Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We were not impressed by the New Orleans Port procedures.  First of all, there was a long line of cars at the luggage drop off.  We had to wait in line WITH THE CAR RUNNING for nearly an hour.  Then, when we approached the area where people were offloading luggage, there were no signs, there was no one providing instructions, it was CHAOS.  With no instructions and security people continuing to try to hurry you through, we passed the entire area without unloading our luggage.  Then they wanted us to simply go around and get in the line again, but I refused.  I simply sat there in the road, until they finally directed me to an area behind the customs area, where I unloaded our luggage directly onto one of the luggage bins that were being loaded onto the ship.  At the conclusion of the cruise, the disembarkation was equally chaotic and time consuming, and to prevent having to sit in the long line of cars, we wound up hand carrying 8 large pieces of luggage all the way out to the public parking area.  We will NEVER cruise out of New Orleans again!

We have done 5 Carnival Cruises and 1 Holland America cruise.  The main dining room service on the Dawn was VERY slow.  But the food was excellent, other than their pancakes and waffles, which were very disappointing.  The wait staff was only moderately attentive.  We dined once in the complimentary Bamboo Asian restaurant, and the food there was very good as well.  The buffet at the Garden Cafe had an excellent selection

We were traveling with 2 children, which required the use of a trundle bed and a pullman berth.  Having traveled this way with Carnival, and hand cabin steward that would watch for you to go to breakfast and then get the beds out of the way by the time you returned, I was expecting the same level of service.  But after 2 days of no service, I began calling and requesting that our beds be made up.  Finally, by the 5th day of the cruise, when we left the ship early in the morning and returned at 2pm and our beds were STILL not made up, I went to guest services to file a formal complaint.  After a 10 minute wait, the deck supervisor came to speak to me, but his only response was that the cabin steward was responsible for 16 cabins, and he would ask him to give us a higher priority.  I told him that I did not need the entire room cleaned in the morning; we just needed to get the beds put up, because otherwise there is no room in the cabin to even get dressed.  There was never any acknowledgment that cabins with trundle and pullman beds needed to have a priority on getting the beds up and out of the way.  This experience was so negative that we will probably not cruise Norwegian again, but if we did, I would go ahead on the first day and ask to speak to the deck supervisor, and request that we get our trundle and pullman beds put up during breakfast.

The one plus for this ship was the entertainment.  There was a production band, production singers/dancers, and acrobat show, a comedy troup, and a magician.  The dancers dressed a little too provocatively for a family show during a couple of the shows, but for the most part it was high quality entertainment.

My husband, my brother and I had a good time on this cruise.  The food and the entertainment were first rate.  The ship has been refurbished and looks beautiful.  Our cabin (5566) was quiet and we slept well.  The only problem we had concerned the disembarkation process. Normally, we walk off the ship in 15-20 minutes.  But this time, it took nearly two hours (!) to get off the ship, and another 30 minutes to get through Customs.  People on this cruise MISSED THEIR FLIGHTS because of this long delay.  We MISSED OUR RESERVED BUS RIDE home to Ocean Springs, MS because of the long delay.  NCL has a lot to answer for.  I don't recommend this cruise to anyone now,  Stay away--you won't catch you plane home.

The cruise started out fine. Good was generally excellent for the first 5 days but there was a noticible drop off in quality of food and service at that time. Tables were left dirty and with dishes. Inadequate wiping of the tables and frequent outages of coffee, cups, service items. It's expected that there will be sales of a variety of services and items but, it was overwhelming in a bad way on this cruise. 

So so much attention on Diamonds international in each port. Clearly a profit center for the cruise line. 

On disembarcatiln it took over 2 hours to just get off the ship as a walk off. Left a bad taste in all the folks we shared the line with. While we would travel on Norwegian again, we would never travel on the Dawn again. Ship was worn and tired. Obvious need of attentive repairs and paint in many areas. 

ship, crew, and entertainment first rate.  the acqua restaurant and staff were poor.

buffett and staff personel were excellent.  three great bands on board. all ports were great.   venetian and bamboo staff and food very good.

Ship was comfortable so far as accommodations, beds and so forth.  Bathroom and shower was a little small but workable.  The Anthony's Key Dolphin and Snorkeling Excursion in Roatan was the best I have ever taken.  However, our cabin steward had difficulty cleaning our room and turning down the bed when we were out of the room.  On three nights, it was never done.  We gave him at least 2 hours every evening to accomplish this.  Almost everyone in the dining areas seem depressed, no smiles.  There were 2 waiters in the Blue Lagoon Dining Room who were exceptional and I tipped them before I left..  This is the first time I have not added additional $ for tips at the end of a cruise.  I would take this cruise again however.

