NCL Dawn Review (Very Long)
Juliana L Holm
boards, and my hubby's laptop. So I'll try to write a review and post it
before we leave the airport. (note I did not make it)
Unfortunately the detailed notes I was taking were totally lost when I
left my PDA behind on Virgin Gorda, so I will have to recreate the trip,
but I will do the best I can. After all, we just disembarked yesterday!
This cruise was to celebrate my sister in law's 40th birthday, and we
were travelling with Sharon and her husband Burt. If we sound like
terrible skin flints, you must know that my husband lost his job just
after we made our final payment, so we were trying to limit extra
expenses.
Norwegian Dawn cruise review, January 11-18, 2003.
Pre-cruise
We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale on Jet Blue flight 107 from Washington, late
at night on Friday. The flight went very well, was on time, and we watched
TV in our seats as we flew to Ft. Lauderdale. I was amazed by the
amount of commercials that they had on Pay TV (DirectTV). We are not
TV watchers as a whole, so it seemed like a lot. From the airport we took
the Tri-county express shared ride van into Miami. This was an economical
choice because it cost us only $30, rather than the $60 plus tip we would
have paid for a taxi. It took a LONG time to get to our hotel (motel)
(about an hour and twenty minutes) but the good part was that three
of the other folks inthe van were staying in hotels on Collins Avenue
in the Art Deco area of Miami, so we got a nice scenic drive down Collins
Avenue, which was just great.
We stayed at the Days Inn Civic center. It is very inexpensive and not too
far from the port or the Miami airport. It is very much a motel, and has typical
motel rooms. The biggest problem here is that the hotel fronts the highway
(836) that goes to the airport; a highway with all night truck traffic. If you are
a cheapskate and book here, I recommend that you request a room away from
the highway. Other than that, and the fact that someone had accidentally
turned the heat on, therefore the room was warm, humid and musty when
we arrived, it was fine. We aired out the room and used earplugs and were
OK, but next time we will spend more and book a better hotel.
Embarkation
We went down near the pier, to a shopping area (and I cannot remember the
name of it, sorry) and looked through the bridge at the ships. There were 3
Carnival ships in port, Norwegian Sea, Norwegian Dawn and Navigator of the
Seas. We also picked up some things we needed, then Burt, who had rented
a van, dropped Sharon and me off at the port, while he and my husband Mark
headed off to return the rental car. Sharon and I delivered the luggage to the
porters and tipped them (there was not a bit of stated 'encouragement' to tip
that I noticed at the pier.) Then we settled in for a long wait. It took fully two
hours for Mark and Burt to return the car and catch a shuttle back. Most of
the wait was for shuttle busses back, which were full, and three filled up before
they managed to find space on one.
Finally, though, the guys got to the ship about 1 and we embarked. This went
very quickly and smoothly. Though we passed through a number of stations
(cruise ticket check, security, filling out immigration forms for BVI and the
Bahamas, checking in, getting room key/purchasing card, and finally picture
taking, it was all pretty quick, and we were on the ship before 2. There were
some differences between this cruise and our NCL Majesty cruise last year.
How much these were due to increased security and how much to the new
technology on the ship I don't know. But the room key and the purchasing
card were the same card, unlike on N. Majesty, and they took digital pics of
us when boarding, which they checked whenever we left and reboarded, to
make sure we were who we were supposed to be.
Onboard: Food
Once aboard we hit the lunch buffet. This was pretty standard with a couple
standouts and a couple tiny negatives. They had an Indian Vegetarian station
every day for lunch. I am a vegetarian and the couple of times I ate there the
food was very good, if you like Indian food. Plus, the entrees changed at least
a couple of times (I only ate at the buffet twice, and Mark only ate there once)
The salad had good vegetables, but bottled (Wish Bone) dressings. The iced
tea had a tendancy to run out and not be refreshed, which was problematic for
my husband. This was on the pool deck, where, on sea days, they also had a
barbecue. The food at the barbecue according to my husband was good, the
meat was excellent quality, and a little overcooked (medium for my rare-loving
husband). It was really nice that my carniverous husband could have a nice
steak, while I enjoyed a yummy vegetarian entree. We were really pleased with
this food.
