Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Pros:  I enjoyed this cruise because it is easy.  Just park and go.  Very relaxing as there are two days at sea each way. Everything is taken care of from food to activities.  Shows are great.  Staff is fun for games.

Cons: This is my second time on this same cruise.  I remember the service being better on previous trip 3 years ago.  Also to get "good" food - you have to pay extra for nice restaurants.

Overall:  Good cruise for a first time cruiser.  If you think you may get sea sick, you may not want to leave from Boston as water may be a bit more choppy.

Found the ship very clean and staff friendly. Would recommend the cruise highly. The entertainment was outstanding. The only complaint was the food in the dinning room. Did not find that the greatest in fact below average. Opt to eat at the buffet which we found satisfactory. Above average for a buffet style. 

We did a Bermuda cruise with NCL nine years ago, on a different and smaller ship which docked in lovely St. George. Now they dock at King's Wharf, a less interesting "home base."  We enjoyed this trip greatly. The ship is well-appointed, food in Venetian was surprisingly good even with our high expectations from before. Entertainment was quite enjoyable.

Our only issues: 1) The A/C in several parts of the ship is too cold.  2) Music volume in almost every venue is FAR louder than it needs to be: if you go to a performance at Spinnaker you shouldn't have to yell at the people across the table. Gatsby's is a welcome exception to the volume complaint.

This was my first cruise and my first trip to Bermuda! The ship was beautiful and so big! I had a balcony room. It was neat and clean and the views were fantastic! I have never seen so much food and variety of restaurants in one place. I enjoyed the nightly entertainment but did not enjoy David DaVinci's so called magic or some of his comments to the audience. Bermuda is just breathtaking! We took the shore excursion tour of the island and thoroughly enjoyed the places we visited and our tour guide.

I would take this cruise again in a heartbeat! I wish that we had a few more days on the island.

Everyone on the ship, on the island, everywhere we went were extremely kind and helpful. Wonderful first time experience!

We had the best time. The staff was amazing! The shows were incredible. We always had something to do! We can't wait to book another cruise with Norwegian!

The boat is definately dated, but a great time, hard sometimes to get a drink and an elevator, but worth the money spent. I definately think it should stay in port at Bermuda one more day and one less day at sea. Not enough time to see Bermuda.

The seven day Bermuda Cruise was very relaxing and the staff on the Norwegian couldn't of been nicer or friendlier.  All Staff members said hello if you came in contact with them, the chamber maid was sensational and deserved and extra tip. Myla was her name and she created animals from the towels that brought a smile to us daily. Vacation Outlet did not have our $100.00 on board spending available to us.  The friends that we went with got theirs. Can I submit our receipt of $78.00 that we spent on board?

I LOVE GOING ON THIS CRUISE IT OFFERS DIFFERENT ACTIVITIES FOR EVERYONE IN THE FAMILY. THE FOOD IS GREAT.THE CREW IS VERY FRIENDLY.I HAVE GONE ON OTHER CRUISE AND THIS IS THE BEST.

I was very satisfied with everything about my cruise. It was a true vacation. The crew was very helpful and well trained. The only thing I had a problem with was that several of  the crew had a heavy accent and it made it difficult the understand them. This caused a lot of repeating on their part.  

We are a couple in our late 30's with 5 year old twin boys.  This was an awesome family vacation!  The service was prompt, yet unobtrusive, the ship was clean, and the size is perfect!  I'm not a lover of mega-ships.  There weren't lines to wait in, we always found a clean table at the buffet, and seats at the theater.  It also helped that we had perfect weather!   We had a miserable cruise with Royal Caribbean in the fall and this trip with NCL was the perfect antidote!  I loved the freestyle dining, and we never waited longer than 2 minutes to be seated at a complimentary restaurant and the food was awesome!  The pools were always clean and the water temperature was perfect. 