The cruise director Andre was a hoot....Josie and his wife were great...we thought he sung better than Neil Diamond!  The illusionist and wife were a great team and I liked the fact they came out the day we left and walked around.  The gymnast and her husband was remarkable.  I liked the fact they showed their wedding pictures...everybody else did too...clapping after the pics!  The entertainment was the best!!  Of course the food was great....the pretzel rolls and sticks were excellent.  My only gripe was that I wished the gym was open the last day for at least a couple of hours...as I used it everyday,  except for Sunday....

We were a bit disappointed with our NCL cruise on the DAWN.  The food was at best ordinary as was the entertainment by and large.  The magician and his wife did present an extraordinary and magical experience, but otherwise, not so good.  We did not care for the "freestyle" experience as some passengers seemed to take that a bit far.  

Overall, the trip was really enjoyable. The main (and probably the only) complaint I have is the size of the rooms. The room I booked looked bigger online but was much smaller in person. We booked a balcony and it was tight. If you like space and decadence, go bigger. 

Other than that, the food was delicious and the ports were great. The service was really good too.  

My wife and I have been on many cruises and we was going to try leaving out of New Orleans. The port was just fine. It was the Dawn that was not up to par. The food in the Garden Cafe was standard. Nothing real special there. The entertainment was below standard. It was a smaller ship than others we have been on and that may be why it was a let down. The staff was excellent.

AS A 40TH WEDDING ANNIVERSARY CRUISE WE CHOSE TO TRAVEL THROUGH  BOOK IT.COM BECAUSE WE HAD TRAVELED WITH THEM BEFORE AND ALWAYS HAD A GREAT TIME. .THE NORWEGIAN DAWN CRUISE WAS INDEED THE EXCEPTION.

THE TRAVEL AGENT WE WORKED WITH FROM BOOKIT (JAN HAYN) DID NOT HAVE OUR BEST INTEREST AT HEART.. SHE OFFERED US A SPECIAL CHOICE OF A MEAL PLAN, WHICH WE ACCEPTED BUT WERE NEVER ABLE TO  IMPLEMENTED BECAUSE  ALL THE RESTAURANT RESERVATIONS WERE BOOKED UP BEFORE THE CRUISE STARTED .JAN NEVER TOLD US TO MAKE ONLINE RESERVATIONS PRIOR TO DEPARTING. WE TRIED CONTINUOUSLY/DAILY TO FOLLOWUP WITH THE WAIT LISTING FOR RESTAURANTS BUT WERE NOT SUCCESSFUL.

THE SHIPS' CAPTAIN ,DEAN SMITH, LIED TO US AND SAID THAT THEY DID NOT HAVE A WAIT LIST ONLY TO FIND OUT THAT THEY DID.

WHEN MAKING THE TRAVEL RESERVATIONS WE WERE TOLD BY JAN THAT WE COULD USE OUR SHIP CREDITS TO PAY OUR REQUIRED GRATUITIES. THE NIGHT BEFORE THE CRUISE WAS OVER, WE  WENT TO GUEST SERVICES TO PAY OUR FINAL BILL AND WE WERE TOLD THAT WE COULD NOT USE THE CREDITS FOR GRATUITIES. NOW WE HAVE OVER THREE HUNDRED DOLLARS IN CREDITS THAT WE HAVE NOT USED BECAUSE THEY WERE DESIGNATED FOR TIPS. THUS WE LOST

MOST OF OUR CREDITS BECAUSE WE HAD NOT SPENT THE CREDITS ON DRINKS OR STUFF. 

IN ADDITION, THE FOOD WAS TERRIBLE.  HOT FOOD WAS COLD ON A DAILY BASIS. MANY PEOPLE EXPERIENCED FOOD POISONING DURING THE FIRST TWO OR THREE DAYS AND WE WERE FRANKLY CAUTIOUS ABOUT WHAT TO EAT. i SPOKE TO THE COOK BECAUSE WE SELDOM HAD ANY GREEN VEGIES.  

THE ONE VERY POSITIVE EXPERIENCE WAS WITH OUR STEWART JAVIER NUNES WHO WAS TERRIFIC.

IN REFLECTION I SPENT OVER FOUR THOUSAND DOLLARS AND WAS EXTREMELY UNHAPPY WITH BOOKIT AND THE NORWEGIAN DAWN EXPERIENCE.  WE HAVE CRUISED AND TRAVELED ALL OVER THE WORLD. THIS WAS NOT THE WAY WE ENVISIONED SPENDING OUR ANNIVERSARY.

i PLAN TO SEND THIS REVIEW TO TRIP ADVISOR  SO OTHERS CAN RECONSIDER CRUISING WITH YOU AND NORWEGIAN .

VERY, VERY, DISAPPOINTED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!         

Hours are inconvenient, especially on the days we have shore excursions and charges are not fair to feed the kids lunch or dinner for shore excursions dates.

This was our first cruise in a Norwegian cruise ship; we wanted to see how this company compared with the other cruise companies.

We liked the

1. fast check-in process Sunday afternoon.

2. space to walk on Deck 7 ( but only when smokers did not foul up the air.)