Since I am on food, I'll discuss all the different dining options. We went everywhere
except Cagney's and the Trattoria. We skipped Cagney's because they were
expensive and I could not eat anything, and we skipped the Trattoria, because
Italian food does not particularly excite me. My mom was italian and a fine cook,
and Italian Restaurants alway seem a bit wanting to me compared to the home
cooked stuff that I know as my staff of life. We also did not eat at the Blue Lagoon.
Breakfast buffets were where we usually started the day. They were standard, and
the food was fine. They had a waffle station, and an egg station, which had god food.
The eggs, which I like over medium, were not cooked enough for me, therefore I did
not get them. over easy was all they really did. I did have an omlette there one day,
which was excellent. They also had a whole raft of hot cereals, including cream of
wheat (my husband's favorite) but raisins and brown sugar, which he loves IN his
cream of wheat were intermittent. But we are being very picky here. The variety
was great, the food generally quite good.
Of the three dining rooms I liked Impressions best and Aqua least. Impressions
has a very intimate feel with semicircular booths and reproductions of great
impressioninst paintings. It's long and narrow, which makes it quiet and intimate.
I liked that a lot. Venetian is big and noisy and very traditional feeling. It is also
quite beautiful, reminded me a lot of the Pump Room in Bath, a large formal
European style see and be seen kind of space. I loved all the little details here
(and indeed all over the ship) The painting and metalwork on the ceiling, the
statuary, the paintings of Venice canals on the walls. This was indeed the
loudest room, but my husband who has a hearing problem, was not bothered
by it. My sister in law loved this room.
Aqua was beautiful also, but far more contemporary than the other two. The
Chagall-inspired glass art on the walls was very nice, and it is all done in tones
of blue, very soothing. This was not my #3 because I did not like it, only that
the other two I liked a lot. All three dining rooms were wonderful.
The food in the three dining rooms was essentially identical, although at least
one day I noticed a smaller choice at Aqua than at Venetian (I noticed it
because it was the vegetarian appetizer that was missing at Aqua, so we
dined at Venetian that night). It was pretty standard cruise ship fare, and
generally quite good. As usual the cold soups were very good, especially for
folks that usually don't eat them. The menus have soups and salads listed
together, trying to, I think, encourage you to pick one or the other. This was
not a problem for me, as I was trying not to overeat too badly. And the one
night I wanted both the soup and the salad I just ordered them and all was fine
(except I then did not have any room for dessert). Desserts were very good,
especially the Creme Brulee, lemon and chocolate souffles. Vegetarian
entrees were uniformly good. My husband thought the things he liked were
excellent, as far as meat entrees, but there were a couple that he did not like,
honestly this is because my husband likes to tryometimes they are less to your taste.
There are seven specialty restaurants on the Dawn, and three of them require
an extra charge. Bamboo, is a pan-asian restaurant with a Teppanyaki room,
sushi bar, etc. Mark had lunch on one of the sea days at the sushi bar; we
both would have, but the maitre'd said they could not provide any vegetarian
sushi. So I went to eat in the dining room. Mark reported that the sushi was
very good, with thick pieces, and he enjoyed a roll and some tuna and yellowtail.
There was a $10 fee for all the sushi that you could eat. They also had Ichiban
beer available, which Mark loves with his sushi, though it was expensive (like $5
for a bottle). Burt and Sharon signed up for Teppanyaki one night, which they
found not as good and not as entertaining as they were used to on land.
Le Bistro is Norwegian's signature fancy french restaurant. We ate there the
last night, as we had some trouble making reservations far enough in advance.
We were seated next to the Matisse, and all of the food was wonderful. My
big issue here was the lack of vegetarian options. They had a single appetizer,
but it was aparagus, which I don't really care for. There was no soup. This
was not a terrible thing, but when you pay $12.50 for the meal on a ship, you
want to be able to order each course! The entree, a vegetarian four seasons,
was wonderful, as was the salad, a spinach salad with goat cheese. I was a
little disappointed with the dessert, cherries jubilee. On NCL Majesty they
flambeed the flambeed dessert at your table, and I ordered expecting that.
They did not do that here. Mark and Burt had the filet which they pronounced
delicious, and Sharon the chicken. However, I do tend to find le Bistro food
worth the extra charge, and definitely find the ambiance worthwhile.
We did not eat at Cagney's steak house.
