NCL Dawn, The Good, the Bad, The Great and the Ugly... my review!

[newmexicoNita]

Really enjoyed the review: we will be on the Dawn in about 10 days, so love to hear how others see her. I do have a couple of comments: 1-the pool bar be cue we have attended (probably about 3 times) has always been outstanding, sorry to hear yours was not. 2-as for the buffet, the newer ships do seem to have better buffets, but a buffet is still just that, a place to get a quick meal. 3-I think the pool situation again, has to do with the older ships. The newer ones do offer more than one choice, but I am glad to hear they have a pool in the spa area. This is just what we are looking for and I can't find any information on the web site or maybe I am not looking in the right place.

 

Again, thanks for your review and I bet those crew members you had serving you really like you and your generous tipping.

 

Oh and one more thing, I know it was disappointing to miss Roatan and yes, the natives do depend on tourism, but I understand NCLs decision. If nothing else, out of respect for the crew member that lost his life.

[stormynow]

I applaud NCL for bypassing Roaton out of respect for the rest of the crew. See as an in kind act. JMO

[rajones007]

re: Roatan. The only people bitching about the temporary loss of Roatan are the ones who actually missed the port. I can sympathize, but they are missing the big picture. Everybody BUT them completely understands.

 

re: The Tip Amounts. We've stayed in an OS and we found the tip amounts mentioned here in this thread to be quite excessive as well. $150 for two people on a 7 day cruise for the butler who they rarely used is definitely excessive. To each his own, I guess. Total tips for all 3 (butler/concierge/steward) worked out to almost $30 per person per day!!! Whoa. I tip according to the services rendered. I keep mental notes about each individual service they provide and think about how much I would have tipped a comparable waiter/valet/porter/maid/etc. Then I kind of work it out from there.

 

That's why it's the room steward who always comes out on top when we cruise. He/She always does way way waaaaay more for us than the butler and concierge combined.

 

Anyways, I'm enjoying this thread. The differing opinions of the people who were actually on the ship (especially the opinions regarding the food) are entertaining!

[newmexicoNita]

re: Roatan. The only people bitching about the temporary loss of Roatan are the ones who actually missed the port. I can sympathize, but they are missing the big picture. Everybody BUT them completely understands.

 

re: The Tip Amounts. We've stayed in an OS and we found the tip amounts mentioned here in this thread to be quite excessive as well. $150 for two people on a 7 day cruise for the butler who they rarely used is definitely excessive. To each his own, I guess. Total tips for all 3 (butler/concierge/steward) worked out to almost $30 per person per day!!! Whoa. I tip according to the services rendered. I keep mental notes about each individual service they provide and think about how much I would have tipped a comparable waiter/valet/porter/maid/etc. Then I kind of work it out from there.

 

That's why it's the room steward who always comes out on top when we cruise. He/She always does way way waaaaay more for us than the butler and concierge combined.

 

Anyways, I'm enjoying this thread. The differing opinions of the people who were actually on the ship (especially the opinions regarding the food) are entertaining!

This has been one of the more interesting threads to read regarding reviews. Why? because everyone is chiming in with opinions and yet staying civilized. This is what a good debate should be.

[DGP1111]

This has been one of the more interesting threads to read regarding reviews. Why? because everyone is chiming in with opinions and yet staying civilized. This is what a good debate should be.

 

I am in total agreement with your observation. :)

 

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[PorkChopKid]

With discussion here and on other threads about the murdered crew member in Roatan, has anyone seen anything about passengers on that fateful cruise? Were they told about what happened or did the word spread via the rumor mill? If information was given, was there a collection taken for the victims family? Just curious about reactions on board.

[Love my butler]

re: Roatan. The only people bitching about the temporary loss of Roatan are the ones who actually missed the port. I can sympathize, but they are missing the big picture. Everybody BUT them completely understands.

 

You mean the only people complaining were the people that actually missed the port? Not the peanut gallery whose vacation was not affected? Shocker! Pretty easy to pass judgement when it doesn't affect you.

 

I was not on the cruise and I certainly don't completely understand.

[stormynow]

You mean the only people complaining were the people that actually missed the port? Not the peanut gallery whose vacation was not affected? Shocker! Pretty easy to pass judgement when it doesn't affect you.

 

I was not on the cruise and I certainly don't completely understand.

