HONEST REVIEW of NCL Dawn from Boston to Quebec City, 9/11-9/18/15

[pokerpro5]

WHO I AM: I took a cruise from Boston to Quebec City on the Norwegian Dawn from September 11-18, 2015. We had three passengers total -- two adults plus a 5-year-old boy. I am somewhat of a tough customer. I'm not an NCL cheerleader or one who automatically loves everything. At the same time, I'm fair with my expectations. I think you will find this review to be detailed, honest, and reasonable.

 

 

OUR ROOMS: I'm a Caesar's Seven Stars member, so I am entitled to a balcony room, for the cost of port taxes & NCF (about $350 per person). I always found it cramped to have 3 people in the room (even if one is a young child), so I wanted a second room. Fortunately, my wife separately had a casino certificate, so she used that to get an inside cabin right across from mine. Anyway, we had 2 rooms for 3 people, which was actually quite useful in case someone wanted to take a nap or stay up late. It was also nice to have extra storage space.

 

 

PRE-CRUISE: We did not have time to see Boston, as my wife had work commitments and my son was already missing a few days of school for this trip. We flew in late the night before, and stayed at the Holiday Inn Express Boston. This was a tough night to get a room, as the New England Patriots were playing a home game, so the prices everywhere in the city were way jacked up. I ended up using my IHG points to get a suite at the Holiday Inn Express. I chose that location because they had $5 shuttle from the airport, as well as a free shuttle to the port. Saved me the hassle and expense of renting a car. Unfortunately, while many Holiday Inn Express locations are new and well-kept, this one was an older building and not maintained very well. The room was large, though, and the employees were nice. The shuttle from the airport took a LONG time (something like 50 minutes), and I would have just taken a cab had they been honest about the time I'd be waiting. They ended up not asking anyone to pay the $5. Not sure if it's because it took so long, or just because they forgot, but I wasn't going to ask quesitons! The shuttle to the port went every half hour, and was nice to have. We arrived at the port around 12:45pm. I can't say I recommend the Holiday Inn Express Boston, but it wasn't bad, and it's also right next to a Target store, which is useful to load up on water/soda before the cruise.

 

 

BOARDING: As is par for the course with NCL, the boarding process was a bit chaotic. It wasn't always clear where to go, and the signage wasn't very good. Even worse, the lines were being directed by some very elderly women who didn't quite seem to know what was going on. Once I got to the Casinos At Sea desk, everything proceeded normally, and the rest of boarding went smoothly.

 

 

DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE THE SEAT DOWN: This was my third NCL cruise, so I knew exactly what to expect, with a few small variations. I was happy to see that the shower on the Dawn was bigger and had a real door, whereas my previous cruise on the Sun featured tiny showers with a moldy curtain that tended to stick to your body. The balcony room was free of any maintenance issues, but our inside cabin had two perplexing issues. First off, it was freezing. Raising the thermostat to the warmest setting literally had no effect at all. Second, the toilet seat WOULD NOT STAY UP! If you lifted it up, it would come slamming back down. I have no idea how the previous occupant was able to stand either of these problems (unless there were no males in the room, to where I suppose the toilet seat problem was a non-issue!) It made me wonder if people are just afraid to report maintenance issues to the staff. On our previous cruise on the Sun, we found all kinds of problems with our balcony room, which again were easily fixable (see my Sun review in my signature). I was a bit annoyed that my initial reports about the toilet seat and the thermostat were IGNORED by the Dawn staff. I both called it in AND told the steward, and nothing got done by the end of the day. I told the steward at about 9pm that I was unhappy about this, and he promised to make sure it got done. By the time I came back from the next day's port stop (we left the room at about 8:30am), both of these issues were fixed. I was also surprised that the steward didn't notice the toilet seat issue, as he cleans it every day and should have definitely caught it. I'm guessing he caught it but simply didn't care. I should also note that BOTH rooms needed a new thermostat. You had to press the buttons (warmer and colder) multiple times to get them to "take", so I have to guess this is a chronic problem throughout the ship. I didn't bother complaining about this. I am happy to report that, despite many issues with toilets on the Dawn in 2015, we did not experience any issues with that. The balcony seemed a bit smaller than I remembered on the Sun and Jewel, but maybe I just wasn't remembering correctly. It was fine, though. The water pressure in the showers was fairly weak, but the temperature held a LOT better than on the Sun. Overall I was satisfied with the rooms, minus the Day 1 maintenance issues in our second cabin.

 

 

BUY THE ULTIMATE DINING PACKAGE FOR $119! UMMMM... JUST KIDDING! WE MEANT $129: Prior to the cruise, I called the NCL customer service 800 number with a question. I know, I know... I should know better by now than to attempt this, but that's what I did. I asked them if the Ultimate Dining Package (now equivalent to the 7-Day Specialty Dining Package) was the same price onboard as it was before the cruise. I was assured by BOTH a regular rep AND a supervisor that, yes, it would be the same $119 either way. As I had some OBC to burn, I decided to just purchase it onboard. I was pleased to see onboard that the NCL reps were right for once. Indeed, both a "cruise tips" flyer and the Day 1 Freestyle Daily put in our stateroom advertised the $119, 7-day dining package. Here are both publications:

 

 

Unfortunately, when I went to purchase the UDP, I was quoted a price of $129 plus 18% tip! That meant I was being overcharged by $11.80. When I raised issue and showed them the publications, the person working there shrugged her shoulders and said she didn't have authority to change it. She told me to go to the front desk to have it adjusted. I purchased the package and figured I would get credited later.

