Dawn 7/29 review---missing the spirit!

[jentroubles]

Background. 2nd cruise on NCL. First was on the Spirit in May. Two single professional women mid-30's.

 

Overview-

To be honest, from here on out we will stay away from the mega-ships of NCL. Though we purchased the "Frestyle Rewards" I will stick to the smaller ships. While we still had an enjoyable time--the Spirit did the little things well and were much nicer overall.

 

Embarkation-- A bit unorganized. We were among the first at the pier, taking an early bus in to make the Latitudes boarding. The upper room became crowded-- and there was no sense of keeping order. When it came time to get onboard we were trampled by a group of teenage girls who had just arrived. So much for waiting lined up in chairs. Unfortunately this set the tone for the week.

 

Cabin- 5579 interior. Decent setup, though we were right under one of the kitchens which made for a noisy week. They would often clean around 11 and there was consistant banging over our heads. Owen, our cabin steward, while sweet--- did not do the details well. We didn't receive mints on our pillows and no towel animals. Three times we had to ask at the reception desk for items that were to be left in our room. (ace card for casino, information about Stirrup Cay and snorkelling talk and disembark paperwork) Sweet, but again, the little things were not taken care of. Tip-- stay away from the mini bar. We asked if they wanted to collect it and they said just toss it above. That poor beer in there is probably skunked beyond belief!

 

Specialty restaurants- again, the little things. At Salsa-- we were a bit dissapointed. Think a step below Chili's. The blooming onion was undercooked and still had the skin on the outside. The quesidillas were very good, but the sopapillas were awful. They tried to make them out of phyllo and they were dripping with grease. We actually went to the Venetian to get a decent dessert.

 

La Tratorria was again dissapointing. We loved it on the Spirit, especially the table made caesar salad. On the Dawn they prepared it in the back and it was soaking in dressing and cheese. I asked to have it prepared again and they said that was how it it was done on the Dawn. On the Spirit it was done correctly... I wrote to complain and received no reply.

 

Le Bistro was good, but again much better on the Spirit. The French Onion soup was bland and the vegetables undercooked. The filet was very good.

 

Main restaurants- Overall very good. Service tended to be slow, especially when large tables would arrive. Food was good, and quality was excellent. Favorite dish of the week-- Thai chicken salad for lunch on Friday-- To die for! Tip- be sure to order cappucino after dinner, it is not on the menu nor offered, but it is availible. Also, pack some flavored creamer, the coffee tastes pretty good with it.

 

Blue Lagoon was a bright spot-- one of the few ways the Dawn was better. Wings were much better (and you tended to get 4 or 5 instead of 3) and tomato soup was awesome.

 

Cruise Director/Activities- I really have to disagree with the glowing remarks about Matt Baker, the CD. Honestly I was less than impressed. Singing over the public address might be cute, and yelling wicky, wicky wa every five minutes might be high energy but it does not replace quality programing. The staff under him also did not speak highly of him. At the Cruise Critic meetup I specifically asked him why there were no shuffleboard tournaments, ping pong tournaments, basketball shooting contests, or any type of activities and his response was it is too windy for ping pong? Yeah, thanks, but what about the other stuff??? Nothing was organized, even on the island there was no attempt to organize any type of volleyball or ping pong tourney. It was all left up to the guests. Many days we were hard pressed to find an activity.

 

The trivia contests were terrible!!! For movie trivia they did not know how to work the VCR and had never even previewed the game. During name that tune trivia, they started it with a five minute presentation on the new rewards program. I honestly felt as if I was on a timeshare presentation at the Poconos. The hard sell was very frustrating.

 

Progressive trivia-- don't waste your time. The prizes were awful on the DAWN. On the Spirit, first place won a nice prize pack, second a bottle of wine and third dinner for two at a specialty restaurant. On the DAWN it was T-shirts for first, and keychains for everyone else.

 

Pool area: Much too small for the number of people. It was so bad we opted to buy the passes for the spa area. No soft serve all week, machine was broken. Chair hogs out in force. If you want to relax-- go for the spa!!!

