Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda Review

Previous cruises: Carnival Victory, Voyager of the Seas(twice), QM2,
Norwegian Spirit,
Crown Princess

This cruise is our 7th and our first without kids. We took it to
celebrate our 30th anniversary.

We chose this cruise for a couple reasons: 1. itinerary. We absolutely
love Bermuda, We had also considered the Explorer of the Seas because we
love the Voyager class ships but their itinerary was 5 days with 2 days
in Bermuda while the Dawn was 7 days with three in Bermuda. 2. Price.
Our TA had a block of rooms reserved at a price no one could match. So
cheaper price and more days won out over nicer ship.

EMBARKATION: A

We arrived at the pier via the New York Waterway Ferry at 11 A.M. Check
in was quick and easy. We received a card with our boarding number. Ours
was 10. Boarding was scheduled to start at 12:30 P.M. but actually
started at 12 noon. Coffee and tea were available while waiting. There
was also a hot dog stand which had a long line. This amazed me. I do not
understand why people would pay a high price for a hot dog and soda when
in a short time enormous amounts of food would be available to them on
the ship at no additional cost.

Upon boarding our hands were sprayed with sanitizer and we were welcomed
with champagne. There was no non alcoholic option for the kids or for
those who don¹t drink.

DINING: B

We immediately went to the Garden Cafe where the food was plentiful and
very basic. It wasn?t crowded yet as we were one of the first groups to
board. This was the first ship we¹ve been on that actually had a kids
buffet built for their height. The Garden Cafe is set up in several
sections. One for desserts, one with a carving station , one with a
pasta station and one which served as a deli For some reason NCL put the
pasta station in the middle of the buffet. since it only served one
person at a time this held up the line for all meals. The chef working
the station was friendly and patient and the variety of pasta options
was good. The daily pizza was also very good. The ice cream on board was
of excellent quality but limited in flavors available. when 2.0 is fully
implemented there will be soft serve available.

Breakfast in the Garden Cafe offered nice variety. we ate breakfast here
on port days so we could get off the ship earlier. We also ate many of
our lunches here since the dining room menu was not to our liking for
lunch.

The sail away party at the pool was great with hambergers, hot dogs,
chicken and corn on the cob all prepared on huge kettle grills.

We had dinner the first night in the Venetian dining room. Although a
nice room with large windows it doesn¹t make sense to have a restaurant
in the aft of the ship where you feel the motion while you eat. The food
was good and the servers wonderful, but the room was chaotic and noisy.

Breakfasts in the Venetian were wonderful. I always had eggs made to
order with bacon or corned beef hash, melon, toast and silver dollar
pancakes with blueberry compote. My wife always had eggs and grits. She
tried the cream of wheat one day but said it was lumpy.

We ate our other dinners in the Aqua dining room, mid ship where the
motion was less pronounced and the service more organized. We did not
eat at any of the specialty restaurants. We thought about Impressions
but they just added a fee for this cruise. The food was always good but
the choices were limited. The baby shrimp cocktail was OK but more like
the old jarred seafood cocktail my mom bought when I was a kid. The
other cruise lines I¹ve been on offered better choices and quality.

We also had lunches (and late night snacks) at Blue Lagoon. This small
venue on the starboard side of deck 7 offers comfort food like wings,
burgers and fries, fish and chips, tuna melts, mac and cheese, and
peanut butter and jelly. You can eat inside or on the promenade. It can
be a busy place. We ate there several times ordering several items each
time and they always would forget one item. The food here was very good
and is available 24 hours.

A word about Freestyle dining. Unless you like to wait, go to dinner
early. Also there are limited options for no charge restaurants. The
Norwegian Spirit has a better system with electronic screens showing
wait times and pagers for those waiting.

One women we talked to in line at Aqua on the 4th day asked us what the
charge was. When we told her there was no charge she looked shocked. She
thought all the restaurants had a charge and had paid the previous 3
days to eat at the specialty restaurants.

Personally I prefer traditional. Princess has a good idea offering
traditional or ³personal choice².

CABIN: B

We had an Ocean View Cabin on Deck 5 two doors down from the mid ship
elevators and stairs (cabin 5608). This gave us easy access to Aqua on
deck 6 and going ashore from deck 4. While people returning to the ship
were waiting for elevators, we could just walk one flight up. Normally
we would get a balcony but because our TA had such a good deal on this
category cabin we took it. This worked out well since the weather
probably would not have allowed us much use of a balcony.

The cabin itself was adequate with good storage and a comfortable bed.
Small, old CRT TV. Compared to other cruises we¹ve been on, this cabin
was more like Motel 6, adequate and functional but nothing special. The
shower was nice.

