Cliff Demczuk
Age: 39
Occupation:Engineer
Number of Cruises: 5
Cruise Line: NCL
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Sailing Date: December 14th, 2003
Itinerary: Bahamas
Introduction: This was my fifth cruise, and first to
the Bahamas and Florida. The itinerary from New York was as follows:
Day 1 - Departing New York at 6:00 PM
Day 2 - Day At Sea
Day 3 - Port Canaveral
Day 4 - Miami
Day 5 - Great Stirrup Cay
Day 6 - Nassau
Day 7 - Day at Sea
Day 8 - Arrival back at New York
Getting to the ship: The Norwegian Dawn sails from New York for this itinerary. Since we live within 110 miles of the pier, we took advantage of the NCL bus that leaves from our area and goes directly to the port in New York. The weather when we boarded the bus was overcast, and quickly degraded as we began the 2.5 hour (usually) trek from Hartford to NYC at 10:00 AM. Five hours later, due to a large snowstorm that turned the interstate into an SUV graveyard, we were pulling into the pier. It was about 3:00 PM. From when we got off the bus until we boarded the ship it was about a half hour wait in a line. There didnt seem to be a separate latitudes line at this point, which was a bit disappointing, but as we were just heading out, we paid no attention and we were glad to be leaving the bad weather (or so we thought).
The cabins: We had booked a guaranteed inside cabin, and when we checked in we had a cabin on deck 8, cabin 8657. This cabin was very convenient to the upper part of the atrium area and the salsa restaurant. The cabins on the Norwegian Dawn seemed a bit larger than typical, and their was plenty of closet and drawer space. The shower and bathroom are adequately sized. Water temperature and pressure was fine. A hairdryer is provided, but you might want to bring your own. No irons are allowed (but if you have one, bring a travel iron). I have heard that on some decks there is a self service laundry area, but there wasn't one on our deck.
The fantastic decor. There are even master paintings by Renoir, and Monet, and Van Gogh in Le Bistro for your enjoyment. Deck 4 was the lowest deck, and was the entrance and exit point for tenders and shore piers. Decks 5 contained only staterooms. Deck 6 contained part of the Stardust Lounge, where most of the shows are held, and various cafe's and restaurants such as: The Venetian restaurant, Le Bistro, Impressions, Aqua, Havana Club (cigars), Gatsby's, and the Dawn Club Casino. Deck 7 contained the atrium area (entrance when in Miami and New York), the Java Cafe, the Blue Lagoon restaurant, Pearly Kings Pub, the huge Galleria shopping area, Stardust Lounge, Dazzles, Tepanyaki, Bamboo, Sake bar, and the photo gallery. Deck 8 was mostly devoted to staterooms, but contained the Salsa restaurant and bar as well. Deck 9 had mostly staterooms, but also the internet cafe. Deck 10 is devoted to staterooms. Deck 11 also contained the gorgeous El Dorado spa, including an indoor pool. Deck 12 contains the Spinnaker Lounge, all the conference rooms, card rooms, library, cinema, pool deck, and kid's T-Rex pool deck, and the Garden Cafe and La Trattoria specialty restaurant. Deck 13 is the Sun deck/jogging track with the Teen Center and the Bimini bar and Star Bar, and Cagney's Steakhouse. Deck 14 was your Sports deck with the top of the Bimini Bar and Grill, and the Garden Villas area.
The Restaurants: The Norwegian Dawn has three main restaurants for the nightly menu, with each of them offering slight variations of the same theme, so you really have to check all of them to determine your best fit if you want to eat in the main restaurants: Venetian in the aft of the ship, and Aqua and Impressions which are more midship. Aqua and Impressions are right next to each other and separated by a removable panel. For quick fare, you can eat also at the Blue Lagoon, which serves quick burgers, fish and chips, and other appetizer type foods. There are also several specialty restaurants that range in additional price from FREE to $18.50 including: Bamboo (oriental sushi and teppanyaki) for $10.00 all you can eat sushi and oriental barbeque, Salsa (free) tex-mex, Le Bistro ($12.50) Mediterranean French style cuisine, La Trattoria (free) Italian style, and Cagney's Steakhouse ($18.50). The Garden Cafe was where the buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner were held. The Java Cafe had a la carte dessert items available as well. Popcorn was available in the Pearly Kings pub (good to remember prior to going to see a movie!). Occasionally, there are outdoor barbeque buff ets on the pool deck weather permitting... which was very limited during our week due to the cold weather. There is also a NY style deli tucked into a corner of the Garden Cafe.
