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Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 2nd, 2009, 07:58 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Tom M.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

To All,

My wife and I sailed on the Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13 to Dec. 20. I came
away with less that a favorable impression. The first day we dined at Le
Bistro. The food was good but if you wanted lobster, there was a charge
above and beyond the normal charge.

When we returned to our suite we assumed we would find our last piece of
checked luggage. Instead I found a nasty letter from the luggage police.
I proceeded to the room where they were holding my luggage hostage. When
I walked in I was asked which piece of luggage was mine. I pointed to it
and was instructed to put it on the table, open it, and step back.

The cop saw plastic beer bottles in my luggage and said "here's the
problem, you cannot bring beer on board". I responded with "those
bottles are filled with wine, my wife does not want glass bottles in our
checked luggage". He then said "I will have to charge you a $15 corking
fee". I paid it and sprung my bag. I found out later that NCL charges
$15 for each bottle of wine you bring on board, whether you consume it
in you stateroom or at dinner.

We are Royal Caribbean cruisers and have bought wine at ports of call
and brought it back to our stateroom without a hassle.

Other things that soured us is:

If we ran out of ice in the afternoon, we had to fetch our own.

If you bought liquor at the port, both lines will confiscate it. RCL
would bring it to your room on the last day of the cruise. Usually
around noon. NCL holds your liquor until 9 PM on the last day and you
have to go get it yourself.

RCL delivers luggage tags on the last day. NCL forces you to go down to
the desk for your tags.

RCL excursion desk is staffed all day, NCL 6-9 PM.

The toilet in our room did not work until 11 PM the first day and broke
again 2 days later.

Our knowledge of RCL is a year old. If any of you have been on a RCL
cruise and the above recollections have changed, please respond to this
post.


Thanks in advance,

Tom M.

  #2  
Old January 2nd, 2009, 09:17 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
J Carnaghie
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 281
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20



Tom M. wrote:
To All,

My wife and I sailed on the Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13 to Dec. 20. I came
away with less that a favorable impression. The first day we dined at Le
Bistro. The food was good but if you wanted lobster, there was a charge
above and beyond the normal charge.

When we returned to our suite we assumed we would find our last piece of
checked luggage. Instead I found a nasty letter from the luggage police.
I proceeded to the room where they were holding my luggage hostage. When
I walked in I was asked which piece of luggage was mine. I pointed to it
and was instructed to put it on the table, open it, and step back.

The cop saw plastic beer bottles in my luggage and said "here's the
problem, you cannot bring beer on board". I responded with "those
bottles are filled with wine, my wife does not want glass bottles in our
checked luggage". He then said "I will have to charge you a $15 corking
fee". I paid it and sprung my bag. I found out later that NCL charges
$15 for each bottle of wine you bring on board, whether you consume it
in you stateroom or at dinner.

We are Royal Caribbean cruisers and have bought wine at ports of call
and brought it back to our stateroom without a hassle.

Other things that soured us is:

If we ran out of ice in the afternoon, we had to fetch our own.

If you bought liquor at the port, both lines will confiscate it. RCL
would bring it to your room on the last day of the cruise. Usually
around noon. NCL holds your liquor until 9 PM on the last day and you
have to go get it yourself.

RCL delivers luggage tags on the last day. NCL forces you to go down to
the desk for your tags.

RCL excursion desk is staffed all day, NCL 6-9 PM.

The toilet in our room did not work until 11 PM the first day and broke
again 2 days later.

Our knowledge of RCL is a year old. If any of you have been on a RCL
cruise and the above recollections have changed, please respond to this
post.


Thanks in advance,

Tom M.

Dear Tom,
Sounds like the Norwegian Dawn people have
started the "cost containment" measures for real.
Did they charge you $15 per beer bottle full of
wine? I wonder what would have happened if you had
used water bottles?
Did you say "Hello" to your steward with a
$10 or $20 bill in your hand the first day and
remind him/her that you liked afternoon ice
service? I've found that method works wonders, and
for all kinds of other special requests.
NCL is fighting to stay "alive" and this type
of service will certainly not be a help.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (On the Left Coast)
  #3  
Old January 2nd, 2009, 10:41 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Tom M.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

J Carnaghie wrote:


Tom M. wrote:
To All,

My wife and I sailed on the Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13 to Dec. 20. I came
away with less that a favorable impression. The first day we dined at
Le Bistro. The food was good but if you wanted lobster, there was a
charge above and beyond the normal charge.

