Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

THE SHIP WAS CLEAN,PORTS OF CALL WERE GOOD,CREW WAS POLITE AND HELPFUL,SHIP WAS CLEAN,FOOD WAS AVERAGE AND COVER CHARGE WHEN ONE PAYS FOR AFAMILY OF 4 CAN BECOME EXPENSIVE. I LIKED NOT HAVING TO DRESS UP ALL THE TIME, FREE STYLE CRUISING IS GREAT. THE SHOWS WERE REALLY ENTERTAINING.

The ship was clean and well staffed. Inboard stateroom was larger than expected and comfortable. Had a great time. Leaving from NYC easy and helped to make the trip. On the could be better side -- Smoking allowed in all BARS and open deck areas. For larger bars, they have a non-smoking designated area but guests do not follow posted signs and crew do not enforce rules. Same is true outside - no separation and with many rude people that smoked everywhere. On our previous cruise on the SPIRIT, they only allowed smoking in one smoking BAR. Their Main Lounge, Galaxy of the Stars was smoke free - expected same on this DAWN cruise but not so.

The ship was absolutely gorgeous! It was very clean and the staff was fantastic.

The ship is beautiful and very large. It is so clean and the staff is very friendly. They had things to do every day on board and even on the days that we were in port, they had activities planned. The food was plentiful and very good. My family and I loved the free style dining. We could eat whenever we wanted. We liked the dress up nights too. It gave us a chance to get dressed up and feel like we were going out for a night on the town. The gift shop was large and had a big selection. They offered a lot of different excursions to the islands. We did a different excursion at each port and they made it very easy to get back and forth to the ship. We had a great time.

This was my first cruise and it was beautiful. I could not have asked for anything better. If I had to rate it would be 100%. I cannot wait for my next Cruise experience, and thanks for making it excellent.

Overall very impressed. I worked on the QE2 so I have high standards with regards to cruising.Apart from the food, tasting like it was prepared the day before and then warmed up everything was good especially the choice of entertainment and quality of shows.The itenary was also varied although excursions all seemed to be the same in each port ie tubing/canope lines/horse riding/snorkelling. Because of the freesstyle dining element the service lacks a personal touch and staff seem to be complacent as they are gauranteed their tips at the end of cruise,so dont always go the extra yard or seem interested in doing so.

Comparing to the other cruises and ships, NCL Dawn provides the best shows and entertainment. The ship was clean as that was one of the main reasons we chose NCL. However, it also has lots of room for improvement. My most disappointment is the selection and quality of food. For example, the people at the buffet counters could use little more smiles. Breakfast selection for the buffet is identical very day. The lunch and diner is always chicken or beef and same goes with the dinning menus. If cost is the main reason, my suggestion is to cook them in some creative way so the guests wont feel they having the same food everyday. Although the entertainment is excellent, the cruise director could be more involved and showed a little higher energy.

This ship was the most disorganized cruise that we have been on. The lines for dinner were long. It took 2 hours to complete a whole meal from waiting in line to finishing your meal. The specialty restaurants were overpriced unless you were able to book the 2 for 1 special which was only between 5:30 and 6:00 and with a ship being at full capacity you can only imagine how hard it was to get that time slot. The buffet had half and half for your coffee at one station but not at the other two and then decaf coffee was at another station so you were always running from one end to the other to get what you needed. Then they would run out of glasses/bowls, etc. It was a big mess. Our state room was average but the bed was uncomfortable and we didn't even get our towels done in the animal shapes. The entertainment was horrible except for "Fire and Ice". Most of the staff, except for a few exceptions, acted like it was a chore if you asked for anything. Especially in the restaurants. It was unbelievable. The last two days of the cruise the staff started acting like they should which did not make up for the other 8 days. The spa packages were extremely overpriced and so was the merchandise. Nothing like the other cruise we were on with Norwegian. We cruised with Norwegian two years ago and it was exceptional so we were so disappointed in this ship. To sum it all up there was no "WOW" factor.

Modern ship with all the extras. We had a balcony room and enjoyed coffee and breakfast on our balcony every morning. The design of the room was inproved; in particular the bathroom. The shower is larger than on most ships and the design seemed more efficient. Plenty of room to store all our clothes and luggage. The room steward was very efficient and the room was cleaned to perfection each time. He also made the towel animals - very cute. Meals were excellent with no problem getting a table. Just don't try to eat exactly at 6 PM. All the geezers line up to get in then.

My overall impression of the ship was EXCELLENT! Our cruise was in December and two months later my kids and I are still talking about how much fun we had! We wish we were still on the Dawn! It was so much fun and the crew was amazing! We got the best animals made of towels from our stewards and our favorite place for a snack and soda was the Java Cafe. Beautiful ship!

We spent a week cruising the eastern Caribbean on the Norweigan Dawn. The balcony room was perfect with ample room for 2 people. The cabin stewards were attentive to all of our needs as well as the rest of the staff. Although the ship is a bit dated, it was clean and met our standards. The dining was excellent; our favorite was Impressions which had the same menu as the main dining room. We made reservations at Cagney's steakhouse without a problem but found it no better than the regular dining, I wouldn't recommend spending the additional money. We especially liked the freestyle cruising.We spent a very enjoyable day at the spa, I received a hot stone massage while my husband used the hydrotherapy pool and steam room. We enjoyed the entertainment onboard, from the Big Band music in the Spinnaker lounge to the Bollywood production at the theatre. I highly recommnend this cruise.