The following is a breakdown of the various restaurants:
Garden Cafe: This is the buffet restaurant of the Norwegian Dawn. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is very large, with several lines from each direction, so there is never really any waiting. Staff is there to assist you in finding the shortest entry point so that you don't get bogged down. Food was fine for breakfast, with typical breakfast buffet food, including omelet stations (yum!) and Belgian waffle stations. Seating was fine, and seemed plentiful the times we were there. We didn't really have too many lunch items there, and generally we didnt do buffets for dinner, so it would be unfair to comment on those.
The Venetian Restaurant : This is one of the main restaurants, located aft. The Venetian offers the same menu as the other main rooms, but with slight variations. For example, on one evening Venetian offered filet mignon while Aqua offered grilled tenderloin. Service is excellent from both hostesses and waitstaff. Dinner menus are pretty typical of NCL, and seemed to be well thought out. The Venetian is larger than the other rooms, and has traditional high ceilings and a big panoramic view off the stern of the ship.
Aqua/Impressions: Located midship, these are the other main dining areas. Lower ceilings here create a more intimate setting, and basically the same menu as the Venetian, but with it's own twists. Service is excellent from both hostesses and waitstaff. One thing to note is both hostesses and waitstaff in Aqua are female only... Impressions is located next Aqua, and usually carries the same menu as Aqua, but seemed to be more backed up because it is smaller. I think some people did not know how to find Aqua or Venetian as readily and seemed to line up in front of Impressions. Aqaua/Impressions is where the signature Chocoholic's buffet was held, on the first day at sea, at 2 PM. Because the menu was slightly different than the Venetian, if you weren't partaking of a specialty restaurant, you really need to check both menus which are posted in hallways near each restaurant in order to make your preferred choice.
Le Bistro (Deck 6 midship): Le Bistro is the french alternative restaurant that serves Mediterranean style cuisine. The restaurant is a wonderful experience and offers a complete menu in a beautiful setting. The $12.50 cover charge is well worth it. We had a wonderful dinner here. The chocolate fondue dessert is to die for, and there are other great choices as well. We make sure we have one night at Le Bistro on every Norwegian ship. Make reservations early by visiting the atrium area. They tend to fill up later in the week, so if you don't want to dine late... get your request in quickly. They also have seating in the wine cellar if they are booked up, so ask about that. The master paintings located here are fabulous and are said to be worth a combined 10 million dollars easily. The service is so very excellent and can even be fun if you let them entertain you.
Salsa: We never got a chance to eat here, as it is FREE, and was booked later in the week. The only times available were very late, and our schedule could not accomodate it. Many people raved about this specialty restaurant however.
Bamboo: Sushi and teppanyaki grill... They have a happy hour 50% off the cover charge ($10.00 usually) each day from 5:30 to about 6:30 I think. We aren't really into sushi, and have oriental food alot at home, so we didn't attend this restaurant. It was never really crowded. If you are into Sushi, then for $10 you can't really go wrong.
Cagney's: Steakhouse, with an $18.50 cover charge. We couldn't justify the charge when there was so much other beef entrees around the ship to go and spend that amount in Cagney's, so we skipped it. I hadn't heard of too many going there, but I didn't hear any complaints either.
La Trattoria: Located next to the Garden Cafe, this restaurant features Italian food. While we have dined in this type of specialty restaurant aboard other NCL cruises, we jsut didn't find a reason to go this time. The food is good, but you need to be in the mood for Italian.
