NCL Dawn cruise disappointing ..

[FormulaRacer]

We are loyal NCL Platinum cruisers with over 23+ cruises on NCL. We had a large group of Cruise Critic members (120+) and a smaller group that booked 28 cabins in total. This cruise was the 14 day repositioning from Boston to New Orleans.

 

This cruise was very disappointing and showed the cutbacks that NCL has made over the past several years. We booked a Penthouse Suite (SJ) stateroom #12008. While we paid a premium price $5200 for 2 adults (seniors 62 & 63) we did not get a premium stateroom. The stateroom was "shabby". We had holes in the drapes, lights that didn't work, window tinting peeling from the large windows, rust running down the window supports, very leaky shower, tiles in the bath that had moldy grout and large gaps between windows and floor fascia that past passengers dropped items in between the glass and the moulding.

 

NCL and needs to get their maintenance moving in an upward direction. It took 13 days to get an electrician to repair the light fixture. I also strongly feel that the Hotel Director Alain Magnier needs to be replaced. Within our group that booked the deck 12 suites, many had related problems with the interior of their staterooms.

 

Food service in the dining rooms and Cagney's was very slow, and meals could not be delivered "hot". Waiters and waitress's were not friendly and the entire ship lacked a friendly atmosphere. Very few staff members qualified for Vacation Hero cards. Specialty restaurants were good, and the Garden Cafe food items were terrible.

 

Entertainment was very good, except for a few entertainers who are regular NCL entertainers. The NCL band and show dancers were quite good.

 

While we have another NCL cruise booked on the NCL Jewel for Sept 2015 in Alaska, unless NCL ups their game, it is unlikely that we will cruise NCL as much as we have in past. We are booked on Princess and Celebrity in near future. We are seasoned cruisers and do 3 to 4 per year.

 

I would suggest that anyone considering the NCL Dawn and consider paying for a premium stateroom, that you consider a lower priced category. For the price paid for premium staterooms, you do not get what you pay for. The premium staterooms (suites) need to be refurbished.

 

NCL continues to make cutbacks and in my opinion the cutbacks have affected overall quality of the ship. Perhaps bottom line profits to shareholders over rule the condition of the NCL Dawn.

 

As NCL Platinum cruisers we were very disappointed to see this ship in such shabby conditions. Improvement is needed, and the onboard Hotel Director should take full responsibility for the problems addressed here and in other staterooms.

[TheWulf]

I was on the Dawn a few years ago, and while this was my first NCL cruise, it wasn't very impressive compared to past experiences with Princess and Celebrity.

 

Overall, NCL just felt like much more of a "budget" line. Food was not as good, service although not horrible was just average, and the ship did show its age. Entertainment was lacking and what was there was not very appealing (the shows were horrible)

 

I'll be giving them another chance with an Epic sailing in January, hopefully the newer ship will be a little bit better.

 

I think in the end, the ship and crew does make the trip. I know for myself that I prefer newer ships, perhaps you would as well.

[herdingdogmom]

Oh my, so sorry to hear about your experience on the Dawn. I'm sure you have shared your photos of suite disrepair with NCL. It is surprising you had so much trouble since those SJ suites are just 3 years old. We were in one 2 years ago and had no maintenance issues. We have been in SJ's twice and have a third booked on the Star. They are the least expensive suites on NCL. You got quite a deal on your repositioning cruise. We paid 35% more on the Star 12 day and 25% more on a Dawn 7 day cruise (per night times 2 pax). I hope you are wrong about the decline in the NCL suite product and service. I would like to see the Cagney's breakfast and lunch service improved on both ships. We just ordered from the butler in the suite after the first day.

Edited November 24, 2014 by herdingdogmom

[dexddd]

Oh my, so sorry to hear about your experience on the Dawn. I'm sure you have shared your photos of suite disrepair with NCL. It is surprising you had so much trouble since those SJ suites are just 3 years old. We were in one 2 years ago and had no maintenance issues. We have been in SJ's twice and have a third booked on the Star. They are the least expensive suites on NCL. You got quite a deal on your repositioning cruise. We paid 35% more on the Star 12 day and 25% more on a Dawn 7 day cruise (per night times 2 pax). I hope you are wrong about the decline in the NCL suite product and service. I would like to see the Cagney's breakfast and lunch service improved on both ships. We just ordered from the butler in the suite after the first day.

 

I hear what you are saying about us passengers telling the onboard staff or NCL Corporate about the room conditions. However, at what point should we be doing their jobs?

