They are the automotive equivalent to a Ford Tempo or an Austin Marina.

I enjoyed Norwegian Dream, I do appreciate many however do not, although asides from AIDA Fans, is there any other cruise ship that has her own fan club as N Dream does? She obviously appeals to many and quite quirky with layout, long ladders, nooks & crannies. More interesting than all straight decks, companionways etc.

quote:

---

Originally posted by desirod7:
The Norwegian Dream and Sea were built on the cheap both in design and execution. My understanding is that they offer the worst of an old liner and worst of a modern cruiseship with the advantages of niether.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Thad:

While I had definitely read that about the Seaward, it was my understanding that when new, the Windward and Dreamward were considered quite nice ships, well designed and built. Now I don't think the stretching really helped either ship, and Windward has been majorly altered now by Star, but were /are they that bad?

---

Here are some of the travelpage reviews

Mark Goldberg loves her, but review is very old

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/ships/no_dream.asp

Here are some not so good reviews

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_ncl_dream_11.asp

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_ncl_dream_4.asp

http://www.cruiseserver.net/travelpage/yourfav/yfc_ncl_dream_3.asp

I have had some wonderful cruises on awful ships. Not so good cruises on great ships.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Thad:

While I had definitely read that about the Seaward, it was my understanding that when new, the Windward and Dreamward were considered quite nice ships, well designed and built. Now I don't think the stretching really helped either ship, and Windward has been majorly altered now by Star, but were /are they that bad?

---

I have no idea what they are like now as I have not been on one in a long time, since before the "stretch". But having been on both SEAWARD and WINDWARD there was really no comparison between the two - it was very obvious that WINDWARD was a vastly superior ship in every way.

Some claim the stretch ruined them, others say it was an improvement - as I said, I can't opine because I haven't been on one post-stretch, but from what I've seen they still look nice enough. The very "pastel" decor now looks rather dated but with a suitable refit I imagine they could be very nice ships again.

That said, like David I have heard some not-so-wonderful things about their mechanical condition - however, I have no idea if this really is a result of them being built on the cheap, or a result of the "stretch", or bad maintenance, or what.

I am kidding.

[ 03-14-2008: Message edited by: Magic Pipe ]

quote:

---

Originally posted by Magic Pipe:
NCL could just keep her and market her as an expedition vessel and send her to Antarctica. She's ice classed, you know.

---

Departure: April 18, 2008
18 Nights.
South America and Panama Canal Cruise
Starting rate: $409 per person.

You read it correctly. $409 for 18 nights. Unbelievable.
You can upgrade to an outside cabin for $449.00 per person.

NORWEGIAN DREAM is actually one of my least favorite ships I've ever sailed, but for $409 I would suffer through it again!

quote:

---

Originally posted by eroller:

Departure: April 18, 2008
18 Nights.
South America and Panama Canal Cruise
Starting rate: $409 per person.

You read it correctly. $409 for 18 nights. Unbelievable.
You can upgrade to an outside cabin for $449.00 per person.

Ernie

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy:
Recently there is a rumour in Star Cruises saying that the Pride of ALOHA transfer will NOT occur indeed.

Mind that it is now less that 2 months before the supposed transfer, Star Cruises has not yet released any deployment plans for ALOHA.

---

Maybe rather than going to Star she will go to the NCL International fleet?

Here is NCL's comment regarding ALOHA:
"Pride of Aloha pioneered the new inter-island market but, as we move forward with Freestyle 2.0 to take our product to the next level across what is already the youngest fleet in the industry, we cannot justify further investment in this ship"

She is still quite young, so I don't really understand, why it is not justified for further investment on ALOHA but on MAJESTY?

I wish NCL to keep the DREAM or sell her to Louis. Her sister SuperStar Aquarius is a disaster in Asia. I just don't want to see the same nightmare to repeat on DREAM.

[ 03-22-2008: Message edited by: Andy ]

Star would probably rather have SPIRIT back, but I think NCL would rather get rid of ALOHA.

It's rather ironic, anyway - remember when SPIRIT was supposed to be the first NCL ship based in Hawaii, under the awful name NORWEGIAN LEO? NCL got STAR instead because it was cheaper to build her without a casino than convert LEO not to have one, or so we were told.

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy:
Look at LIBRA, she only had on average around 200 passengers on cruises ex-Hong Kong. Recently she is doing better as STAR is offering FREE oceanview cabins on all departures.

---

quote:

---

Originally posted by Andy:
Recently she is doing better as STAR is offering FREE oceanview cabins on all departures.

---

I'm not sure about the pax load of LEO a few years back. But as I said, most pax are not paying fare so the pax load can hardly tell anything about the "market".

For instance, PISCES had on average more than 90% pax sailing free. Now that she is free for all departures this month I bet less than 10 pax are paying $$ each cruise. By the way, Star Cruises is now giving out free cruises vouchers along the streets.

There is a strong rumour here that PRIDE OF ALOHA will not be transferred to Star Cruises since they are lacking crew (navigation officers indeed). They are running short of captains as they had to bring back a retired captain when they launched the AQUARIUS, and I heard that currently they still need one extra captain or bridge team for the current operations, not to mention to launch a new ship!

[ 03-25-2008: Message edited by: Andy ]