NCL Dawn cruise disappointing ..

[dexddd]

We just got off the Dawn on the Bermuda and repo run for 21 days....I would agree about the negative comments about this ship.

 

The captain leaves a lot to be desired,after two cruise critic meet and greets with him,we didn't bother attending any of his cocktail party's.

 

He looked like he wasn't interested at all.......we were in the Garden Villa on the first cruise down to Bermuda and the SJ to Nola.

 

I found Alain the hotel director friendly and welcoming.

 

We gave up eating in the restaurants,spent the most nights in the Garden Café,some of the officers would drop by and inquire as to why we were there every night.

 

We were sick of the long wait to take our order and then even longer to get your meal,the staff seem overworked.

 

The cost cutting even was evident in the Garden Villa,very little perks at all and you had to ask for them......One day I asked the butler for 2 cans of soda and was told the garden villa stores didn't have any and he would have to go to a bar to get some.....Two hours later they arrived after I had to call Virginia the concierge.

 

Not a big request I would of thought as unlimited sodas is part of the GV perks.......the butler didn't introduce himself at all to us on embarkation and we had to go looking for him around 5 pm.

 

Had a great room steward Mario who was outstanding,but the butler was second rate.

 

Virginia the concierge was very good and visible.

 

Which GV were you in? What was the overall condition inside and out? Who did you have as a butler and captain?

[aussie cruzer]

Which GV were you in? What was the overall condition inside and out? Who did you have as a butler and captain?

 

We were in GV # 14500 to Bermuda....this suite was in great condition.

 

No problems at all with it.......Captain was Martin Holmqvist....give me Captain Kim of the Jade any day over this guy.

 

After cruising in the GV before with butler Arnie Corona....Akmed on the Dawn is second rate.

 

The least he can do is introduce himself to GV guests......not a hard ask.

 

The second cruise we had the lovely Marivic as Butler....she was fantastic, a real credit to Ncl.

 

There seems to be plumbing issues up the front of the ship...Many times the toilets weren't working for several hours and after calling guest services,i was told nobody else had reported it.

 

Then I go to theatre to use their bathrooms, only to find there not working at all.

 

The plumber did arrive hours later and explained that their was a "problem" with the system.

 

We were in SJ #12512

[shepherdqueen]

We were on the 10/31 - 7 day sailing, the last trip to Bermuda. We were aft in 10230. Never had a plumbing issue, our cabin was fine. They were actually doing maintenance on our balcony one port day but gave us notice of such (sanding/painting/removal of rust).

 

I actually had better service, by far, in the Venetian than on my entire Breakaway cruise this spring (review in my signature). When I have a spare moment, I will write my much-more positive review of the Dawn. As someone who has food allergies, I was thrilled to have a designated person who handled my order each night.

 

We were happy enough to rebook this same cruise for May.

[Leafpeeper]

We sailed the DAWN from NY when she was a new ship. We were so impressed with NCL and all the dining options. We got so spoiled that it was difficult to cruise on other lines with just one main dining room. We really enjoy the Asian restaurant most. Love the various décor in the different restaurants onboard. There are so many things we love on NCL.

 

We sailed Dawn a couple years ago from Boston to Bermuda and I plan on booking it again for next October. I am taking friends who have never cruised before. I will be so upset if these issues continue with NCL. We will be booking inside, outside, and balcony cabins. No suites for us.

 

My daughter recently cruised on Princess and was very disappointed. She is a TA and said that all the cruiselines are cutting back. New cruisers won't realize what we are talking about. I never complain if I get a bargain price on a cruise. Unfortunately, the Dawn is the only ship sailing to Bermuda from Boston so we don't have a choice. I just hope the Dawn has an update before next October.

 

Hope my cruise on GEM from NY in January is not a disappointment. Hubby won't cruise on RCCL anymore. Too many problems on our last cruise. Once we retire, we will take last minute cruises from Florida during our winter getaways.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Hi Leafpeeper,

 

Actually, You will have a choice out of Boston next summer. HAL will be running some Bermuda cruises on the Veendam. You might want to look into that.

[dexddd]

We were in GV # 14500 to Bermuda....this suite was in great condition.

 

No problems at all with it.......Captain was Martin Holmqvist....give me Captain Kim of the Jade any day over this guy.

 

After cruising in the GV before with butler Arnie Corona....Akmed on the Dawn is second rate.

 

The least he can do is introduce himself to GV guests......not a hard ask.

 

The second cruise we had the lovely Marivic as Butler....she was fantastic, a real credit to Ncl.

 

There seems to be plumbing issues up the front of the ship...Many times the toilets weren't working for several hours and after calling guest services,i was told nobody else had reported it.

 

Then I go to theatre to use their bathrooms, only to find there not working at all.

