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Norwegian Dream
Weekend Cruise to Nowhere, 2008
Forty-
By Lisa Plotnick
Editor’s note: This article was originally written in May 2008 and portions were published on various Web sites soon thereafter. This is the first time the review appears in its entirety, along with photographs and an additional section on the ship’s history.
As a longtime cruiser on Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), there are several ships that
I’ve enjoyed over the years. One that holds special memories is Dreamward, on which
we cruised to Bermuda in 1995. Since then, the ship, renamed Norwegian Dream in the
late 1990s, has gone numerous facelifts, most notably the addition of an approximately
100-
Overall, we had a good time, despite several glitches. To summarize, the ship was woefully understaffed, and many of those staff appeared inexperienced in their jobs. Add inclement weather into the equation, and this was not a pleasant cruise for many. We, however, made the most of it and did find many positives, such as food, cabin comfort, and entertainment.
In reading this review, I ask that you keep the following in mind. Although we have cruised on many lines, and our tastes have recently turned toward Holland America Line and Celebrity, please know that I am not comparing our short NCL cruise with these other lines. Any comparisons made to prior cruises refers to those taken on NCL, particularly those on Norwegian Majesty in 2005 and 2006.
That said, let’s carry on.
Ship History
Norwegian Dream was built as Dreamward in 1991-
The vital statistics on Norwegian Dream (as of 2008) are as follows, courtesy of NCL:
Gross tonnage: 50,764
Length: 765 feet
Beam: 94 feet
Draft: 23 feet
Passenger capacity: 1,748 (double occupancy)
Crew: 700
Arrival and Embarkation
My husband is a teacher, so he needed to work his usual full day on Friday. Therefore,
we arrived at Boston’s Black Falcon Cruise Terminal at 4:00 pm, three hours after
boarding was to officially begin, and three hours before our scheduled sailaway.
There were about a dozen parties in line ahead of us, and the line moved quickly.
We asked if there was a Latitudes line, and was told there wasn’t. TIP: If you’ve
printed e-
Cabin
We occupied cabin 0004 on Deck 10 forward. The cabin was very comfortable and had
three wardrobes, one with shelves, and another with a safe (magnetic strip type),
and a separate TV stand with three drawers for storage. The bathroom was very small,
but functional. Body wash and shampoo were provided in dispensers in the “showerette.”
(Ladies, if your hair calls for conditioner like mine does, be sure to bring your
own.) The beds were firm, and bedding included a top sheet, duvet, and an old-
Top: Cabin 0004, from doorway and window, respectively
Bottom: Suite (added during the stretch) and interior cabin
Ship Layout and Décor
One of my passions is passenger ship history and I was curious to see the changes
in Norwegian Dream since the last time I had been onboard, which was pre-
Overall, I did not believe the stretch an improvement. While the ship retained many of her wonderful elements from her earlier days – most notably, the cascading aft decks, walls of windows in the aft dining rooms, and the mural in the Terraces Main Dining Room – I felt the layout suffered terribly. It was no longer possible to walk the length of Deck 9; the Four Seasons Dining Room now bisected the deck. The purser and shore excursion desks, which had been located conveniently between the dining rooms, were relocated down to Deck 5, which otherwise contained only cabins.
Top: Information lobby on Deck 5
Bottom: Former location of information desks, now a coffee bar
The casino was not only relocated, but was stripped of its character. Originally
two decks high with a connecting staircase, its single-
The stretch also did away with the tiered decks by the pool, a favorite feature of mine when we were onboard in 2005. Some small sections survived, and can be found if you know to look for them.
Yet, I really liked the revamped set-
And, the ship geek in me made a couple of fantastic finds from the ship’s early days. The gift shop features the ceiling of the casino that was once located there. On Deck 9 forward, now a cabin area, remains the vertical poles that had once supported aforementioned original Four Seasons Dining Room. I called my husband from a nearby house phone so that he could stop by to take photos of me with the evidence.
Top: Evidence of the former casino, now an onboard shop
Bottom: Remnants of the original Four Seasons Dining Room
Dining
As is usual for us on Freestyle cruises, we opted for an early dinner so as to avoid waiting in lines. We dined that first night in the Terraces Main Dining Room. The beautiful aquatic mural remains gorgeous as ever, and many passengers, including I, posed for photos with this backdrop. Food was excellent. Standouts for me were the crab hot and sour soup, grilled lamb brochette, and sugar free vanilla cream puffs. My husband gave very high marks to the spinach and onion quiche, and our son devoured a serving of cheese ravioli with asparagus and alfredo sauce. Service was very slow, which I attribute to the combination of understaffing and inexperience. We were in the dining room for approximately two hours. While it’s not unusual to have such a long dinner, I felt badly for those waiting in line outside for a table to open.
Top: Deck-
Bottom: Aft view from the Terraces Dining Room
Dinner on the second night was in the Sun Terraces Trattoria, the Italian-
Top: View from Sun Terraces Trattoria. Note the walls of windows.
Bottom: Saturday night dinner at the Sun Terraces Trattoria
We had both of our breakfast meals in the Terraces Main Dining Room, as well. Service
was slow again, but we did have a good waitress. When my son ordered cereal, she
asked me if she may bring two boxes as she didn’t know if just one would be sufficient
for a growing boy. Again, the wait was not intolerable as it was a beautiful setting.
