Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This is not our first time on this cruise out of Boston to Bermuda.  Why you ask?  Because it is AMAZING!!!  My husband and I decided the only reason you don't have a great time on this cruise is because you don't want to, or you're dead.  There is so much to do.  From all the activities that take place while you're at sea to the excursions you can take once you dock.  If you don't want to do an excursion, then buy a Bermuda Transportation pass which is good for buses and ferries and go investigate the island.  There is plenty to see.  If you don't want to do anything off the ship once you get to The Island, then stay on board and relax.  It is quiet and peaceful and there are still thyings to do.  Go to the Spa, or go to deck 12 and read a book,or eat all day, because you can.    You can order a $5.00 pizza at 2AM.  And the pizza is good.  Chewy crunchy crust and plenty of cheese.  No, it's not from the North End, but it's good.  

Now, let's talk about the ship.  I am a nurse and a germaphobe.  This ship is CLEAN, CLEAN, CLEAN.  We have taken this cruise at all times of the season and we find it the same all the time.  Very clean.  And the Washy Washy girls are the best.  They spray your hands coming on the ship, going to the buffet, going to any of the large dining rooms.  GREAT IDEA!!!  There are Purell dispensers all over the shipas well.  This cruise line knows how important it is to keep their passengers healthy.  It is a win win for both .  Another thing is the buffet on deck 12.  I was a little leary at first because buffet's have a tendency to gross me out.  Not this one.  They are changing dishes of food constantly and when you see the Senior crew standing in line with their plate in hand you know it must be OK.  The variety of food is amazing and they keep a close eye on things.  Another thing is they put dishes on the buffet in small amts and keep fresh dishes ready to go at a moments notice.  Everything is fresh and well prepared.  Yes, you will find those moments during peak meal times that things may go a bit slower, just relax, it's coming!!    Now let's talk about our room.  Again our cabin person was amazing.  He worked around our schedule every day.  We are night people so we were up until 0300 and didn't get out of bed until 1 or 2 PM.  Not a problem.  When we got back to our room everything was perfect.  Bed made, fresh towels, room was vaccumed, pillows fluffed, and at night, turn down service with that nice little chocolate on our pillow and a towel animal on our bed, cute.   We saw 2 shows on the ship and again they were amazing.  We saw "Elements"  and Luminescence" .  Both excellent!!.  Also we went to deck 7 every evening and watched Patty and Jose.  They play music from the 50's 60's 70's.  This was a GREAT show.  They sang song's we all knew the words to.  Everyone there loved this duo, they were "the best".  

Getting on and off the ship was easy as well.  Norwegian Cruise staff are very organized.  Again, during peak times to board and disembark you will come across delays.  Just take a valium and wait.  Everything will come together.   A cruise person is always there to help.  Just look around and you will find one.  And they don't leave you until your problem is solved.  Overall, I love this cruise, not only because of the amazing service and the care you get on this ship with this company, but also because they make you feel like you're home, with more amenities and special service than you could ever get at home, atleast not in my house.    Try it, you won't be disappointed.  

Susan and Jim

The only thing I disliked about the cruise was the size of the staterooms!  They were small compared to the other ocean view rooms I have had on Carnival.  At least on Carnival I didn't end up leaving dented and bruised from walking from my side of the bed to the bathroom!

The embarkation process was quick.  If you want to get right on, I suggest you be at the port for noon, we were a little after and it was very smooth.  Tip the porter to take your bags and you can bypass the lines and go wait in line right away. The disembarkation process was just as quick.  We of course do the self disembark and it was the quickest I have ever seen it, even on Carnival!

The food was good.  A short wait here or there when going to main dining rooms, however, three of the seven nights we ate in the speciality restaurants.  Cagney's Steakhouse was the standout for us.  Great steaks!  I would recommend you try it out when on NCL Dawn.  We also ate at Teppanyaki, which was good.  Get the steak and shrimp combo!  La Cucina, was so so. I had Osso Buco and Lobster Pasta.  The Osso Buco was delicious!  However, the pasta felt like it was made on the buffet line...very lukewarm, and not very flavorful at all.

