NCL Dawn Restaurant Info

[ilovewdw]

Hi there!

 

I just booked an EXTREMELY last minute cruise. We are leaving next week for Bermuda on the Dawn!

 

Last year, we sailed to the Bahamas on the Spirit. I really enjoyed it! I loved the whole FREESTYLE concept.

 

I have a few questions about the restaurants:

 

1 - Which restaurants require a Fee?

 

2 - How much is the fee?

 

3 - What are your favorite restaurants? (on the Spirit, we LOVED Cagneys and the Sushi Bar! The no charge Italian place was good, too!)

 

4 - Which restaurants should we avoid, if any?

 

5 - When I get on the ship, which sit down Dining Room will be open?

 

THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

[mrsbojamp]

Congrats on your booking! I went last year on the Dawn and absolutely loved it. I wasn't sure about the various dining venues, but once there, I found it terrific. I can't answer all of your questions, but here's my remembrance. The restaurants that I know require an extra fee are Le Bistro, Cagneys, the Italian place (can't remember the name), Tepanyaki. The fees ranged from $10 - $25, with Tepanyaki being the highest because it only sits about 16 people. There were also other places, but we didn't go to them. Of the main dining rooms, we only ate in the Venetian Dining Room, which I didn't really care for. It wasn't terrible, just didn't compare to the specialty places. Of the specialty restaurants the one I didn't care for was the Italian. We liked Le Bistro much more than we thought we would - so it was a great surprise. Cagneys was very good - met our high expectations. I enjoyed Tepanyaki more than my husband. His main complaint was that he didn't like the sauces. The Blue Lagoon is great place to go for a snack or lunch. We enjoyed the wings there. As for what's open upon boarding - we went to the buffet area, so I'm not sure about dining rooms.

 

Hope you have a great trip. We're returning mid-July!

 

Also - don't forget about your destination, too. Bermuda is one of the most beautiful places on earth!

[arlee]

We were on the Dawn in March, and we had lunch after boarding, at the Venetian. Our favorite restaurants were Cagney's and Impressions (Italian). Next cruise we're going to try some of the others as well. I agree that the Venetian and Aqua (very nicely decorated), were nothing special. We ate lunch and sometimes had breakfast at the buffet, which was very adequate, and always enjoyed coffee, juice, cereal, etc. for room service.

[AdoptAtty]

I was on the Dawn in late January - early February, and the Star most recently. All in all the Asian restaurant is still my favorite by far!! Even having tried LeBistro on the most recent cruise. Here is a portion of my review from the Dawn... the part about food!

 

 

Did I say I love good food? I might be considered picky because I like good food, but I am not a food snob... love to go under the bridge to Paradise Island in the Bahamas and eat as the locals do at one of those shacks, it doesn’t have to be fancy or expensive, just good. I also eat many different things... raw oysters, escargot, foie gras, but you can keep plain ole’ liver and other organ meats, the really weird stuff like fresh still beating frog heart, oh and parsnips... other than that, I’ll probably try it. (The one thing I do know how to say in Vietnamese is "No dog meat.")

 

After reading and rereading the boards I was still a bit confused about reservations. I was relieved to know I could rely on our concierge, Ryan, to make all of our dinner reservations for us. That wouldn’t be worth the extra money for a suite, but it sure was nice.

 

Before we left we had decided to try all the specialty restaurants we could, and do the "optional formal night" in one of the Main dining rooms. Because the DH’s weren’t into sushi, we knew we would not do a "sushi only" meal. We ended up not trying Le Bistro, so I can’t comment on that from personal experience. (I did end up trying it on the Star. We enjoyed it, but it didn't top Bamboo or Ginza as it was called on the Star.)

 

Venetian - seats 472 persons, Deck 6, no cover charge

We had one dinner and one breakfast here.

We sat by the back windows for our dinner which was nice. I think it might be nicer at lunch or breakfast, when it is daylight. I ordered a scallop appetizer, and the beef wellington and lobster for my main course. The scallop appetizer was not bad, but honestly I’ve never seen scallops so small in my whole life. I do not believe they were as large as an eraser tip on one of those fat pencils some children use when they are learning to write. The beef wellington was decent, the meat was tender. Unfortunately the lobster tails were highly over cooked. We did not have desert because we were in a hurry to see a show. The service was good. We had let our waiter know about our plans to go to the show and he made sure we were out in time.

