Day 3 on NORWEGIAN DREAM in Hamilton (English Version)

Day 3 did not really look welcoming. A mixture of sun, rain, wind made it that I wanted to be ashore.



Even things which were offered outdoor on Pooldeck were transferred into indoor "La Trattoria"



By this way: a beautiful restaurant.

But for the crew it's a great logistic challenge especially for their legs.

Last cruise they had to suspend the service because due to safety reason you could not ask crew or guests to get up or down the stairs.



But for all optimists they still offered for the same night Italian Specialities in the outdoor area.

We preferred to dine indoor and asked Karin to made a reservation for 7.30 pm in "La Trattoria".



And that's the front side of the exciting back from yesterday: Julia from Austria.



In the shops it's like final sale atmosphere. Unfortunately the prices did not went down as I might have expected for the very last dale of sale: especially not for the logo staff.

What they did not have anymore: One way razors. So I need to go unshaved to the Captain's Reception the day before.

What they had additionally: An NCL-T-Shirt in ship-shape. I think this was arranged by our Cruise Director Denny as he thought that my HAL-T-Shirt was ugly.



Still calm in the Casino... But opening until arrival in Bermuda was approaching soon.





The first books were already taken out of the shelves.

Even with this weather condition: someone is always sitting in the Hot Tub.





You can see in the ship: Halloween was coming soon.

Due to the weather we should call Hamilton. Two weeks ago it happened already. But then they moved to St. Georges. But finally: we stayed in Hamilton because we might get in to St. Georges but might have not a chance to get out.

We should be 12.30 pm ashore to start our tour. Unfortunately nobody told that we should delay so that we had lunch in the Sports Bar (Self-Service Restaurant).







As always I felt in love with the soup and the stuffed Croissants were genious. Only the lamb with the mint jelly was somehow "too strange" for me...



That's how we touched the first time ashore.









It's GRANDEUR OF THE SEAS in the Dockyard. But as we are smaller we can go theoretically to St. Georges or Hamilton. That's why the NORWEGIAN DREAM and NORWEGIAN MAJESTY itineraries are very popular.





As we went into a S-shaped-curve the wind was pressing us away.







It rained dogs and cat so that we accepted the offer to postponed our tour to the next day due to the more advantaged weatherforecast.

Jack was our driver and a friend of chiefD (Charlie) who recommend him.

So we were looking for an Internet Café. The wet tiles were so slippery that I slept away and hurted my left knee. So it had to be taped.

We returned again during the dogs and cats falled from the clouds.



Onboard we received Karin's confirmation for our reservation tongiht and we were invited to participate to the "general" Latitude-reception.



Further we got again a small greeting from our Latitude-Liaison: Chocolate covered Strawberries.



As we were hungry and only the Pizzeria is open we had no other chance to pass over the open decks with this rain and wind. Only the crew is lucky: they can bypass the weather through the kitchen.





The typical American "goodies"...



Somehow we were tired and had a nap.

Although we were not very much hungry we went 7.30 pm to the restaurant as it would be very full.

I just want to sum up our next experience:

It's well described with the words of the Danish Fairy Story Teller Hans Christian Anderssen:

It's an ugly duckling which will become the NEXT DAY the most beautiful swan!

Sleepy as we were we started to walk to the restaurant. Half way we see that we had jeans on. For safety reason we called the receptions desk from a house phone: "Please no jeans in "La Trattoria"". So we went back again to our stateroom and change the clothes. Unnecessary when we found out and the giant queue.

We got very quickly our table but something was wrong.

It's not the atmosphere like "La Cucina" or "Mamas Italian Restaurant" of the JEWEL-Class-Ships or the elegance on NORWEGIAN SUN.

But it's something else:

Two pieces of butter on a saucer and no butter knifes???





Our starter came: did onions and garlic run out???



Other tables got six pieces of butter in a cooler and we asked our very nice Indonesian Asst. Maitre D' how it came that we had no cooler. But saw it immediately that there should be Olive Oil and Aceto Balsamico on the table. That's why we do not need a butter knife.



The Aceto Balsamico was so sour that I started to cough. Somehow the used the cheapest vinegar which they could get on the market. Checking the color of the olive oil above and down from another ship: you just do not see the difference but taste. It was not tasty.



We did not take Antipasti: Due to the stairways there is no Antipasta-Trolley available and the preparred platter which we saw on other tables did not look the same variation we used to have from the other ships.



