We flew from Toronto Pearson Airport on March 9th 2008 and spent a week on the Norwegian Dawn. We are seasoned sailors and have sailed on a variety of different vessels including the Bolero (originally a NCL ship) and the Star Clipper.

Getting There

•Delayed by 2.5 hours while Air Transat scrambled to find enough crew members for the flight (there had been a bad snow storm the day before, but somehow all the passengers made it to the airport in time). Why do they need so many stewardesses if they don't intend to give passengers a meal? Noted that the cabin crew did get a meal. •Easy bus transfer from Ft Lauderdale to Miami. •Miami Cruise terminal is just AWFUL. Your carry-on baggage is hand-searched at the door. You are required to remove any metal objects (i.e. belts) before you walk through a portal (despite the fact that you've just gone through all this at the airport, where the belt did not trigger the alarm) then 50 yards farther along your recently-searched bag is x-rayed and you have to walk through another portal. Security overkill! You also have to drink or dispose of any water you might be carrying (in case it is vodka or gin, we suppose) and only then are you allowed to check-in. Next you have to collect your access card, and then run the gamut of the ship's photographer, then past some young women who intend to spray your hands with bactericidal spray, 'To kill the bacteria'. They seemed oblivious to the fact that each and every one of us has a skin naturally swarming with bacterial flora. The crew repeated this rigmarole every time we returned to the ship after the shore excursions; it was tedious in the extreme. Read more