Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Line
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Date of Cruise: February 1 - February 8, 2003

Western Caribbean on the Norwegian Dawn
By: Ken and Joan

The following review, observations and opinions are based on Joan having 17 cruises and I with 14 cruises on various cruise lines and ships over the years.

We drove from Tennessee to Orlando and visited with adult children.

1 Feb. we caught the 6:00AM "Cruise Connection" motor coach at an Orlando restaurant. It made four stops for pick-ups and takes you right to dockside terminals. The service requires advance reservations - cost $36 round trip per person. It sure takes the fatigue/stress out of driving to Miami. At the terminal guests must ID their luggage before "porters" load it in large mobile carts which are then loaded on the ship. Check-In at the Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) Terminal is effortless with the normal standing/waiting in line to process before entering the large seated waiting room. Tickets, Passports, ID's are carefully checked and you sign up for an on board credit account. You also receive your pre-made ship/cruise ID Card which also is your electronic cabin/stateroom key.

The Norwegian Dawn is brand new, entered cruise service late December 2002 and is on its inaugural cruise season. It is big, 965 feet long, can carry up to 2,224 passengers with a crew of 1.112. The ship was spotless and crewmen were seen daily cleaning, polishing or touching up paint on exterior surfaces. Carpeting in public areas had bright designs which one gets used to quickly. Many murals in the public passageway walls depict a 1920 era theme, quite different.

Our inside cabin (not a stateroom) was mid-price range on the 9th Deck. The cabin was small, in fact, the smallest we have had on all our cruises, although the NCL brochure says, "spacious and well appointed"; walls were an off-white with hi-gloss red cherry wood finishing on doors, closets and trim. It was so small that two persons have difficulty getting by each other between bathroom and closet door passageway. The closet door and bathroom door hit each other when opening. Clothing/underwear storage is limited to three drawers. Closet hang-up space is adequate for two with some shelf space therein. There is a telephone, TV, and personal effects safe, small fridge at eye level which can hold 4-5 cans of soda pop and several apples, a German hair dryer and a hotel type coffee maker. Joan desired to use her own hair dryer with "defuser", however the plug/transformer would not fit the receptacle under the mirror. I always carry an American 4 foot extension cord on cruises, problem solved. Room had two comfortable single beds plus a hidden fold-up trundle bed under one bed, and a fold down bunk bed half way up the aft bulkhead/wall. Thus the room could accommodate four persons, however, would result in wall-to-wall beds and partially living out of luggage. A four person room based on the 4 beds and 4 provided life preservers. Counter space in the bathroom leaves something to be desired, rather small. Joan likes to have her cosmetics unpacked and available for easy use. I had to keep all my shaving gear and toilet articles in my shaving bag. The shower was pleasingly roomy with a sliding plastic door, a vast improvement over other ships hanging shower curtains. Hot and cold shower water controls are typical strange German operation, but one gets used to then after fumbling with them for 7-10 minutes.

The Stardust Theater is forward and quite huge, seating 1,150 passengers. Its design reminds one of an opera house with its double balconies left and right above the main seating. Downward view to stage is unobstructed. Each seat back had a vertical air conditioning vent, which resulted in a nice cool theater. Theater stage productions/shows were excellent with a sizeable New York song and dance troop, comedians, jugglers and acrobats. Most music was by a live band. We attended 6 of 7 evenings. Theater sound volume set by the entertainment sound engineer in his station and in the Spinnaker Lounge was uncomfortably loud. Many guest were seen leaving performances. I have an estimated 60% hearing disability (both ears) and the volume was so loud and piercing that I had to leave also.

A pleasant surprise on the 9th deck, not mentioned in brochure or deck plan was a free guest laundry room with three washers and three dryers plus two irons and boards, but one must go down two decks to Main Reception Desk to buy detergent. We always bring a small container of detergent with us when cruising.

