Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Cruising on the Dawn /NCL has taken a step backwards. Here we go: Made appointment to process on board at 12.30pm. Looked like everybody had the same time to board. Mass of people. Handicap passengers had 60 to 90 minute wait for wheelchair help. Cabin were small. With beds together you had about 6 inches to get past the desk to get left side of bed. No chair to even sit on. Had a small round stool. They cut the TV channels way back. Don't even carry ESPN anymore. Freestyle dining a mess. Had to wait 20 to 30 minutes with a pager, in order to eat at night. All the specialty were booked from 6 to 8pm. People with the specialty restaurant package, were having a hard time getting reservations. You were not allowed to bring soda or bottled water onboard thus forcing you to buy soda and bottled water on board at exorbitant prices plus the 18% service charge. Food was very good as was the service once you got a table.

Great cruise. Food was above average. I was disappointed not to have lobster offered in the regular dinning room. Entertainment was excellent the first 4 nights but fell off after that.  They should have more music from the 60's and 70's in the Bliss lounge. Way too much of the 20 + music. When the overall age was much older. 

This was our 13th cruise with NCL and the 2nd on the Dawn.  The beds are comfortable,with a cute towel animals on them every night.  We do miss the chocolates that use to be left along with the Freestyle Daily. They have taken away some of the extras that we enjoyed.  Lobster is no longer served in the Le Bistro  which we always enjoyed.   The entertainment is always top notch and very enjoyable.   

We had sailed on the Dawn a year ago, prior to it being refurbished. We did notice new carpeting in the public areas. Not a lot of other obvious changes except for some new dining options. O'Sheehan's was a great new 24 hr. dining option which we enjoyed several times. We felt the food choices and quality in Aqua and Venetian had gone down a bit from the previous year. It wasn't bad, just not as good as before.

Friendly and efficient staff in dining rooms, buffet, room steward, pool. Bartenders behind the bar were overworked and wait time was sometimes an issue. One did better to have one of the waiters bring a drink then to try and get one yourself. Customer service at the desk was so-so.

It took us 24 hours to get hot water in our room even after reporting it several times to several different departments.

Harvest Caye in Belize is nice and we enjoyed the day. It would be nice to be able to do a private shore excursion from here, and not be locked into NCL excursions. We kind of felt like we were being held captive. We would just like some other options.

All in all we had a good cruise and enjoyed the unlimited beverage package.

This cruise was great!  The ship is not the largest in the fleet but don't let that stop you!  The dining was fantastic - not a bad meal anywhere, whether we were in the main dining rooms or dining a one of the specialty restaurants. The Spa is nice (love those Thermal chairs!.) The people are great!

If you have the opportunity, sail her!

The price was fantastic, particularly when you add in the free ultimate beverage package, which we used A LOT!!  Cabin steward was fantastic, as were the shows, the dining facilities, and the cruise director Gio.

Norwegian is a great cruise line.  The entire staff is helpful and friendly at all times.  The Dawn is a beautiful ship and the activities on board were great fun.  The food was always good - breakfast, lunch or dinner.  The island in Belize was the best, we really enjoyed it - except the prices - way too high.

We sailed out of New Orleans Feb 19, 2017. We had a family window for the 4 of us (2 adults, 2 children ages 9 and 10). The room (5018) was perfectly a good size for the four of us. Our youngest slept on the pull down bed and every night our room steward would put a third bed between the two other beds. I actually slept really well on the additional bed. My kids loved the staff of the kids club. They were basically in the kids club anytime they were open, except when we were on our excursions. We had dinner at the Brazilian Steakhouse, Los Lobos and Cagneys. All were delicious! The Venetian and Aqua were great for breakfast, lunch and dinner options. We even enjoyed O'sheenahan's for a late night snack! Harvest Caye is beautiful but pricey in terms of drinks and food. 

Our cruise with 20 family members was OFF THE CHARTS.  Fun, served well, excellent, and beyond expectations.  Thank you to all who made this happen and a trouble free cruise.

Snorkeling in Cozumel with Izzy and the beach and activities in Belize were a=our favorites in addition to the meals in the Venetian which were excellent for breakfast and dinner.