 

Unfortunately, the front desk was of no help. First, they kept repeating "$129 is the price" and "There's 18% tip, that's why it's higher", without listening to me explain it. Finally I got my point across to them (after explaining it like 3 times), and I was told that they had to "raise an issue with the restaurant manager" and he would decide if I would get a "courtesy credit"! I was very annoyed to hear this, and told them that they absolutely had to honor both their promise on the phone and ESPECIALLY the two printed documents they left in my room.

 

While dealing a bit later with a luggage issue (I'll get to this shortly), I ended up talking with hotel manager Alain Magnier, who was very nice and helpful. While the UDP price wasn't Alain's department, he asked me if there was "any other concern" I had, and I decided to tell him about it. He was in full agreement with me, and made a phone call to the front desk. It was actually comical to listen to, and I could hear both ends.

 

Alain: "Tell me what it says in the Freestyle Daily about the price of the dining package."

 

Front Desk Woman: "The price of the dining package is $129."

 

Alain: "I didn't ask you what the price of the dining package is. I asked you what the Freestyle Daily says it is. Go get the Freestyle Daily and tell me what it says. We have a guest who has noticed a price discrepancy."

 

Front Desk Woman: "The price is $129 plus an 18% gratuity. I am sure that's the price."

 

Alain: "ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME? I'm asking you to tell me what the Daily says."

 

Front Desk Woman: "We don't have a Daily up here."

 

Alain then hung up on her and told me, "Sorry, I'll get to the bottom of this."

 

I could see Alain was as exasperated with the poor service at the front desk as I was.

 

Later that day, I still hadn't heard from the restaurant manager, so I called onboard customer service (I know, I know... bad decision).

 

Me: "Can I talk to the restaurant manager please?"

 

Customer Service: "Is this about the situation with the price that you raised earlier? The price you saw of $119 was a misprint. The correct price is $129. I will be happy to cancel the dining package if you are unhappy with that price."

 

Me: "No, I don't want you to cancel it. I want you to honor the price in your own ad that was placed in my room today in two different publications."

 

Customer Service: "We can't do that. I am giving you the option to cancel the package with no penalty, so that should resolve the situation if you don't wish to pay the correct price."

 

Me: "That's not a misprint. A misprint would be $1.19 instead of $119. You've ever heard of the term 'Bait and Switch'? What you're doing here is illegal in all 50 US states. You have to honor any printed price which a reasonable person would believe is legitimate."

 

Customer Service: "No we don't. I have already given you the option. Should I cancel your package?"

 

At this point I got really infuriated, and demanded her supervisor. Surprisingly, the restaurant manager came on the phone instead. He was really nice, and apologized profusely for the situation. He said, "I verified that we did print $119. We have to honor that. There's no question. You are 100% correct. I am very sorry that you have had to deal with all of this."

 

I asked if he was aware of the conversation I just had with the customer service rep. He seemed legitimately frustrated to hear about this, and said, "She shouldn't have been saying things like that. She isn't in a position to make these decisions or decline your request. I'm going to have a talk with her about this and see that this doesn't happen again."

 

He offered me 2 free bottles of wine. I thanked him but told him I didn't need that, and asked if he could instead waive our corkage fees for the two we brought on board. He instantly agreed, apologized once again, and the situation was solved. But what a mess. Pretty amazing that the front desk wasn't empowered to fix a $11.80 mistake once I proved it to them in writing on their own documents.

 

 

TALKIN' ABOUT OUR CONFISCATION: This was our first time bring our own wine aboard. Even though I knew I was supposed to carry it on (as opposed to pack it in checked luggage), like an idiot I packed it in checked luggage. I noticed this about 10 minutes after I already checked my luggage in, so it was too late. I knew that they would be temporarily confiscating that suitcase and the whole thing would be a pain in the ass, but I only had myself to blame. However, the ordeal was much worse than I thought it would be. When I inquired about retrieving the wine and the luggage it was in, I was told that they "were backed up" with the process, and that I would have to wait after sailing at 4pm. I was annoyed, as it was only 1pm, and that suitcase had other things in it that we needed. But knowing this was my own fault that it occurred in the first place, I put my irritation aside and planned to return at 4. Unfortunately, when I returned at 4, they checked on the situation and told me it would be an additional delay. I was told that they would call me "within 15 minutes" with information. Of course, nobody called me. About an hour later, at 5pm, I called them. They at first had no clue what I was talking about, and finally sent a guy to my room who simply told me I had to wait longer, but that he would see if he could go down and find it. Again, I didn't hear from anyone. At 6:15pm, we were REALLY needing that suitcase in order to get ready for our dinner at Le Bistro. I went down to the front desk and asked where our suitcase and wine were. That's when I ran into Alain the hotel manager, and he told me that he would help. Alain brought me "behind the scenes" on the 7th floor where they store the confiscated luggage. He was going to let me grab the suitcase there, but unfortunately it was nowhere to be found! He then called down to the 4th floor where it could possibly be, and they said that they no longer had any luggage there. They also had no record of sending anything to my room. It seemed that our suitcase was simply gone, and even Alain was at a loss to explain what was happening! For the next 10 minutes, I was very upset about this, as I made my way back up to my room. However, just as I arrived there, so did the missing suitcase, with a note in it to pick up the wine. I went down to get the wine, and we were whole once again, though all the way at 6:45pm. Really sucks that they took 6 hours for this process, though. Obviously I'm never going to make that mistake again!

