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NCL - Norwegian Cruise Line
Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review
Western Caribbean

MaryBeth
Age: 41
Occupation: Programming Manager
Number of Cruises: 3
Sailing Date: August 26th, 2006

We were looking forward to our cruise for a long time and I am sorry to say that it was just Ok, not the wonderful experience that we were hoping for.

The cruise out of NY harbor and off to sea was wonderful. It is just beautiful to sail past the city, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Definitely a high point of the trip!

My first impression of the ship was that it was extremely over crowded. There were lines for everything! And I must say that my fellow passengers were the rudest group of people I have ever been surrounded by. Waiting for the tenders to take us to shore in Bermuda, one passenger literally shoved my youngest son out of line to get one person closer to the front of the line. He then turned to me and told me “you stay back”. Not a nice experience.

Due to Hurricane Ernesto we stayed in Bermuda rather than going on to the Bahamas. I was happy about this itinerary change but many of my fellow passengers were disappointed about not going to the Bahamas. Safety first (It was a lot better than being sent north to Canada!).

Of particular concern was the mass confusion when boarding tenders to leave the ship. We docked in the middle of the harbor and took tenders to Hamilton. The process was slow and the passengers were not well informed on what was going on. It was a near riot situation; the crew was barely able to control. If it was a near riot just to leave the boat to do a little sight seeing I have grave concerns about how well the crew could have handled an emergency situation.

Food in the specialty restaurants was excellent. We dined in Cagney’s, Salsa and the Italian restaurant. The service in Cagney’s and Salsa was top notch and the food was wonderful. The nearly $100 service charge for the four of us (two adults and two children) to have dinner at Cagney’s was pretty steep but the food was very good. I definitely recommend Salsa. The food and service were great and there was no additional service charge. The Italian restaurant was OK, better than the main restaurants but not as good as Cagney’s or Salsa. It is set up in a section of the buffet restaurant so it is just not as nice as the others. Food was good and the service was ok.

The buffet breakfast was exactly the same thing every day, it got really boring after a day or two. The lines were terrible and it was difficult to find a seat. Some mornings we just brought the food back and sat on our balcony. We ordered room service two mornings and that was great. One morning we went to the Venetian restaurant and that was good.

We went to Aqua one night for dinner, the food was tasteless and the service was poor. The Captain’s Gala in the Venetian Restaurant was wonderful! Lobster, beef Wellington, etc. It was a beautiful restaurant, great food and great service.

The pool area is overcrowded. There is only one main pool and there are not enough chairs for everyone. We had to reserve chairs at 8:00 am in order to sit anywhere near the pool. The kids pool is good for little kids and there is a surcharge if you want to use the spa pool.

We kept our spending to a minimum. We pre purchased soda bands for the kids and my only drinks were a glass of wine at dinner each night. We did one excursion (Restless Native Catamaran), brought two sets of pictures and played Bingo once. We received a bill for $960 at the end of the trip! That was a lot on top of what we had already paid!

Overall I would rate the trip a C+. It was OK, but not great for the money we spent.



 

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