The entertainment on the boat was very good!  There was always something for you to do or see!  I keep telling myself maybe that is the reason for the such small rooms!  Their show "Band on the Run" was very good.  The music brought me back to the days of my family house parties growing up as a child.  They had a magician, which reminded me of the movie "Burt Wonderstone".  Second City Comedy Troupe was hilarious!  "Luminescence" an aerial show, was absolutely amazing!

We did have some rough seas on our way down, I think because of the weather.  When we left Boston it was raining, so we couldn't enjoy our normal routine of watching the skyline disappear as we sailed out of port.  But once we hit Bermuda, it was sunny skies and the most beautiful blue-green water I have ever seen!!

You must go to Horshoe Bay Beach, and the Crystal Caves!!  Bermuda is very beautiful and picturesque!  Photographers would enjoy themselves immensely.  I am no photographer, and I enjoyed it very much.

The Royal Navy Dockyard has something for everyone. There is shopping for you shopaholics to enjoy. Make sure you see Lisa Rego, and her amazing artwork, at the Clocktower Mall. Bars and pubs for the party crowd!  And swiming with the dolphins for the families, all within a short of walk of getting off the boat.

Overall the cruise was great...programs well organized, great entertainment and food..the ship is beautiful. Bermuda was better than expected. Best experiences were visits to Horseshoe Bay Beach and to Crystal Caves. We also went to St. Georges but it was disappointing.

The only negative event was embarking the ship. we had to wait in line for more than 3 hours. We missed a meal because of this and no explanation was given or accomodation made. Other than this one event everyhtging else was great!

The fact that this cruise orginated from my hometown was a big plus...no airports!! 

No complaints here. Just a wonderful time.

The ship was clean. You always saw staff cleaning. Our stateroom was spotless. Meals were good.

Activities on the ship were plentifull. If you wanted to partake great if not you could just relax.

Definetly a good choice.

The stateroom we stayed in had an ominous scent in the closet as well as the hallway. Very musty odor, all cruise. So bad that we dreaded going back to the stateroom. I think paying gratuties previous to the sailing is wrong. person who receives the tip should earn it first. paying before hand allows for poor service, why should they care? Tips already provided. I have yet tippped a waiter or waitress before I ate my meal in any restaraunt. The embarkation was deplorable as was the disembarkation. I was promised a different line for getting on the ship as well as getting off the ship. Embarkind took appr 2 housr, disembarking was approximately 2 hours. Nobody we talked to had any idea where or when platinum members were supposed to disembark. Food was great, however we never used the main dining rooms or the specialty dining areas. And again, why should we pay gratuities for something we never used?.

While using the Casino, I had to request the pit boss to remove a dealer who was rude,obnoxious,belligerant, and pushy, Let-It-Ride table! I believe it was Thursday 5-15 at 4pm.

One of the smoothest sailing I have been on, as far as the ride aboard ship goes.

I shall not allow these inconveniences to mar my future plans to sail with NCL. While onboard we took advantage of the offer to put a down payment on our next cruie, perhaps on the Breakaway from New York to Bermuda (love this cruise).

Thanks for your time,

Ed & Lynne

We had the time of our life on this cruise! Food is amazing staff is wonderful and so much fun!! We loved Romeo, he is one of the ships entertainers. he is so sweet, funny and talented! Jeetanar (Singh) was our waiter at Aqua and was literally the best waiter we have ever had! We have made some life long friends from this trip!

We boarded the Norwegian Dawn on a grey and misty morning Boston morning.

First look at the Norwegian Dawn experience: Our first impression of the Cruiseline and the cruise was the baggage handlers, the people who met us at the street as we exited our taxi. They were so rude and disorganized. A poor first impression is hard to change. There was no clear direction as to what to do or where to go, no signage, no entrances clearly marked. We basically just left our belongings for the upcoming week with a bad-tempered and rude Bostonian and trusted that we would see our luggage again. This, in comparison to the handlers we have experienced curbside at Royal Caribbean, Holland America, and especially Disney, falls so far below expectations that I would give it an F-. Disney had the best curbside service I have ever seen.

The Boarding experience: We then went through a short and pleasant check-in experience, had a seat, and were told we would be aboard the ship shortly. This portion I would give a good and solid A. Compares fairly evenly with HAL, RCL, and Disney.