Seven day itinerary was: Montego Bay, Jamaica, (Ocho Rios cancelled due to container loading crane accident closing the pier), Grand Cayman, Costa Maya, Mex., Cozumel, Mex. and back to Miami, includes two full days at sea. Entire cruise was very smooth with a sea state of only 3-5 feet daily. We didn't hear of anyone getting seasick. With the exception of Costa Maya, Mexico, we have been to the other ports of call numerous times. We do not necessarily cruise for the destinations, but look at cruising as a vacation and change of environment. Joan can relax, be pampered and not have to prepare meals, plus no daily house work, a time for her to relax. This also includes at pool side or the beach reading a good book under a shady palm tree, or in the warm crystal clear Caribbean waters.

Jamaica, we went to Dr's Cave beach for swimming and relaxing at the white sand beach.

Grand Cayman -- to Seven Mile Beach for more of the same. Really great with nice breeze.

Costa Maya -- beyond the pier it is mostly undeveloped. There is a clean and well maintained semi-open air mini-tourist mall just off the pier. Great photo opportunity to get pictures of natives dressed as Mayan Indians. We took the tour to the Kohunlich Mayan (Indian) Ruins, ship says 2 1/2 hrs ride, but actually 3 hrs each way over a forewarned bumpy road. We considered the XI-XII century ruins exceptional and well worth the bumpy ride in the air conditioned bus. The ship provided box lunches with bottled water. We had dry tuna between a bum and a raw carrot salad sandwich between a bun (ugh) not very appealing, along with a number of condiments. Toilet on bus was terrible, hadn't been cleaned in ages, no chemical or water to flush and no toilet paper. Bus had a bad PA system, very difficult to hear tour guide, we lost most of his presentation. Tip, go to bathroom before going on bus ride or wait till you arrive at the ruins and use the satisfactory facilities there, and carry a supply of tissues. Hot and humid at the ruins, hate to go there in the summertime , stood under trees whenever possible listening to tour guide with sweat running down face and back. Tip: Use mosquito spray at ruins. We did and had no problem with insects from heavy jungle around us. Also sun screen, a must, if your prone to sunburn. We also took along our wide brim straw hats. They were a pain at times to hand carry to the ship at the beginning, but were a blessing at the Maya Ruins, Cozumel, and beaches. Mexican government charges $4.00 to use a video camera at these ruins, a receipt is given. No charge for still cameras.

NCL Corporate Office has incorporated "Free Style Cruising", to attract passengers. This also includes dining and restaurants. No more First and Second Sitting in the main dining rooms, nor are you assigned to a specific table for the cruise. Dining and most restaurants are open continuously from 5:30PM to about 10:00PM. You can sit at a table for two or tell the hostess you'll accept others at your table, or you may join another unknown couple at their table. We did meet some nice folks this way. Of all the Norwegian Dawn restaurants, five have a cover charge or "A La Cart Pricing". This is foreign to Joan and I. We were told these five were "optional", but as we say, we paid full cruise fare and why should we be charged an extra cover charge for these restaurants. We see it only as an additional NCL money maker. We also found that beside the "cover charges" there were "surcharges", like $5.00 to use an exercise bike and $5.00 each for other specific equipment in the Fitness Center. In the Internet Lounge there was a $3.95 "Activation Fee" just to get the computer on-line, and then 75 cents a minute for being on-line, including composing E-Mail; another NCL money maker. It was noted that the NCL cruise brochure only makes a brief mention about the restaurants having a cover charge or computers are affordable rate which we discovered too high priced. Once aboard ship one finds out about the added costs and actual prices only too quickly.

The following restaurants had additional charges.

• Le Bristo: French Cuisine, $12.50 Cover Charge

• Cagney's: Steak House, $17.50 Cover Charge

• Bamboo: Asian Cuisine, $10.00 Cover Charge

• Tespanyahi: Cooking Just For You, A La Carte Pricing

• Sushi Bar/Restaurant, A La Carte Pricing or $10.00 All You Can Eat

Were these additional charges above per person or per couple is unknown as we did not patronize these specialty establishments. We found that in five of the other six restaurants there appears to be an apparent lack of incentive and lack of attention to detail by the waiters. In traditional cruising we were assigned a table for the entire cruise and this is where the assigned waiter weekly pay came from and their performance determined if a tip was going to be exceptional or not, but not so with this ship. Why should a waiter put forth max effort when minimum effort will get him the same weekly pay. Now the waiter tip is automatically added to your on board bill of $10.00 each a day. Also the same rate for the cabin steward. Quite often there was no follow-up after the main Entree was placed in front of you. One would have to tell the waiter to remove the finished Entree ware, please bring the coffee now, or may I see the desert menu. This becomes a drag day after day. Often a requested side order of toast or bacon was forgotten.

