disappointed in NCL

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 76

Overall rating:

3.6 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Dawn

15 Night Panama Canal Partial Transit (New York To Tampa)

Sail date: November 09, 2019

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Oceanview

Cabin number: 5082

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Once we went to the cabin we had book 5082. We saw that there was a 3rd bed built into the wall on once side of the bed we were using. We saw no indication from pictures nor had we been told that this room was for 3 people. The first morning, i bent to pick up something that had drooped off my nightstand and smacked my head on the metal frame of the extra bed. I saw stars. Went I went to customer service to see if something could be done, I felt this was a dangerous situation and position for this extra bed; I was told the ship was full and that the extra bed could not be removed. Did I need medical assistance?!! Luckily at that point I did not, other than having a sore head where I had banged it. The next day the safe in our room gave us an error messaged when we went to open it. I called guest relations again, and informed them about the safe and asked if someone could come unlock it. I was told that these safes were problematic and would need to be drilled out. Once drilled, they would no longer work. Crew came in and drilled out the safe that had all our cash, credit cards, jewelry and passports. I called guest service again and asked if NCL would now be responsible for our valuables since we no longer had a safe to use and was told I could come down the main desk and use their safe. Really??? then every time I needed any jewelry or cash, I needed to come down to the desk, wait in line and then decide what I wanted to wear or how much to take? After speaking to a few of the other guests, they informed me that they were without use of the safes in their rooms as well. Terrible!! overall ... we were very disappointed in NCL.

Embarkation

4 out of 5
embarkation was as expected. Lot's of people, but everything went smoothly and we boarded the ship in good time.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
at best, food was OK. Wait staff for the most part were attentive, some more friendly and better than others. Being a vegetarian, selection was more limited. I found most of the foods to be extremely rich, others dried out. We had been on the Dawn several years ago and found this cruise not as good. Things have deteriorated.

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5
we went to the pool and hot tub area during the day and casino at night.

Entertainment

4 out of 5
although we didn't go to any of the shows, we did enjoy most of the musicians and groups that performed.

Children's Programs

no kids with us

Service and Staff

4 out of 5
service was good for the most part. some were much nicer and more attentive than others.

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
common areas were well kept and clean

Cabin / Stateroom

2 out of 5
clean, but poorly designed, and safe didn't work after the first day

Ship tip

Chose another ship. We have sailed on NCL about 5 or 6 times in the past, but if the Dawn is any indication of what NCL has become, chose another line.

Ports of call

New York, New York

5 out of 5
NY is NY ..

Willemstad, Curacao

4 out of 5

Oranjestad, Aruba

4 out of 5

Santa Marta, Colombia

4 out of 5

Cartagena, Colombia

5 out of 5

Panama Canal (Cruise Into Canal)

5 out of 5

Colon, Panama

5 out of 5

Puerto Limon, Costa Rica

3 out of 5

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

2 out of 5
made up town with 4 ships in at the same time. Over crowded, over priced

Disembarkation

4 out of 5
Port of Tampa was having problems which delayed disembarkation about 1.5 hours.. but that wasn't NCL's fault
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4 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

Nelle1030    5 years ago

We had the exact same cabin last week. Safe was still broken. They said most of the older tan ones were being replaced but they haven't received them yet.

eddiemac1    5 years ago

Fake review. 4 stars?

rookmate    5 years ago

need to do homework, in legend there is a plus sign that indicates bed for third person for this cabin

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