Unfortunately chose the Dawn...be warned!

My family (17 total) and I sailed on the Dawn for the Thanksgiving cruise this year. It was our first cruise with Norwegian, and based on this experience, will be our last. It was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.

Things got off to a bad start due to the utter failure that occurred during embarkation. I understand this topic has been discussed in other threads, so I won't expound on the subject, but the cruise terminal personnel and the cruise ship personnel continually told different stories of what went wrong. It would have been different if they had been honest, or possibly had even made some sort of "complimentary drink" available, but no....just the lies.

From there , things only got worse. The toilet in our stateroom didn't flush properly for six of the seven days. It was reported to guest services a minimum of three times a day. No apology. No offer to move us to a different cabin. Just a comment that they would get the information to the appropriate department.

We made the mistake of paying to go to the La Cuccina restaurant for the Jazz Brunch. The food, when it finally arrived after roughly 40 minutes, was cold. When it was brought to the server's attention, the response was "What do you want me to do about it".

Breakfast at the Garden Cafe was also poor. It was impossible to find a working coffee machine. The buffet was very poorly maintained. (If you wanted bacon, you had better hope you liked crumbs instead of strips)

Then there's the Venetian main dining room. The hostess was just flat out rude (Didn't have the temperment for the job). Service was bad. It was nearly impossible to even get a refill on a glass of water. We would e seated around 5:30PM and the service was so slow, we had to scramble to make 8:30PM shows.

During the comedian's performance, the people in the tech booth were having an extremely loud, disruptive conversation. Several people tried, unsuccessfully to get them to be quiet (they were wearing headphones).

During the shows, which were excellent, the sound mix was horrible. I have mixed sound for everything from live bands to orchestras to choral concerts and I know it isn't that difficult to get it right. I observed people actually plugging their ears or getting up and leaving because it was so poorly engineered.

Three of the four shore excursions we booked were cancelled due to weather. While I realize this isn't the ship's fault, when you ad it on top of the other issues, it magnifies.

This ship has a "Smoking Lounge" or "Cigar Lounge" if you prefer. On three different evenings, the smoke detector went off....for over an hour. The response from ship's personnel was "Stop smoking". Seriously? In the smoking lounge?

All of this was laid out to guest services prior to debarkation, which was another disaster. No apology was offered. This information has also been presented to Norwegian, both in the "post cruise survey" and in an email to corporate. I haven't heard a word from them.

We have sailed Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and family members have sailed on Disney. We have NEVER had this kind of experience on any other ship.

We all work hard for our money, and have a choice where to spend our vacation dollars. I would advise thinking very seriously about choosing to spend your money somewhere other than with Norwegian!

I've been on the Dawn once and the Sky 3 times. I love NCL. I would say pick a different ship and give them another chance. I enjoyed the Dawn but do like the Sky better. I plan on choosing a different NCL ship for my next cruise to experience another ship and destination.

As far as terminals, Tampa is horrible. Miami is wonderful!

Thanks Shelly.

I am hoping this was a fluke, but I have seen an awful lot of complaints about this ship. What is most disappointing is that NCL doesn't care enough to respond.

At the cost of a cruise, I'd sure stick with something that works for you. That's why we stick with NCL. We've had nothing but an excellent experience on every NCL cruise and don't consider "trying" another cruise line. If you're familiar and comfortable with the other lines you mentioned, I'd continue to enjoy them . As I said, cruises cost to much to, in my mind, experiment around.

Oh man....we're booked on the Dawn for the last week of January. :(

Oh man....we're booked on the Dawn for the last week of January. :(

Don't let all this bad publicity spook you.

Take a look at a thread I started when this whole port fiasco was coming to a head and I was tired of just reading peoples negative viewpoints.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1954290

A few peoples experiences don't have to be your experience.

I can echo the sound mixing issues in the Stardust. I complained about that in writing to the HD and included it in my review of the cruise the week before the OP's cruise... no feedback from NCL, and apparently no attention paid to my complaints the week before. The sound levels around the pool were way too high, as well.

This has nothing to do with the Dawn, but it does with the CD and HD.

A few peoples experiences don't have to be your experience.

This, exactly.

