Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I was in Room 10038 which is on the 10th floor which is also a balcony. Service was very good, food was great. We ate in the Venician which is a free styling restaurant. We had steak which was very good, Salmon which was great. one night we had rack of lamb which was good. no complaint about the food. the only thing that didn,t suit me was that thier was only one outside pool which everyone used including kids. thier were so many kids in the pool that one day the pool water was dirty. The Dawn had one small inside pool with a detached jacuzzi. their was one small steam & heat room; however thier was a charge of $126 per person per week. the ship is a little small in reference to other ships I've been on. their was basicly one dancing floor which was used for numerous things like bingo and comedy shows. ultimately my pet pee is that there was no adult only spa and the one they had was quite expensive. I did give the cruise a four star.

Just a very good experience overall !! Able to choose to do as little or as much as one wants to do on vacation. Love the flexibility...from choice of entertainment or dining.

My wife and I thoroughly enjoyed our cruise. The staff was great! The itinerary was good and the shore excursions that we participated in were interesting. The entertainment was good. Second City was particularly good as was Jose and his wife. Dingo Dave was good also. He seems to work very hard  as well as the whole crew  from washy washy girls up to the captain,

What a great ship.  Not too big, not too small.  Food was fantastic, the shows were awesome and the service was really good.  Of the many cruises I have taken, this was the best one yet!  Plus, driving to New Orleans cuts down on travel expenses dramatically!

this is my first cruise so I really have no basis for comparison with other cruise lines. But I know good service and good customer care. Everywhere on the Norwegian Dawn, I encounter ship personnel going all out to take care of you. Food is excellent, staff are friendly and I would specially like to mention Yariff who was assigned to take care of my cabin. He is diligent and is on top of everything. My wife is so thrilled by the  toweled animals each night, and that included the elephant, the penguin, the loopy looking dog and the mouse. This is reflected in all activities on board including entertainment, food and off shore excursions. I have the most comfortable stay and a most enjoyable vacation. Well worth the money. The food is good and there is such a variety to chose from. If you are rush for time you can go buffet, or if you are in an ambiance and romantic mood you can go to the Venetian or the Aqua lounge and dine a la carte. Whether it is buffet or a la carte you get the same high standard service.  

A few suggestions though. One of which is that you fellas should think about opening up the breakfast buffet earlier during shore excursions as there will be a big rush for breakfast if you only open it at 6.30. Other days at sea, it does not matter because your guests can just stroll in. 

And yes definitely I will cruise again on Norwegian. Because they go above and beyond to make you feel welcome. 

Overall it was fun. Entertainment was great. The production shows were wekk done, and the comedy show was awesome. Magic show was great too. Food and service was average. The general upkeep not as good as Royal Caribbean or Princess

We had a great time.  Pretty good food. We aren't much for the entertainment.

The room was great, Jay our steward was superb. Disembarking was way better than the Jewel.

Pros: 1. Had 4 stops whereas the Carnival Dream (same port, same day) had one less stop, both in Western Carribean.

2. Friendly staff! I felt pampered all week. This was my honeymoon and my wife said that it was "The best week of my life". 

3. Excursions I went on were great, but the Dolphinaris tour charges $38 PER PHOTO they take. The Gumbalimba Nature Reserve tour in Roatan, Honduras was Great! They have white faced capuchin monkeys that climb on your head and macaws on the ground! They let you take your own photos!

Cons:

1. NCL "hides" some charges to show a lower fare rate. The fare in consideration is lacking a $12.95/person/day "Service Charge" that they claim goes to pay the service staff like housekeeping and the cooking staff. That should be included in the fare. 

2. Belize City, Belize is a @#!^hole, take an excursion and stay out of the city. Not NCL's fault, but please don't visit that town. Other notes: WORTH going, just beware the additional charges and cities. 

*** EDITED 3/25/15 by COMMUNITY MANAGER TO COMPLY WITH OUR COMMUNITY GUIDELINES ***

This was our first cruise and Norwegian really gave us an amazing experience! The rooms were very comfortable and a decent size. I never once felt crowded or as though I didn't have any space. The restaurants were great and even the food offered in the free buffet was tasty! The staff gets most of the credit. They were so friendly and attentive. They really gave customer service a whole new meaning! I was really blown away. This will definitely be the first cruise of many more to come.  My favorite characteristic was the animal towels and chocolate during turn down. I would wait all day thinking of what animal we will get tonight. It is a great touch!  The down fall is the fact that there was only one main pool. Which everyday that we were at sea it was crowded. Next time I might choose a boat that has more than one pool.   

Service, Crews, Tours, Butler and Steward  were absolutely fantastic.  Restaurants provided epicurean delights every night.  My Excursions were so much fun and the tour desk made sure I had the most up to date service and fun with my family's needs and answered all my questions.   I had my teenage granddaughter with me and both my butler and steward were both patient, knowledgeable and kind to assist with her needs as well.  The suites were roomy and absolutely perfect for our needs.  Tours and guides gave fantastic services.  Would definitely go Norwegian again and Use Cruises Only again with all the changes we made our Travel Agent made this Cruise easy for us, Thank you. 