This would have been a great cruise for anyone, but it was phenomenal for our young family.  Here's why:  1. The kids club-it was the largest play space I've ever seen on a ship!  Lots of room to expend their energy and awesome, attentive staff.  One of my sons hit the other with a pillow and caused a minor split lip and they called me within seconds to report even this minor incident.  My kids BEGGED to go to kids club--they had a ball!  2. The huge kids pool area.  We loved this space!  Many pools, a hot tub (yay adults!), and two small water slides.  It does get crowded around 12-2 when kids club is closed for lunch, but otherwise is plenty of space.  3.  The trip itself.  2 sea days to take advantage of fun and relaxation on the ship, 3 days in Bermuda, and then 2 more relaxation days.  We LOVED this arrangement.  4. BERMUDA- We went to the nearby snorkel park beach on the first day--it is very nice and lots of services are available.  The next day we took a cheap, clean, and convenient public bus to Jobson's Cove/Warwick Long Bay.  It was a beautiful 30 minute ride and a less the 5 min walk right to the beautiful beaches!  Warwick would be awesome for adults and even with 2 ships in port there were only a handful of swimmers.  It does have a big drop-off and a strong undertow, so it wasn't right for our kiddos, but was beautiful to see.  We went around the corner to Jobson's Cove, a perfect family beach.  It has crystal clear shallow water, fine sand, and no undertow, as it is sheltered from the open sea by large rocks.  We could actually relax at the beach.  The kids could play without our constant worry.  We saw beautiful parrot fish and big crabs, which they loved.  The last day in Bermuda we visited dolphin quest.  My kids swam with dolphins, and while it was costly, it was the highlight of their trip!  Both of my kids are crazy for dolphins, so it was totally worth it.  The staff at Dolphin Quest Bermuda was fantastic!  5.  The private time.  I love family cruises because we get to have lots of fun with the kids, and still have date nights too.  Three nights we took the kids to the buffet at 6 and then to kids club at 7 so my husband and I could have private dinners, a rare experience at home.

This was the best family vacation we've ever taken!! (It beat Disney for us parents!) It was the perfect mix of fun activities and time for total relaxation!

There are only 2 things I would change.  First, I would have chosen an aft or midship cabin.  All kids activities are aft, as is the main buffet and we were all the way forward, which meant a lot of trips from one end of the ship to the other.  The only minor complaint I have about the ship is that there are NO appropriate tv channels for children, none.  This isn't a huge deal, but we would have liked to allow the kids to watch tv for a few minutes before bed to settle down and could have been a big deal if we had a bad weather day, which we didn't.

My first experience on a cruise! I LOVED IT! All of the staff were friendly and very helpful. LOTS to do for all ages. Everything was well organized and on schedule. I traveled with my parents who are 81 and 75. They had a great time too. Am looking forward to my next cruise!

I like the cruise for many reasons. The food was great, the ship was very clean, the crew was right there when you wanted or needed something and the entertainment was the best.

It was a good trip and I would do it again. The areas of improvement would be -The service was a little slow at times and the food at the buffet was good but not great. 

We had a great time on our cruise to Bermuda out of Boston. The staff was very helpful and the entertainment was outstanding. Unable to do everything we wanted to do in Bermuda which means we will have to return! Of course maybe alittle later in June when the weather should be better!  Short daily rain showers and wind didn't dampen our enjoyment but made for less time working on my tan!

I was a solo traveler on board this ship to Bermuda.  I would never do that again on this ship or company.  I was ostracized the entire time and it was impossible to participate in most activities, despite putting myself out there.  I have traveled all of Europe and America and many other countries by myself for 1 week to 6 months at a time, and have never felt uncomfortable being the odd man out.  But every minute of this cruise I was on display and it was extremely awkward.

The cruise director staff attempted to help this and to provide activities for all.  Some succeeded, most did not.  Most of the staff seemed unhappy, even angry to be part of the cruise.  The guests seemed to be a terrible inconvenience.

Most notably the staff at the Aqua restaurant seemed terribly put-ff to have to work each day.