Apparently there was a problem that day. They kept pushing more and more people into that relatively small area in the terminal, based on the amount of people who were arriving, and telling everyone to stay behind the posts and behind the lines and to 'have a seat'. The seats were long-since filled, no one was being allowed to board the ship, and more and more and more people were entering that terminal space. It was crowded and it was uncomfortable and it was unexplained; all three of these things led to a very unhappy and disgruntled crowd. We were held there for about an hour or longer past our boarding time. Finally we started boarding in our small, pre-numbered groups, according to the times we had actually arrived at the terminal. This portion I again would give an F. Compared to other cruise lines, HAL, RCL, and Disney, no comparison at all. NCL was awful.

Due to the late time, everyone was hungry and descended en masse on the dining room. Again, the problem that was in the terminal; too many people, not enough space to put them. Fortunately our rooms were ready fairly soon and we were able to go there and relax, put our carry-ons down, and explore the ship a little. Again, compared to the other lines, a D+ at best.

Our Cabin: Our cabin was a good size and compared well with HAL and RCL. The closet space and bathroom space are decent and comparable. Even our inside cabin at Disney was larger. I have to say that Disney has the best cabin size. Probably a good solid B.

Our complaints about this NCL cabin:

1). There was only ONE electrical outlet in the entire cabin, including the bathroom. Between the iPhone chargers, curling iron, breathing machine for sleep apnea, charger for the iPad, charger for the camera, charger for the heating pad for the sore neck, it was ridiculous. We had to go borrow a multi-plug from Guest Services, and then we couldn't walk around the cabin without tripping over cords. F.

2). The couch is so uncomfortable you can't sit on it. I know it's really just a sleeper sofa, but come on; can't you get one that at least is comfy? Other than that, the bed was good and the outside furniture was nice. C-

3). On HAL and RCL, the Room Stewards fall over themselves to bring you ice and keep your bucket filled. On NCL, we had to constantly ask for ice, and we are SO consistently friendly and nice to our cabin stewards. We ask their names, ask about their families, tip them generously, and really make an effort to personalize the cruise. I think they had more rooms to do than the guys on the other cruise lines do. D

The Dining experience:

All in all, the food was fairly good. There was a good variety, it was served at the appropriate temperatures, and they never ran out of anything. The gravlax was good (how I rate cruise ships!) and fresh. The specialty restaurants were good and the service was impeccable. We ate at the Brazillian Steakhouse and the Japanese Steakhouse. Both A  grades. That being said, my husband and I are not fans of "freestyle dining", which this ship promotes. We prefer to have a set dining time, a set dining table, and the same serving staff so that we can get to know them. HAL does this and we really like this style of dining. We also really like Disney's dining set-up, with rotating dining rooms printed right on your room key, and your dining staff who rotate right along with you. As far as the quality of food on the four cruise lines we've travelled; 1). Holland America. The best, hands-down. 2). Norwegian. It was a bummer of a ship, but the food was very good. 3). Royal Caribbean. 4). Hate to say it, but Disney just fell at the bottom of the list for us. There was good solid food every night, but nothing imaginative (really, Disney, no imagination in your food?). No wonderful fruit soups like I've come to love on HAL. No wide variety of wonderful appetizers like NCL and HAL. Just...food. So NCL-A grade for food.

The Shipboard experience: unfortunately this cruise left out of Boston. All of our other cruises, except our Alaskan cruise, have left out of our state, Florida. No offense to the great state of Massachussets, but there are an awful lot of smokers up there! And for some reason, they all seemed to be accompanying us on this particular cruise. We paid for a balcony cabin which we were unable to enjoy because we had smokers on either side. The powerful smokiness overtaking our balcony as a result drove us inside and we wished we had just saved the money and gotten an inside cabin. there were few places to sit quietly and read, relax, and look at the ocean (3 at sea days on this cruise) without having your air space assaulted by smokers. Even if they weren't currently smoking, their clothes, hair, and bodies reeked of smoke. It was just truly disgusting. We've never experienced anything like it on a cruise. Maybe it was the port, maybe it was the clientele, who knows. We just have never encountered this before, and since this was our first NCL cruise, it was also our only NCL cruise. The clientele in general was a lower class than we've experienced on HAL (the highest), RCL, and Disney. I realize that this is a personal issue and for most people, smoking isn't a problem at all, but for us it is a huge issue; we can't stand being around cigarette and cigar smoke. We save all year for a cruise vacation, and when we go, we have an expectation level that we are paying for. We want a nice, clean room, we want nice, smoke-free areas where we can relax and enjoy sun, shade, outside, inside, whatever we feel in the mood for. We would like to be able to enjoy our own private spaces which we have paid premium prices for, and I don't think any of this is unreasonable. We take nice clothes when we go, we change for dinner, and we don't like looking at someone's dirty tee-shirt, nasty shorts that he's spent all day sweating in, and his gross flip-flops with his hairy toes hanging out, and smell his or her smoky, sweaty body anywhere near me. There are dress code guide lines for a reason. Cruising is supposed to be one of the niceties of life.

