Mixed review of the Norwegian Dawn 12/2

[bweston1970]

Like many others, I am recently back from the 12/2/07 cruise on the Norwegian Dawn. This is sort of a mixed review of positives and negatives. I will directly contrast some things against the Carnival Triumph which was the most recent cruise I previously took.

 

EMBARKATION

Feh. It's all the same, Norwegian, Carnival, Royal. Personally I don't find the lines, waiting, etc nearly as aggravating as the airports. Nothing to report one way or the other except that you should definitely upgrade to a Penthouse to receive the VIP check-in. It's not THAT much faster but at least you get to sit while you check in.

 

CABIN

I stayed in AE Penthouse 8670 Aft. It was really nice. The balcony was a bit larger and I opened the little balcony divider door Norwegian had closed to further extend the balcony around the side of the ship. Made for some nice views! The cavitation is always entertaining too :) Oh also if you turn the TV to the station with the live Forward camera, you had a strange perspective of seeing both the front AND the back of the ship at the same time. Decor was tasteful. The cabin was spotlessly clean and I have zero complaints about it. I loved it.

 

BUTLER

For me, the butler was useless and served no real purpose. Oh, but ask me about the Concierge!

 

CONCIERGE

Fan-freaking-tastic! Carlos did things for us I didn't even know he could do. With no requests from me, he did the following on his own accord: remembered my name every time he saw me, escorted us to private balcony seats in the Stardust theatre for every show, made all my restaurant reservations for me, escorted us onto every tender as the first or second people, escorted us off the ship at debarking...FIRST! We passed a 1000 people in line waiting to get off. Well worth the penthouse in and of itself!

 

SHIP DECOR

Beautiful ship. Tasteful and intimate. Not much else to say.

 

FOOD

I thought the food QUALITY was superb, however, the food selection was far inferior to the Triumph. That disappointed me a little. Also no self soft-serve and served ice cream ended at like 9pm. There was a chocoholics buffet which was really good. The buffet was really lousy. The selection was really not all that great and, again, I much preferred the Triumph's buffet. Cagney's and Bamboo are WELL WORTH the additional costs but even if you stuck with the free restaurants, I cannot imagine you would be disappointed.

 

FREESTYLE

You know what? We ate at 6pm every night anyways so the freestyle was really not a big deal. Personally, based on all the things they could NOT do for me, I felt more "freestyle" on Carnival.

 

SHOWS

Unreal. The juggler and magician were really cool but I have to give kudos to the Jean Ann Ryan Co. Wow were they good! I mean for a cruiseship, the quality of the shows were unbelievable.

 

OVERALL SHIP ENTERTAINMENT

Not bad. More subdued than Carnival, of course, but overall I enjoyed what they offered.

 

STAFF

OK. Here is where Carnival really excels in comparison. The majority of the staff on the Dawn is very indifferent towards you. They do nothing to make you feel special or on vacation. Now to be fair, my room steward and my concierge were great. But I could not believe how rude the bulk of the service staff was. They would not move out of a passenger's way in tight spots. I saw staff people bumping passengers out of their way! I also was SHOCKED to have to wait in buffet lines BEHIND ship's staff. Why am I paying all this money on the cruise and then waiting for the staff to get their food at my lunch time and then take up the same tables that the passengers are fighting for. Absolutely NOT good. Contrast to Carnival's staff who respected the passengers and were very interactive and very much concerned about passenger enjoyment.

 

CLEANING

Some idiot thought powerwashing the back of the ship including the penthouse balconies at 3am EVERY night was a good idea. After night 3 I started to complain but the front desk "could not locate the source of the noise." So I was up at 3-4am every night of the cruise because of how loud they were. This one will get a letter to the CEO. They need to change this to day or, at best, early evening.

 

PORTS

Tortola - Stunning island, beautiful people. Clean, safe and fun. Do yourself a favor and save the overpriced ship excursions and go it alone!

 

St Thomas - St Thomas is St Thomas :-)

 

Samana - I heard a LOT of people complain about this "developing port." It's VERY poor and has almost no shopping. And yet...we found some wonderful things to see and do. Again, go it alone and save the $. If you want specifics on how I found a way to make this very 3rd worldish port fun, message me.