I was most disappointed in late evening meals.  One night I simply wanted a snack and dessert to take back to my room.  I ordered in the Blue Lagoon, all night restaurant.  Was told it was take out and that was fine and to wait at a table.  I sat and waited for a half hour.  ARound that time a managerial figure noticed me and demanded four people come to take my order and bring me water.  I didn't want water, and had already ordered.  I also had to say that over and over and over again to each of those people.  Another manager came by and did the same.  All the servers came back to me.  At this point, even with saying no to waters I currently had three fresh waters in front of me.  It's as though the staff is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome and are unable to disagree with their captor managers.

At every meal I was also asked at least 3-10 times on a few occasions where my other guest or meal partner was or why I was alone.  I was alone for a very sad reason, and being reminded 3-10 times at each meal 3-4 times per day times seven days or on average over 120 times in a week why I was eating alone, was nearly too much to handle.  Just accept that some people are eating alone, and leave the extra plate and glass on the table.  Don't remove it, making me feel more alone.  This was so highly disrespectful and hurtful.

The rooms were not cleaned often or well, beds were barely made.  I asked to keep my linens without washing all week to save on water and each day new linens were provided and towels.  I confronted the male attendant and he seemed to have no concept of why someone would want to not have fresh towels, despite all the signs to the contrary.  I also asked for an iron and ironing board over a dozen times from him and another attendant.  I never received either.  So I finally had to pay money to have my clothes professionally ironed on the ship, which was utter robbery. 

I ordered the soda package for $60 or 75 or so for the whole week.  I waited in line sometimes 45 mins to over an hour to get a soda.  Finally I gave up.  Sodas were $2.25 per glass.  I maybe got 4 or 6 total drinks of soda over the week? It says unlimited, so I assumed there was a self serve aspect.  There was not.  You had to wait with the other people at the bars which had excessive lines and at most 3 people working, but most bars, including the pool side bars often had just one employee serving 50-200 guests.  So I got about $8 of use out of $60+ for a soda package that was pointless. 

Then we come to the food.  I would have rather brought granola bars to eat all week than eat the garbage at the Garden Cafe.  Nothing was cooked right.  There was raw or burnt.  Nothing in between.  The beef wellington was all soggy bread and raw beef.  The prime rib was burnt and raw at the same time.  It also was not the correct cut of meat.  And the sauce served with it was GRAVY NOT AU JUS.  And the horseradish was mixed with heavy mayonnaise rather than straight horseradish. 

Shrimp was served twice on board that I could see from any menus.  No shellfish was offered at any time.  Fish was served less than ten times and was American fish in American sauces.  We are in Bermuda, on the ocean, I expected at least one different, non American fish served fresh and natural as though it had not been previously frozen.  The two free meal venues should have different menus throughout the week rather than the same menu all week with 1-2 changes when things run out.  The food was mostly inedible.  My thermador sauce was not thermador in any manner, but appeared to be watered alfredo or possibly just flour and water with no seasoning. 

The best thing I had on board was the frozen yogurt machine.  I am a professional chef, but I have catered for 20 years, so I know it's difficult to feed masses of people.  But it's apparent that the chefs have made the same dishes repeatedly for years, therefore they no longer taste as they go along to make adjustments.  If they tasted what they served I hope they would be horrified at what they found.

I ordered a meal at the chef's table, only to find out the day it was to be a meal that I hadn't signed up for, it had been changed from the menu that I saw.  It had also been advertised as a captain's dinner, not a chef's dinner.  It was indicated before that the captain and head chef would both be there.  That turned out to not be the case.

Overall, this was horrible and I was very unhappy, and then I was trapped on a boat and couldn't leave or explain. 