The Cesars Salad had not been made freshly in front of you like in the other venues but had been prepared in a larger quantitiy so we had the feeling that the lettuce took already a longer "bath" in the dressing. Somehow: where is the cheese...



My Minestrone was tasty but too much vegetable for my personal taste.

Somehow I was badly surprised that there was no cheese mill with fresh grounded cheese like here on other ships.



Now something happened totally unexpected:

Prima (First course of an Italian Dinner) and Seconda (Second course) were served at one time.

They used to serve Prima as Side Order of Seconda and even if someone ordered a Pizza it came the same time.

One after the other like on other ship was totally unknown here.



Bruno asked for Spaghetti Aglio e Olio (Garlic and Olive Oil). But the kitchen did not want to prepare it.





While we had the unluck that everything in "Le Bistro" was somehow a little bit oversalted we felt that they used here to less salt.

If we would have known that Prima is a side order we would not have ordered Spaghetti Bolognese who were too soft.

We were so frustrated that we asked for Thomas Russegger, the Austrian Restaurant Manager to express our frustration.

As a consequence we let them take all away and asked for a Pizza, but this my next mistake that I made.

When she came I asked I Gede if she is from "Pizza Hut" or "Domino":



I tried one bite but finally I cannot eat because I think to expect a closure of my stomach.

That's how our pizza looked like on NORWEGIAN GEM:



With ordering Tirami Su we thought that we cannot made anything wrong:



The dough was too wet. You cannot taste any Tia Maria or Amaretto. There was no mascarpone cheese but rich whipped cream used.



And here you see the alternatives from the other ships:





What happened the night???

We knew the Italian restaurants from NCL's European itineraries (although I had NORWEGIAN SUN in very good memory for the Italian food although she was not in Europe).

There are a lot of European Guests. Due to their base in Barcelona and Athens a lot from the Mediterranean Sea: They would not accept an Olive Oil like this.

But we were on an US-itinerary which were not sold actively in Europe.

It was offered for the American taste. A lot of other passengers prefers to have Cheese Tortellini as Main Course and are not very much interested in true Italian cuisine. So here is no Veal Marsala on the menu. Therefore you find other things which you get at your Italian restaraunt round the corner.

When I saw the men's room I could not lock the door and had the cover in my hand...

Additional: the dogs and cats... nobody went ashore.

Under this circumstances the crew did a great job!!!

The most important message of the night:

It does not make sense to be frustrated and going home. You need to act now!!!

That's why I do not understand this posting (which was later taken out of the forum):

The ship is dingy and dirty! Food was horrible! Service was slow! Roughest seas EVER!!!! Peolple fell, dishes broke, shops trashed... One smashed, beligerent a$$hole pounds on our stateroom door at 11:30pm and then tries to force himself in our room claiming it's his!!! Security was useless!!! ... PRICELESS!!!

Good riddance Dream and NCL!!!!! :eek: :mad:

So long we could not find anything beside the men's room in "La Trattoria" which can give you suggestion that ship will went out of the fleet. But we had no time to experience such things because we have such a great crew who care for us and pampers us that we do not see such things.

Our both steward attendants are not liek Juana from NORWEGIAN JADE but they ask us everytime if there is anything they could do for us. So we did not have any problems to ask them for extra work when we had our fruits and a mess on the table.

We share our thoughts in a way that we compare it with our NCL-experience. We tell good things if we see an Officer but we also tell the bad things. They were happy on our good comments but look forward for Day 4 to see how they handled our bad comments. You cannot get a nicer swan which we got. Heads off!!! Thomas Russegger and his entire team took our comments very seriously.

Again: Do not take your bad impressions home if your current voyage does not meet your expectations. Tell them now!!!

And if comments are not taken seriously like on NORWEGIAN JEWEL than you can still go home and write to NCL.

We moved over to the show with a juggling Comedian.

















Active participation of the audiance is always important...





When he tried to find a volunteer one woman ran immediately to the stage and wanted some more from him beside beeing volunteer. A little appeared as well.



As more kids appeared he arranged something that kids had their fun. As well as the audiance.

The lady need to went trough a spelling test.





But she cannot handle the practical excersises.





As usual DVD were available.

But Denny: Sorry and please do not be angry: You look much better in your nice dark suites and uniforms... The White Hot Night-T-Shirts and the white pants are nothing for you...





I hate the White Hot Nights T-Shirts...

Time to go to bed...



HeinBloed