This was our 15th and 2nd B2B NCL cruise so it could be assumed that NCL is our cruise line of choice. However, our experience on the Jan 2018 NCL Dawn cruise has caused us to rethink our loyalty to NCL. This decision is based on the failure of Dawn Senior Staff to accept the responsibilty to timely address passenger requests and concerns. For every issue we raised during this B2B cruise management we were initially told "it can't be done" but that they would have to contact "headquarters" for a decision. We had made the same requests on our NCL Jewel B2B South Pacific cruise in Oct/Nov 2017 and the decision to approve was made immediately by their Senior management.

One of our requests was regarding a dessert from the shared kitchen of Cagney's Steakhouse and Moderno Churrascaria restaurants. Moderno has a lovely charred pineapple as one of the items. As the pineapple is grilled in the Cagney kitchen, on prior cruises on the Jewel and Spirit, they kindly agreed to serving us 2 slices of pineapple with one scoop of vanilla ice cream. When we made the same request on the Dawn, it was firmly stated when we dined twice at Cagney's that it was NOT possible. We and others we shared this with during the Dawn cruise felt that this was an insignificant request that could have easily been filled. For this request NCL Dawn wouldn't even contact "headquarters". It was just a firm NO.

The other request related to a drinks request. Due to medication, one of our party was unable to use their "drinks" package. We brought this to NCL Jewel Senior management and they immediately agreed to "comping in" specialty coffees in restaurants. The NCL Jewel management also noted it was actually a savings since a specialty coffee is $2.95 verses a glass of wine for $8.99. The same request to the Dawn senior staff was met with an immediate "not possible"; however, when I shared it had been done on other NCL ships they said it would be taken to "headquarters". A couple of days later, the request was finally approved. To us it was disappointing that Dawn Senior management wouldn't accept responsibility to make this decision to meet a passenger's needs immediately but deferred any decision to "headquarters". It was also noted by European passengers that both specialty coffees in restaurants and alcohol are included in their "drinks package" but not for passengers purchasing their tickets in the USA. Read more