We just completed a 7 day cruise out of Miami to the Eastern Caribbean on the Norwegian Dawn. The embarkation process in Miami was fairly smooth, considering the long, slow moving lines. Once onboard, we only waited about 30 minutes before the cabins were available. Despite being assured by an NCL service rep prior to the cruise, we were not able to have the bottle of champagne we brought on board at the time we sailed which foiled our usual bon voyage toast. This is certainly a departure from our experiences with other cruise lines. Our balcony cabin had all of the standard features and was clean and the stewards did a great job of providing service without being obtrusive.

The dining options varied as did the quality of the food and the service. The term "Freestyle" is a bit misleading when applied to dining. Most of the restaurants required reservations, including the two main dining rooms. The reservations could not be made more than one day in advance.

We disliked free style dining for a couple of reasons. First, the wait staff did not serve us more than once even if we ate in the same restaurant. Therefore we could not enjoy getting to know our wait staff as we have on other cruises. Second, there was often a line to be seated in the two main dining rooms as many people showed up at the same time. Read more