the good and the bad for us at least

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Bermuda

scotiagirl

Contributor Level: Cruise Director

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Reviews: 7

Helpful Votes: 310

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

Sail date: July 22, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9726

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

the food and entertainment on this cruise was excellent, as well as the courtesy of the staff and waiters and other servers. I am only giving the cruise 3 stars because the few things we did not care for are actually deal breakers for us and we probably will not sail Norwegian again unless we get a fabulous price.

The Dawn is a smaller ship with about 2500 passengers, however there is only 1 pool located forward on the ship with Stadium seating for multi levels surrounding it. On hot days, which everyone was, the entire ship it seemed was concentrated in this one area. Too many people in one place, the pool was extremely overcrowded and with kids jumping and splashing around as kids will do, it was not the place to be. In addition due to the number of people in the pool at any given time it was not clean, hair and paper and food were always present. Due to the numbers it did not appear to be a safe environment.

the other issue was our balcony stateroom bathroom. It had separate stalls for the shower and the toilet, Husband is tall and large frame, he had little or no room in the toilet area and for him this was a huge issue.

We enjoy cruising and have done so many times and will do so again, however we probably will not consider Norweigian again due to these issues, they do not appear to be something that can be corrected. Our other cruise line preference offers similar itineraries at similar pricing and the two things mentioned above are fine on those ships so that is probably where we will look again.

We chose this trip for the destination and to give Norwegian a try, food, service, and entertainment were great and compared well with other cruises we have been on but the things we perceived as the negatives will remain in our memories and will more than likely give us pause before we consider a Norweigian again.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

only one pool for too many people, bathroom set up poor

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

cabin at aft was fine except for bathroom set up, separate stall for toilet is too small for a large person and not practical, can't see why it is necessary to have separate toilet area in such a confined space. Also closet and drawer space is limited,

Ports of call

Boston, Massachusetts

3 out of 5

Royal Naval Dockyard, West End, Bermuda

3 out of 5

6 Comments

Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise.

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debbiegagnon 8 years ago

flipflop we were on the cruise with you in August 2015. I agree about the pool area as stated by some above. I am typically not a pool person and just hung out while my friends and family went in. The times we went were not too crowded. I didn't care for the rundown yuckiness of it, but the times we went it wasn't too crowded. I didn't like that some adults had drinks in glass cups as I felt that was a safety issue and the next day the pool had to be drained due to someone breaking a glass in the pool. So hopefully this time it will be nicer, because I would like to give the pool a try. Other than that the only issues we had was our room smelt musty and was damp due to the ac not working. We didn't complain until the 2nd day and it was fixed. So it was coolerx but the smell and dampness were still there. I absolutely love the video and pics of the makeover of the ship. This will be our 2nd cruise on 5-26-17 and we are so excited to go. The other issues were with the soda packages. I was very hard to get soda at the bar by the pool and some other areas. I wish there was a way they could put soda fountain areas around the ship for quicker access or make it so soda is included into the cruise like the food is. Other than that our room steward was excellent! Never had to ask for anything. Our room was always ready and he went above and beyond, we felt he worked very long hours and tipped him well for his service. He knew us by our first names and was very attentive. Entertainment was excellent. I totally agree with the original comment on this thread very fair. Some people are just never happy and complain about everything and may/probably steer away from cruising with Norwegian due to comments read. We live an hour south of Boston and our son dropped us off and picked us up. So didn't have to worry about paying to park or finding a spot. The best part easy on and off the ship and no airfare. Would definitely recommend this ship and of course, by the sounds of it all return from drydock issues seem to have been corrected.

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flipflop15 8 years ago

Hopefully less kids Sept. 2nd when we go. Last year we couldn't get near the pool or hot tubs because they were overcrowded with kids.

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ChristinaZ1 8 years ago

I'm sorry you experienced that. We always travel in the off season on the dawn and there is only a handful of people in the pool. We try to avoid crowds like the plague lol.

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esm54687 8 years ago

Great review and I agree with krogers360.....

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krogers360 8 years ago

This was a very fair, well -thought-out review. Since coming out of drydock, there have been complaints about plumbing backing up (fixed), not enough employees to provide good service (fixed) and other challenges, but I've read complaints about the crowds around the single pool area and the mess they leave behind that the pool staff can't keep up with. You can always tell who just complain and I can tell this person is objective. I will be cruising in March and will make plans to avoid the pool at peak hours. I'll bet early mornings will be nice.

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Other reviews of this sailing

The best family vacation!

Good entertainment staffs and very good shows.

Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda