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Norwegian Cruise Lines
Norwegian Dream Cruise Review
Western Caribbean
Tara
Age: 26
Occupation: Claims Adjuster
Number of Cruises:6
Sailing Date: December 2nd, 2006
I was on the Texribbean cruise leaving out of Houston, TX with ports in
Progresso, Cozumel and Belize City. Sailing date December 2, embarkation date
December 9.
The ports were great. All places that I loved to visit. In Progresso, we did the
Mayan Ruins and city tour - very educational and entertaining. In Cozumel, we
did the unlimited snorkeling at Sunset Beach. The employees were terrific, very
nice and patient. Snorkeling was great, we saw some great fish and the overall
experience was terrific. In Belize City, we did the Barrier Reef snorkeling and
beach break with Belize Catamarans (purchased via NCL), which also was a great
experience. The snorkeling was the best that I had ever seen and highly
recommend it.
Although the ports of call were great, unfortunately, I cannot say the same for
the Norwegian Dream. The Norwegian Dream was more like a nightmare.
The ship itself is too small to endure the rough water in the Gulf of Mexico at
this time of year. Every wave was felt. It was a very rough ride. This was my
6th cruise and never before have I gotten sea sick, but the Norwegian Dream was
the exception. I was sea sick 2 out of 7 nights despite the Dramamine I took to
avoid the uneasy feelings. There were 7 people in my party and all of us were
sick one night or other.
On Tuesday 12/05 at about 7PM, the air conditioning turned off. I called the
front desk, they were aware the air condition was broken and could not give an
estimated time of repair. At 1:47AM on Wednesday morning the air was still off.
Our cabin felt stuffy and it felt like we were suffocating, our cabin was an
ocean view room, but that did not help as you can't open the portholes. My
fiancé' and I went up to the 7th deck and was appalled to find people sleeping
in the lounges because it was so hot. We went up to the 12th deck to find 40-50
mph winds and yet people sleeping in covered corners, just to escape the heat
that was inside the ship. NCL is very lucky that people did not get ill from
lack of air circulation or get heat stroke. After all that discomfort, we found
out the next day that the captain ordered for the air to be turned down so the
ship could go faster. In the process of turning down the air, the air
conditioning broke resulting in a loss of air conditioning for 7-8 hours. All
that discomfort was unnecessary.
Also, the activities and entertainment selection onboard was very poor. Both
activities and entertainment were geared for people 60-80 years in age. An
example of activities for elderly people, GRANDPARENT GET TOGETHERS, so that
Grandparents could brag about their grandchildren. No exaggeration, that is
exactly what the cruise itinerary said under description. I cruised w/ 6 other
people ranging in age from 26 - 60 and all of us were bored. We found ourselves
playing Monopoly and cards; although this is a nice option, I have never had to
actually do it out of sheer boredom.
The staff in the dining room was excellent, very friendly and helpful.
Unfortunately, the food was mediocre at best. Example, a chocolate brownie...
simplicity at it's best... even my 10 year old niece can bake brownies from a
Duncan Hines box, but not on NCL. The brownies were dry and crumbled in your
mouth and there was definitely NO taste of chocolate in that brownie. The French
Restaurant aboard ship was good but not worth the $15 surcharge per person. The
chocolate buffet was above average, much smaller scale than on RCCL, but still
nice.
Overall the experience was ok, mostly in part because the ports of call were
great. NCL and the Norwegian Dream is not recommended, unless you are 80 and
wish to spend you days sleeping out of sheer boredom.
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