 

 

OUR WATER BROKE: We checked a 24-pack of bottled water in with our luggage. We were disappointed to find that 7 of the 24 bottles were missing, as they broke the package and those 7 bottles rolled off somewhere. Rather than attempt to find the bottles and put them back, they just taped the package up and delivered it with the bottles missing! When I complained and simply asked for them to replace the 7 missing bottles with the ones they had onboard, I got some initial pushback. After a few calls, they finally agreed and replaced those bottles on Day 2. Strangely, I kept getting messages left on my phone throughout the cruise that they "wanted to resolve" the water issue. Huh??

 

 

SMOOTH SAILING: Fortunately, despite all of the Day 1 fail chronicled above, the rest of the cruise went smoothly, and we had no major issues from that point forward. That was a relief after our rocky start!

 

 

THE MAIN DINING ROOMS: We did not utilize the main dining rooms. We never set foot in one, so I cannot review them. Sorry.

 

 

THE BUFFET: It was okay. I really liked the Jewel buffet. I didn't like the Sun buffet too much. This one was a little better than the Sun's, but not great. It also wasn't as chaotic and crowded as the Sun's buffet, so that was nice. I mainly stuck to the omelet station for breakfast and the burgers/hot dogs for lunch, as those were pretty safe choices. The fruit was kind of hit-and-miss, as were the muffins and breads. The bacon was kind of hard and fatty, typical of buffet bacon. The breakfast potatoes were decent. Overall, the buffet was acceptable for a quick meal, but I definitely didn't ever want to utilize it for dinner.

 

 

LE BISTRO: We went to Le Bistro for three dinners. The first night was a bit disappointing, as the lamb chops we ordered had little meat on them, and we were only given two of them. My wife and I both finished hungry, so we ordered another one for $10 and shared it. On our second visit to Le Bistro, I raised this issue with them, and asked if they could find us some lamb chops with more meat on them. I knew this was possible, because one of my lamb chops the first night had a good deal of meat on it, while the second had almost nothing. My wife had found that neither of hers had much meat. So I asked them to please select ones that had more meat rather than less. To our delight, they served us each a plate of THREE chops (instead of two), all of which looked meaty and good. There was no extra charge for this. They were also nice enough to go up to Cagney's and get a soup that we liked there, because we didn't care much for the Le Bistro soups. So I give the manager of Le Bistro (who arranged both things) an A+. We came back a third time and made the identical request, and they did it once again. I have found that, in general, the specialty restaurants will go out of their way to make you happy if you speak up regarding your preferences. I also had the lobster tail on 2 of the 3 nights, which was very good. My wife had the bouillabaise on the 3rd night, and liked it. I do have one criticism of Le Bistro, and that's their appetizers. They were the same ones I had tried last year, and I didn't like any of them (nor did my wife). Cagney's, on the other hand, has several good appetizers. They definitely need to freshen up the appetizer menu. Other than that, I was happy with Le Bistro.

 

CAGNEY'S: We ate at Cagney's twice. Both times I ordered the 32 oz Porterhouse. It was pretty good. It wasn't quite the quality of a prime land-based steakhouse, but very good for cruise ship standards. I had several of the appetizers, including the Wagyu Sliders (very good), Chicken Drumsticks (decent), and Beef Short Rib Confit (decent). The split pea soup is excellent, so much that we requested it be brought down to Le Bistro when we dined there! (We had ours with no pork, though.) Side dishes were all pretty good. We were happy with Cagney's. My only criticism is that they don't have a bigger filet mignon. Your choice is between 5oz and 8oz -- both of which are quite small. My wife prefers a filet, and she really wished they had a 12oz or 16oz cut without having to fork over another $10 for a second 8oz one.

 

LA CUCINA: We go to La Cucina once every cruise, just for a change. My wife attempted to order the salmon, but it tasted extremely "fishy" (which unfortunately happens to salmon that is frozen for too long), so she sent it back. I have found that you're better off ordering basic Italian staples (chicken parmigiana, pizza) at Cagney's, whereas the less Italian dishes tend to not taste very good (including the aforementioned salmon!) Unfortunately, as some other cruises have noted, La Cucina seems a lot more like an Olive Garden than it does a fine Italian restaurant. That's too bad. It's not too hard to make tasty Italian food. They really need to revamp La Cucina and improve it, especially now that the cover charge is equivalent to that of Le Bistro.

 

MODERNO: We might be giving up on Moderno. It just isn't very good. The meats they serve just don't have very much taste. In our three cruises on NCL, we have never left happy with a Moderno meal. Again, we go here once just for a change, but we may have to cut this out from our rotation of specialty restaurants. It also doesn't have a good atmosphere on the Dawn. You are right above the 7th floor music performance, and it becomes very loud and distracting when you're trying to have a quiet dinner.

 

 

ONBOARD ACTIVITIES: Like the Sun, the Dawn is very light with onboard activities. There really isn't much to do on this ship. Most of the "activites" are promoting something they're trying to sell. The few free activities aren't particularly fun, and seemed pointless. I attended an '80s music trivia game, but you score your own paper, meaning that anyone can cheat and proclaim themselves the winner if they want to. There's some kind of small prize, but I didn't bother to look what it was. The Dawn just isn't a good ship to be on if you want to be endlessly entertained when not in port. Fortunately this didn't affect me much, as this cruise had 5 days in port, so I had plenty to keep busy.

