Overall its very hard to beat an NCL cruise. The Dawn is an older ship, but recently updated, very beautiful, easy to navigate and one of the prettiest atriums on any ship. Tiered seating in the pool area is nice and gets you away from the pool hubub. Theater is large, easy to access on two decks, has no blind spots and very comfortable. Entertainment is good. We especially enjoyed Patti & Jose who had a show in the theater, but mainly were found nightly in the atrium and comedian Tim Kaminski who had several shows and seemed to be everywhere on the ship. As Dingo Dave stated, Tim is like having a second cruise director. Ports were good especially Cozumel and Costa Maya. Could do away with Belize and Roatan...not much at those ports. Food was good and there are basically four free options. Only complaint is that service in the main dining room was slow at times. Generally don't do the specialty restaurants....we can pay for those options at home. Like the freestyle dining idea where you don't seem as regimented with meal times and being casual. Where NCL really shines is the high level of service and friendliness of its employees. Some employees who stood out on this cruise and helped to make the week very enjoyable were servers Annie & Noime, our cabin steward Alley, Joseph in the Blue Lagoon and Keith in the buffet who kept our coffee cups filled all week.

We usually get a balcony, but tried an OV this time. Found that we had more room in this cabin than in most balcony cabins. Very comfortable, nice roomy shower. Got a little noise from adjoining cabins and from the casino above, but not bad. Would have preferred to be mid ship or more aft for convenience, but found that the ship is very easy to navigate, especially with three sets of elevators.