NCL Dawn review Feb 10-17, 2008 comprehensive review

NickCDN · February 19, 2008

NCL Dawn review Feb 10- Feb 17 2008

We travelled with a group of 13 from Toronto Canada for a week long cruise on board the NCL Dawn. 9 adults, 3 kids (ages 3-6) and 1 infant (7 months old). This was our first cruise for 11 of the 13 of us.

Pre Cruise:

We flew into Miami direct from Toronto the day before the cruise via American Airlines. The flight down was without incident. More later on the flight home!!! We booked 4 rooms at the La Quinta Inn Miami Airport East which included free shuttle to/from Miami Airport and to the Port of Miami. Also included was a free and decent continental breakfast. Total cost was $125 USD per room. Not a bad deal with all the shuttles included. We had dinner at Benningins which is right off the hotel parking lot. Check in was smooth and rooms were ok. I had booked a crib for our 7 month old daughter, but it was not in the room on arrival. We informed the front desk clerk and him seemed uninterested in helping us. We were told to "wait until 1030pm when our maintenance guy comes in, he might be able to find one". We were already dead tired from a long day of travelling and we made our own crib with blankets from our room. Again, this is a 2 star hotel and we got what was expected. Make sure you tell the front desk you want the shuttle to the Port of Miami next day and be outside front doors with your bags ready to go 30 minutes early. Seems to be a lack of shuttles to the Port. People with a pick up time of 1030am for a RCL cruise didn't get onto a shuttle until 1130am. I would stay here again though because of the price, free shuttle and free breakfast. Perfect for pre cruise, but nothing else.

Embarkation:

Arrived at the Port of Miami at Noon and within 20-30 minutes we were on board in the Venetian eating lunch. The whole process was painless, but their were a lot of stations you had to go through. All in all, was pretty straightforward. As I learned on cruise critic, and was expecting, their was someone standing at the top of the staircase in front of the entrance to the Venetian telling us to go to the Buffet for an "excellent lunch buffet". We didn't fall for it, and had an excellent lunch in the Venetian. It was empty. Probably only about 10 other tables in the restaurant being used for lunch. I guess the lady at the top of the stairs worked, because after lunch while waiting for our rooms to be ready, I saw the buffet and it was a ZOO! Prior to boarding the ship, their was sign saying rooms would not be ready until 2pm which was fine because after lunch, we walked around for a half an hour and before we knew it, it was time to go to our rooms.

Ship:

The NCL Dawn is in excellent condition. Except for a few areas of carpet, this boat looks no older than 2 years. It really is in immaculate condition, especially when its sitting beside the Carnival Victory in the Port of Miami. We had rough seas leaving Miami, and it was actually fun walking down the halls being thrown from side to side. Most others didn't find it funny at all though. Most in our group could barley finish dinner on the Sunday evening.

Staterooms:

We all had inside cabins on the 11th deck FWD. They were small as expected, but the bathroom was actually really nice and clean. The water pressure and temperature was always excellent. The rooms were pitch black at night, which really made me sleep well. Our room stewards Pedro and Gumbi were excellent. The bed in our room was moved all the way over to the right hand side and the pack and play (it was a newer model and clean) was put to the left side of the room beside the bed. The closet and drawer space was good and laid out nicely. We were able to unload all our clothes into these spaces no problems. The luggage then fit nicely under the bed. Pedro and Gumbi gave us towel animals every night with turn down service and we all enjoyed them. The room was always made up and turned down while we were out. It was amazing how we never saw them in our room. Its like they knew when we left the room. The two cruisers who were with our group who have cruising experience rate the NCL cabin design as #1 by far! Pedro and Gumbi were given extra tips throughout the week as they did such a good job.

Food: This is where NCL fails. I am not kidding by saying that I am pretty easy to please as far as food is concerned.

Buffet -

I would compare the buffet quality of food to that of something below the Ponderosa. The food was not good at all. I only had 2 meals at the buffet, but would recommend never eating at the buffet. Always eat at the Venetian or other restaurants on board and use the buffet as a last resort. The NY Deli is really bad. If this is what a real NY Deli serves for lunch, than I think I will stick with Subway for sandwiches if I ever visit NY. You could make a better sandwich at home. Most of the lunch meat was unrecognizable as to what it was. The bright spot of the buffet is the cookies that are available at the NY Deli section of the buffet are an excellent afternoon snack. Also, Milk, Skim Milk, Coffee, Iced Tea were always available while the buffet was open. The buffet seemed to open until at least 10-11pm every night (at least one section was). In the morning 4 different kinds of juices were available as well.

Aqua and Venetian-

I had most meals between these two restaurants. The food was never hot, but luke warm. The waiters/waitress were doing their best to keep up, and are amazing at their job, but their is just too much work for them. I didn't have the heart to ask for another meal if my meal wasnt hot, or didnt taste very good. Even If I did, I would have had to wait another hour for another meal. We went for dinner at 530 almost every night. Dinner took at LEAST 2h15m. We regularly had to skip desert so we could make the 730 shows on board. The pork roast and turkey tasted like the same thing. I ordered a steak one night that was not on the menu and was probably the worst steak I have ever had. The bright spot in the dining experience was again the waiters/waitresses. They worked there tail off. Breakfast is a must at the Venetian to avoid the cattle call, also know as the Buffet. Again, the only problem with the Venetian Breakfast is your going to be tied up for at LEAST 1h30m for breakfast even if you ask them to put a rush on it. The bread and butter served before dinner was a nice treat as well. The deserts were good if you had time to order them/eat them. The Beef Tenderloin was good, but portion was small and again, by the time it made it to your table it was luke warm at best. I didn't eat in the main restaurants for lobster night, but others in my party did and they were happy with the lobster because it was free. Had they paid for it, they probably wouldn't have been as happy. One night we had a server named Alana and she was excellent. Request her if you can.

Salsas-

Food was a little better than the main dining rooms, but still luke warm. Fajitas were ok, but really really greasy. Quesadilla and Nachos were excellent appetizers. A person in our group had snapper and it wasn't cooked. The maitre D saw that he was looking at it funny, and came over and inspected it himself. He sent out the head chef who apologized and said they are not supposed to serve sushi in Salsas. Again, we tried not to make a big deal out of it, because I am sure someone in the back making the food will be getting reamed out over this. More on that later.

Impressions-

This was my favorite place. I actually dinned here twice. This was decent Italian food. The pizza was NOT good and tasted the same as the stuff in the buffet or poolside BBQ. The Spaghetti with marinara sauce was excellent and hot. The Chicken Parmesan was excellent as well. Probably my favorite dish on board was the Chicken. People in my group were generally happy with Impressions.

Reservations- I made reservations as soon as I boarded for Impressions and Salsas for groups of 13 for the First and Second night on the cruise with no problem. They are in the Bamboo restaurant unpon embarktion waiting to take reservations for specialty restaurants. After this call 9930 or 9931 anywhere on the boat to make reservations. Made a last minute reservation for 2 at Impressions on the final night of the cruise and was given 930pm as the only spot open.

Blue Lagoon-

This is the 24 hour comfort food place. Service was slow, but the food wasn't bad. The wings are excellent, but always order two orders or you will only get 4 small wings. The wing sauce is excellent. Good place to grab a quick lunch or late night snack. Hamburgers. Hot Dogs, Fries and Chicken fingers were all good. Cafeteria style, but hit the spot. Someone in my group said the wonton soup was excellent, but the fish and chips did not go over well in my group!

Chocoholic Buffet-

I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with this "feature" buffet. It happened on the Friday night of our cruise at 11pm. They open the doors at 1045 though, so if you want to be one of the first through, arrive at 1030 in front of the Venetian. Their was literally no chocolates. Their were chocolate cakes, brownies, ice cream, but it was all pre frozen cakes and goodies. Within minutes, the sea cows were out in full force dropping cake all over the place and using their hands. It was amazing how many people refused to use the hand sanitizer and utensils supplies, not just at the buffet, but everywhere. Most of the treats were hard and tasted like freezer. Again very disappointed!

Thoughts about dining-

If you want the best service, buy drinks from your server. They get the 15% that is added to the drink bill. If you don't buy drinks, then you get decent service, but not the best. This is especially true at Blue Lagoon. If you buy a drink, you will get fast service, if you don't, you will wait forever. They are pushing drinks every 10 minutes during dinner and about every 20 minutes during lunch and breakfast. You will be enjoying breakfast when they ask "would you like a screwdriver or bloody mary?" They will have them pre made on a try ready for you! Remember this is at 730am. Cappuccino is always free at the restaurants and is in fact very good. Milk and Chocolate Milk is also available at all the restaurants for free if you ask. Be prepared to be bothered during dinner for pictures! It really gets annoying after the third or fourth day. By the end, we all said NO THANKS before he even asked! The Burgers at the deck BBQ, Buffet and at Great stirrup cay are all precooked before hand. They throw them on the BBQ for show only. I love a good BBQ burger and couldn't find one anywhere.

Ports of Call:

Samana-

Do not ask me why any cruise company would bring anyone to this port. It is extremely dirty with liter and wild dogs everywhere. You are continually harassed to buy anything from sea shells to taxi rides to beaches no matter how many times you say no. They will not leave you alone. Also, there were a few guys drunk in the street with 40ies in their hand. Quite interesting to say the least. The only people who had anything nice to say about this port are those who booked excursions through NCL which is probably the reason NCL takes us to this port. The tendering was extremely rough and the AC was not working in 86 degree weather. Went back to the boat after 1 hour, then enjoyed a nice day poolside on board. The boat left Samana an hour early because all the passengers were back on board. Shows you how much people liked Samana. I will have pics up soon showing you how dirty Samana is. It is really bad!

Tortola-

We booked through NCL, the Virgin Gorda Highlights. The Baths on Virgin Gorda was nice with decent snorkeling. Be aware of jellyfish as they have a sign posted regarding the large number of them at this location. The tour company that provides this for NCL is ghetto. The boat we used to go to Virgin Gorda was from the 1960's and in complete disrepair. The AC was not working. Picture 150 people in an enclosed boat in 80 degree sun with no AC. The crew of this boat were a young group of 20 somethings who cared nothing about passenger comfort. They were full speed into large waves and almost half the people on the boat became sea sick. They should have slowed down a little. I will be posting a picture of the boat to show you all how bad it was. You would think for $69 USD we would have a nice boat to ride over to Virgin Gorda. Not so! Take Speedy's ferry service, newer boats, and 1/3 the cost. Will never book an excursion through NCL again. Walked around town after we got back from the Baths. Nothing much to see or do. Lots of offshore banks :)

St Thomas-

Now this is what cruising is all about. We booked through Air Force One Fun Tours and Papa Bear was our tour guide. He was waiting dock side for our group to take us on an Island tour then onto Coki beach for some fun in the sun. His tour was $25 USD per person and was worth it. We all gave him an extra tip because it was so good. It was supposed to be from 9am and back on the boat by 2pm, but Papa Bear gave us an extra hour and a half at the beach. Driving on the USVI is crazy! Papa Bear took us on an island tour, told us about plants, tour sites, animals, hurricanes, all very informative. We then stopped at Mountain Top of a lookout over Magens Bay. He escorted us to the lookout and gave us info about what we were looking at. NCL charges approx $35 for this same tour, but only pays the tour guides $6-9 USD per person. All they do it take the short cut to the mountain top, tell the group to go to the lookout and then drop them off at the beach because they get paid so little from the cruise line. We went to Coki beach, which was packed, but we found a comfortable spot in the shade. Water sports are available, as well as rentals and food. The snorkeling was AMAZING. Thier were hundreds and hundreds of fish eating from your hand. Crystal Clear turquoise water! Papa Bear hung around the area for the entire time we were at the beach, and if we needed something or info, he was a few steps away chatting with other tour guides while we were swimming.

