Norwegian Dawn
by Dan Tobey
December 28, 2002
Eastern Caribbean
Introduction;
We just returned from a New Years sailing of NCL's
brand new Norwegian Dawn, to the Eastern Caribbean.
This was my 29th cruise and number 12 for my
partner. We have sailed NCL before and are Latitude
Club Members. We tend to think of NCL as a budget
cruise line and were interested in sailing their
brand new Flagship. This was only the Dawn's second
sailing, so we excepted that there would be bugs to
be worked out. The demographics of this New Year's
sailing saw many large family groups and of the
2700 passengers 700 were children 17 or under. This
caused many problems with lack of deck space,
dining room reservations and hordes of kids roaming
the ship unsupervised. We can't help comparing the
Norwegian Dawn with our last cruise on Celebrity's
Infinity. Both ships are about the same size but
the Infinity carries 25% few passengers.
Embarkation;
We flew from Philadelphia to Miami early on the day
of departure. We booked our air through NCL, thus
receiving transfer to and from the ship. After
picking up our luggage from baggage claim, an NLC
representative led us outside where our luggage was
placed to be taken to the ship via truck. She then
told us we would have a two hour wait as the first
buses to the ship would not arrive at the airport
until 11:30AM. There went our hopes of being on
board by noon. The first bus to the Dawn arrived at
our terminal at 11:45. After a short ride to the
pier we started the very long embarkation process.
The special line for Latitudes Club members moved
slower than the regular line. NCL just didn't have
enough people processing paper work. It took almost
an hour an a half and several lines before we
finally boarded the ship about 1:30PM. Two friends
who got to the pier about 2PM waited in line for
over 2 hours before boarding. There was still a
good size line behind them. The ship sailed about
two hours late.
Once on board there was no one to take our hand
baggage and lead the way to our cabin.
The boarding process of our Infinity sailing just 4
months earlier was a snap. We where on the ship
with in 15 minutes of reaching the pier. A White
Gloved crew member greeted us and escorted us to
the cabin.
Staterooms;
We had booked a guarantee outside category "H"
cabin and received just that in cabin #4506 on deck
4. No upgrades on this fully booked sailing. These
outside cabins, on the lowest passenger deck have
only a very small porthole. The porthole provide
little light and no view. The price we paid was a
bargain as compared to what other ships offered for
a 7 night New Year's sailing. All cabins except
Villas and Penthouse Suites tend to be compact by
today's new ship standard. They are however well
designed and nicely appointed. Lots of drawer,
hanging, shelf and hook space. Twin beds can be
made up as a Queen size. Light cherry wood fixtures
with cream color wall accented the bright shades of
Aqua for bed spreads and carpet, make for a
pleasant decor. The bathrooms has a sliding shower
door and another sliding panel to close off the
toilet area. The cabin and bathroom had good light
and a powerful hand held hair dryer. The closet
area had a small safe and micro mini refrigerator.
Another nice feature was the adjustable sign wheel,
just to the side of the cabin door that allows one
to signal, "Do Not Disturb", "Make Up Cabin", "Turn
down Cabin", or "Welcome". Our nod for cabin size
and design goes to The Infinity, but we liked the
Dawn's bathroom better.
Our two cabin attendants were accommodating and
keep the cabin spotless. On the last night when we
returned to our cabin we found we had no towels. It
took two calls and one trip to the reception desk
before clean towels were delivered. The problem was
the front desk person keep insisting that
housekeeping had placed clean towels on our bed.
When the housekeeping attendant finally delivered
the towels, he admitted that he had placed the
towels in another cabin down the hall.
Freestyle Dining and Restaurants;
The Dawn was specially built for "Freestyle
Dining." While we enjoyed dining in a different
restaurant each evening, we did missed the
experience of dining other passengers and having
the wait staff know your likes and dislikes. There
are ten restaurant to choose from each evening,
that is where the problems begin. While the food
was outstanding in every venue we tired, getting
seated at a popular times was impossible. Service
was friendly but very slow and a four course meal
took well over two hours each evening. There were
long wait times, once seated, you waited long
periods until you order was taken and each course
came slowly. The hard working wait persons were
friendly but understaffed, tables would sit empty
and uncleared. The maitre'd's never had time to
stop by the table, they where always clearing and
resetting tables themselves. The "reservation only"
and "extra charge restaurants" where no better.
