Back from NCL Dawn 8/21

Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big
highlight for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Family cruise for me but truly a family cruise. Very young clientele, at
least 30 babies and 30 toddlers, and a whole community of teenagers.
Some public areas repurposed. Family's response to cruising is mixed,
perhaps sister is better off on a quieter ship but in no way has the
cruising bug. Father enjoyed cruise to be at sea, and of course this
cruise in no way compares to our HAL Rotterdam V cruise in 1970.
Teenagers in family, 16-year-old, 14-year-old fraternal twins boy/girl,
and 12-year-old responded like teens--no stars in their eyes. Lots of
karaoke, to a fault, but more on that later.

I like overall ship design but it has an obvious flaw--way too small
pool area. Overall design works, IMO. Ship felt *very* crowded. Agree
about theater seats being narrow. Great showroom entertainment, pretty
typical entertainment from musicians onboard, lower-than-average pool
combo. Ship feel eclectic, different feels depending on what part of the
ship one is in.

Saw Disney Wonder (like its appearance), Navigator of the Sea, Regal
Empress, Carnival Fantasy. Ship goes to Nassau from 8:00 pm and leaves
12:00 the next day, which I found strange.

Cruise service seemed spotty, have the feeling it may be subpar.
Freestyle dining has multiple choices, but no jeans and t-shirts in most
restaurants is enforced--sometimes. And there's an optional formal night
with pics taken as well as suggested optional dress codes. We did
Cagneys as a family and found service and food very good, wife enjoyed
Salsas and I did not, we both enjoyed the Asian restaurant Bamboo,
spotty service and food in Aqua, Impressions, and Venetian--the
"regular" restaurants. Woeful food in buffet, utterly unpleasant
environment. Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour grill/diner a hit, but service
quite poor for this crew and one crew member was publicly reprimanded
(saw this too on Galaxy, something I don't find professional--she should
have been taken somewhere private, IMO). I don't cruise to eat or for
restaurants, but for those that do, this ship has a variety of them and
they are well integrated into the design of the ship. Aqua's placement
requires going up to go down from the Venetian, or for those in cabins
floors 5 and under. Doesn't bother me in the least, may bother some.

Personally, don't like 90,000 ton ships, though I like this better than
Celebrity Millennium class ships in terms of design and variety of
public areas. Prefer 50,000 to 78/80,000 ton ships (HAL Statendam class
to Celebrity Mercury/Galaxy, RCI Vision, Sun Princess sized ships).
Don't see any huge improvements over this ship versus those built in the
mid to late 1990s.

Most enjoyed full moon, wraparound promenade, Star Bar, Spinnaker lounge
--design and some of the activities. Spa staff and quiet spa area. Some
crew members and talking to one of the entertainers.

Least enjoyed: family cruising, mall-like atmosphere, crowded, pasted-on
smiles and sing-song manner of many cruise members (though this isn't
only an NCL crew problem), automatic tipping--depersonalized nature of
dealing with tipping the staff. Lots of announcements and ridiculous
amount of selling. Example, before the magic show an entertainment
member pushed some sort of sales tickets on the audience, also all sorts
of junk was all over the atrium to sell, and more as the cruise went on.

My wife and I have to think about future cruising, the reality of
cruising on mainstream lines versus what we want out of cruising, the
effect of different itineraries and cruise lengths on cruising, perhaps
non North-American lines that have a different emphasis than the current
climate of cruising. We want another world when we cruise and this
cruise was as much Jersey Gardens mall as any vacation we've been on. So
where to go from here, I'm not sure.

My wife and I both agree on our ratings. Notch below RCI, Notch and a
half below Celebrity and HAL in overall quality. I think this may have
been a substandard performing crew, and I'm not sure what NCL's style
is. Have to think about it. I think NCL may do better on this same ship
at other times when ship isn't as crowded, or on different itineraries
with other ships, and I sure hope that NCL has made the pool larger on
the Star and Jewel. (It seems to be small to allow for two huge suites
on the top level of the ship).

More later.

Ben S.