 

I was on the Dawn a couple years back and saw things that should have been fixed that were not e.g. duct tape holding up wallpaper in the Asian restaurant, our room had numerous worn items, a hole in the wall when they swapped out tvs (which was years prior), etc. Our trip was within a year of the dry dock when they removed Spinnaker. They need to have a plan to go room by room and get things up to par.

Edited November 24, 2014 by dexddd

[pathubia]

So sorry about your suite problems on the Dawn. We have cruised the Dawn 3 times twice in SC (the same one, 11020) and once in a mini suite (11012). We haven't run into any problems, we are booked again for Jan 25 (mini suite gty, no assignment yet) Hopefully we wont be disappointed.

[biker@sea]

FormularRacer

I think the Hotel Director Alain Magnier is the main problem on Dawn !!

 

The crew is not happy with him , I heard him yell at crew members more than once .

 

I sail the Dawn a lot and Alain is not good for NCL .

Edited November 24, 2014 by biker@sea

[pieshops]

I hear what you are saying about us passengers telling the onboard staff or NCL Corporate about the room conditions. However, at what point should we be doing their jobs?

 

I was on the Dawn a couple years back and saw things that should have been fixed that were not e.g. duct tape holding up wallpaper in the Asian restaurant, our room had numerous worn items, a hole in the wall when they swapped out tvs (which was years prior), etc. Our trip was within a year of the dry dock when they removed Spinnaker. They need to have a plan to go room by room and get things up to par.

 

Totally see what you are saying but the problem becomes if there are 3000 people on a ship and no one says anything then it is business as usual. If 1000 people ( exaggerated I know ) complain every trip about the same things NCL will fix it.

 

It my be a management problem, but no company wants to lose business and if no one says anything nothing will change.

 

I own my own catering business and we run a cafe in an office building and I get people who come up to me and say I really did not want to say anything or I don't want to get anyone in trouble, or even I am told about things months after they started happening when people have had enough, well I always say we want to hear feedback whether good or bad so we know what to fix.

[Samstress]

Maybe NCL should start doing what a lot of the hotel chains do...put cards in the cabins that guests can fill out if they find a problem & set up a comment box (or something similar) where the cards can be dropped off. Just a thought:)

[Susie51]

I'm sorry to hear about the maintenance problems. I'm wondering if so much money is being spent on BA and GA, NCL has not left enough money in the maintenance fund.

[hpecorari]

Maybe NCL should start doing what a lot of the hotel chains do...put cards in the cabins that guests can fill out if they find a problem & set up a comment box (or something similar) where the cards can be dropped off. Just a thought:)

 

Good idea. However, shouldn't the room stewards know about these things? They do, after all, clean the cabins and are in each cabin at least twice a day.

I can't believe they clean the cabin and don't see this kind of stuff. If they see something that needs repair they should, also, report it.

 

Harriet

[vent1020]

So sorry about your suite problems on the Dawn. We have cruised the Dawn 3 times twice in SC (the same one, 11020) and once in a mini suite (11012). We haven't run into any problems, we are booked again for Jan 25 (mini suite gty, no assignment yet) Hopefully we wont be disappointed.

 

We will be in 11020 in 6 days(Can't believe I get to say that :D ) Hopefully the OP's experience was an isolated incident.

[pathubia]

We will be in 11020 in 6 days(Can't believe I get to say that :D ) Hopefully the OP's experience was an isolated incident.

 

The JADE Suite!! I am sooooo jealous!!! Have a great time!!

[Barb Nahoumi]

Maybe NCL should start doing what a lot of the hotel chains do...put cards in the cabins that guests can fill out if they find a problem & set up a comment box (or something similar) where the cards can be dropped off. Just a thought:)

 

There is usually a comment box on the guest services desk.

[pathubia]

We will be in 11020 in 6 days(Can't believe I get to say that :D ) Hopefully the OP's experience was an isolated incident.

 

 

The JADE SUITE!! I am soooo jealous!!! Have a great time!! We were in it May 2013 and May 2014....

 

If Winstor (i think that is his name) is your room steward, you will be in good hands!!

[vent1020]

The JADE Suite!! I am sooooo jealous!!! Have a great time!!

 

Thanks. Our first time in a suite. Can't wait. We found a video that someone took of this suite(GREAT well done video) and have been watching it for the last year and a half since we booked this room.

[vent1020]

The JADE SUITE!! I am soooo jealous!!! Have a great time!! We were in it May 2013 and May 2014....

