Norwegian Dawn Review- August 29th, 2014 Sailing

Hello All,

Here is a quick review of the August 29th sailing of the Norwegian Dawn. To give you some perspective, I am in my 20’s going with my mother in her late 60’s. We have sailed this Boston to Bermuda five plus times along with many other NCL ships/itineraries. We are both Gold Latitudes members.

We haven’t sailed out of Boston since 2010. But we thought the baggage drop off and check-in was chaotic at best. There was not a clear flow of things. We had a rude porter who said he couldn’t help us but then eventually did. I actually put one of the bags on his cart. In fear of not getting the bag on the ship, we still tipped him five bucks with me doing most of the labor. The second slowdown was checking of passport before going up to the escalators to check-in. There was one officer doing it creating a major slowdown before another slowdown…. Which is tons of people trying to get on an escalator. The Port of New York, believe it or not, was much more organized.

Now I won’t give a play by play of our trip… but I will give you some of the highlights and not so great parts.

-Food- We have ALWAYS enjoyed the NCL food. And with the new menus, giving you more everyday options and more daily specials…. We thought it was EVEN BETTER. Of course, some days/entrees were better than others. We ate 6 out of 7 nights at our favorite dining room, the Venetian. I personally enjoyed the hamburger slider appetizer! I had one every night. No lobster night in the dining room but they did have prime rib. We always enjoy the breads during dinner, perhaps they could switch it up nightly?

Buffet was good. They had some good dishes and kept food plentiful. A huge applause to all the staff who continually clears all the trays and restocks the dishes/cups/silverware.

-Specialty Dining – We don’t usually eat at the Specialty restaurants. But we decided to live it up after a rainy day in Bermuda. So we made reservations for the 530 seating at Teppanyaki. It was a lot of fun. I was worried my normally picky eater mother wouldn’t like it. But she enjoyed it…starting off requesting plain race… then caving in to the delicious fried rice. The green tea ice cream and cake are delicious! I was 2 for 2 catching bits of scrambled egg in my mouth.

-Entertainment – We thought it was excellent per usual of NCL’s standard. The shows and guest entertainment are always good. Comedian Tim Kaminski was hilarious. For our sailing it was cruise director, Archie Archbold’s first week back from vacation. He was not exactly a memorable CD like Sinan. The Husband and Wife Acrobat team from France were excellent, probably the best duo we have seen at sea.

-Dress Code Enforcement – We were happy to see during the “dress up nights” that the Venetian dress code was enforced. And it was nice to see…. That many people still dressed up. Although, many people were still woefully under-dressed some other days. But that’s how our society is moving.

The Not So Good

-Ship Maintenance – We are always amazed at how well the NCL ships are kept up. This was the first time there was an exception. We noted the aft elevators and its button were pretty well worn and scratched up. There were numerous bathrooms that were out of order. And then if some were open, they had broken stalls or urinals…. One even with a plastic bag over it. I’ve never seen this on any NCL ship. Throughout the week, it was almost comical to see which bathroom was suddenly out of order. The gym had missing or broken equipment. And on the last day of the cruise, there was water pressure issues in the buffet… affecting the buffet coffee machines. Our balcony also had a few rust spots. We wrote to the hotel director, Sarper, regarding our maintenance concerns in his atrium mail box. And we never heard anything back, which was not appreciated by us. We were not impressed with Sarper’s role as a HD… he was no Jenny or Klaus.

-Pool – The Pool was not properly supervised. Kids were breaking pool rules and going into the adults- only hot tub. Also, there was no monitoring of the chair hogs.

But overall, it was an excellent week. The staff, entertainment, and food were great. We’ve never had a bad cruise!

Thank you for the review. I board in a few weeks and am looking forward to trying the new menus.

Disappointed about the unresponsive HD. Granted, there is only one Klaus, ;) but ignoring a guest complaint is not acceptable.

Nice review, thanks for posting it.

Thanks for posting!

What did you do while in Bermuda?

We were on the Dawn the week prior to your cruise. We had not been on NCL out of Boston since 2010 as well. Funny how things can be so different from one cruise to another. We did not find the port to be chaotic at all. But that may depend on arrival time. We got there pretty early (10 a.m.). I most definitely found the port in NY to be much more chaotic. We also did not experience any of the maintenance problems you described. Only minor wear and tear. I'm not saying your making it up. Just surprised by the fact that things can change so much from one week to another.

Will be on the Dawn in 2 months. Thanks for the review.

We didn't do much in Bermuda. Sunday we walked around the Dockyard shops and then it rained. So we had a nice afternoon on the ship and had dinner at teppanyaki.

Monday we went to Horseshoe Bay. We took a private bus shuttle... 16 bucks roundtrip.

Tuesday... I did the high speed boat tour, the Wildcat, around the island. It was fun.

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People were not woefully underdressed. If you want a formal ship, take a different cruise line, it's dress up OR NOT night. Many of us wear jeans to work...you think we're putting a tie on for dinner on vacation?

People were not woefully underdressed. If you want a formal ship, take a different cruise line, it's dress up OR NOT night. Many of us wear jeans to work...you think we're putting a tie on for dinner on vacation?

I beg to disagree. If you read what I said... I said on OTHER nights people were underdressed. Meaning, while eating in the more "formal" dining room, the Venetian, on casual/freestyle nights... people were in bud-light tshirts and shorts. I wouldn't go to a nicer restaurant in my hometown like that. I would at least put on a polo and pants or something like that.

I wore a tie once during the week. I'm not exactly fancy. Another night, a sports coat and a button shirt.

The point is we saw everything during the week- super sloppy to a beautiful couple in tux/gown celebrating their golden anniversary in the Venetian.

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