I'm sure the OP had a few bad moments. But a 7 day cruise with next to zero positive comments? It's not realistic. And some of it makes no sense whatsoever -- as if this person is crow-barring a negative experience into something where there was none:

Three of the four shore excursions we booked were cancelled due to weather. While I realize this isn't the ship's fault, when you ad it on top of the other issues, it magnifies.

And this gem...

During the shows, which were excellent, the sound mix was horrible.

Then it wasn't excellent, was it?

As always, have one or two of these with reviews like this...

The list is to long .... The night was to dark , the water was to wet , the people were to pushy ,,, you get the idea.

Issues ? sure . Dissaster at every turn ? hard to believe.. Unless

When you go out looking for a snake , odds are good you'll find a snake ;)

Merry Christmas .. anywhoo

I need to agree with roger001, if OP enjoys some other cruise line better, by all means they should cruise with them - that is exactly why we haven't left NCL either.

What comes to poor service from Guest Services, what the ship's officers tell people over and over again in CC Meet & Greets is that if something is not right or corrected within reasonable time, contact the higher-ups. In my personal experience all problems onboard have been fixed promptly, with apologies and follow-ups after contacting the Hotel Director if things have not been fixed earlier.

Even though I disagree with "magnification" of problems by completely unrelated things, I do appreciate OP's honesty and point of view.

However from the listed problems only the bathroom incident would be big enough to ruin my vacation - I never have had any problem waiting for more food to be prepared if eating at buffet during peak hours, ignorant waiter can be handled by contacting hostess or other higher-ups, if we feel that the service in a restaurant is too slow, we simply ask them to speed up, etc, etc.

The crew is made up of people, not machines, and people do mistakes. Most of them can be fixed without any delays if the managers and directors are aware of those issues right then and there.

IF, and it's a very big IF, I was the only one who had anything negative to say about the Dawn, your responses would be acceptable.

But you are right. Take the negative comments with a grain of salt. As I stated in my reply to Shelly, I certainly hope this was a fluke. I also do realize that the embarkation debacle started the cruise off on a very sour note. However, that doesn't excuse any of the other things that were observed, and it most certainly doesn't excuse the lack of ANY response from Norwegian.

Thanks for the heads up.

You might want to try the Pearl, I had a great experience on that ship on my first NCL cruise and since then, I've gone on another cruise on the Jewell and have two more booked on the Pearl.

IF, and it's a very big IF, I was the only one who had anything negative to say about the Dawn, your responses would be acceptable.

 

But you are right. Take the negative comments with a grain of salt. As I stated in my reply to Shelly, I certainly hope this was a fluke. I also do realize that the embarkation debacle started the cruise off on a very sour note. However, that doesn't excuse any of the other things that were observed, and it most certainly doesn't excuse the lack of ANY response from Norwegian.

What response are you looking for? A simple I'm sorry? Or compensation in the form of money? I get that you didn't enjoy your cruise but I never understand what people who say they will never sail with a certain company complain that they haven't heard from that company regarding their complaints. Move on already.

IF, and it's a very big IF, I was the only one who had anything negative to say about the Dawn, your responses would be acceptable.

 

But you are right. Take the negative comments with a grain of salt. As I stated in my reply to Shelly, I certainly hope this was a fluke. I also do realize that the embarkation debacle started the cruise off on a very sour note. However, that doesn't excuse any of the other things that were observed, and it most certainly doesn't excuse the lack of ANY response from Norwegian.

I get where the OP is coming from. We were on the first sailing a month ago. It was our 4th with NCL and to tell you the truth if it had been our 1st sailing with NCL it would have been our last. We thought food was very good and always served fast, crew was fantastic. However our friends who sailed with us (1st time) cabin was flooded from a broken pipe. Clean up was very slow, started at 8am and got done about 8pm, bedding and clothes got wet. No offer to change cabins or at least do some laundry for them. It took 4 calls and 30 minutes just to get someone to come down to see their really was a bad leak in at the ceiling (3 other cabins were effected also. It was all the little things that added up. Having three of four excursions cancelled must have really been crappy, not NCL's fault. We also had the much talked about disembarkation……..that was the cherry on the top

Don't let all this bad publicity spook you.

