DAWN October 24th review

[sebas030]

This is my review of my cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn on October 24th 2014, this review will consist of my views, my opinions and my perception of things...hope you enjoy!

 

Intro :

 

I am a guy, 43 and this was my 6th cruise in just under 5 years. All my cruises have been with NCL, the 5 previous cruises were sailing from NYC. I always drive to the port from my hometown of Montreal. It was my girlfriends 4th cruise.

 

Day 1 :

 

Left Montreal early in the morning around 4:30am, cleared the customs and headed to South Deerfield to visit the Yankee Candle huge shop (it was a surprise for my GF who is a fanatic of those candles), we spent 2 hours there and then headed to our hotel in Revere. The drive was smooth even if we had really bad rain most of the time. We headed to bed early because we wanted to be in top shape for the cruise !

 

Day 2 :

 

Left Revere and drove to the Terminal, it took us about 25 minutes to get to the pier... Having sailed ONLY from NYC before, I kinda expected something easy and straight forward....Well I can't say it was not easy ( thanks Google map ! ) but it is not ridiculously easy like NYC.

 

Black Falcon Terminal :

 

We arrived at the terminal at around 9:30

Once we finally reached the terminal there was a line of about 30 or 40 cars waiting to pull over at the terminal. There is significant police presence and they direct traffic in an efficient way. We could only pull over at the very end of the terminal to drop-off luggage, opened the trunk, got the luggage out and there was NO porter to be found ( understood why later ). So I had to leave my girlfriend there with the luggage ( she did not enjoy that at all, but we had no choice ), I drove to the parking garage, got up the ramps, parked and walked back to my girlfriend at the terminal.

 

I asked an agent near a door of the building and he pointed where we had to go to check in luggage. So we walked all the way back to the building entry and waited for a porter to get our luggage ( that's when I understood that there are porters for those exiting the ship and porters for the pax arriving, they either do one OR the other ) we had to wait about 5 minutes to get a porter. Gave luggage and tip and headed up the escalator with a big smile on our face...we were on vacation !!!

 

At this hour there was absolutely NO wait to pass security and nobody in line for the check-in. I looked at the 2 possible lines : 1- regular and bronze/silver Latitude and 2- gold/platinum and suites. Being gold we engaged toward that line, but a nice little lady stepped out and blocked our way. She was smiling in a nice way and said "good morning", I replied and then she said " this line is only for suites and higher Latitude" she pointed to the regular line and said "you can go this way"....there was no way I was going to be mad or offended...I was on vacation !!!, but I did say "I am gold", she looked at me and asked to see my cruise ticket...a bigger smile showed up on her face, she changed the boarding number she was about to give us, moved to let us pass and wished us a great cruise. Check-in process took 5 minutes and we headed to the waiting area after the official sailaway photo !

 

Usually we get a copy of the Freestyle daily just before the picture and I enjoy reading it before we can board. But this time we only got 1 sheet of paper with some basic info for the day...

 

Got the the waiting area, since we had boarding number 1 we went all the way up near the ship's entrance. This section has some nicer chairs with padded seat ( ok it's not the suite waiting area...but still better than the regular chairs ), so we sat....NO we almost sat... An other nice old little lady intervened "sir you have to sit in the other section" pointing at the regular seats...still on vacation...so no worries. We sat in the other section and I wondered what that section was? Not for suites ( they are further down ), not for special needs either ( no place for a wheelchair or scooter or whatever )...so what, or WHO can sit there? There were about 4 or 5 pax in that section, I looked at them carefully...no nothing special, looked again...still nothing...

 

More people arrived and she asked for their boarding numbers and sent them to waiting areas accordingly to that magic number. She got back to the section she sent us and started to ask the other pax what their number was, they were 4-5 and she said there were in the right place. So I asked her "if I am number 1, am I in the right place?", she looked at me and said "you are number 1?", "yes mam", "can you show me your number?", "of course mam!"..."well you have to sit in the first section!"......."the one you told us we couldn't just 5 minutes ago?" ( not getting out of the vacation mode, but there is a limit..no? ). So we headed to the first section and were informed that some refreshments would be available to us in a few minutes.

 

We boarded shortly and headed to Bamboo to leave our carry-on and get our UBP sticker. There were 4 people in front of us and were there to buy their soda package. We formed 1 line for the 2 ladies who were there to help so we went to the first one available. Within 2 minutes there were about 10 pax behind us but we were next in line :) , UNTIL this guy who arrived from the right and just leaned on the counter and started to talk with the lady as she finished with the pax in front of us. My girlfriend looked at me and said "did he just cut in front of us?"...well I believe he did ( remember...still in vacation mode ), the lady on the left finished with her customer and we got to the counter. Asked her for the package, as she was filling the papers the guy on the right was complaining about the service and how long it was taking just to get his sticker...REALLY ??? are you kidding me??? you just cut in front of 10 people and it's not fast enough for you??? Well we got our stickers and headed to a bar to get our welcome aboard bubbly !

I think Ncl could install ropes to form an official line and make sure everyone is happy!

