The Joke That is The Dawn

[chevyrules2008]

We have cruised to Bermuda 8 times now in the past 9 years. This cruise was BY FAR the worst. This cruise makes me really miss the old Zenith (Celebrity).

1) Embarkation - Check In was fast and efficient. The room was never completely cleared of debris from the previous passengers, after numerous attempts to communicate this with room steward.

2) The Cruise – Very smooth sailing – the third day at sea was a joke – we cruised at 3 knots, BECAUSE NCL WAS TOO CHEAP TO DOCK IN BERMUDA AND PAY THE PORT FEELS.

3) The Pool – Staff on board refused to enforce their own posted rules. Specifically, children jumping from the Hot tub into the adult pool. Children went into pools with just regular diapers and/or swim diapers, a blatant violation of posted rules. This was an obvious health concern, which is also addressed later.

4) Pool Area – Signs posted prohibit the reserving of sun chairs, but EVERYONE did it, and NOTHING was done about it. One nasty staff member, who was also in charge of the POOL TOWELS, reminded us of the rule in a stern and nasty manner, but effused to do anything about the above mentioned children / Hot Tub issue.

5) Restaurants – Service was ALWAYS slow at best. Food was MOSTLY mediocre at best. We were chided for wearing shorts on the Salsa restaurant, but EVERYONE else was doing it. In Aqua, it took 10 minutes to bring cocktail sauce for the shrimp cocktail. In addition, the person who took our drink order was nasty, especially when she realized we had presented a ticket for an already opened bottle of wine that was being saved for us. At Cagney’s, the appetizers were served barely warm, and the meats were not cooked correctly – a medium steak came out well done. In the Venetian, the Eggs Benedict was served on a mushy untoasted English muffin. In the Blue Lagoon, we were blatantly ignored, had to beg to have the table cleaned and be given eating utensils. Of course, the food order was wrong. The buffet was a joke – as some items could only be reached by people with extremely long arms, and the prongs used to pick up food were awful.

6) Reservations – Could not reach restaurant reservation desk via phone. When we went to desk in lobby, the person was just standing around. You would think she would be on the phone the whole time.

7) Bar Staff – Extremely aggressive in attempting to get drink orders. For example, we were approached by 5 different people in a 10 minute period poolside. This is not necessary. Mixed drinks were ok, but expensive. They did not communicate the option of purchasing drinks in Souvenir glasses versus regular glasses, as the former would cost $2 or more additional per drink.

8) Room steward / room service – we literally had to beg for ice and pitchers of water. 3 people in our party needed water to take multiple medications. Water could only be obtained via room service, which would take an hour or more. On previous cruises, a pitcher was provided in each room. The room steward did not clean the rooms properly – he would lave dirty glasses and filled garbage cans.

9) Service Charges – NCL does not make in plainly obvious that they charge $10 per person per day service charge as a forced gratuity. Whenever we cruised on Celebrity, we were given guidelines for tipping, but in the end, we made the determination.

10) Ship Cleanliness – This ship was a germ fest. Waiters walked around coughing into plates. Hairs were found in foods on more than one occasion. Bathroom glasses were cleaned by running hot water into them. If this ship was subject to health regulations as do NYC restaurants, they would have been shut down. 2 people in our party contracted conjunctivitis, and one had an intestinal virus on board.

11) Customer Service – Any time we expressed concerns about the above issues, the staff member was defensive, rather than being apologetic. At times, they would blame us for the problems we encountered! For example, we were blamed for having our room cards deactivated, because we supposedly carried them together! Sorry, we did not walk into a magnetic field! No attempts were made to correct the issues – not even the obligatory apologetic bottle of cheap champagne was offered!

12) Disembarkation – a complete joke – the staff acted like they never did it before. We dragged our stuff out ourselves like animals, and got herded across 12th avenue as if it was a civil emergency. Turns out it was because of some useless marathon.

Honesty of Staff – In our rush to disembark, and get away from this nightmare, we left some cash and medical cards locked in our stateroom safe. We called customer service numerous times, and were given the runaround. We then contacted the authorities in Bermuda, and they compelled the staff of the Dawn to look again. They denied there were any items in the safe. So, as a result, we will be filing police reports with the Port Authority of New York. The staff of the Dawn is composed of thieves, and SHOULD BE DEPORTED.