 

The plumber did arrive hours later and explained that their was a "problem" with the system.

 

We were in SJ #12512

 

Thanks for the info and details. Not familiar with any of the folks mentioned. When we were on the Dawn we had Capt. Bengsston (sp?) who was fantastic. Our butler - don't know his name - was poor.

[dexddd]

We sailed the DAWN from NY when she was a new ship. We were so impressed with NCL and all the dining options. We got so spoiled that it was difficult to cruise on other lines with just one main dining room. We really enjoy the Asian restaurant most. Love the various décor in the different restaurants onboard. There are so many things we love on NCL.

 

We sailed Dawn a couple years ago from Boston to Bermuda and I plan on booking it again for next October. I am taking friends who have never cruised before. I will be so upset if these issues continue with NCL. We will be booking inside, outside, and balcony cabins. No suites for us.

 

My daughter recently cruised on Princess and was very disappointed. She is a TA and said that all the cruiselines are cutting back. New cruisers won't realize what we are talking about. I never complain if I get a bargain price on a cruise. Unfortunately, the Dawn is the only ship sailing to Bermuda from Boston so we don't have a choice. I just hope the Dawn has an update before next October.

 

Hope my cruise on GEM from NY in January is not a disappointment. Hubby won't cruise on RCCL anymore. Too many problems on our last cruise. Once we retire, we will take last minute cruises from Florida during our winter getaways.

 

Hello Leafpeeper. Hope you and your DH are doing well. We were on the Star Pac Coast cruise with you.

 

That was a fabulous trip with great weather.

[Barb Nahoumi]

Thanks for the info and details. Not familiar with any of the folks mentioned. When we were on the Dawn we had Capt. Bengsston (sp?) who was fantastic. Our butler - don't know his name - was poor.

 

I think that Captain Paul was on the Dawn in April of 2013. I wonder where he is now.

[RLM77]

In the eye of the beholder, I guess. We were on the same cruise, also in an SJ. For us, the cruise makes our top 3 list (out of 31 so far). I agree that the ship is showing some wear, but that is simply not enough to diminish our enjoyment.

 

We purchased the UDP and found the service very good to excellent across the specialty restaurants. We especially enjoyed the Cagney's and La Cucina experiences and left the ship with a number of email addresses from favorite servers. Our cabin steward was top notch, and Virginia (the Concierge) did everything necessary to help us feel special.

 

Best of all was the live music. Unlike NCL's newest ships, there really is "music everywhere" on Dawn. Usually very good music, too. Great show band, excellent pianist, and Jose and Patti who are in a class all their own -- part lounge singers, part mainstage entertainers. There were also a party band, separate pool band, guitarist, and jazz trio (from the show band). Not quite as good as the first acts I mentioned, but still very serviceable.

 

In the end, the large number of high quality options -- both food and entertainment -- along with very good service made the cruise. Cruisers have almost as many choices as on RCI's Oasis-class on a ship only 35% of the size. Given that kind of experience at a very reasonable price, how important is a little bit of wear and tear?

 

We will absolutely sail NCL's mid-sized ships again. Happily.

[NH Cruisers]

Hi Leafpeeper,

 

Actually, You will have a choice out of Boston next summer. HAL will be running some Bermuda cruises on the Veendam. You might want to look into that.

Veendam is 4 days right on Front Street too. Unfortunatly the Lanai stateroom, I want, cost the same as the SJ suite I booked on the DAWN. If I could have snagged a Lania on HAL for a few hundred less than what they are asking I may have gone that route myself. Just for a change of pace. I'd be on a cruise, it's all good.

[cruisinmeme]

Just got off dawn today. Will tell you we had a leak on the big window in suite

SJ. 12018

Had Carlos as cabin Stewart and gian. Both were great..

Noticed lots of cutbacks since last November.

[pizzalady1]

Noticed lots of cutbacks since last November.

 

Like what?

[Vicki'sMom]

We were on Dawn to Bermuda this past October (T.S. Fay delayed our arrival). Still, an awesome cruise with a wonderful crew! Captain was Teo Grbic - we have no complaints; we saw him often and enjoyed his warm and witty personality!

 

Dingo Dave? What a great CD!

 

And contrary to what I've read here, we found HD Alain Magnier to be very accessible and quite personable.

 

We were in an SF; the room was in good condition.

 

I just booked this cruise again for October 2015 - we're hoping to get 3 days in Bermuda this time! ;) Booked an SD.

 

:)

Edited December 1, 2014 by Vicki'sMom

[deliver42]

I've only sailed NCL once. The Norway, which wasn't new by any stretch. The maintenance on that ship was wonderful. I'm sorry you had such an experience on the Dawn. It really makes no difference what type of cabin you had, be it a suite or an inside cabin. There is NO excuse for what you had. The Dawn isn't that old, and even if it were, either fix the problems or get out of the cruising business, because if NCL keeps this up, they will lose repeaters like you.

