Dawn Jan 18-28 Review LONG

[kimdave68]

Hello Everyone,

 

I hope there are pleasant and polite kids on our March 1st cruise sailing. On one of my past cruises we had a group of bad kids pushing senior citizens out of the way, one lady got pushed against the stair railing and fell down a couple of stairs. When I seen this I followed these kids till I seen a cruise employee to call someone about what had just happened, the worker and I followed these kids as he was calling for security on his radio. Next port Belize what do we see 4 families with suitcases getting kick off the ship and one of the kids crying WHAT DID I DO.

 

Oh why all this was happening my wife got help for the lady.

 

 

After Belize all was quiet from the other kids on board pleasant and polite I might add.

 

Taking the time to do this goes a long ways to make things better for everyone else! Kudos to you. :)

[monicajay]

As a previous poster noted the problem with kids was apparent on the Spirit last year on the same dates.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=288219&highlight=spirit+private+school

 

NCL should be careful with this group, it is not fair to other cruisers.

 

Doradorider - Looking forward to meeting you on the 1st of March. My teens know how to behave (or they wouldn't vacation with us again;) )

 

School breaks differ a lot from state to state and province to province, it is difficult to know which dates will have a big group of kids.

[Cruise_Monkey]

We were on the same cruise, and would agree with most of the comments about the ship, food, entertainment, etc. In particular, the entertainment was among the best we'd seen; great mix of headline-type shows and production shows. Second City in particular was very good.

 

One note on food; we thought the breakfast/lunch buffet needed some work.

 

Breakfast was basically the same every day; a little variety would have gone a long way. Also, things like peanut butter, jelly, etc, were out in big open bowls, instead of individual packages like we'd seen on other ships. They also need to work on traffic management; they had the waffle and omlette stations in the middle of the lines, rather than off to the side. This caused traffic jams as the people who didn't want waffles (but, really, who DOESN'T want waffles?!?) had to detour around the people who were waiting on line.....

 

Lunch was similarly uninteresting, but we're generally content with pizza/hamburgers, etc so it was OK. One funny thing; they promote a "NY Deli" as one of the lunch options. I was expecting NY Deli-style food; corned beef and pastrami, knishes, etc. Unless I just missed it, what they had instead was the same buffet food, with that part of the buffet decorated in an "I Love NY" theme.

 

One other thing re: buffet crowding. They had one entire quadrant of the buffet closed off for the entire cruise, converted to a kosher section. I believe this was related to the large group from Brooklyn that was booked on the cruise, a Yeshiva on winter break.

 

Another note re: the horribly behaved children. I've been on other ships during summer vacation that were upwards of 50% children and never seen such disrespectful behavior. I cringed each time we were at one of the evening shows, and groups of apparently unsupervised children would march down the stairs, across the front of the stage, then proceed to search for seats. This would happen between 10 and 30 minutes into the show! Buy a watch, wouldja?!?

 

Every entertainer at some point in their acts made reference to the trouble being caused by these kids. The constant announcements, the letter from the Captain, etc. Each time they mentioned it, they got a rousing ovation from the audience!

 

Two more final notes; we were on the beach in St Martin (French side), right next to one of the larger, more disruptive groups from the ship. Well one of the young teenagers proceeded to yell at the jet ski rental guy for at least 10 minutes because he wouldn't let him go out by himself. The kid looked about 14, and small for his age at that. He's in the guy's face, calling him every name in the book, etc, before the guy has enough and marches over to the kid's father, or whatever. He describes what the boy had done, after which the "father" just shrugs and walks away.

 

Finally, one day at the pool a woman asked a group of kids what seemed like a dozen times to stop splashing her and the other people sitting on the edge of the pool. So the "mother" of one of the kids comes over, and the woman tells her what's been going on. But instead of correcting her kids, the "mother" starts yelling at the woman; you can't tell my kids what to do, etc..... Sad but true. I guess the apple doesn't fall far from the tree after all.

 

Our cabin wasn't in an area that was inhabited by these rude and insensitive people so our experience was limited to the public areas. I felt sorry for those with less fortunate cabin locations!

 

Still managed to have a great time, but it underscored how important it is to have a group of people that can at least be respectful of one another, when you're living in such close quarters for 10 days!

 

 

CHILDREN ! ! !

The worst part of this cruise was the children. There were poorly behaved everywhere on the ship. They were doing things that were rude, annoying, and sometimes down right dangerous. Children as young as six were allowed by their parents to run wild completely unsupervised all over the ship. They jumped in the pool, heckled the performers on stage in the main theatre, and a completely ignore the rules and announcements of the NCL staff.

 

At one point, the captain got on the P.A. (he sounded mad to me) and reminded the parents that they are responsible for the behavior of their children. Also there was a strongly-worded letter from the captain with the daily stating that if the children created a dangerous situation they would be “Disembarked”.

 

I think NCL has to take a portion of the blame for not doing more to enforce the rules (all threats, no action) but ultimately the parents are responsible for their children.

