horrible cruise

Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 37

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Dawn

7 Night Western Caribbean (New Orleans Roundtrip)

Sail date: February 05, 2017

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11160

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

I have been on 7 cruises before and this is the absolute worst one ever.  Please if you are thinking about going on Norwegian Dawn do your homework as I didn't because I thought maybe our friends going did already!!!  This boat is old, long, and narrow so you feel every move of it along the way.  I boat all the time, own my own and never been sea sick ever till onboard this ship.  The customer service at the desk is horrible.  The boat was with out water a couple nights when we came back to our balcony room and needed to shower and use the restroom.  There were 2 nights that the rooms and hallways smelled of bad sewage you had to leave your rooms to find fresh air.  Most of our group of 30 came down with a horrible illness and they did not care about helping us out besides going to the infirmary where 1 of our group did cost them $2100.  We will never sail with Norwegian again and neither is our whole group.  This puts a whole different picture on cruising these days as they don't care to take care of you like they used to!!!!

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
this ship is horrible for the average young adult for onboard activities; nothing to do whatsoever and the 1 little pool is ridiculous!!!

Entertainment

3 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
This ship is narrow so you will feel everything, you better bring your motion sickness patches because you will need them

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Spent a bunch of money and if I spent this amount on a different brand ship my room would be much nicer

Ship tip

Do not book on this ship!!!

Ports of call

New Orleans, Louisiana

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

5 out of 5

Harvest Caye, Belize

1 out of 5
what a crappy place and they have you all to themselves to spend money on a small little island that Norwegian gets a huge kick back from

Costa Maya (Mahahual), Mexico

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 37

19 Comments

Gwbigdog    2 years ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

scotter06    7 years ago

TrishZ1950    7 years ago

The Dawn is a great ship. We have sailed on it 3 times and most recently in November 2016. We have been in rough seas and never experienced sea sickness. Midship is the best place to have a cabin. We only had an issue with the toilets one time. Most likely because someone flushed something, that they should not have, on the previous cruise. We love Norwegian and the old ships but we are elderly and don't need or want all the new fangled excitement of the newer ships.

pennpam    7 years ago

We just got off the Dawn. Totally have a different opinion than you. You can almost always feel some motion on any ship, not just the Dawn. We found everything to be wonderful. Staff was great, we got sea sickness pills for one of our group for free at the very friendly customer service desk. We had no sewer smells, but from what I read, that is not an uncommon thing on many cruise ships. It is inherent in the way the systems work.we had no problem however. I had far more complaints about the drunk people being obnoxious than any part of the ship and cruise. I would sail that boat again anytime!

rich01826    7 years ago

were on the ship is the sewage & water problems?

sexyrose    7 years ago

I went on the Dawn last February, I had no problem. It wasn't my favorite cruise ship so far, but the staff, stops, and excursions were awesome. Only time we had rough sailing was speeding back across the gulf to get someone back who needed medical attention back in New Orleans

krogers360    7 years ago

I don't know how NCL handles it but Princess has folks fill out forms before even boarding stating whether they have a cold or fever, etc. and they confine you to your room to help spread disease. plus that hand antibacterial stuff when you enter the buffet. Does NCL do that?

flipflop15    7 years ago

We have cruised on the Dawn twice and never had any problems. We love the ship and are going again in November. You probably got that horrible flu virus that is going around which isn't the ships fault. Too bad you had a bad experience because the Dawn is a great ship and NCL is a great cruiseline.

jmerew76    7 years ago

those sicknesses are the same things everyone is getting here . The boat had nothing to do with it.

Seasearcher    7 years ago

We had two cruises on the Dawn and we booked another on for 6/9/17. We cannot wait. We always countdown the days. We absolutely loved the crew. The upgrades were beautiful. The shows were top notch. Activities were lots of fun. Food was delicious and we never went to a specialty restaurant. We loved the freestyle. We dressed how we wanted. We ate when and what we wanted. We felt like royalty. No sickness. No complaints. Cannot wait! About 93 more days!!!!

shannonyoung    7 years ago

Some of the people in our large group came down with the flu and the rest came down with a bad hacking cough.  Trust me the seas were not bad at all on this trip but you could feel the waves and movement at all times so you better be sure to get the behind the ear patch like the other 80% were wearing.

teribendit    7 years ago

Dawn is my very fav ship!

freechelle    7 years ago

We were on three weeks ago, and yes we did have toilet issues and a horrible sewer smell in the hall. However, customer service was great and fixed the issues we had. They even left us a desert plate and a bottle of wine in our room because of our issues. As for it rocking more than other ships, I've sailed on the Dawn twice and on Carnival and I never noticed more rocking. And the seas were not rough at all.

sugar64    7 years ago

i sail on the Dawn i never had any trouble i love ncl they treat you so great i guess am lucky i never had a bad cruise

JusMe    7 years ago

Sorry to hear of your troubled cruise.   I will agree that customer service on NCL is zero after they have your $$$.     I have been much happier on any other line,  even Carnival IMHO is better.

TNTGreen    7 years ago

Well if you cruised during these winter months that could be why you had sea sickness since the seas are rough. I've had friends whose cruised on Norwegian Dawn who loved it.

krogers360    7 years ago

what illness did you and your 30 friends come down with?

krogers360    7 years ago

I have heard folks complain about toilets however, which is scary because we are going to be in an inside room, deck 8, where some of the problems are happening.

krogers360    7 years ago

I've been reading do many wonderful reviews about the Dawn. I'd like to hear some corroboration of your claims as I'm going in 19 days.

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