The destination: Bermuda. This was an absolute dream destination. We arrived at 11:00am on Day One and had 24 hour open access to the ship until we departed at 5pm on Day Three. We did a 5-hour bus Trip Excursion around the island first thing on our first day. This oriented us, and gave us an idea of what we might want to return to for a better look and more time spent. We docked at the Naval Dockyard, which is on one tip if the island. From there it is easy to catch a ferry/bus to the capital city, Hamilton (center of the island) or St. George (opposite tip of the island). I recommend you buy the 3-day pass, which allows ferry and bus rides, and you can hop on and off wherever you wish. It's fast, dependable, and stops all over the place (the buses). The ferry gets you between the main towns fast. Don't miss the Swizzle Inn!

Please feel free to contact me for further information.

Ship was nice, bathrooms very very small, more than 2 people in a room would be very crowded.

the Food was perfect, there were some lines for Breakfast, but not too long of a wait 5-10 minutes

the speciality restaurants  were amazing, I highly recommend Cagney's !

I did notice while in port, there was less food stations open and beverages were not easily found.

The vessel and crew were outstanding. The food was as expected, no complaints there.The captain and his crew did a wonderful job with the ship even in some rough seas.

Now it begins.... We had paid over 4000,00 for our room and the first night was great. Then at five in the morning, the deck crew started dragging the chairs across the deck to clean and set up for the day. They washed the deck, dropping the hose on numerous occasions creating a loud hump. I complained, was given a dinner to shut up and for two nights, all went well. Then on the fourth night it started all over again and that's the way it stayed for the rest of the trip.

The other beef that I have was the numerous children of all ages, sizes and behavior. We, be older, were pushed and almost knocked over twice. We later found out that the cruise line gave the children a free voyage, just to get the rooms filled!! Had I only known of this in advance.This was our 30th wedding anniversary cruise that we made with 3 other couples at our invitation. They had mixed feelings also.

So, will I be back????

I have no complaint with our agent, he was great. It was just the cruise line and some extremely negative incidents.

We will be cruising again amd are already planning the next one.

Our 6th cruise with NCL Very nice as we always get a aft cabin so we can watch the world go by. This time we had European chain smokers on booth sides of us which made it less desirable to sit out and enjoy our deck. Need to ban smoking all together.

We have previously been on two other cruises each being with two other cruise lines.  We finally found a cruise line we liked!  The staff was in abundance, very friendly and outgoing and helpful!  We loved the freestyle dining.  On the two other cruise lines we have tried you had scheduled dining time.  The first one being too early and the late dining’s were always too late if you wanted to see a show.  Freestyle dining is the way to go!  On Norwegian Dawn the Venetian and the Aqua restaurants had a very good variety of choices on their menus and the food was very good at these restaurants too.  More than enough staff working the Venetian and Aqua.  We dined at Cagney's steak house (specialty restaurant which cost $30/pp extra) and it was definitely worth the extra cost.  The food was fantastic!  Another great thing about the Dawn was around late morning they would start up two charcoal grills on the pool deck that were probably 4 ft in diameter and grilled all types of meats, veggies, seafood, and then had all kinds of fixings to go with it.  Oh smell that charcoal grill and who could resist!!  The shows at night were great, entertaining and a wide variety too for all ages.  We have not liked cruising in the past because of scheduled dining’s, the ships seemed run down, and too many days at sea.  What made us decide to try one more cruise is because of the itinerary of the Norwegian Dawn.  It was perfect!  One day at sea the next four days in four different ports and then one day at sea coming back.  Fantastic weather, friendly/outgoing staff and a great itinerary.  What more can we say!!  We'd book with Norwegian again that's for sure!!