 

 

KARAOKE: This cruise had a much older crowd than the other two NCL cruises I've been on, with the vast majority of passengers being over 55 (and a lot far older than that). For that reason, the karaoke wasn't as popular was it was on the other NCL ships. On some nights, there was such little interest in singing karaoke that the staff member had to just play music when nobody volunteered to sing! I actually didn't mind this, as there was still a fair crowd who enjoyed watching (but not singing), and it gave me an opportunity to sing several songs each night. One very disappointing thing about NCL's karaoke is the poor selection of songs. It seemed worse than ever on the Dawn. This problem was exacerbated by the fact that the electronic signup tablet had all kinds of bugs, so you often couldn't find songs which actually WERE in the library. Being very computer savvy, I figured out all of these bugs and worked around them, but most others really struggled with this. There was no karaoke contest, perhaps due to the small number of people singing. We attended karaoke on 5 of the 7 nights.

 

 

ROOM SERVICE: We didn't use room service. It costs money, and our experiences with it in the past were not good.

 

 

LAUNDRY: The price for doing a bag of laundry was $20, down from $28 last year on the Sun. Not sure why they lowered the price, but I wasn't going to complain. There was no indication that there would be a laundry special at all, until the 5th day of the cruise! As I have mentioned in previous reviews, they don't do a good job with your laundry. It comes back smelling only semi-clean, as if they stuffed too many clothes into the washer with not enough water or detergent. But given that you can't do the laundry yourself (I really wish NCL had self-serve machines), that's the way it is.

 

 

PIZZA: I don't like the pizza situation on NCL. Sure, you can get pizza for free at the buffet, but it's mediocre. It's obnoxious that custom-made pizza costs $5, and you have to wait 45 minutes or so for delivery. We didn't bother to do this. Just about every other cruise line has a dedicated pizzeria, where they make fresh, tasty pizza to order, and they do it for free. NCL really needs this.

 

 

TENDERING: We had to tender both in Prince Edward Island (surprise) and Gaspe (already knew about this). The PEI one was annoying, because Holland America's ship got the dock and didn't have to bother with doing this. I assume Holland America got priority because they are in that port far more often than NCL. Anyway, NCL made a boneheaded mistake and listed "BE BACK ON BOARD BY 4PM" on a sign where you exit the tenders, when in reality the time was 4:30. This led to tons of confused people who were paranoid that they would miss the boat if not back by 4pm. This was brought to NCL's attention early in the day, but they didn't remove or fix the sign! On the tender back from PEI, the driver crashed it into another tender near the unloading area. The woman closest to the crash point suffered neck and back pain, and said that she would be complaining to the front desk. My wife, who already had a pinched nerve in her neck, felt it worsen, but we didn't bother to complain. The tender that was hit was unloading at the time, so I wonder if anyone there got injured! The tendering to and from Gaspe was uneventful. On the bright side, there was no wait for any of the tenders (going out or back in), which really surprised me. On the Jewel, the tendering caused a huge delay in getting off the ship. On the Dawn, there was very little delay, other than the tender ride itself.

 

 

POOL SCENE: The adult pools on the Dawn are mediocre. As most of the days weren't "pool weather", I didn't bother going in them. There was a fairly cool, stadium-like "terrace area" of chairs/lounges surrounding the pool, where they were in rows along about 6 or 7 giant "steps". Would have been great for a "Movie Under the Stars" setting.... if they only DID Movies Under the Stars on the Dawn (which they don't!) I do have to give the Dawn credit for having a nice kid's pool area. The "T-Rex Pools" are at the back of the ship on floor 12, and feature two waterslides (that actually work, unlike the one on the Jewel), along with three kids' pools, one of which has movable water jets that spray from above. Was a nice area, and while there were barely any kids onboard (due to the mid-September sailing dates), my son really enjoyed using it. The weather was warm enough for the pool on the final night, so he had a blast there. Surprisingly, they close the kids' pool at 6pm, which I think is foolish given that there are never lifeguards there, and the kids are always expected to have adult supervision anyway. I was able to talk the guy in charge of closing it into letting my son and one other family stay until 7:30, which I thought was nice.

 

 

KIDS PROGRAM: There were VERY FEW kids onboard. However, for the first time in our three cruises, I decided to try out the kids' program. My son really enjoyed it, and kept begging to go back. I didn't want to leave him there when there were no other kids around (which happened a few times), but provided there were already a few kids, I was happy to let him go. Thumbs up to the kids' staff, as they had quite a happy customer in my son!

 

 

ITINERARY: I chose this cruise because I liked the selection of port stops (Portland, Halifax, PEI, Gaspe, and La Baie), along with the fact that it was one-way and also dropped me in a new place (Quebec City). I was very happy with most of the ports, and found them to be beautiful/interesting. I do have one complaint about the itinerary, and that involves the sea day, which occurred on Day 4, between Halifax and PEI. If you look on a map, Halifax and PEI are quite close to one another. There is no reason a sea day has to exist between these two. The reason this bothers me is because we barely got any time in Portland (8am-3pm, with all aboard at 2:30), because Halifax was quite far from there, and required a lot of time to get there. Indeed, we didn't arrive in Halifax until 11am the next day. So why not place the sea day between Portland and Halifax, so we get more time in Portland? I really hate short port visits, as there's very little you can do. Alternately, it would have been nice to simply have an overnight in Halifax, rather than having to be back on the ship at 6:30 and then have a sea day (with little to do onboard) in between that day and PEI. I would also like to see this itinerary in October rather than September (it only goes back-and-forth twice, and then moves on to go elsewhere), because you get the fall leaves in October, whereas September is typically too early.

 

 

CASINO: I avoided the casino, as the games there have poor odds, and the rake for the poker games is FAR too high (10% up to $25... yuck!) The tournaments are also brutal, as they rake those over 50%!