A few hiccups but a nice trip. Norwegian is a good choice for cruising with Free Style, especially. The food was outstanding in the Specialty restaurants as was the entertainment. To me, Norwegian is getting better and have upgraded with food and service. We had a little problem checking in as the person handling check-in was new and needed much help. Norwegian also messed up twice an option for Ultimate Dining by cancelling them without notice. We were able to reschedule on-board, however. I would highly recommend Norwegian and Cheap Cruises as a choice to do some terrific traveling..  ..

This is the second time our family has cruised from Boston to Bermuda with Norwegian, but this time it was on a different ship, the Dawn.

Our cruise left the Boston dock on Friday, May 29th, around 5PM, but we boarded the ship early at 1PM.  It was a gray and chilly day for this time of year (50s), so that made us even happier to be heading to a warmer place.  We enjoyed a nice buffet in the Garden Café, then explored the ship until our mini-suite cabin was ready.

We were very impressed with the mini-suite's layout and spaciousness for the three of us, especially the large balcony and convenient location (Deck 11).  Our steward, Edwin, kept our cabin immaculate throughout our stay.

That evening we enjoyed a wonderful dinner at Versailles Restaurant, then enjoyed some activities.  We turned in at around 10PM since it had been a very busy day.  At around that time, the cruise director made a sudden announcement that there was a passenger medical emergency and anyone willing to give O+ blood would be greatly appreciated (he sounded very stressed and upset).  Unfortunately, none of us had that blood type, so we couldn't help.

In the morning, we drew the curtain aside to expose the weather and were disheartened to notice that the weather was still gray and cloudy.  I stepped onto the balcony and was surprised how cold it was.  My son tuned the TV to the station showing our location on the map, and we were stunned to see that we were still off the Boston coast!  We ventured upstairs to the buffet for breakfast and overheard a passenger say that they turned the ship around last night due to the passenger emergency!  No announcement was made about this major incident, and I felt very upset that the captain would change our plans without even mentioning it (as passengers on a ship aren't we entitled to know where we are???).

Later on, an announcement was made that we would arrive in Bermuda at 8:30PM Sunday night instead of 10AM, and in order to "accommodate" us for this change we would stay docked overnight in Bermuda on Tuesday instead of leaving at 5PM.  Unfortunately, all Bermuda shops and activities stop at 5PM, so spending an extra overnight in Bermuda did NOTHING for us.  At the very least, NCL should have credited an on-board activity for us or a shore excursion.

The rest of our cruise was good, but it seemed like almost every activity we wanted to try involved a "fee" of some kind, even Bingo!  And now room service changes a fee of $7.95 per order, plus an automatic 18% gratuity.

We greatly enjoyed Bermuda (weather was great!), and it's a very easy island to get around.

Unfortunately, because of the way NCL handled the passenger emergency, I have NO INTEREST in taking this cruise, or any other NCL cruise, again.

We lost a day in Bermuda due to a guests medical issue. Had to return to Boston.  WAS NOT offered any compensation. The rest of the cruise was very nice. Only one adult pool and rather small.

Our trip lost a day in Bermuda due to a medical emergency (though no fault of NCL) however, we arrived Sunday evening to a deserted Dockyard -everything closed at 6PM on Sunday and NCL gave a Wednesday morning departure at 6AM to make up for it - sad since everything closed at 6PM except for restaurants :(.  The food was fair at best except for the specialty restaurants which are difficult to get into because of the dining option - which is not worth it.  Would recommend the drink option if it's for you. Staff was outstanding, though.

Our room steward Gede & all the staff on the Dawn were very friendly, professional & helpful. The food was exceptional and plentiful. The entertainment held in the Stardust was good, but the entertainment held in the Spinnaker did not accommodate the large crowds it drew & their were too many obstructions.  We are non smokers and there were smokers in EVERY open area including the pool, hot tubs, and the entire Oasis deck.  That made it difficult to enjoy the open decks and sun. I thought the 18% added gratuity on self serve drinks at the Oasis & Bimimi Bars was too much, especially since the wait was between 10-20 minutes at all times.  10% is more reasonable for self serve - keep the 18% for the restaurants and waiters who serve us