Norwegian gets passing grade but there is room for improvement

Food - Good

Ship - Clean

Music - Ok some better than others

Ship layout a bit different than others I have been on - but it works

Things to improve

Time in port - limited and several times left port right after lunch!!!

Safe in closet with no lights???

Very picky with water - not allowed to take on ship at all (even new bottles)

Cruise was great including the weather and especially the ports. The worst thing about this cruise is the New Orleans port. A train came by right as people were disembarking and caused a log jam. People could not cross over the tracks, busses and shuttles could not move. We were all locked down for about 45 minutes as the train crawled at a snails pace by the waiting passengers both trying to get off and the passengers trying to get on. I will never go out of this port again. The Best port I have gone out of is the CLOSED Houston port. Parking is across the street and access and digress is outstanding. The facility is awesome. Why this port was vacated I will never understand. My only recourse will be to use the Galveston port and use the cruise lines that utilize it.

Favorites: excellent food, our assigned waiter-Bonifacious (spelling?) who

went by "Boni" was the best waiter we've had on any cruise we've been on...

we miss him dearly. Liked the ports, except for Harvest Cay NWC island..would 

rather have been at Belize City. It was like getting off the ship, and then going to the ship on land. Didn't experience the Belize "culture".

Dislikes: Language barrier with room stewards. Luggage handling on 

embarkation..The paper tags are vulnerable to be torn off during handling'

which happened to my wife..took forever for her to convince NWC it was hers

The ports of call are all different and great.  Casa Maya in Mexico and Belize are truly worth while.  The stop in Cozumel, Mexico go to beach or resort and in Honduras a quick shopping trip away from the port area for the best buys.  A enjoyable cruise I would even do again.

Food prep and delivery in the optional dinning rooms took too long.  For example, in Le Bistro, we waited for one solid hour before receiving our boullibase and the restaurant was not to capacity or even close!

Also, we feel Norwegian may consider enforcing a smart casual dress code in the upscale optional dinning rooms. We observed many guests wearing baseball style caps, flip flops and shorts and other inappropriate clothing at dinner time. 

Your concept of "freestyle" dinning was too often taken to extremes by some.  

The Norwegian Dawn is a nice smaller ship and was the perfect size.  There was always a chair open on the multi layered deck by the pool or in the front of the ship.  Food was excellent in the main dining rooms and in the buffet.  Not thrilled with the specialty dining rooms.  I enjoyed the food and service better in the main dining rooms, don't waste your money on the other dining.  Service was top notch!  Entertainment was phenomenal!  The magician was absolutely spectacular and Second City had us all belly laughing out loud.  If I had one complaint it would be the wait for the elevators.  I think that was due to people holding it for others on the upper floors.  I took the stairs at times, it wasn't that bad.  Beautifully remodeled ship.  Highly recommend this one!

We enjoyed our 5th cruise on the Dawn, service was good, a little slow in the main dining room for dinner a couple of times.My veal dinner in La Cucino was not very good, but the service was . The new private island Harvest Caye is huge , had a big pool and beautiful beach, lots of chaises but everything else (food+drinks) you have to pay extra for.The shows were very good.

Overall, the service was poor.....lines at the bar, restaurants including specialty were slow and staff seemed more interested in talking with guests than making sure folks had what they needed, except Cagney; their issue was they couldn't serve a lemon drop....no sweetener?  Most public women's bathrooms had at least one stall 'closed' the entire cruise.  The ports were nice and the excursions ok.  All aboard in the last port was 2 hrs earlier than scheduled, which made us 40min. late returning, good thing we booked thru the ship.

Pre-arranged for flowers / champagne in room and was there when we boarded. All personnel interactions very pleasant. Specialty dining was great, not lacking in quality or quantity.

Relatively small ship but stable in the weather experienced. A bit sloppy on the re-fit, paint spill and over-cover, some new paint already peeling. Balcony glass too clouded to see through. some railings loose etc. all small stuff that could easily be rectified (at a cost to their bottom line hence left as is).

Forget Excursions. Same can be had at each port for less $$$ IMHO!

We have been on 4 Norwegian cruise line cruises, my feeling is the cruise line is starting to go the way of the airlines finding ways to get less covered and more costs on of cruisers.