Not really a fan
Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Bermuda
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 4
7 Night Bermuda (Boston Roundtrip)
Sail date: April 20, 2018
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 8088
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
I was so excited for my first cruise but ended up really disliking cruising. I don’t know if it was just a bunch or poor experiences and this isn’t typical, but it leaves me wondering if I should bother trying another. It is probably the cheapest way to visit Bermuda however so I may try once more. So I don’t sound like a whine bag, I will start with a few positives. *Our room steward was extremely nice and attentive. *Almost all staff members were friendly *I didn’t engage in many of the activities but there were a lot and they seemed to appeal to all types of people *while the cabins were small, there was lots of storage space. We didn’t even need to use a lot of it. Even having three suitcases and two carry ons there was plenty of space. I think it would be difficult to have 4 people in a ocean view. Three could probably work well though if you had a close relationship. *The ship itself was spotless, I seen staff always cleaning, never seen even a spect of dust or fingerprints on glass. *Cagney’s, the specialty steak house was delicious and prices were good too *Disembarking was a breeze. Our luggage was extremely easy to find. We chose the latest check out to avoid crowds and got out quickly and simply Now the not so good, Starting off, embarking was a nightmare. We chose our check-in time but lines were still crazy. My mother is handicapped and can’t walk or stand a long time so this was difficult for her. We get into the ship and it was pure chaos. We had to find a place to rest and not knowing the ship and all the crowdedness it was difficult. However, I suspect this is probably typical of first day on any cruise, so I can accept that. I was disappointed that even arriving around 1pm our cabin still wasn’t ready. After traveling there we are tired and just wanted to get to our cabin to relax. Onto the Emergency drill. We head out to go to the emergency drill right as they called us. They have us standing on a deck. We got there about 15 minutes early because we were worried we wouldn’t be able to find it. They have us cramming together and we are shoulder to shoulder with strangers and my mom who uses a cane keeps getting pushed and bumped. So we move from the middle, to the side and they tell us no we need to get in closer. My mom explains the situation and they don’t show any concern or care. It’s April and still freezing in Boston. They finally start the drill about 15 minutes late, my mom is having difficulty standing. They have these drills in the dining areas as well so us being unlucky and having to stand in the cold was annoying. They should really have a designated seating area for disabled passengers or at least a couple chairs if needed for these drills. We hold out hope that it’s just a hectic first few hours and things will smooth out. ...not so much. They lose my moms luggage. Mine arrives quickly but hers isn’t there. They say wait till 8pm. Even though everyone in our area appears to have there’s, we trust in the system and try to keep calm. We head to dinner, it’s now two hours after my luggage has arrived and we walk by hers three hallways away sitting with someone else’s beside a cabin door!! Our room Stewart threw away our prior day cruise papers which I’m assuming he was trying to be helpful because we always threw them out ourselves. Well this time we left them on the bed side with our excursion tickets, so when he tossed that. The tickets folded inside were also tossed. A few days in, our toilet overflows all over the bathroom. Luckily I had a lot of towels around so I was able to stop it before it got to our living area. Couple days after that (our last two sea days) we have no water for the sink, shower or toilet for a few hours. This seemed to effected many areas of the ship. Once the issue was “resolved” it resulted in our bathroom smelling like feces for the rest of the trip. You could also sometimes smell feces in the hallways of our floor. I used one of the main bathrooms and it was cleaned with bleach but not wiped up fully and ruined my shirt with multiple bleach stains. The staff couldn’t understand my order in one of the restaurants. We ordered an app to share and I got fajitas. I guess she thought I wanted the app just for me because I never got my fajitas. When we asked for our waitress after we hadn’t seen her, they told us she “clocked out.” I know that her shift has to end but the person to take over should have checked on us. I wasn’t that hungry so I just dealt with the appetizer. Walls were extremely thin on one side of our cabin. We could hear practically every word said by our neighbors, they weren’t loud it was really just the walls. I used a sound app on my phone though and that drowned everything out while sleeping. However, if we had noisy neighbors idk if it would have worked that well. The beds were hard. So so hard. I have an extra firm at home and love it. But these beds were comparable to what I imagine it would be like to sleep on concrete with a thin piece of foam on the top. Backache every single morning. Food in the buffet was often cold. The buns and rolls for burgers/hotdogs/sandwiches were always stale from sitting out. They would just crumple when trying to eat. It took us a few days to relize each side of the buffet had different food because when asked the staff member said that both sides had the same. The buffet was more convenient than waiting in a restaurant but the crowds and unsupervised children were a nightmare. It was a balancing act trying to dodge running children and others who couldn’t watch where they were going while trying to make it back to your seat. They often had two of the four small hot tubs closed. Being such a huge ship it was hard to get your turn. The pool was also extremely small. On the pool deck it was usually a 10-15min wait for a drink and all the mixed drinks were so weak I couldn’t even get tipsy. I had 5 drinks and felt completely sober. Getting even a soda in the night was nearly impossible. It took me till the cruise was almost over to realize you could get a soda after 2am but only from the casino. Because of the hard time to get a beverage in the night we bought the water package $17 for 6 liters of water. Practically robbery. Lastly, I got a massage, it was very nice but the upselling was annoying. The products were around $150 when I declined and said it was over my price point the lady was condescending and said “oh so you rather just be in pain?” The pain she referred to was me mentioning I had some sciatic pain. She told me I had swelling and knots in my shoulder when I’ve never had any type of pain there. They Recommended most of the same things to my mom. I understand upselling but at least be somewhat honest don’t try to sell me tons of things I don’t need.Embarkation
Crowded not much organization
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
With all the hype I was expecting more.
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Back elevator is least crowded. Then front. Middle is always a long wait.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
Royal Naval Dockyard, West End, Bermuda