Food: Ship wide, food was excellent, tastefully prepared, delicious and delightfully presentable. Desserts were just too many and out of this world. This covers everything from omelets, steak, lobster tails or the BBQ by the pool area. There were also sugar free deserts. We never minded waiting in line for the afternoon free ice cream bar by the pool after soaking in one of the four pool side hot bubbly Jacuzzis. We did this routine 5 of 7 days. The up-scale gift shops had beautiful merchandise, clothing, jewelry, watches, blown glass and crystal ware etc., however we found prices quite expensive. Bottle liquor prices were reasonable depending what State or country you came from. Ship would hold all liquor purchases till just before disembarking in Miami.

We were shocked and surprised to see three large paintings of Chinese Communist Mao hanging in mid-ship large stair case, one at each of three deck levels. He was responsible for the death, imprisonment and murder of tens of thousands of Chinese and disregard for basic human rights under his rule. Something is wrong with the NCL Corporate Office to allow these three dictator portraits to be displayed on this ship.

There appeared to be a lack of organized activity like a Ping Pong tournament, Shuffle Board, tournament, crafts making, recorded exercise walking, (four trips around the ship equals 1 mile), no classic cruising horse racing pool side by the guests, no fashion show or ring toss, no anchor pool or daily mileage pool, and no Galley tour, just to mention a few. There was Bingo but rather on the expensive side. There was a very nice Gambling Casino, however, large crowds were not observed in the casino day or night like we've seen on other cruise ships. Joan and I limited our playing the "slots" greatly. Maybe the small number in the casino is a reflection of today's economic conditions.

Also The Norwegian Dawn under the Free Style Cruising had done away with the formal dress evening dining and changed that evening dress code to semi-formal or casual dress. Of course, no shorts or swimming attire allowed in the main dining areas. Exception is made in the Garden Restaurant which is an open cafeteria style restaurant, and also the BBQ by the pool.

Miami Dockside Rip-Off: Both embarking and disembarking to/from the ship and riding around to the various ship terminals for several hours dropping off guests and picking up people before we headed for Orlando, we observed groups of men dressed in dark pants, tropical white shirts and white construction hats. When a bus or taxi pulled up to unload, they would descend on the vehicle like vultures. These so called "porters" would handle your luggage after you identified your bags and loaded them into large aluminum wheeled bins or luggage carts which could be 4-6 feet away and then they expected to receive a tip. We heard on board from a British couple that these "porters" demanded $10.00 tip for each piece of luggage they put into the aluminum carts. Another German guest said he was charged, taken, for $75.00. He complained to a police officer, but nothing was done about it. These "porters" did not wear any identification tags/cards on their shirts except for three men. We are quite sure that these were all labor union men belonging to a Miami dockside union as a labor union would never permit non-union men to be in and around the ship terminals/piers.

On the 2nd bus we were transferred to on the numerous go-arounds before heading to Orlando, it was originally 3/4 full of new guests being delivered to various ships. We warned them about the "rip-off" and that if they wanted to tip a so called "porter" we recommended it be based upon $1.00 per piece of luggage, We found the above high charges to foreign visitors to the USA sad and most disturbing.

All in all we had a relaxing cruise with some speed bumps along the way. All the senior citizens we spoke to did not care for the Free Style Cruising with emphasis on the dining aspect, we had to agree. We like the old traditional formal cruise dining and accepted tipping criteria where you are assigned to a specific table, meet and get to know interesting folks, make lasting friendships and relate family stories, review daily ship activities, or land tours sights etc. We also realize that folks on their first cruise do not have past cruising background and cannot make a comparison with Free Style Cruising, and are at a disadvantage in that respect. Joan and I agree that this is our last cruise with Norwegian Cruise Line.

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