Dawn experience

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

MissouriEllen

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 20

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 19, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 9523

Traveled as: Singles/Friends

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We had sailed on the Dawn a year ago, prior to it being refurbished. We did notice new carpeting in the public areas. Not a lot of other obvious changes except for some new dining options. O'Sheehan's was a great new 24 hr. dining option which we enjoyed several times. We felt the food choices and quality in Aqua and Venetian had gone down a bit from the previous year. It wasn't bad, just not as good as before.

Friendly and efficient staff in dining rooms, buffet, room steward, pool. Bartenders behind the bar were overworked and wait time was sometimes an issue. One did better to have one of the waiters bring a drink then to try and get one yourself. Customer service at the desk was so-so.

It took us 24 hours to get hot water in our room even after reporting it several times to several different departments.

Harvest Caye in Belize is nice and we enjoyed the day. It would be nice to be able to do a private shore excursion from here, and not be locked into NCL excursions. We kind of felt like we were being held captive. We would just like some other options.

All in all we had a good cruise and enjoyed the unlimited beverage package.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

We have been on the Dawn twice. The previous trip was one year ago. We felt the quality of the food in the main dining rooms (Aqua and Venetian) has gone down from a year ago. What they have done to the portraits in the Venetian dining room is silly and unattractive. It makes a lovely dining room look stupid. O'Sheehans is a nice addition to the dining options!

Onboard Activities

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Room steward Gabriel was excellent. Food and drink staff in all dining rooms, buffet, and pool was very good. Tried calling the customer service desk twice at different times and got no answer both times. When I reported in person to customer service that we had no hot water for 24 hours, they were unapologetic. Just saying they would report it. We had already reported it the day before

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

Several restrooms had out of order stalls and several leaks seemed to be an issue. Not always kept tidy either. Dining rooms and buffet were clean.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

The cabin itself was just fine. Our room steward, Gabriel was excellent. Very attentive to our needs. We were without hot water until the second day of the cruise. Even after reporting it twice, it took a full day for maintenance to to address/fix the problem.