"Benjamin Smith" wrote in message
nk.net...
Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big highlight
for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Welcome Home, Ben and Claudine!
Your review is sort of a mixed bag of feelings..Sorry it was this ship that
turned your sister off from cruising.
I would not however, give up on NCL, but go again at a time that school is
in session..It sounds as if that was a big reason for the *crowded* feeling
that you had ..... all the youngsters on board.

With the Norwegian Spirit leaving from your area now...I highly recommend
that you take her...It was an entirely different experience for us on her
than yours on the Dawn.

Glad that you enjoyed the full moon ;-) and wraparound promenade..That
wraparound promenade has us sold on HAL cruises as well as their size.

I'm afraid the automatic tipping concept is here to stay and spreading to
all cruise lines...depersonalized, but at least stops the stiffing of the
staff that seemed to happen before it was implemented.

When we took the Norwegian Spirit, it was not at all crowded..the service
was very good and there were few children onboard..the pool was not small as
you describe it to be on the Dawn, either. It is one of our favorite ships
and many who were on her with us, really liked her very much. One thing that
NCL has to work on is its buffets..we found the same on the Norwegian Sea as
you did on the Dawn.

Sorry, you were not pleased overall with your cruise...maybe in a day or so,
you will not think of it as harshly and remember more of the pleasant
memories and aspects of and on her! Lots of times that happens..it has to
me!
Glad you two are home safely!

--Jean

Having been on the Dawn 4 times but only once in the summer. I can tell you
it is like night and day. Cruising in Feb we had less the 200 2-17 year old
passengers. I believe I read on one of the boards you had over 700.

In talking with the Hotel Director last cruise he admitted that Freestyle
becomes more of a challenge when the ship exceeds it double occupancy
passenger load. With 700 Kids the pool area can seem more the crowded.

The next generation ships built on this platform have redesigned the pool
area opening them up like the NCL Sun. They include a second pool and much
more space.

I will let folks know if the new design works. I will be on the NCL Jewel in
a couple of weeks on the transatlantic.

If you get a chance to cruise on the Dawn or Spirit in off peak periods I
think your impressions might be a little different.


"Jean O'Boyle" wrote in message
...

"Benjamin Smith" wrote in message
nk.net...
Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big highlight
for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Welcome Home, Ben and Claudine!
Your review is sort of a mixed bag of feelings..Sorry it was this ship that
turned your sister off from cruising.
I would not however, give up on NCL, but go again at a time that school is
in session..It sounds as if that was a big reason for the *crowded* feeling
that you had ..... all the youngsters on board.

With the Norwegian Spirit leaving from your area now...I highly recommend
that you take her...It was an entirely different experience for us on her
than yours on the Dawn.

Glad that you enjoyed the full moon ;-) and wraparound promenade..That
wraparound promenade has us sold on HAL cruises as well as their size.

I'm afraid the automatic tipping concept is here to stay and spreading to
all cruise lines...depersonalized, but at least stops the stiffing of the
staff that seemed to happen before it was implemented.

When we took the Norwegian Spirit, it was not at all crowded..the service
was very good and there were few children onboard..the pool was not small as
you describe it to be on the Dawn, either. It is one of our favorite ships
and many who were on her with us, really liked her very much. One thing that
NCL has to work on is its buffets..we found the same on the Norwegian Sea as
you did on the Dawn.

Sorry, you were not pleased overall with your cruise...maybe in a day or so,
you will not think of it as harshly and remember more of the pleasant
memories and aspects of and on her! Lots of times that happens..it has to
me!
Glad you two are home safely!

--Jean

shoreguy wrote:

Having been on the Dawn 4 times but only once in the summer. I can tell you
it is like night and day. Cruising in Feb we had less the 200 2-17 year old
passengers. I believe I read on one of the boards you had over 700.


Seemed like 1000. This is what I suspected. Tom K and some others I know
enjoyed the Dawn, yet I know they would have had problems with this
cruise. Also, I wonder with the addition of the Jewel, if NCL's more
experienced with freestyle crew were transferred. Some of the crew
seemed seasoned and understood the freestyle concept well, but many
seemed young and a bit overwhelmed.