 

Enjoyed 2 drinks, had lunch at the buffet ( only the sandwiches were good ) and went to see if our room was ready. It was and we had letters and invitations on the bed waiting for us...if I knew we were given access to Cagney's for breakfast and lunch we would have gone...but don't worry, we enjoyed it for the rest of the week.

 

Went to the bathroom and washed my hands....You might wonder "why would he tell us that?"...well just because we didn't have hot water in our stateroom. I tried adjusting it one way and the other, opened the shower, pushed on the little button to turn the knob even further for hotter water...nothing...barely lukewarm...there were big air bubbles coming out from the sink faucet...remember this is my 6th cruise with Ncl, I know how to use the shower and faucet...

 

We headed to the guest service desk in the Atrium and spoke with someone. I gave him my room number and told him we didn't have hot water. He asked if I tried to adjust it, of course I did and I even tried the shower...nothing. He then told me I had to get back to my room and dial "0" to have someone to fix the problem...Well I am here and I have to go back up, call back down and ask for the repair ? I am already here ! I don't understand!?!, he asked for my room number again and punched it in his computer...took a second and told me everything is alright and he will take care of this problem for us... Thank you !

 

We then went to the muster drill ( fast and easy like usual ) and walked around the ship until sailaway. We had the privilege to be invited by some very very nice people in their beautiful DOS for the sailaway. The weather was not on our side but it was amazing to sit at the very front of the ship with nice people and family/friends and listen to great story about there time in the navy and the time they owned a boat and all of their knowledge about the Boston area ( all that with glasses of wine of course ). If you read this review...THANK YOU AGAIN !!!

 

 

Got back to our stateroom, guess what I did first...yep, used the bathroom...plenty of hot water now. :)

Since I was the group leader for our M&G, I had prepared an invitation letter and name tags that I delivered to all the staterooms I had the number ( 46 stateroom ), so I visited the ship from aft to bow and from deck 4 to deck 12.

 

 

Day 3 :

 

Actually day 2 of the cruise and first sea day. We enjoyed breakfast at Cagney's ( this was the only time my poached eggs were PERFECT ). Every time we go to a breakfast restaurant here in Montreal, my girlfriend says " one day I will try a steak and egg"...well she tried it ALL week long...every morning but one ( and she regretted it ).

 

Meet&Greet :

 

We headed to the Star bar at 10:30 to prepare for the M&G, Ncl already had name tags available, pens, a "check-in" list and a bunch of those cards with all the numbers to reach the officers on the ship. The group event coordinator was not available because she was in training. So Virginia, our concierge, introduced herself to us. People started to arrive with their name tags on and everyone was smiling, I had the chance to speak with very nice people and say hello to a great bunch of people. At 11am sharp Virginia asked if they could start with the officers ( at that time about 60% of the people had arrived ) of course I gave the OK to start...I didn't want to have all the officers wait for us...

 

Alain Magnier, the Hotel Director, introduced himself and all of the officers including the Captain. Alain said it was one of the biggest group they had ( we were around 90 to actually show-up ). Alain and Dingo Dave stayed until we didn't have any more questions for them, both were very available for us. Thank you NCL for all you provided and to make these events possible. Thank you Margi for the slot pull after the M&G, WOW 90 minutes of fun in the casino !!! Lost everything...but everyone seemed to have had a great time. Thank you also Jane for the little gifts and the draw during the M&G.

Alain Magnier was great with us all week, he knew our names from that moment and reached to us every time we saw him on the ship. He treated us to chocolate plates and cheese plate in our room and he invited us to one specialty restaurant of our choice with a bottle of wine of our choice. Virginia was also great with us all week and came to see us every day at Cagney's and ask he everything was perfect. She even help organize a meeting with 2 great guys who missed the M&G because of the time change we had on the first night of the cruise and still wanted to meet with us. I am glad she did, it was a pleasure to meet you both !

 

 

Rest of the week :

 

To resume the week, breakfast and lunch in Cagney's is a great perk, 2 of the staff knew us by name by the second day. Is the food perfect ?, well...no...the potatoes they have with almost all the plates could be hotter or even warmer, the poached eggs were perfect only one day...when the yoke doesn't run that's a hard boiled egg...not a poached egg. BUT don't get me wrong...I want to cruise like that from now on !

 

We headed to the buffet for dinner most night after they had closed half of the buffet...and let's be honest the half that stayed open was....fair at best. We found 3 dishes to be really good, the rest was fair to poor. But it was ok since we were full from our lunch and/or wanted to leave place for the breakfast ;)

 

If you want martinis, go to Gatsby's as they serve the best ones and have a long list of choices. Staff at Gatsby's was great with us also and they also knew us by names on the second day. We spent most evening there sipping away martini's and enjoying the night with new friends. Pedro, the entertainer, I wouldn't say he is the best I have seen...he is good but very very limited on his choice of music ( the play list has to be approved by Ncl and they approved an "older" crowd type of list ), even if we were a younger crowed and everyone was requesting more recent or more "rock" type of music, he would play 10 or 15 seconds of it and say "I don't know this tune" and moved on to something approved by Ncl....Wake up Ncl ! give them a little slack to perform for the type of crowd they have. It was his first contract on a ship and he was still debating if he was loving it or hating it.

