A great vacation "Dawns"
Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Caribbean
11 Night Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: February 07, 2018
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Cabin type: Inside
Cabin number: 5577
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 6 years ago
Review summary
We're a long-time-married and nearly-retired couple from Texas, and our cruise on Dawn was our 26th, our 9th with NCL. We originally chose this cruise due to the itinerary, though Mother Nature had other plans. After learning of the updated itinerary, we decided to proceed, as the new itinerary pleased us more than the original. Overall I found nothing to complain about, though we're of the opinion that your experience is what you make of it, regardless of the circumstances. Should one look hard enough, negatives are certainly to be found, but again, we prefer to accentuate the positives. Food was, though hearty and satisfying, mostly average. Buffet was sometimes less than "hot", though adequately warm. The lunch grill, much the same. French fries were awesome! Dining room fare was, again, average, but mostly well presented and served to order. We didn't avail ourselves of any of the specialty restaurants onboard, though we heard many good things. Cabin service was, for the most part, excellent, though sometimes the make-up service in the morning ran somewhat late, but it was always done efficiently. We did some shore excursions through NCL, some we booked on our own through independent tour operators. The one we counted on most, in Aruba, we missed due to the changed itinerary, putting us in Aruba a day late, and despite emailing our tour guides and requesting a day's postponement, we were unable to connect. No worries, we did some great snorkeling in Curacao, as well as Dunns River Falls in Jamaica, something we'd never done despite having been to Jamaica 3 times previously. Entertainment was good for the most part, with an extraordinary Irish comedian, an excellent stand-up man, Mr. Rivas, an actual Caribbean steel band for poolside (for once, much preferable to recorded music) a fabulous show band, and we much enjoyed Manila Soul, the lounge band. Highlight for us entertainment-wise was the night in the Atrium when some of the vocalists onboard sang with the showband, but solos and duets, with the best being from the lady with Rockaway Duo and the lead female singer from Manila Soul, Bambi. Those 2 completely divergent styles and voices blended flawlessly, leaving us wishing for more! Both embarkation as well as disembarkation was fine with us, being our first time cruising from Tampa. Overall, we'd recommend Norwegian Dawn and her attentive crew to anyone desiring something different from the standard 7 day cruise.Embarkation
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Onboard Activities
Entertainment
Children's Programs
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ports of call
Key West, Florida Did not visit port
Santa Marta, Colombia Did not visit port
Disembarkation
7 Comments
Shirbo 6 years ago