Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Before I was on the newly decorated Dawn, I was super excited. I waited a whole year saving for this cruise. I've been on this cruise many times but, some of the changes were very hard to handle. All the service crew was good but they changed the restaurants around. We booked three nights for dinner at La Cucina because it was our favorite restaurant on the ship last year. We were unaware that they had changed the entire menu. Have you ever been to an italian restaurant that doesn't have Chicken Parm?  A classic italian meal right? Wrong, not here , not on the menu. Since there was nothing on the menu I liked , I ordered a steak. It was fatty and tough. We sat right next to the kitchen there and all you could smell was fish! There were 6 people in my party and all but 1 of us left hungry. We immediately cancelled our other 2 reservations there. Anybody like Apple martinis? Well don't go on this cruise . They don't have any. They do have a Martini bar but they can't make an Apple Martini! If you like Bingo, which me and 2 of my travel buddies love, don't play on this ship line. The final jackpot was $5000.00. My sister-in-law won the final cover all and she was awarded a mere $340.00 . When we asked why the payout was so small all we got for an answer from three of the crew members who ran the games that it was the company policy. Rediculous!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! When we got on the ship, we were going to book our next cruise. By day two, we decided to go with another cruise line. By the way, the cost for two mixed drinks was about $25.00, some bars were even more costly. How can the same drinks on the same ship cost different amounts ? The gentleman who was working on the main desk was told about the restaurant and he was a little put off . He said we should take up any concerns with the restaurant.  

our cruise was awesome. Loved everything about it. food, shows we great. The staff was amazing!  the white party was the best.  cant wait to come back next year!  Bermuda was beautiful.

We were thoroughly disappointed in this cruise. The ship did not seem like it was last year. The spa offered no body lotion, or sweet smelling soaps, and cost $119.00 per person to join for a seven day cruise. If you wanted any quiet place to relax you had to join. The music on the pool deck was noisy! 

This cruise was amazing, as was the staff. Every activity, show, person, meal, etc. was incredible. Whether you wanted to party or just chill, the boat had something for everyone. My son came with my husband and I, he's almost 14. He loved everything about the trip, and would do it again!!

I would personally like to share my experience aboard the Norwegian Dawn.  I loved our room, 10126, great room, great location and our steward was awesome his name was Joseph Mercurio i believe and he was awesome however that's where the highlights end.  Food at the Garden Cafe, outside buffet and drinks are terrible!  It is absolutely nothing to write home about.  However, the food at Aqua, Venetian and Cagneys was awesome.  The servers and most of the staff could use some training on how to deal with the public they are pretty rude for the most part and definitely do not want to be there or serving the public and it is quite obvious unfortunately.  The ship needs a real good updating and cleaning up.  Everything including the staff needs a good overhaul and freshening in my opinion. My Dad got put in to medical on an emergency and i will say they were great however the girl that works the counter / phone at medical is beyond rude...she should not have a  job, she was rude to me, my family and some members of security that were trying to help us get my Dad back on the boat.  It was infuriating. 

Embarking from Boston is always a treat-no air travel to worry about.  We wish there was a better traffic flow when trying to either let out or pick up passengers.  It seems that taxis, buses, shuttles and livery can bypass the lines by traveling in the far right lane and then they can zip in to an open spot.  Regular cars are herded into the two left lanes and cannot move until cars in front of them dispatch or pick up passengers.  It would be nice if a different traffic flow could be figured out. 

We loved our cabin location-deck 12, forward.  We loved being able to simply walk out to the pool area.  The bathroom had a larger shower than we expected-we were thrilled. There was plenty of closet and drawer space and sufficient hangers. Because we had a "side ways" cabin It was a little difficult to move onto the bed because of the upper bunks.  I think there must be more room to maneuver in a traditional cabin. Our cabin steward was friendly and accessible. 

All of the crew was friendly and ready to talk or help when asked.  We did not have too much difficulty getting drinks.  We had read that that was a problem.  Some times you just had to be patient.  We found the dining staff in the Aqua to be more efficient and friendly than those in the Venetian-but in both cases the food was good.  The buffet was plentiful although some items were cool at times.  We also enjoyed O'Sheehans.  We never had to wait very long for a table in any of the restaurants and we could always find one in the Garden Café as well. 

The entertainment was very good.  The shows had great energy and were well-rehearsed.  The Second City performers were quite funny.  It is too bad that their second and third shows were in a smaller venue that did not offer enough seating for those wanting to attend. 

Bermuda was hot and humid the days we were in port making water activities a great pleasure.  We had a great time on the Restless Native Catamaran and Snorkel tour-highly recommend them.  The beaches are beautiful and the water was warm.