Midnight Buffets: The Norwegian Dawn offered only one midnight buffet on this cruise. The signature “chocoholic” chocolate buffet where everything is made from chocolate was held on the first day at sea, but at 2 PM rather than at midnight. Cakes, pies, fruit dipped in chocolate, moose, cheesecake, fudge, you name it and if it was made with chocolate they offered it. I only managed to make it partially through the line before my plate was overflowing. One nice touch is that they will offer to transfer your chocolate to a "to go' plate so you may take it back to your cabin. Interestingly, there was no picture time scheduled... so if you were not first in line, it was pretty much disheveled if you wanted to take pictures. The contents were fabulous however, and very delicious. Here's a tip.. read your freestyle daily and get in line about 15 - 20 minutes early at IMPRESSIONS, not the Aqua entrance to get in quicker.
Entertainment: Entertainment on the ship is scattered throughout. Of course, there is a casino. Every night there is a sail-away party on the pool deck. The band there was actually a classic rock band, and was pretty good, but was largely unheard because of the cold weather. There was live top-40 style music in the Observation Lounge, although the musicians were not quite as talented as the poolside band. In some of the bars, there was a piano player who also sang. The main shows were adequate and were located in the Stardust lounge. They ranged from magician acts, to little Broadway ensemble shows, to singers. Karaoke was also offered from time to time in the Dazzles Lounge every night. The "Star Seeker" show was fantastic. 15 acts from among the guests auditioned, the top 10 were picked, and performed on the last night. The winner was certainly deserving, being a saxophone player in the style of Kenny G. He was extremely talented, as were all 10 performers.
Shore excursions: OK... this is were the story gets a little bleak. No fault of NCL, but the weather was horrible. Great Stirrup Cay was cancelled. Diving in Miami.. CANCELLED before we even left New York for no apparent reason. Most tours in Nassau were cancelled or modified because we had to go there a day earlier due to canceling the stop at Great Stirrup Cay. The two-tank dive we had scheduled turned into a 14 foot (and I had to dig a hole to get that deep) one tank dive on a shallow reef for $45. Not exactly a value. If we had booked our own shore excursions ahead of time (rather than the ship), we would have been out of luck because of the itinerary switch. The shore excursion people basically had little to work with, and they really need to update their brochures for this trip because it is highly inaccurate. More than 50 percent of the Nassau tours were eliminated and another 25 percent were changed because of the switch.
Weather Related Issues: Aside from the bad weather in the Bahamas, we were also subject to incredibly rough seas heading out on December 14th, and again when returning north on December 19th and 20th. Wave heights were in the 25 foot range and a large number of passengers could not handle it. Even several of the crew were seasick. This is the big risk associated with cruising in the winter on the Atlantic. Almost all outdoor deck activities were cancelled as well, due to the rocking of the ship on the days at sea and the cold winds. The poor band had to play on to nobody outside.
Freestyle Cruising: We were both veterans to the concept of Freestyle Cruising. Basically, what this allows you to do is to have the freedom of choosing who, and when, and where you want to eat every night. Basically, we chose what time we wanted to go to dinner and showed up when we felt like it. Except for the specialty restaurants, reservations are not required. You can sit with as few or as many people you like to. I would recommend that if you have a party larger than 8, make arrangements with the maitre'd of whichever main dining room you wish to be in ahead of time, as it may be hard for them to set up the proper table for you. The tipping is also automatically added in to your final bill. At a rate of $10.00 per day per person, we found this to be a bargain. It had no appreciable impact on level of service that we could decipher.
Summary: Despite the problems with the weather, we both enjoyed this trip, and the Dawn is really a fantastic ship. Everything is gorgeous throughout the ship and you never get the feeling that there are over 2000 people on board at any point. I would gladly cruise on the Dawn again, just not on this itinerary. I would prefer the Dawn in the Caribbean where it is more stable and less rocking. All of the staff are pleasant and work hard to make people enjoy themselves. I would recommend the Dawn to anyone, but choose your time of travel wisely and your itinerary as well.
