Name: Doug Gillaspie
Email: PrincData@aol.com
Age: 41
Occupation: Consultant
NumberOfCruises: 8
TravelAgent: No
Ship: NCL-Dynasty
SailingDate: 11/23
Itinerary: Panama Canal
FoodDiningRoom: 90
CruiseDirector: 85
CabinComfort: 85
FoodRoomService:
CruiseStaff: 80
CabinAmenities: 70
FoodLidoDeck: 70
DiningRoomService: 95
CabinQuietness: 90
FoodMidnightBuffets: 70
CabinSteward: 90
ShoreExcVariety: 80
FoodVariety: 70
DeckService:
ShoreExcValue: 80
GoodForHoneymoon:
CasinoStaff: 90
PrivateIsland:
GoodForFamilies: 01
LoungeService:
TenderService: 80
GoodForSeniors: 100
BeautySalonStaff:
EntertainmentLounges: 70
WheelchairAccess:
ExerciseFacilities: 85
EntertShowLounge: 70
OverallPortsofCall: 100
BeautySalon:
EntertainmentPoolside: 70
CruiseActivities: 75
Casino: 80
AirSeaProgram: 79
MedicalFacilities:
ShipCleanliness: 95
EmbarkDisembark: 90
DiscoNightclubs: 70
DeckSpace: 99
Stabilization: 70
ShopsOnBoard: 70
SpaceRatio: 99
OverallCruiseValue: 85
Submit: Submit Review
Date: 10 Dec 1997
Time: 14:41:31
Remote Name: 207.140.194.241
Remote User:

Comments

Review of the 11/23/97 10 day Panama Canal Cruise aboard the Norwegian Dynasty. By Doug (41) and Deb (40)
Previous Cruising experience: 1 BRB, 1 NCL, 4 Princess, 1 HAL

Things to know as you read this review: Even thought I have not given NCL high marks for this cruise please
understand that we did have a good time and enjoyed a relaxing vacation. The price drove our decision to take
this cruise and I am actually very pleased with the value I received from NCL. I would cruise NCL again if the price
was right but they would not be my first choice. The passenger capacity of the Dynasty is 800 but this sailing had
less then 600 on board. The average age of passengers on board was 64 even figuring in one infant, two
toddlers, and 3 teenagers. There were about 5 couples between 35 and 45 including us. If you are looking for any
kind of night life don’t look here. The next few sailings on the Dynasty are booked solid so the night life may
improve with more people onboard.

Air/Sea Package: B- The air arrangements provided by NCL were less than optimal but everything did go off with
out a hitch. We had a 6:15 a.m. flight from Chicago so we stayed overnight in the O’Hare Hilton. This only costs
$72 if you are an Entertainment customer. Our morning flight was on Continental which was very convenient to
the Hilton. We flew to Houston where we changed planes, connecting with a Continental charter flight that NCL had
booked. It was quite a long way to the connecting flight’s gate. The connecting flight was on time and we arrived
in Acapulco on time. Our luggage was checked through to Acapulco but once there we had to claim our luggage
to go through customs. This went relatively smoothly (our bags got searched). After we cleared customs we left
our bags there to be taken to the ship. We then boarded an air conditioned bus for the 30 minute trip to the pier.

Our return flight from Jamaica was a non-stop on Air Jamaica late in the day. This gave us one last full day in the
sun. The flight home left on time and arrived in Chicago early.

The Ship: B+ The Dynasty is the smallest ship we have ever sailed (20,000 grt). She was clean and well kept. The
main advantage of this intimate sized ship is that nothing is very far away. She has all of the amenities found on
larger ships but each of the public areas is just smaller. Don’t expect to have your breath taken away by the
“Grand” Atrium because it is nothing like the ones on larger ships.

A point about the size of the ship and what that means in relationship to rough seas. If you are prone to
seasickness as I am do not wait for the seas to get rough to take what ever remedy you use. I was quite ill twice
due to rough water. It was my fault both times because I waited to long to medicate myself. The “Trans Derm
Scop” patches are back on the market and are what I use. The seas only need to be 6’ to 8’ for this ship to really
get rocking.