 

We didn't assist to any shows in the theater, nothing really appealed to us on that cruise.

We liked the ambiance at The Pearly Kings Pub, but it is somewhat of an "overflow" zone for the Spinnaker next door. When there was an event at the Spinnaker, maybe 30 minutes before, the Pub would be full of people waiting to get to the Spinnaker...so no more seats and only half of the people were actually having a drink...during our cruise we went in and out of there about 10 times without being able to sit and get a drink. First day at sea on our way back from Bermuda was the worst for bars...they had Martini tasting, beer tasting, meetings, etc... everything was full everywhere...

Same thing for Gatsby's, it becomes the waiting area for La Cucina and Le Bistro every night. At peak hour for the restaurants, good luck for finding a place for the bar... It becomes a "problem" when it is cold or rainy outside and the outside bars are closed or just too cold to sit outside and everyone is confined inside.

 

Our room steward was good, I will not say great. Our room was done mid afternoon every day ( I never experienced that before...and yes I left a tip in cash everyday on the bed...). One night we ordered a 5$ pizza from the room service, we got it about 30 minutes later...that's ok...but no plates, no knife, no fork...so I had to go to the buffet and get everything we needed...why call for room service if you have to go the buffet anyway ?...the pizza was not that good either...not amazing like I have read many times on CC...anyways that's beside the point I was talking about, so we got our pizza and pulled the little table from under the desk/shelf in the corner....SURPRISE !!!... trash and papers from previous cruises...papers from the Canada itinerary ( 3 or 4 weeks before us... that's what I mean by NOT great ).

 

I can honestly say that the Dawn is due for a refurbish...So many things not working correctly on the ship, it goes from entire sets of lights on the "palm trees" around the pool at night, to non working buttons in many elevators, broken indicator on top of an elevator door, a blue line about 1/4 inch wide on our t.v., a few ( at least 4 ) public toilet ( not the entire washroom, but actual stalls ) that were unavailable with either tape on the door ar a sign on it, most of the chairs in Gatsby's were missing their metal caps on the armrest, etc... it doesn't make for a bad cruise at all, I am just saying the Dawn is not in top shape...she is showing her age.

 

Just before we sailed away from Bermuda, we were sitting in Gatsby's...yes again...and I saw Alain Magnier in his marine suit and 2 other guys with Ncl polo shirt. The guy in front was looking familiar....He was...Mr.Kevin Sheehan in person !!! Obviously he noticed I was looking at him as he walked pass me, he looked at me and said "hello" so I said "good afternoon sir"...they visited La Cucina for 2 minutes, got out and went in Le Bistro...maybe he was visiting to confirm the ship is in need of a major refurbish !?!

 

When we talked with one of our server later that night she confirmed he was on the ship and met with most of them during the day. He didn't sailed with us as he stayed in Bermuda when we left.

 

 

Last day :

 

Not being an American citizen I knew we would have to go through immigration on the ship before we could leave. Compared to NYC, you just exit the ship and go through customs and immigration in the terminal after you pick-up your luggage. So we were told in a letter to get to Aqua no later then 7:30am. We went down at 7:05am and the line was already all the way up to Gatsby's and about 10 minutes later it was all the way to the casino. They started to let us in Aqua at that time, we were given a number and we could sit and wait. Process started at 7:35, I was group #5 and we finished with the process around 8:10. We went to our room, got our luggage and went down to the line for easy walk-off. ( we were given priority disembarkation but it said it did not applied to NON US citizen...but later I saw a few pax in the priority line that were not US citizen...I knew because we had talked to them before and they had a different color passport also ). The line started to move around 8:30 and we left the parking garage at 9:35.

 

I know there are many threads about why one would rush off the ship and so on...well I guess everyone has their own reasons, but for me this time it was for my kids...it was October 31st and we had a 5:30h trip back home before I could pick-up the kids, have dinner, change into costumes and go trick or treat !

 

 

The final words :

 

I had my doubts about sailing this late in the season and I was right for the most part of it. The first and last sea days were to cold and windy to be out on the decks and that forced everyone to be inside, so it felt crowed.

Weather in Bermuda was SPLENDID, sunny and hot but not too hot and much less humidity....PERFECT !

 

The ship is due for important repairs and maintenance.

I didn't enjoy the immigration process on the ship, whether you wish to leave the ship early or not you still have to be very early in line to the immigration process.

 

Cagney's, Virginia, Alain Magnier and the staff in Cagney's and Gatsby's made our cruise a great one. If it wasn't for them and the perks...we would have had a somewhat good cruise ( except for the great people of CC we met on the ship ), the weather coming and going, the condition of the ship and the entertainment would not push me to book an other Dawn cruise a.s.a.p. Not saying I will not cruise on her again...just not in that time of the year...but that was my decision.

 

Or I will sail south on the repo cruise...I sailed south from NYC in February and already on the second day it was hot enough to sunbath on the decks...not when going to Bermuda.

