Just Returned From Dawn 12/9/04

[Dolphins]

Enjoyed a fabulous cruise aboard the Norwegian Dawn. The highlights were:

The superb vocal and piano artistry of Pamala Stanley in Gatsby's

The fine food and service by Simona and Ramona in Impressions.

Dancing to the big band music of the Dawn orchestra in Spinakkers Lounge

Enjoying the cuisine in Salsa's accompanied by Vladimir at the atrium piano.

Daily breakfast in the Venetian Restaurant served by an excellent staff.

The nightly music of Anna Y Los Vientos which had us dancing in the atrium.

Fantastic weather at every island we visited and smooth sailing both ways.

The innovative fitness team of Candi and Erin conducting aerobics.

 

Looking forward to enjoying most of the above again when we board the Norwegian Dawn oncve more on Feb. 10th. Great crew, great ship.

[mambopalace]

Gee, sounds like we were on 2 different ships. My waitresses Monique & Unique were pretty bad. Probably one of the lowest class ships I've ever been on. Coming to formal night dinner in farmer overalls and a tank top is not my idea of a luxury cruise - this is the way some of the passengers dressed.

[Dolphins]

I doubt anybody wearing farmer's overalls or tank tops would admitted to any of the main dining rooms on Dawn. I saw a woman wearing jeans turned away from the Impressions dining room. They could go to the buffet or the 24 hour Blue Lagoon which is an option provided for those who don't wish to dress for dinner. The beauty of Freestyle dining is to offer choices to everyone.

[fin]

I was impressed by how long and how hard the girls in reservations worked. They often did a stint as a waitress for five or so hours, and then another five hours taking reservations, or switching to hostess one of the restaurants.

 

And yet they were unfailingly pleasant and polite and gracious. I am sure that turning away someone for their attire, while policy, was not something they enjoyed doing.

 

And the ambiance in LeBistro or Impressions certainly does not lend itself to being comfortable in a tank top.

[smeyer418]

Gee, sounds like we were on 2 different ships. My waitresses Monique & Unique were pretty bad. Probably one of the lowest class ships I've ever been on. Coming to formal night dinner in farmer overalls and a tank top is not my idea of a luxury cruise - this is the way some of the passengers dressed.

 

 

Strange but most of us don't have the same waitresses every night and Monique and Unique is a line from Beverly hill cops. The Dawn is fairly elegant in my experience. With all those cruises you may just have too much time on your hands.

[uneamie]

Gee, sounds like we were on 2 different ships. My waitresses Monique & Unique were pretty bad. Probably one of the lowest class ships I've ever been on. Coming to formal night dinner in farmer overalls and a tank top is not my idea of a luxury cruise - this is the way some of the passengers dressed.

You cruised 3 times for 2004 and your booked for 4 cruises in 2005. Could you be experiencing "cruise burn out"? Your previous review of the Dawn was very negative. I tend to not trust "totally negative" reviews because I sense exageration going on. :rolleyes:

 

I don't think I have ever looked seriously at how someone was dressed on a cruise. I most certainly have never let it "make or break my day". :rolleyes:

 

My guess is that you ran into one or two people who happened to be Russian who unfortunately annoyed you and one or two people who slipped by and got into the dinning room with jeans. Why let that set the tone of your experience?

 

If you want to truly enjoy traveling this world and get the most out of it, I suggest you lighten up or you going to miss out on some wonderful experiences. :rolleyes:

 

BTW...I see your booked for Canada on Carnival Triumph. My husband and I did that cruise a few years ago. We had a great time, but if I were going to do that cruise with your standards then I would reconsider that booking.

 

My niece wore jeans every night except formal night to dinner and I think many did the same. Carnival is not as strict about that as NCL is. The food is "average" and the service was nothing to write home about...but we all had a wonderful time anyway. The shows were terrific too. The ship was in need of some refurbishing but all in all it was a lovely cruise...just don't think your going to see it that way.

[mambopalace]

Let me assure you, I saw the farmers overalls with my own eyes as did hundreds of other diners in the Venetian.

[mambopalace]

Great being retired isn't it !

[Dolphins]

mambopalace- Are you sure you saw those overalls and tank tops in the Venetian at DINNER? They are allowed for breakfast and lunch.

[Mar y Sol]

Enjoyed a fabulous cruise aboard the Norwegian Dawn. The highlights were:

The superb vocal and piano artistry of Pamala Stanley in Gatsby's

The fine food and service by Simona and Ramona in Impressions.

Dancing to the big band music of the Dawn orchestra in Spinakkers Lounge

Enjoying the cuisine in Salsa's accompanied by Vladimir at the atrium piano.

Daily breakfast in the Venetian Restaurant served by an excellent staff.

The nightly music of Anna Y Los Vientos which had us dancing in the atrium.

Fantastic weather at every island we visited and smooth sailing both ways.

The innovative fitness team of Candi and Erin conducting aerobics.

 

Looking forward to enjoying most of the above again when we board the Norwegian Dawn oncve more on Feb. 10th. Great crew, great ship.

Need some more information on Anna y Los Vientos- Were they a Salsa group???