Day 1 - Departing New York at 6:00 PM
Day 2 - Day At Sea
Day 3 - Port Canaveral
Day 4 - Miami
Day 5 - Great Stirrup Cay
Day 6 - Nassau
Day 7 - Day at Sea
Day 8 - Arrival back at New York
Getting to the ship: The Norwegian Dawn sails from New York for this itinerary. Since we live within 110 miles of the pier, we took advantage of the NCL bus that leaves from our area and goes directly to the port in New York. The weather when we boarded the bus was overcast, and quickly degraded as we began the 2.5 hour (usually) trek from Hartford to NYC at 10:00 AM. Five hours later, due to a large snowstorm that turned the interstate into an SUV graveyard, we were pulling into the pier. It was about 3:00 PM. From when we got off the bus until we boarded the ship it was about a half hour wait in a line. There didnt seem to be a separate latitudes line at this point, which was a bit disappointing, but as we were just heading out, we paid no attention and we were glad to be leaving the bad weather (or so we thought).
The cabins: We had booked a guaranteed inside cabin, and when we checked in we had a cabin on deck 8, cabin 8657. This cabin was very convenient to the upper part of the atrium area and the salsa restaurant. The cabins on the Norwegian Dawn seemed a bit larger than typical, and their was plenty of closet and drawer space. The shower and bathroom are adequately sized. Water temperature and pressure was fine. A hairdryer is provided, but you might want to bring your own. No irons are allowed (but if you have one, bring a travel iron). I have heard that on some decks there is a self service laundry area, but there wasn't one on our deck.
The fantastic decor. There are even master paintings by Renoir, and Monet, and Van Gogh in Le Bistro for your enjoyment. Deck 4 was the lowest deck, and was the entrance and exit point for tenders and shore piers. Decks 5 contained only staterooms. Deck 6 contained part of the Stardust Lounge, where most of the shows are held, and various cafe's and restaurants such as: The Venetian restaurant, Le Bistro, Impressions, Aqua, Havana Club (cigars), Gatsby's, and the Dawn Club Casino. Deck 7 contained the atrium area (entrance when in Miami and New York), the Java Cafe, the Blue Lagoon restaurant, Pearly Kings Pub, the huge Galleria shopping area, Stardust Lounge, Dazzles, Tepanyaki, Bamboo, Sake bar, and the photo gallery. Deck 8 was mostly devoted to staterooms, but contained the Salsa restaurant and bar as well. Deck 9 had mostly staterooms, but also the internet cafe. Deck 10 is devoted to staterooms. Deck 11 also contained the gorgeous El Dorado spa, including an indoor pool. Deck 12 contains the Spinnaker Lounge, all the conference rooms, card rooms, library, cinema, pool deck, and kid's T-Rex pool deck, and the Garden Cafe and La Trattoria specialty restaurant. Deck 13 is the Sun deck/jogging track with the Teen Center and the Bimini bar and Star Bar, and Cagney's Steakhouse. Deck 14 was your Sports deck with the top of the Bimini Bar and Grill, and the Garden Villas area.
The Restaurants: The Norwegian Dawn has three main restaurants for the nightly menu, with each of them offering slight variations of the same theme, so you really have to check all of them to determine your best fit if you want to eat in the main restaurants: Venetian in the aft of the ship, and Aqua and Impressions which are more midship. Aqua and Impressions are right next to each other and separated by a removable panel. For quick fare, you can eat also at the Blue Lagoon, which serves quick burgers, fish and chips, and other appetizer type foods. There are also several specialty restaurants that range in additional price from FREE to $18.50 including: Bamboo (oriental sushi and teppanyaki) for $10.00 all you can eat sushi and oriental barbeque, Salsa (free) tex-mex, Le Bistro ($12.50) Mediterranean French style cuisine, La Trattoria (free) Italian style, and Cagney's Steakhouse ($18.50). The Garden Cafe was where the buffets for breakfast, lunch and dinner were held. The Java Cafe had a la carte dessert items available as well. Popcorn was available in the Pearly Kings pub (good to remember prior to going to see a movie!). Occasionally, there are outdoor barbeque buff ets on the pool deck weather permitting... which was very limited during our week due to the cold weather. There is also a NY style deli tucked into a corner of the Garden Cafe.
