Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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.

It was a great first cruise. Two days the first night and day out we had some rough weather and on the way back we hit a storm, it was so rough it woke me up from a sound sleep. But that was the exception and made the Elements show that much more amazing. Doing gymnastics is hard enough, never mind with the ship rocking back and forth. Then the staff was amazing. Everything was so great we will be going again next year and bringing family with us.

My wife and I have just come back from Bermuda on the Norwegian Dawn and I must say that was an absolute amazing cruise. The food selection was great. The crew members were absolutely amazing. Cocktail server Irene who was mainly at the Oasis pool was an absolutely amazing crew member. Tell her that Kelly and Larry says hello from Boston lol 😀😀 and there is also Kurt who you can’t miss he’s a tall Black islander he’s also amazing!! You will also love your cruise director “Dingo” Dave

We had a great time on the Dawn from April 1 - April 8. There were a few hiccups along the way, but that’s life. We decided we were going to make the best of it no matter what happened. The only major complaint we had was the layout of the ship, it was quite confusing. We stayed in an ocean view cabin, 5556. It was nice and spacious enough for two. We did have a plumbing issue that flooded part of our cabin, but guest services sent someone to fix the issue and offered to do our laundry for the remaining duration of the cruise as well as sent a bottle of wine and chocolate covered strawberries. The food was great. We dinned at the speciality restaurants 6/7 nights, and was quite pleased with the food at the Aqua restaurant. We must recommend Los Lobos, shoutout to Cheryl, and Carney’s. The waitstaff and bar staff were great. We hardly saw our steward, which was okay as he was not as friendly as other stewards we’ve had in the past. I’m sure he was just busy, overworked and overwhelmed. Nonetheless he did a good job keeping our room nice and tidy. We did purchase the thermal spa package, which was great. Though it wasn’t as nice as the thermal spa on the Escape, which had us spoiled, NCL did a good job of remodeling it. We would highly recommend the Dawn for those who love a smaller ship where you can mix and mingle with the same people every night and enjoy low key evenings. We learned we actually prefer the larger ships as they offer more to do.

was a great ship , great entertainment, and awesome ports of call ,endless food buffet was delicious!

We completed a cruise from March 24th to March 30th. This was my second cruise (although the first one was 21 years ago) and my daughters first cruise. We had a wonderful time. The food in both the dining room and speciality restaurants were very good. Our room was clean and the we a lot bigger than my last cruise. Our steward did a wonderful job of keeping the room clean and anticipating our needs. He entertainment was good. We saw the singer/dancers and the trapeze type artists. We went in a cruise to the Western Caribbean and the ports and excursions were excellent. We went in the dolphin excursion where my daughter got to kiss the dolphin. She had a blast! We also went on tours of Mayan ruins and a Mayan Village. We got to visit the animal sanctuary in Roatan. All the experiences were great. We are already busy planning our next cruise for Christmas time.

Just returned from the Western Caribbean cruise on the Dawn. It was our seventh and worse cruise. Embarkation was terrible and disembarkation was even worse. Long, long lines with no organization. We boarded on Sunday at noon and people were already drunk. Too many children allowed to run unsupervised because it was Spring Break. Horrible neighbors were loud and what ever they were doing actually shook the wall and even our bed. Food mediocre. Excursions too expensive. Harvest Caye is a total waste. Saw our cabin steward only twice during the entire cruise. Wait staff in dining rooms were inattentive. Had to call maintenance twice for non-working toilet. Entertainment in the Atrium was excellent. First and last cruise with Norwegian.

We loved every minute of our cruise. The staff was amazing. We can’t wait to return. Thanks to all the ship staff for all their hard work.

This was a great first cruise! We liked the relaxed dining schedule and atmosphere, the stops were mostly great, and was overall a very relaxing and fun experience.

Our first cruise ship! Not too big or crowded, but you need to know when to claim your resources: get deck chairs early, eat early. Definitely if you want reservations at specialty dining, book first, cancel later. Everyone was friendly, accommodation was comfortable and clean, and we stayed on schedule despite two medical evacuations. Free dining was great, didn't get to sample much specialty. Entertainment was a little low-budget but fun. Having read up on other cruise experiences, I liked the casual atmosphere and flexible eating schedule.