What don't u understand?

[vinster42]

With discussion here and on other threads about the murdered crew member in Roatan, has anyone seen anything about passengers on that fateful cruise? Were they told about what happened or did the word spread via the rumor mill? If information was given, was there a collection taken for the victims family? Just curious about reactions on board.

 

We were on the cruise. An announcement was made by the captain while we were still in port. He also made an announcement when there was an arrest a few days later. It was such a heartbreaking event, especially for his co-workers and friends. You could see they worked the rest of the cruise with heavy hearts. I didn't see or hear of any official collection for him, but we gave a donation to our concierge to forward.

Edited April 16, 2014 by vinster42

[Cruisecrazy~]

Personally, I feel like if we skipped ports of call that has murders than they probably should not have brought me home to Tampa. We have murders in Tampa almost every day! The port itself did not look like a very safe place to me! Also, I feel like skipping a port because of something some bastard did just punishes all the people in that port who SURVIVE on the living they make from the tourist who visit! Why punish a whole island because of one asswipe! Those vendors (a huge majority of the population of Rotaan) suffers when cruise lines do not stop.

 

As for my tipping.. I try to tip as much as I can afford to all because I make MUCH MUCH more money than most of the people who work on that ship.. maybe besides the bridge crew! Do you realize how much these workers are paid an hour? Almost nothing! I know this for a fact because my husband use to help manage a cruise line!

[Cruisecrazy~]

My thoughts are this..

 

Book the type of Cabin you can afford and TIP what you can afford!

Have fun on your trip and make the best of it with no expectations when you start the cruise. Yes the food can suck on one trip but it might be great on the next.. cruise crew including chefs change as much as the seasons!

[Cruisecrazy~]

Most of the crew that I asked on the Dawn did not know the killed crew member of the Pearl.. they did feel really bad for him and the family and I was told by the Captain that he was a new crew member and did not understand all the policy's they try to adhere to.

[Love my butler]

What don't u understand?

 

Go back and slowly read the posts in this thread. If that doesn't answer your inquiry, I can't help you.

[newmexicoNita]

With discussion here and on other threads about the murdered crew member in Roatan, has anyone seen anything about passengers on that fateful cruise? Were they told about what happened or did the word spread via the rumor mill? If information was given, was there a collection taken for the victims family? Just curious about reactions on board.

 

Excellent question. I hadn't thought about that. If they passengers were not informed as to exactly why the port was cancelled I too would be pretty upset.

[newmexicoNita]

We were also on that cruise, and also did not agree with NCLs decision to not port. They could have at least cancelled free roaming and left people with guided excursions go. Thanks to the lost day in Honduras and extra sea day, we discovered that we would not enjoy a transatlantic cruise. ;)

 

Other than that, my only issue with the cruise was unruly teens. After 2 nights, we gave up walking on deck 12 or 13 after dinner. The last time we tried, we came around a corner and heard some kid say "Im going to do it to the next girl I see", which happened to be my wife. :eek: I saw him think about whatever he was planning for a second, and then wisely choose not to have his privates meet my wifes knee and then meet security. After that, we just stuck to the promenade deck. No nooks for some maniac to jump out of. ;)

 

Those things aside, we loved the cruise, the food and the excursions. Its one of the few cruises my wife has said she would like to take again. :)

 

Unruly kids is the reason I try never to cruise during kids vacation time. Our worst experience was on Celebrity several years ago during Thanksgiving break.

 

I am glad you were satisfied with the food, I was getting a little worried reading the post above you and how absolutely lawful the food was. When I hear someone complain about Cagney's I really get worried. In fact I am a little worried about the overall condition of the ship from what the poster before you posted. We were on the Sun last Dec. Yes, the ship is a little older, about the age of the Dawn and yes, you could tell it was older, but I didn't find a lot of broken equipment and the condition of the ship was fine, including how clean it was.

[Corgidog]

Bummer about the poor-to-mediocre foods reviews!!!! We're on the Dawn June 6th to Bermuda and I was planning on the food being great (because we were going to splurge on specialty restaurants 4 - 5 nights). We'll see I guess - can't wait to cruise anyway; it's not ALL about the food :)

 

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[bguppies]

In fact I am a little worried about the overall condition of the ship from what the poster before you posted. We were on the Sun last Dec. Yes, the ship is a little older, about the age of the Dawn and yes, you could tell it was older, but I didn't find a lot of broken equipment and the condition of the ship was fine, including how clean it was.