Info about customs:

If you are American, you wait in a long line, if you are CDN or European, its your lucky day. Their is NO wait if you are CDN or European. The line to clear customs before getting off in St Thomas for Americans was awfully long! Glad I was CDN that day (and always am :) ).

Great Stirrup Cay-

This is a nice private beach day. Of course it was packed, but we still had a good time. Snorkeling was decent, but no where near as good as The Bathsor Coki beach. The bottom of the water has all sorts of sea weed, and the water was not nearly as warm as other beaches we were at, but that is expected as we are now in the North Atlantic. The early morning storm delayed tendering, but we eventually made it their. The BBQ was lackluster as usual, warm food cold, and cold food warm. Of course they had the drink slingers nagging you at every turn!

Pet Peeves:

Pictures-

When getting off at ports after a long tender wait and ride or getting through customs, they (NCL) make you wait in a ridiculous line to get a picture taken. We were always in 10 minute lines while they basically force you to have you picture taken with ridiculous characters at every port. Get rid of this now. If I wanted to have my picture taken, I would ask. Also during dinner, they are always taking your picture.

Bingo-

Every 30 minutes of every day you will hear announcements about Bingo. Bingo this Bingo that. It started driving me and everyone else insane!

Bar Servers-

While enjoying a relaxing day by the pool, you will be continually bombarded by people trying to get you to buy drinks. Even if you are trying to have a little snooze by the pool, all you will hear is fingers snapping and people saying "drinks, drinks, drinks sir".

Oasis Pool area:

This was a nice area. Only problem with chair hogs was on the last sea day. Lots of empty chairs with towels on them. Just grab a towel you see hasn't been moved for half an hour and put it in the bin, That will show them LOL. It will cost them $25 bucks! Good place to relax. Especially at night, the pool area was dead. I was always outside in the hot tubs at night. Also, no one seemed to use the deck 13 FWD hot tub. Always empty at night, with an excellent view.

Entertainment:

The Bollywood show was good.They compare it to Cirque. I have been to Cirque in Las Vegas, and it puts the Bollywood show to shame, and they really shouldn't compare Bollywood to Cirque, but for a cruise ship, it wasn't bad at all.

Bart Rockett-

His is a magician, comedian, and illusionist. This was a good show as well. Surprised he is working on a cruise ship considering he was his own cable show back in his hometown.

Second City-

This was god awful. I cant believe Second City lets them put their name on this show. Their was a Second City in my hometown a few years ago before it was changed to a Yuk Yuks, but, it was always good. This was BAD BAD BAD. Do not waste your time going to this show.

Crew Show-

I was impressed with the level of talent of the crew of the NCL Dawn. Good afternoon entertainment

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet-

Norma set up a meet and greet. About 15 people showed. It was informative. I learned a lot from seasoned cruisers about where and how to get good deals, good itineraries etc etc. Disappointed no officers from the ship attended as they said they would. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask them.

Disembarkation-

We went to reception and grabbed tags that allowed us to disembark at the latest possible time as we had a late flight out of Miami. We disembarked at about 930am. That was about the latest you could stay on board. Their was a decent lineup to get through customs and immigrations, then onto collect baggage. It was without incident.

Dolphin Mall-

Our group went to the Dolphin Mall after our cruise for about 5 hours to kill time before our flight. The Dolphin Mall is huge and also offers shuttle to Miami airport at scheduled times. It worked out great. The mall has everything you could want. Movie theaters, Kids area, Food Court, Brand name stores and outlets. Shuttle was on time, but was crowded.

Miami Airport-

What an absolute DUMP. This is by far the worst airport I have ever even imagined. It looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1970's. All the Internet terminals are broken, very small selection of places to eat after clearing security with long lines, ridiculous lineups to check in at American Airlines. I will never, and will tell everyone I know, to NEVER use Miami airport. From now on, Ft Lauderdale or Orlando International airport is where I will be flying to when I visit Florida again.

American Airlines-

I have used Canadian, Air Canada, Spirit, Southwest, WestJet and American Airlines. Out of all the airlines, American is the most I paid for a flight anywhere and was by far the worst airline I have been on. Old Old Old jets, never on time, not even leather seats which seems to be standard nowadays. The seats and floors had garbage all over the floor, and the AC on the jet was not working. People were fuming mad, but you cant tell anyone off because then you will get kicked off the plane. Upon arrival at Toronto airport, we discovered my large luggage piece with all my wife and I clothes in it, was missing. Don't ask me how it went missing when 15 pieces of luggage were checked at the same time all arrived fine and this was a direct flight. I went home without my luggage. I got a call 24 hours later saying they found it, and will deliver within 6 hours. 3 hours goes by and a courier company rep called me to say the luggage wont be delivered until tomorrow (today). I call AA baggage and the lady on the other end is in the least bit interested in helping me. Its no use talking to her or the courier company (they cant speak English), about why my bag wont be delivered with in the agreed upon 6 hour window. The courier company calls to get directions to London from Toronto. If you are from Toronto and don't know how to get to London, you shouldn't be working for a luggage courier company. Will never fly American Airlines again. I am perplexed to this day how Southwest can fly me to Florida for $64 bucks one way and give me excellent service, when American cant do the same for $250 bucks. I was not the one who booked the flight, so no I didn't have a choice in airline.

Cruise line Employees-

I did enjoy cruising, but I don't know if I will cruise again. I feel the management at cruise lines abuse the employees. I saw managers and other guest berating the employees in front of all sorts of people. I find it difficult to allow these third world country workers bust their ass for little money and no respect from management or passengers. I had a server one morning who was literally shaking from so much stress. The Matire D kept telling him something that I could not hear. He looked so nervous that he could barley write down the orders. He was trying so hard to please everyone. These people are world class servers, and room stewards, yet they are working for $1000 a month. Yes I know that goes a long way in their country, but just because people in poor nations need money, does that mean we can exploit them? Its no wonder these ships are not registered in countries that have labour laws. These employees get jobs from agencies the cruise lines use who charge the employees $500-$1500 just to be hired by a cruise line. The employees have to work 2-3 months just to break even. My room stewards works 10 months in a row (NO DAYS OFF) at least 12 hours a day, and on turnover days they do luggage all night, then their regular duties all day while getting ready for new passengers which includes lugging their luggage up to their rooms. On other days, they get 3 hours off that they don't need to use for sleep. I have heard the argument that they would not have a job back home, but does it still make it right to exploit them? Is it right to use child labour in countries where they need to contribute to the family? I am not saying we should stop cruising, but we all need to pressure these companies to pay at least a min wage per hour and allow them to collect tips on top of that. Its also very funny that all the front line-high up positions are generally white males from G8 countries. 99% of the waitstaff, cooks, bartenders and room stewards are from poor countries. Maybe because no one from US, Canada, Europe would work that many hours for little pay.

Summary:

I think I will try cruising again if I can get over the very poor working conditions of the staff. I would like to try RCL, but would try NCL again because of the price factor. I really did enjoy the cruise. I guess I had too high expectations of the food on board. I think the menu needs to have more selection. The service staff are world class, possibly the best I have ever experienced. The ship was beautiful, St Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay were amazing.

I will be posting pics of Dominican Republic, the Tortola boat to Virgin Gorda (ghetto) and the freestyle dailies and inserts within a few days.

Feel free to ask questions

Nick

DAGVBSB · February 19, 2008

Nick... a great review. Fair and balanced. Backed up your dislikes with reasons.

I was on the Dawn in 2006 and it sounds as if the Photographers have not changed their underhanded, overbearing tactics. They are bent and determined that you are going to fall prey to their overpriced picture and strong armed tactics. Did you try to have a picture taken when leaving the ship with more than one person in it? They screamed at my wife one time when she dared to stick her head in behind my daughters in a disembarkation photo because we wanted both of them in it. My sister in law never bought any pictures because they would not allow her two sons to be in one picture at ports. One photographer chased my elderly mother through the lobby after she caught him in a lie.

The photo service on the Dawn was the most unprofessional group we have ever met and we still have good laughs at their incompetency. I have advised many people (on this board and other travel pages) to make sure they avoid the Dawn Photographers at all costs. It appears that I need to keep saying that....

zqvol · February 19, 2008

Good review until you went off about what the employees make. You have no clue.Most stewards make about $3000 USD per month (40 people per day x 3.50 x 30) Wait staff is about the same maybe more. It is a myth that they do not make good money. Plus they have food, and housing paid. They pay whatever taxes their native countries impose. So don't be uspet that they are not making money.

I am concerned about the food but since this is the OPs first crusie I wonder how it compares to other lines.

I guess I'll find out in 10 days.

ntune · February 20, 2008

Nick,

You hit it all on the head. We felt pretty much the same way. Don't give up on cruising. This experience was definitely the exception for us.

And you are SO right about the Miami airport. We said the same thing. No more flying into or out of Miami. We got to the airport around 9:00 am on Sunday and it was a complete madhouse. We were in lines that lasted forever and our American Airlines flight changed gates three times (and coucourses) and was about 45 minutes late leaving. We were so ready to get out of that airport.

Sorry about your Samana experience. We had heard about that and chose the Cayo Levantado Beach Escape, which was worth it. I wish we had done your St. John's tour. We were on NCL's tour that did the 5 minute dropoff at the lookout and then we had to figure out which bus was ours to get back on (as they have to drive around because it is too crowded to park). But our beach experience was priceless.

Hope you are getting back into the swing of things and not hearing "Crazy Candy" calling for Bingo every 10 minutes....

Again, I hope you give cruising another try. We will again, but probably on Carnival or RCCL.

markf · February 20, 2008

Dont be so sure that each person is not splitting their tips among others--I dont think any single person gets the allotted tips-or 3.50x40 people x 30 days-

I bet they have to cut all kind of people in

The review of the Dawn was interesting--we were on Gem mid Jan--but had a much more positive experience--but I will say the food was never very good or memorable-even in the better pay for restaurants.

and the menu in the buffet seems to be the same every day

Down-Unders · February 20, 2008

NCL Dawn review Feb 10- Feb 17 2008

We travelled with a group of 13 from Toronto Canada for a week long cruise on board the NCL Dawn. 9 adults, 3 kids (ages 3-6) and 1 infant (7 months old). This was our first cruise for 11 of the 13 of us.

