 2 groups in some of the restaurants.

 

If you all want to eat at the same place, same time, same waiter you can even arrange that, too.

 

Sometimes with a big group it's a little tough to organize everyone to go from place to place. So you can do as much or as little as you want.

 

If you have a CC mtg onboard, you can probably discuss your needs with the Food & Bev. Dir. or Restaurant Mgr.

 

I'd still go with making the rsvns you know you want on the first day. You can always cancel up to 5 pm the day of your reservation.

[snorklinbarb]

Margaret,

We did it again.;)

[immargaret]

Margaret' date='

We did it again.;)[/quote']

 

I was a little quicker, but you went into more detail.....:D