Great Entertainment mediocre food.

Item: Norwegian Dawn
Rating: 3.5
Author: lszerlip

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York

lszerlip

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 59

Overall rating:

3.5 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night New England & Canada (Boston To Quebec)

Sail date: September 11, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 8168

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

Having cruised on several different cruise lines. I felt that NCL was on the lower end in service, food. I felt I was being nickeled and dimmed for everything. Small things like towel animals I only received the last two nights. There were no mints on my pillow. Room service even for coffee is a fee. The drink package lets you drink but you still have to pay 18% on every drink you order. The food was not bad but was just mediocre. Since you don't get the same server with the free style dining you never get those special touches. Dress is very casual and they really push the pay restaurants. When dining there you pay a fee plus 18%. If you want two entrees you pay $10.00. Lobster is also extra. In the specilty restaurants the food was superior to dining rooms or buffet. The one thing that was superior on NCL was entertainment. The normal dancers and singers were only used twice and the magic, and comedy acts were spectacular. If you are looking for a cruise where you don't dress up and want good entertainment NCL is the way to go. If you want superior food try Celebrity.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Fair better in specialty restaurants

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Bingo is expensive 39.00 for three cards

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Excellent better than other lines less of their dancers and singers

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Staff was pleasant but no one really went above and beyond

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Ship is fine not glitzy like Royal.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

Carpet looks dates bed felt old.

Ship tip

It's a great cruise line if you don't want to dress up.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Boston, Massachusetts

5 out of 5

Portland, Maine

5 out of 5

Halifax, Nova Scotia

3 out of 5

Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

5 out of 5

Gaspe, Quebec

1 out of 5

Waste of a stop

Thumbs Up 1

La Baie, Quebec

1 out of 5

Another waste of a stop

Thumbs Up 1

Quebec City, Quebec

5 out of 5

Take a day to see old town it is like a small Paris.

Thumbs Up 2

9 Comments

Gwbigdog 1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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debbiegagnon 9 years ago

kawxyz10 we too had an inner room and they never got the room ac working and the room and our clothes always felt damp and musty, but our room steward was amazing! Don't think the man ever slept he was there constantly and if we forgot to turn our wheel he knew what to do anyway and the room was always ready. Most work very hard long days!

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Gregster1133261 9 years ago

We prepaid our gratuities but plan on tipping the cabin steward extra when we first get on and when we we depart. I read reviews that said if you tip them extra "The world is your oyster". These people work 10 hours a day, 7 days a week for very low wages.. Most of them are from third world countries. Also plan on tipping the dining room staff extra as well.

A little kindness goes a long way.!!!

Thumbs Up 6

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flipflop15 9 years ago

Never mind it's not. did you get pins in the past?

Thumbs Up 0

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flipflop15 9 years ago

we were on the Dawn in August and loved it. We love NCL. We had towel animals and chocolates and got our ship pins. Was this your 1st NCL cruise kawxyz10?

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kawxyz10 9 years ago

We are scheduled to cruise again next month can't get our $ back finally got the extra gratitude charges off our bill but we had to cancel our reservation @ Cagneys cuz we didn't want to go over our credit limit on our credit card only to find out that if u don't give 24 hours notice they still charge u so we still got screwed. Our TA blamed NCL & visa versa NCL.com/submission to write complaint

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kawxyz10 9 years ago

We just returned we had no AC no towel animals, chocolates, ship pin, when we order drinks or dinners tips were already charged. We prepaid our gratitude back in Jan when charges were $12 pp when we got the bill they charged us again @ a $13.50 SC we had inside cabin too. Tried correcting it on ship ncl said its not there problem take it up with my TA when I got home. We feel tips should b earned.

Thumbs Up 0

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Gregster1133261 9 years ago

Thanks for the feedback.

We sail on the Dawn on Oct 2nd out of Quebec City.

Have been on Celebrity and the food was AMAZING !

Chose this cruise for the ports (Eastern Canada) and the great price!

Do prefer a casual, non pretentious cruise!

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raiin247 9 years ago

Agreed, tables not clean thoroughly, chairs not wiped(winjammer)

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