Pre Cruise:

We flew into Miami direct from Toronto the day before the cruise via American Airlines. The flight down was without incident. More later on the flight home!!! We booked 4 rooms at the La Quinta Inn Miami Airport East which included free shuttle to/from Miami Airport and to the Port of Miami. Also included was a free and decent continental breakfast. Total cost was $125 USD per room. Not a bad deal with all the shuttles included. We had dinner at Benningins which is right off the hotel parking lot. Check in was smooth and rooms were ok. I had booked a crib for our 7 month old daughter, but it was not in the room on arrival. We informed the front desk clerk and him seemed uninterested in helping us. We were told to "wait until 1030pm when our maintenance guy comes in, he might be able to find one". We were already dead tired from a long day of travelling and we made our own crib with blankets from our room. Again, this is a 2 star hotel and we got what was expected. Make sure you tell the front desk you want the shuttle to the Port of Miami next day and be outside front doors with your bags ready to go 30 minutes early. Seems to be a lack of shuttles to the Port. People with a pick up time of 1030am for a RCL cruise didn't get onto a shuttle until 1130am. I would stay here again though because of the price, free shuttle and free breakfast. Perfect for pre cruise, but nothing else.

Embarkation:

Arrived at the Port of Miami at Noon and within 20-30 minutes we were on board in the Venetian eating lunch. The whole process was painless, but their were a lot of stations you had to go through. All in all, was pretty straightforward. As I learned on cruise critic, and was expecting, their was someone standing at the top of the staircase in front of the entrance to the Venetian telling us to go to the Buffet for an "excellent lunch buffet". We didn't fall for it, and had an excellent lunch in the Venetian. It was empty. Probably only about 10 other tables in the restaurant being used for lunch. I guess the lady at the top of the stairs worked, because after lunch while waiting for our rooms to be ready, I saw the buffet and it was a ZOO! Prior to boarding the ship, their was sign saying rooms would not be ready until 2pm which was fine because after lunch, we walked around for a half an hour and before we knew it, it was time to go to our rooms.

Ship:

The NCL Dawn is in excellent condition. Except for a few areas of carpet, this boat looks no older than 2 years. It really is in immaculate condition, especially when its sitting beside the Carnival Victory in the Port of Miami. We had rough seas leaving Miami, and it was actually fun walking down the halls being thrown from side to side. Most others didn't find it funny at all though. Most in our group could barley finish dinner on the Sunday evening.

Staterooms:

We all had inside cabins on the 11th deck FWD. They were small as expected, but the bathroom was actually really nice and clean. The water pressure and temperature was always excellent. The rooms were pitch black at night, which really made me sleep well. Our room stewards Pedro and Gumbi were excellent. The bed in our room was moved all the way over to the right hand side and the pack and play (it was a newer model and clean) was put to the left side of the room beside the bed. The closet and drawer space was good and laid out nicely. We were able to unload all our clothes into these spaces no problems. The luggage then fit nicely under the bed. Pedro and Gumbi gave us towel animals every night with turn down service and we all enjoyed them. The room was always made up and turned down while we were out. It was amazing how we never saw them in our room. Its like they knew when we left the room. The two cruisers who were with our group who have cruising experience rate the NCL cabin design as #1 by far! Pedro and Gumbi were given extra tips throughout the week as they did such a good job.

Food: This is where NCL fails. I am not kidding by saying that I am pretty easy to please as far as food is concerned.

Buffet -

I would compare the buffet quality of food to that of something below the Ponderosa. The food was not good at all. I only had 2 meals at the buffet, but would recommend never eating at the buffet. Always eat at the Venetian or other restaurants on board and use the buffet as a last resort. The NY Deli is really bad. If this is what a real NY Deli serves for lunch, than I think I will stick with Subway for sandwiches if I ever visit NY. You could make a better sandwich at home. Most of the lunch meat was unrecognizable as to what it was. The bright spot of the buffet is the cookies that are available at the NY Deli section of the buffet are an excellent afternoon snack. Also, Milk, Skim Milk, Coffee, Iced Tea were always available while the buffet was open. The buffet seemed to open until at least 10-11pm every night (at least one section was). In the morning 4 different kinds of juices were available as well.

Aqua and Venetian-

I had most meals between these two restaurants. The food was never hot, but luke warm. The waiters/waitress were doing their best to keep up, and are amazing at their job, but their is just too much work for them. I didn't have the heart to ask for another meal if my meal wasnt hot, or didnt taste very good. Even If I did, I would have had to wait another hour for another meal. We went for dinner at 530 almost every night. Dinner took at LEAST 2h15m. We regularly had to skip desert so we could make the 730 shows on board. The pork roast and turkey tasted like the same thing. I ordered a steak one night that was not on the menu and was probably the worst steak I have ever had. The bright spot in the dining experience was again the waiters/waitresses. They worked there tail off. Breakfast is a must at the Venetian to avoid the cattle call, also know as the Buffet. Again, the only problem with the Venetian Breakfast is your going to be tied up for at LEAST 1h30m for breakfast even if you ask them to put a rush on it. The bread and butter served before dinner was a nice treat as well. The deserts were good if you had time to order them/eat them. The Beef Tenderloin was good, but portion was small and again, by the time it made it to your table it was luke warm at best. I didn't eat in the main restaurants for lobster night, but others in my party did and they were happy with the lobster because it was free. Had they paid for it, they probably wouldn't have been as happy. One night we had a server named Alana and she was excellent. Request her if you can.

Salsas-

Food was a little better than the main dining rooms, but still luke warm. Fajitas were ok, but really really greasy. Quesadilla and Nachos were excellent appetizers. A person in our group had snapper and it wasn't cooked. The maitre D saw that he was looking at it funny, and came over and inspected it himself. He sent out the head chef who apologized and said they are not supposed to serve sushi in Salsas. Again, we tried not to make a big deal out of it, because I am sure someone in the back making the food will be getting reamed out over this. More on that later.

Impressions-

This was my favorite place. I actually dinned here twice. This was decent Italian food. The pizza was NOT good and tasted the same as the stuff in the buffet or poolside BBQ. The Spaghetti with marinara sauce was excellent and hot. The Chicken Parmesan was excellent as well. Probably my favorite dish on board was the Chicken. People in my group were generally happy with Impressions.

Reservations- I made reservations as soon as I boarded for Impressions and Salsas for groups of 13 for the First and Second night on the cruise with no problem. They are in the Bamboo restaurant unpon embarktion waiting to take reservations for specialty restaurants. After this call 9930 or 9931 anywhere on the boat to make reservations. Made a last minute reservation for 2 at Impressions on the final night of the cruise and was given 930pm as the only spot open.

Blue Lagoon-

This is the 24 hour comfort food place. Service was slow, but the food wasn't bad. The wings are excellent, but always order two orders or you will only get 4 small wings. The wing sauce is excellent. Good place to grab a quick lunch or late night snack. Hamburgers. Hot Dogs, Fries and Chicken fingers were all good. Cafeteria style, but hit the spot. Someone in my group said the wonton soup was excellent, but the fish and chips did not go over well in my group!

Chocoholic Buffet-

I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with this "feature" buffet. It happened on the Friday night of our cruise at 11pm. They open the doors at 1045 though, so if you want to be one of the first through, arrive at 1030 in front of the Venetian. Their was literally no chocolates. Their were chocolate cakes, brownies, ice cream, but it was all pre frozen cakes and goodies. Within minutes, the sea cows were out in full force dropping cake all over the place and using their hands. It was amazing how many people refused to use the hand sanitizer and utensils supplies, not just at the buffet, but everywhere. Most of the treats were hard and tasted like freezer. Again very disappointed!

Thoughts about dining-

If you want the best service, buy drinks from your server. They get the 15% that is added to the drink bill. If you don't buy drinks, then you get decent service, but not the best. This is especially true at Blue Lagoon. If you buy a drink, you will get fast service, if you don't, you will wait forever. They are pushing drinks every 10 minutes during dinner and about every 20 minutes during lunch and breakfast. You will be enjoying breakfast when they ask "would you like a screwdriver or bloody mary?" They will have them pre made on a try ready for you! Remember this is at 730am. Cappuccino is always free at the restaurants and is in fact very good. Milk and Chocolate Milk is also available at all the restaurants for free if you ask. Be prepared to be bothered during dinner for pictures! It really gets annoying after the third or fourth day. By the end, we all said NO THANKS before he even asked! The Burgers at the deck BBQ, Buffet and at Great stirrup cay are all precooked before hand. They throw them on the BBQ for show only. I love a good BBQ burger and couldn't find one anywhere.

Ports of Call:

Samana-

Do not ask me why any cruise company would bring anyone to this port. It is extremely dirty with liter and wild dogs everywhere. You are continually harassed to buy anything from sea shells to taxi rides to beaches no matter how many times you say no. They will not leave you alone. Also, there were a few guys drunk in the street with 40ies in their hand. Quite interesting to say the least. The only people who had anything nice to say about this port are those who booked excursions through NCL which is probably the reason NCL takes us to this port. The tendering was extremely rough and the AC was not working in 86 degree weather. Went back to the boat after 1 hour, then enjoyed a nice day poolside on board. The boat left Samana an hour early because all the passengers were back on board. Shows you how much people liked Samana. I will have pics up soon showing you how dirty Samana is. It is really bad!

Tortola-

We booked through NCL, the Virgin Gorda Highlights. The Baths on Virgin Gorda was nice with decent snorkeling. Be aware of jellyfish as they have a sign posted regarding the large number of them at this location. The tour company that provides this for NCL is ghetto. The boat we used to go to Virgin Gorda was from the 1960's and in complete disrepair. The AC was not working. Picture 150 people in an enclosed boat in 80 degree sun with no AC. The crew of this boat were a young group of 20 somethings who cared nothing about passenger comfort. They were full speed into large waves and almost half the people on the boat became sea sick. They should have slowed down a little. I will be posting a picture of the boat to show you all how bad it was. You would think for $69 USD we would have a nice boat to ride over to Virgin Gorda. Not so! Take Speedy's ferry service, newer boats, and 1/3 the cost. Will never book an excursion through NCL again. Walked around town after we got back from the Baths. Nothing much to see or do. Lots of offshore banks :)

St Thomas-

Now this is what cruising is all about. We booked through Air Force One Fun Tours and Papa Bear was our tour guide. He was waiting dock side for our group to take us on an Island tour then onto Coki beach for some fun in the sun. His tour was $25 USD per person and was worth it. We all gave him an extra tip because it was so good. It was supposed to be from 9am and back on the boat by 2pm, but Papa Bear gave us an extra hour and a half at the beach. Driving on the USVI is crazy! Papa Bear took us on an island tour, told us about plants, tour sites, animals, hurricanes, all very informative. We then stopped at Mountain Top of a lookout over Magens Bay. He escorted us to the lookout and gave us info about what we were looking at. NCL charges approx $35 for this same tour, but only pays the tour guides $6-9 USD per person. All they do it take the short cut to the mountain top, tell the group to go to the lookout and then drop them off at the beach because they get paid so little from the cruise line. We went to Coki beach, which was packed, but we found a comfortable spot in the shade. Water sports are available, as well as rentals and food. The snorkeling was AMAZING. Thier were hundreds and hundreds of fish eating from your hand. Crystal Clear turquoise water! Papa Bear hung around the area for the entire time we were at the beach, and if we needed something or info, he was a few steps away chatting with other tour guides while we were swimming.