[pyrogy]

Thats quite a first post. Welcome to Cruise Critic.

[Evilmille]

Hope you are ready for the bashing. Since you only have 2 posts, you will be considered a liar, a troll, a fraud etc etc.

 

There are some here that really hate when NCL is given a negative review. Put your bullet proof vest on. You will need it.

[JohnIreland]

this should be fun

 

[Ralphinsc]

Thanks for the laughs.........

[chevyrules2008]

Hope you are ready for the bashing. Since you only have 2 posts, you will be considered a liar, a troll, a fraud etc etc.

 

There are some here that really hate when NCL is given a negative review. Put your bullet proof vest on. You will need it.

Bring it on. This was not some random attempt by an internet prankster to trash NCL. No was it some rookie cruiser who didn't know what to expect. However, after one cruise, I will not go back.

[JohnIreland]

The staff of the Dawn is composed of thieves, and SHOULD BE DEPORTED.

 

 

 

Do we have a lawyer in house , I smell a libel case coming on....

[*Wink*]

I will not go back.

 

Thank goodness for little blessings.

[chevyrules2008]

Libel? It's called FIRST AMENDMENT. NCL has already received these complaints.

[mbarnaby99]

Bring it on. This was not some random attempt by an internet prankster to trash NCL. No was it some rookie cruiser who didn't know what to expect. However, after one cruise, I will not go back.

 

Thanks for sharing your review. It sounds like NCL is not the cruise line for you. Hope you have a better cruise next time whichever line you choose. I can't wait to get back on the Dawn in November.

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Sorry you had a bad time! :rolleyes:

 

I cruised on the Dawn twice, once to Bermuda and loved it!

[smeyer418]

FYI the New York Port Authority has no jurisdiction at these piers. They are owned by NY City and Operated by the P&O America. The place to make a complaint is with either the FBI or the NY City Police department but you are wasting your and their time...they can use the laugh however. You left stuff in the safe beyond the time you were entitled to use it on a foreign flagged vessel....but they should have done more to get it back to you.

[Antioch Cruiser]

chevyrules2008, do you work for AAA?

 

You sound like my old Travel agent at AAA which I don't use any more.

[herb]

I'll bet 8 pages before the thread is locked :D

[snorklinbarb]

Germ fest? The public health authorities paid a visit during the Rosie cruise and the Dawn scored a perfect 100. Pretty hard to accomplish that.

 

As for #9, that NCL does not make it clear about the service charge, how much more clear do they need to be?

 

What about Tipping?

Gratuities

Guests should not feel obliged to offer a gratuity for good service. However, all of our staff are encouraged to "go the extra mile," and so they are permitted to accept cash gratuities entirely at the discretion of our guests who wish to acknowledge particular staff members for exceptional or outstanding service. In other words, there is genuinely no need to tip but you should feel free to do so if you have a desire to acknowledge particular individuals.

Also, certain staff positions provide service on an individual basis to only some guests. We encourage those guests to acknowledge good service from these staff members with appropriate gratuities. For example, for guests purchasing bar drinks the recommended gratuity is 15 percent. For guests purchasing spa treatments the recommended gratuity is 18 percent. Similarly, for guests using concierge and butler services, we recommend they consider offering a gratuity commensurate with services rendered.

NCL Service Charge

On all NCL ships payment of Pre- Paid Service Fee is required. A fixed Service Charge of $10 per person, per day will be added to your onboard account. For children ages 3-12, a $5 per person per day charge will be added to your onboard account: there is no charge for children under the age of three.

Our crew is encouraged to work together as a service team and compensated by a combination of salary and incentive program that the Service Charge supports. It is our earnest wish that you enjoy your Freestyle Cruise experience and that our entire crew in all areas of the ship will provide you with the standard of service for which NCL is known. Therefore, if you have any concerns about the service you receive during your cruise; please bring them to the immediate attention of our reception desk staff on board so that we can address any issues in a timely manner before the cruise is over.