All in all we had a great cruise.  Traveling with friends was great and we cannot wait to go again.  We wish there were more options out of Boston!

Overall, a wonderful cruise!!

The food was good & plentiful and the specialty restaurants were great especially the Brazilian & Mexican restaurants.

The entire staff & crew were wonderful and very helpful on every aspect of the cruise.

There were a couple of negatives, however: 1 pool for over 2000 people; are you kidding me!?!  It was a shame that we could not have spent an additional day in Bermuda because the trip back took two complete sea days while the trip down required on one sea day; why couldn't we have spent another day in Bermuda.

In spite of this, we enjoyed the Dawn so much that we booked the 12 day April 2017 turn-around cruise from New Orleans back to Boston to start the next Bermuda season!!

Our room stewardess was not helpful at all. Every time we asked for something she said she didn't have extra blankets or towels. We had gone on another cruise with Norwegian last year and every time you passed a crew member they greeted you with a smile or hello. Not the case on this ship. We were not impressed. The wait staff on the other hand was wonderful. They were very nice. We had a few problems with hostesses who left us waiting for over an hour and didn't seem to know what they were doing. The food was just ok other than the Bamboo which was delicious. The ship didn't have enough outdoor entertainment, ex. waterslides, mini golf or even more shuffleboards. The shows were amazing! The room was ok. Not very impressed overall. Bermuda was gorgeous but the cruise itself left a lot to be desired.

Ok The positive first! The help was extremely friendly and helpful especially with our friend who was in a wheel chair. Our cabin person was Govinel.  He was great alway had what we needed. The food in the specialty restaurants was very good and hot. The shows were fabulous!!!!!! Don't miss them.  Getting off and on was easier than I would have thought. 

Now I think the dining room need some thought.  It was very slow and the food was cold most of the time. But I think they are coming from refurbishing so maybe they are still training. Now for the elevators slooooooow.  I think they should assign a elevator for only the handicap to use because it was awful how people would just rush in before the chairs could get in no matter how long you waited. I did notice there was a lot of handicap on board so  this would be very  helpful for them. Bermuda was beautiful just wish we had one more day there.

we only had from 1 on Tuesday  to 5 on Thurs. The weather was great! We did enjoy our trip and made great memories with great friends.

I would recommend a different cruise line. Old ship, few activities only one small pool, unable to accomodate dinner reservation for large group (12 people).

Overall had a good time, but it was obvious that some of the management/organizational decisions made for a sometimes frustrating experience for the passengers and crew (who worked extremely hard and were excellent overall). Main example was how difficult it was to get drinks, which I've heard is usually pretty easy on a cruise, but on this one it was like pulling teeth. Also the lacking availability of basic drinks like Bud Light, which was sometimes unavailable at the Irish Pub themed place, but was available at the coffee bar a stones throw away? Huh? Same thing with cocktails, most of the time they were out of whatever I asked for. The food was good, but getting space at any of the specialty restaurants was almost impossible, which would have been fine if the "complimentary" restaurants didn't take 40+ min to bring you the day's special. Last complaint would be ship navigation, which was confusing and would have been made a whole lot better if they had just handed out maps to each cabin. 

Other than all of that, still had a great time, plenty to do on ship, and the island was great.

This cruise was Awesome.  The staff on board were so friendly  the entertainment was out of this world.  Food great especially at Cagneys Steak. 

One problem they ran out of Budlight as of Wednesday Night.  We had to go searching for beer.  I will take this cruise again. 

I'll start by saying I know there are a lot of bad reviews out there about the Dawn - rude crew, running out of booze, entertainment so-so and lots of problems with the toilets.  I have read a lot of reviews from folks who were on the cruise my husband and I were on - and I have to say I find myself wondering if we were actually on the same ship.  

I will say the bathroom issues were real - I don't think as bad as the first cruise post dry-dock, but definitely a thing, specially the ladies room by the Casino.  In fact most of the problems I encountered seemed to be in that section of the ship.

This was our 4th cruise on Norwegian.  After our first cruise on The Majesty back in May of 2005, we have cruised Norwegian, in large part because of the crew.  The crew on the Dawn did not disappoint us.  Everyone we encountered was friendly, smiled in greeting, went out of their way to learn our names and use them whenever they saw us.  I did not encounter one rude crew member be it our room steward, other room stewards, bar tenders, wait staff, etc.  I will agree that there were not enough wait staff on the pool deck.  We sailed on the Majesty twice and used to joke that we had to hide from the wait staff on the pool deck.  There were lines to get drinks at the bars, but they seemed to move quickly.   