This is a basic run down of all the restaurant on
board. Aqua, Venetian and Impressions are
considered the three main dining rooms. They all
served the same menu, just in a different decor.
While Aqua and Venetian are large and noisy,
Impressions was smaller and charming and our
favorite. All three are no charge and first come
first served with no reservations. Anytime between
7PM and 9PM we found lines at all three. When the
7:30PM evening show let out at 8:30PM, there was a
mad dash to these restaurants. Poeple trying to
make the 9:30PM show were still in the dinig rooms
even though they went to dinner at 7:30PM.
Two other no charge "Theme Restaurants",
reservations only, for seating 5:30PM - 10:30 PM.
Reservation are made the day you wish to dine
there, either in the lobby area or by calling a
special reservations number. Salsa, on deck 8 for
Tex-Mex cuisine and La Trattoria, on deck 12 for
Italian. La Trattoria provided us with our best and
speediest service of the week. The Maitre'd even
stopped by the table twice to check that things
were going well.
Extra charge Restaurants include, Le Bistro for
French cuisine, $12.50 cover, Cagney's Steak House,
$17.50 cover and Bamboo Asian Restaurant, $10.00
cover. Located within Bamboo are the Sushi Bar and
Teppanyaki, both with A La Carte pricing. The
Bamboo was the most under used restaurant on the
ship and Reservationist pushed this choice. NCL
would be better served to offer a No Charge Chinese
style restaurant in this space. The only extra
charge venue we tried was Le Bistro on New Year's
Eve. We had made 8:30PM reservations and the
Maitre'd tried to seat us in the undesirable Wine
Cellar which is just outside the main entrance to
Le Bistro and open a main lounge and traffic area.
Only after I demanded to see the Hotel Manager did
the Assistant Food and Beverage Director arrange
for us to be seated inside the dining room. This
charming room is full of original works of art by
French Masters. Estimated values is said to be over
16 million dollars. The food was no better than
served elsewhere on ship but the art work and wild
mushroom soup serve in hollowed out bread was worth
the extra charge. We were thinking about going to
Cagney's Steakhouse one night but after reading the
menu we didn't think it was worth the extra cost.
All the dining rooms had excellent steak and beef
offering each evening, so why pay extra just to
order steak?
The Garden Cafe, Norwegian Dawn's buffet, on deck
12, offers a no charge, casual Theme dinner each
night. Blue Lagoon, on deck 7, offers a small 24
hour snack style menu.
Wait service breakfast and lunch were served in the
Venetian on deck 6 aft. While the Garden Cafe, had
buffets for these meals. Lunch time would also see
a barbecue set up out by the pool on deck 12.
Hamburgers and hot dogs there available at the
Bimini Bar and Grill, outside up on deck 14. Most
day there was $10.00 "all you can eat" Sushi at the
Sushi bar.
There was never a lack of food 24 hours a day. Room
service was offer from a limited menu if you didn't
want to leave your cabin. The quality and taste of
all the food was outstanding, far exceeded our
expectations, service fell short. The Garden Cafe
buffet was always busy, and cluttered with soiled
trays and dishes left on tables too long. The
buffet lines were not refilled promptly and drink
and ice dispensers were constantly empty and not
refilled even when brought to the attention of
staff.
The only area where there was not a shortage of
staff was the bar service on the open decks. These
people were everywhere and in your face pushing
drinks.
There was not bar server or Sommelier in any of the
dining rooms. It was up your wait person to take
drink and wine orders. This slowed the dining room
serve even more. An interesting side note, one
night I ordered a bottle of red wine listed
under "French Wines" The bottle once open and
sampled turned out to be a lovely Red from Chile,
not France. When I pointed this out Maitre'd in
Impressions, he acted like he could not care less.