In talking with the Hotel Director last cruise he admitted that Freestyle
becomes more of a challenge when the ship exceeds it double occupancy
passenger load. With 700 Kids the pool area can seem more the crowded.


Lots of kids and teens by the pool, lots of teens overwhelming Dazzles,
the turned into a disco night spot. Unfortunately, my cabin, 8067 was
right above Dazzles, and we could hear the booming bass up to 4 AM.
There were many toddlers and single-aged children as well. And many of
the children treated the ship like a mall, they gathered and bunched,
they screamed at each other, they used cell phones, they dressed the way
many teens dress. I feel there should be some limit to how many teens
and kids a cruise ship should allow. And yes, it was way over double
occupancy. 2250 or so is double occupancy, this ship was sailing with at
least 2750. At least.

The next generation ships built on this platform have redesigned the pool
area opening them up like the NCL Sun. They include a second pool and much
more space.


Glad to hear of the improvement.

I will let folks know if the new design works. I will be on the NCL Jewel in
a couple of weeks on the transatlantic.

Good to hear.

If you get a chance to cruise on the Dawn or Spirit in off peak periods I
think your impressions might be a little different.


My wife and I really aren't a match for NCL. We like formal and
dress-for-dinner nights, we like 2 dinner seatings, we like personal
tipping. The advantages of freestyle just aren't meaningful to us. We
don't need the 10 restaurants, I'd take 10 lounges any day over 10
restaurants, we don't mind scheduled dining, etc. We certainly dislike
the rather slovenly way some people dressed next to well dressed people.
It just seemed like a mishmash of styles and different types of people
wanting everything and anything in their cruise and we'd like something
much more in the HAL/Cunard/P&O mode. We also liked RCI, had much better
and personalized service, less selling everywhere, less announcements,
much better passenger space ratio (on Explorer of the Seas/Dec. 2001).
RCI would be our choice for fun/activity with bit of elegance cruise line.

At some point, perhaps with a group, we may try freestyle again. But I
think it'll be awhile. Thanks for your helpful comments about the
variations in the NCL experience.

Ben S.


"Jean O'Boyle" wrote in message
...

"Benjamin Smith" wrote in message
nk.net...

Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big highlight
for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.


Welcome Home, Ben and Claudine!
Your review is sort of a mixed bag of feelings..Sorry it was this ship that
turned your sister off from cruising.
I would not however, give up on NCL, but go again at a time that school is
in session..It sounds as if that was a big reason for the *crowded* feeling
that you had ..... all the youngsters on board.

With the Norwegian Spirit leaving from your area now...I highly recommend
that you take her...It was an entirely different experience for us on her
than yours on the Dawn.

Glad that you enjoyed the full moon ;-) and wraparound promenade..That
wraparound promenade has us sold on HAL cruises as well as their size.

I'm afraid the automatic tipping concept is here to stay and spreading to
all cruise lines...depersonalized, but at least stops the stiffing of the
staff that seemed to happen before it was implemented.

When we took the Norwegian Spirit, it was not at all crowded..the service
was very good and there were few children onboard..the pool was not small as
you describe it to be on the Dawn, either. It is one of our favorite ships
and many who were on her with us, really liked her very much. One thing that
NCL has to work on is its buffets..we found the same on the Norwegian Sea as
you did on the Dawn.

Sorry, you were not pleased overall with your cruise...maybe in a day or so,
you will not think of it as harshly and remember more of the pleasant
memories and aspects of and on her! Lots of times that happens..it has to
me!
Glad you two are home safely!

--Jean

Benjamin Smith wrote:
Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big
highlight for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Family cruise for me but truly a family cruise. Very young clientele, at
least 30 babies and 30 toddlers, and a whole community of teenagers.
Some public areas repurposed. Family's response to cruising is mixed,
perhaps sister is better off on a quieter ship but in no way has the
cruising bug. Father enjoyed cruise to be at sea, and of course this
cruise in no way compares to our HAL Rotterdam V cruise in 1970.
Teenagers in family, 16-year-old, 14-year-old fraternal twins boy/girl,
and 12-year-old responded like teens--no stars in their eyes. Lots of
karaoke, to a fault, but more on that later.

