Junebug27

14 minutes ago, kkltexas said:

We leave for an Alaskan cruise on NCL Jewel on July 29th. One person traveling with use has peanut and tree nut allergies. What should we do to make sure they do not accidentally get severed food that has any type of peanut or tree nuts?  TIA

I’m sure you will get more advice on the forum that was mentioned but I will say especially on our last 3 cruises I can tell they take allergies very seriously. We have none but never once had our order taken without being asked, and once even had a waiter start to walk away and rush back to ask if there were any allergies. 

3 hours ago, NayRN said:

Love the Dawn! I’ve only sailed once on her in an OS...10006. That suite is huge and I really enjoyed both the forward and side balconies. 

 

So sorry you had the problem you did...but it sounds to me like you have a really positive attitude...the glass is neither half-full or half-empty, it’s always refillable! 🍻

 

 

That was our room!!!! 10006!! Absolutely! We love having extra space, it’s primarily why we paid more for the suite and I was blown away at the size, we have been in multiple 2 bedroom suites and none came close!  We got more then we expected with the room, The glass was overflowing in that department, we did consciously say something can always go wrong let’s just not care too much about the water situation and we didn’t, Sangria out on that gorgeous front balcony on those ridiculously comfortable loungers makes it hard to be mad about anything!!

27 minutes ago, Peachypooh said:

Is the suite waiting lounge the same as the Haven one or different? Thanks.

Yes we just had an owners suite on the dawn and have been in the Haven previously, same waiting lounge, even the signage still says Haven.  

2 hours ago, newmexicoNita said:

Darn I hate to hear about plumbing problems. This doesn't make for a great experience but you seem to have taken it as well as anyone could cause you still enjoyed your cruise. We have been lucky, 24 NCL cruises and never a plumbing problem except a few issues, a few days with hot water late in the PM when so many are showering, etc. 

we have done the Dawn twice since she was refurbished and love her. WE did her prior as well, but wasn't as impressed then.  

Yes I really found many other positive things to focus on and we definitely enjoyed our cruise! I made a conscious effort to just accept the water situation and enjoy the cruise. I also was really impressed by the refurbished dawn and thought the ship looked as modern and fresh as the breakaway or escape.  

9 hours ago, don't-use-real-name said:

About that HOT water issue - problem is the higher up your cabin and the further away from the heat source it takes

a while for the hot water to get to you. One must be very careful in the showers and baths getting the water temperature

set or mixed before stepping in. Probably that way on all ships - imagine waiting for hot water on deck 18 on the -AWAY

class ships.

 

About the OP's complaint on the drains - maintenance should have popped the drain cover off and inspected for

hair and other debris clogging the free drainage - had a similar problem on the sister ship STAR.

Hearing moan-ful rasping noises the drain traps need to have water in them to insulate from that and keep odors at bay.

Basic simple plumbing maintenance from time to time would fix these minor irritations.

But alas there is not a lot of time to do all this - only fix the problem areas as they happen.

 

*****

That 2nd post-reply - just when the heck does the chain of command go from the Hotel Manager thru the Concierge ???

Your cabin steward - your Butler - your Concierge - and then the Hotel Director/Manager who then directs the

appropriate department to look into and fix the problem - the Concierge does not run around with a left handed speed

wrench to fix plumbing problems nor does the Butler !

The Concierge wasn't Roel Gonzales was it ?

The DAWN is a nice ole ship but what I am reading of her recently it is going down hill - maybe there should have

been a crew change with the dry-docking.

Been on 5 cruises on her and everything worked fine except the wait for it - the HOT water to arrive !

Yea I have waited for the hot water many times on cruises, I can say honestly this was different.  I do believe there is a more serious plumbing issue.  At one point we let it run for a half hour trying to have it warm up to Luke warm and it never did.  Most days at some point we can get a steady Lukewarm and then it would slowly turn cold over a few minutes.   The last day it was only boiling hot and wouldn’t cool down at all. 

I also thought the whole direct concerns to the concierge thing was off and strange.  It  was Roel.  

Yes they were never fully resolved, the last call I made I tried to escalate, I was pretty pissed to be honest, and said put me on with the hotel manager, General manager etc and they kept saying your concierge has to put it through to a manager.  I thought it was strange, almost because we were in a suite and had a concierge everything had to go through him? My guess was this had been going on for previous cruises and they were aware of the problem, it was a big fix and they were avoiding it. I fully expected calls from the concierge or manager the next day and did not receive one, did not even see the concierge until disembarkation.  After 7 ncl cruises I was truly surprised by all of that. 

Yes we were fully docked in NYC by 2am, we were off the boat at 7:15 this morning. 

We just left the dawn today! I thought I would give a quick review of the good and the bad!

This was our 7th Ncl cruise, the Dawn was the first ship we sailed 10 years ago, then the Jewel twice, Breakaway twice and the Escape. Initially I had concerns about going back to a smaller ship.  we stayed in a double balcony owners suite. 

