Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The service by the room staff/dining staff was great.  The changes that have been made about charging for room service was a disappointment.  That is something my husband and I always enjoy for breakfast, without a fee. The price of a drink is out of control.  My husband ordered a Zapaca shot, (Rum) he was charged $17.95.  So, with one beer and one shot, it was almost $40.00 after the tip was added.  They are forcing people to drink off the ship to make it affordable. Our

bathroom smelled like urine the entire week. When did the one night having lobster on a 7 day cruise stop?  We were surprised to see it offered on the menu, however you would pay $19,99 and up is you wanted it.  We have cruised 25 times, this being the third on Norwegian, now I'm not sure we will use this cruise line again.

we were misinformed at the time of booking the cruise. We did not realize that smokers were allowed to smoke in public areas throughout the ship. A major disappointment for us and many other travellers who complained to the customer service desk during the cruise. Otherwise, the food and personnel were fine. We will not go back on a Norwegian cruise.

the smokers made it a two star cruise.

We had a fine time on the cruise-food is good but a bit old fashioned-love the classic menu along with the changing items-entertainment was good, especially magician team of Haines Magic, could use a few activities before early supper- ship's music was great especially pianists and guitarists and the combo folks- we have an issue about the charge for service daily, as we thought we had already paid it and the system was "down" at billing time-excursion folks not helpful if fielding a question beyond ship's packages,sailing from New Orleans is a huge factor for us

Our cruise was outstanding; the food was great and plentiful. The stateroom was beyond our expectation and the staff and crew spoiled us for a week. This was our 5th cruise with Norwegian and we have never been disappointed. This particular cruise had excellent entertainment but again, the others were all very good. This trip was so good we put deposits down on future cruises. Can't wait to book another!

Booked this cruise on a last minute deal that they advertised so cheap I couldn't resist. After all the hidden fees were added it ended up being the same amount as a normal cruise but I was excited about the cruise already so decided to go anyways. On the morning of the last day we were leaving the ship I was shocked to AGAIN be hit with a huge bill of HIDDEN FEES I had already thought I payed for. So it ended up costing me way more than expecting. The food was okay since I think they wanted you to spend more money on one of the 6 restaurants you had to pay extra for. I won't be going on another Norwegian cruse 

when i booked my cruise on the Dawn I was aware of her age and expected the worse. I was so surprised to board a ship that looked BRAND NEW and spotless. The ship is so well maintained it doesnt show its age at all. It was truly the most BEAUTIFUL ship Ive had the pleasure of cruising on. Also I have cruised Holland America, Royal Caribbean & Carnival multiple times. Although I had taken this itinerary in November on Carnival's Dream ship this time Norwegian had different and better ports than Carnival; Isla Roatan we went to Coxen Hole instead of Carniivals Mahogany Bay which was better, Cozumel stop was at the newest pier DOWNTOWN, and Costa Maya was exciting and not even on Carnivals itinerary. If sailing out of NOLA i highly recommend taking Norwegian Dawn over the Carnival Dream. Service was above normal and the food excellent. 

I booked two rooms, oceanview, and received inside cabins. Right off I was not happy with this cruise to be in a room that you did not order to start with. You start with a seven day and seven night and the first one tells you what you are stuck with for seven days. This made a very unhappy trip.

We were pleasantly surprised on this cruise ship since we booked it a few days before sail date at $50 per person per night.  We thought it must have a bunch of negatives, but we found it to be a pleasant experience.  Good food, good entertainment, and good service.

When I booked this cruise I was taking advantage of a $200 spa credit incentive.  After arriving on the cruise and purchasing $185 dollars at the spa,  no one knew anything about this incentive. So I was not given any of the money back. It's infuriating. Do not use . 

Many NCL issues on this trip. At check-in, we found other passengers were assigned to our cabin with wrong benefit code (supposedly corrected). But on boarding, the passenger cards we were given still showed the wrong names. Then had to go to on-ship main counter to get finally corrected. Boarding was not very organized overall. 