Info about customs:

If you are American, you wait in a long line, if you are CDN or European, its your lucky day. Their is NO wait if you are CDN or European. The line to clear customs before getting off in St Thomas for Americans was awfully long! Glad I was CDN that day (and always am :) ).

Great Stirrup Cay-

This is a nice private beach day. Of course it was packed, but we still had a good time. Snorkeling was decent, but no where near as good as The Bathsor Coki beach. The bottom of the water has all sorts of sea weed, and the water was not nearly as warm as other beaches we were at, but that is expected as we are now in the North Atlantic. The early morning storm delayed tendering, but we eventually made it their. The BBQ was lackluster as usual, warm food cold, and cold food warm. Of course they had the drink slingers nagging you at every turn!

Pet Peeves:

Pictures-

When getting off at ports after a long tender wait and ride or getting through customs, they (NCL) make you wait in a ridiculous line to get a picture taken. We were always in 10 minute lines while they basically force you to have you picture taken with ridiculous characters at every port. Get rid of this now. If I wanted to have my picture taken, I would ask. Also during dinner, they are always taking your picture.

Bingo-

Every 30 minutes of every day you will hear announcements about Bingo. Bingo this Bingo that. It started driving me and everyone else insane!

Bar Servers-

While enjoying a relaxing day by the pool, you will be continually bombarded by people trying to get you to buy drinks. Even if you are trying to have a little snooze by the pool, all you will hear is fingers snapping and people saying "drinks, drinks, drinks sir".

Oasis Pool area:

This was a nice area. Only problem with chair hogs was on the last sea day. Lots of empty chairs with towels on them. Just grab a towel you see hasn't been moved for half an hour and put it in the bin, That will show them LOL. It will cost them $25 bucks! Good place to relax. Especially at night, the pool area was dead. I was always outside in the hot tubs at night. Also, no one seemed to use the deck 13 FWD hot tub. Always empty at night, with an excellent view.

Entertainment:

The Bollywood show was good.They compare it to Cirque. I have been to Cirque in Las Vegas, and it puts the Bollywood show to shame, and they really shouldn't compare Bollywood to Cirque, but for a cruise ship, it wasn't bad at all.

Bart Rockett-

His is a magician, comedian, and illusionist. This was a good show as well. Surprised he is working on a cruise ship considering he was his own cable show back in his hometown.

Second City-

This was god awful. I cant believe Second City lets them put their name on this show. Their was a Second City in my hometown a few years ago before it was changed to a Yuk Yuks, but, it was always good. This was BAD BAD BAD. Do not waste your time going to this show.

Crew Show-

I was impressed with the level of talent of the crew of the NCL Dawn. Good afternoon entertainment

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet-

Norma set up a meet and greet. About 15 people showed. It was informative. I learned a lot from seasoned cruisers about where and how to get good deals, good itineraries etc etc. Disappointed no officers from the ship attended as they said they would. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask them.

Disembarkation-

We went to reception and grabbed tags that allowed us to disembark at the latest possible time as we had a late flight out of Miami. We disembarked at about 930am. That was about the latest you could stay on board. Their was a decent lineup to get through customs and immigrations, then onto collect baggage. It was without incident.

Dolphin Mall-

Our group went to the Dolphin Mall after our cruise for about 5 hours to kill time before our flight. The Dolphin Mall is huge and also offers shuttle to Miami airport at scheduled times. It worked out great. The mall has everything you could want. Movie theaters, Kids area, Food Court, Brand name stores and outlets. Shuttle was on time, but was crowded.

Miami Airport-

What an absolute DUMP. This is by far the worst airport I have ever even imagined. It looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1970's. All the Internet terminals are broken, very small selection of places to eat after clearing security with long lines, ridiculous lineups to check in at American Airlines. I will never, and will tell everyone I know, to NEVER use Miami airport. From now on, Ft Lauderdale or Orlando International airport is where I will be flying to when I visit Florida again.

American Airlines-

I have used Canadian, Air Canada, Spirit, Southwest, WestJet and American Airlines. Out of all the airlines, American is the most I paid for a flight anywhere and was by far the worst airline I have been on. Old Old Old jets, never on time, not even leather seats which seems to be standard nowadays. The seats and floors had garbage all over the floor, and the AC on the jet was not working. People were fuming mad, but you cant tell anyone off because then you will get kicked off the plane. Upon arrival at Toronto airport, we discovered my large luggage piece with all my wife and I clothes in it, was missing. Don't ask me how it went missing when 15 pieces of luggage were checked at the same time all arrived fine and this was a direct flight. I went home without my luggage. I got a call 24 hours later saying they found it, and will deliver within 6 hours. 3 hours goes by and a courier company rep called me to say the luggage wont be delivered until tomorrow (today). I call AA baggage and the lady on the other end is in the least bit interested in helping me. Its no use talking to her or the courier company (they cant speak English), about why my bag wont be delivered with in the agreed upon 6 hour window. The courier company calls to get directions to London from Toronto. If you are from Toronto and don't know how to get to London, you shouldn't be working for a luggage courier company. Will never fly American Airlines again. I am perplexed to this day how Southwest can fly me to Florida for $64 bucks one way and give me excellent service, when American cant do the same for $250 bucks. I was not the one who booked the flight, so no I didn't have a choice in airline.

Cruise line Employees-

I did enjoy cruising, but I don't know if I will cruise again. I feel the management at cruise lines abuse the employees. I saw managers and other guest berating the employees in front of all sorts of people. I find it difficult to allow these third world country workers bust their ass for little money and no respect from management or passengers. I had a server one morning who was literally shaking from so much stress. The Matire D kept telling him something that I could not hear. He looked so nervous that he could barley write down the orders. He was trying so hard to please everyone. These people are world class servers, and room stewards, yet they are working for $1000 a month. Yes I know that goes a long way in their country, but just because people in poor nations need money, does that mean we can exploit them? Its no wonder these ships are not registered in countries that have labour laws. These employees get jobs from agencies the cruise lines use who charge the employees $500-$1500 just to be hired by a cruise line. The employees have to work 2-3 months just to break even. My room stewards works 10 months in a row (NO DAYS OFF) at least 12 hours a day, and on turnover days they do luggage all night, then their regular duties all day while getting ready for new passengers which includes lugging their luggage up to their rooms. On other days, they get 3 hours off that they don't need to use for sleep. I have heard the argument that they would not have a job back home, but does it still make it right to exploit them? Is it right to use child labour in countries where they need to contribute to the family? I am not saying we should stop cruising, but we all need to pressure these companies to pay at least a min wage per hour and allow them to collect tips on top of that. Its also very funny that all the front line-high up positions are generally white males from G8 countries. 99% of the waitstaff, cooks, bartenders and room stewards are from poor countries. Maybe because no one from US, Canada, Europe would work that many hours for little pay.

Summary:

I think I will try cruising again if I can get over the very poor working conditions of the staff. I would like to try RCL, but would try NCL again because of the price factor. I really did enjoy the cruise. I guess I had too high expectations of the food on board. I think the menu needs to have more selection. The service staff are world class, possibly the best I have ever experienced. The ship was beautiful, St Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay were amazing.

I will be posting pics of Dominican Republic, the Tortola boat to Virgin Gorda (ghetto) and the freestyle dailies and inserts within a few days.

Feel free to ask questions

Nick

The Dawn is our favourite ship, I can't understand that you would not talk to the head waiter or the supervisor in the buffet regarding your concerns. On a plane there is a cabin supervisor if you talk to these people in a reasonable manner things do happen. But there again it is easier to be reactive than proactive.

hypercafe · February 20, 2008

This is the first winter the Dawn has left NYC. We took it 4 times out of here and it seemed OK. Now I see problems. maybe the crew doesn't like Florida.

hazz24 · February 20, 2008

I had some similer experiences on the Dawn in Dec 06 out of NY. Although I can not complain about food as our meals were not awful and there is always something to eat. YOu can't expect 5 star dinning when you pay a 3 star price. Our 10 day cruise was $2600.00 total which amounts to $260.00 per day for a couple. I do agree that the staff is under paid and works very hard but i do not agree with the automatic tipping system. I felt that service was lacking because of it. We just cruised RCI this past Dec and had a wonderful time (food is not better or worse than NCL) the staff seemed interested in getting to know each of us and were tipped very well (in cash which we put directly in their hands). Some staff members love their jobs others do not. Sometimes you get great service sometimes not.

Give cruising another chance. On RCI the staff that we talked to seemed happy with their jobs but did acknowledge that it was not going to be a longterm career.

Cruising does get you the most bang for you buck and you get to wake up somewhere new each day which I find truely amazing.

librarygal · February 20, 2008

We were on the Dawn last month and we were never forced to take a picture at the ports and there were no lines. I wonder if things have changed. Also, I don't remember an extreme number of announcements for Bingo. I would say there was a general lack of announcements on our cruise. The cruise director never came on the PA in the morning with a hello and a rundown of the days activities.

I do agree that the Miami airport is one of the worst.

Seago2 · February 20, 2008

Your review sums up many things I've experienced on my last NCL cruise (Spirit). But there were also some exceptional moments- exceptionally GREAT- on that cruise to balance it out. Still, however, it was not an overall great cruise- unlike my last two Spirit cruises. You really hit the nail on the head on 99% of what you wrote. The Chocoholics Buffet was a total disaster- see my review in my signature (last cruise).

If you are feeling empathy towards the crew members, do a little research on line. Eye opening. I also have a great book, "Devils on the Deep Blue Sea" that delves into crew treatment and what the real deal is. Most are not employees of Carnival, RCI or NCL, they are employees of agents in India (or wherever they are from). You are right in that they are at the top level of service where they come from, specifically the dining room staff.

I long ago learned to ignore the drink servers by the pool, unless I happen to want a drink! I also ignore the announcements. I have always hated the Blue Lagoon on the Spirit- it's like a grease shower that you have to walk through to get anywhere. But last time I hung out there a bit- had the kids with me- and I kind of liked it... the fried rice is a joke, though :eek: .

Oh, and BTW, you gotta learn how to strong arm the photographers. I started a cruise last year (HAL) with two black eyes. They tried to get me a few times and I very strongly told them not to take any more pictures. None with the stuffed dolphin, the fake pirate, the fake Caribbean girls- zero. they were cool after that.

linnealee · February 20, 2008

This is the first winter the Dawn has left NYC. We took it 4 times out of here and it seemed OK. Now I see problems. maybe the crew doesn't like Florida.

I had talked with a waiter who had previously been on the Jewel the year before. I don't think the crew is the same.

NickCDN · February 21, 2008

Good review until you went off about what the employees make. You have no clue.Most stewards make about $3000 USD per month (40 people per day x 3.50 x 30) Wait staff is about the same maybe more. It is a myth that they do not make good money. Plus they have food, and housing paid. They pay whatever taxes their native countries impose. So don't be uspet that they are not making money.

I am concerned about the food but since this is the OPs first crusie I wonder how it compares to other lines.

I guess I'll find out in 10 days.