 

This brings me to something I have never seen before on a cruise. On the final night of our cruise, we ate dinner in the Venetian and a fight broke out during dinner. I am not sure how in started, but it seems that a man said something to a woman at the next table about controlling her kids. Well, the women started screaming at the man and didn’t stop screaming until everyone in the restaurant was looking at her. It went on for about 10 minutes until security arrived. Lovely.

[Cruise_Monkey]

Sorry; double post.

[LaJollaCruiser]

I guess the moral here is to avoid booking a cruise which also has a group of kids from a Hebrew school in Brooklyn aboard.

[monicajay]

I think that NCL now has some responsibility to make sure this same group does not get away with this a third time.

 

Mark the date in your calendars for 2008!

 

 

Fortunately for us we always travel on the Quebec school holiday week (this year the 1st week of March) and it has never been overly busy. On the Sun last year there were 34 teens on board and only 18 or so signed up for the club. My kids had a ball. I never saw any ill behaved children or teens. A few unruly adults but that is another story........:D

[shoreguy]

I'm getting nervous now. We are going on the Dawn Feb. 18th, which is Feb. school vacation in MA. I knew booking this date that there would be a lot of kids, but hopefully they aren't out of control like on this cruise. I can't believe how many kids are on 10/11 night cruises. I wish my parents had taken me on an 11-night cruise when I was young.

 

Don't worry all those kids from MA will have plenty of other kids to play with since NY schools are closed that first week as well :eek:

[whitewhale2]

I teach high school special education and I am never shocked how rude and disrespectful students are, as many of their parents tend to be the same. It is true about the old idiom, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. We have now taken our children on two cruises, they are nine and eleven. They eat in the nice dining rooms with us for every meal, and do order off the kids meals. How are we to teach our children about different flavors and interesting foods, if all they eat are chicken nuggets. My children enjoy some of the kids club activities but also enjoy other aspects of the cruise. Many of the kids club activities look like babysitting to me, which I know is what it is suppossed to be. I think we do not give our children enough credit. If you expect your children to behave well and dress well, and display manners, many of them will step up. I was sorry to hear about the kid problem, we are going in the middle of March out of New York, hoping we don't have the same issues.

[sclauss]

I am a Gold Latitudes member and just recently tried Disney Cruise Line. Interestingly enough.. I found their "Adult Only" areas so much more enjoyable than my 10 or so other NCL cruises. They have an adult only restaurant Palo, adult only Pool with the wooden lounge chairs and big fluffy cushions, adult only lounge, Spa is adult only and the best feature was the adult only beach on the private island with the wonderful big umbrellas, hammocks, adult BBQ and Bar. I didn't think I would have to change to Disney to get some no kids options. NCL should really have some adult only restaurants (maybe Impressions or Aqua) as well as some adult only pool time or separate section of the beach. It really did make it much more pleasurable.

 

I had loved Freestyle but I REALLY love adult only areas more!

[Guest BeckyThane]

I didn't think I would have to change to Disney to get some no kids options.

Wow. That's pretty profound -- and I mean that sincerely! I hope NCL listens up.

 

DH and I are saving our Disney Visa points and planning to do a Disney cruise in 2009. Based on what you said, I anticipate my enjoyment quotient will be significantly higher than I had previously anticipated! :)

[greggrass]

Wanderlust, I'm going on the Feb. 8th sailing of the Dawn, same itinerary as you did, and do you remember whether the TV's have audio video imput jacks in the front of the TV? My brother gave me a DVD player for Christmas and I'd like to take it if I can use it on the stateroom TV because my memory of the Dawn's TV from 2005 was that the channel selection was pretty limited.

 

This is the comment-- I took a New Year's Cruise three years ago on the Costa Mediterranea and it was full of kids who were running up and down the halls, sitting in the halls, playing on the elevators, etc. I came to the conclusion that the parents must think that because they are on a ship it's safe to let their kids run all over unsupervised. In any community of 2000+ people there could quite possibly be, shall we say, unsavory types--just because someone has the cost of a cruise doesn't mean the person is someone to be trusted. What are people thinking?

[Wanderlust30]

greggrass . . . I can't remember it the TV had any type of imput jacks. Sorry. Maybe someone else knows.

[heelfan94]

Wow. That's pretty profound -- and I mean that sincerely! I hope NCL listens up.

 

DH and I are saving our Disney Visa points and planning to do a Disney cruise in 2009. Based on what you said, I anticipate my enjoyment quotient will be significantly higher than I had previously anticipated! :)

Disney is a whole different experience altogether. You'll love it. :)

[marciaP]

We are a very large group of 25 from upstate NY sailing on the 2/18/07 Dawn.

Out of our 25 half are kids ranging in ages from 5 months to 18 yrs. old.

Our schools are off for the first week and they will miss 4 days of school the second week. But to avoid flying to another port we picked the NYC departure. We always cruise the Feb. break week and are happy to have many kids on board. Hopefully they will be well behaved, I know mine will.