I like overall ship design but it has an obvious flaw--way too small
pool area. Overall design works, IMO. Ship felt *very* crowded. Agree
about theater seats being narrow. Great showroom entertainment, pretty
typical entertainment from musicians onboard, lower-than-average pool
combo. Ship feel eclectic, different feels depending on what part of the
ship one is in.

Saw Disney Wonder (like its appearance), Navigator of the Sea, Regal
Empress, Carnival Fantasy. Ship goes to Nassau from 8:00 pm and leaves
12:00 the next day, which I found strange.

Cruise service seemed spotty, have the feeling it may be subpar.
Freestyle dining has multiple choices, but no jeans and t-shirts in most
restaurants is enforced--sometimes. And there's an optional formal night
with pics taken as well as suggested optional dress codes. We did
Cagneys as a family and found service and food very good, wife enjoyed
Salsas and I did not, we both enjoyed the Asian restaurant Bamboo,
spotty service and food in Aqua, Impressions, and Venetian--the
"regular" restaurants. Woeful food in buffet, utterly unpleasant
environment. Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour grill/diner a hit, but service
quite poor for this crew and one crew member was publicly reprimanded
(saw this too on Galaxy, something I don't find professional--she should
have been taken somewhere private, IMO). I don't cruise to eat or for
restaurants, but for those that do, this ship has a variety of them and
they are well integrated into the design of the ship. Aqua's placement
requires going up to go down from the Venetian, or for those in cabins
floors 5 and under. Doesn't bother me in the least, may bother some.

Personally, don't like 90,000 ton ships, though I like this better than
Celebrity Millennium class ships in terms of design and variety of
public areas. Prefer 50,000 to 78/80,000 ton ships (HAL Statendam class
to Celebrity Mercury/Galaxy, RCI Vision, Sun Princess sized ships).
Don't see any huge improvements over this ship versus those built in the
mid to late 1990s.

snip

Hi Ben, thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts on NCL Dawn
and welcome home. Visible full moon is always a splendid thing! I see
you too are leaning towards the smaller ships (see my recent post about
same and Tom's remark about the aesthetics of Disney Ships) and I
concur about the buffet service on NCL, although we plan to take NCL to
Bermuda again (next year) since it will be the last season Norwegian
Majesty makes the Black Falcon to Bermuda run. We are also thinking of
trying Radisson to test out her concept ship (bring on the bad weather
for that cruise!). Best time of the year to cruise from most of the
United States is early June...not only for the weather at sea, but if
you like to avoid the younger (under 18) crowd.

hi ben! we saw you pull in while we were having breakfast on the crown!

i feel the same about freestyle with the auto tipping and sub par service.

we had great weather, avoided the hurricane and had sunny skies in bermuda
the entire time!

--
Sheree

Crown Princess 8/25/06

"Benjamin Smith" wrote in message
nk.net...
Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big
highlight for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Family cruise for me but truly a family cruise. Very young clientele, at
least 30 babies and 30 toddlers, and a whole community of teenagers.
Some public areas repurposed. Family's response to cruising is mixed,
perhaps sister is better off on a quieter ship but in no way has the
cruising bug. Father enjoyed cruise to be at sea, and of course this
cruise in no way compares to our HAL Rotterdam V cruise in 1970.
Teenagers in family, 16-year-old, 14-year-old fraternal twins boy/girl,
and 12-year-old responded like teens--no stars in their eyes. Lots of
karaoke, to a fault, but more on that later.

I like overall ship design but it has an obvious flaw--way too small
pool area. Overall design works, IMO. Ship felt *very* crowded. Agree
about theater seats being narrow. Great showroom entertainment, pretty
typical entertainment from musicians onboard, lower-than-average pool
combo. Ship feel eclectic, different feels depending on what part of the
ship one is in.

Saw Disney Wonder (like its appearance), Navigator of the Sea, Regal
Empress, Carnival Fantasy. Ship goes to Nassau from 8:00 pm and leaves
12:00 the next day, which I found strange.