Both NCL and NCL America have a structured guest satisfaction program on board designed to handle any concerns raised by our guests relating to the service or on board product quickly and efficiently. In almost all cases we are able to come up with a satisfactory solution to any issues which are raised and make sure our guests can focus on enjoying their cruise holiday. In the unlikely event we cannot satisfactorily resolve the issues through our guest satisfaction program; guests will be able to adjust the Service Charge according to the level of inconvenience they feel they have experienced.

Our clear priority is to have the opportunity of resolving the issue, when it happens, to everyone's complete satisfaction.

 

 

I'm not going to waste any more time going through the inaccuracies. When there are just wild inaccurate accusations flying around, let the reader decide for himself.

[maggie0104]

Other then decent mixed drinks, was there nothing you enjoyed?

 

How soon after embarkation did you start wanting to get away from that nightmare?

[lmmspice33]

Seriously - this is what stinks, I'm leaving for this cruise very soon and it's my first - I'm so excited... but it's posts like this that ruin that ... :(

[buzzor]

"BECAUSE NCL WAS TOO CHEAP TO DOCK IN BERMUDA AND PAY THE PORT FEELS"

 

Wow, I went on the Dawn this month and I received no port feels???? Dam, I guess I got off at the wrong time or wrong gang plank.

 

In all seriousness, the reason that NCL can't dock earlier is because the RCCI EOS is at the Dockyard and they can't put two ships there at the same time.

 

It has nothing to do with NCL being "cheap", you pay port fees anyway not NCL.

 

However, I wouldn't expect the OP to understand that anyway.

[Mooder]

Libel? It's called FIRST AMENDMENT. NCL has already received these complaints.

 

I am truly sorry you didn't have a good time. Your experiences could not be more different than mine on the Dawn. I found them to be cleanliness fanatics and extremely gracious in all customer service matters. Love love love the Dawn. But I really posted to say that I get tired of people flashing the term "First Amendment" without truly knowing what it does and does not protect. Isn't it enough to say this is your opinion and leave it at that? Not only would that be accurate, it would help keep the level of discussion civil, and give you a bit more credibility.

[angeljt]

Seriously - this is what stinks, I'm leaving for this cruise very soon and it's my first - I'm so excited... but it's posts like this that ruin that ... :(

 

We've been on the Dawn 4 times and have never encountered any of the problems the OP had.

Don't worry, you'll have a great time!

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Seriously - this is what stinks, I'm leaving for this cruise very soon and it's my first - I'm so excited... but it's posts like this that ruin that ... :(

 

I'm sure when we read other reviews from the OP's cruise it will be a different story!;) You're gonna love it!!

[Evilmille]

I am truly sorry you didn't have a good time. Your experiences could not be more different than mine on the Dawn. I found them to be cleanliness fanatics and extremely gracious in all customer service matters. Love love love the Dawn. But I really posted to say that I get tired of people flashing the term "First Amendment" without truly knowing what it does and does not protect. Isn't it enough to say this is your opinion and leave it at that? Not only would that be accurate, it would help keep the level of discussion civil, and give you a bit more credibility.

 

I think she mentioned first amendment because someone mentioned libel.

[soccermommy]

I dunno, when I read first or second posts like this it sounds like the OP is really venting, and not just being nasty. It takes more proof to consider an OP a troll. Most of the things brought up could have been a problem...or not. As usual, I'm wondering if Housekeeping was consulted about the room problems. But I think the real problem is, NCL is not Celebrity. It's fantastic for those who love this line, but I think the OP probably would like another line.

[Mooder]

I think she mentioned first amendment because someone mentioned libel.

 

I realize that, which is why I posted. The First Amendment doesn't protect people from a libel action, but more to the point, really has nothing to do with the topic of this thread. But it sure makes people feel good to bring it up.

[Evilmille]

I dunno, when I read first or second posts like this it sounds like the OP is really venting, and not just being nasty. It takes more proof to consider an OP a troll. Most of the things brought up could have been a problem...or not. As usual, I'm wondering if Housekeeping was consulted about the room problems. But I think the real problem is, NCL is not Celebrity. It's fantastic for those who love this line, but I think the OP probably would like another line.

 

WOW soccermommy, well said. Soccerkids are lucky to have such a reasonable soccermommy.