Cruise Line: Norwegian (NCL)
Ship: Dream
Region: Transatlantic/Reposition
Itinerary:
Day Port Arrive Depart
Wed Dover --:-- 16:00
Thu Paris
(Le Havre) 07:00 20:00
Fri At Sea --:-- --:--
Sat La Coruna 08:00 15:00
Sun At Sea --:-- --:--
Mon Funchal,
Madeira 13:00 20:00
Tue At Sea --:-- --:--
Wed At Sea --:-- --:--
Thu At Sea --:-- --:--
Fri At Sea --:-- --:--
Sat At Sea --:-- --:--
Sun At Sea --:-- --:--
Mon At Sea --:-- --:--
Tue At Sea --:-- --:--
Wed Miami, FL 07:00 18:00
Thu At Sea --:-- --:--
Fri At Sea --:-- --:--
Sat Houston,
TX 08:00 --:--
About Us:
Mother, Father (35-ish) and 4 year old daughter. This was our 5th
cruise and second transatlantic.
Embarkation:
Extremely quick. We got to the port 2 hours before expected (11am) and
we were processed and on-board within 10 minutes of arriving! The rooms
weren't ready but we were welcome to wait in the Startdust lounge
where they brought drinks. We go into our rooms about 30 minutes later
and had ordered our first drink from the coffee bar 10 minutes later.
It could not have been smoother.
Dover Terminal is a very pretty terminal. You can tell that they are
serious about be a cruise port. Everything was clean and tidy looking.
It was extremely well organized and you can tell it was well thought
out. It puts New York to shame.
Dining:
The previous reviews of the ship said the food was terrible. NCL Dream
has recently got a new head chef (from Jamaica) and he has transformed
the catering on the boat. It was consistently of very high quality and
extremely tasty. We were always able to find a meal from one of the
restaurants.
Four Seasons restaurant is the main restaurant on the boat. I
personally found it too noisy but I know a lot of people liked it for
the quick service. I preferred the Terraces which had the same menu,
but it was quieter and slower.
The Trattoria is one of the speciality restaurants and it was just
superb. It did Italian food and we ate there 5 times. The menu changed
3 times during the course of the holiday. The Osso Bucco was divine,
but I loved the Bruchetta followed by Chicken Parmagean on spaghetti.
(A little secret: the trattoria opened up for a mini
buffet-breakfast...very quiet and without a big rush...most of the
seasoned travellers went there for a leisurely Danish and orange
juice.)
The Sports Deck served a buffet menu throughout the day. Good quality
again: I felt there could have been more choices.
Pizza Bar. This was open from 12 to 5pm and offered hamburgers, hot
dogs, salads, and pizza slices. Very good pizza but the fries were
superb. Many restaurants should learn from them how to make tasty
French fries without resorting to coatings etc.
There's a speciality restaurant called The Bistro serving French food
for an extra $15 per person. We never tried it but heard the food was
just okay and the service was a bit rough.
Because we had excellent weather nearly every day they also had a BBQ
on the pool deck. Their BBQ sauce was to die for, especially on the
pork chops. They served chicken, pork chops, and steaks along side the
bread, salads etc. They also had someone cutting up pineapple, melon
and watermelon. Because it was freshly cut it tasted great...you
weren't picking from a tray of dried up fruit.
They had two 'pig out' showings of cakes. One was a chocolate
festival. The display pieces were superb, and the servings even better.
They also had an 'Avenue of Treats' where you went from station to
station to sample their specialities: like chocolate dip or pies etc.
Every day from 3 to 6pm they had a popcorn machine churning out bags of
popcorn. From 12 to 5 you also had the ice cream 'hut' for various
flavours.
The coffee bar also served excellent home-baked style cookies...a nice
treat at the end of the day.
To give a perspective: I had one meal that I thought was "OK"...
out of 85! Most were Superb and a couple were Excellent.
Public Rooms:
The Dream is a smaller boat than some of the mega-ships. It's also
slightly order than most ships. However I prefer them this way: it
feels more nostalgic and less clinical than the newer ships. The d=E9cor
was very good and the seats comfortable.
Beware: the observatory lounge is at the front of the ship and high
from the center of gravity. As such if you are prone to sea sickness
this is the place not to be. :=3D)
The Casino was small, but well designed. The slot machines didn't
drown out the tables. They had 2 blackjack tables, one texas hold'em,
craps, and roulette. They also had two other tables but I can't
remember their games. The slot machines were varied and included some
5cent as well as 25cent. I especially liked the monopoly slot machine.
The Coffee Bar doubled up as the card playing area. Very light and
colourful with great staff. They have wooden table covers that convert
the coffee tables into playing car areas. It would have been nice if
they'd been felted but it was good. They had a large selection of
games: monopoly, scrabble, checkers, sequence etc.
The library was small but well stocked with good books.
I had a look around the internet caf=E9, didn't use it. There was only
one time that I saw it wasn't operational and that was for 2 hours in
Miami. No problems in the middle of the Atlantic.
Next was the Rendezvous Bar. It was an open place that didn't seem
very popular. People tended to overflow from the Coffee bar into this
space. Card players played in this area a lot too.
On Deck 10, Lucky's and that lot were predominately smoking and quite
dark so we didn't spend much time up there.
Entertainment:
We didn't go to much so can't tell you. The Pianist Juan Pablo was
superb, as was the comediens (can't remember their names).
