Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This was a great trip with large group with ages ranging from 27 to 63.

Our experience couldn’t be better. The staff was amazing, food was good, drinks even better. Bermuda was beautiful. We already booked to return next year!

We had a large group which made it fun but I would say no matter how many times one of your friend suggests renting & riding mopeds, unless you have a death wish, don't do it! We survived on scooters from dockyard to St. George's but barely!!! Take the guy up on the 4-5 hour taxi ride instead. The cruise ship people will tell you many times emphatically to NOT rent scooters. We did have a fabulous time dancing and having well made drinks. Make sure to get a Lemon Drop, a Mango Meltdown, and a Bushwhacker drink. And the homemade guacamole at Mexican restaurant was great! Visit the Capitol Hamilton definitely! Check out the old Catholic church and climb the tower for $3.00 but know the 1st half of the climb is dark & extremely narrow. If you are claustrophobic I would not attempt it. Be sure to go to the jewelry store on the corner for beautiful pink sand jewelry. I think the name of the store is Alexandria. Oh and if you do nothing else, go to Horseshoe beach to see the cave and pink sand!!!

I loved this cruise. I've been on Royal Caribbean, Carnival and now Norwegian. Norwegian was my favorite! The food was great. The service was excellent. The entertainment was very good and it was a good mix of younger and older people. Bermuda is an excellent cruise destination. My steward was Joko Riyanto and he was extremely attentive. Great cruise!

# 1 Love Royal Caribbean Cruises . It was my first time with Norwegian cruise but may be not my last. The fact that no « rules » for dinning is required is not something I appreciated. If somebody don’t want to dress properly in the dining room, there’s always the buffet if he wants the eat in shorts !! The service was perfect, the food was A1

The cruise was nice. It sailed cruised from Boston which was quite convenient since we live in Massachusetts. The ships crew were informative, knowledgeable and helpful. There were plenty of activities on board and some great live performances. It was a awesome cruise, Bermuda was beautiful and our 7 hour tour of the island was wonderful. The cruise was overall a very rewarding experience.

Great experience for me. Great food. Drinks were good but not really normal alcohol level. Very good variety of on board entertainment. Always something to do while at sea. All the staff were very pleasant and helpful. They would do anything for you.

We had an awesome cruise and were very happy with the crew and staff on-board. The ship was very clean, the crew and staff were excellent in taking care of our every need. They were also very friendly and cheerful! We will definitely be doing another Norwegian cruise!!

Cruise Newbie Review Bottom line, make sure you’re with people that enjoy doing similar activities and don’t rely on ship activities to entertain you. FOOD: Not impressed with buffet. However, complimentary dining room food was pretty good. Specially dining was much better, but WAY more food than I’m accustomed to eating. Had to take dessert back to the room a couple of times. ROOM: Mini Suite with balcony had plenty of room, however, the pullout couch was low to the floor and uncomfortable. The twin beds were very comfortable. Clean room with adequate storage. Had an issue with toilet that took a while to resolve. ACTIVITIES: I was disappointed. Most activities were centered around getting you to spend money. Gambling, jewelry, art, spa, etc. I enjoyed the comedy act and the live bands, but there wasn’t much else besides that. It probably wouldn’t have bothered me if I had other people cruising with me to liven things up. My teen was disappointed in the teen club as most just wanted to play video games. He was so bored he just wanted to sleep. I did get him to play chess with the giant chess game on deck and to walk some laps on the jogging track. STAFF: Most were very pleasant and helpful. When we returned in the afternoon from a great day on the island we were ready for a nice nap. However, we came back to extremely loud banging underneath our cabin. We were told they were knocking rust off of pipes and repainting. After complaining, we were told noise would stop, however it continued. Went to Guest Services and were told it was Emergency related and we’d have to wait until 7-8pm before it was completed. I was not happy, to say the least. Ended up waiting on hold for a long time with corporate office that was no help at all. I was told I have to wait until cruise was over then file a complaint. Even sent an IM on Twitter I was so upset. I ended up getting contacted from the Guest Services Supervisor who apologized and offered bottle of wine. I accepted even though I don’t drink it, but asked her to assure me that she would at least be more proactive with guests to let them know what’s going on. I understand things happen, but they should at least work with guests to minimize issues. I’m not sure if I would cruise again. Don’t know if I’d have same experience on other cruise lines, or if cruising just isn’t for me. Maybe my expectations were set too high after hearing reviews of how much fun cruising is or maybe I just needed to be with a larger, more lively group.

