Dawn to Bermuda 7/19 to 7/26

[shecara]

So, was curious what others thought about the cruise. Just got back from this one (our first cruise ever) and experienced good and not so good. The best part, Bermuda!! It is absolutely gorgeous and I am only sorry that we didn't have more time there. I guess it's done purposefully with the ship making it back to NY in less than 2 days yet, it takes close to 3 going. I guess so we can spend more money on the ship. And we did.

 

I feel like we got nickel and dimed a lot. I guess there's no such thing as a buy back. Lord knows we spent enough money. And Freestyle?? I found that I was not able to just go into one of the complimentary restaurants when I felt like it. Every time we would go, prime dinner time I guess @ 7:00, there was a huge line. So, in a way, I feel it directs you to one of the specialty restaurants. Which we did. Went to Cagney's and thought it was mediocre. Cabin was clean and kept up nicely. Augus at the poolside bar was great and Dave Heenan was good the first night he did. The 2nd "Adult Night" was so-so. I'm not much for the shows. Too schmaltzy. And, I do like to have fun.

 

I don't want to rule out cruises. Will give it another shot. Will try another cruise line. But, my overall opinion, I don't really know if cruising is my thing. Would much rather just get to my destination and enjoy that.

 

This is a great and informative site.

[njhorseman]

I'm always amused by complaints about having to wait for a table during peak dinner hours. Have you tried getting into a popular restaurant at home that doesn't take reservations, at 7pm on a Saturday night? (Remember, on a cruise, every night is Saturday night because everyone is going "out" to eat every night.) Even that most basic of NJ restaurants, the diner, can have a significant wait at peak dinner hours.

[Bobcat Pete]

Thanks for the good review. Freestyle is not really dine when you want -- just go when you want. On other lines, you know when you can be seated and eat, but it may not be when you want. Neither's perfect, I guess.

[shecara]

I see your point on the no reservation thing. This is true. Jusy went back and reread my post and noticed my error. "Purposefully"? I guess I am tired.

[ithinkpickles]

Hey I just got back from this cruise, too. I thought the cruise was great, but Bermuda was a lot better than I expected! The locals there were all so friendly...but I guess, coming from New York, everyone seems friendly.

Regarding the freestyle dining, I didn't think it was that bad. I was in a group of 8 and, maybe two nights we all went together at peak dining hours, and had to wait about 20 minutes, which I thought was reasonable for such a big group. Other nights if we were in smaller groups of 3 or 4 we got tables right away, or going to dinner around 8:30 also worked well.

[MagicMike]

This was our first cruise with NCL in over 20 years. Since we were a group of 15, we really had to have reservations for every meal, and our choices, even 48 hours in advance were pretty much 5:30 or 8:30.

 

We did eat at 3 specialty restaurants, Teppanyaki, which was excellent, Salsa, which was the same as any good Mexican restaruant we have here in northern NJ and Impressions, which was the worst meal I have ever had on a cruise ship (and all in our party of 15 agreed!). I really find the new main dining room menus, of same thing every night to be awful. I would much rather have eaten in the main dining room all 7 nights, but there were simply not enough choices to keep every one happy.

 

I did find a lack of food available between 3 and 5 every afternoon when we came back while in from being ashore in Bermuda. Only choices were Blue Lagoon or Room Service.

 

The 3 Jean Ann Ryan shows were very good, the comedian, Dave Heenan (?) was just ok in his main show, but seemed to be very funny in other venues. The Magician was good also. Second City, which we only caught on the last night was horrible. but that's a chance you take with unscripted comedy shows.

 

John, the cruise director was probably one of the best parts of the cruise. Hard to believe that after I threw a bag of Cracker Jacks at him during the Liars show, he let me know the next day, that it was the first time he had ever tried them!

 

Only having one pool seemed to be a problem on this ship. Always crowded on sea days, never a chair to be found unless you staked out your territory early in the morning. We usually grabbed 5 chairs and between the 15 of us, they were always in use.

 

 

Mike

[ekmkmom]

Bermuda was just gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been better. It was our third time there and first with kids, so we had a great time. The ship was clean, the photographers were not pushy, bar service was always available, but we didn't find them overbearing.