The following is a breakdown of the various restaurants:
Garden Cafe: This is the buffet restaurant of the Norwegian Dawn. It is open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It is very large, with several lines from each direction, so there is never really any waiting. Staff is there to assist you in finding the shortest entry point so that you don't get bogged down. Food was fine for breakfast, with typical breakfast buffet food, including omelet stations (yum!) and Belgian waffle stations. Seating was fine, and seemed plentiful the times we were there. We didn't really have too many lunch items there, and generally we didnt do buffets for dinner, so it would be unfair to comment on those.
The Venetian Restaurant : This is one of the main restaurants, located aft. The Venetian offers the same menu as the other main rooms, but with slight variations. For example, on one evening Venetian offered filet mignon while Aqua offered grilled tenderloin. Service is excellent from both hostesses and waitstaff. Dinner menus are pretty typical of NCL, and seemed to be well thought out. The Venetian is larger than the other rooms, and has traditional high ceilings and a big panoramic view off the stern of the ship.
Aqua/Impressions: Located midship, these are the other main dining areas. Lower ceilings here create a more intimate setting, and basically the same menu as the Venetian, but with it's own twists. Service is excellent from both hostesses and waitstaff. One thing to note is both hostesses and waitstaff in Aqua are female only... Impressions is located next Aqua, and usually carries the same menu as Aqua, but seemed to be more backed up because it is smaller. I think some people did not know how to find Aqua or Venetian as readily and seemed to line up in front of Impressions. Aqaua/Impressions is where the signature Chocoholic's buffet was held, on the first day at sea, at 2 PM. Because the menu was slightly different than the Venetian, if you weren't partaking of a specialty restaurant, you really need to check both menus which are posted in hallways near each restaurant in order to make your preferred choice.
Le Bistro (Deck 6 midship): Le Bistro is the french alternative restaurant that serves Mediterranean style cuisine. The restaurant is a wonderful experience and offers a complete menu in a beautiful setting. The $12.50 cover charge is well worth it. We had a wonderful dinner here. The chocolate fondue dessert is to die for, and there are other great choices as well. We make sure we have one night at Le Bistro on every Norwegian ship. Make reservations early by visiting the atrium area. They tend to fill up later in the week, so if you don't want to dine late... get your request in quickly. They also have seating in the wine cellar if they are booked up, so ask about that. The master paintings located here are fabulous and are said to be worth a combined 10 million dollars easily. The service is so very excellent and can even be fun if you let them entertain you.
Salsa: We never got a chance to eat here, as it is FREE, and was booked later in the week. The only times available were very late, and our schedule could not accomodate it. Many people raved about this specialty restaurant however.
Bamboo: Sushi and teppanyaki grill... They have a happy hour 50% off the cover charge ($10.00 usually) each day from 5:30 to about 6:30 I think. We aren't really into sushi, and have oriental food alot at home, so we didn't attend this restaurant. It was never really crowded. If you are into Sushi, then for $10 you can't really go wrong.
Cagney's: Steakhouse, with an $18.50 cover charge. We couldn't justify the charge when there was so much other beef entrees around the ship to go and spend that amount in Cagney's, so we skipped it. I hadn't heard of too many going there, but I didn't hear any complaints either.
La Trattoria: Located next to the Garden Cafe, this restaurant features Italian food. While we have dined in this type of specialty restaurant aboard other NCL cruises, we jsut didn't find a reason to go this time. The food is good, but you need to be in the mood for Italian.