When we returned to our suite we assumed we would find our last piece
of checked luggage. Instead I found a nasty letter from the luggage
police. I proceeded to the room where they were holding my luggage
hostage. When I walked in I was asked which piece of luggage was mine.
I pointed to it and was instructed to put it on the table, open it,
and step back.

The cop saw plastic beer bottles in my luggage and said "here's the
problem, you cannot bring beer on board". I responded with "those
bottles are filled with wine, my wife does not want glass bottles in
our checked luggage". He then said "I will have to charge you a $15
corking fee". I paid it and sprung my bag. I found out later that NCL
charges $15 for each bottle of wine you bring on board, whether you
consume it in you stateroom or at dinner.

We are Royal Caribbean cruisers and have bought wine at ports of call
and brought it back to our stateroom without a hassle.

Other things that soured us is:

If we ran out of ice in the afternoon, we had to fetch our own.

If you bought liquor at the port, both lines will confiscate it. RCL
would bring it to your room on the last day of the cruise. Usually
around noon. NCL holds your liquor until 9 PM on the last day and you
have to go get it yourself.

RCL delivers luggage tags on the last day. NCL forces you to go down
to the desk for your tags.

RCL excursion desk is staffed all day, NCL 6-9 PM.

The toilet in our room did not work until 11 PM the first day and
broke again 2 days later.

Our knowledge of RCL is a year old. If any of you have been on a RCL
cruise and the above recollections have changed, please respond to this
post.


Thanks in advance,

Tom M.

Dear Tom,
Sounds like the Norwegian Dawn people have started the "cost
containment" measures for real.
Did they charge you $15 per beer bottle full of wine? I wonder what
would have happened if you had used water bottles?
Did you say "Hello" to your steward with a $10 or $20 bill in your
hand the first day and remind him/her that you liked afternoon ice
service? I've found that method works wonders, and for all kinds of
other special requests.
NCL is fighting to stay "alive" and this type of service will
certainly not be a help.
Cheers,
John in LALALand (On the Left Coast)

John,

I was charged $15 for 1 bottle of wine. In reality I had the equivalent
of 3 bottles. We did not see our steward until the third day. You see
tipping is automatically added to your account on a daily basis. There
is no need for the steward to introduce them selfs to you. I called the
front desk on the first day, I was told that the stewards do not work
between 3-6 PM.

Cheers back at you,

Tom
  #4  
Old January 3rd, 2009, 01:29 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

In article , J Carnaghie
wrote:

Did you say "Hello" to your steward with a
$10 or $20 bill in your hand the first day and
remind him/her that you liked afternoon ice
service? I've found that method works wonders, and
for all kinds of other special requests.


There is no need to bribe the cabin attendant in advance to get
service. If one desires ice in the afternoon it should be fulfilled. I
am unclear though if the OP requested afternoon ice service or just
expected it because that is the way it is done on Royal Caribbean.

--
Charles
  #5  
Old January 3rd, 2009, 01:39 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

In article , Tom M.
wrote:

I was charged $15 for 1 bottle of wine. In reality I had the equivalent
of 3 bottles. We did not see our steward until the third day. You see
tipping is automatically added to your account on a daily basis. There
is no need for the steward to introduce them selfs to you. I called the
front desk on the first day, I was told that the stewards do not work
between 3-6 PM.


Every steward should introduce themselves the first day I agree there
was no need for you to tip in advance for service. If you require
something when the steward is off duty you should call the housekeeping
office. They have staff on duty when the stewards are off duty.

--
Charles
  #6  
Old January 3rd, 2009, 01:45 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Becca[_3_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 63
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

Tom, how was the entertainment on the NCL Dawn? How was the food in the
buffet and in the dining room? I was not pleased with my last cruise on
NCL, so I have avoided them since then. It was right after Katrina, I
believe.