We thought the food was a lot better this cruise than the cruise we took last year.  We were underwhelmed when we went in May of 2015. They did roll out a new menu on the Dawn, and I think it really showed.   We ate in Cagney's on Sunday night.  My petite fillet mignon was cooked medium rare; my husband's 8 oz was cooked rare - both were perfectly cooked - just on the wrong steak.  They were quickly whisked away, along with our side dishes and remedied quickly.  We also ate at Le Bistro (our favorite), Moderno and La Cuccina. La Cuccina was a bit of a disappointment as there was a large family birthday party going on while we were there - it was hard to hold a normal conversation.   I will note that the food was top notch as was the service.  We also ate in Aqua and the Venetian.  

We were very impressed by Soozy the Cruise Director, and her staff.  We never wanted for something to do.  

We really enjoyed the shows, and felt that the production company should have had more shows as they were really very good. We loved their Broadway Cabaret - sadly it was in the Bliss Lounge and that was not big enough to accommodate everyone who tried to see the show.  One young man (I wish I had his name) sang "Make Them Hear You" from Ragtime.  He did an amazing job with that.  Gil and Laure were astounding and Second City were really funny.  We did not go to see David DaVinci as we saw him last year, and while I was impressed with him, I was worried that his act probably had not changed much in one year,  Our favorite thing to do for entertainment was to go to Gatsby's to hear Allen and Ariel perform -both are very talented performers (and Ariel really does sound like Frank Sinatra.  Close your eyes when he is doing his tribute set and you won't be able to tell the difference). 

We did two wine tastings at The Cellar with Ricardo.  Very informative and fun.  We connected with some great people.  Well worth the $20/pp fee.  

Our cabin was on the 8th deck - not too far from O'Sheehans.   I have read quite a few unfavorable comments about the service.  Again, we had only attentive wait staff.  Anyway, our cabin was adequate - our beds were made into a queen bed (actually felt bigger) and that took up most of the space.  Once we figured out how to navigate around it to actually get into the bed, it wasn't bad. :-)

The ship looked a lot nicer post dry-dock - more subtle, sophisticated colors.  

This was the very first vacation we have ever taken just the two of us, and it was the best vacation ever.  We love Norwegian and put down a deposit on a future cruise before we left the ship. 

trip was great- entertainment solid... service  on pool deck and O Sheehans poor except as noted below.

Food very good- again except at oshheans- regular wings were ok but rest would rate 3-4 on scale of 10

The cruise was good.  Convenient to depart from Boston.

Perhaps a review of the time docked in Bermuda.  We docked on Sunday at 1pm and left Tuesday at 5pm.  Would have enjoyed another day in Bermuda and one less at sea coming home.

Service overall was consistent. 

We did eat in the restaurants 2 evenings for dinner.  Both evenings dinner was 3 hours - way too long between courses.  Food was good.

Toilet not fixed.

Too long a wait at the bar for drinks.

More wandering bar staff would be helpful.

We were at the mojito bar one night.  One of my travel companions asked to try one - then was unsure if she would like it - the bartender's comment was "I am way too busy to keep making you drinks all night.  You are going to have to wait."  A bit excessive of a comment

Such an easy trip.  Drive and park close by. Walk on ship. Same thing on departure. Walk 

off with my suitcase climb in my jeep and off you go home! The dawn is a lovely small ship. The shows are pretty good. Bermuda is always a fun time. I have done this trip  eight times . We like it alot!!

Overall the cruise was better than my last one.  However, was disappointed in the extremely limited TV programing. There was only ONE episode of the same TV show played each day over and over again. There should be more shows played each day.  There were 2 movie channels but hey basically show he same movies over and over again also.

The restaurants were decent except O'Sheenans which could not get an order right and poor service every time we went there.

cleanliness of boat was fine, some of the bathrooms were not great on board, they ran out of your drink of choice most days, food was not great and variety was terrible same things just moved around each day.  Rey who worked at Topsiders upper deck was the best thing about the ship!  He went above and beyond!  

Had such a fun time! The food and entertainment was spectacular. All the staff at Norwegian Dawn worked so hard. They were all so friendy and they made us feel at home.

We miss the old English pub that's been turned into a wine cellar, because it was cozy and not hectic like O'Sheehan's and some of the other bars. Not crazy about the Spring Break feel of the last cruise. We'd like to go when there are less kids this June. Maybe 2nd week and not the last week. Idk. 

Bartenders don't appear to be happy with their jobs. We didn't learn until after we got home that our tips to them, on the spot, mean more to them than the gratuities we pay. I don't think they get that. 

Love having so much to do OR so little to do, whenever we like!  Loved the balcony and the staff everywhere!  Incredible!  Getting a suite next time! We are going to love it. We love Norwegian. The cons won't stop us from being regulars. 

Also, the ship looks great after the redo!

We will be back. We just need to get our stuff together and book.