Cruise service seemed spotty, have the feeling it may be subpar.
Freestyle dining has multiple choices, but no jeans and t-shirts in most
restaurants is enforced--sometimes. And there's an optional formal night
with pics taken as well as suggested optional dress codes. We did
Cagneys as a family and found service and food very good, wife enjoyed
Salsas and I did not, we both enjoyed the Asian restaurant Bamboo,
spotty service and food in Aqua, Impressions, and Venetian--the
"regular" restaurants. Woeful food in buffet, utterly unpleasant
environment. Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour grill/diner a hit, but service
quite poor for this crew and one crew member was publicly reprimanded
(saw this too on Galaxy, something I don't find professional--she should
have been taken somewhere private, IMO). I don't cruise to eat or for
restaurants, but for those that do, this ship has a variety of them and
they are well integrated into the design of the ship. Aqua's placement
requires going up to go down from the Venetian, or for those in cabins
floors 5 and under. Doesn't bother me in the least, may bother some.

Personally, don't like 90,000 ton ships, though I like this better than
Celebrity Millennium class ships in terms of design and variety of
public areas. Prefer 50,000 to 78/80,000 ton ships (HAL Statendam class
to Celebrity Mercury/Galaxy, RCI Vision, Sun Princess sized ships).
Don't see any huge improvements over this ship versus those built in the
mid to late 1990s.

Most enjoyed full moon, wraparound promenade, Star Bar, Spinnaker lounge
--design and some of the activities. Spa staff and quiet spa area. Some
crew members and talking to one of the entertainers.

Least enjoyed: family cruising, mall-like atmosphere, crowded, pasted-on
smiles and sing-song manner of many cruise members (though this isn't
only an NCL crew problem), automatic tipping--depersonalized nature of
dealing with tipping the staff. Lots of announcements and ridiculous
amount of selling. Example, before the magic show an entertainment
member pushed some sort of sales tickets on the audience, also all sorts
of junk was all over the atrium to sell, and more as the cruise went on.

My wife and I have to think about future cruising, the reality of
cruising on mainstream lines versus what we want out of cruising, the
effect of different itineraries and cruise lengths on cruising, perhaps
non North-American lines that have a different emphasis than the current
climate of cruising. We want another world when we cruise and this
cruise was as much Jersey Gardens mall as any vacation we've been on. So
where to go from here, I'm not sure.

My wife and I both agree on our ratings. Notch below RCI, Notch and a
half below Celebrity and HAL in overall quality. I think this may have
been a substandard performing crew, and I'm not sure what NCL's style
is. Have to think about it. I think NCL may do better on this same ship
at other times when ship isn't as crowded, or on different itineraries
with other ships, and I sure hope that NCL has made the pool larger on
the Star and Jewel. (It seems to be small to allow for two huge suites
on the top level of the ship).

More later.

Ben S.

Hi Karen. We are booked for the September 4th sailing and I hope the
kids will be back at school. This sailing seem to have fewer takers
since the pricing was $400 lower than the August 28th sailing. We are
doing this as a snapshot, just three week in advance (normally we plan
six months to a year out). Have not tried the Dawn yet so this should
sate our curiosity about Freestyle cruising. I suspect we may not
like it, but we shall see.


This ship was on a short list for the Fall, but I'm glad we didn't
book it now. Sounds kind of dreadful.

Benjamin Smith wrote:

Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big
highlight for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Family cruise for me but truly a family cruise. Very young clientele, at
least 30 babies and 30 toddlers, and a whole community of teenagers.
Some public areas repurposed. Family's response to cruising is mixed,
perhaps sister is better off on a quieter ship but in no way has the
cruising bug. Father enjoyed cruise to be at sea, and of course this
cruise in no way compares to our HAL Rotterdam V cruise in 1970.
Teenagers in family, 16-year-old, 14-year-old fraternal twins boy/girl,
and 12-year-old responded like teens--no stars in their eyes. Lots of
karaoke, to a fault, but more on that later.

I like overall ship design but it has an obvious flaw--way too small
pool area. Overall design works, IMO. Ship felt *very* crowded. Agree
about theater seats being narrow. Great showroom entertainment, pretty
typical entertainment from musicians onboard, lower-than-average pool
combo. Ship feel eclectic, different feels depending on what part of the
ship one is in.