Becca
  #7  
Old January 3rd, 2009, 02:20 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Jack Hamilton[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 666
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:58:21 -0600, "Tom M." wrote:

RCL delivers luggage tags on the last day. NCL forces you to go down to
the desk for your tags.


On the Sun in October, there was a reason for that - we got to choose
our own debarcation time, which we did by picking up labels for that
time. I thought there was an option to have the tags of your choice
delivered to your room, but I might be mistaken.

If you didn't go pick up your tags, they would have had to deliver at
least four of every tag to every room, or they would have had to ask
for everyone's preferred departure time and then distribute tags
accordingly.

The former would be inefficient and confusing, and given the problems
cruise lines seem to have with paperwork, I wouldn't want to try the
latter.

I much prefer NCL's way to the other method I've seen, which is for
the cruise line to assign a time at random without asking what I want.
RCL excursion desk is staffed all day, NCL 6-9 PM.


I think the hours vary by cruise or by ship, but excursion staff is
certainly not there all the time, and that's not good.

  #8  
Old January 3rd, 2009, 03:29 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Tom M.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 9
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

Becca wrote:
Tom, how was the entertainment on the NCL Dawn? How was the food in the
buffet and in the dining room? I was not pleased with my last cruise on
NCL, so I have avoided them since then. It was right after Katrina, I
believe.

Becca

Becca,

We found the entertainment to be alright. As for the food, the buffet
was the same quality as RCL. The dining room was sub par to RCL.

Tom M.
  #9  
Old January 7th, 2009, 02:33 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Rosalie B.
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,575
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

Jack Hamilton wrote:

On Fri, 02 Jan 2009 12:58:21 -0600, "Tom M." wrote:

RCL delivers luggage tags on the last day. NCL forces you to go down to
the desk for your tags.


On the Sun in October, there was a reason for that - we got to choose
our own debarcation time, which we did by picking up labels for that
time. I thought there was an option to have the tags of your choice
delivered to your room, but I might be mistaken.

If you didn't go pick up your tags, they would have had to deliver at
least four of every tag to every room, or they would have had to ask
for everyone's preferred departure time and then distribute tags
accordingly.

The former would be inefficient and confusing, and given the problems
cruise lines seem to have with paperwork, I wouldn't want to try the
latter.


I've always liked NCL de-barcation better than RCI - as a matter of
fact that was the worst thing about RCI IMO. They not only had no
coherent explanation of what the various colors meant, or the schedule
for them (you had to wait for your color and number to be called with
no way to keep track of how much longer you might have to wait), but
they kicked us out of the room at 8 am. NCL let us stay there until
we were called. HAL let us stay there and had a color schedule on the
TV so that we knew in advance what time we'd be getting off.



I much prefer NCL's way to the other method I've seen, which is for
the cruise line to assign a time at random without asking what I want.
RCL excursion desk is staffed all day, NCL 6-9 PM.


I think the hours vary by cruise or by ship, but excursion staff is
certainly not there all the time, and that's not good.


HAL was staffed at different hours. I don't remember RCI being there
all the time but I don't think I had much occasion to deal with them.
The NCL excursion desks have had hours in addition to 6-9 pm, and I've
walked up as they were getting ready to close and booked a tour for
that afternoon without any complaint on their part.
  #10  
Old January 7th, 2009, 03:08 AM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Charles[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 3,112
Default Norwegian Dawn Dec. 13-20

In article , Rosalie B.
wrote:

I've always liked NCL de-barcation better than RCI - as a matter of
fact that was the worst thing about RCI IMO. They not only had no
coherent explanation of what the various colors meant, or the schedule
for them (you had to wait for your color and number to be called with
no way to keep track of how much longer you might have to wait),


RCI usually puts out a sheet with the colors and what they mean that
they put in your cabin the final day. The show the order, that some
color are early debarkation or express debarkation and some are for
groups. They even put out the times. Also never had a problem changing
colors on RCI at the pursers desk.

Actually the worst I have found is Princess. On Princess you can't
figure out from the colors the time and you never know when your color
will be called. The colors are by deck but they don't call the decks in
order. They skip around. And if you go to the pursers desk to request a
change of colors they won't change them easily. They give you the third
degree.

--
Charles
 




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