Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We just returned from this cruise on February 8th. Very nice and helpful staff, especially Maricel our room attendant. She was the icing on the cake. I can't remember anyone being rude or non caring. The 4 ports were interesting and warm. We had a balcony cabin on the 10th floor which was great. Food was just so so.

The cruise was very relaxing.  I didn't pick the best ports with this cruise.  Cancun, Belize, Roadan,Honduras and Costa Maya; all very poverty stricken destinations. Once you disembark and get passed the Tee Shirt and Diamond International places, there's not much to see except for the poverty of these people.

We sailed on the Dawn.  For the most part, the food was good.  There were two main dining rooms, The Aqua and the Venetian... but, the menu was the same for either room.  As a matter of fact, the menu didn't change much from day to day for the entire week.  It was a standard menu with five or six new items on it every day.  Aside from the Blue Lagoon and the Cafeteria Buffet, the five or six other restaurants required an additional cover charge ranging from $15.00 to $35.00 per person.  I don''t like this policy because it's disingenuous.  All inclusive food should be all inclusive food.  The drinks were also pricey:  $6.00 for a beer and $9.00-$10.00 for a mixed drink.  BUT, this is true of most cruise ships.  

On the bright side, embarkation and disembarkation from beginning to end was very easy and very quick.  The entire staff was very friendly and very helpful.  Most of the entertainment was very good,music and shows.  All in all it was a very relaxing experience.  

We thoroughly enjoyed our cruise.  We had our handicapped sister with us (downs syndrome) and I can't say enough good about NCL in how they accommodated her.   It would of been impossible for them to do any better!

Ship perhaps needs some renovation - everything was really clean, but may need a little facelift here and there.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and the food was fantastic!!

The ship was very clean. Food was fab. We decided not to do the specialty dinners and we were not disappointed. I'm sure the specialty dinners are great also. Lots of entertainment no time to be bored. The ships crew was AWESOME we gave tips on top of the $12 a day per person gratuity, they deserved it. 

Thank you Dawn. we had fun :)

This is one of the smaller ships. I did 3 back to back and I had to completely depart and wait and then reboard for next cruise which was a big time waster. Other than that. Many places to dine. Buffets were good. Needed better salad bar and variety of veggies to eat.  Plenty to do in all the ports.Only 1 pool to use on the ship. Other one was in the spa and cost extra to use.Seemed  to have nice childcare area with separate slides and hot tub on back of ship. Nice gym area. Usual entertainment. Didnt feel pressured to buy alcohol. Did have lots of early afternoon drunks with their use of all you can drink alcohol . Plenty of patrons were getting their monies worth...

THE ONLY GOOD THING I HAVE TO SAY A B OUT THE CRUISE WAS THE FOOD WAS GOOD AND HAD A GOOD SELECTION. THE CRUISE SHIP WAS FILTHY. STATE ROOMS AR ONLY CLEANED ON THE SURFACE. BUT DUST EVERY WHERE. CORNERS OF TABLES HAD DIRT BUILDUP. THE PORTS OF CALL HAD A LOT TO Desired. Roatan the port had littl or no shops to view. The excursions were not enough selection to choose from. The last port was also a lot to be desired. Each store was the same as the previous one. And the excursions were not enough to choose from. Staff on the ship were not friendly they were down right rude. This is not a cruise I would recommend.

Staff was excellent.  Always cheerful and greeting us.  Service and room care very well done.  Entire ship very clean.  Ship is obviously older than most we have been on as there are fewer shelves and drawers in the room and overall it is "plainer", not as deluxe in decor.  The food was wonderful, always delicious and presentation was grand.  Shows were mostly good but the first one was so loud that we left because it hurt my ears.  The performers were excellent in music and dance, just amplifiers too loud.  The later shows were better in loudness and performances very enjoyable.  Boarding and embarking were done well.

Good entertainment, good food, excellent employees, nice room, terrible band and music by the pool in the afternoons, too many sales of merchandise daily, main restaurant required proper dress but many, many people wore tee shirts, shorts, caps, shower shoes and did not read the sign telling  them how to dress. They should have been refused entry to the dining room and told to go eat on the upper deck.

I have had many cruises that were much better, but this cruise was fair and nice.

The cruise was exceptional from the moment we arrived at the dock. All employees were friendly and helpful. The attention to germ control and cleanliness was well appreciated. The shows and excursions were awesome. Would have liked to  had more time to shop at the ruins in Belize is my only concern. Food was great but had to wait to be seated at the Aqua. Would highly recommend this cruise. I have only been on one other cruise. It was a 3 day with Carnival and my experience with them was awesome too, even thou I had heard other people were not as pleased.

