I had often seen NORWEGIAN DAWN in New York and in various ports in the Caribbean and was curious about the big white ship with the bold-colored murals on the bows. Also, a friend who I often sailed with on QUEEN ELIZABETH 2, had said she had fallen in love with the DAWN and her recommendation carried considerable weight. Accordingly, when the opportunity arose to take a short cruise on NORWEGIAN DAWN, I booked a cabin.

The Cruise: This was a two-day cruise to nowhere, round-trip New York. The cruise lines offer these trips primarily in order to fill gaps in their schedule. For example, there may be a gap of an odd number of days between the end of a ship's last full-length cruise out of its summer time homeport and the date it is to begin its new cruising season in its winter homeport. Rather than have the ship sit idle, the cruise line adds a short cruise without any ports. From a marketing perspective, such cruises give people who are new to the ship a taste of what it is like on board (which will hopefully make them wish to try a longer cruise) and it gives regular passengers a chance to spend some additional time aboard one of their favorite ships. The overall cost of the cruise is usually less than a full-length cruise but on a per day basis, the cost tends to be higher.

The Ship: NORWEGIAN DAWN is 92,250 gross tons placing her well within the large ship category. She was built in Germany in 2002 and was refurbished in 2005. Capable of 24 knots, the ship is diesel-electric powered with an azipod propulsion arrangement. Although she is a modern cruise ship (as opposed to an ocean liner like QE2), she proved her seaworthiness by weathering the sometimes difficult East Coast winter waters, cruising winters out of New York from 2003 until 2007. Read more