 

Already looking at the next one ( isn't it the remedy for post cruise depression ? ), looking at the Caribbean's again...but this time we might fly to Florida for it...I think it will be a last minute thing, if the price is great a week in advance, we just might do it :)

 

Hope I didn't bore you all to sleep !

 

T'ill the next one !

[asand5554]

Great review, Sebastian. It was nice meeting you. NCL does treat you right when you organize the M & G. The first time I organized one, I couldn't figure out why were were given VIP status, but it was appreciated since that sailing had a few tender ports - having priority status was a bonus.

We saw mr. Sheehan onboard as well (by the pool). Recognized him immediately from Undercover Boss.

Margi

[rkeate0804]

Thank you for the nice review......:cool:

[mariawinnell]

Great review

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[meatball_nyc]

Thanks for the nice review, Sebas.

When Hurricane Gonzalo hit Bermuda the week before your cruise no one was sure what would happen. Glad to see the island was open for business a few days later (amazing to me still).

What, if any, damage did you see there? Was the Dockyard in good repair (it looked fine from the webcam)?

We do not like sailing in the cold weather from NYC, which is why we go in the summer (I don't/won't get on airplanes any longer).

Thanks again for the review and taking the time out to share.

Hope you had a nice time trick or treating with the kids on Halloween :)

Cheers!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

2014 July Breakaway

[Robert Peel]

Enjoyed reading your review, sailing on the Dawn in February and hoping many of your observations will have been corrected.

[biker@sea]

Very good review !

We were in Bermuda a couple weeks before you [ the week of hurricane Fay] , The island was a mess at that time .

[omajo]

Thanks for the great review. We have sailed the Dawn to Bermuda many times, last one was in June. Did you have access to Cagney's because of gold status? I'm one cruise away from silver and never knew we could use Cagneys for breakfast and lunch.

[sebas030]

Thanks for the great review. We have sailed the Dawn to Bermuda many times, last one was in June. Did you have access to Cagney's because of gold status? I'm one cruise away from silver and never knew we could use Cagneys for breakfast and lunch.

 

 

You get access to Cagney's when you are in a suite or a VIP, we were fortunate enough to be VIP's on this sailing :) :)

 

It is not related to Latitudes...

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[david_sobe]

Welcome home and thanks for the review. I had the pleasure of Virginia being the concierge on Sky in 2010. She is the best ever!

Lots of Dawn reviews this week saying similar things about how desperate it needs repairs in many areas. She is an older ship. Hopefully NCL is listening.

[JCMass.]

This is my review of my cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn on October 24th 2014, this review will consist of my views, my opinions and my perception of things...hope you enjoy!

 

Intro :

 

I am a guy, 43 and this was my 6th cruise in just under 5 years. All my cruises have been with NCL, the 5 previous cruises were sailing from NYC. I always drive to the port from my hometown of Montreal. It was my girlfriends 4th cruise.

 

Day 1 :

 

Left Montreal early in the morning around 4:30am, cleared the customs and headed to South Deerfield to visit the Yankee Candle huge shop (it was a surprise for my GF who is a fanatic of those candles), we spent 2 hours there and then headed to our hotel in Revere. The drive was smooth even if we had really bad rain most of the time. We headed to bed early because we wanted to be in top shape for the cruise !

 

Day 2 :

 

Left Revere and drove to the Terminal, it took us about 25 minutes to get to the pier... Having sailed ONLY from NYC before, I kinda expected something easy and straight forward....Well I can't say it was not easy ( thanks Google map ! ) but it is not ridiculously easy like NYC.

 

Black Falcon Terminal :

 

We arrived at the terminal at around 9:30

Once we finally reached the terminal there was a line of about 30 or 40 cars waiting to pull over at the terminal. There is significant police presence and they direct traffic in an efficient way. We could only pull over at the very end of the terminal to drop-off luggage, opened the trunk, got the luggage out and there was NO porter to be found ( understood why later ). So I had to leave my girlfriend there with the luggage ( she did not enjoy that at all, but we had no choice ), I drove to the parking garage, got up the ramps, parked and walked back to my girlfriend at the terminal.

 

I asked an agent near a door of the building and he pointed where we had to go to check in luggage. So we walked all the way back to the building entry and waited for a porter to get our luggage ( that's when I understood that there are porters for those exiting the ship and porters for the pax arriving, they either do one OR the other ) we had to wait about 5 minutes to get a porter. Gave luggage and tip and headed up the escalator with a big smile on our face...we were on vacation !!!

 

At this hour there was absolutely NO wait to pass security and nobody in line for the check-in. I looked at the 2 possible lines : 1- regular and bronze/silver Latitude and 2- gold/platinum and suites. Being gold we engaged toward that line, but a nice little lady stepped out and blocked our way. She was smiling in a nice way and said "good morning", I replied and then she said " this line is only for suites and higher Latitude" she pointed to the regular line and said "you can go this way"....there was no way I was going to be mad or offended...I was on vacation !!!, but I did say "I am gold", she looked at me and asked to see my cruise ticket...a bigger smile showed up on her face, she changed the boarding number she was about to give us, moved to let us pass and wished us a great cruise. Check-in process took 5 minutes and we headed to the waiting area after the official sailaway photo !

