A great ship for families!

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean - Bahamas

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 48

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Dawn

7 Night Bahamas & Florida (New York Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 05, 2006

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Inside

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 18 years ago

Review summary

We recently sailed on the Norwegian Dawn and were pleased with our choice. The ship was beautiful both inside and out. The kids club was excellent with different groupings for different age children. There were activities planned for the children for 'at sea' days and the option was available for babysitting during the 'in port' days. The club was colorful and clean and the employees were caring and very good with the children. The ship itself was clean as were the cabins. Friendliness of the crew was sporadic. Some were very nice and others were not. The main dining rooms were beautiful and the food was excellent. The selection of specialty restaurants was diverse and the food good, however if reservations were not made during the first 1 or 2 days of the cruise, you were out of luck. Walking into a specialty restaurant on the night you wanted to dine and getting a table was out of the question. It seemed as though all of the tables were held for reservations with none left for the 'spur of the moment' diner. Norwegian adds a set amount to your final bill for tipping the crew which we found to be very convenient but we weren't sure if that made for better service or not. We live in NJ and the convenience of leaving from New York City was wonderful. The cruise ship terminal was easy to find and plenty of parking was available. Overall, we were happy with our choice and would recommend this ship.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5
If reservations were not made at the specialty restaurants right away, that option was removed from our 'freestyle cruise'. No tables were available for the 'walk-in' diner.

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
Most were very nice but some didn't seem to care.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Freeport, Grand Bahama Island

3 out of 5
The ship docks at a shipping port and there is nothing there. It was a 20 minute cab ride to the beach and shopping. This wasn't the best port.

Port Canaveral, Florida

3 out of 5
We did the Airboat Adventure. It was just 'OK'. I can visit Florida on my own time....I don't necessarily want to stop there on a cruise.

Nassau, Bahamas

5 out of 5
Seems like a lot to do here. We did the Dolphin Encounter and really enjoyed it. Easy to get off the ship and shop as the port was right in town. Another day in Nassau would have been nice. I found with the shore excursion, I didn't have any time to shop.

Pros: Activities for kids was great!

Cons: Too hard to get reservations for the specialty restaurants.

Recommends Norwegian Dawn? Yes!

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