Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We cruised to the Caribbean's as we do every year and we chose the dawn based on where we wanted to go, First mistake, book your cruise for the ship that you have experienced the best time on as this way you might have consistency in staff. This is one ship where I felt like I was a second class citizen, no I don't expect any special treatment but I do expect kind and friendly service since I am paying for it. Based upon what I experienced and what I have experienced before on other NCL cruise ship, The dawn is not a ship I would cruise on again, I would cruise on the s.s. minnow before I would cruise the dawn again.

An older ship, but so what - I totally enjoyed my week.

We have sailed on a lot of cruises through Princess (13+), Carnival (12+), and Royal Caribbean (once).  This was our first experience with Norwegian.  The NCL Dawn is an older ship but they have tried to upgrade it pretty well.  I loved the metal art on the walls throughout the ship.  I was a bit concerned with the limited elevators on this ship but we never had to wait too long for one. 

We "really" enjoyed the freestyle dining.  The food was okay in the dining rooms.  The service in each dining room was horrible.  Our servers were forever getting our orders wrong.  VERY disorganized.  The Garden Cafe (buffet) was quite good but not much variety for the 7 days we were on this ship. The tables were cleared promptly, and we didn't have too much trouble finding a table.  I really appreciated having the utensils and condiments on each table.  We chose to skip the two dining rooms after the fiascos in each one of them.  We tried two of the specialty dining restaurants, the Moderno Brazilian churrascaria, and the Bamboo.  Both were good but nothing that spectacular.  It still beat the two dining rooms.

Our Cabin was a "BD" Oceanview Stateroom. We are used to bigger cabins.  We walked in and had to laugh.  We have never stayed in such a tiny cabin before. But as time went by, it did have all of our needs.  You just had to plan your strategy when getting to one side of the cabin with two people in the room. The TV Station selection was very meager to say the least. Most were about the ship, 3 news, 1 sports, 2 movie, and a hit and miss with the other channel. I loved having a coffee maker in the room, a real plus! A small refrigerator which would have been fine except that they fill it up with a bunch expensive garbage.  No one really like this stuff anymore! Our Bed was so uncomfortably hard, the cabin steward had to place a bunch of comforters on top so that I could sleep.  I didn't sleep for the first 2 nights. Now on the matter of the bathroom, I laughed even harder when I saw it at first, it is so tiny. It was a nice concept but lacked some room.  The toilet was separated by a sliding door which just was an annoyance.  If they didn't have that wall, it would have been a bit larger room.  The sliding door just rattled through the whole cruise.  We did enjoy the shower.  It was really nice.  It had sliding doors and was roomy, had plenty of hot water with good water pressure. Our Cabin Steward, Rene, kept our room up wonderfully.  I read some reviews but did have any bad experiences.  He made our trip!

We went to Reception to check on some charges on our statement, the receptionist was not too friendly but did answer the question.  Another day, after a 15 minute wait, we had a question at the shore excursion desk about one of our shore excursions (we booked 3).  The young blonde headed woman was down right rude to us and treated us like we were morons.  Our tickets were marked 8:15 but our booking information said 11:00am.  She just said to be there at 8:15 and that they do this every week. Short and curt.  We ended up going back a little later on and were waited on by someone else and she informed us what was really going on!  By the way, the shore excursions were wonderful.

Now disembarkation process was really great, walked right off as soon as the ship arrived.  Most cruise lines are doing this now. We valet parked, highly recommend!

The entertainment was very enjoyable.  Tim Kaminski, the comedian, was the best entertainer that we have seen on any cruise ship.  Also, we enjoyed the Second City comedy troupe. 

Now lastly, the embarkation was a total nightmare! The worst one we have ever experienced.  I know that the cruise line can not control the weather. The ship was detained from entering the port because of the fog which made the ship come in late, that I understand. However, I do not understand that not one representative was present outside the terminal to guide any of passengers who stood out in the heat for

3 hours, with out water (they brought out a water cooler that quickly emptied out), and no shade to explain any details of what was going on.  At one point, we stood for 45 minutes without moving an inch.  It was about 100 degrees in the sun and so hot.  We didn't have our sunscreen on us that was in the checked bags.  I couldn't believe that they could treat people like this. 

It took me about 1 to 2 days to calm down from the embarkation process, but slowly, I started to enjoy the cruise.  All in all, I would go again on a Norwegian, just not sure when.

Ship was clean and updated. Activities were lacking.

The food was more like cafeteria food than food we are used to on a cruise. The staff was nice and anxious to help but often the information was incorrect.

We had horrible cabin service. we did not have shower gel or basics beyond towels the first day. We did not see our ship steward until day 4, when he came in response to a request for water glasses. He proceeded to question us as to what we did with them... We never received ice except for a call to room service several times.

The ship itself is cozy, airy and clean. Good Itinerary, good price, good food, good fun.  Not excellent becasue there's a few problems they should work on.  One of those is the customer service desk.  We waited in a line of 6 people while 2 cruise members helped and 2 cruise members talked together.  Another cruise member walked the line and asked if he could help.  After the people in front of us asked and got no help he came to us.  We explained our problem and he again was no help.  Why have him wandering around offering to help when it's ovious he has no clue what's going on.  After I had my question answered, I approached him to tell him the answer so he could use it to actually help others, he said, "I always tell people to call".  He didin't want to hear it.

