Norwegian Dawn Review

4.0 / 5.0
3,018 reviews

Another great Thanksgiving cruise!

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Dawn
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haply
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

Rating by category

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Additional details

Sail Date: Nov 2016
Cabin: Mini-Suite with Balcony
Traveled with children

This was our second year in a row traveling on the Dawn during Thanksgiving week, and overall we had a really great time!

Embarkation in New Orleans went smoothly. We had completed our on-line boarding documents early, so were able to get a 9:30 port arrival time. It was definitely better getting to the port earlier, and we were on board by noon.

Room: We (2 adults, 2 kids) were in a mini-suite. We really appreciated the extra space of the mini-suite. Having the curtain separating our bed from the double sofa bed was also nice. Room location is really important to me. Since we have kids, I always pick a room closer to the kids club/arcade game room. We were in the back of the ship, one floor directly below the buffet entrance, and two floors below the kids club. It was very nice to be able to run up to the buffet and the kids club without having to wait for the elevator or walk the length of the ship.

Cabin Review

Mini-Suite with Balcony

Cabin MB

Our mini-suite was last one on the back of ship. Very quiet and convenient location. We had no problems and nicely decorated. The sofa is a full-size bed (enough for two people but very, very, very hard). Not much room left to move around when both beds are out. No separate sleeping option for the third and fourth person (they will have to share the sofa bed).

Port Reviews

New Orleans

New Orleans is a great city! Many family-friendly activities also! The Audubon zoo is one of the largest zoos. They also have a fun lazy river/water park open during the summer right in the middle of zoo. The Aquarium of the Americas and Audubon Insectarium are right down town. The Louisiana Children's museum is a fun, indoor place to spend a couple of hours with the kids. New Orleans City Park mid-city has a nice-sized amusement park (many smaller-child-friendly rides), along with Story Land (play park with various Children's story areas), and putt-putt.

Harvest Caye

We were one of the first ships to visit Harvest Caye. The island itself is beautiful with a full-size pool, pool bar and restaurant. Nice music and a swim-up bar, The beach is right across from the pool, which made it really convenient to go back and forth. They do have a small kids splash park between the pool and lagoon. The lagoon-area with paddle boards, kayaks and electronic paddle boats. The ziplines go across the lagoon, with some beginner-friendly zips. Plenty of lounge chairs, at least for our 2700-person ship. Not sure how Harvest Caye would handle a 4000 - 5000 plus crowd though. Service is still a work in progress. They do have chair drink service but not food service (you have to go into the restaurant to eat or pick up the food). They would only accept cash when we were there (not credit or the ship card). Everything is expensive (big-city prices), and they automatically add a 15% gratuity to all checks. Not like the Royal Caribbean island where they provide food, honor the drink card, set up the kids club etc. The walk from the ship to the island is LONG. Otherwise a nice way to spend the day.

Costa Maya

We walked through the port area and took the $3 trolley into the beach town (Mahuhal). Got off at the second stop and spent the day at the Krazy Lobster which was great! Beach chairs, tables, umbrellas at no charge. Free kayaks. Good music. Food and drink service all day long. Kids played on the beach. They even have a small playground. Very reasonable and fun!

Roatan

Yuck. We took the highly-rated Victor Bodden tour. I specifically requested a visit to the Monkey place, then to West Bay beach (again highly rated). The driver took us in the opposite direction on a 45-minute slum tour, then back past the cruise ship on a 30-minute drive to monkey place (we have now been in the car for over an hour). Spent about 30 minutes at the monkey place which was nice. The driver then took us to the Henry Morgan resort at West Bay. The resort itself was in a good location with a pool, large beach area with a lot of chairs and security. The food and drinks however were horrible. We ended up walking up a couple of restaurants and had a good meal/drinks at Beachers. The West Bay beach itself was not nice. Very narrow, dirty beach full of people (and we were the only ship in town). They allow boats to cast/dock right at the beach so the beach/water is full of boats. Trash piled up, malnourished dogs, etc. in the parking lots, back of the resorts. Would never really want to go back to West Bay but Beachers is probably the best place to eat (and they have a small beach-front and beach chairs). If we are ever on a cruise to Roatan, we will either stay on the ship or take a catamaran/snorkeling excursion and stay off the mainland.

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