Salsas is a Mexican/Tapas restaurant which is intruiguingly built around the
atrium on the 8th deck (just above the floor of the atrium). Despite its location,
it was a very nice place to dine, and the foot traffic is definitely directed away
from this area. It was nice because you could enjoy the live music from the floor
below while dining. We were at a table for two by a large window and could
watch the water rushing by at our feet. I asked about the Tapas (which I love)
and what was available for vegetarians, and the chef went out of his or her way
to design a Tapas plate for us which was entirely vegetarian. I was quite
impressed. I also had a vegetable quesadilla, and my husband had Fajitas
which were quite lovely. We had a really lovely waitress, and it was a great
dinner. There is no additional charge for Salsas.
We did not eat in the Italian place, but it is created out of half of the Garden
Cafe at dinner. We did eat one buffet dinner, and the biggest problem was
that there was NOTHING for me to eat at all, except salad. They even put
chicken in the Alfredo sauce, so I could not eat pasta. I ended up getting
a plate from the kids' area in this (They have a separate kids area in this
buffet, with a lower buffet full of kid-friendly foods, which fortunately for me,
included macaroni and cheese.) I could not figure out why there were no
vegetarian options at dinner, especially given the special vegetarian food at lunch.
While we did not eat a Blue Lagoon, we walked through a lot of times. Clearly
set up for teens and very young adults, this has music videos and worldwide fast
food (hamburgers, fish and chips, noodle bowls). I heard positive things from
folks of those generations about it. We prefer a dining room, and were not
really hungry for snacks at all.
There was a chocoholic buffet, which was quite wonderful, with a wide variety
of foods (including some non-chocolate stuff.). I believe this was the only buffet,
but there were always late night snacks. There was also no high tea which
I really missed.
We also ordered sandwiches from room service one day (at 8 AM to take with
us to St. John) and they were very good; I had peanut butter, which was a
special order (the kids menu had peanut butter and jelly) Mark had turkey.
One very funny thing happened while we were in Impressions on Monday, the
13th. This was Sharon's birthday and our TA had arranged a celebration.
Imagine the surprise when the waiters came and sang "Let me call you Sweetheart"
and presented and anniversary cake!
The ship itself:
Rooms on this ship are small. Ours was really small. The web site said 140
square feet, but it felt more like the 112 on our first cruise. We had an inside
CC cabin. It was laid out in the standard manner, with the closet, drawers,
shelves, safe on one side and the bathroom on the other. They put the beds
together in the middle of the back wall of the cabin, which was not the best idea,
since it left only about a foot and a half on each side. We would rather have had 3
feet on one side. Now keep in mind that small is not really an issue for us.
We would gladly travel in this size cabin again. I note this because there are many
people for whom this is important. Sharon and Burt had a balcony stateroom,
which was significantly bigger than our stateroom, but still very narrow. There
was only room for two chairs and a table on their balcony. Our inside room was set
up so that it could potentially accomodate 4 people, with a trundle bed under one of the
singles and a pull-down bed. I cannot imagine 4 people in that stateroom.
The one really great things about these rooms is the bathrooms. They are
very large for cruise shipbathrooms. Indeed, when we opened the sliding
door (yes, not a curtain, a sliding door) to the shower my husband said "we
could both fit in there." I am a little skeptical that we really could (it would
be a tight fit for our two corpulent bodies) BUT that gives you a big clue to
the generous shower facilities. There was enough shelf space for all our
stuff, and lots of places to hang things. In the main cabin there were only
3 drawers, but there were also four shelves inside the closet (under the
safe, but shelf access.) We were quite pleased with the facilities. But
we did not spend much time in the room.
The rest of the ship is beautiful, of course. It's new and nothing is worn
or discolored. There is a LOT of art in this shop, not just the famed
impressionist paintings, and the warhols in the stairway (flowers fore,
Mao midship, and a sunset aft), but there is art all over the place. A
large swooping mobile in the atrium by the elevators, stained glass
ceilings over Salsa's restaurant, glass sculptures (not to my taste,
but still there) in the lobby, art deco style sculptures of women in the
forward end of the 7th floor, lots if interesting wall art. I can't begin to
describe it all, but it was very interesting, and beautiful. Even the
ceilings and floor treatments were interesting throughout the ship.
I thought the internet cafe carpet was particularly interesting, but
many interesting carpet treatments were all over the shop.
