My wife and I just got back from a weeks cruise on the NCL Dawn out of New Orleans. We did two sailings on the newer Getaway out of Miami in 2014, but really liked the itinerary (Cozumel, Belize, Honduras, Costa Maya) so decided to give this somewhat older ship a try. We were glad that we did because we had a great time overall. Yes the ship is a bit older, and they are actually going into dry-dock in May, but we didn't feel slighted the least bit. The room was great, the food was great, the entertainment was great, and the service was even better!

The only big thing we missed from the newer Getaway was the advanced technology on board like being able to book shows, dinner, and check out account balance from the TV in our room. The on demand movies were also nice to have on the Getaway. I believe that they are going to be doing those upgrades plus a full interior 75 million dollar make over so we will definitely go again. We really liked the quaintness of the Dawn and its various pubs, bars, and restaurants on board.

I read a lot of bad reviews about the dawn so we were somewhat concerned, but if you go to have a great time and not worry about every single thing being perfect you will have a great time. But if you are a complainer by nature and need every little thing to be absolutely perfect for you, just stay home because there's just no pleasing you anyway.