No offer was made to replace the wine with a bottle
from France. This fine Chilean Red appeared on
every wine list on the ship as a French Red.
Entertainment;
The three "Production Shows" staged by Jean Ann
Ryan are not to be missed. They where the best of
all my 29 sailing's. The beautiful Stardust Theater
on decks 6 and 7 was the perfect venue for these
shows
There where comedy acts, piano players and singers
in the many bars a lounges throughout the ship.
Spinnaker Lounge on deck 12 forward was the venue
for the evening lounge acts and the late night
disco.
Bingo, trivia games and karaoke where part of the
normal cruise ship activities. The were deck games
including shuffleboard, basketball, golf green and
giant chess pieces.
Deck 12 had a nice Cinema with a large screen but
it was never used for other than a couple of kids
movies.. TV's in the cabins did show movies but the
times and titles were never listed.
Games of chance could be found in the Dawn Club
Casino on deck 6. This large nicely laid out casino
was always busy. I am not sure how well the payout
was on the slots, since I do pay them. Everyone
seamed to be having a good time.
Gym and Spa Facilities;
Deck 12 aft houses a large 24 hour fitness center.
There are many tread mills, step machines and
stationary bikes. TV line the wall as do mirrors
and some ocean views. One deck below is the El
Dorado Spa open until 11PM each night. This area
includes men's and ladies lockers with stem rooms
and whirlpool tubs. In between the men's and ladies
area is a large lap pool, and hot tubs. There are a
few lounge type deck chairs face the large aft
windows. Use of these facilities are free, while
all the standard spa type treatments are offered
for a fee. Some classes in the Fitness Room come
with a fee also.
This facilities are for passengers 16 and over, but
were over run by large groups of younger kids and
teens all week. The location of these, what should
be adult only facilities, is right next to and
below the T-Rex Kids Center and Teen Club.
In comparison the "Infinity" has a better spa and
fitness center, and enforces their adult only use
of these facilities.
Outside deck space;
Deck and sunning space it tight for a ship with
this high a passenger capacity. On sea days every
deck and lounge chair had towels and personal items
on them by 8AM.
The where no real areas for those who like to sit
in the shade on an open deck and read a book or
enjoy the ocean passing by. The pool and the five
outside hot tubs were always full with kids and
young teens, even though there is a kids pool with
their own hot tub located aft.
Parties;
The sail away party held topside around the Oasis
pool was very good, better than most. There is a
large bandstand right over the pool and our Cruise
Director and his staff, along with the band did a
great job in setting a party mood.
Another large outdoor sail away party and barbecue
was planned for 7PM the night we sailed from San
Juan. Rain forced the party into the Spinnaker
Lounge. Need less to say this put a real damper on
the festivities.
New Year's Eve saw good weather and a large,
festive deck party that went on until the wee
hours. We only got to the party just prior to
midnight as the service in Le Bistro was every slow
and we were not seated in the dining room until 40
minutes after our reservation time of 8:30PM.
Public rooms, bars and lounges;
As befits a ship this size there where lots of
pubic area to relax, card room, game room, Library,
writing room, chapel etc. There where a number of
private meeting rooms as well. Most of these
facilities located up on deck 12. Bars and Lounges
included The Pearly King Pub, Salsa, Gatsby's
Champagne Bar, Java Cafe, Dazzles Lounge and
Dazzles 2 for the 18-20 year old set, Star Bar,
Juice Bar, Topside Bar and Bimini along with the
fore mentioned Spinnaker Lounge. Havana Club
offered a cigar and pipe smoking area. The Internet
cafe was large and had the latest up to date
equipment. The $0.75 a minute charge was on the
steep side, the room was never fully used.
Ports of call and tours ;
We didn't plan on taking any tours offered by NCL,
since the four of us friends traveling together,
had been to some of these ports before. NCL does
offer lots of tour options in each port and you can
pre book prior to sailing. Prices are about the
same as other lines charge. I always think you can
do better on your own by going onto the Internet
and booking with local tour operators who will pick
you up at the pier. There are always tours offer in
most ports right at the pier as well.