 

We were very disappointed with our stateroom steward--he never introduced himself, we had to ask for washclothes and a bathmat on a number of days and we got a grand total of 2 towel animals, my kids were really disappointed by that! The stewards down the hall were always so friendly and nice, and we barely got a good morning from ours:(

 

We liked the shows, though it was odd to hear the comedian and the magician selling their dvds, etc. The food was tasty, we tended to eat early, so seating in the mdrs was easy enough and the service in both was very good. The buffet and the Blue Lagoon were fine too, we had bkfst in the buffet and the kids went to the BL for lunch on sea days. one of my sons went to the kids club for a number of different activities and enjoyed them.

 

One thing I noticed a lot was that in comparison to Royal Carribean and Disney, the staff wasn't nearly as friendly. they would pass you in the hall and not say hello or anything. A woman fell in the garden cafe and many workers just kept on walking by her, only one checked on her to see if she was okay, while other passengers helped her up and gave her napkins to dry off. A supervisor came to the scene and just made sure the plate was all cleaned up, and didn't say a word to the woman. It was very different than other cruises we have been on.

 

On the whole, we got a week long vacation to one of our favorite spots in the world for a reasonable price. In spite of the bumps we had, we would do the same intinerary again.

[sottovoce]

I'm always amused by complaints about having to wait for a table during peak dinner hours. Have you tried getting into a popular restaurant at home that doesn't take reservations, at 7pm on a Saturday night? (Remember, on a cruise, every night is Saturday night because everyone is going "out" to eat every night.) Even that most basic of NJ restaurants, the diner, can have a significant wait at peak dinner hours.

You're starting to sound like me.;)

 

My reaction, exactly, when someone writes stuff like the OP did about peak dining times. Then comes the baseless conclusion that NCL is forcing you to a surcharged dining room. As a result of the unwarranted anger at that, the surcharged dining room becomes "mediocre." Typical. Ho-hum.

[njhorseman]

You're starting to sound like me.;)

 

My reaction, exactly, when someone writes stuff like the OP did about peak dining times. Then comes the baseless conclusion that NCL is forcing you to a surcharged dining room. As a result of the unwarranted anger at that, the surcharged dining room becomes "mediocre." Typical. Ho-hum.

 

Be careful, or I'll restate my opinion on the scrambled eggs in the buffet. :D;)

[njhorseman]

 

I did find a lack of food available between 3 and 5 every afternoon when we came back while in from being ashore in Bermuda. Only choices were Blue Lagoon or Room Service.

 

I can't remember an NCL cruise, including several on the Dawn (or pretty much any cruise for that matter) that didn't have some sort of "snack" available in the buffet at sometime around 4 to 5 pm . It has always been listed in the Freestyle Daily.

 

But even if that has changed, how do the Blue Lagoon being open and room service being available equate to "a lack of food available"?

[prg2101]

Bermuda was just gorgeous and the weather couldn't have been better. It was our third time there and first with kids, so we had a great time. The ship was clean, the photographers were not pushy, bar service was always available, but we didn't find them overbearing.

 

We were very disappointed with our stateroom steward--he never introduced himself, we had to ask for washclothes and a bathmat on a number of days and we got a grand total of 2 towel animals, my kids were really disappointed by that! The stewards down the hall were always so friendly and nice, and we barely got a good morning from ours:(

 

We liked the shows, though it was odd to hear the comedian and the magician selling their dvds, etc. The food was tasty, we tended to eat early, so seating in the mdrs was easy enough and the service in both was very good. The buffet and the Blue Lagoon were fine too, we had bkfst in the buffet and the kids went to the BL for lunch on sea days. one of my sons went to the kids club for a number of different activities and enjoyed them.

 

One thing I noticed a lot was that in comparison to Royal Carribean and Disney, the staff wasn't nearly as friendly. they would pass you in the hall and not say hello or anything. A woman fell in the garden cafe and many workers just kept on walking by her, only one checked on her to see if she was okay, while other passengers helped her up and gave her napkins to dry off. A supervisor came to the scene and just made sure the plate was all cleaned up, and didn't say a word to the woman. It was very different than other cruises we have been on.

 

On the whole, we got a week long vacation to one of our favorite spots in the world for a reasonable price. In spite of the bumps we had, we would do the same intinerary again.