 

 

ENTERTAINMENT: We did not attend any of the shows onboard. I cannot comment on them.

 

 

EXCURSIONS: We did not do any NCL excursions. We rented a car in all 5 port stops. If you would like info on car rentals for this itinerary, I put it together in this thread. I do want to mention that, while I never considered taking an NCL excursion, I was surprised to see how expensive they were (even by cruise ship standards). I really suggest AVOIDING NCL excursions on this cruise, and doing things for yourself if possible.

 

 

CRUISE NEXT: CruiseNext is a great deal. If you plan to go on future NCL cruises, you should buy at least 2 of them, as you get $500 of NCL credit for $250. Don't bother with CruiseNext Ultimate, as that's a waste of time and money. I explained my rationale in a different thread, which I can link you to if you request it.

 

 

INTERNET: It was nice having unlimited internet on the cruise. For $175, I got to stay connected with the outside world, which is important to me. I was able to call to family and friends using VOIP services. I even set up an INCOMING number, and people were able to call ME for no additional charge! This was much better than other cruises, where I only got 250 minutes for $125 (and it got used up quickly!) Good job NCL, for introducing this unlimited package.

 

 

BILLY WON'T YOU LOSE MY NUMBER: Some drunk person accidentally dialed my room from a house phone, and left it recording a message in a public area of the ship, with music in the backround. The message went on and on, and there was no way to delete it! I finally called customer service (again, big mistake!), and was informed that there was no way for them to delete the message on their end. Here is the ridiculous conversation that followed:

 

Me: "There is a really, really long message accidentally left on my phone, which is making it brightly blink all night. Someone just left the phone off the hook, and it's like at least 15 minutes long, maybe more."

 

Customer Service: "Sorry, only thing you can do is listen to it entirely and then delete it."

 

Me: "But what if it goes on for 6 hours?"

 

Customer Service: "You'll need to listen to the whole thing."

 

Me: "Do you understand? This thing could be going on for a LONG time! Are you saying my choice is to listen to this for a long period of time just to delete it, or to have my phone brightly flash for the rest of the cruise?"

 

Customer Service: "Yes, that's all you can do. Please listen to it and then delete it at the end. I can tell you for sure that there's no way we can delete it on our end."

 

Me: (FACEPALMING) "Can I please have your supervisor?"

 

Customer Service: "They will tell you the exact same thing."

 

Me: "I'm not asking for your predictions of the conversation. Please give me your supervisor."

 

The supervisor told me that there WAS a way to delete it on their end, but they just had to figure it out. Ten minutes later, the message was gone, and the lights stopped flashing.

 

Once again, the front-line customer service phone rep was clueless and "certain" about something that turned out not to be true. Sigh.

 

 

WHAT I LIKED: Le Bistro, Cagney's, availability of singing at karaoke, itinerary, hotel manager Alain Magnier, restaurant manager (don't know his name), kids' program, kids' pool, lack of tender crowds

 

WHAT I DISLIKED: Hassle with erroneous UDP pricing, longtime confiscated luggage, poor placement of sea day, mediocre laundry service, Moderno, karaoke song selection, lack of pizzeria, lack of onboard activities, tender collision, clueless/obnoxious phone customer service reps onboard

 

 

OVERALL: Despite the frustrations on the first day, everything came together nicely after that, and I enjoyed this cruise. I liked that we had 5 port stops, and that all but Portland (which I think is mediocre) had interesting things to see. I also like that the cruise ended in the unique walled Quebec City. The Dawn was a fine ship for a port-intensive cruise like this one, but I think I would be bored if I had to spend several sea days on her. The ship could definitely use a dry-docking to freshen it up a bit. I will be returning for another NCL cruise next year.

 

Feel free to ask me any questions.

 

Again, if you want to know about port rental cars, go here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2261941

Edited September 26, 2015 by pokerpro5

[pokerpro5]

BTW, on the La Cucina portion, I wrote "Cagney's" in the middle when I meant to write "La Cucina", but it won't let me edit it anymore.

 

Mods, please fix that if possible.

[hawkeyetlse]

We are also fans of HD Alain Magnier. And not just because he's French. :D

[Seago2]

Thanks for your review. I'm perplexed by the amount of time you spent tracking down and trying to straighten out really minimal things when you clearly have enough money to absorb $11 or the price of a few water bottles. I've stuffed four of my sons and me in one cabin just to save money and I would have let those things blow right over me.

[Demonyte]

Thanks for the detailed review.

 

However I need to disagree with one thing - the dress code is not enforced on embarkation night because they do not guarantee luggage delivery before dinner so even without the wine incident it would have been completely normal not to have received the luggage by 6pm.

 

IIRC I've heard that one needs to wait until 7pm before the luggage can even be reported missing - before that the staff has been reluctant to even start searching for it.

Edited September 26, 2015 by Demonyte

[missintuitive]

I loved your review. I'm glad that it was balanced. I'm okay if I ml know what to expect up front. It's being taken by surprise that I hate.

 

I'm also glad you stood your ground on the pricing of the UDP. It's really bad customer service (and illegal) to ignore the printed advertised prices. There must be a culture of ignoring the customer in customer service for you to receive so much push back. At least the hotel and dining managers got a taste of that. It may seem trivial to some but that's 11.80 per person for the overcharge. For a large cruise, that's quite a bit of money.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dexddd]

Your situation with the dinner charge was similar to ours in many ways. We got overcharged for one of our kids when they had the 1/2 price dining. Dealt with no less than 5 people who could not agree on the actual, correct NCL policy which I knew. It wasn't a lot of money but it really bothers me when NCL can't get their s... together on things.