The show lounge is very small but even when seated in the back you were very close to the performers. The
other main lounge was very nice too. The casino was very small but had everything except a crap table. The Bon
Vivant Dinning room is aft and we often had extensive engine vibrations during early seating dinner. The tables in
this room are anchored to the floor and place much too close together. It was very difficult for guests and the
wait staff to move between tables.

The Marco Polo Cafe where the buffet breakfast and lunch were served was also poorly designed. The tables here
too are crowded together. The chairs in this room only exacerbate the situation. They are wicker round back
chairs that are very difficult to move. The beverage area has no place for you to set your tray while you fill your
coffee cup or ice tea glass. This whole room could and should be inexpensively redone to make it much more
practical and functional. There is plentiful outside seating adjacent to the Marco Polo Cafe.

There were three gift shops on board. The jewelry store and the perfume and fine clothing shop were on the
main promenade deck, deck 5, while the sundry shop was way up on deck 8. The promenade was 5 laps to a mile
and worked well for walking but had narrow sections that made jogging on it difficult.

There is a single small salt water pool accompanied by two Jacuzzis on the pool deck (deck 8). There was plenty
of deck chairs in the sun and in the shade. The gym, like the entire ship, was compact. It was equipped with
treadmills, stair steppers, rowing machine and life cycles. There were some weight machines and free weights as
well as a small aerobics area that never seemed big enough to hold the classes that were run there.

We booked a standard inside cabin and it was the smallest cabin we have ever inhabited. We did not over pack
and had barely enough drawer space for the two of us. I’m not sure how 3 or 4 people could have functioned in
these cabins without dressing in shifts. The bathroom was on a similar scale and the shower was tight for one
person. The air conditioning was fine but those little cabins really heated up if someone took a shower or was
running a hair dryer or curling iron. Towards the end of the cruise the air conditioning was only adequate even at
night.

Service: A The staff was professional, helpful and courteous even when enduring the wrath of passengers for
things outside the control of NCL. It seems that the luggage of two women was lost en-route to Acapulco and one
of the women saw it as her duty to complain at every opportunity about this outrage. I over heard her recital of
woe many times and was impressed with the restraint of the crew as they with appropriate concern apologized
for the inconvenience. It seems that the only thing that would have satisfied her was if the entire ship waited until
her stray luggage was located and delivered to her cabin. I understand that she was given $700 to replace the
lost items even when her luggage was delivered to the ship on the third or fourth day of the cruise.

The cabin stewards were good and the wait staff in the dinning room were also very good. They spoke good
English and were very accommodating. The bar staff were present but not pushy. The casino staff was fun and
helpful.

Food: B- Please read this section understanding that I’m not hard to please in the dinning room. The food in the
dinning room was quite good. I ordered the fish almost every night and was please most times. I was
disappointed with the grouper and the second offering of Mai Mai. I sampled the beef tenderloin and it was
exceptional. The steaks got mixed reviews from our table. Each evening there was a beef, seafood, poultry and
vegetarian selection. Lamb was offered twice. The lobster on the last formal night was good but not great. There
was both hot and cold appetizers offered each evening accompanied by two hot and one chilled soup. There was
only one salad selection each evening. The deserts were perhaps the biggest disappointment. I think I opted for a
scoop of vanilla ice cream at least 5 of the 10 nights. Our waiter was very frank about what to avoid on any given
menu. We appreciated his candor and were never disappointed by his recommendations.

We normally eat breakfast and lunch buffet style but the buffets were so unappealing that we often took the time
to change clothes so we could eat in the dinning room. The breakfast buffet was the same every morning. Only
fried and scabled eggs were offered. The presentation of the buffet was only passable. The lunch buffets were
also very similar and on one of the port days it only had hot dogs and hamburgers. The evening buffets were sad
with very limited selections. The exceptions were on the two formal nights when a Chocoholic buffet and then a
Grand buffet were offered. These were on a par with other cruise lines we have sailed. A high point in the Marco
Polo Cafe was the afternoon snack time when great cookies were offered. My favorite was white chocolate chip
macadamia nut cookies.