We were new at this and it was exciting to learn everything about the ship and crew. We loved getting to know other couples and with the boat being small it was nice to see couples daily. The service was great, even cleaned our room several times a day. They were very organized and always kept us up to date with anything going on. We had a few medical evacuations and they were upfront with us right away. Service was amazing and dinner was great! Our favorite was the French rest. Le Bistro. I loved the excursions we took and would do this cruise or a similar one again.

For being my first cruise, the Dawn was an excellent choice. The ship was very well kept and clean and the staff were very courteous. Me and my fiancé ended up in one of the cabins on deck 8 with a couple of friends of ours. The cabin was ok size for the four of us. We all were never in there other than to sleep. The first two nights we ate at Cagney’s steak house and the Mexican place. The food was really good and affordable. The rest of the cruise was split between the pub and Garden Cafe with one night at the Venetian. Food was hit or miss at the last two places. There was plenty to do onboard as far as entertainment goes. The cruise director was very involved and mingled with the passengers thru the week. As for the ports, we ended up bar hopping on the back side of Cozumel and the same for Costa Maya. When we got to Roatan we decided to walk around the town with one of the locals and explore the hidden gems. Was definitely worth the adventure. Sadly we were unable to dock at our last port which was in Belize due to weather. With that we ended up with another sea day which wasn’t too bad. The crew worked some things out to keep everyone entertained. Overall we had a very great time and are looking forward to our next cruise on the Bliss.

Overall a good trip with only the exceptions noted above.

Ship was very clean food was great shows were top notch. Staff very friendly

Smaller ship with great entertainment. Loved the show:Love lasts forever. Amazing performance with a great story telling of love. The great Atrium is my favorite part of the ship.

My 87 yer old wheelchair/limited mobility mother booked this trip for our family. A penthouse family suite and a balcony suite for 5 of us. The embarkation in Tampa was a nightmare, even with valet parking, priority status and my mother in an electric wheelchair it was a 2 hour process to get on board. Once on board, my mother, her husband and I went to settle in 12032 supposedly a handicap accessible room. The floor by the fold out couch was soaking wet from leaking windows and we had to have a drying machine placed (huge) placed in our suite everyday of cruising. I noticed the safety rail separating the shower from the toilet was rickety and complained, they fixed it right away by adding 2 more bolts to the loose 2 there. But what could not be fixed was the height of the king bed; 28" so my mother who is a large woman recovering from cancer could not transfer from her wheelchair. They provided us with a step unit (!) This suite is meant to sleep 4 comfortably, but I don't know how that would be possible. I slept on the hard as rock (full size) pleather fold out couch with crate foam on top. There is also no lamp/light available for whomever sleeps on the couch bed, our lovely butler lent me his personal magnetic flashlight so I could read at night. My mother fell twice off the step unit injuring herself with deep lacerations (luckily did not break anything) and the last 2 nights she and her husband slept on the small hard sofa bed. I would also suggest earplugs, the suite is just off the pool deck and nights that host parties have the booming bass beating in the room till about midnight.

The ship was amazing. We had a fantastic time. This was our 5th cruise and first time on NCL. We love it, the service was great and food was always good. We ate at the speciality restaurants and we're always impressed with the exceptional service. My favorite was Michelle from the Italian restaurant. We usually ate most of our meals at O'Sheeans and love the service there. The buffet had some great food, but we were on deck eight and didn't have far to go. The spa was a great place to go to avoid all the spring breakers. We suggest you get that first thing before the spaces are gone. I am really impressed with how helpful everyone was. When we got on the ship, every elevator there was someone to help with directions. When we were in port, there were people to help you with where to go. Oh my goodbess, the entertainment was wonderful. Yes, they had the typical cruise shows but this was the first time that the performers were enjoying what they do. They weren't just going through the motions. They had speciality acts and a fantastic comedian. We are already planning our next cruise with them.