 

Usually we get a copy of the Freestyle daily just before the picture and I enjoy reading it before we can board. But this time we only got 1 sheet of paper with some basic info for the day...

 

Got the the waiting area, since we had boarding number 1 we went all the way up near the ship's entrance. This section has some nicer chairs with padded seat ( ok it's not the suite waiting area...but still better than the regular chairs ), so we sat....NO we almost sat... An other nice old little lady intervened "sir you have to sit in the other section" pointing at the regular seats...still on vacation...so no worries. We sat in the other section and I wondered what that section was? Not for suites ( they are further down ), not for special needs either ( no place for a wheelchair or scooter or whatever )...so what, or WHO can sit there? There were about 4 or 5 pax in that section, I looked at them carefully...no nothing special, looked again...still nothing...

 

More people arrived and she asked for their boarding numbers and sent them to waiting areas accordingly to that magic number. She got back to the section she sent us and started to ask the other pax what their number was, they were 4-5 and she said there were in the right place. So I asked her "if I am number 1, am I in the right place?", she looked at me and said "you are number 1?", "yes mam", "can you show me your number?", "of course mam!"..."well you have to sit in the first section!"......."the one you told us we couldn't just 5 minutes ago?" ( not getting out of the vacation mode, but there is a limit..no? ). So we headed to the first section and were informed that some refreshments would be available to us in a few minutes.

 

We boarded shortly and headed to Bamboo to leave our carry-on and get our UBP sticker. There were 4 people in front of us and were there to buy their soda package. We formed 1 line for the 2 ladies who were there to help so we went to the first one available. Within 2 minutes there were about 10 pax behind us but we were next in line :) , UNTIL this guy who arrived from the right and just leaned on the counter and started to talk with the lady as she finished with the pax in front of us. My girlfriend looked at me and said "did he just cut in front of us?"...well I believe he did ( remember...still in vacation mode ), the lady on the left finished with her customer and we got to the counter. Asked her for the package, as she was filling the papers the guy on the right was complaining about the service and how long it was taking just to get his sticker...REALLY ??? are you kidding me??? you just cut in front of 10 people and it's not fast enough for you??? Well we got our stickers and headed to a bar to get our welcome aboard bubbly !

I think Ncl could install ropes to form an official line and make sure everyone is happy!

 

Enjoyed 2 drinks, had lunch at the buffet ( only the sandwiches were good ) and went to see if our room was ready. It was and we had letters and invitations on the bed waiting for us...if I knew we were given access to Cagney's for breakfast and lunch we would have gone...but don't worry, we enjoyed it for the rest of the week.

 

Went to the bathroom and washed my hands....You might wonder "why would he tell us that?"...well just because we didn't have hot water in our stateroom. I tried adjusting it one way and the other, opened the shower, pushed on the little button to turn the knob even further for hotter water...nothing...barely lukewarm...there were big air bubbles coming out from the sink faucet...remember this is my 6th cruise with Ncl, I know how to use the shower and faucet...

 

We headed to the guest service desk in the Atrium and spoke with someone. I gave him my room number and told him we didn't have hot water. He asked if I tried to adjust it, of course I did and I even tried the shower...nothing. He then told me I had to get back to my room and dial "0" to have someone to fix the problem...Well I am here and I have to go back up, call back down and ask for the repair ? I am already here ! I don't understand!?!, he asked for my room number again and punched it in his computer...took a second and told me everything is alright and he will take care of this problem for us... Thank you !

 

We then went to the muster drill ( fast and easy like usual ) and walked around the ship until sailaway. We had the privilege to be invited by some very very nice people in their beautiful DOS for the sailaway. The weather was not on our side but it was amazing to sit at the very front of the ship with nice people and family/friends and listen to great story about there time in the navy and the time they owned a boat and all of their knowledge about the Boston area ( all that with glasses of wine of course ). If you read this review...THANK YOU AGAIN !!!

 

 

Got back to our stateroom, guess what I did first...yep, used the bathroom...plenty of hot water now. :)

Since I was the group leader for our M&G, I had prepared an invitation letter and name tags that I delivered to all the staterooms I had the number ( 46 stateroom ), so I visited the ship from aft to bow and from deck 4 to deck 12.

 

 

Day 3 :

 

Actually day 2 of the cruise and first sea day. We enjoyed breakfast at Cagney's ( this was the only time my poached eggs were PERFECT ). Every time we go to a breakfast restaurant here in Montreal, my girlfriend says " one day I will try a steak and egg"...well she tried it ALL week long...every morning but one ( and she regretted it ).

 

Meet&Greet :

 

We headed to the Star bar at 10:30 to prepare for the M&G, Ncl already had name tags available, pens, a "check-in" list and a bunch of those cards with all the numbers to reach the officers on the ship. The group event coordinator was not available because she was in training. So Virginia, our concierge, introduced herself to us. People started to arrive with their name tags on and everyone was smiling, I had the chance to speak with very nice people and say hello to a great bunch of people. At 11am sharp Virginia asked if they could start with the officers ( at that time about 60% of the people had arrived ) of course I gave the OK to start...I didn't want to have all the officers wait for us...