Mon. 12/30, San Juan:
Sailing into San Juan harbor was lovely, passing El
Morro Fort on the way. We didn't dock at the main
terminal in Old San Juan but off in a remote part
of the harbor several miles away. About an hour
after the ship was cleared for disembarkation we
headed for the gangway. There was a long line
waiting to get off, even though they had two
gangways set up. Every passenger had to have their
plastic key/credit/securty card swiped. This was a
slow process, has many passengers would ask those
doing the checking questions and there were on
officers to help speed up the process. Once off we
opted to walk the mile or so from the pier out to
the main highway area where we were able to catch a
bus at $0.50 per person to Old San Juan. We spent a
pleasant afternoon walking around Old San Juan. We
took a taxis, at $3.00 per person, back to the ship
about 6PM as it was looking like rain. There was
only a short line to reboard the ship.
Tues. 12/31/2002, St. Thomas:
We docked early that morning and after a late
breakfast we left the ship about 11AM. The problem
getting off was worst this day. There was only one
gangway set up and there were already groups
returning to the ship form the early morning tours.
The pier in St. Thomas is located about a mile
outside of main part of town. There is a shopping
area set up at the docks with branches of the same
stores in town. The prices were about the same. We
found many waiting taxis, which are mostly open air
trucks with seating or vans. They ask where you are
heading and give you a per person price, then wait
until they find others for you to share the ride
with. It cost $2.00 PP to town, $6.00 PP to Megan's
Bay beach. You can rent one of these taxis by the
hour as well, I didn't notice the charge per hour
in St. Thomas but $20.00 per hour was posted on the
side of the taxi in San Juan.
The weather was sunny so we headed for the beach at
Megan's Bay where there is a $3.00 entrance fee.
Megan's Bay is a beautiful horseshoe shaped beach
that is always listed as one of the top ten beaches
in the world. There are several restaurants,
showers and bathrooms, and covered picnic areas
lining the mile or so long beach. After a couple
hours of sunning and swimming, the clouds rolled in
and we got caught in a downpour. Soaked we quickly
changed and grabbed an open van taxi back to town.
We opted to return to the ship while our friends
were dropped off in town to do some shopping. We
arrived back at the dock about 3PM to find a line,
the length of the ship, to get up the gangway. It
took 3/4 of an hour to get back on board. It
started to rain and we got soaked again, but this
time not in our bathing suits but in our regular
clothes. Interesting, was the fact that we were
docked in between two other large ships, Carnival's
Pride and Celebrity's Century. Neither one of these
ship had even the smallest line for returning
passengers. NCL might want to take a look at what
these other two lines are doing right and what they
are doing wrong. I am sure the answer is not enough
knowledgeable personal supervising the process.
This seamed to be the problem through out the week,
whenever we encountered slow or poor service.
After a quick change into dry clothes and a snack
in the Garden Cafe we got back off the ship to do
some shopping in the stores located on the pier.
The rain had stopped but the sky was still
overcast. We stayed shopping until the last of the
stores closed at 6PM. The line was still just as
long to get onto the ship, but this time, officers
standing at the gangway helped move it along. We
departed at 7PM. The weather cleared in time for
the New Year's Eve Party on deck.
Wed. 01/01/2003, Tortola:
We docked early and got off the ship mid morning,
no lines. Tortola is part of the British Virgin
Islands and we docked a short walk from Road Town,
Tortola's main village. There was a tourist
information booth right on the pier handing out
maps and answering questions. Since it was New
Year's Day, most of the shop were close. We asked
about the ferry to Virgin Gorda and the beach area
known as The Baths - $26.00 and a 30 minute ride.
Instead we took the $6.00, 30 minute taxi ride to
one of Tortola's free, local beaches, enjoying the
trip up and down the other side of Sage Mountain.