We selected this ship for its departure point ( NYC ) and the itinerary. A total of 5 of the 10 nights at sea and just short stops on 4 islands. Other than St. Thomas we stayed aboard and enjoyed the many services available on the ship. Pool area is great . Quiet areas plentiful and service staff very attentive.

The ship was nice overall, nothing that much more above the other ships I have sailed. First--Upon our arrival in our room: our stateroom was fine (as for the interior), but we noticed immediately when we settled in that it was extremely loud. Initially, trying to unwind, we could not even hear the TV (and we aren't old, we are 45!!) I mean, unbelievably consistent banging behind the wall. I walked out our door to investigate only to discover we were directly next to a "crew only" doorway. I looked inside the room in attempt to unravel the ruckus, --to see they were hauling all the luggage through this area. I thought, that is fine, no problem. I assumed it would then be quiet, once they had completed this task. Wrong!! How mistaken I was!! Soon I found out they also had all the towels, toilet paper... etc... located there. This was where all the chamber people had to enter to supply necessities for the entire hall's rooms. It must have been the busiest room on this ship!! They were in and out ALL night long, banging the door going in and out and shuffling items along the way. I wore earplugs to sleep and didn't get a moment's rest the entire first 2 nights. (yes, we only spent sleeping hours in our room). Finally on the third evening, my husband (out of his mind with exhaustion) stormed down to the front desk around 4:30 AM (this particular night, they sounded as if they were constructing something in that room at this hour). He explained that this room was deemed uninhabitable by us, that they should not allow anyone to be placed without prior knowledge of what they were to experience there. They stated they would address this the very next day--and, true to their word, first thing next morning they did. They moved us promptly to another room (going from floor 5 to 10) and we could not have been more pleased. We were simply fortunate they had somewhere to move us to!! It would have been an interminable 10 nights had we been forced to stay in that room. NO amount of extra cost or money could have made a bit of difference. This initial room should not have been offered, as I truly believe no one would be capable of getting ANY sleep under those conditions. I truly believe they need to disclose all pertinent information when one books-------so I suppose the lesson is to BEWARE if you're stateroom's located next to a crew hallway or storage room (as you won't know the activity of such in most cases). We should've been addressing this after our initial night of entirely disrupted sleep. I kept hopeful it was the crew trying to get us all settled in and I was ridiculously mistaken.

Loved having 5 hot tubs outside, loved our balcony, thought another pool outdoors would be nice on your travel days, the one pool was crowded. Very clean. Service outstanding, loved having multiple restuarants to choose from. Going from NYC was awesome! Enterttainment great! Ports of call very good!

it's a new ship with lovely common areas though the layout sometimes requires walking through a restaurant or pub to get to a destination. cabins were well designed and the staff was helpful. however, i found the food to be bland, undercooked or cold and virtually inedible in cases. it's the first time that i have actually lost weight on a cruise. a fellow passenger who took the same cruise a year ago said that the food was very good then but agreed with me now. re: entertainment. i was expecting carribean cruise style entertainment but instead the shows seemed more like variety show plus parlor games--not my style. some of the individual entertainers like a piano player in one of the bars was very good.

Freestyle dining allowed diversification when dining. You had the option to eat alone, meet with friends, or join people at random. The suggested formal nights gave the option but not the requirement of dressing up. Some people did, others did not. The nightly entertainment was great. There were numerous shore excursions to chose from and the related costs weren't excessive. The tours were well organized and coordinated. Partial or complete refunds were awarded without argument whenever a tour did not deliver - weather or equipment problems.

Overall impression of the boat was that it was huge. The grand atrium was beautiful. The staff was helpful and friendly. I wish someone had told me that the average age on the boat was going to be 55.

this was our 3rd time on this boat doing the same cruise, the norwegian Dawn. This time around was definatley a charm. the boat broke down do to the main computer on the boat that deals with the main propella. The food was still good and the kids program is very good. Even thought we didn't get to do our intended cruise I still would probably go on the same cruise and go on the same boat. It was just a shame that we went on thanksgiving away from family not to go on the vacation that we had planned to do. The kids were definatley dissapppointed that they were not able to go to disney. Maybe we will try the norwegian out of hawaii. thank you bonnie finn

The ship itself was really nice. I enjoyed the freestyle dining experience. However given this cruise, and the problems we encountered, extremely limited onboard activities.

Crew members were wonderful. Cabin was well maintained and staff did an outstanding job. Food was warm not hot. Chaos on board with 700-800 children. Parents did not tend to their children. We sailed to Norforlk, Virginia and sat for three days. One engine on board was out before we sailed from New York. The Captain said they should have it fixed within a half hour. After three days of not getting off the ship we sailed back to New York two days early and it took us thirty hours to get to New York. Worst of all, my husband and I were on our honeymoon. I would not recommed freestyle cruising - not my cup of tea. I wish we were alerted of the fact there were that many children. They were permitted in the bars at night. The were climbing over chairs in the adult auction. The were running on board at 2:00 in the morning. They were crying and yelling in the quiet quaint restaurants in the evening. Overall very dissatisfied with cruise.