Good price. Love freestyle cruising where you do everything on your own time.  There were a lot of activities offered on sea days.  Good entertainment.

Our interior cabin was way to small for four people and the ship didn't really have much for my two teens to do on the days at sea.  The freestyle dining to us meant wait in line for 30 minutes and then wait with a pager for 30 minutes.  Two positives...food was great once you got it and shows were great.

I enjoyed everything about this cruise.  All of the islands were amazing places to visit.  I think Belize was my favorite.  We took a city tour on each island except for Costa Maya because it didn't look to interesting from ship, but did buy some items in the tourist area.  Cozumel had the best prices out of all the islands, so if your buying buy there and save.   The staff on the Norwegian Dawn was excellent as always.  The food was the best I've tasted out of all 4 cruises I've been on.   I would suggest this cruise to anyone

Nice service and entertainment.

New Orleans was a nice city to start in - lots to see there, could easily have used some more time.

Didn't like to Freestyle dining option.  Prefer a set time.  Flexibility was nice, but we ended up eating at the same time every night anyway, and some nights there was a half hour wait for a table.

College spring break to accommodate my kids time off was not the best time, in hindsight!  I'm sure another time of year would be less rowdy.

The port stops were all nice, but all very crowded.  There were usually three other ships in port at the same time.  It's been a while since I've cruised, so maybe that's common these days.

This was a nice cruise. Very friendly staff, good food, great casino. I do think that it was a step above any carnival cruise that I have taken. The entertainment was ok but they could use better bands and singers. Duty free shopping is offered onboard but the prices are about the same as ebay prices.

Positives - medical staff and housekeeping staff (both went over and above from a service perspective)

Negatives - the food is terrible.  Very limited selection in the buffet, the main dining rooms had very similar menus, which were all very bland and often overcooked.  The specialty restaurants weren't any better.  Very tasteless food, and all of the desserts had a very gelatinous look and feel.

Lastly, a word of warning regarding shore excursions.  In Belize it's a tender situation.  If you did not book a shore excursion through Norwegian, you have to get in line for a tender boarding number.  I picked up my ticket at 8:30am when it supposedly opened, and was number 336.  It took HOURS to get on the tender to head to the mainland.  The folks with excursions through Norwegian were able to board first, and received preferential treatment.  Sadly, Belize was the only port in which I didn't book through Norwegian.  Their website does not talk about this, so I thought I'd share.

Cruise itinerary was great, but the shore excursions were a rip-off.  They advertised them for sertain lengths of time, and cut them short by 30-45 mins.  we would have LOVED having that time to spend at the Mayan Ruins we went to in  two different ports.  That was the big reason we took this particular cruise in the first place, was to go to the ruins.  Have cruised other with other cruise lines, Holland, and Princess, and there shore excursions were worth every penny we spent.  Sadly disappointed.

Where to begin.  I came back with BED BUGS..... I was bitten on the ship.   NOT HAPPY.  The SPA Hydro Pool almost broke our hips because of the extremely deep steps getting into the hydro pool.  Had a charge on my card after I received the final bill which was not delivered until after they were suppose to be.  The steward brought it the day of departure.  This is so bad.  Now I have call American express to find out what it is. 

The food was fine and Noel in Agua dining was very good.  The Venetian was very pretentious and we at one dinner didn't get waited on until I asked if anyone was going to do it.  The coffee was horrible through out the trip.  The bacon was raw.  Not good

Our cabin Steward was very pleasant and efficient  Samson.

There was only one outlet in the stateroom across from the bed so my CPAP cord had to be draped across the room on the floor which was very dangerous.

The bathroom had two narrow door to the toilet and shower so anyone of size would have difficulty

The Venetian dining room was not easy to get into cause of the stairs   The Aqua was very good

I really wanted to rate the cruise Very Good, since NCL staff does a very nice job of running the cruise.   The servers and the stewards, the entertainment, and all others work very hard and it shows.   But there were a few surrounding things that made the trip unpleasant, but didn't ruin it, just made it un-fun at times.   Such as, the booking.   NCL plays games with providing promotional items to get you to book the cruise, then doesn't offer the same promotions to people that probably paid more for an earlier booking.   I had booked 6 months prior to the cruise and wasn't offered any further promotional opportunities, yet as late as the week before the cruise other people were getting on board with free drink or meal promotions.  Terrible unfair practice. And the end of the cruise financial administration is very unorganized and disappointing.    I saked up front if I could split the final bill on two credit cards, they said no problem.   And untimately that did happen.   But not without large holds being placed on both cards, rendering them useless for a week following the cruise.   Heres an example.    They charged $560 to one credit card, yet they also held an additional $560 on the same card for one more week.   Tying up $1120 on that card.   Which caused me undo problems.  These things caused a nice vacation to be a little sour. 

Wife and I enjoyed our cruise.  The ship is very good.  Our room stewardess was great.  We found the food to be very good with very good service on all but one occasion.  Our oceanview stateroom had adequate space.  Being our first Caribbean cruise, our shore excursions of cave-tubing, beach day, Mayan ruins, and animal sanctuary were delightful.  Nightly shoes were good.  We most enjoyed Second City comics.  We went to both the 7pm and 9pm show which were slightly different because of the improve.