Ship not the newest. Our sink was clogged and took three different attempts from three different repairmen to get corrected. The beds were horrible! Both sides of the bed had severe depressions in them and both of us woke up every morning with back aches. Cabin service attendant was very good.

Waiters were not very well trained and constantly put the meals in front of the wrong passenger. However, most employees were friendly and helpful, even if you could not understand exactly what the were saying. Food was generally quite good. 

Paid extra for computer access but was never able to connect and receive emails.

We have been on a number of cruise lines and this one does not compare with our other experiences. We will not go on NCL again.

I had cruised with NCL before and loved it. This time started out wonderful but soon turned terribly wrong. It was my mother's 89th birthday so she my husband and 20 yr old son joined her on a cruise to celebrate. The first few days were wonderful but on the 3rd day my mother and son ate something on the ship and got terribly sick with vomiting and diarrhea. I soon joined them and we were flat on our backs so we could not go on our prepaid shore excursion. We were told we would need a Dr's note to get our refund so went to one on board and we were told it would be $150 each for even a note from him. I spoke to all in charge on board the ship and nothing was done and have tried in vain to get some compensation from the cruise line to no avail. My husband soon joined us in our sick beds and we were flat on our backs for a majority of our cruise. I was writing a customer complaint letter on board and missed a step and sprained my ankle and was asked if I wanted to go to the doctor. I skipped the chance to pay him $150 to tell me what I already knew and went to my own. I will never cruise with your line again not because I got sick but because of how poorly they handled the situation.

This was my 19th cruise but first one to travel alone.  I especially enjoyed the Freestyle dining because I was fortunate to share a table at each meal in the dining rooms.  My Oceanview cabin felt so much larger due to only one person in residence. There was a meeting of " alone" cruisers but I didn't attend. but would suggest it for more reticent travelers. I will cruise with others again but have no worries about cruising alone again.  I would appreciate NCL giving a cost break for alone cabins.

my experience on the Norwegian 7 day cruise on January 3rd to January 10th. First and foremost the marketing for the company false advertises on ALL websites stating you receive a free drink package for your cruise but once you check out it's no longer offered. This cruise as been by far the worse cruise/vacation in all my life not to mention this was my honeymoon. Everything is hidden on this cruise as far as the daily fee per person per day. I brought a iron and was told it was ok but the homeland security confiscated it and told me it would be returned to my room at 3pm. That never happened. I was told by guest services I would get it back at the end of the cruise and to call housekeeping for a iron. My husband and I called housekeeping 6 times to get a iron on ONE occasion. The iron they brung leaked brown water causing ruin to his brand new clothes. After I cool off from that we arrive in Honduras we waited in the gangway for an hour the crew kept informing us there was technical difficulties and they couldn't tell us exactly what was going on and denied an extension of stay on the island. What a total inconvenience; you wake up early to be the first off only to have technical difficulties and not be compensated in time. Thirdly my husband and I visit bamboo restaurant we were informed by the host there was no wait and service would be quick. My husband and I waited 30 minutes to get water, 10 minutes to get menus, 20 minutes to get our appetizers and 45 minutes to get our entree. By far the worse experience ever. I know the boat is filled with people, I have been extremely patient as other restaurants have a bit of a wait as well but the wait at Bamboo was completely ridiculous and no apologies were made. My husband gathers up some things to make me feel better and can you believe the refrigerator went out. We called guest services over and over and nothing was done. I'm so disappointed with this cruise line. My husband and I cruise with Royal Caribbean all the time so we thought we would try Norwegian. Biggest mistake of our life. The activities was the most boring activities in all America. I cried my 2nd night to my husband and told him I wanted to go home. I even searched for plane tickets so I wouldn't have to continue the cruise. If I had to chose to fight in World War 3 or cruise with Norwegian again I would suit up for war. This cruise is a complete rip off from start to finish. They freeze your account if you have the smallest balance until you pay it. You have to prepay for everything as with other cruise lines you pay at the end or in the middle. I refuse to pay for 3 nights of the daily fee because I got sick off of their food and no longer ate on the boat and requested that housekeeping no longer cleaned our room but was yet still charged. This is a money hungry establishment and I'll be sure to let the world know. This trip was a complete waste of money. I was miserable the entire time until time to get off the boat. Never Again 