 

I've been reading all these threads about changes in promos month to month and all I've been wondering is how is the on-board staff ever going to get it straight with all the different promos out there. They could not correctly interpret one simple policy on our sailing and it has just gotten much more complex.

 

The $5 pizza thing - they still have that? I thought they got rid of it.

Edited September 26, 2015 by dexddd

[pokerpro5]

Thanks for your review. I'm perplexed by the amount of time you spent tracking down and trying to straighten out really minimal things when you clearly have enough money to absorb $11 or the price of a few water bottles. I've stuffed four of my sons and me in one cabin just to save money and I would have let those things blow right over me.

 

Principle, especially for the $11.80 (which was $23.60 when multiplying it by two people).

 

I'm not giving a company money it doesn't deserve, especially as a result of false advertising and misinformation.

 

And the water had a utilitarian reason, as we were taking it out during port stops, and would have run out without those 7 bottles. I definitely wasn't buying 7 expensive water bottles on board after they lost the ones I had.

[pokerpro5]

Your situation with the dinner charge was similar to ours in many ways. We got overcharged for one of our kids when they had the 1/2 price dining. Dealt with no less than 5 people who could not agree on the actual, correct NCL policy which I knew. It wasn't a lot of money but it really bothers me when NCL can't get their s... together on things.

 

I've been reading all these threads about changes in promos month to month and all I've been wondering is how is the on-board staff ever going to get it straight with all the different promos out there. They could not correctly interpret one simple policy on our sailing and it has just gotten much more complex.

 

The $5 pizza thing - they still have that? I thought they got rid of it.

 

Actually the $5 pizza could be gone. I don't know, I just assumed that was still a thing. But I know there was no pizzeria you could visit.

[Sunshine2U]

For a balanced review, I would have liked at more detail on your positive experiences. Your negative ones are very detailed and well explained with a lot less effort (read:venting).

 

I agree I would have stood ground on the dining price. Especially when you had a piece of paper supporting your claim. Those interactions were poor customer service, pure and simple. I would have let the water situation go. You held some responsibility for securing it better and put others' possessions at risk if the water bottles broke. Besides, there's no upside for better training (like there was in the first example). Finally, I agree with NCL putting off handling confiscated luggage items until the end. Again, you showed no respect for potential damage to others' possessions.

 

Still, I'm glad you had a great cruise!

[pokerpro5]

For a balanced review, I would have liked at more detail on your positive experiences. Your negative ones are very detailed and well explained with a lot less effort (read:venting).

 

I agree I would have stood ground on the dining price. Especially when you had a piece of paper supporting your claim. Those interactions were poor customer service, pure and simple. I would have let the water situation go. You held some responsibility for securing it better and put others' possessions at risk if the water bottles broke. Besides, there's no upside for better training (like there was in the first example). Finally, I agree with NCL putting off handling confiscated luggage items until the end. Again, you showed no respect for potential damage to others' possessions.

 

Still, I'm glad you had a great cruise!

 

Positive areas of the review are never going to have as much detail, because by definition they met expectation.

 

For example, I wouldn't have been able to write a lot of detail about the UDP price if they had instantly agreed regarding the mistake and credited me.

 

I don't understand your point about putting people's luggage at risk. It is too difficult to carry large amounts of beverages on board PLUS my other carry ons. I had no choice but to check the water. It is fine to check the water, and it's part of NCL's job to handle it carefully.

 

The confiscation was because I brought alcohol in the checked luggage, not because I brought liquid. Therefore, I didn't "deserve" the excessive wait time in any way.

Edited September 26, 2015 by pokerpro5

[hansolosmom]

I don't understand your point about putting people's luggage at risk. It is too difficult to carry large amounts of beverages on board PLUS my other carry ons. I had no choice but to check the water. It is fine to check the water, and it's part of NCL's job to handle it carefully.

.

 

Your water case broke open, so your leaking bottles could have gotten other suitcases wet and potentially ruined other peoples things which would have been in the same luggage bin. Obviously you don't care about those people just you and your water bottles. Seriously you got 2 cabins which were comp'ed with the exception of port fees and taxes and you're complaining about a few water bottles. This is one of the reasons cruise lines will stop allowing water cases, they aren't luggage and aren't made to be thrown around - which the port handlers do. It's not their responsibility to make sure you're non-luggage piece doesn't get broken.

 

Sorry I don't think you sound like a fair customer or whatever you claim, you sound pretty self centered and high maintenance.

[snorkelmom19]

No one's clothes would have gotten wet---a few plastic bottles went missing.

 

Thanks for your review--I too feel that NCL is getting sloppy with their customer service and communication. Hope it changes, because I really liked their product.

[pokerpro5]

Your water case broke open, so your leaking bottles could have gotten other suitcases wet and potentially ruined other peoples things which would have been in the same luggage bin. Obviously you don't care about those people just you and your water bottles. Seriously you got 2 cabins which were comp'ed with the exception of port fees and taxes and you're complaining about a few water bottles. This is one of the reasons cruise lines will stop allowing water cases, they aren't luggage and aren't made to be thrown around - which the port handlers do. It's not their responsibility to make sure you're non-luggage piece doesn't get broken.

 

Sorry I don't think you sound like a fair customer or whatever you claim, you sound pretty self centered and high maintenance.

 

Tell me, how do they transport these cases of water to the supermarket without it ruining all of the other boxes of food?

 

Let's think for a second...

 

Oh yeah! They take care to keep the water separate from the items that aren't supposed to get wet, and they take care not to break the water bottles or its case!