Our breakfast was fine, the service was a bit disorganized. The maitre d’hotel from Impressions was working in Venitian this morning and she went out of her way to make sure we were taken care of.

 

Aqua - seats 344persons, Deck 6, no cover

This is the smaller of the two main dining rooms. We did not eat here

 

Cagney’s - Deck 13, seats 132 persons, $20 pp cover charge for dinner. Serves breakfast and lunch for suite holders.

We ate breakfast at Cagny’s twice. The service was very good. I particularly enjoyed the French Toast made with Challah (egg) bread and the Crab Cake Benedict and Eggs Benedict. We were in the room adjacent to the Star Bar, which has many widows and is full of natural light.

 

We ate lunch here after embarkation. The service was little bit disorganized this afternoon, but the food was good.

 

We ate one dinner here, and other than the deserts and the service, it was a bit disappointing. The lobster bisque was good. I ordered a filet medium and lobster tail for dinner. I was surprised to see the filet as it was only about an inch thick. It was certainly acceptable, but nothing I could cut with a fork. The lobster tail was appropriately cooked, but completely flavorless. I ate about 1/4 of each and gave the rest to my dinner companions. The deserts were another story. I thought our waiter did a fabulous job of preparing the bananas foster and the kaluah coffee creme brulee was one of my all time favorites on this ship. Our waiter did an excellent job and the maitre d’hotel was very attentive.

 

LeBistro - Deck 6, seats 90 persons, French, cover $15pp

We did not dine at this restaurant.

 

Salsa - deck 8, Tex Mex Tapas, seats 112 persons, cover $10pp

We started off dinner on a great note, good margaritas! We also enjoyed the chips and salsa. For dinner I shared the il popo, which was beef, chicken, pineapple, red pepper and onion cooked on a strange contraption, almost like kabobs, and served with tortillas, cheese, salsa, guacamole and beans. The two of us weren’t able to eat all of it. The men had a burrito and the lobster tacos. I understand they were both good, maybe the tacos being better than the average burrito.

 

Impressions of Italy - Deck 6, seats 198 persons, Italian, $10pp

I was surprised to find one of my favorites in this restaurants, the pizza. It was so good our butler brought one to us the following evening, along with my favorite desert from Impressions, the ricotta cheesecake. (Unfortunately, while I still enjoyed this on the Star, I discovered the cheesecake was NOT the same.) I particularly liked the Sierra Nevada pizza which had artichoke hearts, black olives, mozzarella, mushrooms, pesto, bresaola and arugula.

I had Fettuccine Alfredo for my pasta course. The pasta itself was excellent, but the sauce was a bit disappointing. It also seemed as if the pasta has sat with the sauce on it longer than it should have, and was not immediately served.

My main course was Veal Marsala and I had the polenta substituted for the potatoes. The veal was very good as was the polenta. I tried the lobster ravioli someone else ordered and was disappointed in it. It certainly was not what I was expecting as one of their featured dishes.

Another of my ship board favorites was the Torta di Ricotta, a baked ricotta cheesecake with pine nut Florentine (much like pine nut brittle).

The maitre d’hotel, Jenenia, did an excellent job and was very personable.

 

 

Bamboo - A Taste of Asian - Deck 7, seats 112 persons, $15pp

Bamboo was a pleasant surprise, so much so this was the only restaurant we had dinner at two different nights. In addition to Bamboo, there is also the sushi bar and teppanyaki room which we did not try. Sushi was available as either an appetizer or entree at Bamboo.

 

All four of us agreed that the spare ribs appetizer was outstanding! The first dinner I was the only one to order them. I shared them with our group and our waiter was kind enough to bring me a second order, which I also shared. For our second dinner, everyone ordered their own appetizer of ribs! I also particularly enjoyed the hot and sour soup. My friends enjoyed the egg drop soup, which was a bit unusual, almost like a corn chowder. I would rate the crab wantons average and the spring roll good.

 

Garden Cafe (Buffet) - Deck 12

We ate one lunch here and the first night when everyone was not feeling well I got a few things to bring back to the cabin. Both times I had a little pasta with sauce from the pasta station. They seemed to have a good selection of items and what I ate was good.

 

Blue Lagoon - Deck 7, just off the Atrium

While I’ve read a lot of complaints about service, the one meal we had there had decent service. The tomato soup and the wings were good as I had read.