While the Terraces Main Dining Room is technically one level, it feels more spacious
due to the double-
We shared lunch on Saturday with our friends Herb and Diana, who were sailing with us. After a wait of about 20 minutes to get to the podium, we were then seated immediately in the Four Seasons Main Dining Room. This restaurant was added during the stretch, replacing a smaller restaurant of the same name that was in the general vicinity. The food was excellent – I had an Asian chicken salad – but service was extraordinarily slow. Again, inexperience showed. Worse yet, we were hoping our friends would join us for dinner in La Trattoria that evening, but they said that with dining room service so slow, they’d prefer to go to the buffet.
Service
Service was atypical for NCL. Quite simply, the ship was not staffed adequately,
neither in number nor experience. This was surprising as NCL has done several two-
Yet, even before we set sail, there were a couple of issues—one minor, one major. The attendant at Le Bistro, where we had hoped to secure a reservation for ourselves and two traveling companions for Saturday night, was unaware of a perk given to Gold Latitudes members that provides priority reservations in the specialty restaurants. Even if Latitudes benefits were not offered on this short cruise, she should have been aware of it and communicated such to us. In any case, we asked to be contacted if there were any cancellations. (This actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the dinner we had in The Sun Terraces Trattoria on Saturday night was superb.)
The muster drill was another area where the crew’s inexperience really showed, and this is truly inexcusable given the vital importance of the drill. Conversation amongst the passengers was loud and never ceased, and the nearby crew did nothing to control this situation. Many passengers were carrying drinks. Our only instruction was via the public address system, barely audible due to the noise around us, and was a lesson in how to wear our life vests. I decided to hope for the best.
These were the sole negatives and were outweighed by our overall enjoyment of the entertainment, food, and cabin service on this short cruise.
Daytime Activities
With only one day at sea, I decided to use the time to explore the ship, as described above. Most of the scheduled activities were to have taken place by the pool; their cancellation brought many passengers into the bars and lounges. So, I looked elsewhere.
Mid-
I thought I would attempt to do my outdoor walk-
I also paid a visit to the casino, which turned out to be a net loss of $6.25 on quarter slots. The casino, added during the stretch, is really too small for the ship, in my opinion. Service here was also poor due to understaffing. There was only one crew member at the cashier’s window, and I stood in line for 15 minutes just to convert $13.75 in tokens into legal tender.
In addition to parting with some money at the casino, I also left a tidy sum in the onboard shops. As a frequent cruiser, I was impressed with the variety of items. My favorite purchases were a set of four NCL plates (featuring Spirit, Sun, Majesty, and Dream) and matching cup and saucers—they immediately went into the breakfront when we returned home.
Evening Activities and Entertainment
Our first evening onboard, we walked throughout the ship checking out the different
musical venues. There was a variety of music, including a singer/pianist playing
popular tunes near the Terraces Main Dining Room and a duo on piano and violin in
Lucky’s Piano Bar. Both were pleasant. We also attended the Newlywed / Not-
Main Show Lounge
A major highlight was yet to come. I was thrilled to read in Saturday’s Freestyle
Daily that Jane L. Powell would be performing that evening. Ms. Powell is a longtime
entertainer for NCL, and she gets better every time we see her. Her voice is incredible—she
has enormous range, and regaled us with songs such as “Sitting on the Dock of the
Bay,” “What a Wonderful World,” and her signature, “Built for Comfort, Not for Speed.”
She also has wonderful rapport with the audience. I advise future cruisers that if
there is a must-
Itinerary
As this was a “cruise to nowhere,” several friends and colleagues have asked where
I was actually going. Of course, “nowhere” varies from cruise to cruise depending
upon a number of factors. On our cruise, we traveled northeast from Boston into the
Gulf of Maine. More precisely, according to a map posted on Deck 12 aft, we were
at Latitude N42°55’, Longitude W69°24’ at noon on Saturday. That put us 129 nautical
miles from Boston. We got traveled approximately one more degree north and east before
making a U-
Disembarkation
After a leisurely breakfast in the Terraces Main Dining Room, we finished packing
our bags and waited in the main show lounge until we were called to disembark. Usually
on an NCL cruise, passengers may wait in their cabins, yet I suspected the crew needed
more time to ready them for the first Bermuda-
Closing Thoughts
Although we had a good time, the glitches we encountered made for a cruise that was not typical of NCL. As mentioned earlier, the main negatives of this cruise came down to a combination of three factors – inclement weather (uncontrollable), understaffing, and the inexperience of the crew.
So, let’s focus on the positives – and there were, indeed, many of those. The food was much better than we had expected. The ship was nearly spotless. The crew, albeit inexperienced, was very nice and most asked if we needed anything, even if they were slow at accommodating some requests. Entertainment remains an NCL highlight.
That all said, I would go on NCL again, particularly as a convenient cruise from our nearby port of Boston for either a quick getaway or perhaps another visit to Bermuda.
Postscript: Norwegian Dream continued to sail for NCL through autumn 2008. She was withdrawn from service and, in 2012, was refurbished by NCL’s parent company, Star Cruises. Renamed Superstar Gemini, she is presently (January 2013) running short itineraries out of Malaysia and South China. (And our family has since returned to NCL for a cruise on Norwegian Jade; the cruise was so spectacular that we are booked for another return to NCL this coming summer for a Baltic Sea itinerary.)