 

If Winstor (i think that is his name) is your room steward, you will be in good hands!!

 

Thanks.

[Beaver1975]

I am not going to debate the merits of this review as a whole. But, they seem a little picayune when it comes to maintenance of a big metal box that floats around in a salty environment. But, that is just the mechanical engineer in me. We were on the Dawn last December and yes she could use a thorough dry dock refurbishment. I am sure she will be getting a good going over in the very near future.

 

As to the "trashing" of Alain Magnier, I am pretty certain he was not on board for a good portion of the beginning of this cruise. As for "yelling" at crew I have a hard time believing this as I don't think that is his nature. Having known him since about 2008 I have never seen him overly stressed in any situation.

 

Those that will label me "cheerleader", save your breath! I am just stating a differing opinion that reflects my own personal experiences. And I am pretty sure NCL would not allow Alain to defend his honor here, so I will. ;)

 

P.S. Please go read some of the OP's other past ponderings about ship maintenance and form your own opinions.

Edited November 24, 2014 by Beaver1975

[FormulaRacer]

Good idea. However, shouldn't the room stewards know about these things? They do, after all, clean the cabins and are in each cabin at least twice a day.

I can't believe they clean the cabin and don't see this kind of stuff. If they see something that needs repair they should, also, report it.

 

Harriet

 

I spoke with the room steward several times over the matters that I presented. He was fully aware of the related problems, not only in our stateroom but others he was assigned too. He told us (myself & wife) that he had reported the problems to supervisors, but nothing was done. There appears to be a lack of coordination on this ship. The electrician who came to fix the light (the second one-Rene from Croatia), informed me that the ship needs lots of repairs and is not in the best shape.

 

The room stewards are pressed for time with having to clean 14 cabins, (our case on this Dawn cruise) twice per day. They are in and out quickly. While they see and understand the problems that exist, the chain of command for repairs is terribly lacking.

 

Down the hall from us in suite 12016, our fellow cruisers had to place pool towels up against the 4 large windows when it was raining to stop the water from leaking further into their suite.

 

Another fellow cruiser in stateroom 9030, had a balcony room that they could not walk out on the balcony with bare feet, it is so disgraceful. Metal sheeting on the balcony roof was rusty and well as other areas on the balcony.

 

NCL needs to step up their game for repairs. Elevators also had problems with the up down arrows broken out and several elevators did not show what floors passengers were on. If passengers can see these issues, why can't Hotel management see these problems?

 

In my opinion NCL is concentrating on the newer ships, and lacking insight to the other vessels they own. While the industry of crusing can present a great value in vacationing, NCL needs to understand (which I am sure they do) that this is a highly competitive industry with NCL, CCL, and RCL all vying for the consumer to cruise on their respective lines.

 

As for the Hotel Manager (as others above have posted) both my myself and wife saw Alain become very confrontational with another passenger over availability of seating in the Garden Cafe. The HD Alain was actually yelling at the other passenger out on the pool deck rather than trying to settle down the situation.

 

I sincerely hope that NCL management will look into these issues and read this thread to make improvements. As other posters have stated it is important to let them know.

 

We have been extremely loyal to NCL over the past 10 years, recording an average of 2.4 cruises per year. We have meet great staff members and executive staff members over the years that we have keep up with on a personal basis.

 

NCL has a small fleet of ships (13 to 14) compared to other major players in this industry namely CCL and RCL. While they want to continue to grow, NCL needs to get on these issues ASAP, otherwise negative word of mouth remarks will continue to escalate into the public domain, which is something they do not want.

 

Email to NCL executives at their main office in Miami will go out hopefully today. I will be very interested to see how they respond or if they respond. Their response will certainly play an important role if we return back to NCL.

 

We currently have 3 cruises booked for 2015, with only one on NCL (Jewel Sept 2015 last Alaska voyage) and 1 cruise on Princess (Jan 2015) and 1 cruise on Celebrity (March 2015). Being retired, and financially secure we cruise allot. Hopefully NCL can correct issues on their ships, to make our stateroom visits much better.

 

Our crusing group this voyage was very large booking 28 cabins in full, many in the suites on Deck 12. 120+ cruise critic members were at our meet & greet. We were the Cruzin Cuzins group. We are now planning for another 2016 cruise reunion as a large group again. We have been loyal to NCL, however after this crusie, we are seriously considering going to another line. Most of our group on this Dawn cruise were NCL Platinum members who have given NCL a trememdous amount of revenue over the years.