If they make so much money why are no Americans, Canadians and Europeans doing these jobs? Come out of your bubble buddy and welcome to reality!

The food really wasnt impressive. It was my first cruise, but with all the talk about food, I was expecting something amazing!

Nick

jeffs55 · February 21, 2008

When we were on the Dawn previously in late 2006 much of the crew was expecting to transfer to the new Gem, so I'm sure there's been a lot of turnover since she left NYC. And unfortunatly one is not going to be impressed by NCL food but it's OK. We'll be back on Dawn in May and we'll see if things have changed.

greeba · February 21, 2008

If they make so much money why are no Americans, Canadians and Europeans doing these jobs? Come out of your bubble buddy and welcome to reality!

The food really wasnt impressive. It was my first cruise, but with all the talk about food, I was expecting something amazing!

Nick

i had the same feeling on the last cruise we went on. it seems reasonable to give people a day or two off (at least!) in 8-10 months time, and it's hard to enjoy yourself knowing the situation.

zqvol · February 21, 2008

If they make so much money why are no Americans, Canadians and Europeans doing these jobs? Come out of your bubble buddy and welcome to reality!

The food really wasnt impressive. It was my first cruise, but with all the talk about food, I was expecting something amazing!

Nick

Because Americans, especially Canadians and Europeans are too lazy to work 70 hour weeks, and be away from their families for 5 to 6 months at a stretch.

If you think this guys are not making a LOT of money you are the one that needs to come out of your bubble. Even if they are only making half of what I suggest, and they are not they are making close to what I have said, they have NO expenses on the ship. The problem is not the money it is the amount of work required.

Seago2 · February 21, 2008

If they make so much money why are no Americans, Canadians and Europeans doing these jobs? Come out of your bubble buddy and welcome to reality!

Nick

You will find Canadians, Europeans and Americans in the CD staff and the kids clubs.

Nick, this is not the place to discuss crew issues. You will not find a balanced discussion. I love CC and I love cruising, but I was also a maritime attorney in my last job and I am very interested in crew-related employment issues. You should start googling away and you will find all you can handle. It is quite interesting.

I have no doubt that the crew (above decks, anyway) are very thankful for their jobs. I have a friend who is a Carnival waiter from Mumbai. he keeps signing up, contract after contract. He really takes pride in his job. He is incredible- the kind of guy who does magic tricks for the kids at the table and remembers your name from Day One. He was a waiter at the Oberoi in Mumbai and chose to go to sea and hang out with Funship Freddie and serve Americans- so you know he has to be making $$- in comparison. It is also so expensive to live in Mumbai that this way he doesn't have to worry about room and board for 10 months out of the year. he's banking his cash and has plans for the future.

Say hello to Rajesh Joshi if you are on the Imagination. :)

Globaliser · February 21, 2008

If they make so much money why are no Americans, Canadians and Europeans doing these jobs?

There are plenty of Europeans working on cruise ships, doing these jobs. Maybe not on NCL, but certainly on other cruise lines. The numbers don't vary by vast amounts from line to line.

Sandyrella · February 21, 2008

Because Americans, especially Canadians and Europeans are too lazy to work 70 hour weeks, and be away from their families for 5 to 6 months at a stretch.

Ouch!:eek:

Migglewump Fizzlebottom · February 21, 2008

Because Americans, especially Canadians and Europeans are too lazy to work 70 hour weeks, and be away from their families for 5 to 6 months at a stretch.

Tell you what, go to work with a truck driver or my preacher for a week. Then tell me if they are too lazy to put in 70 hours and be away from their families for long stretches.

The workers on the cruise ships are not the oppressed masses chained to a seat in the bowels of the ship rowing all night that many seem to think they are. They are people with jobs that require more work and time than other jobs do. They are not on vacation, they are at work. When I was a wedding DJ, I wasn't a guest at the wedding. I was a worker. I had a job to do, not sit around eating wedding cake and dancing with bridesmaids. I wasn't being oppressed, I was glad to have paying work. The cabin stewards spend most of the time on a 7 day cruise in the hallway of the cabin they are assigned. Its ok. Its their job. Quit feeling guilty for giving them paying work.

scopewest · February 21, 2008

I envy you the fact that you were able to sail with family. Some of us don't have that opportunity for various reasons.

flashdog_1 · February 21, 2008

If they make so much money why are no Americans, Canadians and Europeans doing these jobs? Come out of your bubble buddy and welcome to reality!Nick

A couple of years ago when my son was about to graduate from culinary school in Birmingham AL I took him and my daughter on a short cruise to see if he could be enticed into seeing the world by working on a ship. He enjoyed the food, the ship, the entertainment etc. but when I asked him if he thought he'd like to do it for a 9 months contract he said, "no way. The restaurant business is pressured enough under normal circumstances. Magnify that by 50x and you have the pressure everyone working in a ship's galley are under. Plus, I know their quarters must be cramped and shared. I like my privacy and down time." I don't think he even knew what they earned. He, as an American, just would not want to work THAT hard. ha

pepster2 · February 21, 2008

Regarding pay. Have a friend who works for HAL. He is a dinning room waiter. He is Phillipino. He told me the year before last he made $68,000. He has been with Carnaval for many years and had just transfered over to HAL

Seago2 · February 22, 2008

Regarding pay. Have a friend who works for HAL. He is a dinning room waiter. He is Phillipino. He told me the year before last he made $68,000. He has been with Carnaval for many years and had just transfered over to HAL

Unless he has a sideline dealing crack cocaine I find that hard to believe :rolleyes: .

Cosmopolitan · February 22, 2008

NCL Dawn review Feb 10- Feb 17 2008

We travelled with a group of 13 from Toronto Canada for a week long cruise on board the NCL Dawn. 9 adults, 3 kids (ages 3-6) and 1 infant (7 months old). This was our first cruise for 11 of the 13 of us.

Pre Cruise:

We flew into Miami direct from Toronto the day before the cruise via American Airlines. The flight down was without incident. More later on the flight home!!! We booked 4 rooms at the La Quinta Inn Miami Airport East which included free shuttle to/from Miami Airport and to the Port of Miami. Also included was a free and decent continental breakfast. Total cost was $125 USD per room. Not a bad deal with all the shuttles included. We had dinner at Benningins which is right off the hotel parking lot. Check in was smooth and rooms were ok. I had booked a crib for our 7 month old daughter, but it was not in the room on arrival. We informed the front desk clerk and him seemed uninterested in helping us. We were told to "wait until 1030pm when our maintenance guy comes in, he might be able to find one". We were already dead tired from a long day of travelling and we made our own crib with blankets from our room. Again, this is a 2 star hotel and we got what was expected. Make sure you tell the front desk you want the shuttle to the Port of Miami next day and be outside front doors with your bags ready to go 30 minutes early. Seems to be a lack of shuttles to the Port. People with a pick up time of 1030am for a RCL cruise didn't get onto a shuttle until 1130am. I would stay here again though because of the price, free shuttle and free breakfast. Perfect for pre cruise, but nothing else.

Embarkation:

Arrived at the Port of Miami at Noon and within 20-30 minutes we were on board in the Venetian eating lunch. The whole process was painless, but their were a lot of stations you had to go through. All in all, was pretty straightforward. As I learned on cruise critic, and was expecting, their was someone standing at the top of the staircase in front of the entrance to the Venetian telling us to go to the Buffet for an "excellent lunch buffet". We didn't fall for it, and had an excellent lunch in the Venetian. It was empty. Probably only about 10 other tables in the restaurant being used for lunch. I guess the lady at the top of the stairs worked, because after lunch while waiting for our rooms to be ready, I saw the buffet and it was a ZOO! Prior to boarding the ship, their was sign saying rooms would not be ready until 2pm which was fine because after lunch, we walked around for a half an hour and before we knew it, it was time to go to our rooms.

Ship:

The NCL Dawn is in excellent condition. Except for a few areas of carpet, this boat looks no older than 2 years. It really is in immaculate condition, especially when its sitting beside the Carnival Victory in the Port of Miami. We had rough seas leaving Miami, and it was actually fun walking down the halls being thrown from side to side. Most others didn't find it funny at all though. Most in our group could barley finish dinner on the Sunday evening.

Staterooms:

We all had inside cabins on the 11th deck FWD. They were small as expected, but the bathroom was actually really nice and clean. The water pressure and temperature was always excellent. The rooms were pitch black at night, which really made me sleep well. Our room stewards Pedro and Gumbi were excellent. The bed in our room was moved all the way over to the right hand side and the pack and play (it was a newer model and clean) was put to the left side of the room beside the bed. The closet and drawer space was good and laid out nicely. We were able to unload all our clothes into these spaces no problems. The luggage then fit nicely under the bed. Pedro and Gumbi gave us towel animals every night with turn down service and we all enjoyed them. The room was always made up and turned down while we were out. It was amazing how we never saw them in our room. Its like they knew when we left the room. The two cruisers who were with our group who have cruising experience rate the NCL cabin design as #1 by far! Pedro and Gumbi were given extra tips throughout the week as they did such a good job.

Food: This is where NCL fails. I am not kidding by saying that I am pretty easy to please as far as food is concerned.

Buffet -

I would compare the buffet quality of food to that of something below the Ponderosa. The food was not good at all. I only had 2 meals at the buffet, but would recommend never eating at the buffet. Always eat at the Venetian or other restaurants on board and use the buffet as a last resort. The NY Deli is really bad. If this is what a real NY Deli serves for lunch, than I think I will stick with Subway for sandwiches if I ever visit NY. You could make a better sandwich at home. Most of the lunch meat was unrecognizable as to what it was. The bright spot of the buffet is the cookies that are available at the NY Deli section of the buffet are an excellent afternoon snack. Also, Milk, Skim Milk, Coffee, Iced Tea were always available while the buffet was open. The buffet seemed to open until at least 10-11pm every night (at least one section was). In the morning 4 different kinds of juices were available as well.

Aqua and Venetian-

I had most meals between these two restaurants. The food was never hot, but luke warm. The waiters/waitress were doing their best to keep up, and are amazing at their job, but their is just too much work for them. I didn't have the heart to ask for another meal if my meal wasnt hot, or didnt taste very good. Even If I did, I would have had to wait another hour for another meal. We went for dinner at 530 almost every night. Dinner took at LEAST 2h15m. We regularly had to skip desert so we could make the 730 shows on board. The pork roast and turkey tasted like the same thing. I ordered a steak one night that was not on the menu and was probably the worst steak I have ever had. The bright spot in the dining experience was again the waiters/waitresses. They worked there tail off. Breakfast is a must at the Venetian to avoid the cattle call, also know as the Buffet. Again, the only problem with the Venetian Breakfast is your going to be tied up for at LEAST 1h30m for breakfast even if you ask them to put a rush on it. The bread and butter served before dinner was a nice treat as well. The deserts were good if you had time to order them/eat them. The Beef Tenderloin was good, but portion was small and again, by the time it made it to your table it was luke warm at best. I didn't eat in the main restaurants for lobster night, but others in my party did and they were happy with the lobster because it was free. Had they paid for it, they probably wouldn't have been as happy. One night we had a server named Alana and she was excellent. Request her if you can.