 

Take a look at a thread I started when this whole port fiasco was coming to a head and I was tired of just reading peoples negative viewpoints.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1954290

 

A few peoples experiences don't have to be your experience.

Thanks!! Reading that thread made me feel a lot better about our choice.

The list is to long .... The night was to dark , the water was to wet , the people were to pushy ,,, you get the idea.

Issues ? sure . Dissaster at every turn ? hard to believe.. Unless

 

When you go out looking for a snake , odds are good you'll find a snake ;)

 

Merry Christmas .. anywhoo

LOL Love it.

I need to agree with roger001, if OP enjoys some other cruise line better, by all means they should cruise with them - that is exactly why we haven't left NCL either.

 

What comes to poor service from Guest Services, what the ship's officers tell people over and over again in CC Meet & Greets is that if something is not right or corrected within reasonable time, contact the higher-ups. In my personal experience all problems onboard have been fixed promptly, with apologies and follow-ups after contacting the Hotel Director if things have not been fixed earlier.

 

Even though I disagree with "magnification" of problems by completely unrelated things, I do appreciate OP's honesty and point of view.

 

However from the listed problems only the bathroom incident would be big enough to ruin my vacation - I never have had any problem waiting for more food to be prepared if eating at buffet during peak hours, ignorant waiter can be handled by contacting hostess or other higher-ups, if we feel that the service in a restaurant is too slow, we simply ask them to speed up, etc, etc.

 

The crew is made up of people, not machines, and people do mistakes. Most of them can be fixed without any delays if the managers and directors are aware of those issues right then and there.

well stated

While I don't know that I'd be so dramatic about these issues (the toilet seems like the only one that might put me over the edge), I thank you for sharing your issues with us. If this were my first NCL cruise, I might not rush back either.

I've sailed the Dawn two years ago and had a pretty great experience. Nothing like you are sharing.

I wonder if the waiter in La Cucina just meant sincerely, "what would you like me to do?" For example, "would you like me to have them remake your food, or would you like to speak to a manager?" Situations like this might just be a case of language barriers and misunderstood inflection.

Oh man....we're booked on the Dawn for the last week of January. :(

I hope you have a great time on the Dawn just like we did last January. We still talk about what a fabulous time it was. We did have good weather and enjoyed excursions in all the ports which makes a difference. Good time on the ship, too, even though it was packed.

OP, sorry you had a bad cruise and the weather didn't help.

Where exactly is the warning? :confused:

Or is whining now considered a fair warning?

People should not be so quick to brush off others complaints and make them out to be whiners.

Some of these issues might seem unimportant to you, but are a big deal to others.

When a lot of small things go wrong, it adds up quick and leaves a bad taste.

Much of it could be aleviated if the cruise line just handled it better.

My family (17 total) and I sailed on the Dawn for the Thanksgiving cruise this year. It was our first cruise with Norwegian, and based on this experience, will be our last. It was an unmitigated disaster from start to finish.

 

Things got off to a bad start due to the utter failure that occurred during embarkation. I understand this topic has been discussed in other threads, so I won't expound on the subject, but the cruise terminal personnel and the cruise ship personnel continually told different stories of what went wrong. It would have been different if they had been honest, or possibly had even made some sort of "complimentary drink" available, but no....just the lies.

 

From there , things only got worse. The toilet in our stateroom didn't flush properly for six of the seven days. It was reported to guest services a minimum of three times a day. No apology. No offer to move us to a different cabin. Just a comment that they would get the information to the appropriate department.

 

We made the mistake of paying to go to the La Cuccina restaurant for the Jazz Brunch. The food, when it finally arrived after roughly 40 minutes, was cold. When it was brought to the server's attention, the response was "What do you want me to do about it".

 

Breakfast at the Garden Cafe was also poor. It was impossible to find a working coffee machine. The buffet was very poorly maintained. (If you wanted bacon, you had better hope you liked crumbs instead of strips)

 

Then there's the Venetian main dining room. The hostess was just flat out rude (Didn't have the temperment for the job). Service was bad. It was nearly impossible to even get a refill on a glass of water. We would e seated around 5:30PM and the service was so slow, we had to scramble to make 8:30PM shows.