 

Alain Magnier, the Hotel Director, introduced himself and all of the officers including the Captain. Alain said it was one of the biggest group they had ( we were around 90 to actually show-up ). Alain and Dingo Dave stayed until we didn't have any more questions for them, both were very available for us. Thank you NCL for all you provided and to make these events possible. Thank you Margi for the slot pull after the M&G, WOW 90 minutes of fun in the casino !!! Lost everything...but everyone seemed to have had a great time. Thank you also Jane for the little gifts and the draw during the M&G.

Alain Magnier was great with us all week, he knew our names from that moment and reached to us every time we saw him on the ship. He treated us to chocolate plates and cheese plate in our room and he invited us to one specialty restaurant of our choice with a bottle of wine of our choice. Virginia was also great with us all week and came to see us every day at Cagney's and ask he everything was perfect. She even help organize a meeting with 2 great guys who missed the M&G because of the time change we had on the first night of the cruise and still wanted to meet with us. I am glad she did, it was a pleasure to meet you both !

 

 

Rest of the week :

 

To resume the week, breakfast and lunch in Cagney's is a great perk, 2 of the staff knew us by name by the second day. Is the food perfect ?, well...no...the potatoes they have with almost all the plates could be hotter or even warmer, the poached eggs were perfect only one day...when the yoke doesn't run that's a hard boiled egg...not a poached egg. BUT don't get me wrong...I want to cruise like that from now on !

 

We headed to the buffet for dinner most night after they had closed half of the buffet...and let's be honest the half that stayed open was....fair at best. We found 3 dishes to be really good, the rest was fair to poor. But it was ok since we were full from our lunch and/or wanted to leave place for the breakfast ;)

 

If you want martinis, go to Gatsby's as they serve the best ones and have a long list of choices. Staff at Gatsby's was great with us also and they also knew us by names on the second day. We spent most evening there sipping away martini's and enjoying the night with new friends. Pedro, the entertainer, I wouldn't say he is the best I have seen...he is good but very very limited on his choice of music ( the play list has to be approved by Ncl and they approved an "older" crowd type of list ), even if we were a younger crowed and everyone was requesting more recent or more "rock" type of music, he would play 10 or 15 seconds of it and say "I don't know this tune" and moved on to something approved by Ncl....Wake up Ncl ! give them a little slack to perform for the type of crowd they have. It was his first contract on a ship and he was still debating if he was loving it or hating it.

 

We didn't assist to any shows in the theater, nothing really appealed to us on that cruise.

We liked the ambiance at The Pearly Kings Pub, but it is somewhat of an "overflow" zone for the Spinnaker next door. When there was an event at the Spinnaker, maybe 30 minutes before, the Pub would be full of people waiting to get to the Spinnaker...so no more seats and only half of the people were actually having a drink...during our cruise we went in and out of there about 10 times without being able to sit and get a drink. First day at sea on our way back from Bermuda was the worst for bars...they had Martini tasting, beer tasting, meetings, etc... everything was full everywhere...

Same thing for Gatsby's, it becomes the waiting area for La Cucina and Le Bistro every night. At peak hour for the restaurants, good luck for finding a place for the bar... It becomes a "problem" when it is cold or rainy outside and the outside bars are closed or just too cold to sit outside and everyone is confined inside.

 

Our room steward was good, I will not say great. Our room was done mid afternoon every day ( I never experienced that before...and yes I left a tip in cash everyday on the bed...). One night we ordered a 5$ pizza from the room service, we got it about 30 minutes later...that's ok...but no plates, no knife, no fork...so I had to go to the buffet and get everything we needed...why call for room service if you have to go the buffet anyway ?...the pizza was not that good either...not amazing like I have read many times on CC...anyways that's beside the point I was talking about, so we got our pizza and pulled the little table from under the desk/shelf in the corner....SURPRISE !!!... trash and papers from previous cruises...papers from the Canada itinerary ( 3 or 4 weeks before us... that's what I mean by NOT great ).

 

I can honestly say that the Dawn is due for a refurbish...So many things not working correctly on the ship, it goes from entire sets of lights on the "palm trees" around the pool at night, to non working buttons in many elevators, broken indicator on top of an elevator door, a blue line about 1/4 inch wide on our t.v., a few ( at least 4 ) public toilet ( not the entire washroom, but actual stalls ) that were unavailable with either tape on the door ar a sign on it, most of the chairs in Gatsby's were missing their metal caps on the armrest, etc... it doesn't make for a bad cruise at all, I am just saying the Dawn is not in top shape...she is showing her age.

 

Just before we sailed away from Bermuda, we were sitting in Gatsby's...yes again...and I saw Alain Magnier in his marine suit and 2 other guys with Ncl polo shirt. The guy in front was looking familiar....He was...Mr.Kevin Sheehan in person !!! Obviously he noticed I was looking at him as he walked pass me, he looked at me and said "hello" so I said "good afternoon sir"...they visited La Cucina for 2 minutes, got out and went in Le Bistro...maybe he was visiting to confirm the ship is in need of a major refurbish !?!