 

Bimini Bar & Grill - pool side, Deck 14

We never ate here

 

Wine

Did I mention I like good, red wine? I typically bring several bottles on a cruise and I typically drink wine with every dinner while cruising. When I bring wine it assures me I will have something I really like a couple nights and it also saves money. When you look at paying a corkage fee on a lower priced wine, it doesn’t usually make sense... unless of course, it is something you just have to have and they don’t offer it on the ship. With higher end wines, it is typically cheaper to pay the corkage fee, although I’ve seen some reasonably priced higher end wines on ships. However, I’ve found that sometimes the lines don’t seem to store their high end wines appropriately and have paid a pretty penny for something not as good as it should be. You also typically have no idea what vintage you are ordering... if that is important to you in making your wine selection. NCL has a $15 a bottle corkage fee.

I found the wine list on board to be reasonable and while I’ve seen what I consider to be better selections, I’ve seen worse. Here are just a couple of the selections I noticed:

Stag’s Leap Viogner $50

Caymus Conendrum $43 ($9.50/glass)

Rubicon $120

Caymus $80

Franciscon Magnificant $72

Jordan $68

Neibaum Coppola Claret $34 (in FL I can purchase for $16 in the store)

Columbia Crest Grand Estate $25

 

On the higher end stuff I always find it interesting that there is typically no vintage provided.

 

We also brought a few small bottles of water and those tiny, half cans of soda and had no issue. I had already left the house and didn’t know we would be staying in a suite where they provide the water and soda for you. Many people have said there is no reason to bring bottled water. I just like the convenience of my little bottles. I keep one by the sink, one by the bed and throw one in my bag when I go off the ship.

We did enjoy cocktails more than once! I don’t drink beer, so I can’t really comment on the selection.

[Grandpaul]

I've been on the Dawn a half dozen times and I always make sure I have dinner at Le Bistro. The one change they made is no more chateau briand which was great. But the filet isn't bad. Chocolate fondou for dessert. Now you made me hungry. Thanks a lot.

[Bridge Maven]

We took a cruise to Bermuda on Dawn last week and ate at these seven restaurants for dinner.

 

Aqua - no cover charge, had lamb chops which were excellent

 

Venetian - no cover charge, had surf and turf that was excellent

 

Bistro - $15 per person cover charge, this was our favorite specialty restaurant - food, service, and ambiance was comparable to an upscale land based restaurant.

 

Cagney's - $25 per person cover charge, it was not as good as Bistro but a close second

 

Salsa's - $15 per person cover charge, it was okay but not as good as the meal we had at the restaurants with no cover charge

 

Bamboo - $15 per person cover charge, it was okay but was comparable to a typical land based Chinese restaurant which I associate with "not in the mood to cook" as opposed to "let's go out to a good restaurant tonight"

 

Impression's - $10 cover charge, even though I love Italian food this was the only bad dining experience we had during our cruise - food and service was inferior to a chain restaurant.

 

If we take this cruise again, which we probably will, we will have all of our meals at Aqua, Venetian, Cagney's and Bistro

 

Of course, this is just my opinion.

[TMEF]

Congrats on the booking of your cruise! We will also be sailing on the Dawn next week! Happy Packing!

[TMEF]

Bridge Maven

 

Salsa was $15 p/p? Most people have posted that it is 10 p/p. I was just wondering if the cost had increased?

 

Thanks

[Bridge Maven]

Bridge Maven

 

Salsa was $15 p/p? Most people have posted that it is 10 p/p. I was just wondering if the cost had increased?

 

Thanks

 

TMEF, I am pretty sure it was $15 when we dined at Salsa's last week, but it is possible that I misremembered.

[TMEF]

Darn...I'm disappointed if that went up in price...I love Mexican, but my DH does not. I really wanted to eat there on our cruise, but not sure if it will be worth it for the extra $30 since he isn't into Mexican.

[ilovewdw]

I want to thank you all did this GREAT info! When we cruised Spirit last year, the Italian place was free. Oh well...no biggie. Reading all these reviews, it's going to bs really hard to decide which specialties to go to!

[Bridge Maven]

I just checked my receipt from Salsa's and its cover charge was only $10 per person. The higher number I remembered included a drink.

 

Please accept my apologies for that error in my previous post.