First cruise the ease of driving an hour hopping on a boat and being on vacation is awesome my husband did not care for the walking and stairs so we took the elevator a lot it was a little slow but had a lot of fun with our fellow passengers

I was one the Dawn for my second time. I didn’t really have a chance to review it before as I didn’t have anything to compare it to. So here is my full review I had a mini suite on the 11 deck last time and it was more spacious than the aft balcony I had now room 9738 back of the ship. My room size is decent but smaller than the other Aft rooms In passing that I seen as the others are suites on either side. It can sleep 3 people but that’s pushing it if you like space. It’s 1 queen converts to 2 smaller twins and a fold out twin couch. The bath room is super tiny. There is a partition between the sink and the toilet that can close however it is a tight squeeze so if you are on the bigger side then I would not recommend it. I am on the bigger side and I had a tough time using it. ( please no fat jokes) There is a normal stand up size shower and one outlet for a shaver only in the bathroom. There is a hair dryer but it’s outside the bathroom in the small vanity area. There is plenty of closet space that comes with hangers. The balcony is also decent size there is a small table just below the tv. The Dawn provides lots of activities so it all depends on what you like to do. We did the following restaurants Cagneys- meat was delicious I had the prime rib and it melted like butter. My friend had the filet mignon. The sides were standard sides you can get in any restaurant on the Dawn and desert I had was the raspberry crème brûlée which was light and tasty. The service was good also. Los Lobos- don’t waste your food package on it. It’s À la cart and prices are affordable. The table side made guacamole was delicious the chips were bland no salt or lime on them but with the guacamole it was ok. The beef empanadas were so damn good I should of ordered just a few of those for dinner and been happy. Service took forever and the drinks were ok but over all not the hype people given it. Teppanyaki- this place was so good we did 2 nights there. They made a garlic fried rice and it was out of this world. I had beef filet mignon and chicken combo. Deserts were a green tea cake and or fruits I didn’t like the cake but everything else was great including service. Venetian- one of The main dining room’s had standard food selections and different options every night however it’s the same food that you might get from the garden café it’s just you don’t have to serve yourself. Garden Cafe this was standard buffet food with many options and different themed nights. O’Sheehan’s- I tried the sweet chili chicken wings amazing open faced turkey cheeseburger we’re all really made well french fries were standard buffet french fries. The Mojito bar also known as the sugarcane bar is a hidden gem. It is located inside the Moderno Brazilian restaurant and the Mojitos were out of those world. I would of never found it if we were not on a mission to find it. If you don’t have the unlimited beverage package and you want to try the different mojitos try the mojito flight. It’s 6 different ones. But if You do have the unlimited package you’re better off just going down the list and try each one because the Mojito flight is $19.95 and not included in the package. There is no need to dress up at any of the mentioned restaurant as I didn’t went in with a tank top and shorts most days and had no issue. If you like to dress up then go for it. Shows were good and if you like to dance and hear music the Bliss lounge at night is where it’s at. It was usually open until like 3am. Over all great trip and will cruise NCL again.

This is our second Boston to Bermuda cruise on The Dawn. The staff aboard the Dawn is amazing, we were always greeted with a smile and asked if there was something they could do to help. Our cabin steward, Patrick, was wonderful. Bermuda is a beautiful island and I highly recommend traveling by ferry when possible to take in the scenery.

This was our second cruise to Bermuda and we love it there. The beaches are great and there is much to do and see. The weather was nice except for a downpour on Sunday. We got caught in it and got soaked but had fun despite the rain. Monday and Tuesday we had wonderful weather.

Going from a huge cruise ship to this smaller one I noticed a big difference in entertainment but overall it was great. Also traveling across the Atlantic I was sick cause of motion sickness.