The standard room was very small, lacking a couch and table and second set of drawers in dresser as we had in RC.  No drawers in nightstands either.  There are 4 free dining venues.  Only the 2 main dining rooms were good.  The Asian was terrible and we didn't try the bar style venue.  The food on RC is better and includes a lobster night.  The excursions were all great!, no issues there.  The shows were excellent; magician, Second City, Aerial act by couple from France, and the singers and dancers were great!

Room steward was poor; Shower Gel , handsoap and Shampoo were all empty upon our arrival.  The hand soap dispenser had a leak and emptied all over.  Room was not made up on one of the days.  Gym was good, but needs more room for weight area.

Being our first cruise, I don't have much to compare to, but the Norwegian Dawn far exceeded our expectations.  Our cruise was 7 nights in the Western Caribbean.  Freestyle dining suited us very well, matching our daily lifestyle.  The dining options were plentiful, we favored and frequented the Venetian restaurant.  Onboard entertainment was top notch, the quality easily exceeding shows we've attended at theme parks such as Disney or Six Flags.  The magic show was Vegas quality, the comedy topped SNL, the singing and dancing was incredible.  We chose this as our first cruise lacking bias, primarily basing our choice on price and calendar dates.  We will look first to Norwegian when we plan another cruise.

This is the first cruise my wife and I went on. We are very impressed. It turned out to be perhaps the best vacation we ever had. The ship was clean and modern. The staff were very helpful and friendly. We enjoyed the professional entertainment on the ship as well as all the tour excursions. We had a fantastic time. Will want to do it again on the Norwegian and want to recommend to our friends.

We had a great time. The service is amazing. We had great customer service anywhere we would go, and the staff is very knowledgable and friendly. 

The food was delicious and the servers were top notch.

Thanks for the great time!!!!

Out trip was great. We enjoyed the itinerary itself and New Orleans is a great place to cruise from. The Norwegian entertainment was outstanding (certainly above our expectations) and our stateroom was excellent (even though the Dawn feels a bit old - didn't bother us much).  Food was good - we've seen better on other Norwegian (Breakaway) and Holland America cruises, but it was as we expected given the the great pricing. Tendering was not great - we had to wait 4 hours. 

Quite a discovery indeed and very happy to have experienced it.

To us, we were quite vigilent on our spending. The 4 meal  package deal was an excellent idea and with the exception of the Blue Lagoon restaurant, all the other restaurants were quite satisfying. The organised visits were not our cup of tea and abusively expensive but we mananged quite well to organise ourselfs our on shore visits for a fraction of the cost proposed. The music nights were for every tastes, the pool is defintively much too small, and the individual internet utilisation incredibly expensive. I found myself often looking for a calm silent area to relax and read which ended up in failiure. The personnel is marvelously friendly and generous of their smiles and informations. The organisation of embarkation and desimbarkation is very efficient and well documented. The standard 13.50$ per person per day seems reasonable as long as you do not feel obliged to add to it.  The afternoon movies were essentially for kids which was deceiving for us.

All in all, very happy to have experienced this cruise.

The staff on this ship was absolutely incredible.  Everyone was extremely nice and seemed to love the job they did. The food was very good but certainly not great by any means.  Freestyle dining is wonderful and had minimal wait time.  There was one drawback...the beds were very hard and worn out.  You could actually see cupping in the center of the mattresses.  They were very responsive and came quickly and put a foam topper on the bed.  It helped a lot but it was a miserable week of sleep.  We had sailed with Norwegian before to  Alaska and the bedding was great.  There were only 4 hot tubs for 2200 people which made them a bit overcrowded.  But all in all we had a wonderful time...