Our driver of the open air, shared taxi, pointed
out places of interest along the way. After several
hours on the beach we went back to the ship later
afternoon. We expected lines but found none, maybe
this was because other than the tours and beach
there was not much to do on Tortola and we found
that most passengers were already back on board.
Fri. 01/03/03, Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas:
This was the third time I was to visit this private
Island getaway. On my first visit, years ago,
there the weather was too bad to anchor and tender
ashore. On that sailing the Captain heard for
Nassau where we docked for the day. Two years ago,
on the Norway, there was a medical emergency and we
dropped anchor off the Turks and Cacaos Islands so
a passenger could be taken off ship. This time
weather got to us again and the Captain felt we
cold not safely off load passengers. We head
further north in the Bahamas for calmer seas and a
cloudy day at sea. The Norwegian Dawn was not
really prepared for this extra, non deck day at
sea. They tried to have some half hearted
activities but none interested us. We headed for
the very well stocked library and spent the day
with a good book. Someday I'll get to do the
Private Island beach party.
Security:
There are security cameras in all areas of the
Norwegian Dawn. We got friendly with a couple of
the entertainers on board, they told us that the
security cameras watched passengers and crew alike.
Interestingly, theft is a real problem with crew on
board, according to them. The entertainer are not
considered crew and were very willing to tell you
all the little secrets of the ship.
One of our friends had his Walkman taken by a crew
member from the men's spa area. He had been
listening to it while using the tread mill in the
gym. He when into the locker area just outside the
men's shower, warped the Walkman in his shirt,
place it with his other stuff on a shelf and went
to take a shower. When he returned about five
minutes later the Walkman was missing form the
shirt. Two other passengers who where in the locker
area said that a NCL crew member walked over to the
shelf, went through the items, found the Walkman
and asked them if it was theirs. When they said no
he put the rest of the items back on the self and
but left the locker room with the Walkman. Yes, my
friend should have known better and got a key from
the spa reception deck and put his things in a
locker. What happened over the next 16 hours upset
us more than the loss of the Walkman. Josh, my
friend, tired to report the theft to the spa
manager. He was told to wait by the manger as he
was busy booking treatments for other passengers.
After ten minutes Josh went up to the manager again
and insisted that he call security, he was worried
that the two men who saw the incident would leave
without anyone interviewing them. The manager start
to give him a hard time, telling him that there had
been no NCL crew in the locker room area. Josh said
he had seen four crew working in and around the spa
that afternoon, removing dirty towels and cleaning
up. Security was called, Josh spoke with them on
the phone, they took his cabin number and said
someone would be down to see him. The Spa Manager
finally took the names and cabin numbers of the two
witnesses. About an hour later security showed up
at our friends cabin which was next to ours. The
security office interviewed Josh and said he would
look into the matter and get back to him. Josh
asked if they were going to review the surveillance
tape and debrief the two witnesses. He was told
they didn't know how they would handle it. Later
that evening when he heard nothing back, he went to
the reception deck and was told security was not
available until the morning. I was there and ask to
speak with the Hotel Manager, the highest ranking
office on the passenger side of the staff. We were
told that he was not available. Then I asked to
speak with the receptionist supervisor, very
quickly she change her story and said she would try
and track down the head of security. We told her we
would be in the La Trattoria having dinner. We
received two calls while having dinner. The first
was from the head of the reception area saying that
the Hotel Manager had turned in early but that
security was working on the problem and would get
back to us in the morning. Josh was unhappy with
this response because he felt the two witnesses
would be off the ship the next morning as this was
our last night. He pressed her to talk with the
head of security, telling, her that two of the
ships officers were having dinner at the next
table, he was going to ask them to intervene if
security could be found. The second call, from the
head of security, came within minutes. He said he
was on top of everything and that it was going to
take some time to review the tapes and interview he
witnesses. Needless to say Josh never heard back
from anyone. The morning he spent over an hour at
the reception deck, prior to disembarkation, trying
to get someone from security to talk to him. The
Security head finally did come spwk with him. He
had no answer and got nasty, tell Josh that they
has no record of any crew scheduled to be working
in the spa or locker area at the time of the time
theft. He further our friend it was his own fault
for not using a locker and that his, was not the
only security case he was working on. At that point
Josh used his cell phone and called the Miami
Police. They came on board and took a Police
Report, which is needed in order to make an
insurance claim. The head of Security was not happy
about this. Bottom line, no Walkman, no thief found.