Salsas-

Food was a little better than the main dining rooms, but still luke warm. Fajitas were ok, but really really greasy. Quesadilla and Nachos were excellent appetizers. A person in our group had snapper and it wasn't cooked. The maitre D saw that he was looking at it funny, and came over and inspected it himself. He sent out the head chef who apologized and said they are not supposed to serve sushi in Salsas. Again, we tried not to make a big deal out of it, because I am sure someone in the back making the food will be getting reamed out over this. More on that later.

Impressions-

This was my favorite place. I actually dinned here twice. This was decent Italian food. The pizza was NOT good and tasted the same as the stuff in the buffet or poolside BBQ. The Spaghetti with marinara sauce was excellent and hot. The Chicken Parmesan was excellent as well. Probably my favorite dish on board was the Chicken. People in my group were generally happy with Impressions.

Reservations- I made reservations as soon as I boarded for Impressions and Salsas for groups of 13 for the First and Second night on the cruise with no problem. They are in the Bamboo restaurant unpon embarktion waiting to take reservations for specialty restaurants. After this call 9930 or 9931 anywhere on the boat to make reservations. Made a last minute reservation for 2 at Impressions on the final night of the cruise and was given 930pm as the only spot open.

Blue Lagoon-

This is the 24 hour comfort food place. Service was slow, but the food wasn't bad. The wings are excellent, but always order two orders or you will only get 4 small wings. The wing sauce is excellent. Good place to grab a quick lunch or late night snack. Hamburgers. Hot Dogs, Fries and Chicken fingers were all good. Cafeteria style, but hit the spot. Someone in my group said the wonton soup was excellent, but the fish and chips did not go over well in my group!

Chocoholic Buffet-

I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with this "feature" buffet. It happened on the Friday night of our cruise at 11pm. They open the doors at 1045 though, so if you want to be one of the first through, arrive at 1030 in front of the Venetian. Their was literally no chocolates. Their were chocolate cakes, brownies, ice cream, but it was all pre frozen cakes and goodies. Within minutes, the sea cows were out in full force dropping cake all over the place and using their hands. It was amazing how many people refused to use the hand sanitizer and utensils supplies, not just at the buffet, but everywhere. Most of the treats were hard and tasted like freezer. Again very disappointed!

Thoughts about dining-

If you want the best service, buy drinks from your server. They get the 15% that is added to the drink bill. If you don't buy drinks, then you get decent service, but not the best. This is especially true at Blue Lagoon. If you buy a drink, you will get fast service, if you don't, you will wait forever. They are pushing drinks every 10 minutes during dinner and about every 20 minutes during lunch and breakfast. You will be enjoying breakfast when they ask "would you like a screwdriver or bloody mary?" They will have them pre made on a try ready for you! Remember this is at 730am. Cappuccino is always free at the restaurants and is in fact very good. Milk and Chocolate Milk is also available at all the restaurants for free if you ask. Be prepared to be bothered during dinner for pictures! It really gets annoying after the third or fourth day. By the end, we all said NO THANKS before he even asked! The Burgers at the deck BBQ, Buffet and at Great stirrup cay are all precooked before hand. They throw them on the BBQ for show only. I love a good BBQ burger and couldn't find one anywhere.

Ports of Call:

Samana-

Do not ask me why any cruise company would bring anyone to this port. It is extremely dirty with liter and wild dogs everywhere. You are continually harassed to buy anything from sea shells to taxi rides to beaches no matter how many times you say no. They will not leave you alone. Also, there were a few guys drunk in the street with 40ies in their hand. Quite interesting to say the least. The only people who had anything nice to say about this port are those who booked excursions through NCL which is probably the reason NCL takes us to this port. The tendering was extremely rough and the AC was not working in 86 degree weather. Went back to the boat after 1 hour, then enjoyed a nice day poolside on board. The boat left Samana an hour early because all the passengers were back on board. Shows you how much people liked Samana. I will have pics up soon showing you how dirty Samana is. It is really bad!

Tortola-

We booked through NCL, the Virgin Gorda Highlights. The Baths on Virgin Gorda was nice with decent snorkeling. Be aware of jellyfish as they have a sign posted regarding the large number of them at this location. The tour company that provides this for NCL is ghetto. The boat we used to go to Virgin Gorda was from the 1960's and in complete disrepair. The AC was not working. Picture 150 people in an enclosed boat in 80 degree sun with no AC. The crew of this boat were a young group of 20 somethings who cared nothing about passenger comfort. They were full speed into large waves and almost half the people on the boat became sea sick. They should have slowed down a little. I will be posting a picture of the boat to show you all how bad it was. You would think for $69 USD we would have a nice boat to ride over to Virgin Gorda. Not so! Take Speedy's ferry service, newer boats, and 1/3 the cost. Will never book an excursion through NCL again. Walked around town after we got back from the Baths. Nothing much to see or do. Lots of offshore banks :)

St Thomas-

Now this is what cruising is all about. We booked through Air Force One Fun Tours and Papa Bear was our tour guide. He was waiting dock side for our group to take us on an Island tour then onto Coki beach for some fun in the sun. His tour was $25 USD per person and was worth it. We all gave him an extra tip because it was so good. It was supposed to be from 9am and back on the boat by 2pm, but Papa Bear gave us an extra hour and a half at the beach. Driving on the USVI is crazy! Papa Bear took us on an island tour, told us about plants, tour sites, animals, hurricanes, all very informative. We then stopped at Mountain Top of a lookout over Magens Bay. He escorted us to the lookout and gave us info about what we were looking at. NCL charges approx $35 for this same tour, but only pays the tour guides $6-9 USD per person. All they do it take the short cut to the mountain top, tell the group to go to the lookout and then drop them off at the beach because they get paid so little from the cruise line. We went to Coki beach, which was packed, but we found a comfortable spot in the shade. Water sports are available, as well as rentals and food. The snorkeling was AMAZING. Thier were hundreds and hundreds of fish eating from your hand. Crystal Clear turquoise water! Papa Bear hung around the area for the entire time we were at the beach, and if we needed something or info, he was a few steps away chatting with other tour guides while we were swimming.

Info about customs:

If you are American, you wait in a long line, if you are CDN or European, its your lucky day. Their is NO wait if you are CDN or European. The line to clear customs before getting off in St Thomas for Americans was awfully long! Glad I was CDN that day (and always am :) ).

Great Stirrup Cay-

This is a nice private beach day. Of course it was packed, but we still had a good time. Snorkeling was decent, but no where near as good as The Bathsor Coki beach. The bottom of the water has all sorts of sea weed, and the water was not nearly as warm as other beaches we were at, but that is expected as we are now in the North Atlantic. The early morning storm delayed tendering, but we eventually made it their. The BBQ was lackluster as usual, warm food cold, and cold food warm. Of course they had the drink slingers nagging you at every turn!

Pet Peeves:

Pictures-

When getting off at ports after a long tender wait and ride or getting through customs, they (NCL) make you wait in a ridiculous line to get a picture taken. We were always in 10 minute lines while they basically force you to have you picture taken with ridiculous characters at every port. Get rid of this now. If I wanted to have my picture taken, I would ask. Also during dinner, they are always taking your picture.

Bingo-

Every 30 minutes of every day you will hear announcements about Bingo. Bingo this Bingo that. It started driving me and everyone else insane!

Bar Servers-

While enjoying a relaxing day by the pool, you will be continually bombarded by people trying to get you to buy drinks. Even if you are trying to have a little snooze by the pool, all you will hear is fingers snapping and people saying "drinks, drinks, drinks sir".

Oasis Pool area:

This was a nice area. Only problem with chair hogs was on the last sea day. Lots of empty chairs with towels on them. Just grab a towel you see hasn't been moved for half an hour and put it in the bin, That will show them LOL. It will cost them $25 bucks! Good place to relax. Especially at night, the pool area was dead. I was always outside in the hot tubs at night. Also, no one seemed to use the deck 13 FWD hot tub. Always empty at night, with an excellent view.

Entertainment:

The Bollywood show was good.They compare it to Cirque. I have been to Cirque in Las Vegas, and it puts the Bollywood show to shame, and they really shouldn't compare Bollywood to Cirque, but for a cruise ship, it wasn't bad at all.

Bart Rockett-

His is a magician, comedian, and illusionist. This was a good show as well. Surprised he is working on a cruise ship considering he was his own cable show back in his hometown.

Second City-

This was god awful. I cant believe Second City lets them put their name on this show. Their was a Second City in my hometown a few years ago before it was changed to a Yuk Yuks, but, it was always good. This was BAD BAD BAD. Do not waste your time going to this show.

Crew Show-

I was impressed with the level of talent of the crew of the NCL Dawn. Good afternoon entertainment

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet-

Norma set up a meet and greet. About 15 people showed. It was informative. I learned a lot from seasoned cruisers about where and how to get good deals, good itineraries etc etc. Disappointed no officers from the ship attended as they said they would. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask them.

Disembarkation-

We went to reception and grabbed tags that allowed us to disembark at the latest possible time as we had a late flight out of Miami. We disembarked at about 930am. That was about the latest you could stay on board. Their was a decent lineup to get through customs and immigrations, then onto collect baggage. It was without incident.

Dolphin Mall-

Our group went to the Dolphin Mall after our cruise for about 5 hours to kill time before our flight. The Dolphin Mall is huge and also offers shuttle to Miami airport at scheduled times. It worked out great. The mall has everything you could want. Movie theaters, Kids area, Food Court, Brand name stores and outlets. Shuttle was on time, but was crowded.

Miami Airport-

What an absolute DUMP. This is by far the worst airport I have ever even imagined. It looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1970's. All the Internet terminals are broken, very small selection of places to eat after clearing security with long lines, ridiculous lineups to check in at American Airlines. I will never, and will tell everyone I know, to NEVER use Miami airport. From now on, Ft Lauderdale or Orlando International airport is where I will be flying to when I visit Florida again.

American Airlines-

I have used Canadian, Air Canada, Spirit, Southwest, WestJet and American Airlines. Out of all the airlines, American is the most I paid for a flight anywhere and was by far the worst airline I have been on. Old Old Old jets, never on time, not even leather seats which seems to be standard nowadays. The seats and floors had garbage all over the floor, and the AC on the jet was not working. People were fuming mad, but you cant tell anyone off because then you will get kicked off the plane. Upon arrival at Toronto airport, we discovered my large luggage piece with all my wife and I clothes in it, was missing. Don't ask me how it went missing when 15 pieces of luggage were checked at the same time all arrived fine and this was a direct flight. I went home without my luggage. I got a call 24 hours later saying they found it, and will deliver within 6 hours. 3 hours goes by and a courier company rep called me to say the luggage wont be delivered until tomorrow (today). I call AA baggage and the lady on the other end is in the least bit interested in helping me. Its no use talking to her or the courier company (they cant speak English), about why my bag wont be delivered with in the agreed upon 6 hour window. The courier company calls to get directions to London from Toronto. If you are from Toronto and don't know how to get to London, you shouldn't be working for a luggage courier company. Will never fly American Airlines again. I am perplexed to this day how Southwest can fly me to Florida for $64 bucks one way and give me excellent service, when American cant do the same for $250 bucks. I was not the one who booked the flight, so no I didn't have a choice in airline.