The Dawn was very clean and constantly being polished and vacuumed from what I could see.

 

The broken equipment became comical by the end of the cruise. (that last morning at the buffett, I could have easily snapped, 10-15 broken signs, if I had not left my phone to charge in the cabin. At one drink station was a broken ice dispenser, a juice dispenser and decaf coffemaker.)

 

Honestly didn't mind the broken dispensers that much, as there were others. (just somehwat frightening by sheer volume)

 

The two broken elevators (one all day Mon-Tues. the other Thur-debark Sun) somewhat irritated me.

 

And the soft serve machine being so poorly calibrated and never fixed all week, was really bad. (and the joke heard as walking every day the 2nd half of the cruise)

Edited April 18, 2014 by bguppies

[bguppies]

Bummer about the poor-to-mediocre foods reviews!!!! We're on the Dawn June 6th to Bermuda and I was planning on the food being great (because we were going to splurge on specialty restaurants 4 - 5 nights). We'll see I guess - can't wait to cruise anyway; it's not ALL about the food :)

 

.

 

I wouldn't worry too much (alot of crew will change in 2 months) and clarify my dining from my poor food review.

 

Had Lunch a Cagney's Monday and had a really good steak for lunch.

(good, not great like my brother and tons of reviews had led me to be ready for, but very tasty and juicy.)

 

The next night, we had a comped dinner at Cagney's for the entire GV.

Ordered Steak. (duh. I think it was filet mignon)

Medium

Came out medium well to well and chewy like an old shoe.

Forced my brother to try this "best steak I ever had".

Turned out his was badly done also, so we sent them back.

 

Got our next steaks and my brothers was done better, but still just good at best. (he said nowhere near as good as he'd experienced at cagney's before)

Mine again was overdone and chewy.

 

Showed it to the server and he apoligized.

They offered to prepare another one and I said no thanks. (it was free, so I really was tired of waiting for a decent steak.)

 

Since DW had finished her entire dinner, including desert already, we just got up and I went down to the buffet and found something good there and was done with Cagney's except a breakfast, for the week.

 

I think it was Wednesday night we tried the Italian place.

Honestly, I forget what i ordered at this point, it was that memorable.

A decent dish, but nothing great for a specialty price.

Buffet or main dining room quality at best.

At least it was edible, unlike Cagney's two shots at a steak.

 

The food at the buffet was great all week, except one morning the eggs were cold and the soft serve was miscalibrated from embarkation to debarkation. (I stupidly kept trying, hoping someone would fix it eventually)

Other than that, the food at the buffet was tasty and well prepared, consistently.

 

The Aqua dining room had great service and the food was good.

 

Hope that helps clarify my statements until I can finish my full review.

 

Bill

[newmexicoNita]

Bummer about the poor-to-mediocre foods reviews!!!! We're on the Dawn June 6th to Bermuda and I was planning on the food being great (because we were going to splurge on specialty restaurants 4 - 5 nights). We'll see I guess - can't wait to cruise anyway; it's not ALL about the food :)

 

.

 

I do not remember ever being disappointed in any of the specialty dining rooms. I will say, le Bistro wasn't as good on our last cruise, but it could have been the night, plus hubby was sick most of the cruise. He had a hernia that really should have been repaired before we left. That in itself cut into the enjoyment of our cruise.

[Barb Nahoumi]

To the OP,

 

I enjoyed your review. We were in a DOS last year, cruising the Dawn from Tampa, back to Boston. Overall, we were happy with the cruise, except for a horrible cold which I caught toward the end of the cruise.

 

Perhaps the stomach ailment, was a result of the potato salad at the bar b cue. Mayo can go bad if it sits in the heat of the sun for any period of time.

 

Fortunately, I don't like potato salad, and would never try it.

 

Most of our cruises have been on NCL, and all have been enjoyable. This year we tried RCL. In comparison they are similar, but RCL's food was a tad better. On the other hand, we felt that NCL does more for their passengers, with having the MDR open for lunch on embarkation day, and greeting passengers returning from hot port visits, with cold drinks and wet wash cloths. Little things that mean alot.