My wife and I are normally Celebrity customers, but we decided to take a chance on Norwegian, based upon reputation. To tell the truth, looking back it is hard to distinguish our seven days on Norwegian Dawn from another trip with Carnival we took a few years ago. Carnival, at least, is honest: it is a party line and does not pretend to be anything else. Norwegian (The Dawn, at any rate) has double trouble: it is as hokey as Carnival, and when it tries to be upscale, as in the main dining rooms, it falls flat as well.

The Dawn is floating mismanagement. The staff is generally confused, indifferent, and very often contradictory. Personnel seem to know next to nothing about the vessel. The English language is as rare as an imaginative menu. One night I had to ask another waiter to interpret my first waiter's rendition of the speciality of the evening. This is not simply a matter of inconvenience: I wondered how this crew would handle real emergencies or, God forbid, an abandon ship call.

The ship's maintenance was poor; our stateroom toilet failed twice. When my wife went to the guest relations desk to discuss this, she was told: "There are a lot of children on this cruise putting things down the toilet. I'd say we're keeping a pretty good percentage running." There were multiple visible OSHA violations--unattended open doors to the ship's machinery, a work cart left unattended directly across the walking path, etc. For all of the hand washings, the public toilets were unkempt and in a number of cases not working. 

There are good employees and representatives on this ship; I had the profound sense that they are burned out or indifferent from having to work under incompetent administrators. Celebrity and Royal Caribbean would never tolerate the conditions of this ship.

So my family took my mother on her very first cruise which was her birthday as well. We booked through .  Everything was going well until I  saw that the price of our cruise had dropped.  I immediately called to let them know and to ask that the difference in the price reduction could be given to us in the form of an on-board credit.  I did not want any cash back, and per their policy, I wasn't going to get any back.  I was fine with that.  Well and Norwegia went round and round with me about a small amount of MY money.  I was told that I could get an upgrade but what was offered was the same exact room just in "another" part of the ship.  I was not satisfied with that so I told them no and that on-board credit would do just fine.

After being told not over and over, I decided to hand write a letter to the Norwegian's Corporate Office in January 2014.  I received a call from Annette who stated she would put me on her calendar and call me back closer to cruise time.  Well that never happened.  I ended up calling her back, and of course she denied it and refered me back to cruises only.  I spoke with Michelle from who called Annette 20 minutes after I did, to give me an onboard credit.  This IS NOT GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE!!!  I don't like being lied to!!!  All of this stress and foolishess before I even got on the boat.

The staterooms are very small to say the least. 85% of the staff do not understand and or speak enough english to help especially in the Garden Cafe...

We made reservations for the Teppanyaki Restaurant for 7:15pm for the last night of the cruise.  We got a call at 6:20 stating that the restaurant was overbooked and can we eat somewhere else...I was not happy.  Then I get a call stating that we actually could come.  The last call was at 6:35 or so.  We quickly had to scramble to get ready so that we could be seated at 7:00.

Now the end of the cruise took the cake...I cashed out/closed my account the night before we were to disembark.  I went to guest services and told the young lady that we would not be making any purchases and that I wanted to close the account.  Mind you I had gone down prior to the restaurant reservations to make sure that I did not owe anything.  She assured me that when we go to the restaurant that the charges reflect immediately.  Now when I get to the desk after dinner, she (guest services worker) gives me a $22 refund in cash.  The next day when we arrived in Tampa and are ready to disembark, I hear my name being paged over head to go to guest services.  I present to guest services and this lady tells me I owe $9.86...REALLY???  Why in the hell would you give me $22 and then take $9.86 back?  This held us up from getting off of the boat.  I CLEARLY followed their directions and closed the account when I was told to...NEVER EVER AGAIN!!!  Trust me I am going to complain on Ms. Annette and the customer-no service she gave and the fact that she purposely screened her call trying to act like she didn't know who I was.  Only to have Michelle from call her 20 minutes after I called her (she told me to use her name)and she "spoke" with her supervisor and decided that they could give us onboard credit....she could have done that in January when she called me to acknowledge that she received my letter...AGAIN, I WILL SCREAM IT TO THE HILLS....NORWEGIAN SUCKS FROM CORPORATE ALL THE WAY DOWN TO FOOD SERVICE ON THE BOAT!!!  I will NEVER go back on their ships again!!!

