Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

That was our 4th cruise and first one with NCL. Based on our excitement of previous trips our friends had decided to celebrate their 20th anniversary at the Norwegian Dawn. Unfortunately, after this trip I am not sure if our friends are going to cruise again - so many disappointments we had experienced. Most of the things we got frustrated with must be NCL policies compared to other cruise lines we'd been to. I will try to describe them below. 1) Rooms. Our party included me, my wife, our 20 years daughter and 10-years old son. We had outside cabin with large window. The room was very small. There were 2 single beds on the sides and one folding out bunk bed. The bed for the fourth person was set between two single beds making one 3-people surface. Pretty awkward setup when you have 20-years old daughter in your party. Our friends' room was one with the balcony. It was so small even for 3 people. When their beds were prepared for sleep there was almost no way to get to the balcony. 2) Restaurants. There were 2 restaurants (large Venetian and smaller Aqua) and 2 cafes included in price of the cruise. On the first day of the cruise it took us 3 hours to dine (including an hour of waiting in line). When we complained, we were told that it's "free style cruising" and therefore to avoid lines we have dine at "unpopular" times. At the same time there were 7 or 8 restaurants with cover charge (usually from $15 to $25 per person) which were promoted by NCL staff at every corner of the ship. Most of those restaurants stayed completely empty for the duration of our trip. Imagine how much precious ship space those useless restaurants took 2) Food. Cafes Food quality was OK. But variety of food was very mediocre. Exact same menu every day within seven days is not what we expected for. By some strange reason Ice cream had to be given out by the cruise staff member and that always caused lines. The only drinks included all the time - tea and coffee. No soda for free whatsoever. Free juices only included at breakfast. Glass cover above the food counter was set out so far, that it was extremely inconvenient to get any food located far from the edge of the counter. Restaurants. Food quality was OK. Service was on a slow side. Taste wise the food was very mediocre, absolutely nothing to be excited about. 3) Duty free shop takes a hefty part of the ship. Never seen it's been that big on other ships. 4) Pool - extremely small for 2000 guests. Never enough lounge chairs. $25 deposit to get a towel by the pool. Jacuzzis were always full and no staff managed rotation of people in there. 5) NCL collects $12 per person per day as a service charge. For our party it was $350 for the duration of the cruise - pretty good tips in my opinion. But getting food to the room, for example, was not free. Waiters on the ship sell drinks so aggressively that for 10 minutes of sitting with a bottle of beer I was asked by about 10 of them if I want more. Nobody seemed to manage them. 6) No ESPN and therefore no World Cup 2010 coverage huge disappointment. Sports bar had only ESPN2 channel showing college baseball or something similar. The bar was empty for 7 days. 7) Personnel on the ship was friendly, but pretty unsmiling. There was no atmosphere of celebration which I always felt on my previous trips. I will not going to cruise with NCL again.

It is clearly evident that this ship is ready for another total refurbishment! While she is a beautful sea-faring vessel the interior themes and murals are very dated, cheesy and dusty(i.e the main lobby artpiece void of mosaics and dirty as you enter the ship). Freestyle cruising is a great concept but not if everything becomes an upcharge and service is hampered by it. The balcony cabin was not as impeccably clean as expected( bed skirt had stains, linens had to be replaced due to pillies, mirrors were smudged and wall artwork had splatters of I don''t know what on them. Meals were extremely mediocre with the same menu offered daily in the Aqua and Venetian. The buffet offered the most varied options however the lunch menu was more impressive than the dinner menu. The restaurants proved to be a bit better but the upcharges to dine were not commensurate with the quality nor variey of choices. The service was deplorable actually there wasn't any service-except for the bar staff constantly hounding you to purchase drinks. Even a much toted buffet brunch at the Venetian required an upcharge. I would not consider myself a seasoned cruiser only have 4 under my belt but these dissappointments were clearly obvious even to the least traveled individual. Having a daily service charge automatically applied to your bill does not encourage exemplary service it just promotes mediocrity. I heard thru the vine that the Dawn will be relocating from New York to Baltimore or Boston next year-I wonder if that is an indication of a corporate strategy to transfer her rather than take the much needed effort to improve her!!

The crew of the Dawn was fantastic. Very friendly and always willing to please and help you with every request. They were what I enjoyed most of the trip.

The ship was very nice and clean. Some of pool ares were a little small, but after at it is not one of the mega ships

I think the overall quality of the ship(Norwegian dawn) was excellent and I would highly reccomend it to someone else.

The Dawn is a beautiful ship. The crew takes pride in their jobs and is very attentive to the patrons. There is a lot to do on board. If you don't want to bake in the sun, check out the other activities! Every night a flyer is delivered to your room of what's going on the next day. We loved the ballroom dancing lessons and the workshop on improv from 2nd city! Every aspect of the trip was made easy by the great organization of the crew. The entertainment was top notch!

