A mostly good cruise

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 60

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Dawn

7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 22, 2008

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Oceanview

Traveled as: Family (young children)

Reviewed: 15 years ago

Review summary

The ship looked large, clean and invitating as we enetered it

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
The quality, presentation and serivce in the specialty restaurants was fantastic! We ate at Cagneys, Salsa's and Le Bistro. They were all great in every way. The tenderloin at Le Bistro did not even need a steak knife to cut. The crab salsa at Salsa's was also wonderful! As for the main dining rooms there were decorated nicely, but the food and service was not good. On Thanksgiving evening the traditional thanksgiving meal was ordered by our entire table and it was not hot OR very appetizing. The stuffing was over baring with sage and after that I could not taste anything else. I also asked the server for a childrens menu for our son and he said they did not have any. yet the table next to us had a small child with childrens menu and crayons. The servers don't take the same kind of care in the main dining rooms.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Entertainment was great and varied. Magician, comedian, comedy troop, dance.singing troop all very talented. The most talented entertainer was in Gatsby's lounge he played piao and sang nightly and he was fantastic!! We went to hear him each night.

Children's Programs

5 out of 5
The staff was the best. Our son loved going there daily and really contected with all of the staff. The T-rex pool was a lot of fun too!

Service and Staff

3 out of 5
The staff was all friendly and atentive (except for main dining room staff).

Ship Quality

3 out of 5
The layout was a little bothersome as there are many dead ends on the ship. It was very clean and the decor was bright and modern, BUT all of the plants were artifical and you really don't want to see someone dusting the folage watering but not dusting!

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
I was a little worried initial about our room because it was smaller than we have had on other ships in the same category. We had an oceanview room on the 5 deck forward. it had plenty of sorage space for everything that we brought. Our steward team was fantastic and very accomodating. Thew room was very clean as was the bathroom.

Ports of call

Samana, Dominican Republic

1 out of 5
It is the saddest place I have ever been and I do not wish to return. The poverty level was so high and it was just depressing.
Don't Miss: none

Tortola, British Virgin Islands

5 out of 5
This is the most beautiful port I have ever been too! The water was so clear you could see 30ft down. The flowers were amazing and the trees were all bearing beautiful fruit (coconut, avocado, fig etc). Just a beautiful place!
Don't Miss: The See and Sea Tour!

Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas

1 out of 5
We were not all that impressed with Great Stirup Cay. There were not enough beach chairs and it was a little more primative than our cruise lines private islands.
Don't Miss: none

Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas

5 out of 5
We love St. Thomas and have been there before we did not do any planned excursion. BUT we did Sky Ride and went into town to shop and walk around it was GREAT!
Don't Miss: The Sky Ride!!

Pros: kids program and specialty restaurants

Cons: main dining room food and servers

Recommends Norwegian Dawn? Yes!

Was this review helpful? 60

1 Comment

Gwbigdog    1 year ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.