 

Lets see what happens. While I am not a frequent poster here on CC. I felt compelled to make a post about this cruise. My wife Oceandreaming2 is the poster for us here on CC with several thousand posts over many years. We are not complainers in any way, but feel that NCL needs to change the game quickly. Not only for us, or fellow cruise passengers, but also for their respective shareholders, as they are now a publicly traded company.

 

More to follow.

 

Richard in New Mexico

[FormulaRacer]

A few photos of the elevator problems, as mentioned above.........Deck 6 Forward ...Port side.

[sjbdtz]

I'm sorry to hear about the maintenance problems. I'm wondering if so much money is being spent on BA and GA, NCL has not left enough money in the maintenance fund.

 

LOL.... the $1 billion costs of the BA & GA re just a drop in the bucket.

 

 

If this WERE the case, it would be more likely caused by the THREE billion they just spent last week, to acquire Oceania & Regent.

[OceanDreaming2]

Did you also bring a blue light to inspect the bed linens?

 

Beaver - what he didn't show were the holes in the sheets, the dirty bed skirt, the gum stuck to the carpet, etc.

 

Small things add up to big things.

 

Our friends down the hall in another SJ, had one entire panel of drapes missing the entire cruise. Unacceptable!

 

I will say, on disembarkation morning, maintenance was in their cabin removing tiles in their bathroom floor. Hopefully, the cracked/missing grout in 12008 will be repaired/replaced soon. I can only imagine the black mold from the leaking showers.

 

Alain Magnier, HD, had a drop box for comments. We did not bother since we wrote him on our last voyage (fall 2013) and we never received a response.

 

Our room steward and butler work hard - with many cabins to service. We had no complaints against either of them.

 

A vacation is what you make of it. We had a great time - especially since we were with friends, our extended family of cruzin cuzins! :)

[OceanDreaming2]

This seems like a very vain statement. You did not get a personal response so you are not going to bother again. I have written many notes to cruise staff, both complimentary and derogatory, and have rarely gotten any form of response. Does that stop me, no, because I know these are very busy people with more important things to do than stroking my ego.

 

Hope your future cruise choices treat you more the way you feel you should be treated.

 

Not vain at all. Mr. Magnier must've been very busy indeed, since he wasn't out and about during the cruise. He joined the ship in Puerto Rico. Still no excuse for not making the rounds of the ship.

 

The **ONLY** member of management who stopped by our table at dinner during our 14 day cruise was Norman Anderson, the Beverage Manager. On previous cruises, the Restaurant Manager, F&B Manager, the HD, etc. all made their rounds at dinner. Also, the captain wasn't visible. He did stop in at our M&G and spoke for 30 seconds and he made a brief announcement every morning.

Edited November 24, 2014 by OceanDreaming2

[Trevor Fountain]

I spoke with the room steward several times over the matters that I presented. He was fully aware of the related problems, not only in our stateroom but others he was assigned too. He told us (myself & wife) that he had reported the problems to supervisors, but nothing was done. There appears to be a lack of coordination on this ship. The electrician who came to fix the light (the second one-Rene from Croatia), informed me that the ship needs lots of repairs and is not in the best shape.

 

The room stewards are pressed for time with having to clean 14 cabins, (our case on this Dawn cruise) twice per day. They are in and out quickly. While they see and understand the problems that exist, the chain of command for repairs is terribly lacking.

 

Down the hall from us in suite 12016, our fellow cruisers had to place pool towels up against the 4 large windows when it was raining to stop the water from leaking further into their suite.

 

Another fellow cruiser in stateroom 9030, had a balcony room that they could not walk out on the balcony with bare feet, it is so disgraceful. Metal sheeting on the balcony roof was rusty and well as other areas on the balcony.

 

NCL needs to step up their game for repairs. Elevators also had problems with the up down arrows broken out and several elevators did not show what floors passengers were on. If passengers can see these issues, why can't Hotel management see these problems?

 

In my opinion NCL is concentrating on the newer ships, and lacking insight to the other vessels they own. While the industry of crusing can present a great value in vacationing, NCL needs to understand (which I am sure they do) that this is a highly competitive industry with NCL, CCL, and RCL all vying for the consumer to cruise on their respective lines.

 

As for the Hotel Manager (as others above have posted) both my myself and wife saw Alain become very confrontational with another passenger over availability of seating in the Garden Cafe. The HD Alain was actually yelling at the other passenger out on the pool deck rather than trying to settle down the situation.

