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Norwegian Cruise Line

MS Norwegian Dream

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Jean Watkins
# previous cruises: 10 to 20
Date of Trip: January 20, 2007
Itinerary: Mexico-Eastern

We were hesitant to book this cruise (leaving from Houston) because of many, many negative reviews of this ship. I'm very happy that we decided "what the heck, the price is right, we'll go with an open mind and give it a try." The positives far outweighed the negatives. This is a really pretty ship, not garish or glitzy, although it'd be easier to get around if they hadn't decided to stretch it. The public rooms were attractive and the show room was just fine, but it did get crowded. Any wait staff we had were fine, and our cabin stewardess and her partner were truly excellent.

There was a promenade deck that you could actually walk around, which we liked. The pools were rather small and because there were 117 kids on the cruise (most of them fairly young), it seemed to me like every time I passed a pool kids had taken it over. We try to travel at times when kids are usually not in evidence, so this was a negative as far as we were concerned. We weren't aware of them so much in other public venues on the ship except strollers in the showroom and trying to get on the small elevators.

The casino looked just fine to us. Seemed like there were a lot of slots. We had to walk through it almost every time we went to/from our cabin, so we saw a lot of it, although not up close and personal because we're not gamblers.

The showroom was a pretty room. However, people had a tendency to group chairs together, blocking access to some spaces in the center of the room which were left vacant because no one could get to them. However, If you sat in the back, especially in the back corners on the raised sofa-like seats, you could see fine.

I liked the layout of the main entryway--all the offices you would need are right there--customer service, concierge,shore excursions, etc.-- easily accessible.

There are lots of quiet places to sit and read by the windows on various decks on this ship, and Dazzles club doesn't seem to be used much in the daytime except for readers or people conversing. Most of the chairs usually were empty. The library doesn't amount to much--books were not shelved in any recognizable system. Pretty messy and kept locked. Internet area was small and expensive.

This ship was not built for "Freestyle dining", and it was a bit of a problem. We are early diners, the two main restaurants opened at 5:30 and we always had to stand in line, even with our concierge making reservations for us. You stood in line till you got up to the hostess, then you told her you had a reservation and you got right in. But still, there was that line... We preferred the smaller, more intimate dining room, The Terraces, over the larger Four Seasons, but that's just a personal preference--we ate in both venues and both were fine. Service was excellent, we had absolutely no complaints at all. We ate breakfast in the Four Seasons twice, and service was fine for that meal also. We never felt rushed in any dining room.

We had dinner in the extra charge ($15 pp at 5:30 or 6:00, $30 pp other times) Le Bistro one night. The food was very good, nicely presented, good service. We had no complaints about any aspect of it. One other night we ate at the Trattoria, an Italian-themed restaurant (no extra charge but reservations necessary). It was good, but I liked the main dining rooms better. In every place we ate the service was excellent. Something funny, I thought, was that at a table for two (which we always asked for) you would find exactly four pats of butter at any meal. They were quick to replace the butter when it got down to one pat, but this just seemed silly to me--why not put plenty out the first time? There was no problem getting coffee refills.

Neither of us being gourmets, we found the food to be quite good. We both particularly liked their cold fruit-based soups. I usually had ice cream for dessert, but what menu desserts I tried were fine, but small.

There was a breakfast, lunch and dinner buffet in the Sports Bar. It was "Golden Corral" type food, not bad, just your typical buffet. I don't expect a lot from a buffet on land or sea. We ate breakfast there most days. For lunch we hit the Pizzeria, aft on the deck with the larger pool. It was a small selection of foods, but a nice selection for a lighter lunch. Hot dogs were really good, as were some of the salads they offered. Pizza was so-so. Both buffets were "help yourself", which I prefer to being served. In both places I did feel a bit rushed because space was at a premium. We quickly learned that if you went early you had no problem finding a table.

We had a penthouse suite on deck 10, all the way forward on the port side. It was 300+ square feet and, although not comparable to the 500+ square feet Holland America category S suites, it was very nice and plenty big. (It didn't cost nearly as much either!) We had nice little perks, every day about 4 p.m. the butler brought in snacks, either something sweet or else more "appetizer"-like. One evening there was a cocktail party for suite passengers in the Captain's quarters. This was really nice because usually these "Captain's cocktail parties" on other lines are held in one of the lounges. We actually got to see his living room and it was quite intimate. We got the usual bottle of champagne and fresh flowers. Also, we got free DVDs--there was a list in the room and the concierge brought you whichever you wanted. The room contained a small fridge and a safe, and two closets, one a walk-in. Loads of space. Bath was plenty large enough, with a deep tub and hand-held shower. There was a pretty jar of bath salts on the counter, which I made use of one night for a lazy bath. Amenities were very good quality.

We cruise to relax, not to be social, and our habit is to spend a good bit of time in our room. This was a pleasant place to spend time in. The penthouse suites don't have balconies (owners suites do), but they are located in the very bow of the ship and there is a small, private deck in front of the suites, accessible from a door next to our cabin. It really was too windy to spend much time out there.

The entertainment was very average, with the exception of a funny comedian and an extremely talented singer named Jane L. Powell. She is a real entertainer. What a talent! The production shows were nothing special and the magician didn't do anything I hadn't seen before. The piano player in one of the lounges was excellent. Don't recall the name of the lounge.

There was a spa and health club. I have no idea what either was like. There were a few shops on the ships with the usual cruise ship items.

We stopped at Cozumel and Progreso in Mexico, and then Belize. I really enjoyed Belize. Progreso had a pretty beach front, but nothing else going for it unless you like to haggle with vendors, which I don't. Cozumel was just a shopping center. We've done Mayan ruins before so didn't do any of the tours. I noticed in every port there were snorkel trips and the like. I heard good reviews about the deep-sea fishing out of Cozumel, and also the Belize city tour. This was our first time in Belize, so next time we'll try that one.

They apparently had some kind of child care program because aside from the pool, happily we didn't see much of them. I truly don't understand, though, why someone would bring a baby on a cruise. There were actually people pushing these big strollers around; they were a real pain, especially in the showroom. I guess kids under a certain age cruised free or something.

There was a big mix of ages, all across the spectrum. As I said, we don't cruise to meet people and since we actually like each other after 39 years of marriage, we always ask for a table for two, so our communications were limited to remarks with others while waiting in the dinner line, or for the show to start or something like that. The other passengers seemed ready to gripe about things, but usually it was about the size of their room or the length of the dinner line. We had no problems except for Thursday night when the seas were rough and that cabin up front on deck 10 really rocked and rolled. But we knew when we saw the location that we'd feel the seas if we hit any, and we certainly did.

We both prefer assigned dining, although Freestyle would probably work better on a purpose-built ship. Holland America is still our favorite line, but I'd sail NCL again if the price was right. I hope they get the new ship terminal finished in Houston in the foreseeable future because the captain told me NCL won't be sailing out of Houston after April. I'm sorry about that, because awful as the present terminal is, Houston is so easy to get to from Tulsa.