Disembarkation:
Like most cruise ships the Norwegian Dawn uses
color coded tags based on flight times. Since our
flight from Miami back to Philly was not until
late, we took dark green tags, for flights after
3:00PM. The paper they past out with the tags
indicated that they would start debarking about
8:30 and our color would be called about 9:40. Bags
needed to be placed outside your cabin by midnight.
We followed orders but when we returned to our
cabin about 1:30AM we did not see any of the
baggage being picked up. They ship offered
breakfast that morning either room service, Aqua
Restaurant or the Buffet in Garden Cafe. We opted
for the Garden which was packed at 8:45AM. From
about 7:00AM on we heard the standard paging of
passengers to come to the reception or the customs
area so the ship could be cleared. At about 9:15
the started calling the first color. We were in no
hurry to disembark so we had another cup off coffee
and went back to our cabin to retrieve our hand
luggage and go wait on deck for a color to be
called. Ours was the last color called for those
who were going via NCL transfer to either Miami or
Fort Lauderdale airports. At 10:15AM our color was
called and we left are comfortable chairs, in the
sun on deck 12 to walk down to the deck 5 gangway.
As we descended the central stairwell, halfway
between deck 6 and 7, we encountered hordes of
passengers pushing and shoving and yelling that
their color had been called. What a mess, again no
one for NCL around to supervise. I think the
person calling the colors was just calling a new
color every ten minutes with no regard to the
length of the line. From that point it took another
hour in this cattle line to get off the ship. We
would have went back up on deck but by that point
there were a few hundred passengers behind us. The
problems was they were swiping your plastic
security card one last time. I understand the
reason for this last security check but no
announcements were made that you would need these
cards. They only announced that you would need your
photo ID and customs declaration form. Thinking
that they would not need these plastic ID cards,
many passengers either left them in their cabins or
packed them away in their hand luggage.
Worst disembarkation in 29 cruises. Someone from
NCL should take a sailing with Celebrity or even
Carnival, they both do a much better job getting on
and off their ships.
We found our luggage, board the bus to the airport,
checked in with our flight and headed to the
airport hotel. We spent several hours sitting buy
their pool having drinks and lunch before our 6PM
flight home.
Conclusion:
The Norwegian Dawn is a beautiful ship with great
food and entertainment. Very good value for the
money. We enjoyed our cruise and so did our
friends. We didn't let didn't let the things that
went wrong spoil our good time.
As an architect and designer I spent 25 years in
the Hospitality Business, designing and consulting
restaurants and hotels. The Norwegian Dawn's
problems in these areas can be corrected but only
if NCL cares to correct them. Two suggestion I
would make;
First, move the show times to 8:30PM and 10:30PM.
This would force those wanting to see the earlier
show either to dine before seven or after 9:30Pm
when the dining rooms ae less crowed. Those going
to the late show could eat as late as 8:30 and
still make the last show.
Second, eliminate the deck 4 cabins, there are so
few of then anyway. Because they are so close to
the water line you hear the ocean and the boom of
the waves hitting against the side of the side.
This is more true through the night when the ship
picks up speed. It didn't bother me but it does
get quite noisy and freaked out some other
passengers. Many of the public rooms, which didn't
get much use on our cruise anyway, cold be moved
down from deck 12. These would include, the chapel,
library, writing room, game room, meeting rooms,
cinema, card room, etc. This areas are used mostly
during the day when the ship is either docked or
cruising slowly. The freed up area on deck 12 could
then be used for higher priced cabins, thus
generating more revenue. Since this is a brand new
ship I don't think NCL will be making these changes
anytime soon. But, they might want to look into it
for future new builds.