Some of the public spaces:
Stardust Theatre:
All the way forward on 7, the Stardust Theatre is a very big proscenium
stage. It's accessed on 6 and 7 but is really about 3 decks high. It is
like a broadway theatre, with side balconies, a very tall center section,
catwalks above the stage, really good lighting and audio equipment.
There are few bad seats in the house; the very last row in the balcony
is really bad, and there are a few seats behind pillars. The theatre
does fill up quickly. It is a great space and the entertainment that
they put on in it is also pretty exceptional. The Jean Ann Ryan
company has three shows, a tribute to Andrew Lloyd Weber, a
Miami "South Beach Party" show and a "Bollywood" show. The last
is the most spectacular, costumes, effects, lighting, very unique
concept extremely well realized, but I don't want to ruin the surprise
of it. It is neat that these shows, especially the Weber one, have far
less lip-synching than other cruise shows I have seen. I think the
Weber one had none. During that show almost all the dancers had
microphones, and when they came and stood in the aisles, you
could hear them singing.
There were a half dozen "specials" like there are on Norwegian show
teams, a Russian dance couple, a classically dance trained couple
who also did a lot of acrobatics and a couple men who were clearly
high class gymnasts. It was great.
In other entertainment, we saw Dominique Ava, a violinist and a
juggler/comedian. There was a late night comedian but we never
managed to get to his show.
Live music venues and bars:
On deck 12 the Spinnaker Lounge, also at the front, was my favorite
Bar/live music venue. There was a fairly large dance floor, and this is
where the Show Band did their Big Band music. It was also where the
Latitudes party was, from which I posted to rec.travel.cruises on Monday
morning (More on internet connection later). We got to the party early
and snagged seats over on the side, right in the windows, where we
could watch ourselves approach and sail into San Juan. This was a
different room in the day than at night. During the day it was a big
airy light room, and at night it was a large elegant lounge. Toward
the back of the room were a set of really interesting, unique chairs;
very fun.
Dazzles, on Deck 7 behind the Stardust theatre, was the Karaoke
venue. The only problem with this is that it is open to the foot traffic
on that floor, and therefore not very private. This inhibits shy folk
from being involved in Karaoke. For the first time on a ship, we
went to Karaoke where they had a lot of trouble getting folks to
sing (I was not comfortable singing with a lot of non-karaoke folks
walking through.) That said, the technology here is really neat, a
floor to ceiling screen behind the singer showing the video portion,
as well as monitors over the bar, special lighting. It is a lovely
place but a bit too public for me.
Dazzles II, between Dazzles and the Blue Lagoon is a disco for the 17 to 20 set.
There is often live music in the atrium, a folk combo called "Love
Brothers and Lira" A Latin band and a contemporary band shared
the pool deck; which had a great bandstand between two of the
four hot tubs around the pool. Two piano bar performers alternated
in the champagne bar, near Le Bistro and impressions on the 6th
floor. And the Star Bar was a martini bar off by itself on the highest
level of the ship.
Shopping:
Because the ship is new, everything was fairly expensive (we like the
older polos and such that are less expensive.) There were two shops.
The Galleria is a large duty free shop with a lot of Norwegian
merchandise and various duty free things. It was large and nice.
There was also a gift shop off the atrium with a lot of luxury goods.
The stuff was beautiful but way out of range for us. They also had
some special stuff in the lobby, like the ubiquitous "inch of gold" promotion.
Children's program:
None of us had children around, and this was during school time,
but there were some children aboard. The T-rex outdoor area is
pretty amazing, and when we visited this area it seemed like a
great deal of fun. A young man in the hot tub with my husband
told him that the T-rex area was great. There is a hot tub for
children in that area, but there is no restriction on children in the
four hot tubs in the pool area, or the one on the front (though I
never saw children there). The spa is restricted to 16 and older.
They have programs for kids of all levels, including a disco for
young adults not quite drinking age, so it seems pretty nice this way.
Spa:
My sister in law visted the spa for two treatments (birthday presents)
and while she enjoyed the treatments she found the hard sell of
products very annoying. The spa itself is beautiful, with a Mayan
theme, which was really cool. It's on two levels, above is the fitness
area with lots of equipment, a spinning room and an aerobics room.
I attended one of the aerobics classes, which was very well done. (I
am an AFAA step instructor, so I know a little bit to judge it). Since
we snorkeled three days I did not attend other classes, though I did
the group walk one morning.
