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Norwegian Cruise Line

MS Norwegian Dream

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Bob Scherago
# previous cruises: 2
Date of Trip: July 9, 2003
Itinerary: Baltic/Black Sea/Russia

The ship was beautiful, the ports visited were excellent. This ship and itinerary exceeded my expectations in every way. The informal freestyle dining provides flexibility in dining rooms, hours, and with whom you are seated. The port tours were reasonably priced, in my opinion, and there were many choices available.

Although the Dream is a large ship, there was always room to sit or stroll. All the public spaces (at least those I found - I'm not sure I visited every public room on this huge ship in 12 days - were nicely appointed, comfortable, and in good repair.

The food and service ranged from very good to excellent. We especially enjoyed the main dining room - the Four Seasons - over the Terraces, but both had the same menus.

The Sports Bar had a good buffet with good choices and nice presentation. This was not, however, a gourmet buffet.

Our cabin was a 176 sq. ft. Superior Ocean View cabin - the largest available that was not a suite. It was about eight feet wide, but had a queen-size bed, very comfortable, and a sitting area with a sleep sofa (full) and two chairs and a coffee table. It was very comfortable. The bathroom was tiny, but I was able to fit my 300+ lb frame in the shower with no problem. I was told by many guests that the cabins and baths are bigger than those on Princess and Carnival. My only prior experience was on the now-defunct Renaissance R-One, where I had a 316 sq. ft. cabin with veranda.

The entertainment was typical shipboard fare - the comedian was excellent, the reviews were adequate.

There was plenty to do on board - we used the pool and donated to the casino - but spent most of the onboard time relaxing. The main entertainment was the ports: Kiel Canal and Hamburg; Talinn, Estonia; St. Petersburg; Helsinki; Stockholm; Copenhagen and Oslo. I also have to comment that our arrangements were made through Vantage Travel, who for 176 of us had three representatives on board to take care of our every need. (I do not work for them!) They also offered a post-cruise stay in London and Paris, and one of the representatives was with us from disembarkation to sending us off to DeGaulle Airport.

Most of our fellow passengers were interesting and fun people who had travelled more than we had. Ages ranged from 40's to 80's. (We're in between.) We really enjoyed the freestyle dining which gave us the opportunity to dine with many different people mostly from the US, Canada, UK and Germany.