Cruise line Employees-

I did enjoy cruising, but I don't know if I will cruise again. I feel the management at cruise lines abuse the employees. I saw managers and other guest berating the employees in front of all sorts of people. I find it difficult to allow these third world country workers bust their ass for little money and no respect from management or passengers. I had a server one morning who was literally shaking from so much stress. The Matire D kept telling him something that I could not hear. He looked so nervous that he could barley write down the orders. He was trying so hard to please everyone. These people are world class servers, and room stewards, yet they are working for $1000 a month. Yes I know that goes a long way in their country, but just because people in poor nations need money, does that mean we can exploit them? Its no wonder these ships are not registered in countries that have labour laws. These employees get jobs from agencies the cruise lines use who charge the employees $500-$1500 just to be hired by a cruise line. The employees have to work 2-3 months just to break even. My room stewards works 10 months in a row (NO DAYS OFF) at least 12 hours a day, and on turnover days they do luggage all night, then their regular duties all day while getting ready for new passengers which includes lugging their luggage up to their rooms. On other days, they get 3 hours off that they don't need to use for sleep. I have heard the argument that they would not have a job back home, but does it still make it right to exploit them? Is it right to use child labour in countries where they need to contribute to the family? I am not saying we should stop cruising, but we all need to pressure these companies to pay at least a min wage per hour and allow them to collect tips on top of that. Its also very funny that all the front line-high up positions are generally white males from G8 countries. 99% of the waitstaff, cooks, bartenders and room stewards are from poor countries. Maybe because no one from US, Canada, Europe would work that many hours for little pay.

Summary:

I think I will try cruising again if I can get over the very poor working conditions of the staff. I would like to try RCL, but would try NCL again because of the price factor. I really did enjoy the cruise. I guess I had too high expectations of the food on board. I think the menu needs to have more selection. The service staff are world class, possibly the best I have ever experienced. The ship was beautiful, St Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay were amazing.

I will be posting pics of Dominican Republic, the Tortola boat to Virgin Gorda (ghetto) and the freestyle dailies and inserts within a few days.

Feel free to ask questions

Nick

While I won't take the time to go through every point of your review....I must say...we detest the photographers at each port and taking up the ambiance of the atrium...we just say "NO, THANK YOU" and they/we move on...whether when boarding, in a restaurant or at a port.

We've never been served a meal that was not hot in any restaurant...after 6 cruises on the Dawn.

We don't do buffets...so no opinion there.

As far as ordering drinks..we have always received great service at all venues whether we ordered a drink or not:confused:

spandance · February 22, 2008

NCL Dawn review Feb 10- Feb 17 2008

We travelled with a group of 13 from Toronto Canada for a week long cruise on board the NCL Dawn. 9 adults, 3 kids (ages 3-6) and 1 infant (7 months old). This was our first cruise for 11 of the 13 of us.

Pre Cruise:

We flew into Miami direct from Toronto the day before the cruise via American Airlines. The flight down was without incident. More later on the flight home!!! We booked 4 rooms at the La Quinta Inn Miami Airport East which included free shuttle to/from Miami Airport and to the Port of Miami. Also included was a free and decent continental breakfast. Total cost was $125 USD per room. Not a bad deal with all the shuttles included. We had dinner at Benningins which is right off the hotel parking lot. Check in was smooth and rooms were ok. I had booked a crib for our 7 month old daughter, but it was not in the room on arrival. We informed the front desk clerk and him seemed uninterested in helping us. We were told to "wait until 1030pm when our maintenance guy comes in, he might be able to find one". We were already dead tired from a long day of travelling and we made our own crib with blankets from our room. Again, this is a 2 star hotel and we got what was expected. Make sure you tell the front desk you want the shuttle to the Port of Miami next day and be outside front doors with your bags ready to go 30 minutes early. Seems to be a lack of shuttles to the Port. People with a pick up time of 1030am for a RCL cruise didn't get onto a shuttle until 1130am. I would stay here again though because of the price, free shuttle and free breakfast. Perfect for pre cruise, but nothing else.

Embarkation:

Arrived at the Port of Miami at Noon and within 20-30 minutes we were on board in the Venetian eating lunch. The whole process was painless, but their were a lot of stations you had to go through. All in all, was pretty straightforward. As I learned on cruise critic, and was expecting, their was someone standing at the top of the staircase in front of the entrance to the Venetian telling us to go to the Buffet for an "excellent lunch buffet". We didn't fall for it, and had an excellent lunch in the Venetian. It was empty. Probably only about 10 other tables in the restaurant being used for lunch. I guess the lady at the top of the stairs worked, because after lunch while waiting for our rooms to be ready, I saw the buffet and it was a ZOO! Prior to boarding the ship, their was sign saying rooms would not be ready until 2pm which was fine because after lunch, we walked around for a half an hour and before we knew it, it was time to go to our rooms.

Ship:

The NCL Dawn is in excellent condition. Except for a few areas of carpet, this boat looks no older than 2 years. It really is in immaculate condition, especially when its sitting beside the Carnival Victory in the Port of Miami. We had rough seas leaving Miami, and it was actually fun walking down the halls being thrown from side to side. Most others didn't find it funny at all though. Most in our group could barley finish dinner on the Sunday evening.

Staterooms:

We all had inside cabins on the 11th deck FWD. They were small as expected, but the bathroom was actually really nice and clean. The water pressure and temperature was always excellent. The rooms were pitch black at night, which really made me sleep well. Our room stewards Pedro and Gumbi were excellent. The bed in our room was moved all the way over to the right hand side and the pack and play (it was a newer model and clean) was put to the left side of the room beside the bed. The closet and drawer space was good and laid out nicely. We were able to unload all our clothes into these spaces no problems. The luggage then fit nicely under the bed. Pedro and Gumbi gave us towel animals every night with turn down service and we all enjoyed them. The room was always made up and turned down while we were out. It was amazing how we never saw them in our room. Its like they knew when we left the room. The two cruisers who were with our group who have cruising experience rate the NCL cabin design as #1 by far! Pedro and Gumbi were given extra tips throughout the week as they did such a good job.

Food: This is where NCL fails. I am not kidding by saying that I am pretty easy to please as far as food is concerned.

Buffet -

I would compare the buffet quality of food to that of something below the Ponderosa. The food was not good at all. I only had 2 meals at the buffet, but would recommend never eating at the buffet. Always eat at the Venetian or other restaurants on board and use the buffet as a last resort. The NY Deli is really bad. If this is what a real NY Deli serves for lunch, than I think I will stick with Subway for sandwiches if I ever visit NY. You could make a better sandwich at home. Most of the lunch meat was unrecognizable as to what it was. The bright spot of the buffet is the cookies that are available at the NY Deli section of the buffet are an excellent afternoon snack. Also, Milk, Skim Milk, Coffee, Iced Tea were always available while the buffet was open. The buffet seemed to open until at least 10-11pm every night (at least one section was). In the morning 4 different kinds of juices were available as well.

Aqua and Venetian-

I had most meals between these two restaurants. The food was never hot, but luke warm. The waiters/waitress were doing their best to keep up, and are amazing at their job, but their is just too much work for them. I didn't have the heart to ask for another meal if my meal wasnt hot, or didnt taste very good. Even If I did, I would have had to wait another hour for another meal. We went for dinner at 530 almost every night. Dinner took at LEAST 2h15m. We regularly had to skip desert so we could make the 730 shows on board. The pork roast and turkey tasted like the same thing. I ordered a steak one night that was not on the menu and was probably the worst steak I have ever had. The bright spot in the dining experience was again the waiters/waitresses. They worked there tail off. Breakfast is a must at the Venetian to avoid the cattle call, also know as the Buffet. Again, the only problem with the Venetian Breakfast is your going to be tied up for at LEAST 1h30m for breakfast even if you ask them to put a rush on it. The bread and butter served before dinner was a nice treat as well. The deserts were good if you had time to order them/eat them. The Beef Tenderloin was good, but portion was small and again, by the time it made it to your table it was luke warm at best. I didn't eat in the main restaurants for lobster night, but others in my party did and they were happy with the lobster because it was free. Had they paid for it, they probably wouldn't have been as happy. One night we had a server named Alana and she was excellent. Request her if you can.

Salsas-

Food was a little better than the main dining rooms, but still luke warm. Fajitas were ok, but really really greasy. Quesadilla and Nachos were excellent appetizers. A person in our group had snapper and it wasn't cooked. The maitre D saw that he was looking at it funny, and came over and inspected it himself. He sent out the head chef who apologized and said they are not supposed to serve sushi in Salsas. Again, we tried not to make a big deal out of it, because I am sure someone in the back making the food will be getting reamed out over this. More on that later.

Impressions-

This was my favorite place. I actually dinned here twice. This was decent Italian food. The pizza was NOT good and tasted the same as the stuff in the buffet or poolside BBQ. The Spaghetti with marinara sauce was excellent and hot. The Chicken Parmesan was excellent as well. Probably my favorite dish on board was the Chicken. People in my group were generally happy with Impressions.

Reservations- I made reservations as soon as I boarded for Impressions and Salsas for groups of 13 for the First and Second night on the cruise with no problem. They are in the Bamboo restaurant unpon embarktion waiting to take reservations for specialty restaurants. After this call 9930 or 9931 anywhere on the boat to make reservations. Made a last minute reservation for 2 at Impressions on the final night of the cruise and was given 930pm as the only spot open.

Blue Lagoon-

This is the 24 hour comfort food place. Service was slow, but the food wasn't bad. The wings are excellent, but always order two orders or you will only get 4 small wings. The wing sauce is excellent. Good place to grab a quick lunch or late night snack. Hamburgers. Hot Dogs, Fries and Chicken fingers were all good. Cafeteria style, but hit the spot. Someone in my group said the wonton soup was excellent, but the fish and chips did not go over well in my group!

Chocoholic Buffet-

I would be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed with this "feature" buffet. It happened on the Friday night of our cruise at 11pm. They open the doors at 1045 though, so if you want to be one of the first through, arrive at 1030 in front of the Venetian. Their was literally no chocolates. Their were chocolate cakes, brownies, ice cream, but it was all pre frozen cakes and goodies. Within minutes, the sea cows were out in full force dropping cake all over the place and using their hands. It was amazing how many people refused to use the hand sanitizer and utensils supplies, not just at the buffet, but everywhere. Most of the treats were hard and tasted like freezer. Again very disappointed!

Thoughts about dining-

If you want the best service, buy drinks from your server. They get the 15% that is added to the drink bill. If you don't buy drinks, then you get decent service, but not the best. This is especially true at Blue Lagoon. If you buy a drink, you will get fast service, if you don't, you will wait forever. They are pushing drinks every 10 minutes during dinner and about every 20 minutes during lunch and breakfast. You will be enjoying breakfast when they ask "would you like a screwdriver or bloody mary?" They will have them pre made on a try ready for you! Remember this is at 730am. Cappuccino is always free at the restaurants and is in fact very good. Milk and Chocolate Milk is also available at all the restaurants for free if you ask. Be prepared to be bothered during dinner for pictures! It really gets annoying after the third or fourth day. By the end, we all said NO THANKS before he even asked! The Burgers at the deck BBQ, Buffet and at Great stirrup cay are all precooked before hand. They throw them on the BBQ for show only. I love a good BBQ burger and couldn't find one anywhere.

