My husband and I just completed a 7day cruise onboard the norwegian dawn. We booked an aft-facing penthouse suite and it was definitely worth the upgrade. Because it was a suite category, we qualified for a priority check-in line at embarkation. This was nice, but we arrived at the terminal half an hour before ship boarding started so the lines weren't too bad at all yet anyway. The better perk was the priority wait area and we had our butler show up to walk us onboard to show us our room (how cool does that sound?). We were allowed access to our room because the suites were cleaned first and it was ready so we were able to drop off our hand luggage and enjoy the ship right away. A very nice bonus; Although I've hauled my hand luggage around a ship before on embarkation day; It's not awful if you plan for it and pack light.

Once we saw the room however, there wasn't much need to leave it. It was a very nice size with a balcony roomy enough for two loungers and it enjoyed full sun for most of the cruise (on days with sun) so no need to go out to the pool deck and fight for a lounger, unless you wanted to. This balcony provided another option for us.

The room also had an espresso maker. A lovely start to the day and with the concierge service, we had a bottle of champagne waiting us upon boarding with chocolate covered strawberries. We were spoiled rotten in the first five minutes. There were also canapés served every afternoon. Tea or coffee time again! Read more