This was our sixth cruise and our third cruise line. The four cruises on Princess were the best. This Norwegian cruise was on par with the cruise we had on Celebrity. Shore excursions were generally good with the exception of the dilapidated bus in Belize – no A.C., no light or water in restroom.  Food was mostly good but selection in main dining rooms was limited in order to get people to pay more for special dinning rooms.  “Free Style” meant we had to waste time waiting for a table on two days and never got to know any of the servers.  Food was good at the buffet but service behind the counter was poor and operating hours were poor.  Breakfast timing was not coordinated with shore excursin departures.  Cabin service was not up to that of other cruises we have taken and the cabin was smaller than other ships.  There was great entertainment in the Atrium with Jose and Pati.  The Second City show in the theater was so bad we left it early.  The Comedian was very good we laughed so much.  The only thing we remember about hte 70's review is it was so loud we had to hold our ears.  All in all we had a good time and are happy we went but will try another cruise line next time.

We had a Great  Week on our Cruise.  The food was good,  the service,, room stuarts, and waiters were excellant.  They were always emaculately dressed.  Ship was always very neat,  I liked all the sanitizers everyware and the "Washy, Washy, Happy, Happy....We enjoyed the Entertainment a lot,  especially "Jose and Patti".  They were "Awesome"  We were ateveryone of their Performances.....We enjoyed the Free Style Dining,  Hadn't experenced that before.  The Disembarkment was quick and easy as well as the embarkment.  Over all,  It was a Great Week and we would deffintely Cruise Norwegian again.

We had a not so pleasant experience on a previous Norwegian cruise but thought we would give them another chance and WOW was it worth it.  Everything was wonderful, the food was very good and the shows were outstanding!  Our room was pleasant although I spend very little time there.  We particularly enjoyed Patti and Jose.  They are quite the entertainers...we watched them almost everyday!  They seem to live the people and what they are doing. 

I totally enjoyed this cruise! Some of the things that make this cruise excellent, quality food at any time and a polite subservient crew unfortunately attracted the type of passengers that make for a boring aphmosphere. Pensioners (who complained a lot to staff) and overweight people with limited mobility (I suspect they liked the fact we only had to tender once). The crew were brilliant! We had to divert outward bound to Cozmul to get a passenger to hospital due to a medical emergency but we made it to our first stop in time. There was younger people on board but they spent their time mostly pool side with bars and barbecues on deck.The Dawn was recently renovated and in great condition; those who want old school cruising vs floating shopping malls will always select these type of ships. We moored next to the Norwegian Epic twice and it was huge and magnificent; I heard from one of their passengers it was also very good: more of everything that the dawn also had but better entertainment (I wouldn't know did not go to any shows...I didn't cruise to be entertained). Would I do it again? Yes but only with the Norwegian Dawn, Pearl, or other non-mega ship.

This was our third cruise and It could not have been better, It all came together like we wanted it.

The Norwegian Dawn was late to dock because of fog, but, once we were on ship, all was good here.

Our family of 10 had a great trip. From 12 to 60 there was plenty to do for everyone.  The only negative was the bed for the 4th person.  It made the room very crowded.  2 upper bunks are much better than one bunk and the 4th bed on the floor.

My wife and I used to cruise often since I was in the airline business and received some excellent rates.  2014 represents our 50th wedding anniversary so we decided to cruise once again.  We had good luck with NCL in the past and scheduled this cruise on the Dawn.

Overall the cruise was very good with ports that we really enjoyed.  Today the boats are typically larger than they once were but ironically enough prices are less than average prices 20 years ago!  Our room was excellent except that the closet was so small that you really could not hand up anything but a couple of pairs of trousers but the room was clean and the bed comfortable.  Statement service was excellent.  Crew members were generally helpful and pleasant.

The single biggest change since our earlier cruises was in the area of food and the size of the ships.  Speciality dining had extra costs associated with them and included dining was mediocre at best.  The Garden Cafe was a large cafeteria style dining room and convenient enough but the food was so-so.  For example, we were accustomed to the last night of the cruise being special with steak or lobster.  On our trip the Garden Cafe served turkey and minute steaks, neither one was very good.