Nice clean ship...however wouldn't book thru again. must have one person working in Mubai India. Norwegian responded 3 times by phone within an hour where took 10 emails and 4 days to responded in some jiberish.

If you have not been to Bermuda this is a fabulous way to see it. We only booked one excursion (catamaran) and the rest of the time was spent exploring on our own-saw so much for much less money! Transportation is extremely easy with multiple-day bus passes ($28/3 days). Taxis are too expensive. The buses are soooo clean and the people are over-the-top nice on the island and willing to direct you anywhere.

Overall the ship was great. We really enjoyed everything about it. Everything from the food to the entertainment and activities were great. Although, I would recommend to control your alcohol before you rack up a huge bill.

We went on the Norweigen Dawn to Bermuda. I had gone on a Noweigen cruise to Bermuda several years ago and it was 100 times better. I do not remember which boat it was, but it was not the Dawn. The swimming pool was very cold. (We did not swim until we got to Bermuda). The cabins are very small and therefore uncomfortable. The food was ok but you would expect it to be great food. Also, if you go to the buffet for lunch, it is very hard to find a table. We met some people on board and they paid extra to eat at a better restaurant and they were still disappointed. The shows were OK but nothing great, especially the final show of the trip where you would expect a great finale, it was like the left over parts of the other shows. Very disappointing. Also, there is a $12 per person per day fee which I was not aware of until on board. We were 5 people for 7 days or $420 extra cost for the trip. This is supposedly for tips for the room and waiters. If you like their work or not you have to tip them this amount of money. I always thought tips goes by performance (not here). And there is very little for kids to do on board. There is an excursion to bring you to a beach for $26 per person, you can take the local bus for $8 round trip per person. With the excursion you have to go to the beach at their time and return at their time. With the bus you go whenever you want and return whenever you want. It would have cost us $130 to go to the beach with the excursion and with the bus it cost $40. This is a rip off. Also they tell you that the buses may be crowded and not worth the wait, but we found that they came often and were not that crowded.

I was mainly looking forward to "free style cruising"-enjoy the ship and activities at your own pace. However, that translated into big lines everywhere. It turned out that most people like to dine at the same time, so that meant longer wait at the "included" retaurants. Staff around ship is very friendly and helpful. Compared to other cruises, it was very expensive onboard.

Everything was wonderful crew food an the port of Bermuda

This was our first cruise and first trip to Bermuda. We will be doing both again and on ths same ship if possible. If not with NCL at the least. They really were great. The "Freestyle" cruising idea works for us because we didn't want to be tied to certain people / mealtimes. The staff on board is really great. The entertainment was well rounded. The food, once we got away from the caf, was very good. Even the caf was fine, no surprises, just a bit bland so everyone is happy I guess. The few things we noticed was that there were a lot of fees if you wanted anything other to drink besides tap water which may all be standard, this was our first time. And the Duty Free shop is no bargain. Also the main pool struck me as small but that may be normal. There were plenty of hot tubs! Bring money if you want to do anything on Bermuda besides sit on the (Gorgeous) beaches. Seriously. Its a beautiful place with no real poverty that we saw but you pay extra for all that.

Nice restaurant choices Food quaility was pretty decent Spa with separate pool, jacuzzi, etc was worth the money Gym equipment and size was excellent

The Dawn is a very clean and easy to navigate.

I have been cruising for many years and used NCL many times but this time was the worest experience I have every encounter. From nasty attitude from waiter to poor client services. The parents were the life guards instead the real life was sitting down texting on his phone sitting behind the water slide in the T-rex area.

My experience on the Dawn was mediocre at best. The Dawn offers 13 restaurants but only 3 are included in the cost of your cruise. You will need to spend out of pocket for the others. The service is really slow in the 3 included restaurants, so don't go there too hungry. Your onboard account is charged $12 per day per person (over 3 years old) as a tip for your room steward and for your waiter or waitress. My sheets were never changed (I know this because my son got ice cream on them the 1st night) and I never had the same waiter twice (so who gets the tip?). Autogratuity is charged to your bar bill everytime. The Kids Crew staff all have aliases (i.e. Elmo, Aqua, Muddy) so you never learn the name of the person watching your kids. My kids went to the Crew every day, but by day 7, The Crew still did not know both of my kids' names. Room service took well over an hour to deliver and, despite being informed 3 times that I have a nut allergy, sent up nut products (such as brownies and rocky road cookies) instead of the chocolate chip cookies that were requested. I highly recommend seeking out another cruise line.

One pool for 2,000 people?

The cleanliness of the boat was superb. We notice every section of the boat to be well supervised.

had cruised before and didn't like that it was too structured. i liked that ncl was more casual and free-style and yet still offered the traditional way of cruising for those who wanted (it gave my family the choice of choosing either or or both). the ship was a little small, but that was ok. the entertainment was amazing and the staff seemed to really enjoy being there, from the cruise director to the wait staff. would definitly do it again (incl the $12 tip)