Review: Norwegian Cruise Line - Dawn - [February 05, 2004]

[Net Reviews]

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Reviewer Comments:

Hello everyone

We just returned from the Norwegian Cruise Line Dawn`s 10 day sailing
from NYC to the Caribbean 2/5/04 to 2/15/04

This was a last minute cruise, no planning what so ever, so whatever
came, came :-)

This was the 11th. cruise for my husband and I. Both 50+, well he is
anyway :-)

We have cruised Carnival. Royal Caribbean, Princess, Celebrity and the
Scotia Prince.

This was our first NCL cruise,
our first Freestyle, our first 10 day
cruise and our first mini-suite. Lots of first.

This cruise was sold out. Passenger mix was roughly 60 or so % seniors
(our age and then some) Young marrieds, lots of babies, and few teens.
2000+ passengers, about 50 children.

I will share some thoughts and perhaps try to answer some questions
posted on this forum.

The speedy, for those not interested in reading further:

The Good:

Food
Entertainment
Service
Dining choices
Accommodations
Debarkation
Spa lap pool
Quiet places to read
Hot chocolate handed out in the street when embarkation took forever.

The Bad:

Bad communications/ PA announcements. No signs in stairway, halls,
elevators, indicating where to disembark in case you missed the
announcement. No biggie here, just call the reception desk, takes one
minute.

Bad

Children in the adult Jacuzzis.
Children in the Oasis Pool splashing and running on the outside of the
pool where people like to sit and wet their feet. The Oasis Pool is a
deep one, hence the kiddies who could not swim just splashed people’s
books, and those who could swim, where getting dangerously tossed around
like sea foam, banging into the walls of the swimming pool when the sea
conditions were rough, really scary, but they loved it, ha, kids.
Finally, someone from the bar staff complained to his superior, who
immediately ordered them out. It worked for a short time at least.
I then noticed they emptied the pool water out of the footsie area and
the water just came to the level of the swimming pool :-(
I really enjoyed the pool being deep where I could not touch bottom.
(Obviously I am a shorty) We have to sacrifice for the safety of the
kiddies.

The Ugly:

Embarkation.......2 1/2 hours in the cold.....OY!!!!
But to the credit of NCL, (See above "The Good.)

The details:

First impression of this ship was a Wow!
Beautiful ship, clean, lovely colors, tasteful lounges, pretty
paintings, nice carpeting, some whimsical but it all works well
together.

I loved the Andy Warhol paintings. The paintings were used in a unique
way, so that wherever you were, you knew if it was mid-ship, forward, or
aft by the paintings.

The mini-suite
This was a lovely cabin, deck 11 #11032.

We were under the reading room. What could be quieter?
I would really call this a Superior Oceanview Stateroom with Veranda,
but for NCL, it is a mini-suite. No doubt it was a lovely large suite.
Nice colors, comfortable queen size bed with a Duvet, a full size
sleeper sofa separated by drapes if needed, refrigerator, table with 2
chairs, coffee table, large closet with plenty of shelves, two night
stands on each side of the bed with no drawers, just 2 open shelves.
There was a narrow table by the door with a shelf that came in handy for
items needed to be grabbed on your way out. On the outside of the
bathroom you have the dresser/vanity with mirror and a blower, a real
nice heavy duty one I may add. Instead of a chair to sit, they have a
round hassock. When the ocean is rough, you can lose your footing and
wind up on the floor if you are not careful, since I am clumsy by
nature, I had lots of near misses when I tried to sit down and got
tossed a few times, but that’s me, can’t walk and chew gum at the same
time, lol. Here you also have 2 drawers, not enough for me, although
lots of shelf space in the closet, but I prefer drawer space. Above
the small refrigerator was the safe where you use your own combination
numbers to open. The balcony was large enough for 2 chairs and a table.

The bathroom was great. We had our first bathtub at sea :-O
It was great when I came in one day beat and exhausted from a long day
at the beach and shopping and took a bubble bath while honey took a nap.
Ahh nothing like rolling around a bath tub while rolling around the sea,
a sea at sea. It was heaven. Of course, after that, I had no energy left
in me and called room service for dinner.....what a marshmallow, ha.

The bathroom was a good size with a separated head. Hmm, I would prefer
an open head, since it would look roomier without the wall separating,
but some newlyweds may frown upon this and disagree.
The one sink had a very high faucet, and space on the sides for your
toiletries and a shelf at eye level for more junk.
They had a nice shell shaped glass dish with body lotion, oatmeal soap,
shower cap and shoe polish cloth. The bathtub/shower had a dispenser
with liquid soap and shampoo. We fell in love with the shower. Really
nice hand held type that can be adjusted from a soft wide spray to a
narrow hard one. It also appears to have a thermostat inside to keep the
temperature you chose steady. The temperature gauge was right on the
faucets. The bathtub had a sliding door, no "Love me Tender" shower
curtains.....yay!

Dining venues

This is the fun part.
With freestyle, you eat when you want, and where you want.
The Dawn has 10 dining options. I was really curious as to how this
worked, so I will try to answer questions I had "before" I cruised on
the Dawn.

What I always wanted to know about Freestyle but was afraid to ask ;-)

Restaurants

NO FEE
Garden Cafe (lido) Buffet
Also Includes:
Vegetarian Buffet
New York Deli- Sandwiches, salads, soups.
Lunch Barbeque on pool deck (weather
permitting) Ribs, steaks, Italian sausages, franks, hamburgers, salads
and all the trimmings of a BBQ.