I was so excited for my first cruise but ended up really disliking cruising. I don’t know if it was just a bunch or poor experiences and this isn’t typical, but it leaves me wondering if I should bother trying another. It is probably the cheapest way to visit Bermuda however so I may try once more. So I don’t sound like a whine bag, I will start with a few positives. *Our room steward was extremely nice and attentive. *Almost all staff members were friendly *I didn’t engage in many of the activities but there were a lot and they seemed to appeal to all types of people *while the cabins were small, there was lots of storage space. We didn’t even need to use a lot of it. Even having three suitcases and two carry ons there was plenty of space. I think it would be difficult to have 4 people in a ocean view. Three could probably work well though if you had a close relationship. *The ship itself was spotless, I seen staff always cleaning, never seen even a spect of dust or fingerprints on glass. *Cagney’s, the specialty steak house was delicious and prices were good too *Disembarking was a breeze. Our luggage was extremely easy to find. We chose the latest check out to avoid crowds and got out quickly and simply Now the not so good, Starting off, embarking was a nightmare. We chose our check-in time but lines were still crazy. My mother is handicapped and can’t walk or stand a long time so this was difficult for her. We get into the ship and it was pure chaos. We had to find a place to rest and not knowing the ship and all the crowdedness it was difficult. However, I suspect this is probably typical of first day on any cruise, so I can accept that. I was disappointed that even arriving around 1pm our cabin still wasn’t ready. After traveling there we are tired and just wanted to get to our cabin to relax. Onto the Emergency drill. We head out to go to the emergency drill right as they called us. They have us standing on a deck. We got there about 15 minutes early because we were worried we wouldn’t be able to find it. They have us cramming together and we are shoulder to shoulder with strangers and my mom who uses a cane keeps getting pushed and bumped. So we move from the middle, to the side and they tell us no we need to get in closer. My mom explains the situation and they don’t show any concern or care. It’s April and still freezing in Boston. They finally start the drill about 15 minutes late, my mom is having difficulty standing. They have these drills in the dining areas as well so us being unlucky and having to stand in the cold was annoying. They should really have a designated seating area for disabled passengers or at least a couple chairs if needed for these drills. We hold out hope that it’s just a hectic first few hours and things will smooth out. ...not so much. They lose my moms luggage. Mine arrives quickly but hers isn’t there. They say wait till 8pm. Even though everyone in our area appears to have there’s, we trust in the system and try to keep calm. We head to dinner, it’s now two hours after my luggage has arrived and we walk by hers three hallways away sitting with someone else’s beside a cabin door!! Our room Stewart threw away our prior day cruise papers which I’m assuming he was trying to be helpful because we always threw them out ourselves. Well this time we left them on the bed side with our excursion tickets, so when he tossed that. The tickets folded inside were also tossed. A few days in, our toilet overflows all over the bathroom. Luckily I had a lot of towels around so I was able to stop it before it got to our living area. Couple days after that (our last two sea days) we have no water for the sink, shower or toilet for a few hours. This seemed to effected many areas of the ship. Once the issue was “resolved” it resulted in our bathroom smelling like feces for the rest of the trip. You could also sometimes smell feces in the hallways of our floor. I used one of the main bathrooms and it was cleaned with bleach but not wiped up fully and ruined my shirt with multiple bleach stains. The staff couldn’t understand my order in one of the restaurants. We ordered an app to share and I got fajitas. I guess she thought I wanted the app just for me because I never got my fajitas. When we asked for our waitress after we hadn’t seen her, they told us she “clocked out.” I know that her shift has to end but the person to take over should have checked on us. I wasn’t that hungry so I just dealt with the appetizer. Walls were extremely thin on one side of our cabin. We could hear practically every word said by our neighbors, they weren’t loud it was really just the walls. I used a sound app on my phone though and that drowned everything out while sleeping. However, if we had noisy neighbors idk if it would have worked that well. The beds were hard. So so hard. I have an extra firm at home and love it. But these beds were comparable to what I imagine it would be like to sleep on concrete with a thin piece of foam on the top. Backache every single morning. Food in the buffet was often cold. The buns and rolls for burgers/hotdogs/sandwiches were always stale from sitting out. They would just crumple when trying to eat. It took us a few days to relize each side of the buffet had different food because when asked the staff member said that both sides had the same. The buffet was more convenient than waiting in a restaurant but the crowds and unsupervised children were a nightmare. It was a balancing act trying to dodge running children and others who couldn’t watch where they were going while trying to make it back to your seat. They often had two of the four small hot tubs closed. Being such a huge ship it was hard to get your turn. The pool was also extremely small. On the pool deck it was usually a 10-15min wait for a drink and all the mixed drinks were so weak I couldn’t even get tipsy. I had 5 drinks and felt completely sober. Getting even a soda in the night was nearly impossible. It took me till the cruise was almost over to realize you could get a soda after 2am but only from the casino. Because of the hard time to get a beverage in the night we bought the water package $17 for 6 liters of water. Practically robbery. Lastly, I got a massage, it was very nice but the upselling was annoying. The products were around $150 when I declined and said it was over my price point the lady was condescending and said “oh so you rather just be in pain?” The pain she referred to was me mentioning I had some sciatic pain. She told me I had swelling and knots in my shoulder when I’ve never had any type of pain there. They Recommended most of the same things to my mom. I understand upselling but at least be somewhat honest don’t try to sell me tons of things I don’t need.