 

Great Stirrup Cay - I am from Florida so the beach did not appeal to me. Instead I hiked two miles to the other side, then hiked around the rocky parameter and enjoyed the peace and quiet of no civilization. Great port all the way around!

 

There it is. I liked the cruise and really had fun but there were enough things about Norwegian that would keep me on Carnival or (of course, no contest) RCCL.

[Cosmopolitan]

Appreciated you honest, objectional review. Thanks:)

[galdenciot]

Thanks for the review, one question: does AE get you reserved seats for the shows or was that the Concierge did special for you? Reserved seating would be a great perk, and as we will be AE I'd love to know how to access it. I had read in a post a while back that there was not reserved seating. Thanks.

[trish1c]

Great Stirrup Cay - I am from Florida so the beach did not appeal to me. Instead I hiked two miles to the other side, then hiked around the rocky parameter and enjoyed the peace and quiet of no civilization. Great port all the way around!

 

There it is. I liked the cruise and really had fun but there were enough things about Norwegian that would keep me on Carnival or (of course, no contest) RCCL.

 

The solitude is what I crave too but I bet you just hiked to the other side of GSC so you could see Coco Cay. They are only about 100 yards apart off the rocky side you mentioned. :D

[Imabelvr]

Thanks for the great review!

We leave in January and have an aft penthouse booked on the 9th deck. Hopefully they won't decide to power wash so early in the AM when we are crusing, DH enjoys getting up @ 4AM and sitting on the balcony! :eek: What a wake up call that would be! LOL!

I am anxious to hear your answer regarding the special seating @ the shows ... sounds wonderful!!!

 

PS ... COSMO ... love your drink, eh ah, I mean name! ;)

[heid5]

I am interested in your coments about Samana. What did you fing to do? Was there transportation available at the tender pier? Did you see any transportation to Bacardi Island?

[flashdog_1]

Don't keep it to yourself. Please share! Thanks

[joetrizeo]

I was also on this 12/2 dawn sailing.

here's some more to add to this one.

 

embarkation was a breeze. the embark staff was very nice. course it helps getting there at 11am:)

 

weather was perfect all week. couldn't ask for better.

 

ship was in great shape for the age. saw staff cleaning and repairing a lot.

very clean ship. the only thing she needs is new carpet in areas.

 

here's a tip, if you get there early, before the fire doors to the rooms open up (approx at 130-2pm) go to the venetian restraunt for lunch. dont join the crowded buffet.

also grab a map and explore the ship.

if you dont like the crappy side view ship map an overhead view of each deck can be obtained at the 'future cruise consultants' desk or from images online of deck plans.

 

we had a handicapped balcony. it was very nice and very spacious for us who are non-handicapped. i will post pics for those inquiring about handi-capped balcony rooms.

 

samana: (tender) dont waste your time. stay on the ship and enjoy the facilities like the pools and hot tubs which will be totally uncrowded since everyone else will be off the ship. nothing much in samana!

 

tortola: (dock) pushy cab drivers, crowded streets and a few nice shops to shop at. thats all.

 

st thomas: (dock) we did the water island mountain bike w/ honeymoon beach - very very nice.

dont waste your time and money shopping downtown. there are the same type and more shops at the pier in the building I II III IV V etc shops. plus the deals are better there. also the new haven yacht club is open for those with a 'finer' taste.

 

great stirrup cay: (tender) a fine beach day. bbq was eh... beach is nice. shops there are souvenir type stuff.

 

snorkeling was surprisingly good! lotta coral rock and nice coral. good amount of fish too. bring fish food if you have it! stingray, barracuda and jelly fish as well, watch out.

 

something that sucked: you must wear a snorkel vest. oh, you can swim anywhere you want to, even in the area where people are snorkeling, but if you put on a mask, snorkel or both, you must have a vest on. doesnt matter if it's your own or ncl's. again, swim all you want, even with your head in the water, but put on a mask = guy yelling at you to get a vest.

weird and stupid i know.

(btw you have to fill out a 'sign your life a-waver' to get a vest ;))

 

entertainment: great! magic, bollywood show, juggler! no complaints.

 

drinks: blah, overpriced. the ones that come and say 'served in souvenir' means you will pay for and get the souvenir glass every time, unless you bring your's already purchased, then they will give you a refill for just 1$ less.

course avid ncl cruisers already know this.

