Great time despite the older demographic!
Norwegian Dawn Cruise Review to Canada, New England, New York
Contributor Level:
Purser
Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 47
7 Night Canada & New England (New York Roundtrip)
Sail date: May 11, 2019
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 10172
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
We love the Dawn, 2nd time on her. Staff was wonderful and food was excellent. We felt the influence of the older crowd (avg age was 63, we are all 30) on the entertainment and music, but still had tons of fun. I probably wouldn't do this itinerary again, especially not in May. The weather was not great and a lot of ports weren't quite up and running for the season. But we are still glad we went and would take another trip on the Dawn if the right itinerary and right time came up! The other couple we went with were so impressed they booked another NCL cruise with us!Embarkation
Very timely and organized. We always have a good experience with the Manhattan Terminal.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
We ate in Le Bistro, La Cucina, Moderno and Los Lobos. All were excellent and we were especially surprised by how good Los Lobos was given the reviews we have seen. We have been to Mexico and know what GOOD Mexican food tastes like. It's not Taco Bell! MDRs were great too. Service was a little slow at times but we had food coming the whole time so we weren't starving waiting for our food. Buffet was nicer than other ships. Still very crowded and the layout doesn't leave much space to get through. Ate at OSheehans several times. Had bad service once but otherwise always very attentive and fast!
Onboard Activities
The average age of the guests was 63. We could tell that this influenced the types of activities. Lots of Bingo and Deal or No Deal, shopping and wellness seminars, etc. There wasn't a lot going on at night other than gambling and the shows. We still had fun though and were glad we went with another couple our age!
Entertainment
This review is just pertaining to the music. We did not attend any of the shows. Again, we could tell that the music was influenced by the age of the guests. The bands and musicians around the ship were pretty subdued and played mostly jazz versions of older songs. We were also disappointed in the music in the Bliss Lounge. It was hard for us to get into dancing to music from the 70's. They didn't play much from this century. We were especially disappointed in the music at the white party. Veeeery different from other ships.
Service and Staff
We had great service all throughout the ship. Our room steward was friendly and introduced himself on day 1 (his name is JJ). We asked him to make us towel animals (the Dawn is one of the ships experimenting with discontinuing them) and he did a wonderful job! The photographers were excellent and made us feel very comfortable. We gave a special shoutout to Ricardo, the cellar master, and I Gusti, the wine steward in the Cellars. We spent every evening there and they were so much fun and gave us outstanding service! The cruise director, Luz, was very present throughout the ship and was both fun and informative.
Ship Quality
This was our second time on the Dawn and 4th time on one of NCL's smaller ships (Gem and Jewel) so we had no problem with understanding the ship layout. We love the refurb it went through since our last time. Looks very classy, especially in the atrium. Everything was kept very clean and orderly.
Cabin / Stateroom
This is our 2nd balcony on NCL and was pretty standard. We love that the shower has a door and not a curtain. It had lots of storage and plenty of space for two people. Balcony was a decent size. Very quiet for the most part as there are staterooms above and below. We could hear some chair scraping from the buffet a couple decks above but it was never very loud or disruptive.
Ship tip
The lounge on deck 9 very nice for enjoying a drink or playing games. You can also get a good view of the atrium, which sometimes can be packed if there is an event going on. Also, be sure to make a reservation at Bamboo if you want to go. It was booked the entire week and we couldn't get in. We didn't realize they had changed it to reservation only since our last cruise.
Thumbs up
0
Ports of call
I would not recommend doing this itinerary in May. A lot of ports were not quite up and running yet and there were things we could not see or do because of it. Halifax looked to have a very nice downtown and port shopping but we didn't spend much time there. We did a Peggy's cove/Fairview cemetary excursion through the ship. We got lucky that it was a sunny day so we could see a lot from Peggy's cove and it wasn't crowded in the off season. Very cold with the wind though! We had a great tour guide but the bus ride was very windy so we got a little queasy.
Seemed like a cool port. It was very rainy and cold so it was hard to explore. We did a food tour through the ship excursions and we really enjoyed that. Had the best lobster roll of the whole trip in the market!
Seems like a nice port with lots to do. Again, we had rainy and cold weather so it was hard to get a good idea. We did the Acadia National Park excursion. It was cool to get out and see the top of cadillac mountain but we did not like that the entire tour was otherwise on a bus. We wish that they made more stops for us to get out. We passed a lot of scenic views that seemed like places we could have stopped. It was hard to see out of the bus windows. The port shops were really nice and seemed like you could spend the whole day shopping and visiting eateries.
We had great weather for this port! We didn't do an excursion but enjoyed walking through the park about 15 minutes from port. It has a little beach and lots of good views of the water. We walked up to the Portland observatory and were disappointed that it wasn't open yet for the season. We then went to Shipyard brewery and had a really good flight of beer! Cool tasting room and very reasonable prices.
We once again had terrible weather which made it hard to enjoy the port. We also got into port late due to the ship having to slow down for some whales to pass. It was a tender port too so by the time we got to port we only had a couple of hours. It seemed like there are a lot of shops and restaurants. We went to the Lobster Company had an excellent lobster salad roll and full belly fried clams.
Disembarkation
We self-debarked and waited until shortly before the end of debark time so no long lines to get off the ship. I'll never understand why everyone is in such a hurry to get off and end their vacation! We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the MDR and then made our way off. Customs in the terminal took awhile and we got selected for a random bag search. But that's not NCL's fault and we didn't mind because we weren't in a hurry.