 

Same concept with NCL. The water case was by itself and not hidden. All NCL had to do was handle it with care, and not drop 50 pound bags of luggage on it, and nothing was going to break.

 

Besides, it's not like I didn't bring the water up myself out of laziness. I had no other way to get it aboard, as I only have two hands and had other things to carry.

 

FYI, plastic water bottles don't burst open and spill on things, typically, even if they fall. This only tends to happen if something heavy lands on top of them.

 

I am not "self cenetered" because I'm bringing my own water on board. Give me a break. If the water did end up breaking and spilling on other luggage, then it's the fault of NCL for not handling it properly, not mine.

 

Also, the amount I paid for the cruise is immaterial. I am deserving of the same service as someone who paid full price. NCL isn't giving me charity when I get those discount certificates from my land-based casino. It's a strategic marketing partnership. BTW I didn't just pay "port fees and taxes". I paid a fare called NCF (albeit not a very high one). Read up on it, and try not being so condescending.

 

Amazing how many nitpickers and trolls come out on this site when you post an honest and balanced review.

Edited September 26, 2015 by pokerpro5

[pokerpro5]

No one's clothes would have gotten wet---a few plastic bottles went missing.

 

Thanks for your review--I too feel that NCL is getting sloppy with their customer service and communication. Hope it changes, because I really liked their product.

 

I agree.

 

Overall I like the NCL product, and my experiences with dealing with managers and officers aboard NCL have been universally good. This cruise especially exemplified that.

 

It is unfortunate that many of the lower level employees are either poorly trained or are led to believe that it's better to take guesses or make excuses, rather than solve customer problems. At the very least, they need to have supervisors on duty who are customer-aware enough to solve small problems such as $11.80 overcharges and a few missing water bottles. The fact that I got such frustrating pushback on these things is very indicative of a problem where not enough people are empowered to solve issues -- a chronic complaint I keep reading here.

[pokerpro5]

Thanks for the detailed review.

 

However I need to disagree with one thing - the dress code is not enforced on embarkation night because they do not guarantee luggage delivery before dinner so even without the wine incident it would have been completely normal not to have received the luggage by 6pm.

 

IIRC I've heard that one needs to wait until 7pm before the luggage can even be reported missing - before that the staff has been reluctant to even start searching for it.

 

I didn't know about the dress code on embarkation night. Thanks for that information.

 

However, my wife still needed her makeup. There was no reason for my luggage to be held for that long. For whatever reason, they didn't assign enough employees to open the confiscated suitcases and remove the alcohol, something the front desk essentially admitted to me without directly saying it.

 

I don't know about the 7pm deadline. I will say that hotel director Alain agreed that, at 6:30 or so, the situation was looking pretty bad for me given that the luggage wasn't stored anywhere he could find, nor did they have any record of my suitcase. Somehow they shipped it up right around that time without ever noting they had it. Weird. I'm just glad it wasn't lost.

[NLH Arizona]

I didn't know about the dress code on embarkation night. Thanks for that information.

 

However, my wife still needed her makeup. There was no reason for my luggage to be held for that long. For whatever reason, they didn't assign enough employees to open the confiscated suitcases and remove the alcohol, something the front desk essentially admitted to me without directly saying it.

 

I don't know about the 7pm deadline. I will say that hotel director Alain agreed that, at 6:30 or so, the situation was looking pretty bad for me given that the luggage wasn't stored anywhere he could find, nor did they have any record of my suitcase. Somehow they shipped it up right around that time without ever noting they had it. Weird. I'm just glad it wasn't lost.

Possibly more passengers did what you did and put the alcohol in their luggage, thus tht is why it took so long. Since we all know how many try to hide liquor in their luggage, so they don't have to pay the corkage fee or smuggling liquor onboard, you really can't blame NCL for this. You really should have had your wine in your carry on ready to pay your corkage fee and then your luggage would have been delivered much, much faster. Edited September 26, 2015 by NLH Arizona

[pokerpro5]

Possibly more passengers did what you did and put the alcohol in their luggage, thus tht is why it took so long. Since we all know how many try to hide liquor in their luggage, so they don't have to pay the corkage fee or smuggling liquor onboard, you really can't blame NCL for this. You really should have had your wine in your carry on ready to pay your corkage fee and then your luggage would have been delivered much, much faster.

 

I don't blame them for the confiscation. That part was my fault.

 

I was willing to accept a reasonable delay, but this took way too much time. It should not take 6 hours to remove the alcohol from luggage where they found it, even when dealing with a lot of offenders.

 

Even the front desk admitted this, telling me that the process would be complete by 4pm, not after 6:30 like it actually was. I was also told something about how they didn't have the usual staffing for it, so that was the reason for the delay.

 

They also didn't provide you any warning about the alcohol matter before you gave your luggage to be checked, which I also felt was a mistake, given the long time they would be holding it. I knew this in advance because I had read it online (with me it was just an oversight), but not everyone reads in such detail. This matter could easily be prevented with a sign telling people to remove their wine from their bag before checking it. If you're going to lose your luggage for such a long time (a pretty big deal for many people), the warning needs to be pretty clear and dire to everyone coming aboard.

Edited September 26, 2015 by pokerpro5

[watchdiva]

Or, everyone could take responsibility for making sure that NO alcohol is in their checked luggage. It's known as being accountable.....as for the water problem, shrink wrapping (like they do at airports) may have prevented the loss. Duct tape secures almost anything. Just sayin'.

[NLH Arizona]

I don't blame them for the confiscation. That part was my fault.