Our steward, Edwin, was always helpful and friendly. First thing we had
him do was put the beds together. He also provided towel animals each
night, the cutest being a mouse made from a washcloth. About an hour
after arriving at our room room service dropped by with a gift from our
TA, a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. They were wonderful!

MEET AND GREET: C

I was looking forward to this. There were about 50 people on our roll
call but less than 10 showed up. I enjoyed meeting those who did come.
NCL provided danishes, juices, coffee and tea. We had a chance to talk
with the head of food services and with the person responsible for fleet
wide implementation of Freestyle 2.0

SHOWS: B

For the most part the shows were typical cruise shows with singing and
dancing. The comedian was lame. We missed the magician. Bollywood was
fantastic. These dancers were incredible gymnasts. We liked having the
indoor movie theater and watched National Treasure and 27 Dresses. We
can now cross those off our Netflix list!

ACTIVITIES: C

Limited. There seemed to be less to do on the Dawn than any I¹ve been
on. There was one pool table on deck 12 which was taken out of service
for the last 3 days of the cruise. There were 2 ping pong tables, a huge
chess board, shuffleboard, a small basketball court, jogging track and a
cage for golfing. We also used the well equipped gym. The Dawn has a
reading room, a game room, which was always crowded, a library and an
internet cafe where the speed was pretty good. Card readers were
available in case you want to send pictures back home. Price was
expensive compared to other ships -- 75 cents per minute. it was cheaper
if you bought a bulk plan and on Friday night they offered 2 hours at
half price.

There were also very few announcements which is what I like. For my wife
and me there is nothing better than sitting in a lounge chair on the
promenade reading a book. We don¹t need a lot of activities.
Unfortunately due to high winds and rough seas most days we were able to
sit on the promenade only on our last sea day. The other days we sat up
in Salsa which had comfortable tables and chairs looking out over the
ocean. NCL also needs more chairs on the promenade. There were only
about 8 on each side and some were broken.

WEATHER: B

Cool, cloudy, windy with rough seas. Some people got sick. We did not.
We actually enjoyed being rocked to sleep at night. One night while
anchored in the Great Sound outside of Hamilton we heard a large bang.
It seems as if the Bermudian, a ferry being used as a tender got caught
up in a wave and banged into the ship. The front railing of the ferry
was broken off and a small scratch and paint were left on the Dawn. Our
last sea day offered moderate seas and was the calmest by far.

POOLS: B

Unfortunately the weather did not allow for swimming although some of
the kids used the outdoor pools and hot tubs. I did not like the fact
that the Dawn has a pool side casino. The chairs in the pool area have
plastic flags you put up if you want to order a drink. Otherwise, the
servers don¹t bother you.

My wife and I enjoyed using the spa pool which was indoors aft and never
too busy. Hot drinks and coffee were provided along with cookies, There
were cushioned lounge chairs looking out over the back of the ship.
Changing rooms, robes and towels were provided. We went to the spa
every day. On some days the pool became a wave pool with splashing waves
that actually hit the ceiling!! It wasn¹t until the last day that we
read in the Freestyle Daily that the spa pool cost $20 per day or $140
per week per couple. No one ever asked us to pay but if they did we
probably would have since it really was a highlight on the ship and we
enjoyed it so much.

KID¹S PROGRAM: B

My wife and I were traveling without kids for the first time. We did
hear that there were 850 pre teens on board (it was a school vacation
week) and that the kid¹s staff was somewhat overwhelmed. We never
noticed the kids being a problem. In fact, except for the Garden Cafe,
the ship never felt crowded.

BERMUDA: A+++

Wonderful as ever. Partly sunny tis first day. Those taking excursions
got a special ferry tender from the ship at 8 A. M. I¹m glad we did
because there was lots of confusion for others leaving the ship. the
tendering process was confusing as you had to first get a tender ticket
and then wait until your group number was called.

On our first day we took the Trolly Ocean Discovery Tour. The Bermuda
Underwater Exploration Institute was excellent. You don¹t have to take
an excursion to visit. It is located about 15 minutes on foot outside
of Hamilton. After the tour we ate a a local restaurant called the
Lobster Pot. I had a scrumptious fried fish sandwhich while my wife
enjoyed a lobster/crab cake sandwich. The food was great and priced
nicely but the lemonade was expensive costing half the price of our
meal!. In Bermuda gratuities are automatically placed on the bill. we
also walked along Front Street in Bermuda and visited Par La Ville Park
which is just beautiful.