Saw Disney Wonder (like its appearance), Navigator of the Sea, Regal
Empress, Carnival Fantasy. Ship goes to Nassau from 8:00 pm and leaves
12:00 the next day, which I found strange.

Cruise service seemed spotty, have the feeling it may be subpar.
Freestyle dining has multiple choices, but no jeans and t-shirts in most
restaurants is enforced--sometimes. And there's an optional formal night
with pics taken as well as suggested optional dress codes. We did
Cagneys as a family and found service and food very good, wife enjoyed
Salsas and I did not, we both enjoyed the Asian restaurant Bamboo,
spotty service and food in Aqua, Impressions, and Venetian--the
"regular" restaurants. Woeful food in buffet, utterly unpleasant
environment. Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour grill/diner a hit, but service
quite poor for this crew and one crew member was publicly reprimanded
(saw this too on Galaxy, something I don't find professional--she should
have been taken somewhere private, IMO). I don't cruise to eat or for
restaurants, but for those that do, this ship has a variety of them and
they are well integrated into the design of the ship. Aqua's placement
requires going up to go down from the Venetian, or for those in cabins
floors 5 and under. Doesn't bother me in the least, may bother some.

Personally, don't like 90,000 ton ships, though I like this better than
Celebrity Millennium class ships in terms of design and variety of
public areas. Prefer 50,000 to 78/80,000 ton ships (HAL Statendam class
to Celebrity Mercury/Galaxy, RCI Vision, Sun Princess sized ships).
Don't see any huge improvements over this ship versus those built in the
mid to late 1990s.

Most enjoyed full moon, wraparound promenade, Star Bar, Spinnaker lounge
--design and some of the activities. Spa staff and quiet spa area. Some
crew members and talking to one of the entertainers.

Least enjoyed: family cruising, mall-like atmosphere, crowded, pasted-on
smiles and sing-song manner of many cruise members (though this isn't
only an NCL crew problem), automatic tipping--depersonalized nature of
dealing with tipping the staff. Lots of announcements and ridiculous
amount of selling. Example, before the magic show an entertainment
member pushed some sort of sales tickets on the audience, also all sorts
of junk was all over the atrium to sell, and more as the cruise went on.

My wife and I have to think about future cruising, the reality of
cruising on mainstream lines versus what we want out of cruising, the
effect of different itineraries and cruise lengths on cruising, perhaps
non North-American lines that have a different emphasis than the current
climate of cruising. We want another world when we cruise and this
cruise was as much Jersey Gardens mall as any vacation we've been on. So
where to go from here, I'm not sure.

My wife and I both agree on our ratings. Notch below RCI, Notch and a
half below Celebrity and HAL in overall quality. I think this may have
been a substandard performing crew, and I'm not sure what NCL's style
is. Have to think about it. I think NCL may do better on this same ship
at other times when ship isn't as crowded, or on different itineraries
with other ships, and I sure hope that NCL has made the pool larger on
the Star and Jewel. (It seems to be small to allow for two huge suites
on the top level of the ship).

More later.

Ben S.

Bob Gow
"Experience is what you get when
you expected something else."

"Benjamin Smith" wrote in message
nk.net...
Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big highlight
for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.



Nice review Ben. I have a feeling that were you to take the same cruise in
the Fall, you would have come away with a more positive review. I avoid
mass-market ships like the plague during the Summer, Spring break, and any
holidays. This includes Princess, NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and even
HAL and Celebrity depending on where they are going. It's just a waste of
money for me to cruise during the Summer on mass-market ships. I don't find
any ship enjoyable when it's filled to 110% with kids and teens in every
upper berth. The crew becomes stressed and taxed to their limit, lines are
unbearable, and the pools way too crowded. All in all it makes for a very
un-relaxing experience, and I might as well go to Disney World for the same
atmosphere.

I completely agree about the pool/outdoor deck situation on DAWN and STAR.
Way too small and one outdoor pool is not enough. The pool situation has
been corrected on JEWEL, as she sports two good sized outdoor pools instead
of one. As for the deck space, not too much can be done about that. I have
a feeling it's fine during the non-Summer and holiday months, just like on
most ships.