The room:  huge! We have stayed in suites before but this was gigantic, my gymnastics loving 7 year old could run across it and do 3 cartwheels before reaching the master bedroom.  We loved the extra space and huge balconies!  The room decor was fine but a little shabby, broken floor and wall tiles. 

Plumbing issues galore, I won’t lie I have never encountered this and it was a pain, we had two toilets and midday often they wouldn’t flush for hours, I have heard this is common but it happened everyday.  Hot water was scarce.  Most mornings it would be warm, during the afternoon after days in port when we looked forward to a warm shower it was ice cold.  Also slow drains a few times, a 3 minute shower could overflow into the bathroom at times. I called the front desk 7 times regarding the hot water, asked for the hotel manager, since we were in a suite they said it had to go through the concierge and it seemed to be ignored at that point. I’m pretty easygoing so for me to call at all is a big deal, I got it pretty early on trying to get that fixed was a dead end. 

Our room steward Janelle was the absolute sweetest, hardest working lady on the ship, She was just wonderful, I enjoyed chatting with her each day and our room was always done perfectly, I never had to ask her for anything at any time. 

In general I felt the ship was refurbished nicely and I enjoyed the small ship feel.  The one pool was tough and it was so full of people and kids, we went in early morning once and it was nice, we then heard someone pooped in it that afternoon so that was it for the pool for us!

Entertainment was great, lots of dance and music, acrobatics, my daughter loved it and so did we! Light enjoyable entertainment and around the ship we enjoyed the live music every night.

Food,  quite good, la cucina, teppanyaki, los lobos, Cagneys all good! Bamboo not as good as I remember, don’t worry if you can’t get a table, it’s free but asian night in the garden cafe is better.  Suite breakfast in cagneys was excellent, lunch is pretty boring there, we only did that twice as it’s the same 5 items. 

Great stirrup cay was really nice, we enjoyed the less crowded day there after being there on megaships.

overall a very nice relaxing cruise, friendly staff as always, maybe even more on the small ship, lots of staff remembering my daughters name etc, a very warm personable atmosphere. 

2 hours ago, Twipenne said:

Let's start with the fact that I've never taken a cruise in my life, though it's been on my bucket list for about three years. After doing some research, I booked the Norwegian Escape for Jan 25th because between the solo cabins, the no set dining time, the fact that with free at sea I only have to spend $139 on drinks for the week, the water slides and ropes course, it seemed like a ship I would want to try. But then I found CC after I placed my deposit and all I've seen are posts saying that the line is going down hill and they've been miserable on their cruises. And when I look into RCL and Carnival, I find complaints there as well.

 

So, I ask, should I even bother trying cruising?

Yes!!! There are so many Debbie downers on cc so many people so worried about getting the most for their money it’s just ridiculous,  I have done 7 cruise with ncl and am about to go on another in 2 weeks.  One cruise when I first discovered cruise critic I spent too much time on the boards and let the negativity get to me, now I make sure to just check in quickly here and there but not let the overly critical negative people get me down!

our last cruise was on the escape, beautiful ship, lots to do, great food choices and entertainment! Get yourself the drink of the day each day and you mentioned water slides, we have a 7 year old and I probably went down 75 times over the course of the trip, the enclosed one with the clear plastic section over the ocean was my fav, so much fun! I had a blast!

1 hour ago, thetaro said:

What is this nonsense. 

I always book Inside Sailaway and upgrade to Balcony.

I don't care about the location of the ship. I don't drink or gamble. I don't care about WiFi, Excursion discount, Airfare discount.

The only thing I would buy separately is the specialty dining.

 

So you call it steerage, I call it feature pricing. I am okay with base model.

100% agree.  This is a ridiculous post in my opinion.  The level of nonsense was proven by the original post itself, why are balconies 2nd class? Literally the only difference is the balcony itself.  Also you could have an inside passenger who saves on the room but spends extra money on vibe, the spa, LE bistro and Cagneys every night and a mini suite passenger who eats in the buffet or MDR for every meal.  

    Personally we like the suites because we have a child and like a big room but because of said child we eat in the Buffet and don’t spend tons on extras. It’s a little strange to arbitrarily decide there are now 3 classes and make that declaration as the original post did. 

On 6/13/2019 at 6:37 PM, BirdTravels said:

Well you were on the Joy in an "owners suite" which does not exist on the Joy. 

 

We were in a forward facing penthouse suite on the Dawn and loved the room. The service and food was top notch.  

We are in a forward 2 balcony owners suite on the dawn in 2 weeks and really looking forward to it.  

  To be honest I prefer the suite experience on the smaller ships without the Haven having done both.  In the Haven on the breakaway I felt there was just too much emphasis on the separation and the ship within a ship. The whole tendency towards not interacting with the rest of the ship and focus on getting the most out of the Haven attitude is a little bit of a downer for me, I was never impressed by the Haven restaurant either. I much prefer to just enjoy the gorgeous room and a few suite perks on the smaller ships but that is just me!

6 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

The struggle is real.

Maybe if you drink the entire bottle of wine first, or two bottles even you could manage to even conquer the garden cafe! Macaroni and cheese to your hearts content.  Hot dogs too. 

14 minutes ago, elwood_98034 said:

It bothers me to think that someone is employed to run around after other people. It makes me very uncomfortable. I put a troll post on the TCZ thread about taking a servant on the cruise, and I didn't get flamed for it as I was expecting. That bothers me too.

I don't want people thinking they have to put snacks (or anything else) in my room each day. If I want snacks I will get off my fat arrr....backside and go get them myself.

Same, we are in a suite in a couple weeks, we literally said when we see the Butler let’s make it clear we are easy, we love a few extra bath towels and bottled waters, but that’s it. like we have every other time.  Everything else we can do ourselves.

btw I am extremely relieved the TCZ post is a troll post, hoi polloi yikes. 

I think it’s very likely you won’t want to eat every meal in the haven restaurant.  Breakfast great, Yes but lunch and dinner would get so tired eating there every meal, I think you will see that pretty quickly, it’s nice, food is good but sometimes the food especially selection wise for lunch and dinner is better in the MDR. Definitely better in the specialty restaurants. I can only do one or two Haven lunches and dinners before I need to venture out.  honestly the most bang for your buck would be to move around and try the different restaurants including the MDRs which are often quite nice. 

We are about to take our 7th Ncl cruise in an owners suite.  We have done 3 balconies or mini suites and 3 penthouses previously, all on different ships.  I always think you can’t equate having paid more for the suites to being owed a more perfect vacation because it just doesn’t work that way, we like a larger room and some of the perks but nothing is perfect, we always know we will have an awesome time and we always do, we know we are paying a lot for a suite but it’s up to us to have a let’s have a great vacation mindset! That being said every cruise line isn’t for everyone and that’s ok! 

8 hours ago, amygutman said:

On the Dawn now - a ton of kids spotted in the pool today. 

Hoping to get my 10 yo some time in the water tomorrow  - we are just having a quick lunch off the ship,  and hoping to take advantage of the port day if possible. 

From the folks in the kids pool area today, it seemed like more 5 and unders - and an enormous number of parents not paying attention. Oddly enough, there was a lifeguard in the adult pool, but I did not see one in the kids pool.

Amy

Thank you Amy, yes the kids pool looks definitely more geared towards 5 and under,  I actually read another review saying as well as not having having much room there were multiple older kids back there just pushing and yelling and the no lifeguard was a problem at time, I kind of plan on steering clear! Enjoy your Cruise!!!!

7 hours ago, expectthebest said:

2 weeks ago on Dawn... there were a bunch of kids in the adult pool. They acted like kids and enjoyed themselves. There is a staircase that lets you walk into the pool for easy entrance and exit. I’d say the age range of kids in the adult pool were like age 6 to 12 yrs old... the younger kids/toddlers used the back kiddie pool. 

Enjoy your trip!!

-Mark

Mark thank you so much! This is what I was kind of hoping for, somewhat kid friendly for the older kids! 

And sorry Junebug27 and sparkles6790 same person lol, my account messed up and logged me into an old account.

16 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

On warm sea days with lots of adults relaxing in the pool, I have rarely seen anyone able to actually "swim."

Agree, on all ships we actually avoid the pools on sea days.  I am specifically asking because we don’t get off on our Port Canaveral day and my daughter will want to go in the pool, we don’t expect to swim laps though lol.

Thank you hladygirl! Yes mjackmom, that is what I am hoping, we have been on the jewel, escape, breakaway and all had multiple large pools so I can see the adults only there but with only one real pool on the dawn I know my daughter would like to be able to take a swim!

Thank you! I was hoping so!

Taking our 5 year old to cirque dreams, which she is very excited about, I saw the filet/shrimp dinner. I can easily just get her dinner before or after if she doesn't want that but is there a kids option?

Hi all! Going on the breakaway in a few weeks, have been once before a couple years ago. On the main pool deck the larger pool by the music and hot tubs used to be adults only, is this still the case? I'm reading that it may not be?

Anyone know who the butlers on the Breakaway are right now? We are sailing tomorrow!

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We have been on the Jewel twice and really enjoyed it! I'm trying to think of some things I really loved last cruise. Chin Chin is a can't miss, we went twice last cruise! The champagne bar area in the evening is a favorite spot of ours too. During the day they put out fresh coffee by the atrium and that was always nice too!

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This is my first cruise with my children who are picky eaters. Does anyone know if the haven restaurant offers a kids menu at dinner? All the MDRs and SDRs have them.

Glad you asked this! I have been wondering the same thing! We are cruising Sunday so I can report back if there are any challenges.

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