Entertainment: C The singing dancing revues were the high point of the entertainment. The problem was that
they only performed twice on this 10 day cruise. There was a female comedian who was OK and a magician that
was OK. There was also a cabaret singer but we missed his act the two times he performed. On one night the
“show” was a Liars Club presentation which was pretty lame as the main entertainment for the evening. There is
no movie theater on board but there were in room movies. The selection was OK but there were big gaps in the
times that they were shown. It would have been better to have movies playing continually and much later at night.
This was not the fault of NCL but after the evening entertainment there was absolutely nothing happening on
board. The disco always had music playing but there was no one there. The other lounges were also empty. Even
the casino had limited action. This was not a party sailing. It is the only time I have ever been bored on a cruise.
Again I think this was the result of the passenger mix and not the fault of NCL.

Activities: C The planned activities on board were very limited. There were early morning and late afternoon
exercise options. There were also limit activities out by the pool but often this was only a rousing trivia quiz. On
most cruises we have taken I have to decide what activity to do while on this cruise we took part in virtually
everything and still had plenty of down time. The activities that were planned were fun and the cruise staff tried
very hard to work with a very sedate sailing.

Ports/Shore Excursions: B+ the Guatemala and Costa Rican ports were so isolated that most shore excursions
were very lengthy, some consuming virtually every minute in port. In Guatemala the only shore excursion that I
was interested in was the Tikal tour which cost $420 p.p. Because of the cost we opted to only shop on the pier.
Now I wish we had at least gone into Antigua but that tour was over eight hours long.

In Costa Rica we took the Volcano and Cloud Forest tour. We really had fun but we were on the tour bus for 5 of
the eight hours of this tour. If you get car sick this tour could be a problem. The drive was on very winding roads.
We had one hour at the volcano, one hour for lunch (which was included in the $78 price) and 40 minutes to shop
in Sarchi. The ship sailed 20 minutes after we arrived back at the pier. A full day for sure.

On the day we transited the Panama Canal there were no on board activities at all. The transit was very
interesting but not so much so that nothing else on board was offered. There was a canal pilot aboard that used
the public address system to give an informative narative and history of our transit. I just remembered that the
casino was opened during the day while we were in the canal. We cleared the locks at Cristobol around 5:30 p.m.
and anchored off shore to refuel that night.

San Blas is a primitive place not to be missed. No organized tours were offered or needed. The ship tendered
you to one of the larger islands (maybe 100 yard by 100 yards) where you could shop for local crafts or take
photos of the Kuna Indians for a dollar per photo. If you wanted a picture with two Kuna Indians in it that will cost
you two dollars.

In Cartegena Colombia we hired our own taxi for $30 that took us to all of the locations visited on the city tour
offered on the ship. This cost us less money but the real advantage was that we were able to move at our own
pace. The cruise staff warned passengers about safety but I felt totally safe in the tourist areas. Use the same
caution you would use in any major city and you will be fine. The best views of the city are those from the
monastery high on a hill above the city. The views from the Fortress are good too but the monastery is better.

Our cruise ended in Montego Bay. We have been to Mo Bay many times and it has always been my least favorite
place in Jamaica. Well that has all changed. After we checked our luggage at the pier with Air Jamaica we told a
taxi driver that we wanted to go to a hotel where we could use the pool and get some lunch and enjoy the day
before our 6 p.m. flight. The driver took us to Richmond Hill Inn high above Mo Bay. This little hotel had the most
fabulous views of Mo Bay, the harbor and the cruise ships. It had a wonderful pool and a very laid back
atmosphere. The cab fare from the cruise ship pier to the hotel was $12 for 4 people and it was another $12
from the hotel to the airport. If you have time to kill in Mo Bay this is a great place to do it.

Overall Rating: B- This cruise was what I expected and provided good value. Personally I would not book this small
a ship again because of my battle with motion sickness but I am glad that I now have experienced a smaller ship.
The Panama Canal was the high point of this cruise and made any of the small disappointments of this cruise
fade in importance.

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