 

The Cay- Loved it, as usual. They did not hand out tender tickets, but did offer priority tendering for those who were buying snorkel packages or parasailing. We had brought our own gear, so the vest ticket worked to get us on th early one.

 

Casino-- seemed smaller than the Spirit and less variety.

 

Shows-- were much better on the Dawn, as others have said, Bollywood is not to be missed.

 

Overall, we had a good time but sorely missed the Spirit. Bigger was not better for us. The amenities were not there, the activities were missing and the staff seemed overworked. The attention to detail was just not there this time. We are already planning another cruise for the holidays, and will stick to a smaller ship. (despite the fact NYC is more convenient)

 

Feel free to ask any questions, I'll do my best to respond.

[4merlurker]

Welcome Home! Thanks for the honest review!

~Connie

[judyf]

I've been on both ships, sailing on the Dawn again in April and love both of them for their own reasons.

 

Was the Spirit your first cruise? I've found no cruise will ever be as good as your first cruise.

[newmexicoNita]

What Judy said is so true: first cruises will stay in your mind forever, it took us about 5 to stop comparing everything to that first one. Like most things in the first always seems the best. Other than that I can't think of anything to add as I haven't been on either one. As for the trivia, I guess we are all different: we love the progressive trivia and the prizes have nothing to do with it. They are just fine. We have played Battle of the Sexes on 2 Celebrity cruises and I can't remember even having prizes. We have done progressive Trivia on all our cruises the last 5 years or so, on both NCL and 2 other lines. Again I can't remember anything special just we had a blast.BTW did you win Progessive? NMNita

[shoreguy]

jentroubles

 

Thank you for the review. One thought when you cruise can make all the difference on a ship. Had you done the Dawn in May and the Spirit in July your experience might have been reversed. :rolleyes:

 

 

Why - Schools out for Summer - the ships are packed, you got trampled, the staff is streched with 3 and 4 family members in many cabins. If you have the option stay off any ship June - August ;)

 

I have been on the Dawn perhaps 6 times. My second time was in July 2003 and I almost never went back. Not that it was bad but it is so much better in the off peak times for both the passegers and the staff.

 

Since you purchased the Rewards package on piece of advice:Leave the summer cruies to those that have to cruise then.

 

All on NCLs new ships are the same size as the Dawn with 2 more on the way. No Blue Laggoon once you drop below the Spirit :eek:

[jentroubles]

Just to fill in a bit now that I'm more awake.

 

This was my third cruise overall--- first was a few years ago on Royal Caribbean-- I had a blast, but totally enjoyed the freestyle concept, which was why we stuck with NCL

[ennjay]

Tip-- stay away from the mini bar. We asked if they wanted to collect it and they said just toss it above. That poor beer in there is probably skunked beyond belief!

 

ITA! That happened to us on the Dawn, too. We asked him to remove the contents of the mini-bar so that we could put our soda in it -- he just took it out and left it on the shelf. I was thinking that is SO gross (though at least we weren't going to drink it)! But how much would it suck to pay the premium price for the mini-bar items and then have them be all gross!!

[TrinaLC]

I don't get it - why is it gross to have the minibar stuff placed on the shelf and then returned to the fridge? They are in bottles/packaing after all.

 

How can that be any worse than having it taken all the way back to wherever they stock this stuff, and then brought all the way back to the cabin?

[jentroubles]

Because once beer is cold, it needs to stay cold. Constant cooling and allowing it to get warm will make it go bad very quickly. End result, you just paid $3.95 for a can of beer that tastes like a skunk.

[newmexicoNita]

Isn't it interesting how we see things. Someone on another website just got back from the Spirit and hated almost every minute of the cruise. Oh well, to each his own I guess. NMnita

[shoreguy]

Isn't it interesting how we see things. Someone on another website just got back from the Spirit and hated almost every minute of the cruise. Oh well, to each his own I guess. NMnita

 

 

That is why there are so many different ships and cruiselines. All about choices.