We tended to spend our time in the Coffee Bar where they cycled through
3 entertainers. Two were Asian pianists of amazing skill. I never
learnt their names but they were simply magnificent. There was also
Jeff Spence who was more a lounge singer. Great personality and he does
great imitations of other singers. They all took requests.
There were other entertainers on Deck 10 bars but because of the smoke
we didn't get to hear them.
Note to NCL: please rotate these acts around the bars.
Cabin:
We had a CC cabin. It had a large picture window almost 6 feet tall. It
had a sofa bed that could be portioned off from the main bed with a
curtain. (Useful if you have kids). That area held a second closet, the
tv (with two chairs) and the mini-fridge. The main bedroom areas had a
large closet. 3 People with 23 days of clothes each all fitted into the
space without any difficulty.
I'm a large guy but was able to use the shower and the toilet (though
not at the same time). Other other ships the toilet was so small or
tight I had to go to the public bathrooms. This room was great.
The rooms were made up and the cabin stewards quickly learned our
routines. We rise late (9am) have a nap between 1 and 3 and return to
our room before 10pm. The beds were always made whenever we returned to
our rooms. I don't know how they did it, because I never encountered
them in our rooms.
They also catered for our whims without request. We have a special
blanket that our daughter likes to use and she sleeps with her teddy
bear. Every night they made the bed up with her blanket and tucked her
bear to bed. It made her feel comfortable in her new environs.
Service:
The Captain and department heads really listen and act upon any issues:
Example 1:
It's common practice for chocolates to appear on the pillows when the
beds are turned down. Unfortunately the chocolates weren't on the
boat when we left Dover. Oh well, but for some of our fellow guests
this was an issue. When the captain heard about this he ordered to
kitchens to deliver to each of the rooms some hand made chocolates.
This listening to the passengers complaints and acting on them was a
common pattern we found with the Captain.
Example 2:
I loved the way the captain slowed the boat down at 5:30pm each night
so that the dinner service was smooth and comfortable. He'd increase
speed around 8pm.
This leading by example propagates down to the rest of the staff. I
found them all courteous and polite and eager to help at all times.
They all made an effort to remember your preferences and it was nice to
be remembered by name after just 2 days on the cruise.
Fitness:
There are two fitness rooms on the boat: cardio and free weights. Both
are small but very well equipped. I used the treadmills and they were
the same make as used by my gym.
Also on Deck 7 is a full walk around deck and jogging deck (with lanes
for each).
The pool is a salt water pool and extremely pleasant to swim in. You
can't do laps in either pool but it was very pleasant to have a swim.
I cut my foot on something in the main pool, I believe it was a broken
glass. They closed the pool within 10 minutes of me reporting it, had
it drained minutes later. Reception called me up each day for 3 days to
see how my foot was and provided with bandages and anti-septic wipes.
If I wanted to see the doctor they'd arrange that to. They take the
health and safety very, very seriously.
Shore Excursions:
Le Havre (Paris)
We didn't want to spend 6 hours a coach go to and from Paris. Local
tours were poor as well. So we took a cab into town and had a lovely
walk. Catching a cab to go back to the port was very difficult. All the
'known' taxi ranks were empty.
La Caruna:
We wanted to visit the Tower Of Hercules but it rained so couldn't
get all the way to the tower. The walk around the towns was good.
Madeira (disclaimer: I HATE Madeira)
Again we took a cab to the town center, found a lovely bar and watched
the world go by. I even began to like Madeira a little bit.
Miami:
We had planned to do the Meet-And-Great at the zoo. But the tour
company said there wasn't enough interest and cancelled on us. This
was to be the highlight of the holiday for our daughter. Not happy.
Note to NCL: negotiate a tougher contract with suppliers. They get
enough revenue during the rest of the season to cover these 'slow'
season visits. Tour should never be cancelled because of a one-time
low-interest. Get them to honor their contracts otherwise deal with
some one else. It only makes NCL look bad.
In the end we went and looked around Miami shopping complexes. Very
nice.
Houston:
We booked 3 days in Houston to look around so didn't take any tours.
Value:
Superb value. This ain't your high falooting cruise line. They give
you an excellent holiday at an excellent rate and really look after
you.
Family & Children:
Plain and simple: because the Kids Crew we travel with NCL. They look
after your child from 9am-12am, from 2pm to 5pm, from 7pm to 10 pm.
(Sea Days). On Port Days they look after them from 7pm to 10pm. Also on
Port Days you can leave them with the Kids Crew whilst you go on an
excursion (extra cost and they must be toilet trained). After 10pm
they'll do group babyshitting for extra cost.
Whilst Rebekah is in the Kids Crew, we (mom and dad) go out and enjoy
ourselves. Sometimes we'll bring Rebekah with us, sometimes we use
the Kids Crew.
In Rebekah's opinion we should ALWAYS use Kids Crew. She thoroughly
enjoyed her time with the counsellors: Loudmouth, Lollipop and
Applesauce. On this cruise there were 13 kids on the whole ship (!) and
5 around her age. Even after Miami when there was only Rebekah and
Tymen she loved going there to play.
The Kids Crew make the holiday's extra special for Rebekah, and
because they are so good at their job it means we, as parents, are able
to relax on our holidays too.
Overall:
Having read a lot of about previous NCL Dream cruises I can't say I
was looking forward to this holiday, especially with regard to the
food. However, I can say without a shadow of a doubt, that this is well
in its past. Okay there were tiny niggling things: The whole holiday
was near perfect from beginning to end.
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