Ports of Call:

Samana-

Do not ask me why any cruise company would bring anyone to this port. It is extremely dirty with liter and wild dogs everywhere. You are continually harassed to buy anything from sea shells to taxi rides to beaches no matter how many times you say no. They will not leave you alone. Also, there were a few guys drunk in the street with 40ies in their hand. Quite interesting to say the least. The only people who had anything nice to say about this port are those who booked excursions through NCL which is probably the reason NCL takes us to this port. The tendering was extremely rough and the AC was not working in 86 degree weather. Went back to the boat after 1 hour, then enjoyed a nice day poolside on board. The boat left Samana an hour early because all the passengers were back on board. Shows you how much people liked Samana. I will have pics up soon showing you how dirty Samana is. It is really bad!

Tortola-

We booked through NCL, the Virgin Gorda Highlights. The Baths on Virgin Gorda was nice with decent snorkeling. Be aware of jellyfish as they have a sign posted regarding the large number of them at this location. The tour company that provides this for NCL is ghetto. The boat we used to go to Virgin Gorda was from the 1960's and in complete disrepair. The AC was not working. Picture 150 people in an enclosed boat in 80 degree sun with no AC. The crew of this boat were a young group of 20 somethings who cared nothing about passenger comfort. They were full speed into large waves and almost half the people on the boat became sea sick. They should have slowed down a little. I will be posting a picture of the boat to show you all how bad it was. You would think for $69 USD we would have a nice boat to ride over to Virgin Gorda. Not so! Take Speedy's ferry service, newer boats, and 1/3 the cost. Will never book an excursion through NCL again. Walked around town after we got back from the Baths. Nothing much to see or do. Lots of offshore banks :)

St Thomas-

Now this is what cruising is all about. We booked through Air Force One Fun Tours and Papa Bear was our tour guide. He was waiting dock side for our group to take us on an Island tour then onto Coki beach for some fun in the sun. His tour was $25 USD per person and was worth it. We all gave him an extra tip because it was so good. It was supposed to be from 9am and back on the boat by 2pm, but Papa Bear gave us an extra hour and a half at the beach. Driving on the USVI is crazy! Papa Bear took us on an island tour, told us about plants, tour sites, animals, hurricanes, all very informative. We then stopped at Mountain Top of a lookout over Magens Bay. He escorted us to the lookout and gave us info about what we were looking at. NCL charges approx $35 for this same tour, but only pays the tour guides $6-9 USD per person. All they do it take the short cut to the mountain top, tell the group to go to the lookout and then drop them off at the beach because they get paid so little from the cruise line. We went to Coki beach, which was packed, but we found a comfortable spot in the shade. Water sports are available, as well as rentals and food. The snorkeling was AMAZING. Thier were hundreds and hundreds of fish eating from your hand. Crystal Clear turquoise water! Papa Bear hung around the area for the entire time we were at the beach, and if we needed something or info, he was a few steps away chatting with other tour guides while we were swimming.

Info about customs:

If you are American, you wait in a long line, if you are CDN or European, its your lucky day. Their is NO wait if you are CDN or European. The line to clear customs before getting off in St Thomas for Americans was awfully long! Glad I was CDN that day (and always am :) ).

Great Stirrup Cay-

This is a nice private beach day. Of course it was packed, but we still had a good time. Snorkeling was decent, but no where near as good as The Bathsor Coki beach. The bottom of the water has all sorts of sea weed, and the water was not nearly as warm as other beaches we were at, but that is expected as we are now in the North Atlantic. The early morning storm delayed tendering, but we eventually made it their. The BBQ was lackluster as usual, warm food cold, and cold food warm. Of course they had the drink slingers nagging you at every turn!

Pet Peeves:

Pictures-

When getting off at ports after a long tender wait and ride or getting through customs, they (NCL) make you wait in a ridiculous line to get a picture taken. We were always in 10 minute lines while they basically force you to have you picture taken with ridiculous characters at every port. Get rid of this now. If I wanted to have my picture taken, I would ask. Also during dinner, they are always taking your picture.

Bingo-

Every 30 minutes of every day you will hear announcements about Bingo. Bingo this Bingo that. It started driving me and everyone else insane!

Bar Servers-

While enjoying a relaxing day by the pool, you will be continually bombarded by people trying to get you to buy drinks. Even if you are trying to have a little snooze by the pool, all you will hear is fingers snapping and people saying "drinks, drinks, drinks sir".

Oasis Pool area:

This was a nice area. Only problem with chair hogs was on the last sea day. Lots of empty chairs with towels on them. Just grab a towel you see hasn't been moved for half an hour and put it in the bin, That will show them LOL. It will cost them $25 bucks! Good place to relax. Especially at night, the pool area was dead. I was always outside in the hot tubs at night. Also, no one seemed to use the deck 13 FWD hot tub. Always empty at night, with an excellent view.

Entertainment:

The Bollywood show was good.They compare it to Cirque. I have been to Cirque in Las Vegas, and it puts the Bollywood show to shame, and they really shouldn't compare Bollywood to Cirque, but for a cruise ship, it wasn't bad at all.

Bart Rockett-

His is a magician, comedian, and illusionist. This was a good show as well. Surprised he is working on a cruise ship considering he was his own cable show back in his hometown.

Second City-

This was god awful. I cant believe Second City lets them put their name on this show. Their was a Second City in my hometown a few years ago before it was changed to a Yuk Yuks, but, it was always good. This was BAD BAD BAD. Do not waste your time going to this show.

Crew Show-

I was impressed with the level of talent of the crew of the NCL Dawn. Good afternoon entertainment

Cruise Critic Meet and Greet-

Norma set up a meet and greet. About 15 people showed. It was informative. I learned a lot from seasoned cruisers about where and how to get good deals, good itineraries etc etc. Disappointed no officers from the ship attended as they said they would. I had a lot of questions I wanted to ask them.

Disembarkation-

We went to reception and grabbed tags that allowed us to disembark at the latest possible time as we had a late flight out of Miami. We disembarked at about 930am. That was about the latest you could stay on board. Their was a decent lineup to get through customs and immigrations, then onto collect baggage. It was without incident.

Dolphin Mall-

Our group went to the Dolphin Mall after our cruise for about 5 hours to kill time before our flight. The Dolphin Mall is huge and also offers shuttle to Miami airport at scheduled times. It worked out great. The mall has everything you could want. Movie theaters, Kids area, Food Court, Brand name stores and outlets. Shuttle was on time, but was crowded.

Miami Airport-

What an absolute DUMP. This is by far the worst airport I have ever even imagined. It looks like it hasn't been updated since the 1970's. All the Internet terminals are broken, very small selection of places to eat after clearing security with long lines, ridiculous lineups to check in at American Airlines. I will never, and will tell everyone I know, to NEVER use Miami airport. From now on, Ft Lauderdale or Orlando International airport is where I will be flying to when I visit Florida again.

American Airlines-

I have used Canadian, Air Canada, Spirit, Southwest, WestJet and American Airlines. Out of all the airlines, American is the most I paid for a flight anywhere and was by far the worst airline I have been on. Old Old Old jets, never on time, not even leather seats which seems to be standard nowadays. The seats and floors had garbage all over the floor, and the AC on the jet was not working. People were fuming mad, but you cant tell anyone off because then you will get kicked off the plane. Upon arrival at Toronto airport, we discovered my large luggage piece with all my wife and I clothes in it, was missing. Don't ask me how it went missing when 15 pieces of luggage were checked at the same time all arrived fine and this was a direct flight. I went home without my luggage. I got a call 24 hours later saying they found it, and will deliver within 6 hours. 3 hours goes by and a courier company rep called me to say the luggage wont be delivered until tomorrow (today). I call AA baggage and the lady on the other end is in the least bit interested in helping me. Its no use talking to her or the courier company (they cant speak English), about why my bag wont be delivered with in the agreed upon 6 hour window. The courier company calls to get directions to London from Toronto. If you are from Toronto and don't know how to get to London, you shouldn't be working for a luggage courier company. Will never fly American Airlines again. I am perplexed to this day how Southwest can fly me to Florida for $64 bucks one way and give me excellent service, when American cant do the same for $250 bucks. I was not the one who booked the flight, so no I didn't have a choice in airline.

Cruise line Employees-

I did enjoy cruising, but I don't know if I will cruise again. I feel the management at cruise lines abuse the employees. I saw managers and other guest berating the employees in front of all sorts of people. I find it difficult to allow these third world country workers bust their ass for little money and no respect from management or passengers. I had a server one morning who was literally shaking from so much stress. The Matire D kept telling him something that I could not hear. He looked so nervous that he could barley write down the orders. He was trying so hard to please everyone. These people are world class servers, and room stewards, yet they are working for $1000 a month. Yes I know that goes a long way in their country, but just because people in poor nations need money, does that mean we can exploit them? Its no wonder these ships are not registered in countries that have labour laws. These employees get jobs from agencies the cruise lines use who charge the employees $500-$1500 just to be hired by a cruise line. The employees have to work 2-3 months just to break even. My room stewards works 10 months in a row (NO DAYS OFF) at least 12 hours a day, and on turnover days they do luggage all night, then their regular duties all day while getting ready for new passengers which includes lugging their luggage up to their rooms. On other days, they get 3 hours off that they don't need to use for sleep. I have heard the argument that they would not have a job back home, but does it still make it right to exploit them? Is it right to use child labour in countries where they need to contribute to the family? I am not saying we should stop cruising, but we all need to pressure these companies to pay at least a min wage per hour and allow them to collect tips on top of that. Its also very funny that all the front line-high up positions are generally white males from G8 countries. 99% of the waitstaff, cooks, bartenders and room stewards are from poor countries. Maybe because no one from US, Canada, Europe would work that many hours for little pay.

Summary:

I think I will try cruising again if I can get over the very poor working conditions of the staff. I would like to try RCL, but would try NCL again because of the price factor. I really did enjoy the cruise. I guess I had too high expectations of the food on board. I think the menu needs to have more selection. The service staff are world class, possibly the best I have ever experienced. The ship was beautiful, St Thomas, Tortola, and Great Stirrup Cay were amazing.

I will be posting pics of Dominican Republic, the Tortola boat to Virgin Gorda (ghetto) and the freestyle dailies and inserts within a few days.

Feel free to ask questions

Nick

Thought I would drop a line as I cruised the week before you on Dawn. I agree with you on the food, very disappointing but you won't find NCL much better. Princess has the best food. We wnt to Caya Leventado an island owned by the Barcardi family just off Samana, stunning we loved it. We had wonderful weather all week. I thought the standards had been dropped by NCL. The shows were poor. I am rather worried as I shall be on the Gem on May 4th in Europe, I do hope this will be better.

Sharon

NCL Dawn review Feb 10-17, 2008 comprehensive review

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