Norwegian Cruise Line Invites You to Meet the Winemaker

Norwegian Cruise Line announced the schedule for its 2017/18 Meet the Winemaker Cruises aboard Norwegian Escape and Norwegian Dawn. The lineup includes Michael Mondavi, Aaron Sanchez, Gerard Bertrand, Bill Whiting, and Salvatore Ferragamo.

While onboard the Norwegian Escape inaugural cruise in 2015 I got a glimpse of “The Cellars, A Michael Mondavi Family Wine Bar”, but I did not have a chance to explore any deeper than a quick look around. I’m told the bar boasts a curated wine list and service provided by a Court of Master Sommeliers certified Sommelier, which is quite a big deal to an oenophilia. This partnership was expanded to include Norwegian Dawn in 2016.

The New Norwegian Dawn

Are you considering a Bermuda cruise out of the northeast this year? Your timing couldn’t be better because the Norwegian Dawn has just returned to the city of Boston after a month long refurb and let me tell you, she’s looking GREAT!  This was by no means a quick cosmetic face-lift. The ship was actually brought down to the steel in many places and rebuilt!

What I love most about Norwegian Cruise Line is the many dining choices and two new restaurants were added to the Dawn.  O’Sheehans’s Bar & Grill has been added…every NCL ship should have O’Sheehans!  It’s great pub food and open for breakfast, lunch, dinner and late night snacks. The second restaurant is a new-to-the-fleet, upscale Mexican restaurant called Los Lobos Cantina.

Norwegian Dawn Gets a Facelift

The Norwegian Dawn cruised into her new seasonal homeport of Boston last week sporting a new look!  A multi-million dollar refurbishment has left her shiny new with lots of great enhancements. Things were shifted around quite a bit; so much so that there was room to add 58 additional suites and staterooms! It’s always nice to see more family staterooms that will hold up to six guests and the Dawn will now have 24 and 10 of those will have balconies.

All staterooms were upgraded with flat screen televisions, which saves a bit a space and gives the room a cleaner look.  I was impressed that they did the same for the crew!

For those of you fortunate enough to have already cruised the Norwegian Epic, you may remember the Brazilian steakhouse, Moderno Churrascaria.  Guests loved this restaurant so much that it is being added to ships when they go into dry dock and its now a dining option on the Dawn!  Passadors serve skewers of all kinds of meat tableside, and the large self-serve salad bar contains sides and fixin’s.

The casino, probably one of the busiest spots on the ship was totally redone.  A more functional layout, new furniture and new carpet were part of the renovation.

Both the Kid’s Crew area and Teen Club got a new look.  It’s so important to have a segregated and age appropriate look to a child’s space!  It’s hard to get teens to hang out in a spot that’s not as “cool” as they are!  New game systems were also added. A room dedicated to little cruisers, The Under 2 Zoo, was added.  Here parents and their children have a special place to play together.

So, lucky you if you have an upcoming cruise on the Norwegian Dawn!  I thought she was a pretty special ship before her upgrades, but now she’s even better!"