Norwegian Dawn - Western Caribbean

This was my first time on a cruise. I'm fairly certain I won't choose cruises as my primary way to vacation in the future. I like to explore destinations and countries more than cruises allow. I will probably go on an Alaskan cruise at some point and possibly cruise through the Greek islands. The Norwegian Dawn is an older ship but has been refurbished and is nice, although smaller than other ships. However, that means there are less people on board (about 2000). The service by the staff is outstanding - they feel like a family to me. We had an outside verandah which was small and could only hold chairs, no table. The room had only one place to charge your electronics - 2 outlets is all. The bathroom smelled like icky ocean water when we first boarded but that was generally fixed soon. The bed was huge and comfortable. The TV was small and channels were very limited: two movie channels, one TV show channel, two news channels (MSNBC and FOX, where was CNN?) The rest were ship channels like navigation, on board activities, and advertising basically. The internet (we got the 250 minute complimentary package through ) absolutely sucked. Very slow, and it used up your minutes just getting on. It was completely out for almost one whole day. It was a good thing I didn't pay for it. I like the Freestyle Dining that Norwegian has - two dining rooms and two other restaurants were free, in addition to the buffet. I did not think that the food anywhere was outstanding although the Irish bar had great food (shepherd's pie, reuben sandwich). Make reservations for every night in a free dining room (Aqua or Venetian - they have the same menu) or restaurant (Bamboo - we never did get in there because we didn't make a reservation) if you don't want to eat the buffet every night (it's not that good). You can make reservations before the cruise even starts online. 

This cruise had 4 ports - Costa Maya (Mexico), Harvest Caye (Belize), Roatan (Honduras) and Cozumel (Mexico). The Chacobben Extreme Tour in Costa Maya (through ) was a wonderful tour with a wonderful guide. You can book the same tour through "Native Choice" online. The ruins were very interesting and our guide Kasi was extremely knowledgable. They took us to a very nice restaurant which was complimentary and great food and after that to a private lagoon (lake) where they had free drinks, snacks and beach chairs. Harvest Caye (Belize) is a private island owned by Norwegian. Basically a beach and a lagoon with a zipline and a few animals to look at and limited shopping. Everything is an extra charge including food, beach chairs, kayaking, ziplining. Not worth the time hardly to walk off the ship and you are NOT visiting Belize. On Roatan, Honduras, the tour "Reef Snorkel by Boat" through was also a fairly good tour. They take you by van to a marina at Turquoise Bay Resort (which is very nice), and you snorkel by boat at Seastar and Turquoise Bay. The snorkeling was good and afterwards you can swim in the resort's pool, use their beach and eat at their restaurant (for $15 each). The boat driver, and two dive masters were great. Then you have a little time to shop in the little town where the ship docks. If you stay outside the pier area to shop, it is a little more authentic although no real bargains. On Cozumel, we booked our own tour (Mystic Snorkel - boat name APOLO) online before the trip. It was great - for $65 they took us to 3 reefs - Sky, Columbia and Palancar. Sky was very shallow - saw a variety of fish including eels, and lobster. Columbia was amazing - a little deeper, more fish and we saw several nurse sharks. Palancar was even deeper - not quite as many fish.

Back to the Norwegian Dawn - I did think that the entertainment was outstanding - several of the shows approached Las Vegas quality.

Other details - not much to buy on board - my husband forgot his flip flops, all they had were the basic rubber ones for $25. Ridiculous. The ship only had one pool - pretty small and one hot tub. They did have a great kids pool complete with water slides, and dinosaurs. The jogging track was good. The classes we took at the Fitness Center (which had a fair number of machines) were pretty good - morning stretch and abs class. You have to pay for the yoga and cycling classes. I did not do any of the spa services(they were quite expensive). After touring the spa area (a few pools, some hot relaxation chairs which were uncomfortable, and a sauna), I did not think it was worth the $150 or so for the 7 day pass.

Also, I forgot to say that they charge you extra for almost everything (bottled water, soda, and of course alcoholic drinks). The tap water onboard was not good and bottled water would be the only other option. So in conclusion, the cruise was nice but I probably would not choose Norwegian again.