Dawn Photo Review Dec 16-23

[Aquahound]

Aquahound - Thanks for a great, honest review. It is apparent that you are a laid back guy. We love the Keys and would love to retire there. I keep buying lottery tickets in hopes of rushing that day!:rolleyes:

 

Thank you for reading with an open mind and seeing the real me. ;)

[ksimpso3]

Excellent post that brought a lot to my mind.

 

Let me first address the Spinnaker. Was it originally up front, like on deck 12? :confused: I ask because from up on 13, I saw the row of windows below and knowing that usually indicates a lounge, I went looking for it, only to find a bunch of suites. Are you saying they eliminated a lounge that made a lot more sense than the current Spinnaker and changed the space into rooms? If that's true, that was a terrible move.

 

While in this space usage frame of mind, let me express one more opinion. Although I am now Gold on NCL, you can see from my signature my NCL history. This was my first time on this style of NCL ship. What's up with those 2 Garden Villa suites that overlook the pool....2 rooms that take up an entire deck? Do people really spend that kind of money to go on a NCL cruise? Sorry, but this is just one more thing I don't get. Good for them, I guess, but for that kind of money, I would want the entire ship to be top notch, not just my suite. To me, it just seems like it would have made a lot more sense to leave Spinnaker where it was and chop up that Garden Villa space a little more with many smaller suites instead of 2 gigantic suites. Again, Aquahound's thoughts only.

 

But on to your second thought. Blue Lagoon. Remember, this was my first time on a ship with that venue. In my room, there was zero literature of what was offered throughout the ship, so it wasn't until day 2 or 3 I walked up to the hostess in that space and said "what is this?" Until then, it just looked like part of Moderno to me. Now, the reason we didn't try it....really, 2 reasons. One, I forgot about it and two, the in-laws are gluttons for punishment and still wanted to go to the MDR because despite the lack of service, it still beat the cattle herd in the Garden Cafe. Lesson learned, I guess. But it still doesn't exonerate them from providing such poor service in the MDR.

 

I completely agree with you that moving Spinnakers was a mistake. On our first cruise on Dawn in 2005, that was one of our favorite places to hang out in. Lots of nice, odd-shaped chairs you could sit and and watch the ocean go by. There is really no place for anyone to do that now:(.

As for the garden villas, yes people do spend money for them...we just got off it 2 weeks ago and LOVED it!! It is a lot of space, but that's what we wanted. We had our own balcony we could hang out on, never had to fight to find a lounger in sun. We could lay up there and hear the pool band and smell the barbeque. It was awesome. I have pictures in my review if you're interested.

I will agree there were some areas that needed attention (the toilet seats in the ladies rooms near the Venetian and the theater were dirty looking-not actually dirty, just overused??). Our rooms were kept spotless though.

My husband and girls ate twice at the Blue Lagoon, and stated both times their orders were messed up (I don't ever remember that problem the first time we cruised her).

All in all, I love the Dawn and would cruise on her again in a heartbeat!!:D

[cruiseclues]

Thank you for your frank and mostly non-subjective photo review of the Norwegian Dawn...backed up by a number of photos. We believe frank reviews like yours help the cruise lines improve their product...and in so doing help all their future cruisers. :):):):)

[Aquahound]

Thank you for your frank and mostly non-subjective photo review of the Norwegian Dawn...backed up by a number of photos. We believe frank reviews like yours help the cruise lines improve their product...and in so doing help all their future cruisers. :):):):)

 

Thank you! :) When there are problems with a ship, the line needs to know about it. I haven't read more recent reviews on Dawn, so hopefully they cleaned things up a little. Negative reviews were definitely a trend back in December.

[grtwithntr]

What's up with those 2 Garden Villa suites that overlook the pool....2 rooms that take up an entire deck? Do people really spend that kind of money to go on a NCL cruise? Sorry, but this is just one more thing I don't get. Good for them, I guess, but for that kind of money, I would want the entire ship to be top notch, not just my suite. To me, it just seems like it would have made a lot more sense to leave Spinnaker where it was and chop up that Garden Villa space a little more with many smaller suites instead of 2 gigantic suites. Again, Aquahound's thoughts only.

 

I promise that when you stay in one of those suites the cruise is top-notch. Love your honest review and all the pics. One of these days I'm gonna get off my butt and write up my review (and post pics) of our 7 days in room 14500.

[Chuck2810]

Our first night's dinner was in Cagneys. The venue was comfortable and the service was excellent. I had the filet and I would say it was just good. I think Cagneys was worth the cost for the venue and service, but I would rank my filet near the bottom when comparing Cagneys to other pay steakhouses on other cruise lines.

 

I had the cheesecake for dessert and thought it was really good.

 

While on the topic, I'll go ahead and provide my opinions for the other pay venues. One night, we tried Le Bistro.

 

We thought Le Bistro was excellent. Both DW and I tried the mushroom soup and had the rack of lamb for our main course. If it wasn't for wanting to try other venues, along with having family aboard, we would have returned to Le Bistro. I highly recommend this one.

 

The last night, we tried Moderno. I'm 50/50 with Moderno. I thought the food was really good. I thought the steaks and lamb would be my favorite, but I found the sausages to be my favorite. Again, excellent service. But here's my problem. It doesn't run like a true Brazilian steakhouse. Every selection comes once and in a specific order, so the red-green disk really isn't all that necessary. It isn't like land based restaurants where they are constantly going around. In order to get a second helping of any particular course, you have to ask for it. Also, I did not like the location. It was not intimate at all. Moderno is attached to the central atrium with no sort of glass to separate it, so you are forced to listen to whatever is going on below. It can get pretty noisy. Here is a picture of the atrium. Moderno is the top floor.

 

Your thoughts mirror mine. I have always enjoyed Le Bistro more than anything, and this past cruise I did enjoy Cagney's more, but since we had the UDP, I didn't feel like we were paying twice as much.... Moderno was meh... to me as well. We are on Dawn in a year and are staying in one of those suites that replaced the Spinnaker. I too liked that location, I had a good time there in Jewel with my daughter. You review was very objective and it that is considered bad, I will take bad over work any day.:)

[goofy4mickey]

I'm sorry you had the same room conditions as we did last year. We had rooms 11668 & 11670. Balconies were disgusting & it took until day 5 for someone to put down outdoor rugs so we could at least go out there without sticky cement stuck to our shoes/feet.