I'm surprised you liked the layout better than Celebrity's M-Class. I found
it a bit disjointed and seriously lacking dance floors. On NORWEGIAN STAR,
there was one dance floor on the entire ship ... up in Spinnaker's. I
believe another has been added since the ship relocated from Hawaii. DAWN
might be a little better.

Anyway, welcome back and try to stay away from the Jersey malls for awhile!


Ernie

Welcome back Sheree. Glad you had great weather.

Did the guys get any golf in?

--Tom



"sheree" wrote in message
...
hi ben! we saw you pull in while we were having breakfast on the crown!

i feel the same about freestyle with the auto tipping and sub par service.

we had great weather, avoided the hurricane and had sunny skies in bermuda
the entire time!

--
Sheree

Crown Princess 8/25/06

"Benjamin Smith" wrote in message
nk.net...
Mostly clear skies with 2 very short rainstorms. Full moon (big
highlight for me). Calm seas. Hot weather.

Family cruise for me but truly a family cruise. Very young clientele, at
least 30 babies and 30 toddlers, and a whole community of teenagers.
Some public areas repurposed. Family's response to cruising is mixed,
perhaps sister is better off on a quieter ship but in no way has the
cruising bug. Father enjoyed cruise to be at sea, and of course this
cruise in no way compares to our HAL Rotterdam V cruise in 1970.
Teenagers in family, 16-year-old, 14-year-old fraternal twins boy/girl,
and 12-year-old responded like teens--no stars in their eyes. Lots of
karaoke, to a fault, but more on that later.

I like overall ship design but it has an obvious flaw--way too small
pool area. Overall design works, IMO. Ship felt *very* crowded. Agree
about theater seats being narrow. Great showroom entertainment, pretty
typical entertainment from musicians onboard, lower-than-average pool
combo. Ship feel eclectic, different feels depending on what part of the
ship one is in.

Saw Disney Wonder (like its appearance), Navigator of the Sea, Regal
Empress, Carnival Fantasy. Ship goes to Nassau from 8:00 pm and leaves
12:00 the next day, which I found strange.

Cruise service seemed spotty, have the feeling it may be subpar.
Freestyle dining has multiple choices, but no jeans and t-shirts in most
restaurants is enforced--sometimes. And there's an optional formal night
with pics taken as well as suggested optional dress codes. We did
Cagneys as a family and found service and food very good, wife enjoyed
Salsas and I did not, we both enjoyed the Asian restaurant Bamboo,
spotty service and food in Aqua, Impressions, and Venetian--the
"regular" restaurants. Woeful food in buffet, utterly unpleasant
environment. Blue Lagoon, the 24 hour grill/diner a hit, but service
quite poor for this crew and one crew member was publicly reprimanded
(saw this too on Galaxy, something I don't find professional--she should
have been taken somewhere private, IMO). I don't cruise to eat or for
restaurants, but for those that do, this ship has a variety of them and
they are well integrated into the design of the ship. Aqua's placement
requires going up to go down from the Venetian, or for those in cabins
floors 5 and under. Doesn't bother me in the least, may bother some.

Personally, don't like 90,000 ton ships, though I like this better than
Celebrity Millennium class ships in terms of design and variety of
public areas. Prefer 50,000 to 78/80,000 ton ships (HAL Statendam class
to Celebrity Mercury/Galaxy, RCI Vision, Sun Princess sized ships).
Don't see any huge improvements over this ship versus those built in the
mid to late 1990s.

Most enjoyed full moon, wraparound promenade, Star Bar, Spinnaker lounge
--design and some of the activities. Spa staff and quiet spa area. Some
crew members and talking to one of the entertainers.

Least enjoyed: family cruising, mall-like atmosphere, crowded, pasted-on
smiles and sing-song manner of many cruise members (though this isn't
only an NCL crew problem), automatic tipping--depersonalized nature of
dealing with tipping the staff. Lots of announcements and ridiculous
amount of selling. Example, before the magic show an entertainment
member pushed some sort of sales tickets on the audience, also all sorts
of junk was all over the atrium to sell, and more as the cruise went on.