From start to finish I have never been on a more organized cruise, with so many pleasant and helpful crew members. Staff were excellent and Entertainment was out of this world.   Such a good selection no matter what your age there was something for everyone.

Pros:

Mostly good entertainment, enjoyed the freestyle atmosphere and dining choices. Cabin nicely laid out.

Cons:

Some crowding issues, significant focus on sell sell sell,

This was our 3rd trip with NCL, 2nd on the Dawn. She's an older ship, but still gets the job done, has great layout, good crew.  The itinerary was awesome - 4 ports and just 2 days on the ship, one at the beginning and one at the end.  Food was good, typical for NCL, smaller portions(which we like, as its so easy to overeat on cruises) Crew was great, especially our storeroom attendant Christian, who took care of every need we had in our room.  

I had heard rave reviews about cruising...  Bluntly, I wasn't't overly impressed.  The food was okay.  The staff is highly trained to be pleasant and helpful.  The biggest issue is that everywhere I turned the cruise line was trying to make money off of me.  Art auctions...  Bingo, Deal or no Deal, jewelry sales and presentations, buy extra drink packages or special dining options, shore excursions...  and then if you don't buy the excursions you primarily only have shopping options at the ports of call.  Cozumel was ridiculously pushy...grabbing you and pulling you into the shops or handing you merchandise and asking for money...  uuuugh.  My favorite port was Roatan, Honduras...  the least commercialized port.  It was amazing!

We had a fun time but didn't have the excellent level of service we experience with other cruise lines we have traveled with in the past.  The shows were excellent and the ship was nice!

This was our 7th cruise and the 3rd time we have been to these ports.  Cozumel and Costa Maya were exceptional, Honduras was great, but Belize's port was just ok.  Unless you book an excursion, there is not much there to do and it doesn't appear to be very safe outside the port area.  The service on the ship was excellent.  We had a great steward who was very attentive to our daily requirements,and the wait staff (especially Janice) in the smaller dining area were exceptional.  The food itself was a little bit of a let down.  The grilled shrimp, the steak, the shrimp alfredo, and all of the soups were wonderful, but the rest of the food was very bland and/or covered or floating in one type of sauce or another.  The desserts always looked very enticing and their presentation was exceptional, but the taste left a lot to be desired.  We really missed having lobster tail, which in the past we had at least one night on each of our previous cruises regardless of which cruise line we were on.  Other than the above mentioned, we enjoyed our cruise.

This ship rocked back and forth the whole week! I've never felt a ship like this one. The staff seemed very un-happy and un-friendly. Dinners took a while 

The entertainment was good we loved the illusionist and the aerial act. 

The excursions were over priced and there was a lot of miscommunication from the staff at this desk. Our excursion in Cozumel was paddleboarding, snorkeling and beach. The water was rocky that day and they left a message in our room saying it was canceled. We didn't receive this message until later because we were at breakfast. By the time we did receive it, it was too late to book another similar excursion. Also, there were other snorkeling excursions that weren't canceled so I still don't know why ours was. 

We also purchased a last minute excursion in Costa Maya on the pier but through the ship. They said it was a beach club 5-7 minutes away with clear water and water activities that were open. This day we had to be back at the ship by 3:30 as it was our last day at a port. The excursion wasn't leaving for an hour and by the time the bus left, it took us 45 minutes to reach the beach. The water was brown and rough and none of the water activities were allowed due to the current. I understand you can't guarantee weather, but don't lie and tell us its ok on that side of the island. There were free drinks included, however the bar was swarming with bees, and my husband was stung twice! We were very upset that we paid for such a terrible excursion when we could have gotten a better deal and beach with a local taxi driver.

Food was fantastic!  Entertainment (especially David DaVinci) was awesome!  Staff was wonderful and engaging!  Room was a bit small, but we chose to stay inside to save money.  Prices on drinks was also very reasonable.

I loved everything about the cruise except our state room it was way to small. Aprox 150 sq ft is way to small for 4 adults. I did look at other rooms on the last day and the mini suites are amazing but I cant afford them. I did ask for another room but the ship was full.

Speciality restaurants very good--other dining venues so-so.  Cocktail service at bars great but consistently slow at tables.  Ship immaculate.  Staff training inconsistent--seemed to be many new staff with limited confidence while others clearly professional.  Spa grossly overpriced.  Great gym.  Avoided ship excursions.