 

 

Thanks for ur input....out of curiosity what type of cabin did u have....and I think by saying the staff avoided a woman laying on the floor after falling is a bit misleading and hard to believe on any cruiseline....IMHO:rolleyes:

[ekmkmom]

Thanks for ur input....out of curiosity what type of cabin did u have....and I think by saying the staff avoided a woman laying on the floor after falling is a bit misleading and hard to believe on any cruiseline....IMHO:rolleyes:

 

 

We had 2 outside cabins. And as true as I am sitting here, ONE staffer checked on the woman. It is hard to believe, which is why it made such an impression. It happened right in front of us and we saw as the others walked by and yes, after a gentleman helped her up, we gave her napkins and checked on her as did passengers at the nearby tables. But literally, not one other staffer checked on her.

[njhorseman]

The best part, Bermuda!! It is absolutely gorgeous and I am only sorry that we didn't have more time there. I guess it's done purposefully with the ship making it back to NY in less than 2 days yet, it takes close to 3 going. I guess so we can spend more money on the ship. And we did.

 

Your guess is wrong. The Dawn and the Spirit share the same docking facilities, and the Dawn docks in Bermuda just shortly after the Spirit has departed. If the Dawn arrived sooner, it wouldn't have a place to dock.

[njhorseman]

We had 2 outside cabins. And as true as I am sitting here, ONE staffer checked on the woman. It is hard to believe, which is why it made such an impression. It happened right in front of us and we saw as the others walked by and yes, after a gentleman helped her up, we gave her napkins and checked on her as did passengers at the nearby tables. But literally, not one other staffer checked on her.

 

 

I'm really surprised. A couple of years ago my wife fainted while in the Dawn's buffet, and within seconds of my catching her and lowering her to the floor there were staff members on hand. Someone called the infirmary immediately and a nurse was there with a wheelchair to take her to the doctor within a few minutes.

[MagicMike]

By lack of food, I was really referring to limited choices. Blue Lagoon has only a few items and very limited seating, one gets tired of chicken strips, wings and hamburgers. Same goes for room service and a 45 minute wait to get anything because it was one of only 2 options for a late lunch. I did find out on Friday when I looked at the dining options open that they had sandwiches available at 1 section of the buffet. It was referred to as the Deli in the freestyle daily.

 

I can't remember an NCL cruise, including several on the Dawn (or pretty much any cruise for that matter) that didn't have some sort of "snack" available in the buffet at sometime around 4 to 5 pm . It has always been listed in the Freestyle Daily.

 

But even if that has changed, how do the Blue Lagoon being open and room service being available equate to "a lack of food available"?

[mrsbojamp]

My husband and I also were on the Dawn 7/19 sailing. We took the trip last year and loved it so much that we went back. This was actually our 7th time to Bermuda, every time we went via cruising. We've been on RCCL, Celebrity, Carnival, and Princess, as well as NCL. We continue to love this itinerary and the "freestyle" cruising. As someone said earlier, nothing is perfect, and maybe after many years of cruising, we've learned to chill a bit. We find the value to be unbeatable, even with all the "nickel and diming." We paid almost the same thing for RCCL's 5-day itinerary 2 years ago, that we paid for NCL's 7 day last year. So when I consider paying for the specialty restaurants, I feel like it all balances out. After all, the other ships have specialty restaurants too - just not as many. We used the specialty restaurants on NCL almost every night. This year we discovered Salsa which we hadn't tried last year. It was terrific. We always made reservations, even when we went to the main dining room. We chose to go to Aqua one night, which we thought was delicious. If I ate there every night, I would have tired of the same offerings. We enjoyed the entertainment, but did agree that the last night of Second City was quite lame - very adolescent. We enjoyed Dave Heenan and ran into him several times on the ship during the day. He was quite personable and really down to earth. We enjoyed spending time in the Pearly Kings Pub and met some very nice people there. It was quiet enough to have pleasant conversations. I absolutely agree that having just one main pool is a problem due to overcrowding. Here again, however, age and experience have helped me to discover the rejuvenating effects of peace and quiet. Therefore, the spa pass for the week was great for the hubby and me. We enjoyed the spa pool and hot tubs in a very serene atmosphere. We were able to get plenty of sun and outdoor activities on Bermuda, which continues to be one of my most favorite places on earth!

[njhorseman]

By lack of food, I was really referring to limited choices. Blue Lagoon has only a few items and very limited seating, one gets tired of chicken strips, wings and hamburgers. Same goes for room service and a 45 minute wait to get anything because it was one of only 2 options for a late lunch. I did find out on Friday when I looked at the dining options open that they had sandwiches available at 1 section of the buffet. It was referred to as the Deli in the freestyle daily.

 

So there were sandwiches in the buffet, room service and the Blue Lagoon all available.

