Norwegian Dawn Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Great cruise. Very busy itinerary. Would do again.

Vest Africa. Very interesting cruise although disappointing that 4 ports were cancelled/replaced.

Can’t wait to explore the Eastern side of Africa. As I said before, remember this is Africa and very few ships have been to these ports. Follow ship rules and advice and enjoy the adventure.

Our group of 7 family and friends were excited to begin the NCL cruise embarking in Mauritius that we had all been planning months. When we arrived in Mauritius, We received a letter via email saying that the cruise was unable to dock due to health concerns by the port. We were instructed to report at our pre-arranged boarding time to the port. at which time we would receive accommodation until the ship was cleared to dock. We came at the appointed time and waited an hour and a half observing approximately 20 staff milling around and one person processing a long line of passengers. When it was finally our turn the representative was very nice and recorded all of our passports and then supposedly reserved 4 rooms for us at the Casuarina Hotel. We had three young children in our party and because the transportation provided by NCL wouldn't be able to take us to the hotel for hours, we elected to take a private taxi. When we arrived at the hotel , staff and managers of the Casuarina Hotel assured us they had no relationship with NCL and had no reservations in our name. We contacted NCL reservations immediately and they instructed us to find a hotel for the next two nights and that we would be reimbursed instantaneously. For the next 3 hours we visited approximately 15 different hotels that were all full due to NCL's accommodation of the over 2,000 passengers experiencing the same circumstances as we were. At 10:00 pm at night after two of the children had thrown up all over the taxi from car sickness, we reached The Hilton hotel who had three rooms left and informed us that they were accommodating hundreds of the delayed cruise. passengers. We again contacted NCL reservations who assured us that we would be reimbursed for accommodation and meals as well as for meals and transportation outside of the hotel per the per diem in the letter NCL had provided us. During that call and in eight subsequent calls to NCL reservations we asked if the billing could be moved directly to NCL as it was for the hundreds of our fellow cruise passengers being accommodated at the Hilton by NCL. We spent hours being passed from representative to supervisor and back to representative We were ultimately told to submit our receipts and get an instant reimbursement per the letter they had provided Upon our arrival at the port for departure,we were again reassured by the very apologetic cruise staff and management that we would be reimbursed very quickly by NCL in Miami. We followed their exact instructions and submitted the hotel bills as well as our taxi bills and bills for the food consumed outside the hotel during that 2-day period. We received a form letter denial of reimbursement. We reached out to our booking agent who was extremely frustrated with the treatment that we received and contacted the person who signed the form letter . Our booking agent in subsequent calls also reached out to her supervisor and multiple other people in the NCL organization, only to report that she was hitting a brick wall of bureaucracy. To date we have had no contact or follow up from NCL and if not been reimbursed per the letter NCL provided and the multiple assurances from the customer service and cruise staff. Because of the delay in departure NCL eliminated the two ports that had compelled us to book the cruise in Madagascar which meant the cruise sea days were doubled, certainly increasing the revenue of the cruise but leaving many passengers feeling extremely disappointed. The Norwegian Dawn staff put in place mandatory hand washing and many other health practices for the passengers, which we fully supported and followed diligently. Despite following and exceeding all the health guidelines suggested by the ship's staff, all seven members of our party got a severe stomach virus with symptoms of throwing up and diarrhea causing us to leave the cruise a day early in Capetown. One can only deduce that this virus had to be transmitted from the staff's health practices rather than the passengers, given the passengers strict adherence to all health recommendations Our dream vacation became a nightmare and now we are spending more time filing legal and regulatory complaints against NCL in an attempt to resolve the situation. All the best,

The pool deck on the Dawn is the best I’ve seen on a ship! I love the amphitheater style! Overall we had a great time with our family in spite of the challenges towards the end.

Great and safe way to see South Africa and Namibia escaping European winter.

For me, they did not have enough activities and the food was not good compared to other cruises that I have been on. They need to step up their game. This was my first time sailing on Norwegian and I am hoping that this cruise was not indicative of other Norwegian ships. If so, I will not be cruising Norwegian again.

Totally disorganized management of every aspect of this cruise. Would not recommend. Got the impression that NCL could care less.

Ship clean, food very good ship entertainment overall good, spoilt by embarking, disembarkingand some port stops.

Will never use NCL or sister brands Regent and Oceania

Overall OK cruise. NOt impressed with food. NCL App is awful. Never works

This was a very unsafe cruise and should have been cancelled. No one was happy about this cruise due to safety concerns. The front desk staff was uncaring and pretty much did not want to hear any concerns. We also had 2 nights of "black out" due to high risk Pirate areas in the Red Sea which we were not informed of prior to the cruise. UNSAFE! UNACCEPTABLE!!!

I don't know that I would vacation again this late in the season, the waters were rough and certain tours were canceled then we got sick as many guess were sick. When we arrived home we were testing positive for COVID.

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.

A fantastic itinerary with a variety of ports and plenty to see

Norwegian Dawn penthouse suite w balcony an overall excellent experience, especially our cabin team, the service in restaurants and bars. The disembarking experience was a true buzzKill for an otherwise enjoyable cruise.

Overall, a great cruise. Having sailed on the Dawn 11 years ago, I can honestly say she has aged pretty well. Sadly, services aren't as good as they once were (that's impacting the entire cruise industry though) but this itinerary on this ship was great. Would I sail on the Dawn again...probably not but that's simply because I like to try different ships without repeating often. This itinerary was excellent but definitely could have benefited from one more day at sea being added in the middle of the sailing just to recoup after so many stops and exploring.

This was our first NCL cruise and it was quite the pleasant surprise. Accommodations, the people were all very nice. Our butler and housekeeper acted more like family/friends. The excursions went well, except for France... not your fault. I thought they did a nice job pivoting when the France stop was cancelled. Yummy food and drinks too.

This cruise exceeded our expectations. The ship was beautiful, service was very good and for the most part the food was delicious. We enjoyed the ports, and the shows.

We chose the cruise for the ports. Just definitely lacking in decent entertainment. Some of the staff seemed a bit disconnected with guests.