Spacious in the daytime. Cramped for five adults when all the beds are done up in the evening, but do-able IF everyone agrees to put their stuff away in all the storage space and stash luggage under the bed. We utilized the king sized bed, the pull out sofa, the Murphy bed and a roll-away bed that we requested in advance. The room was always stocked with coffee, tea, towels and afternoon snacks.

The sisters and I grew up in Boston so our opinion is biased. ;-) Stayed at one sister's house for 2 nights before embarkation. She is a wonderful hostess.

Boston

Day pass included a $20 food voucher (had to be used all at one time). The voucher almost covered a nice lunch - just a couple of dollars short because of taxes. I was expecting exorbitant prices but was pleasantly surprised. The surf was incredibly high - and it was difficult to the point of scary trying to get past the breakers. Got knocked on my butt and, at one point, was holding my bathing suit bottoms with one hand and my top with the other while trying to get my head above water because the breakers were trying to strip me naked from all directions.

Day passes at the Plaza Beach Resort. Lovely but it was really, really hot and the water was almost the same temperature! The surf was again very high. Last year the snorkeling was superior, this year almost non-existent because visibility was so low. There was a lunch buffet included with our day passes. I believe that a rogue mussel that tasted "funky" going down is what caused projectile vomiting later in the evening after a dinner at Cagney's. I highly doubt it was Cagney's because my sister and I ordered the same items off the menu and she had no problems.

Day passes at the Avila Hotel (old Governor's Mansion). This is the place for sea glass. Seriously. I collected 2 pounds of it and barely dented the supply. Plus, as an added bonus, this is where I burned my butt because I was hunting in the water for hours. Loved every minute of it. The surf was up, but the resort has two large protected lagoons so swimming was very pleasant and the lagoon to the left had the sea glass and lots of good snorkeling.

TDH (too damn hot). Got off the ship. Looked around. Sweated too much. Returned to the ship. No regrets. I did get a Coke and downed it in seconds before getting back on board. Best. Coke. Ever.

Aruba

Didn't get off the ship. I personally had a bad experience last year and had made the decision long ago not to get off there. I do not like feeling like shark bait while the shark is laughing in my face and saying "don't worry. You're on va-ca-tion!" all while ripping me off. The rest of the sisters made the same decision. No regrets.

Ocho Rios

Highlight of the trip. We went with stingraysailing with Captain Chip. Eco conscious outfitter. Very environmentally caring. The surf was crazy high so it was not as spectacular as last year yet still incredible. We were the first boat of the day to get to the sandbar so the stingrays were super happy (i.e. aggressive) to see us. The current tried to sweep me away as I was taking pictures and crew mate Chris had to  haul me back. That was intense. Also, I was underwater without a snorkel when a stingray decided to land on my head. THAT was a panic - but how incredibly awesome would my obituary have been if it said "killed by a stingray?" I mean, I'm no Steve Irwin, but....

Cheaper than getting day passes we booked 2 rooms at The Cozumeleno just for the day that included unlimited food and drinks. Lovely resort with a nice pool set up and waterslide. Surf was, yet again, way up. Visibility was super low. We shopped in town first and then headed to the resort. Had a decent lunch and lots of drinks. The cerviche was really, really yummy. One sister and I did a little more shopping before returning to the ship and then I found out that an older passenger was robbed on one of the side streets. That was disturbing and could have easily been any one of us. Take care.

Stayed at The Drury on Poydras Street overnight before flying out. Hotel: clean, comfortable and reasonably priced. Food: superb. People: Fascinating. Architecture: yes, please! The weather was lovely, which made walking around all the more pleasant. I think it's impossible to have a bad time in NOLA (barring getting ripped off or something equally unpleasant).

New Orleans

We usually do a trip every two years but at the time we booked last year’s cruise this one came available at a great price so we broke our two year plan to do a back to back.One crew member’s baby was born the last day at sea and was leaving to return home when we got to port.

Norwegian Dawn Review

SisterTrip16

Rating by category

Additional details

Cabin Review

Family Suite

Port Reviews

Boston

Aruba

New Orleans

Find a Norwegian Dawn Cruise from $749