NCL Dream March South America Cruise VERY Poor Food Service

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binary1100

Guest
We did the South America cruise last March, Buenos Aires to Valparaiso Chile. Wonderful itinerary and the weather was also almost perfect. In fact this was an extraordinary cruise being at the bottom of the world.

As for the ship well that was not very extraordinary. Service in the dining room and one restaurant were sub-par. We were told by someone that when the cruise set out from Buenos Aires the previous servers went on vacation and a new group was assigned to the ship and to be patient,they are learning the ship. Six months prior we were on the NCL Jewel in the Mediterranean and the food and service was exceptional. So what happened in South America?

During the two week cruise we booked NCL's tours and they were just fabulous.

When we docked in Valparaiso we were met by Santiago Adventures and spent two days on private tours of the region. We had our own van and an English speaking guide and a very safe driver. Best tours we ever experienced.

On our day of return our flight was cancelled because of weather in Dallas. Not a problem and back to our hotel. The next day we found the NCL Rep who spoke very little English and just put her hands up and could not help us get a new flight.

We taxied into downtown Santiago and got new tickets for a flight that night on LAN.
That night we went to the airport again and LAN would not accept our tickets. Finally after two hours on the phone with NCL in Miami who were no help at all. A young lady from American said she would help us. She did and got us tickets for the next night.

So don't count on NCL for help. What we did find out was that we should have called our travel insurance hot line in the states for help. We did submit a claim and all our expenditures were reimbursed by them.

By the way the South American cruise was our sixth with NCL so we are very familiar with a few NCL ships and service.

We are now ready to book our next cruise and it looks like it will be a 15 day cruise of Northern Europe next June on the Oceania Regatta.

I posted slides shows of this extraordinary trip: http://barryrich.net/trips/tripsmap.htm then click on the South America Link.
 
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nmnita

Guest
i am sorry that some things didn't suit you on the cruise, I think the food issue was pretty much par for those last few sailings. I had 2 sets of clients that were cruising the weeks just prior to you. One said the food was sub standard the first week but got better as the cruise went on. The second couple said it was ok, nothing fantastic. As for service you could be right as both couples (they are frequent NCL cruisers like you) were very happy. I think the big adjustment for many is realizing the Dream was not designed for freestyle.

Enjoy your next cruise and hopefully the Sun when she starts the So American itinerary will do a better job. Oh, btw both couples thought the overall appearance of the Dream was outstanding considering her age. They loved the cabins.


Nita
 
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Don Clark

Guest
I'm happy to read you bought travel insurance, and that they cam through for you.

It does take a while for new crew members to settle into the grind of working everyday.
I'm sorry you experience slower service than usual.

Flying anywhere today can be troublesome. If the delays are caused by weather, there are delay casued by something else. Cruise ships aren't exclusively in canceling ports or flights!

I hope your next cruise is much better than your last.
 
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texaschik_15

Guest
i am going on this same cruise this coming up march. and i was just wondering how the weather was..
do i need thick jacket and pants or what? any info would be nice. thankyou =D
 
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paul8

Guest
We are going to the South American Cape on NCL Sun in Jan. 2010 and would appreciate any information you can give us regarding before and after tours and tours in general. On another note, we travelled NCL Dream in Aug. 2008 from Boston - Bermuda and did not notice anything wrong with the food. I wrote a review that was published for a month, then it was gone. I found out that the Dream was in dry dock. Alas, death of a ship.
Paul8
paul.katz1@verizon.net
 
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