Downstairs in the spa is just wonderful though. In addition to the Salon
and treatment facility, there is an extensive set of things you can do
without paying for a treatment. Men's and women's changing rooms
include steam rooms and saunas. They are small but effective. I
spent time in the steam room but not the sauna. In the central area
you can find a lap pool (warm water in the high 70's. Reputed to be
the largest indoor pool on a cruise ship it is long enough to do laps
effectively, though I rarely saw people swimming in it. There was
also a wave pool, which was like a jacuzzi, but with reclining support,
so that you lay back in it. Except for the nagging feeling that you are
slipping forward (I found that I actually was not even though I felt like I
was) it is lovely. In addition there is a nice sized hot tub (no one under
16 in here). And facing the aft of the ship there is a row of chaises
looking out a wall of windows. You can sit here and read or just watch
the wake of the ship. Very nice.
Casino:
One of my favorite places on the ship. The casino is appropriately
glittery and bright, with strong colors and lots of sparkle. There were
ususally 4 or 5 $5 blackjack tables (plus 2 $10 tables and a $25 table).
I won $110 at blackjack over the week, so I was very happy. The place
was quite large and fun, and full of slots. We had a fun time in the casino.
Internet Services:
We decided to use the wireless internet service, since Mark had
brought his laptop and wireless internet card along with him in order to
download photos from his digital camera. We signed up for it Saturday afternoon,
but technical problems made it impossible to use until late Monday morning.
Indeed my monday morning post from Spinnaker lounge was the first time we
had gotten on.
Ports of Call.
These are pretty standard ports of call. At San Juan we docked at the
Pan American Terminal. I can't figure this out, except that it is very far
from Old San Juan. This is not good, especially since the port call is
short, 12:30 in the afternoon to 8:00. Since this was Sharon's birthday
this did not leave much time to do any sight-seeing.
We did not linger in St. Thomas, but headed right out to Trunk Bay on
St. John, where we did some snorkelling, and saw a shark and many
other fish. It was a nice day and we did some minimal shopping at
Havensight before returning to the ship.
On Tortolla we took an arranged ferry over to Virgin Gorda for about 4
hours. We took a cab out to the Baths which we enjoyed immensely.
We hiked through the caves and amond the boulders for an hour or so,
then snorkelled for another hour. The huge boulders that litter the beach
are a dramatic landscape, but it is almost more dramatic when you start
looking at it out under the water, because the same landscape continues
out a ways into the water, and provides a home for many interesting fish.
I hope my underwater pics come out well and I can post therm.
The only problem was that I left my PDA with my notes on the cruise so
far somewhere on Virgin Gorda. We returned to the ship, and were able
to get a replacement room card. Fortunately my passport was safe in the
safe on the ship. I called the gift shop on Virgin Gorda and the cab driver
we'd used, but they did not see it. I can only hope someone will send it.
In the meantime I need to see if my insurance will cover this.
Great Stirrup Cay was a great private island stop, and I did some
snorkelling there, although the seas were too rough to see much,
not the clear water that we saw in St. John and Virgin Gorda. I also
swam there some, riding the waves.
Disembarkation:
This was really slow. As we were doing an extra day in Florida we were
in the last group. It did not help that there was a non-US Citizen who
took a long time to report to immigration. First they started announcing
that remaining Non-US citizens needed to report to immigration, then they
started to announce that this person needed to report by name. For over
an hour. Disembarkation started more than an hour late. We spent some
time in the internet cafe, using up our minutes, then had a leisurely breakfast
in the dining room, then waited in our room. Especially in this situation,
Freestyle disembarkation has a real advantage. I hate sitting in a lounge
at the end of the cruise. Instead we watched some stuff on TV.
When the luggage tag color ahead of ours was called, we started making
our way down to the exit, and therefore our wait when we were called was
not long. We found our luggage easily, and hopped a bus for Alamo car
rental (we were staying an extra day) easily from the port. It was a great
cruise, and we had a wonderful time, but it was over.
--
Julie
**********
Check out my Traval Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
Marsha L
and some considering it....
Marsha, still considering
"Juliana L Holm" <jh...@osf1.gmu.edu> wrote in message
news:b0fqdd$s...@portal.gmu.edu...
Juliana L Holm
I should also say we were in a JJ cabin not CC. Brain fart, I guess.
Julie
> Marsha, still considering
--
dizzneebabe
is very accurate, in my opinion. Just a few add ons...