 

food: save the worst for last! actually i take that back. food taste was great. food portions were the smallest of any cruise line i've been on (ie 1/2 tail served on formal night, not full tail) but it doesnt really matter because if you have a problem getting 'full' on a cruise then you have, well, a serious problem!

 

the problem came with the freestyle waitstaff, and i'm sure i'll get flamed for this but go on, you know its true. and this is coming from a former waiter myself so it's not like i'm ignorant.

 

the waitstaff was average AT BEST. something i would tip 10-15% for at a normal restaurant. and let me tell you that for average service i normally tip 20%, superb service (like every other cruise line i've been on) atleast 25-30%. normal to bad service gets 10-15%. i never tip less than 10% and never ever stiffed anyone.

 

that being said, NCL gets 10-15%. why? the wait staff just didnt' care! they did their job and nothing extra. they didnt care if your order was right, or if it was to the right person. they didnt care if you got your courses rushed (one right after another) or if you waited 10 minutes in between courses (slow service). i know this is a casualty of 'free style' dining combined with automatic tipping. their job is to get you in, take your order, bring you your food and get you out. only half the waitstaff introduced themselves. NONE were cherry or perky. Rarely did i see smiles. Some service was slow, others were fast. It did not make dining the enjoyable experience it should be on a cruise line.

the exception to this was the pay restaurant. we went to cagneys. service was excellent! Like what you would get on another cruise line at regular included dinner service.

 

lightning round...

 

Praises for NCL:

'free style' dining - lets you get dinner when you want! (as if you couldn't do that at the buffet on NON-freestyle ships?!?)

activities - tons of trivia and game shows. bravo for including 'the quest!'

NCL dawn - clean and nice

Mike the CD - great CD, not overly annoying or cheesy

food - good taste, loved the chilled fruit soups!

room stewards - excellent!

little "do not distrub, make up room, turn down room, welcome" sign - an excellent idea that all lines should use! with this it was easy to make sure your room was taken care of without having the staff bother you or typical hotel 'do not distrub' signs! our room was always clean and we never saw him cleaning it, just saw him cleaning other rooms. this is what good 'invisible' service should be!

room amenities - good hair dryer, soap AND shampoo in the shower.

24hr eatery - much better than the 'only pizza' after hours of other lines.

 

What NCL lacks at:

Dinner service!

25$ beach towels - i think all lines should incorporate Costa's free deck towel policy. Supplying 25$ if lost towels makes them a target for thieves, jerks and also a deck chair saving device :)

no integrated tv service where you can check your account balance and order excursions, book reservations, etc like carnival had.

 

other than that the cruise was great. enjoyed the ship, the company, the quest :) and the weather!

 

-JoeT

[fraidknot]

i was on the Dawn the prior week and I have yet to get my review out here, but i noticed that the 2 long reviews here mention the service being poor, and Ijust thought I would add my 2 cents on this... I agree. I know there are plenty of people out there who dont notice or have lower expectations for service than I do, but we felt that the few great staff were outnumbered 10-1.

 

I Highly suggest the staff at Gatspys (piano bar) as the only good bar staff on the boat. We are not heavy drinkers and always had the same order, Jack and Coke and a Pelligrino... they remembered our names and order each night. just about how it should be IMO. and we took care of them on the last night of the trip to show our gratatude, but overall the NCL service (for me, this includes reservations dept thru the day i disembark) was very lacking. For future Dawn Cruisers my advice is to set your expectations of service low, and you might get suprised.

 

The rest of the aspects of our trip were good abord the dawn and we may sail NCL again, but not before trying out RCL again, or possibly a land based vacation.

[ghen7865]

What dock do the use in St. Thomas making sure before renting a van

Also what did you do in Tortola? 10 of us thinking beach some are doing

dolphins.

Thanks Mary

Great review

[bweston1970]

Sorry for the delay in responding. I was in process of moving the day I got back from the cruise. Anyhoo...to answer questions and address comments:

 

"what did you do in Tortola?" Mostly explored the island. I hired a local to take us around. It's not very big so a couple of hours and you can see the whole place. Then we spent a bunch of hours wandering on foot. We didn't snorkel or do anything water-related.