 

When we talked with one of our server later that night she confirmed he was on the ship and met with most of them during the day. He didn't sailed with us as he stayed in Bermuda when we left.

 

 

Last day :

 

Not being an American citizen I knew we would have to go through immigration on the ship before we could leave. Compared to NYC, you just exit the ship and go through customs and immigration in the terminal after you pick-up your luggage. So we were told in a letter to get to Aqua no later then 7:30am. We went down at 7:05am and the line was already all the way up to Gatsby's and about 10 minutes later it was all the way to the casino. They started to let us in Aqua at that time, we were given a number and we could sit and wait. Process started at 7:35, I was group #5 and we finished with the process around 8:10. We went to our room, got our luggage and went down to the line for easy walk-off. ( we were given priority disembarkation but it said it did not applied to NON US citizen...but later I saw a few pax in the priority line that were not US citizen...I knew because we had talked to them before and they had a different color passport also ). The line started to move around 8:30 and we left the parking garage at 9:35.

 

I know there are many threads about why one would rush off the ship and so on...well I guess everyone has their own reasons, but for me this time it was for my kids...it was October 31st and we had a 5:30h trip back home before I could pick-up the kids, have dinner, change into costumes and go trick or treat !

 

 

The final words :

 

I had my doubts about sailing this late in the season and I was right for the most part of it. The first and last sea days were to cold and windy to be out on the decks and that forced everyone to be inside, so it felt crowed.

Weather in Bermuda was SPLENDID, sunny and hot but not too hot and much less humidity....PERFECT !

 

The ship is due for important repairs and maintenance.

I didn't enjoy the immigration process on the ship, whether you wish to leave the ship early or not you still have to be very early in line to the immigration process.

 

Cagney's, Virginia, Alain Magnier and the staff in Cagney's and Gatsby's made our cruise a great one. If it wasn't for them and the perks...we would have had a somewhat good cruise ( except for the great people of CC we met on the ship ), the weather coming and going, the condition of the ship and the entertainment would not push me to book an other Dawn cruise a.s.a.p. Not saying I will not cruise on her again...just not in that time of the year...but that was my decision.

 

Or I will sail south on the repo cruise...I sailed south from NYC in February and already on the second day it was hot enough to sunbath on the decks...not when going to Bermuda.

 

Already looking at the next one ( isn't it the remedy for post cruise depression ? ), looking at the Caribbean's again...but this time we might fly to Florida for it...I think it will be a last minute thing, if the price is great a week in advance, we just might do it :)

 

Hope I didn't bore you all to sleep !

 

T'ill the next one !

 

Very comprehensive review of a great cruise. It was nice meeting you and your girlfriend. Thanks for all your work organizing the Meet and Greet, and all the pre-cruise information on Cruise Critic. It passed the time, made it more fun as we waited for the cruise, and helped us all get organized. Your efforts showed with the large turnout too, you were a very good leader. I was glad to hear NCL gave you some perks!! You deserved it.

 

Jane and Rich

[sebas030]

Very comprehensive review of a great cruise. It was nice meeting you and your girlfriend. Thanks for all your work organizing the Meet and Greet, and all the pre-cruise information on Cruise Critic. It passed the time, made it more fun as we waited for the cruise, and helped us all get organized. Your efforts showed with the large turnout too, you were a very good leader. I was glad to hear NCL gave you some perks!! You deserved it.

 

Jane and Rich

 

Thank you :o !

 

It was great meeting you and Rich also :)

[sebas030]

Thanks for the nice review, Sebas.

When Hurricane Gonzalo hit Bermuda the week before your cruise no one was sure what would happen. Glad to see the island was open for business a few days later (amazing to me still).

What, if any, damage did you see there? Was the Dockyard in good repair (it looked fine from the webcam)?

We do not like sailing in the cold weather from NYC, which is why we go in the summer (I don't/won't get on airplanes any longer).

Thanks again for the review and taking the time out to share.

Hope you had a nice time trick or treating with the kids on Halloween :)

Cheers!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

2014 July Breakaway

 

Hi Robin,

 

Here is a copy of something I posted on the Bermuda board and I will add some also :

 

"I was amazed by how few homes were actually damaged, yes I know they are build to specs to withstand hurricanes, but Gonzalo was a strong one

 

One thing did strike me...the quantity of trees down , and I mean huge trees 60 to 80 years old ( per locals we had the chance to chat with ) and so many "forest" ( they call it forest but it is more like the size of half a football field ) that are completely down... and the brown color of a large part of the bushes and the grass ( they say it's not dead and will recover shortly )...

 

It will take many years for those forest to grow back....

 

The Somers Garden in St-George's was closed and so many trees were down this garden is usually so beautiful...

 

 

We were very lucky to sail to Bermuda and we wish all the residents all the best..."