 

I was willing to accept a reasonable delay, but this took way too much time. It should not take 6 hours to remove the alcohol from luggage where they found it, even when dealing with a lot of offenders.

 

Even the front desk admitted this, telling me that the process would be complete by 4pm, not after 6:30 like it actually was. I was also told something about how they didn't have the usual staffing for it, so that was the reason for the delay.

 

They also didn't provide you any warning about the alcohol matter before you gave your luggage to be checked, which I also felt was a mistake, given the long time they would be holding it. I knew this in advance because I had read it online (with me it was just an oversight), but not everyone reads in such detail. This matter could easily be prevented with a sign telling people to remove their wine from their bag before checking it. If you're going to lose your luggage for such a long time (a pretty big deal for many people), the warning needs to be pretty clear and dire to everyone coming aboard.

Even without breaking the rules, some folks don't get their luggage until dinner time, so you were pretty lucky getting it in 6 hours, after having alcohol in your luggage.

 

I'm sure the front desk thought it would be done by four, but probably didn't know how many people put alcohol in their luggage, either by mistake or to not pay the corkage fee or to smuggle liquor onboard. If everyone followed the rules, then there would be no need for any personnel to have to make sure everyone followed them and everyone would get their luggage in a timely manner, but until then if you do the crime, you have to do the time.

 

Hopefully others will read about your incident and make sure that they carry their wine on the ship instead of putting it in their checked luggage.

[pokerpro5]

Even without breaking the rules, some folks don't get their luggage until dinner time, so you were pretty lucky getting it in 6 hours, after having alcohol in your luggage.

 

I'm sure the front desk thought it would be done by four, but probably didn't know how many people put alcohol in their luggage, either by mistake or to not pay the corkage fee or to smuggle liquor onboard. If everyone followed the rules, then there would be no need for any personnel to have to make sure everyone followed them and everyone would get their luggage in a timely manner, but until then if you do the crime, you have to do the time.

 

Hopefully others will read about your incident and make sure that they carry their wine on the ship instead of putting it in their checked luggage.

 

The crime? Are you kidding me?

 

We are customers, not criminals.

 

The front desk rep I spoke to admitted that they were short-staffed with handling the confiscated luggage. Why do you keep making excuses that an unusual number of people had alcohol confiscated? That's not what happened!

 

Just to make sure my expectations weren't out of line, I called my dad, a frequent cruiser who has cruised far more times than I have (though he's never been on NCL).

 

He told me that he had also made the wine-in-luggage mistake in the past, but that he got his luggage back between 2-3 hours. He was very surprised to hear that it took 6 hours. He also said that a friend of his, who also made this mistake in the past, did not wait anywhere near 6 hours for their luggage.

 

It is very perplexing to me why you think NCL should be "punishing" people who accidentally break this "rule", rather than seeking to minimize their inconvenience. Again, this rule is not made clear when you are checking in luggage, which is why I forgot to take my wine out, even though I already KNEW the rule.

 

Reviews like mine should serve to help NCL to improve their customer service process in situations like these, not for people to come out and vilify the reviewer as deserving of his troubles.

[bonvoyagie]

First I want to thank Poker Pro for his truly honest review - and for not going over the top, or blowing things out of proportion. I agree that there could have been more on the positive aspects - but as he pointed out everything else was up to par. I probably would have been a bit more patient with the luggage issue - but that is just me. However, I do agree that the front desk service was lacking - even when speaking to the hotel manager - one can only hope he/she got a good talking to about customer service.

 

The Dawn is scheduled for a dry dock next spring - she should get the standard make over that the Star did this year - ie O'Sheehans instead of Blue Lagoon and Modernaro and Modernero moving next to Cagneys,and perhaps a Margaritaville bar. I am sure that some other large maintenance issues will be attended to as well.

 

I will be doing this cruise as a RT next year. So I am really paying attention to what is happening this year.

[pokerpro5]

Or, everyone could take responsibility for making sure that NO alcohol is in their checked luggage. It's known as being accountable.....as for the water problem, shrink wrapping (like they do at airports) may have prevented the loss. Duct tape secures almost anything. Just sayin'.

 

You're right. When I bought my 24-pack of water at Target on the day of the cruise, I should have purchased a shrink-wrap machine, as well.

 

Silly me.

 

NCL should not allow cases of water to be checked if they are incapable of handling them.

 

Love the gaggle of excuses and customer-shaming I keep seeing here, though.

 

Keep 'em coming!

[watchdiva]

Sorry if you saw my post as customer shaming, I thought I was offering advice for a future cruise. DH bought shrink wrap on a roller (Amazon) and we use it when traveling. I think it cost us $8-10...which is likely much less than the value of your vacation time that you spent at GS.

[pokerpro5]

Sorry if you saw my post as customer shaming, I thought I was offering advice for a future cruise. DH bought shrink wrap on a roller (Amazon) and we use it when traveling. I think it cost us $8-10...which is likely much less than the value of your vacation time that you spent at GS.

 

Go back and look at your post, and you will see that it was condescending, and not just about the shrink wrap.

 

Next time I probably will find a way to secure the water better, though to be honest, I've brought it on two other NCL cruises before and never had a problem.

 

The bottom line is that if NCL accepts luggage to be checked, it is their responsibility that it's not damaged or lost.

 

Again, this isn't a huge deal. Fortunately the situation could be made right by giving me 7 freaking bottles of water, which costs them a few dollars at most. The worst part was the initial resistance I got, rather than a quick, "Sure, sir, we will send 7 bottles up right away."