We had no trouble getting a tender back to the ship since they were
running back and forth regularly as they filled. We had hoped to go
back in the evening for a street festival that is held every Wednesday,
but the festivals don¹t start until April 30, the week after our trip.

On our second day, which was cloudy, we tendered in and (no problems
getting a tender ticket or getting off the ship). The waters were rough
and we went through a rainstorm (the only rain we had while in Bermuda).
Several got sick on the rough waters. Once in Hamilton the rain had
stopped. We took a bus from Hamilton to St. George via the north shore.
The bus ride in itself was like a tour with beautiful vistas.
Transportation is easy and inexpensive. For $12 we had an unlimited pass
for the ferries and buses that day. you can also buy 3 day passes. St.
george is a quaint colonial town with a number of sights. It was less
crowded after the Norwegian Majesty left at noon. We visited St. Peter¹s
church, the town square, the perfumery and the unfinished church. We
also walked to Tobacco bay beach and Fort St. Catherine, which is closed
for renovations). At the bus station in St. George we were able to by
the New York Post and USA Today. Special newspapers from around the
world are available on the ship, delivered to your stateroom at $3.95
each per day. Too rich for me. RCCL and Princess always printed a digest
of the NY Times at no cost.

We tendered back to the ship for the sail away to the Dockyard. After
dinner we spent the evening walking around the dockyard and dropping g
in at Snorkel Park

On the third day in Bermuda, a bright and sunny day, we took the Easy
Rider Bike excursion. This took us to to places we had not seen before
as we biked local roads and the Bermuda Railroad pathway. It was easy to
do, informative and very well run. We rode about 7.5 miles. Helmets, and
water were provided along with a ferry ride back to the ship. This was
probably the best excursion we¹ve taken in our 3 trips to Bermuda.
After a quick lunch onboard we went out to Snorkel Park It was windy and
the water was too cold so after a brief time we went to the clock tower
mall before setting out our beach towels in a park near the mall where
we spent the rest of the afternoon resting. Soon it was time to return
to the ship for the sad fact of sail away and the trip home.

After the evening show we went to the Chocoholic Buffet, which was
really nothing special. We were rocked to sleep by the roughest seas of
the trip.

THE SHIP ITSELF: B

The Dawn, built in 2002 is a clean and functional ship. It has all the
basics: pools, casino, lounges, restaurants, theater, etc. but there
really is nothing special about it. There was no WOW factor. There was
nothing that would draw us back other than price or itinerary. It was a
good basic ship that provided a good cruise experience. For the same
itinerary I would gladly go on the Dawn again. Otherwise I would choose
another line. The Norwegian Spirit has better amenities and character.

One thing we noticed was the smell of vanilla. It was always present in
the theater and used as aroma therapy throughout the ship at times when
people might otherwise get upset. We noticed it in the lounge when
lining up for tender tickets and in all the stairwells when disembarking
n the last day.

THE CREW: A

The crew on this ship was outstanding. They provided excellent service,
were always friendly and helpful. We had some confusion with the staff
at the excursion desk double booking us on tours on consecutive days,
but they resolved the problem well with no hassle. The only real issue
was that none of this crew had ever been to Bermuda and could not answer
basic questions about the port. This was the Dawn¹s first trip to
Bermuda. NCL has been sailing to Bermuda for years and should have had
some people knowledgeable about Bermuda transferred from other ships to
help.

DISEMBARKATION: A

This is where freestyle stands out. if you can carry your own luggage
you can walk off the ship anytime after immigration clears it. If not,
you can choose your color tag depending on when you want to get off. On
the last day NCL runs early morning movies and has the pool open. you
can leave at your leisure as long as you do so by 10:45 A.M.

We got up early the last day to watch the ship come into New York
harbor. We had a leisurely breakfast in the Venetian. As we passed
Ground Zero the music switched from the normal background music to
Sinatra singing ³New York, New York². The rest of the way was all
Sinatra.
We docked at exactly 8 A.M., as expected. Everything on this ship was
always right on time. When we left New York we started pulling out at
exactly at 4 P.M. on the dot. Of all my cruises, this was the only one
that left on time!

At 9 A.M. we went to our cabin to get our luggage and join the line of
people using express checkout. More than a third of those on the ship
were using this option. As we walked to the back of the line a second
gangway was opened and we walked off the ship with no waiting. We were
off the ship by 9:15, caught the 9:30 ferry to Weehawken and were home
by 10:10 basking in the memories of a fun week at sea. All in all a
very fine week... and i only gained 5 pounds!

For pictures visit
http://web.mac.com/pekrause/Site/Norwegian_Dawn_to_Bermuda.html
.