Welcome to A Bretthauer's review of the Norwegian Cruise Lines, Norwegian Dream. ReviewThatCruise.com is first for Norwegian Dream Reviews & Norwegian Dream ship reviews.
This was our second cruise with NCL. We did the Mexican Riviera in November 2006, and it was mediocre, but thought we would give them another try in South America....big mistake.
Although staff was very friendly and we enjoyed (for the most part) all of the excursions we booked with NCL (although very overpriced and at times a bit hokey), we were very disappointed with the cruise. We are not picky people, we are professionals in our middle 30s and travel a lot. Our first complaint, and the major complaint with all of the many other passengers we spoke to, was the food. NCL is supposed to be FREESTYLE...which means you eat when you want, no table sharing, casual dining. My husband and I were turned away from all restaurants almost every dinner time because the restaurants were full. We were given the option of sharing a table with strangers, which is not our thing, so were told to come back up to 3 hours later!! Food choices were poor and you really got the impression they were reusing lots of things from the night before. The buffet was utterly disgusting....again I am not picky....but I have never seen so many strange concoctions in my life....lots of black beans, corn, rice and bologna cut into strips and mixed with salads. Strange cuts of meat and fish. On a cruise ship, one would expect some nice fruit and cheese platters, and SEAFOOD! Nothing close to that. Thank god for the bread and butter. Le Bistro French restaurant on board was terrible and cost an extra $15 per person. I had to send back 2 meals due to the fact that they were flat out inedible. Creme Brulee was good though, and we enjoyed the Sushi Lunch they had one day, although the choices were extremely limited (and again you had to pay extra). Room service was SLOWWWWWWWW, up to 2 hours waiting time for a small pizza, and every time we ordered breakfast it would arrive one hour early, which kind of put a damper in your sleeping time when you had to get up at 6am for an excursion. Italian restaurant on board was so terrible, we filed a complaint right away on board. Maitre \'D contacted us about our complaint and invited us back, we went back 10 days later andd it was horrible, so we filed a complaint again. Pizzeria is the most pathetic little station you have ever seen, the fact that they call it a restaurant is quite funny, it is a tiny cafeteria type thing by the pool which holds maybe 10 people, the 2 pizza choices are so bad it became an ongoing joke. The two main dining rooms were satisfactory, WHEN WE COULD GET IN!!
Coming back from day long excursions, we encountered that all restaurants were closed for at least 3 hours, and we couldn\'t even get a cup of coffee anywhere on the boat. If you went to your room to order room service, you had a huge wait, because all the other 1700 passengers were trying to get something to eat or drink too.
OUR CABIN.....mildew in shower, mildew in bathroom, drain in floor plugged up and overflowed and no one showed up to fix it after we made 3 phone calls. Carpets need cleaning, lampshades had waterstains all over them, head board of bed was dirty, bathroom floor needed a good bleaching and shower curtain was disgusting.
ENTERTAINMENT.....so bad it was funny. Would you believe one evening\'s entertainment involved some staff members dressing up in togas and taking turns SPITTING water into the audience or on themselves. Apparently this was their attempt at humor. Needless to say we walked out.
We also walked out on the Gaucho Performance, as did many other passengers. This show, which was suppose to be great for all ages, ended up being two talentless, mouthy, sweaty men telling dirty jokes and throwing a carpet up in the air and tapping at a drum.
A night\'s entertainment of staff members coming in and singing songs like old Sinatra classics proved terrible and unwatchable. I would think that NCL would be better served by actually hiring some professional singers. However, as I say that, the one man who was a hired singer was so bad, murdering classic songs and spending more time kissing elderly women in the audience while fluffing up his chest hair...... awful!
CASINO......very smoky and in need of an air filtration system.
Everything on NCL costs extra, so be prepared for that. If you think you are getting a deal on the cruise, you will pay for it in the end. A lot of people are not aware until the last day of the cruise when their invoice arrives that they are charged $10 per day per person in order to TIP the staff....yet the NCL brochures etc., say that tipping is not necessary and at the passenger\'s discretion. Well, its not, its mandatory, and after a 14 night cruise with 2 people, that is an extra $280 in TIPS you are leaving. There is also a mandatory 15% tip added to all bar tabs, and a mandatory 18% tip added to all spa services.
DAYS AT SEA: Boring boring boring. Unless you are into buying very pricey pieces of art in their 2 or 3 art auctions, or enjoy an afternoon of learning to fold napkins into animals shapes, bring a book!
PUBLIC AREAS: not enough room for all passengers, so many are left without a place to sit, including in restaurants. Public sitting areas need some serious TLC as chairs, etc are either damaged or broken, seats are ripped, carpeting is damaged. Wine glasses in restaurants chipped. THAT IS JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH!!
Sadly, I left a small box with some sentimental pieces of jewellry in it in our cabin bathroom. After calling NCL\'s lost and found, and writing a letter and sending it with all details to NCL, I never heard a word.
Trying to leave the ship at the end of the cruise proved frustrating and enough to ALMOST bring me to tears. Stressful, mistakes with our bill, long line ups, no breakfast, mistakes with our luggage, not fun.
We are looking forward to our next cruise....WITH PRINCESS CRUISES! :-)
Positives
Friendly staff
Although overpriced, shore excursions were fine.
Enjoyed lectures with Melvyn Foster.
Negatives
FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD
Cleanliness of ship, both in public areas and our cabin.
Freestyle dining...hahaha that is a good joke!
Entertainment was sad and pathetic.
Days at sea were boring...