 

" I highly suggest the staff at Gatspys" Agreed. The staff in the specialty restaurants was a step above as well. My staff issues mostly swirl around the buffet and "free" restaurant staff.

 

"samana: (tender) dont waste your time." I have to disagree. But I will speak more to this later.

 

"tortola: (dock) pushy cab drivers, crowded streets and a few nice shops to shop at. thats all." We explored a lot of the island and found Tortola to be much better than most, St. Thomas especially. If you think the cab drivers are pushy and the streets are crowded, then I can't imagine how you would find Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and other islands. To me, Tortola is one of the best.

 

"st thomas: (dock) dont waste your time and money shopping downtown. there are the same type." Wow I am really disagreeing with you here today! :D If you really wander and look, there are some very nice shops in the downtown. The pier shops are tourist hack stores. The new shops are the same old fair: Louis Vuitton, DKNY, etc.

 

"Does AE get you reserved seats for the shows or was that the Concierge did special for you?" I think that the reserved seats were actually for Garden Villa people only, however, the Concierge has "magical powers" to do anything for you :)

 

No question that Samana is very 3rd Worldish and has little or no shopping. So what DID we do in Samana?

• Hired a local motorcycle-taxi to drive us around for a few hours.
  
• Visited the Samana market. Very sad place but worth a walk-around. I only saw one other cruise couple who found it.
  
• Visited the oldest church, prayed with the nun and enjoyed the singing
  
• Visited the Whale Museum. Not much of a museum but there is a beautiful garden and lovely people milling around.
  
• Hiked the trails on the Malecon
  
• Took the taxi deep into the local areas to explore. I might not recommend this from a safety perspective, however we did it anyhow.
  
• Watched a local baseball game.
  
• Got confronted by a local soldier for wandering too close to private property. I managed to take a photo of both the property and the soldier yelling at the taxi driver.
  

It is a poor port, underdeveloped and much maligned by most of the cruisers. But we are more adventurous and find the beauty in all places. If you open your eyes, there is a lot to see in Samana.

[bweston1970]

bumped for people asking about Samana

[Cosmopolitan]

the only thing she needs is new carpet in areas.

 

We also noticed the wear and tear on our Dawn cruise in October.

 

drinks: blah, overpriced. the ones that come and say 'served in souvenir' means you will pay for and get the souvenir glass every time, unless you bring your's already purchased, then they will give you a refill for just 1$ less.

course avid ncl cruisers already know this.

 

We have never received a drink in the souvenir glass. But, you can refuse the glass and ask for the drink ordered. Or, tell them when you order, NO souvenir glass.

 

food: save the worst for last! actually i take that back. food taste was great. food portions were the smallest of any cruise line i've been on (ie 1/2 tail served on formal night, not full tail) but it doesnt really matter because if you have a problem getting 'full' on a cruise then you have, well, a serious problem!

 

You may ask for a double/triple of any item in any of the main restaurants. The ONLY exception is in the specialty restaurants...where you may order duplicates, etc., of any item except the entree.

 

 

the wait staff just didnt' care! they did their job and nothing extra. they didnt care if your order was right, or if it was to the right person. they didnt care if you got your courses rushed (one right after another) or if you waited 10 minutes in between courses (slow service). i know this is a casualty of 'free style' dining combined with automatic tipping. their job is to get you in, take your order, bring you your food and get you out.

 

We've never had that problem. However, living in the tri-state area, we do know to inform our waiters if we need "fast" service" when we need to make it to the theatre or we do not want to be "rushed". We always enjoy relaxing meals on NCL.

You should inform your waiter of your preference...slow/fast service. No matter where you are dining;)

only half the waitstaff introduced themselves. NONE were cherry or perky. Rarely did i see smiles.

 

We have only had one unpleasant waiter on NCL...they can have a bad day just as you and I.

 

Praises for NCL:

'free style' dining - lets you get dinner when you want! (as if you couldn't do that at the buffet on NON-freestyle ships?!?)

 

Do you really want to dine at a buffet?

other than that the cruise was great. enjoyed the ship, the company, the quest :) and the weather!

 

-JoeT

 

Glad you had great weather. The Quest is quite a game:D