Midnight Buffets: The Norwegian Dawn offered only one midnight buffet on this cruise. The signature “chocoholic” chocolate buffet where everything is made from chocolate was held on the first day at sea, but at 2 PM rather than at midnight. Cakes, pies, fruit dipped in chocolate, moose, cheesecake, fudge, you name it and if it was made with chocolate they offered it. I only managed to make it partially through the line before my plate was overflowing. One nice touch is that they will offer to transfer your chocolate to a "to go' plate so you may take it back to your cabin. Interestingly, there was no picture time scheduled... so if you were not first in line, it was pretty much disheveled if you wanted to take pictures. The contents were fabulous however, and very delicious. Here's a tip.. read your freestyle daily and get in line about 15 - 20 minutes early at IMPRESSIONS, not the Aqua entrance to get in quicker.
Entertainment: Entertainment on the ship is scattered throughout. Of course, there is a casino. Every night there is a sail-away party on the pool deck. The band there was actually a classic rock band, and was pretty good, but was largely unheard because of the cold weather. There was live top-40 style music in the Observation Lounge, although the musicians were not quite as talented as the poolside band. In some of the bars, there was a piano player who also sang. The main shows were adequate and were located in the Stardust lounge. They ranged from magician acts, to little Broadway ensemble shows, to singers. Karaoke was also offered from time to time in the Dazzles Lounge every night. The "Star Seeker" show was fantastic. 15 acts from among the guests auditioned, the top 10 were picked, and performed on the last night. The winner was certainly deserving, being a saxophone player in the style of Kenny G. He was extremely talented, as were all 10 performers.
Shore excursions: OK... this is were the story gets a little bleak. No fault of NCL, but the weather was horrible. Great Stirrup Cay was cancelled. Diving in Miami.. CANCELLED before we even left New York for no apparent reason. Most tours in Nassau were cancelled or modified because we had to go there a day earlier due to canceling the stop at Great Stirrup Cay. The two-tank dive we had scheduled turned into a 14 foot (and I had to dig a hole to get that deep) one tank dive on a shallow reef for $45. Not exactly a value. If we had booked our own shore excursions ahead of time (rather than the ship), we would have been out of luck because of the itinerary switch. The shore excursion people basically had little to work with, and they really need to update their brochures for this trip because it is highly inaccurate. More than 50 percent of the Nassau tours were eliminated and another 25 percent were changed because of the switch.
Weather Related Issues: Aside from the bad weather in the Bahamas, we were also subject to incredibly rough seas heading out on December 14th, and again when returning north on December 19th and 20th. Wave heights were in the 25 foot range and a large number of passengers could not handle it. Even several of the crew were seasick. This is the big risk associated with cruising in the winter on the Atlantic. Almost all outdoor deck activities were cancelled as well, due to the rocking of the ship on the days at sea and the cold winds. The poor band had to play on to nobody outside.
Freestyle Cruising: We were both veterans to the concept of Freestyle Cruising. Basically, what this allows you to do is to have the freedom of choosing who, and when, and where you want to eat every night. Basically, we chose what time we wanted to go to dinner and showed up when we felt like it. Except for the specialty restaurants, reservations are not required. You can sit with as few or as many people you like to. I would recommend that if you have a party larger than 8, make arrangements with the maitre'd of whichever main dining room you wish to be in ahead of time, as it may be hard for them to set up the proper table for you. The tipping is also automatically added in to your final bill. At a rate of $10.00 per day per person, we found this to be a bargain. It had no appreciable impact on level of service that we could decipher.
Summary: Despite the problems with the weather, we both enjoyed this trip, and the Dawn is really a fantastic ship. Everything is gorgeous throughout the ship and you never get the feeling that there are over 2000 people on board at any point. I would gladly cruise on the Dawn again, just not on this itinerary. I would prefer the Dawn in the Caribbean where it is more stable and less rocking. All of the staff are pleasant and work hard to make people enjoy themselves. I would recommend the Dawn to anyone, but choose your time of travel wisely and your itinerary as well.