We arrived early and were on board around 12:15pm, even though they weren't
supposed to start until 1pm. Lucky for us. Friends of ours arrived later,
when many other flights came in and they ended up waiting in line for about
an hour. They let us on early, stating that our cabins might not be quite
ready let, but we were welcome to drop our personal things off in our room
and enjoy ourselves. The staff was scrambling around to get everything
ready. Luckily, our cabin was ready, except for a quick vacuuming.
The ship is SO beautiful! Yes, while it is new and unworn, the design and
decor is elegant, yet contemporary--not stuffy or gaudy. We especially
loved the stadium style seating around the pool deck. Although it was
pretty noisy there (as most are) it was a very unique idea. When we wanted
more peace and quiet, we went towards the front of the ship.
My husband wants to put his two cents in about the men's restroom adjacent
to the pool bar, Oasis (I think that's the name). It has a view! Above the
urinals, there is a picture window. I wanted to sneak in there, to take a
peek (with a 'k' ) lol, but with a full ship, there was always someone in
there. The women's, directly opposite of the men's, did not have a view.
We had a large mirror instead.
We did eat at Cagney's twice, during our cruise. For me, it was wonderful.
Filet, spinach salad and cheesecake. My husband had the T-bone, which was a
little on the thin side, so, it was overcooked for his liking. The second
time, he also had the filet and was quite pleased. We thought it was worth
the extra $$ considering what was being served in the main dining rooms on
those particular nights.
Le Bistro was my husband's favorite. He said the escargot was excellent. I
had French Onion Soup, which was very flavorful, but surprisingly, did not
have a cheese layer on top. Funny--you mention there wasn't a soup on the
menu...???? Maybe they removed it? Word of caution, however--I ordered
both soup and salad. This cost us more. If you ordered two appetizers, you
were charged more than the $12.50 (I think it was more around the $15--$17
range). Also, there were other selections on the menu, that cost upwards of
$25. Just be careful to read the menu carefully, so as not to be surprised
later!
As far as the flambéed deserts--we sat near a flambé station, where they
prepared the cherries jubilee, it just wasn't being done tableside.
The Jean Ann Ryan productions were some of the best we have seen! And
no...they did not lip sync. We could hear there voices, beyond the mics.
The performers packed the theater and received standing ovations from the
crowd.
One big negative---we did have trouble getting reservations at the premium
restaurants. We went with another couple, who we put in charge of arranging
dinner, while we secured our lounge chairs (the usual fiasco). The poor guy
stood in line for 30-45 minutes each day for reservations, since they didn't
allow reservations to be made until 9am for that evening. Also, there was
only one phone line for all restaurant reservations, so it was, as you can
imagine, always busy. We were also told that passengers in suites could
book at any time--so they took the prime times at the best restaurants
first. We thought that was rather unfair, since we paid a premium for our
BA category (deck 10 balcony) and figured many people are upgraded to those
suites, by a stroke of sheer luck. Oh well...
The Teppanyaki is a waste, in my opinion. It is two tables of 10 (if I
remember correctly), so it is no wonder, we had a hard time getting a dinner
time. The food and performance was far inferior to what we have in the
Chicago area, for Japanese steakhouses. Being so small and having only
three seatings per night, it should be eliminated.
Overall, we loved it! This was our first cruise on NCL and we will
definitely be back!!!
I have many pictures posted at our website:
http://www.comshark.com/NCL2002.htm
Glad you had a great time like we did!!! Thanks for your detailed
report--you saved me a lot of typing!! LOL
"Juliana L Holm" <jh...@osf1.gmu.edu> wrote in message
news:b0fqdd$s...@portal.gmu.edu...
Lee Schwartzberg
<dizzn...@comshark.com> wrote:
> Le Bistro was my husband's favorite. He said the escargot was excellent. I
> had French Onion Soup, which was very flavorful, but surprisingly, did not
> have a cheese layer on top. Funny--you mention there wasn't a soup on the
> menu...???? Maybe they removed it?
FWIW, a traditional French Onion Soup has a beef based broth, so would be
off limits to a vegetarian. Maybe that's why Julie didn't order it?
Thanks for a great review, Julie. I'm one of those that's considering the
Dawn. She'll be leaving from NYC during the Summer, right? Maybe August
2004.
