"An excellent morning, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is Jimmy your cruise director..." This became the morning standard during our 12-day cruise on the Norwegian Dawn. We were traveling as a family of 10, with 6 first-time cruisers and 4 novice cruisers on their third sailing. I have found the reviews on Cruise Critic integral in gaining some perspective prior to sailing, and I hope what follows will help others in turn. It's detail-oriented so here's fair warning!

EMBARKATION: Needs to be more guest-focused. Arrival at the pier can be very confusing for first-time guests as there are no signs indicating what to do or where to go. Porters themselves have no identifying tags, and no tag is given to you as proof that you've left your luggage with them.

Arrived inside the terminal at 11:45, and were instructed to line up in a very long line to the left. A large number of people were already seated and waiting, while people from the last cruise were still trickling out. The line that we were told to stand in didn't move more than a foot for over an hour, and no info was given despite the annoyed murmurs of the crowd. Read more