Norwegian Dawn - March 9-16, 2008
Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean - Eastern
7 Night Eastern Caribbean (Miami Roundtrip)
Sail date: March 09, 2008
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Cabin type: Balcony
Traveled as: Family (older children)
Reviewed: 14 years ago
Review summary
The Norwegian Dawn is a wonderful ship, the crew is constantly cleaning and attending to your needs. The freestyle dining experience was wonderful - I loved being able to go to dinner in my jeans with a golf shirt. The dress code policy could use a little more explanation prior to the trip as they really did not enforce the "resort casual" policy very much. The trip was an overall good experience but I want to list the negatives you should be aware of before you go. The negatives were as follows: 1- The carpeting and small sofa had a number of stains and marks - an upgrade to new furniture is warranted. 2- The balcony is not private as your neighbor can easily look around the wall and the spacing next to the hinges is approximately 1/2". It was nice, however, to be able to open the sliding door and get the fresh air every day. 3- The prices for the spa services, bottled water and photos were high. The large bottle of water was $4.75 plus a service charge. 4- Le Bistro restaurant was a waste of time and money - we sat down at 7pm with a reservation and left the restaurant at 9:50pm - our food took forever to arrive and the service was lousy. 5- The use of a tender to get to Samana was my personal worst part of the trip. First you have to wait on line to get your Tender Tickets, then you have to wait for a tender that holds 80 people to take you to shore. All in all it took over 1 hour to get off of the ship to visit Samana. The trip back was smoother except for the completely drunk college students on spring break. 6- The most over-rated part of the trip was "NCL's" private island - Great Stirrup Cay. They take just about everyone (2200 people) and cram them onto a small beach. I thought I was at Jones Beach in NY in July. The flies also made eating the food they barbecued impossible-as they landed on your burgers or chicken as soon as you stopped moving. We wound up going back to an empty ship, enjoyed the quiet and the ease of getting around. 7- The ship was sold out and crowded. It was very difficult to get lounge chairs around the pool area unless you got up early and put your towels and some personal effects on them.Ports of call
Tortola, British Virgin Islands
Great Stirrup Cay (Cruise Line Private Island), Bahamas
Pros: The ship was extremely quiet - very little mechanical noise.
Cons: The Tender system used at Samana and Great Stirrup Cay
Recommends Norwegian Dawn? Yes!
Other reviews of this sailing
*Cruiseline.com is not a booking agent or travel agency, and does not charge any service fees to users of our site. Our partners (travel agencies and cruise lines) provide prices, which we list for our users' convenience. Cruiseline.com does not guarantee any specific rates or prices. While prices are updated daily, please check with the booking site for the exact amount. Cruiseline.com is not responsible for content on external web sites.