Another area to work on is the speciality dining, specifically the Bistro.  We went there for dinner twice and each time waited 10 minutes or more before our server came by to greet us.  It takes way too long between courses and a couple of our courses were not hot.  We ordered a cheese course for dessert.  Our server completely forgot us.  We waited over 20 minutes with nothing to do but drink our coffee.  We left without it.

Thay had a pub crawl on our last sea day.  We were taking a ChaCha lesson when they burst in and tried to dance with us.  VERY annoying.  If you can't keep the drunks under control, maybe you shouldn't have a pub crawl.

On a bright note; all of the latitudes parties were excellent!  Usually you have to beg for a second drink, but not on this cruise.  The servers were on top of it.  They also continued to serve drinks right up until the end of the party.  Very nice.

Our cabin attendant was also top notch.  He was friendly, polite, and did a great job of keeping us supplied with beach towels and the like.  We saw him almost every time we walked down our hall.

The itinerary was one we hadn't done before - well except Cozumel.  Roatan was very poor and aside from the pier area, very shabby.  Unfortunately, it rained almost every day on this cruise so snorkeling was cancelled which meant you went into the city.  Made me appreciate what I have.

Same can be said for Belize.  Shabby, run down, dirt poor.  Costa Maya on the other hand didn't seem to have a city at all.  The pier area was nice and the walk to our tour with Native Choice was safe and pretty.  Not much to do if you didn't have a tour though.  Then finally the sun came out in Cozumel.  Sparkling water, green palms, hawkers outside every store front trying to get you inside for the pressure sale. Came back to the ship just before sail away and found the NCL Pearl parked along side us.  There was a dance competition going on between our ship and theirs with the crew on each side showing off their dance moves.  It was fun to watch.

So, all in all a good cruise with good memories.    

A manageable sized ship

The ports of call were disappointing because of the barriers to entry into the surrounding communities. This was our 7th cruise and the first where we were quite limited in our ability to freely go ashore and shop or visit in the village or city. We took tours in two ports, Roatan and Belize City, but did them on our own. Both were very good tours, interesting and reasonably priced. The Eco-tour on Roatan was very well conducted and pretty well followed what was written on the internet websites. We took a city tour with a local tour guide/driver in Belize City and had a very good experience. Our guide/drive spoke excellent English and was very knowledgeable about the city. We would recommend both of these tours. Overall, we thought this cruise was not quite up to par with all the others we have taken. We would not take this itinerary again - not the ports of call.

Worst experience ever!. Will never cruise with them again. Wrote Norwegian an email and still no response, they really dont care about their customers.

The bathroom toilet stopped working the second day. I complained for 2 days untill they moved me.

I would give this cruise a 5-star rating but for a few hiccups. When we arrived at embarkation, 10 of us with our luggage, we stood around for a good half hour wondering what to do, where to go. Once we determined where we needed to be, check-in went very smoothly. The cabins were ready when we boarded, and our steward welcomed us aboard. The mini-suite was spacious, for a ship, and we quickly settled in. Of our 10, we had four kids, 14, 14, 13, and 12. NCL held firm to the teen club being for those 13 and over, despite the fact that the 12-year-old in our group was almost 13 and our pleas that the separation would isolate the 12-year-old from his family with whom we traveled from another state. We pleaded and we begged, to no avail, and that really did not sit well and started our vacation off on a bad note. We understand the need for rules, but when accompanied by other teens, and with under extenuating circumstances, I believe exceptions should be made. The first day was a bit of a bust, as the adults worked to accommodate the kids, as they were forced different directions, but we recovered the first day in port. The cruise was wonderful, and the ports all great (be sure to book an excursion through the ship in Belize to make the most of that port), but it was busy. We were up early on days in port to make the most of those days. Everywhere but Belize we ventured out on our own, very comfortably.

The ship is a great size especially for people that can't walk long distances. Shows at the theater were all very good. One of the main restaurants, the Aqua, was outstanding and the Garden Buffet was excellent.

I woulf take this cruise again

NCL is great for doing things the way you want to cruise. We stay clear of the Oasis pool area as it is pretty loud, full of smokers and high pressure for liquor sales. Other areas on the ship are relaxing, diverse and entertaining. There is always something going on if you are looking for something to do. Our first NCL cruise was on the Pearl which has a lead on service over the Dawn. The food was great in all restaurants but the service levels were inconsistent, especially in Le Bistro. The excursions were top notch and very fun!

The ship was beautiful. My stateroom was nice but there are way more pros than cons to this ship. Pros include a good stateroom steward, good food in specialty dining, and very entertaining comedy show. The cons are the hidden cost aka auto-gratuity. We pre-paid the gratuity fee but every thing that was purchased onboard included an auto gratuity. The customer service line was ridiculously long and excursions were overpriced.

Excellent ship.

Loved the Dawn cruised with her twice. Excellent service, very impressed that all and I mean all the staff greeted me daily by my first name and I am not even a celebrity lol. Food choices and shows were excellent. I proudly say I cruised like a Norwegian.

I truly enjoyed my cruise. I can not wait for my next voyage.

The boat needs refurbishing.