 

I sincerely hope that NCL management will look into these issues and read this thread to make improvements. As other posters have stated it is important to let them know.

 

We have been extremely loyal to NCL over the past 10 years, recording an average of 2.4 cruises per year. We have meet great staff members and executive staff members over the years that we have keep up with on a personal basis.

 

NCL has a small fleet of ships (13 to 14) compared to other major players in this industry namely CCL and RCL. While they want to continue to grow, NCL needs to get on these issues ASAP, otherwise negative word of mouth remarks will continue to escalate into the public domain, which is something they do not want.

 

Email to NCL executives at their main office in Miami will go out hopefully today. I will be very interested to see how they respond or if they respond. Their response will certainly play an important role if we return back to NCL.

 

We currently have 3 cruises booked for 2015, with only one on NCL (Jewel Sept 2015 last Alaska voyage) and 1 cruise on Princess (Jan 2015) and 1 cruise on Celebrity (March 2015). Being retired, and financially secure we cruise allot. Hopefully NCL can correct issues on their ships, to make our stateroom visits much better.

 

Our crusing group this voyage was very large booking 28 cabins in full, many in the suites on Deck 12. 120+ cruise critic members were at our meet & greet. We were the Cruzin Cuzins group. We are now planning for another 2016 cruise reunion as a large group again. We have been loyal to NCL, however after this crusie, we are seriously considering going to another line. Most of our group on this Dawn cruise were NCL Platinum members who have given NCL a trememdous amount of revenue over the years.

 

Lets see what happens. While I am not a frequent poster here on CC. I felt compelled to make a post about this cruise. My wife Oceandreaming2 is the poster for us here on CC with several thousand posts over many years. We are not complainers in any way, but feel that NCL needs to change the game quickly. Not only for us, or fellow cruise passengers, but also for their respective shareholders, as they are now a publicly traded company.

 

More to follow.

 

Richard in New Mexico

 

The only way you can be satisfied is to travel on new ships. How can anyone stop rust on a ship this age? I have sailed on much older ships, and I expect them to be a little worse for wear. That is the character of ships. You are not going to get perfection. I prefer older ships. Yes they should be clean, with good food and great service, but complaining about rust, no wonder ships today end up in the breakers yard before their time.

Also to name Rene as the crew member that told you (privately) that the ship is not in the best of shape, is extremely poor form. Are you intent on causing problems for people who are there to help you?

[FormulaRacer]

The only way you can be satisfied is to travel on new ships. How can anyone stop rust on a ship this age? I have sailed on much older ships, and I expect them to be a little worse for wear. That is the character of ships. You are not going to get perfection. I prefer older ships. Yes they should be clean, with good food and great service, but complaining about rust, no wonder ships today end up in the breakers yard before their time.

Also to name Rene as the crew member that told you (privately) that the ship is not in the best of shape, is extremely poor form. Are you intent on causing problems for people who are there to help you?

 

It took 3 electricians to resolve the light fixture probelm. The first one came, inspected the fixture, told us he would be back, but never showed up. The room steward was fully aware and frustrated over this matter. He could only do so much. The second Electrician (name as mentioned) came into the room, thought he repaired the fixture, only to have the room steward call the electrician back again (3rd time). His statement about the repairs on the ship was sincere and I honestly don't believe that NCL will rep-premand him for his comments. He was honest and sincere.

 

Rust is excepted on a ship due to salt corrision. However, if you could have personally seen this balcony (stateroom 9030), you would have to agree with my conclusion of lack of repair and ship maintenence. There can be no doubt that while public areas of this ship are kept up better, many individual staterooms are in need to repair. Any passenger that pays a premium price for a suite should get a premium quality stateroom (suite).

 

I always want to be accurate with my data when posting. That is why photos were taken to actually see the problems, but I did not want to interfere with our friends stateroom balcony problems in 9030.

 

Many times consumers will not voice opinions or present problems to many businesses. If I do, I will have names and photos of the problems that exist so that any posting can be verified.

 

For 31 years I spent my career evaluating many businesses in many industries. Now that I am retired, my evaluations continue as I am a professional mystery shopper that gets compensated for evaluating and writing comprehensive reviews of various types of business enterprise.

[BeeBeeCee]

I just got off of the CTN on the Dawn yesterday...that was both my first and LAST NCL cruise!

 

If it had been my first ever cruise ...I would have never cruised again ;)

Edited November 24, 2014 by BeeBeeCee