 

During the comedian's performance, the people in the tech booth were having an extremely loud, disruptive conversation. Several people tried, unsuccessfully to get them to be quiet (they were wearing headphones).

 

During the shows, which were excellent, the sound mix was horrible. I have mixed sound for everything from live bands to orchestras to choral concerts and I know it isn't that difficult to get it right. I observed people actually plugging their ears or getting up and leaving because it was so poorly engineered.

 

Three of the four shore excursions we booked were cancelled due to weather. While I realize this isn't the ship's fault, when you ad it on top of the other issues, it magnifies.

 

This ship has a "Smoking Lounge" or "Cigar Lounge" if you prefer. On three different evenings, the smoke detector went off....for over an hour. The response from ship's personnel was "Stop smoking". Seriously? In the smoking lounge?

 

All of this was laid out to guest services prior to debarkation, which was another disaster. No apology was offered. This information has also been presented to Norwegian, both in the "post cruise survey" and in an email to corporate. I haven't heard a word from them.

 

We have sailed Royal Caribbean, Carnival, and family members have sailed on Disney. We have NEVER had this kind of experience on any other ship.

 

We all work hard for our money, and have a choice where to spend our vacation dollars. I would advise thinking very seriously about choosing to spend your money somewhere other than with Norwegian!

WOW... I've probably spent 35+ days on that ship and I can't say I have ever had the kind of experience that you have described. I'm genuinely surprised!

I hope you have a great time on the Dawn just like we did last January. We still talk about what a fabulous time it was. We did have good weather and enjoyed excursions in all the ports which makes a difference. Good time on the ship, too, even though it was packed.

OP, sorry you had a bad cruise and the weather didn't help.

What shore excursions did you do? I've been looking at some choices, but haven't picked anything yet, although I'm REALLY leaning to contacting Victor Bodden tours for Roatan. And the Tropicale or whatever it is on Costa Maya, although I've been reading more and more good things about a different resort, I can't remember the name of it...something with an M...

I feel for the OP. We sailed on the Dec 8 cruise, and we went to the M&G on Sunday where the embarkation issues and other things were mentioned. The HD was humble and aware of issues where they had been missing the mark. He specifically mentioned that the reception area had a lot of new people, who were still a bit weak in their reception skills. Having also seen how this can play out (on another cruise), we feel for the OP. It is no fun to have a person who is in the front line, at the reception desk, who is inadequately handling the complaints or concerns. The HD asked us for our patience in dealing with reception, and encouraged us to seek out help (press the up button).

That being said, it is all the more reason to participate in the M&G, where you get to meet the HD and others who can help you. We received a card that gave the names and they encouraged us to contact them with any concerns (or compliments.)

The embarkation/disembarkation issue was also discussed, and apologies etc. The plan was to have all guests receive a less hurried exit on Dec. 15, to allow for the problem...but then, because they did not pick up the Brits in Cozumel on Thursday, and won't be doing so on this week's cruise (as we understand), there were no disembarkation problems.

Regarding the Venetian and the shows. We ate often in the Venetian and did not have any issue, so we wondered if the size of your group made things a bit slow. We had only one issue with attitude in service staff, but that was at the Blue Lagoon, and one out of the many fine moments of service just didn't amount to a problem for us.

On some cruises, we have asked to have a pitcher of water placed with us, when we knew that we were especially thirsty. Or two glasses filled for us each.

The sound system was awful for the singers many times. Their energy and talent should be showcased better. We did enjoy the shows, but we even felt that there might have been some deliberate maladjustment on some singers' microphones, but that was just our own speculation....not based on much other than the spotty sound problems.

As for smoking, we don't so cannot comment.

The Garden Café worked pretty well for us, but we eat light and don't have any use for bacon. However we did notice one gent who was digging into the pile of bacon looking for that perfect piece. Might account for crumbling. We felt the Café worked pretty well, had adequate serving stations and was manned fully.

As for the NCL customer service reply...all we can say is be patient, because we have found when we expressed our concerns to the offices, we always got a satisfactory answer. Albeit, not as quickly as we would have hoped for it.

We feel for your disappointment, and especially the situation with the toilet. That sort of problem should have been handled much more expeditiously.

We are booked on Dawn 11/2014 and cannot wait! I love to travel with an open mind! :D