[cruisinmeme]

Like what?

 

 

One of the things we really missed was the rib eye in one dinning room and New York strip in the other every night. Now have some cheaper cut I have never even heard of. Prime rib only one night rather than twice. Although there was a night with something similar to it one night. The lobster is gone as many has said.

We were in a suite. The flowers are gone. Fruit was old and useless.

Seemed to be less employees.

No chocolate buffet

This is just a few things. None of which effected us in a negative make it or break it way.

[pathubia]

We had flowers in our suite on the Dawn in May. In October we weren't in a suite, but we saw the butlers delivering flowers to the suites before we sailed.

[bosnatis]

We sailed in April and had a chocolate buffet, flowers and fresh fruit in our suite. We had a nice treat every afternoon. No complaints at all.

 

Sent from my SM-N900T using Forums mobile app

[pizzalady1]

One of the things we really missed was the rib eye in one dinning room and New York strip in the other every night. Now have some cheaper cut I have never even heard of. Prime rib only one night rather than twice. Although there was a night with something similar to it one night. The lobster is gone as many has said.

We were in a suite. The flowers are gone. Fruit was old and useless.

Seemed to be less employees.

No chocolate buffet

This is just a few things. None of which effected us in a negative make it or break it way.

 

Thanks. The only thing I will miss is the rib steak and NY strip in the MDRs. Since I like the one and my husband likes the other, we could always get what we each liked in which ever MDR we landed in.

[Cruzaholic41]

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.

 

I see not much has changed with the Dawn. One and done for me on that barge.

[Beaver1975]

I see not much has changed with the Dawn. One and done for me on that barge.

 

Thank you once again for your well thought out disdain of NCL.

[Aquahound]

We just got off the Dawn on the Bermuda and repo run for 21 days....I would agree about the negative comments about this ship.

 

As do I. My Dawn cruise was Dec 2012 and I had these same complaints. The upkeep was deplorable. In fact, that particular cruise on that particular ship was a dealbreaker for me for near future NCL cruises.

[Barb Nahoumi]

As do I. My Dawn cruise was Dec 2012 and I had these same complaints. The upkeep was deplorable. In fact, that particular cruise on that particular ship was a dealbreaker for me for near future NCL cruises.

 

Have you tried some of the newer ships? They're getting good reviews.

 

The Jewel class and "away" ships are worth a try.

[Aquahound]

Have you tried some of the newer ships? They're getting good reviews.

 

The Jewel class and "away" ships are worth a try.

 

I had Getaway booked for January, but had to cancel. To be honest, I wasn't too excited about it after my last NCL experience, but I'm sure I'll eventually get over it and give a new NCL ship a try.

 

Ref the Jewel Class....I'll probably never know. After cruising the Sky (twice) and Dawn, I forever swore any older NCL ship.

[cruisinmeme]

We sailed in April and had a chocolate buffet, flowers and fresh fruit in our suite. We had a nice treat every afternoon. No complaints at all.

 

Sent from my SM-N900T using Forums mobile app

 

We had fabulous snacks every day. Three platters of stuff.

Had fruit , it was just old.

Ask about the chocolate buffet and told no more.

Didn't ask about the flowers. Went to suite perks online and flowers no longer listed.

So apparently 6 months things can change.

[OceanDreaming2]

We had fabulous snacks every day. Three platters of stuff.

Had fruit , it was just old.

Ask about the chocolate buffet and told no more.

Didn't ask about the flowers. Went to suite perks online and flowers no longer listed.

So apparently 6 months things can change.

 

We had fresh flowers in our suite (11/7 Dawn sailing). After a week, we threw them out.

 

Snacks delivered late every afternoon. Usually after we'd gone to dinner. Since they sat out for hours, they got tossed too.

 

The first day we received 3 plates of chocolate strawberries. Too many all at once!

 

The negatives - salmon is no longer on the daily DR menus. Neither is steak. Or fettucini alfredo (that I can remember). Didn't see shrimp cocktail either.

 

Buffet selection is smaller.

 

Olives/antipasto is no longer served in LaCucina. Didn't see any olives/nuts, etc. on the buffet.

 

In the past, DH would ask for a piece of salmon in addition to the filet in LeBistro and it was served at no additional cost. Now they wanted an additional $10 for a piece of fish.

 

Chocolate buffet is down to an all chocolate desert menu.

 

Platinum perk of Godiva chocolates is down to 4 pcs.

 

Platinum perk of complimentary laundry is down to 1 bag per cruise per passenger.

 

Toiletries (if offered) are in smaller containers.

 

Gift shop had smaller selection.

 

Chapel is gone.