 

What would you expect in mid afternoon? A dining room serving full course meals? Have you been on cruises that had significantly more between 3 and 5 pm?

[MagicMike]

So there were sandwiches in the buffet, room service and the Blue Lagoon all available.

 

What would you expect in mid afternoon? A dining room serving full course meals? Have you been on cruises that had significantly more between 3 and 5 pm?

 

Sorry, if my interest in other offerings is offensive, but the "fast food" type of stuff got tiring after 3 days it would have been nice to have other options. Frankly, I do not remember what was offered on past cruises during the same time frame, but I do not ever recall wanting for something different to eat on a cruise.

[njhorseman]

Sorry, if my interest in other offerings is offensive, but the "fast food" type of stuff got tiring after 3 days it would have been nice to have other options. Frankly, I do not remember what was offered on past cruises during the same time frame, but I do not ever recall wanting for something different to eat on a cruise.

 

 

I've taken over 30 cruises on a half dozen or more cruise lines, so I'll refresh your memory...the other cruises offered nothing more than what you are deriding as "fast food" during that time. Is it NCL's fault that you failed to notice there was food offered in the buffet at that hour? And surely you would never have had to eat the same thing twice in the course of a 7 day cruise, even with your perceived lack of variety.

[cruiser12]

We will be on her again next month. We are cruising over to Bermuda for our sons wedding. Last year when we were docked in Kings Wharf they were building a second dock. The docks are Kings Wharf and Heritage. Not sure which one we will be docked at and who cares aslong as we are in Bermuda.

 

NCL Dawn has always been good to us, friendly, great entertainmet and good food.

 

The passenger that fell, I hope she went to the ships doctor to document her fall.

[snorklinbarb]

This was our first cruise with NCL in over 20 years. Since we were a group of 15, we really had to have reservations for every meal, and our choices, even 48 hours in advance were pretty much 5:30 or 8:30.

 

We did eat at 3 specialty restaurants, Teppanyaki, which was excellent, Salsa, which was the same as any good Mexican restaruant we have here in northern NJ and Impressions, which was the worst meal I have ever had on a cruise ship (and all in our party of 15 agreed!). I really find the new main dining room menus, of same thing every night to be awful. I would much rather have eaten in the main dining room all 7 nights, but there were simply not enough choices to keep every one happy.

 

I did find a lack of food available between 3 and 5 every afternoon when we came back while in from being ashore in Bermuda. Only choices were Blue Lagoon or Room Service.

 

The 3 Jean Ann Ryan shows were very good, the comedian, Dave Heenan (?) was just ok in his main show, but seemed to be very funny in other venues. The Magician was good also. Second City, which we only caught on the last night was horrible. but that's a chance you take with unscripted comedy shows.

 

John, the cruise director was probably one of the best parts of the cruise. Hard to believe that after I threw a bag of Cracker Jacks at him during the Liars show, he let me know the next day, that it was the first time he had ever tried them!

 

Only having one pool seemed to be a problem on this ship. Always crowded on sea days, never a chair to be found unless you staked out your territory early in the morning. We usually grabbed 5 chairs and between the 15 of us, they were always in use.

 

 

Mike

 

Could you tell us a little more about your specialty dining experience? It's interesting since you had a group of 15, so I'm sure there were a lot of opinions expressed.

 

What did you like about Salsa?

 

You said teppanyaki was excellent. What did you have? Was service good? Are they still giving the free martini with the meal? Do you know if they will give you sake instead?

 

On the other hand, you said Impressions of Italy was the worst meal you've ever had at sea and that others agreed. We've eaten there several times (and on NCL's other ships' Italian) and loved the meal. I wouldn't necessarily order the lobster ravioli again but it was interesting to try. Last time the chicken parm was delicious. Beef carpaccio to start was tasty with a little oil and shaved parmesan. Minestrone was rich and flavorful. DH's osso bucco very good. Tiramisu - wow! So it's very striking that you had such a terrible meal...pls tell us more.

[MagicMike]

I've taken over 30 cruises on a half dozen or more cruise lines, so I'll refresh your memory...the other cruises offered nothing more than what you are deriding as "fast food" during that time. Is it NCL's fault that you failed to notice there was food offered in the buffet at that hour? And surely you would never have had to eat the same thing twice in the course of a 7 day cruise, even with your perceived lack of variety.

 

Quite the NCL proponent aren't you?