3. freedom to try 4 different food services, though we were surprised that our on-line reservations for Aqua and Venetian did not take.

4. friendliness/courtesy of the cabin crew, who always greeted us when we passed them in the corridors.

5. young man assigned to clean our room--Rey did a very good job with our room and he was very courteous.

6. upbeat shows in the Starlite Theatre, esp. ones by the highly versatile (man-n-wife) magician team and the creative Second City performers.

We were less impressed with the

1. quality of food offerings in the Garden Cafe even as we realized the difficulty of cooking for such a large group; we had expected to see more vegetarian offerings in light of the dire warnings about meat consumption.

2. quality of interactions with the staff in the Garden Cafe--with rare exceptions, the staff was focused only on clearing dirty dishes swiftly, perhaps the understanding that they would share in the daily $13.50 each guest pays played a role here. Come to think of it, the waitstaff in Aqua and Venetian appeared quite harried, to the point that they had little time to interact with the guests they were serving.

3. hi fi service on board--we had difficulty connecting to the internet and the manager of the Internet Cafe made us feel that we were disturbing him each of the 2 times we sought help. We ended up not using half of the minutes purchased.

We had a good time.  It was my husband's first cruise and he loved it!  The entertainment was great, the food was mostly good, and the itinerary was what we were looking for.  The pool wasn't very big and children were constantly jumping and diving in even though signs prohibited both.  The pool situation is our only complaint.  There was a special area for children but evidently the parents didn't want be by the kids pool.   

We have been on over 20 cruises and this ranks right up there with the best. I have personally booked over 100 weeks of cruises for our family since 2005. Ship, food, programs, entertainment.  One of the most noticeable improvements to other cruises was the low key bar staff.  I actually had to go to the bar for my soft drinks. Other cruises they are way too pushy.     We really enjoyed the dining package and the variation that we had in our dinner locations. 

We had a lot of fun on the port days as well. Look at our photos

I do have to mention one major bad change for Norwegian.  MANDATORY gratuities.  A gratuity should be just that. Not an added fee.  This wasn't a huge deal for me because I pay a good tip when I get good service.  When I had young kids I couldn't afford as much so it would have been a big problem for me.  We had my niece and her husband with their 2 young boys.  The ship hit their account for 378.00 for the week and refused to adjust while on board.  This was a major problem for that young family and created such a stress of how to deal with the hit that the whole cruise experience was tainted.  Norwegian this is a Bad Bad policy.  

I hadn't been on a cruise since the late 90s, and "Freestyle" cruising was a much better experience.  It was very nice to be able to have a more flexible schedule for activities and dining.

The crew was terrific!  Especially our cruise director, "Dingo" Dave.  He has a brilliant sense of humor and really added to the fun.

Our only minor criticism is that when we first got on the boat the elevators were really tied up.  We finally ended up walking up to our cabin.  After everyone got on the boat and settled the elevator situation was much better.

I am now quite a fan of Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Had a excellent room steward.  Siva was attentive in his service and very accommodating when we wanted to linger in the room long into the late morning even though he had to change his schedule to make up our space.  The food was very good and the staff as a whole were pleasant and helpful.  I did find the beverage packages to be prices somewhat outrageously and so we did not imbibe much on the cruise.  But I think that the ability to bring on a few bottles of wine and pay a nominal corkage fee was a great and fair alternative to the offered packages so I am satisfied overall in that regard.   

We really enjoyed all the ports of call and our excursion was super(dolphin swim and snorkel in Honduras)

We would recommend Norwegian to friends who are looking for a cruise

This cruise was fun because we met really nice people, but I guess I'm a cruise snob of sorts. I expect GREAT service, food, entertainment and activities.  That is not what the Dawn offers.  Food was actually pretty bad, room steward and wait staff also was not up to par.  Cruise director was good, enjoyed him.  But I'm used to cruising on Princess which is much, much better.  We did have a good time, but I would not cruise on NCL again.  Also, I get that they make a lot of money with on board purchases, but this ship really jacks up the prices.  Just not for me as far as quality and service.

Great customer service, clean ship but good was only fair. Room was very loud and vibrated a lot. Made it difficult to get a good night's sleep.  Items purchased on the ship were over valued. One item marked as $65 and on sale for $20 could actually be purchased for $25 full price of the ship. 

It was a 7 day cruise that I got through United Cruises.  It was pretty inexpensive.  It was my first cruise so I'm not sure what to expect.  The food was excellent; I didn't eat at any of the cover charge restaurants though.  The ship was nice, entertainment was great, and overall a nice experience.  They could have done a bit better on the at-sea days to keep me entertained though.

Loved the food, crew, entertainment, and casino......Did not like waiting for a "guaranteed stateroom" NEVER NEVER NEVER do guarantee stateroom! too much confusion upon boarding, no one knows where your room is, and its embarrassing to be put on the side like an outcast.

The bathroom in 9066 was very small but overall, I had a wonderful time. They had lots to do. Very pleased with the service.