[Mar y Sol]

Hello, Dolphins,

Just read your comment on Anna y Los Vientos and am very curious as to what kind of music they play. My husband and I are love to dance Salsa and were wondering if this was a Salsa group?:)

[Dolphins]

This talented quartet is from the Phillipines. It consists of a female vocalist and three talented male guitarists who also do vocals. The lady is married to the lead guitarist and the other two are his brothers. Their music can best be described as mellow, latin and familiar standards. They feature beautiful arrangements of such classics as Stardust, As Time Goes By, Moonlight Serenade, Dream, I'll Be Seeing You, Once In A While and Spanish favorites like Perfidia, Via Condios, Amapola, Erus Tu etc. It is perfect dinner music for those dining in the Salsa restaurant which surrounds the Atrium. They play many requests and while the Atrium is not a dance lounge we did not hestitate to dance on the terrazzo floor in front of the ship model of the Dawn when they played our song "Love Letters." Many of the above songs are featured on their CD available on board. They have been a popular musical feature on the Dawn for some time and we are delighted they will still be performing when we return in February.

[Burkyone]

first time on ncl sailed on the dawn 11/28 me and my wife loved it. have sailed on other cruise lines, and found the customer service on this ship outstanding. when we had a complaint it was taken care of immediately, and with call backs to confirm that our needs were met. loved the free style dining which we had for the first time on any cruise. we would sail on the dawn again. food was great, service excellent. anyone sailing on her in the near future, have no fear just enjoy your cruise, you will love it.

[Mar y Sol]

Thanks for the speedy reply, Dolphins! One more question...As I previously stated, my husband and I love to dance Salsa, Mambo and Merengue. Any place on the ship where this particular kind of music is played?:rolleyes:

[Dolphins]

While I am not that familiar with the dance Salsa, I prefer the waltz, the Dawn's house band hosted dancing in the Spinakker Lounge on several nights on our cruise they played rhumbas, cha chas, tangos, as well as waltzes and fox trots. They had one big band music night which was very popular. A group called Modal Magic played contemporary dance music almost nightly in the Spinnaker Lounge later in the evening There is also dancing in Dazzles. You should find suitable dancing in one of the lounges.

[ladymanor1]

mambopalace,

Just to let you know....we sailed on the Dawn the last week in sept 2004, and we also saw a young "lady" in Aqua, at Dinner, wearing overalls (I remember because my MIL made a comment about it) and a tee shirt. We also saw one passenger, a guy who seemed to be wearing the same camafloge ( sorry can't spell it) pants with a bright orange tee shirt every day, although in all fairness perhaps he brought several identical pants and shirts with him.

I remember that because other passengers were commenting about him, wondering if his intention was to blend in (pants) or stand out (tee shirt) LOL

Didn't effect our cruise one way or the other....we still had a great time.

Just wanted to verify that it does happen!

 

Debbie

[Mar y Sol]

Thanks, Dolphins, You've been a big help. We're on countdown now and very excited.:)

[Dolphins]

Mar Y Sol- I am confident you will really like the Dawn. She has something for everyone. Enjoy.

[JohnL1935]

I have to agree with Mambopalace regarding the dress code. Last year on formal nite I was in line at the Venetian in my tux and my wife with a glitzzy evening gown and the couple in front of us were dressed like they were going to MacDonalds. While standing there the lady in front of us turned around and seeing us dressed up appeared to be embarassed at their not being dressed up. She made some excuse. Her husband just kept looking forward. I think he was the problem. Even if she wore a dress or pants suit and he a sport coat, it would seem more appropriate. We've been on over 15 cruises and I never saw such shoddy clothing. Like the others said, go to the buffet or one of the other informal restaurants. I think the Venetian is too elegant a restaurant to come in looking like a homeless person. It did seem that the attire improved as the cruise progressed.

 

John L.

[tracyfin2]

We were on the Dawn last Jan for 11 night cruise, and on formal night, you saw people dressed to the hilt, to people in dressy jeans, or casual wear, NCL doesn't inforce their formal night, like other cruise ships I have been on. But, I have also been on RCC, and celebrity, where people don't follow the dress code, either.

I don't worry about what others wear, I worry about myself, and how comfortable I am, but I don't dress like a slob.

Some people, go on there first cruise,like we did, and really don't undestand the dress policy, and sometimes if they don't own any of those clothes, aren'y going to but just for that.

I did notice on one of our cruises, that I think all the woman were in a compotion to see who had on the most expensive jewelry. I heard some of the conversations around us.

When you take 250,00 dollars worth of jewelry on vacation, you must be crazy, and that was only 3 pieces of jewelry. Can you imagine what the dress costed, yet they only bboked a inside room??

On the subject, we loved the freestyle dining, it is had to compare to sit down.

the dawn is a beautiful ship, and has many great places to eat.

On our cruise, they did have a salsa night, in the nightclub.

[lorn63vt]

Does anyone know if they have a piano bar on the Dawn? On my last cruise with carnival, we had such a great time in the piano bar, singing with the pianist. I would love to look forward to this experience again.

[anitainwa]

We just got back from the Dec. 9th sailing, and we could not have had a better time. This was our 6th cruise, first on NCL and we just loved the ship. The staff really went out of their way to make sure all had a great time and that all their needs were met. Sure there were "snags" there always are, but we had a great time, loved the ship, loved the staff, and we especially loved our room, we had an AC with a butler! And we met so many great people on the ship! We look forward to our next cruise. (next time with Princess, April 2nd, on the Caribbean Princess)

[anitainwa]

Yes, there is a piano bar, but not like the ones that we've seen on Carnival where you sing along. This one is very nice, there are chairs that you can sit around the piano and listen and also request music. He was very good. Hope you have a great time!

[RichNY]

Hey Anita

 

Sorry about the NY weather...we'll be in touch and thanks for lunch..:D

 

I think the piano player in the Star Bar was starting to get a complex., everytime he would start to play the bunch of us would leave for dinner.

 

GREAT CRUISE

[Dolphins]

I believe that pianist was the very talented Vladimir who also performed at the grand piano in the atrium where we enjoyed his music while dining in Salsas.