 

I am not blaming NCL for anything, simply stating my opinion, aren't we all free to do that? But for them to refer to that section of the buffet as "New York Deli" on a ship that sails out of NY is kind of sad.

 

Of course, lest we not forget that besides being able to order a burger from Room Service and a burger the Blue Lagoon, we could also have gotten a burger at the Bimini Grill at those hours.

[Mooder]

Could you tell us a little more about your specialty dining experience? It's interesting since you had a group of 15' date=' so I'm sure there were a lot of opinions expressed.

 

What did you like about Salsa?

 

You said teppanyaki was excellent. What did you have? Was service good? Are they still giving the free martini with the meal? Do you know if they will give you sake instead?

 

On the other hand, you said Impressions of Italy was the worst meal you've ever had at sea and that others agreed. We've eaten there several times (and on NCL's other ships' Italian) and loved the meal. I wouldn't necessarily order the lobster ravioli again but it was interesting to try. Last time the chicken parm was delicious. Beef carpaccio to start was tasty with a little oil and shaved parmesan. Minestrone was rich and flavorful. DH's osso bucco very good. Tiramisu - wow! So it's very striking that you had such a terrible meal...pls tell us more.[/quote']

 

Just goes to show, Barb, how subjective food is. I loved the lobster ravioli and couldn't wait to go back to Impressions to have it again. This is the first I'm hearing that Teppanyaki offered an included martini!!!???!!! We skipped it this past cruise (we like it, but there are just so many nights in a cruise :(), but might not have had I known. ;) Great deal!

[giantcrazy]

Having not stepped foot on a cruise boat yet but having traveled well otherwise, I can say this - being from NYC, I know there are a few things I'll never eat while traveling without expecting to be disappointed:

 

- Chinese food

- Italian food

- Pizza (and bread)

- Deli sandwiches

 

There are some exceptions (when I went to Naples I did eat the pizza ;), but in general those foods in NYC are so outstanding that you don't stand a chance when on the road.

 

I'm hoping the cruise food is good, but I've got managed expectations. I went to a Sandals in Antigua a few years ago, that had rave reviews before I got there. The food was worse than a Sizzlers for the most part, despite the fact that we paid a nice chunk of change to go there.

[MagicMike]

Could you tell us a little more about your specialty dining experience? It's interesting since you had a group of 15' date=' so I'm sure there were a lot of opinions expressed.

 

What did you like about Salsa?

 

You said teppanyaki was excellent. What did you have? Was service good? Are they still giving the free martini with the meal? Do you know if they will give you sake instead?

 

On the other hand, you said Impressions of Italy was the worst meal you've ever had at sea and that others agreed. We've eaten there several times (and on NCL's other ships' Italian) and loved the meal. I wouldn't necessarily order the lobster ravioli again but it was interesting to try. Last time the chicken parm was delicious. Beef carpaccio to start was tasty with a little oil and shaved parmesan. Minestrone was rich and flavorful. DH's osso bucco very good. Tiramisu - wow! So it's very striking that you had such a terrible meal...pls tell us more.[/quote']

 

Salsa had great service, excellent Sangria and a free Margarita in addition to great mexican food. It was a nice relaxing dinner, but the food was nothing you could not get at at a local Mexican place.

 

We were offered no free drink in Teppanyaki, but the service there was the best out of all our dining experiences on this cruise. Most of us got got the Shrimp and Fillet and added on Scallops. It's a very small and intimate setting, they only serve 3 times a day and 21 people at each seating.

 

We found the Antipasti trolley at Impressions to be the best part of the meal, no one really cared for their entree, veal marsala, which was advertised on the menu with marsala was just veal medallions with a brown gravy, not a hint of Marsala or mushroom (4 of us ordered it). All of us are of Italian descent and found their red sauce to be more simliar to something you would get out of a jar in your local supermarket. Comments were made that it tasted like it wasn't quite cooked long enough. The lobster ravioli looked like it was sitting under a heat lamp for quite a while before being served. My daughter was served a Caesar salad with wilted/brown lettuce. The soups were good, all of us who had the pasta did not care for it. The Salmon scallopini was served with tomato sauce, which we all though kind of odd, since the menu said tomato, garlic and oregano. The desserts were good. Our main problem here was the servers, they just did not seem to be able to get things together (wrong entrees placed on the table) and were actually rude on several ocassions.

 

All that said, I would give it a second try if we return, everyone is entitled to a bad night.