My kids always go to the kids clubs and have a blast, it is very unfortunate that some groups can ruin a trip for every one else.

Anyway appreciate everyones comments on the Dawn, and looking forward to sailing soon!

Marcia

[immargaret]

We are a very large group of 25 from upstate NY sailing on the 2/18/07 Dawn.

Out of our 25 half are kids ranging in ages from 5 months to 18 yrs. old.

Our schools are off for the first week and they will miss 4 days of school the second week. But to avoid flying to another port we picked the NYC departure. We always cruise the Feb. break week and are happy to have many kids on board. Hopefully they will be well behaved, I know mine will.

My kids always go to the kids clubs and have a blast, it is very unfortunate that some groups can ruin a trip for every one else.

Anyway appreciate everyones comments on the Dawn, and looking forward to sailing soon!

Marcia

 

Hi Marcia,

 

We have a roll call started for the 2/18 DAWN cruise, stop by and say hello. We have several families with kids posting on the roll call as well.:)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?p=8990428&posted=1#post8990428

 

We have a meeting planned for 2/19, a Fat Tuesday party in the planning stage for 2/20 and some excitment planned for the martini-tasting event.:D

[sclauss]

Becky - you will LOVE IT. They are very strict about keeping the Adult areas kid free. The adult beach also had wonderful cabanas where I treated myself to back to back 2 hours of massage.

 

There are so many kids activities that the kids have no reason to even want to be in the adult areas.

 

I love that NCL sails from NYC and that is VERY convenient but this DCL trip was really wonderful. I wish they would spend more that a single day at Castaway Cay. It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen. It comes to life as the ship pulls up to the Disney built dock (no tenders). It's a 7 minute walk to the family beach or hop a tram to the Family Beach with a quick tram transfer to the adult beach Serenity Bay. It's fun too when the ship pulls away and the ground crew put on their giant Mickey gloves and wave goodbye while the ship whistle blows "When You Wish Upon A Star".

 

It was really a magical trip! They even drop "Pixie dust" on the crowd during the "Till We Meet Again" farewell with all of the characters.

[EileenN]

I hate to think we have made a bad choice, but we are booked for January 26th on the Gem next year out of New York. Would this be the doomed week for the school from Brooklyn? It will be the first season for the Gem and most of the staff should be seasoned crew. Hopefully they will not put up with this on their new ship?

We will make the best of it one way or the other!!

[bplazo]

I do think that they should have more adult only areas for people who travel without children.

[mkad1109]

Why couldn't the other passengers say something? If I saw a child running or throwing rocks I would tell them to stop myself if the NCL crew did not do it. Of course the parents are just plain wrong, but someone should step in and keep safety as the first issue. I, as a parent, would have no problem if my children were doing something wrong when I was not around if someone said something.

 

Is this a major No-no on a ship? I follow this rule whereever I am. I don't yell at children but I have found that simply saying sternly "that is not a good idea, you need to stop it now" works.....

[mikeythemars]

It was the most beautiful beach I have ever seen.

 

Been there, and the beach is at best O.K. You need to get to St. John.:D

[mikeythemars]

I cannot understand how so many school age children can be on a 10 day cruise only 2 weeks after they returned from their Christmas/New Year's holiday?

 

These were Orthodox Jewish children from a private school (Yeshiva) - they don't take a break until January

[mikeythemars]

I hate to think we have made a bad choice, but we are booked for January 26th on the Gem next year out of New York. Would this be the doomed week for the school from Brooklyn? It will be the first season for the Gem and most of the staff should be seasoned crew. Hopefully they will not put up with this on their new ship?

We will make the best of it one way or the other!!

 

It hasn't been 100% confirmed yet, but in other discussions here about that Yeshiva group, the sense is that is the 1/26/08 Gem cruise is likely the one they will be taking.

[shoreguy]

It hasn't been 100% confirmed yet, but in other discussions here about that Yeshiva group, the sense is that is the 1/26/08 Gem cruise is likely the one they will be taking.

 

Why ? I would think the 1/16/2008 would be the likely option if they return at all. Keep in mind if some of the group was disembarked early as reported none of them are going to be in a hurry to get on another NCL ship:) Watch out HAL:D

[mbisson]

Next port Belize what do we see 4 families with suitcases getting kick off the ship and one of the kids crying WHAT DID I DO.

 

 

I'm trying to imagine what my folks would have done to me had I done anything like that :eek: , AND I'M SCARED!

 

-Monte

[Seago2]

OMG! I can't believe what I have been reading. We copied this and the thread from last year's Spirit nightmare with these people on the HAL board. It makes me sick to read this. Poor crew, poor all of you. All of those people should have been disembarked.

 

Yikes.

 

My local Bar Association is taking a group cruise next winter- I guess we'll be serving each other with motions all day and night---- but I fear being on a group cruise of any kind!