Good cruise Bermuda is beautiful do a private taxi tour

Since we live only 20 miles from Boston, this cruise is convenient. I would take it again.

Food: We are a vegan family and we were able to eat without any issue on the boat. The manager at Aqua took the most amazing care for us during dinner to ensure our food was made as requested. The buffet was the same food for each meal for 7 straight days, being vegan we are used to eating a limited menu. But for everyone else I felt a bit bad for most folks. On Carnival it changed daily, which is what I would expect. It would have been nice to eat some variety. 99% of the food at the buffet was pretty bland. We at at Bamboo and the sushi was the best we’ve ever had. The fajitas at O’Sheehans was our go to many times over the trip. Tip - eat at O’Sheehans rather than the buffet if you can... it takes longer but the food has more flavors then Aqua or buffet. Shows/activities: comedian Sam and magician PJ were outstanding. The game shows deal or no deal were fun with Luz. The major show Element was great. The other shows were just ok. Al the lounge piano player was great. Staff: they were the best part of the ship. Raquel at O’Sheehans, Aldo & Sunny at Gadsbys, manager at Aqua, Wilfredo or Steward... all went way above and beyond over and over. Bin & Patricia provided so much daily entertainment. And who can for get “washy washy”. We loved the people and their top star service! Boat: they layout is terrible. I’m sure you’ve read this before and it’s true. You can get to everything but you have to remember what sets of stairs or elevators to get there. We climbed stairs and went down many long hallways for a week. Must have been why I lost 2lbs on a cruise! Amenities: we bought the spa package and it was well with the money! Super nice people and they hot tubs and warming beds were great. The picture studio was pretty outstanding. The bliss lounge and gatsbys were beautiful hangout areas. Stardust was great as well. Biggest highlights: the staff hands down. Great warm and friendly people with amazing unique stories. The cleanliness of the ship was a big bonus. The variety of dining and bar areas. Rooms were cleaned spotless. The photography was great. The adult drink beverages were made perfectly. The spa was so worth the money. O’Sheehans fajitas were the best meal on the boat. Getting on and of the boat was speedy and easy as ever from embarkation, port jumping and debarkation. Lowlights: the boat is really smoky. You cannot avoid it as there are tons of smoking areas on the boat. No matter if you are walking by any of the opening doors, casino or anywhere even close to the casino, top deck... gatsbys... really anywhere but deck 4 or 5. I don’t mind smoke here and there, but it’s everywhere on this boat. The cigar lounge is really a cigarette close box for 7 straight days with extremely poor ventilation. The lack of buffet variety was a bummer as it never changed day to day. If you are a coffee or beer snob, then you will suffer for 7 straight days... as I did. The coffee is weak, even at the Java cafe pay bar. They only decent beer was Guinness (only at O’Sheehans) and Lagunitas Little Sumpin. The remedy was mixed drinks, problem solved. The layout of the boat was not well designed. The positives outweighed the negatives for the Dawn. They were very accommodating, polite and genuinely appeared happy to meet and take care of you during your trip. Just don’t expect amazing food (unless you pay for specialty dining) or coffee/beer, expect smoke and watery coffee and beer. If your expectations are set right, you will love the Dawn!

Great cruise entertainment superb. Island beautiful. Norwegian a best bet

Good cruise overall. Next time I will book Bermuda in June.