 

The tourism industry is such a small portion of the economy of the Island, I don't think they "fixed" the Island for the cruisers...they did it for themselves and that is absolutely comprehensible.

 

There was damage to a section of the painted wall ( you know the one with the ships painting on it ) in the Dockyard. They will have to take down a larger section of the wall because many houses behind that wall were damaged and will need major repairs.

 

Very few roofs were actually damaged...

 

Still many boats were sitting at the bottom of the ocean at that time.

 

The green color of all the bushes and trees will come back soon, but the point that saddens me the most is all the mature trees that were downed... it will take long long long to get all the vegetation in top shape. The landscape is changed for many years...

 

Still beautiful, but not the same...

[morry2121]

Yes, Sebas, there were many downed trees. We golfed at Port Royal and there were several huge trees uprooted but the course in general was in great shape considering what it had been through (twice). Wonder what happened to Va. Plumber, he started a review, did I miss the ending or did he just get busy?

[sebas030]

Yes, Sebas, there were many downed trees. We golfed at Port Royal and there were several huge trees uprooted but the course in general was in great shape considering what it had been through (twice). Wonder what happened to Va. Plumber, he started a review, did I miss the ending or did he just get busy?

 

Hi,

 

It's right here :

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44660938&postcount=1

 

 

.

[morry2121]

Hi,

 

It's right here :

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=44660938&postcount=1

 

 

.

 

 

It's not finished, that's why I'm wondering....Joe...where are you? lol

[sebas030]

It's not finished, that's why I'm wondering....Joe...where are you? lol

 

 

Oupsss...my bad :(

 

Ya, Joe what are your last thoughts ??

 

 

.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Cruise Critic Forums mobile app

[meatball_nyc]

Thanks for the info on the damages. Very sad about all the old trees and the dockyard wall :(

Guess we just have to say it could have been a lot worse.

Many neighborhoods here in New York and New Jersey are still rebuilding two years after Hurricane Sandy.

We will still be going back to Bermuda next summer.

Safe Holidays!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

[sebas030]

Thanks for the info on the damages. Very sad about all the old trees and the dockyard wall :(

Guess we just have to say it could have been a lot worse.

Many neighborhoods here in New York and New Jersey are still rebuilding two years after Hurricane Sandy.

We will still be going back to Bermuda next summer.

Safe Holidays!

 

 

~Robin

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

 

Thanks,

 

Safe Holidays to you too !!

 

Hope to sail with you some day ! :)

 

 

Talk to you soon !

 

 

.

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your nice review.

[Leafpeeper]

Welcome home and thanks for the review. I had the pleasure of Virginia being the concierge on Sky in 2010. She is the best ever!

Lots of Dawn reviews this week saying similar things about how desperate it needs repairs in many areas. She is an older ship. Hopefully NCL is listening.

 

Remember sailing on the Dawn when she was a new ship and NCL had just begun year round sailing from NYC. We were so impressed with this ship. Hard to believe she is considered an OLD ship now. Time flies. I was so impressed with the pool area on Dawn. I love the light fixtures and tiers of seating. I just wish NCL had an outdoor poolside movie screen like Carnival & Princess. Dawn has a perfect setup for an outdoor theater.

 

What really impressed us on the Dawn was all the restaurants. So different from standard cruiseships with one main dining room. We love casual dress and anytime dining.

 

Hope the Dawn is put in dry dock before we book our Fall cruise in 2015.

Edited November 29, 2014 by Leafpeeper

[Barb Nahoumi]

Welcome home and thanks for the review. I had the pleasure of Virginia being the concierge on Sky in 2010. She is the best ever!

Lots of Dawn reviews this week saying similar things about how desperate it needs repairs in many areas. She is an older ship. Hopefully NCL is listening.

 

Maybe that is the reason for Kevin Sheehan's visit.

[radzer0]

Enjoyed reading your review, sailing on the Dawn in February and hoping many of your observations will have been corrected.

 

I just got off the dawn and it appears many of the issues on this boat cannot be fixed without drydock. I see it a bit worse than the OP but I do agree this boat REALLY needs to be pulled and overhauled. At one point during one of the shows a large portion of the front of the boat filled with smoke. I also noticed that the air didnt work very well in the stardust and some areas of the ship were just plain hot. Like the hallway air didnt work at all in those areas. Maybe this is part of why some areas of the boat were always having soaked carpet.

[radzer0]

Remember sailing on the Dawn when she was a new ship and NCL had just begun year round sailing from NYC. We were so impressed with this ship. Hard to believe she is considered an OLD ship now. Time flies. I was so impressed with the pool area on Dawn. I love the light fixtures and tiers of seating. I just wish NCL had an outdoor poolside movie screen like Carnival & Princess. Dawn has a perfect setup for an outdoor theater.

 

What really impressed us on the Dawn was all the restaurants. So different from standard cruiseships with one main dining room. We love casual dress and anytime dining.

 

Hope the Dawn is put in dry dock before we book our Fall cruise in 2015.

 

Currently there is no plans for the dawn to go into drydock thru the current schedule that ends in 2016. I asked a few officers on the boat and they dont seem to believe that it needs it.