Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We booked a family suite (12012)...Cabin was very large and clean...Steward Renato was excellent...Butler and Concierge were so/so (didn't see concierge till we disembarked and that was only because she was greeting) and the butler wasn't around much either...The pool was small and crowded at times (Not all day)...Food was excellent at Cagney's, Moderano and Aqua...Very good at the buffet (Garden Cafe), OK at Venetian, and BAD at Blue lagoon...Our kids loved the Kids Club (5-6) and spent every night there (By there own choice)...My only peeve was with adult passengers who raided the kids only buffet area, leaving bins of kids favorites like chicken nuggets and fries empty with only 1 attendant who had other duties, it took a while to get refilled...I would recommend NCL to anybody going on a cruise...

The staff on the Dawn make up for the few foibles on board. We felt so well taken care of by staff all over the ship. I cannot wait to return and hope I can cruise to Bermuda on the Dawn again.

This was a great first cruise! We liked the relaxed dining schedule and atmosphere, the stops were mostly great, and was overall a very relaxing and fun experience.

The cruise was very relaxing, our party had lots of fun together. The ship is dated and in need of overall updating of event areas and equipment. The cruise staff were very friendly and attentive.

This was our first cruise and will not be our last! We learned a lot and look forward to going back to Bermuda to visit places we did not see. The hospitality of the staff on the ship was remarkable. The ship was very neat and clean. Preventing the spread of germs was top priority.

This was our first cruise and we were not disappointed! The weather was perfect, the port stops beautiful, and the scuba diving and snorkeling were out of this world! We can't wait to go on smoother one!

I had a great time on the Dawn! Getting on the ship in Boston was easy for me as I live nearby. I found the port of Boston to be a little disorganized, but once we got to NCL's portion of the port everything went smoothly. As expected, the Garden Cafe was very busy for lunch upon embarkation. Not really a big deal to us. We only saw one show but we enjoyed it. We also enjoyed the piano bar. Dining was good. The specialty restaurants are excellent and I would recommend La Cucina! Bermuda was beautiful and we had a great time. We did not do any of the NCL excursions, we just rented a scooter and went off to do our own thing. 

We were originally supposed to be on the Escape that scraped the mud in D.R., so we were offered this as a late minute cruise with 100% cruise credit valid for a year. it us a small ship but relaxing

Great cruise. Great to be cruising again Dawn crew were very friendly and courageous

Great experience for me. Great food. Drinks were good but not really normal alcohol level. Very good variety of on board entertainment. Always something to do while at sea. All the staff were very pleasant and helpful. They would do anything for you.

Had such a fun time! The food and entertainment was spectacular. All the staff at Norwegian Dawn worked so hard. They were all so friendy and they made us feel at home.

Physically this is a nice ship...mid size, nice floor plan, etc. However it is very dated and showing its' age. The good news is that on May 19, 2016 immediately after our cruise was over it went into dry dock for a multi-million dollar makeover. I'm sure when it resumes cruising that the décor, furnishings, floors and cabins will have a much improved feeling.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

Everything aboard met my expectations.  Staff was excellent in service and friendliness.  Very serious problems with the quality of food especially the food served on the buffets.  Otherwise had a great adventure with many friends.

Will never use NCL or sister brands Regent and Oceania

This is a cruise designed to introduce travelers to some of the most important sites in Western history and culture, while giving you a comfortable bed, tasty meal, and ample libations along the way.

Cruise only had 900 people on it. 40% capacity due to Covid. Never crowded anywhere and staff couldn’t have been more helpful. We miss one port-The Cayman Islands. Port was closed to visitors due to Covid so we got an extra sea day. We had a great time on this cruise. Weather was in the high 70’s to 89 in Cartagena, Columbia. We stopped twice in the Dominican Republic where we did an eco canoe trip and a boat trip on the Chevron River.