My wife and I have to think about future cruising, the reality of
cruising on mainstream lines versus what we want out of cruising, the
effect of different itineraries and cruise lengths on cruising, perhaps
non North-American lines that have a different emphasis than the current
climate of cruising. We want another world when we cruise and this
cruise was as much Jersey Gardens mall as any vacation we've been on. So
where to go from here, I'm not sure.

My wife and I both agree on our ratings. Notch below RCI, Notch and a
half below Celebrity and HAL in overall quality. I think this may have
been a substandard performing crew, and I'm not sure what NCL's style
is. Have to think about it. I think NCL may do better on this same ship
at other times when ship isn't as crowded, or on different itineraries
with other ships, and I sure hope that NCL has made the pool larger on
the Star and Jewel. (It seems to be small to allow for two huge suites
on the top level of the ship).

More later.

Ben S.

E.k.R. wrote:



Nice review Ben.

Thanks. Just some initial comments. Have more to say.


I have a feeling that were you to take the same cruise in
the Fall, you would have come away with a more positive review.

Yes, I didn't pick this sail date. My father planned this sailing,
mostly for his teenage grandchildren. To that degree it worked well,
there were an amazing amount of kids their age for them to hang out with.

I avoid
mass-market ships like the plague during the Summer, Spring break, and any
holidays. This includes Princess, NCL, Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and even
HAL and Celebrity depending on where they are going. It's just a waste of
money for me to cruise during the Summer on mass-market ships. I don't find
any ship enjoyable when it's filled to 110% with kids and teens in every
upper berth. The crew becomes stressed and taxed to their limit, lines are
unbearable, and the pools way too crowded. All in all it makes for a very
un-relaxing experience, and I might as well go to Disney World for the same
atmosphere.


Exactly.

I completely agree about the pool/outdoor deck situation on DAWN and STAR.
Way too small and one outdoor pool is not enough. The pool situation has
been corrected on JEWEL, as she sports two good sized outdoor pools instead
of one. As for the deck space, not too much can be done about that. I have
a feeling it's fine during the non-Summer and holiday months, just like on
most ships.


That's good. I'm glad the Dawn has the spa pool. It's fairly peaceful.

I'm surprised you liked the layout better than Celebrity's M-Class. I found
it a bit disjointed and seriously lacking dance floors. On NORWEGIAN STAR,
there was one dance floor on the entire ship ... up in Spinnaker's. I
believe another has been added since the ship relocated from Hawaii. DAWN
might be a little better.

Dazzles has a small dancefloor and a secondary smaller lounge area with
a dance floor that looks like it may be a teen area (for some odd
reason, there was hardly ever anyone in there).

What I like is that there are smaller lounges. The Star bar outside of
Cagney's, is a nice, intimate-sized bar. Unfortunately, the piano player
that played in this bar was moved to the atrium, so the bar had no piano
bar feel. This type of feel is missing in the M ships (I sailed
Constellation before Michael's was converted to a piano bar). I don't
like their big H-shaped lounges, and the fact that there aren't many. Or
that the shops take up so much space. Or that the Rendezvous's music
filters through to the above martini area that has no dance floor. The M
ships flow great, but very few areas feel intimate or like destinations.
I also feel they waste so much space with the meeting rooms. Yes, they
feel spacious and uncrowded, but really lack a variety of "clubby"
spaces and intimate spaces.

I like the Dawn's Spinnaker area, nautical, comfortable swivel seating
(with the whimsical area), nicely teired, nice medium size, great views.
Somehow the Millennium's forward lounge feels bigger and less personal
as a space.

But, I just noticed, in these 90,000 ton ships I walk more and just get
tired going from place to place. The 76,000 ton ships feel not that much
smaller, but smaller enough so that there is considerably less
navigation from one area to another. The Voyager ships even have less
walking because everything is in the center. There's a lot of aft to
forward navigation in the Dawn (and Constellation), the extra length and
maybe one more deck of height over the previous generation just feels
unnecessary IMO.



Anyway, welcome back and try to stay away from the Jersey malls for awhile!


OK

Ben


Ernie