[newmexicoNita]

That is why there are so many different ships and cruiselines. All about choices.

Shoreguy, I know but doesn't it amaze you how totally differently we see things, (not you and me silly) people in general? NMNita

[kimdave68]

Isn't it interesting how we see things. Someone on another website just got back from the Spirit and hated almost every minute of the cruise. Oh well, to each his own I guess. NMnita

 

This is why I don't want to do reviews. I started a website to highlight what cruising is generally all about. There's no such thing as a perfect cruise. Is that really a bad thing? Of course not. Whatever happens I will always enjoy those days, minutes and seconds onboard far better than I do ashore. I wouldn't be taking 4,5,6 or more cruises a year if I didn't. People have been pestering me about the blog and it's coming. This past June's cruise will be completely covered before my next cruise in November, I promise. :) I've been extremely busy with the work stuff and hey gotta do that to pay for all those cruises. The hardest part is getting the time. I wish my TA could sell me some in a bottle. :D

[milesfinrules]

i just had to doublecheck my papers...but it turns out that i am going to be in room 5579 on our cruise on the 12th! how wierd is that!!! bummer that it is noisy, probably wont be in the room very much anyhow. anything positive about that perticular room???

 

(i'll be sure to stay away from the skunked beer) :p

[kimdave68]

i just had to doublecheck my papers...but it turns out that i am going to be in room 5579 on our cruise on the 12th! how wierd is that!!! bummer that it is noisy, probably wont be in the room very much anyhow. anything positive about that perticular room???

 

(i'll be sure to stay away from the skunked beer) :p

 

I was in 5580 back in Jan (oceanview right across from that room) and yes there was noise from above up to about 1AM on most nights. Doing some investigative work it was determined that folks were looking out a picture window on deck six right above and kicking the paneling just below the window which was right above our cabin. :eek:

 

Nothing in comparison to say, a cabin below the gym where folks are dropping dumbells and free weights on the floor. That would be like trying to sleep in a foundry. I've tried in my past work and it's barely doable after staying up 80 hours straight.

 

This is why you remember cabin numbers. :)

[jentroubles]

Miles--

 

Other than the noise from above, no problems at all. We did have them fix the fridge and the light on the left bed (facing in was out) but no real problems. The smell wasn't that bad-- (there was a sewer line break on the other side of the ship, my roommate saw a sign that while in bermuda the one section would have no water)

 

And to the rest of you who are taking issues with my honest review, it is just that-- my opinion. I paid good money for the cruise and if something was not right I am not going to pretend like it was. I gave my cruising background and demographic information so people could see where I was coming from. I preferred the Spirit and wanted to give people on the Dawn some suggestions-- especially with the food. Nothing ruins a meal more than having your dessert be a bowl of grease (sopapillas at Salsas) They made me want to vomit. If my experience can help someone avoid this....I will post it.

[dee12661]

Hi All,

 

This is my first post. Just a little background information. My family and I have only been on two cruises. Both were with NCL. Last year on the Dawn and this year on the Spirit. Both out of New York. We had a blast on both. We are hooked on cruising.

 

My question is what is a "Rewards Package"? How do you get one?

 

Thanks. Love reading these posts.

[NJBear]

Thanks for your review.

 

We were on 2 DAWN cruises before we went on the SPIRIT in June, it took me 2 whole days to stop comparing the SPIRIT to the DAWN and for me to enjoy the SPIRIT for it's own unique charm. shhhh don't tell anyone:rolleyes: ...I still enjoy the DAWN bettter <g>. I had a great time on either though

 

Thanks again for the review and you were right on about the Blue Lagoon..the one on the DAWN is a 10..the SPIRIT..Maybee a 6;)

[AztecCraig]

Miles--

 

 

And to the rest of you who are taking issues with my honest review, it is just that-- my opinion. I paid good money for the cruise and if something was not right I am not going to pretend like it was.

 

Good for you Jen, stick to your guns and tell it like it is. TA's like Nita have to defend the flag since it puts food on their table,but we appreciate your honest opinion - good, bad or indifferent.