Children’s Buffet
LOL, the cutest thing you ever saw. I was flabbergasted. They have their
own section of the buffet with the same tables and chairs of the adults
scaled down to size. The buffet line is also scaled down to size, ha!
They have all the kiddie favorites available. Pizza, fish sticks,
franks, burgers, Mac and cheese, French fries, brownies, etc.
Just adorable!

Bimini
Above the pool deck. Great for quick snacks. Hamburgers, franks, French
fries, steak sandwiches and drinks are offered here. (Drinks you pay for
of course)

Blue Lagoon
Snacks, fish n chips, chili, noodle bowls, burgers, crab cakes,
sandwiches, salads, cheese fries, etc, all made to order. This is open
24 hours.

Main Restaurants
Aqua
Impressions
Venetian
Sit down dinners are served here, the Venetian is also open for lunch.
It is the largest and nicest, IMHO of the three.

Salsa’s- Tex-Mex
Trattoria- Italian
Although these two are free, you must make reservations in advance. You
can do it up to one day in advance.

Cover-charge restaurants

Le Bistro- French, pay $12.50 p/p

Carney’s Steak House- pay $17.50 p/p
(this is only the cover, other items are A La Carte so it comes out to
more, did not eat there, so not sure if this is true)

Asian Fusion Cuisine

Bamboo restaurant pay $10.00 cover charge.
Sushi Bar "A La Carte" pricing, also, but special all you can eat $10.00
Teppanyaki Cooking Just For You, A La
Carte Pricing.

The above cover charge restaurants require reservations.

We liked Salsa’s but not love it.
The service was great. Simona and staff were wonderful.

I liked Bimini, went there once for a burger.

My favorite was Blue Lagoon. Good fish n chips and great burgers. You
had a long wait, since everything is prepared fresh when you order.

La Trattoria was a wonderful experience. The room is lovely and the
service is superb. The food was excellent, well at least that day, YMMV

The Aqua is a lovely room that reminds one of the sea, of course, hence
the name. Nice blues make this a comfy, serene environment.

The Impressions was nice, but not as nice as the Venetian, also smaller.

Venetian, beautiful, lovely ambiance, nice paintings, lots of light from
the outside and great service.
The nightly menu was about the same in all the 3 restaurants.

We had no complaints about the food. Heck if you didn’t find something
to your liking with so many options, I don’t what to tell you. Yes,
there was one lady who found everything bad, too salty, not salty
enough, too raw, too tough, too sweet, too bland, etc. Bang Zoom, right
in the kisser......to the moon Alice. Really though, if you don’t like
something go for something else.....gee.

Room service
Breakfast was Continental. Cereal, coffee, juices, pastries, Danishes,
toast, jam, muffins.
I tried to wiggle myself into omelets one day, but to no avail. I know
they have made exceptions in the past, but perhaps they were too busy,
the ship was sold out on this cruise.

24 hour room service
You could order roast beef, turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches, soup,
veggie platters, fruit platters, pizza, burgers, franks, brownies,
cookies, milk, juices, coffee and ice tea.
You can also order items for a fee, like Caviar, Crudites, etc, if you
want to entertain in your suite. They charge per tray. The only
entertaining we did in our suite was entertain the cabin stewards with
our 2 Beanie Babies. I dressed them for the occasion. When it rained, I
put shower caps on them. When it got cold, I put hats and scarves on
them that I knitted. Budi and Roselle looked forward to seeing my beanie
cat and teddy bear every night. They even have their own reading glasses
and book for their night time reading pleasure, hahaha.
Okay, I know, I’m nuts, what can I say. Have no kids, these are my
babies. Roselle would pose them on top of her towel animal creations to
amuse us.

Quick tips and things to look for to enhance your cruise just a little
more.

Mid week laundry special. $19.95 for all you can fit in the laundry bag,
not bad if you want to take clean clothes home, just roll them tight.

Free tote bag from participating Del Sol stores. Take the coupon you
receive in your Stateroom and present it at the Del Sol store and you
get the bag with Norwegian and Del Sol logo. They magically change
colors in the sun light.
(Naturally, this is only if your itinerary goes to places where Del Sol
is sold)

Save the tiny Diamond wannabee they give you and take to any Diamonds
International to have appraised. If it turns out to be real, you have a
$1,000 diamond :-O
Mine was a wannabee

Pool deck massages for $1.00 a minute.
Worth it. I loved every second.

Port day specials at the Mandara Spa. Choose from 3 different treatments
for a low price. (foot and ankle massage, head massage, hand, etc.)
We both used the Mandara Spa and enjoyed it. This is the most I have ever
used a Spa on any ship. I loved it.

I did buy the nail polish since I wanted to touch up the pedicure and
manicure I had done if I needed it. It was $8.00. In Barbados the same
color, different brand was $12.00, yikes! It turned out I didn’t need
the touch up, since the polish stayed perfect for the remainder of the
cruise, great job.

Besides the Pacific Princess, Love Boat, this is my second favorite
cruise to date (perhaps renewing our vows on our 30th anniversary has
something to do with it <VBG>) but it is my husband’s number one.

In closing, we loved this cruise and freestyle. Will do it again in a
New York minute.