Lee
dizzneebabe
"Lee Schwartzberg" <l...@campmor.com> wrote in message
news:lee-200103...@192.168.100.102...
> In article <FETW9.1133$m61.42...@twister2.starband.net>, "dizzneebabe"
> <dizzn...@comshark.com> wrote:
>
> > Le Bistro was my husband's favorite. He said the escargot was
excellent. I
> > had French Onion Soup, which was very flavorful, but surprisingly, did
not
> > have a cheese layer on top. Funny--you mention there wasn't a soup on
the
> > menu...???? Maybe they removed it?
>
> FWIW, a traditional French Onion Soup has a beef based broth, so would be
> off limits to a vegetarian. Maybe that's why Julie didn't order it?
>
Warren H. Davis
As of late last week the ship was 'unavailable.' There may be agencies with
group space that still have cabins and I suppose that the sailing will open and
close as people cancel.
I was keeping an eye on the fares using a couple of different booking engines.
Warren
>Thanks for the detailed report... as you know, some of us are booked on her,
>and some considering it....
>
>Marsha, still considering
>
remove the drink to email Y
Warren H. Davis
Thanks for the nice writeup Julie!
Warren
D Ball
Julie:
It was fun to read your onboard posts and now cruise review. Thanks for making
the effort.
It sounds like y'all had a terrific time and, to follow-up on my comments
before your cruise, that you enjoyed the Dawn far better than we enjoyed
the Star. Unless I missed it, you didn't mention some of those factors that
made our Star cruise less enjoyable to us than others, including: unreasonably
long waits for dinner in the no-charge, no-reservation dining rooms, with
no "buzzers" to allow you the freedom to do something else while waiting
for your table (perhaps the addition of a third dining room--the Star doesn't
have "Impressions," just the Venetian & Aqua--accounts for the improvement
in this area on the Dawn); mediocre service in the dining rooms (I hope this
reflects a maturity in NCL's adaptation to the different service issues presented
in a 100% freestyle dining atmosphere); increase in extra charge items (fresh-squeezed
OJ for breakfast is the one that particularly rubbed me the wrong way); and
notably casual attitude of the majority of pax in dress and decorum to the
point we felt like we were at Disney World afloat (partly due to NCL's decision
to make formal night optional, of course--but I'm wondering if the Hawaiian
itinerary might have been a bigger influence than the Carib?).
I had to laugh about your description of the Blue Lagoon 24-hour snack bar
as for persons no older than teens & very young adults. I'm smack dab in
the middle of middle-age and loved it! I had to do a quick replay--was I
sitting there being gawked at, surrounded by young, hip things?! No, at least
on the Star, there were pax who were my contemporaries and older joining
me each time I ate there. I liked the food quality and menu variety...there
were several non-burger items in addition to the noodle bowl (which was pretty
good!)--salad, wraps, etc., and with service being only so-so in the dining
rooms, I didn't feel the urge to eat in the dining room most lunches as is
my usual preference.
Anyway, I'm thrilled you had another fabuluous cruise. Your comments are
always a delight to read.
Diana Ball
Near Houston, TX
NCL Sea – W Carib - Holidays 99
RCI Explorer – E Carib - Holidays 00
RCI Rhapsody – W Carib - Holidays 01 (back-to-back)
NCL Star – Hawaii - June 02
Dawn Princess – Alaska - July 02
Star Princess – Mex Riviera - Holidays 02
TO REPLYfarmer@btinternet.com mark
was our first cruise.
thanks
Mark
Island Gal
<dizzn...@comshark.com> wrote:
>I have many pictures posted at our website:
>http://www.comshark.com/NCL2002.htm
What category cabin did you have?
dizzneebabe
"Island Gal" <islandg...@email.com> wrote in message
news:i8eo2vcjtobd2d6mt...@4ax.com...
Juliana L Holm
> In article <FETW9.1133$m61.42...@twister2.starband.net>, "dizzneebabe"
> <dizzn...@comshark.com> wrote:
>> Le Bistro was my husband's favorite. He said the escargot was excellent. I
>> had French Onion Soup, which was very flavorful, but surprisingly, did not
>> have a cheese layer on top. Funny--you mention there wasn't a soup on the
>> menu...???? Maybe they removed it?
> FWIW, a traditional French Onion Soup has a beef based broth, so would be
> off limits to a vegetarian. Maybe that's why Julie didn't order it?
EXACTLY. They had french onion (Beef Broth) which my husband loved, and
Wild Mushroom (chicken broth) I have to say they were knowledgeable about
the non-vegetarian ingredients and didn't try to claim it was OK. I was
really OK with this, but I did mention it in the comment card.
Juliana L Holm
> Julie:
> It sounds like y'all had a terrific time and, to follow-up on my comments
> before your cruise, that you enjoyed the Dawn far better than we enjoyed
> the Star. Unless I missed it, you didn't mention some of those factors that
> made our Star cruise less enjoyable to us than others, including: unreasonably
> long waits for dinner in the no-charge, no-reservation dining rooms, with
> no "buzzers" to allow you the freedom to do something else while waiting
> for your table (perhaps the addition of a third dining room--the Star doesn't
> have "Impressions," just the Venetian & Aqua--accounts for the improvement
> in this area on the Dawn); mediocre service in the dining rooms (I hope this
> reflects a maturity in NCL's adaptation to the different service issues presented
We experienced no waits at all, we were seated immediately when we went to dinner
AT all times. there was no extra charge for dining items outside of the
alcoholic bevereges and stuff in the pay dining rooms.
Service was excellent except for one wwoman in Salsa's who just seemed to not
know always what to do. AS she was clearly being mentored by another woman,
things went smoothly anyway, and we assumed swhe was really new.
> in a 100% freestyle dining atmosphere); increase in extra charge items (fresh-squeezed
> OJ for breakfast is the one that particularly rubbed me the wrong way); and
> notably casual attitude of the majority of pax in dress and decorum to the
> point we felt like we were at Disney World afloat (partly due to NCL's decision
> to make formal night optional, of course--but I'm wondering if the Hawaiian
> itinerary might have been a bigger influence than the Carib?).
a
About a third of the folks on the shop dressed up on the optional formal night.
We dont mind if we are dressed up and the folks next to us are in jeans. We were
also with another couple so we had a dressed up group of our own.
> I had to laugh about your description of the Blue Lagoon 24-hour snack bar
> as for persons no older than teens & very young adults. I'm smack dab in
> the middle of middle-age and loved it! I had to do a quick replay--was I
> sitting there being gawked at, surrounded by young, hip things?! No, at least
> on the Star, there were pax who were my contemporaries and older joining
> me each time I ate there. I liked the food quality and menu variety...there
> were several non-burger items in addition to the noodle bowl (which was pretty
> good!)--salad, wraps, etc., and with service being only so-so in the dining
> rooms, I didn't feel the urge to eat in the dining room most lunches as is
> my usual preference.
a
aMay just have been the clientele on this cruise. They also had very little I could
eat, so we skipped it.
> Anyway, I'm thrilled you had another fabuluous cruise. Your comments are
> always a delight to read.
a
Thanks.
Julie
> Diana Ball
> Near Houston, TX
> NCL Sea – W Carib - Holidays 99
> RCI Explorer – E Carib - Holidays 00
> RCI Rhapsody – W Carib - Holidays 01 (back-to-back)
> NCL Star – Hawaii - June 02
> Dawn Princess – Alaska - July 02
> Star Princess – Mex Riviera - Holidays 02
--
Juliana L Holm
> we were on her the 4th jan, how did you rate the ship compared to others? it
> was our first cruise.
There is no doubt that this was the best cruise we have ever taken, however,
last year's Majesty cruise was very close. While the variety and beauty of
the ship was greater here, the itinerary o NCL Majesty was better.
Julie
f
shoreguy
the Dawn 2/8. Just booked about a week ago with a guarantee balcony
reservation. This the first time that I have not slaved over my choice of
cabin. I will post a few comments on my return. They should be interesting.
This is my 10th NCL cruise but my first under the freestyle format. My
cruisemate will be taking her first cruise. I am sure we will have some very
different impressions of the ship, the service, and freestyle in general.
Please don't expect anything as detailed as your post.
Got the email, shopped the cruise, and booked with my agent all in one day.
No planning for this trip. Just need a cruise fix in a bad way. I am sure I
will be stressed out of my mind when it is a week to go and the docs have
not arrived. But as soon as I put my carryon in the cabin all we be
forgotten for at least 6 days.
Jeff Coudriet
Jeff <-- we've had some great reviews here on RTC lately!