Norwegian Dawn Review

4.0 / 5.0
3,018 reviews

We Luv Bermuda!

Review for Bermuda Cruise on Norwegian Dawn
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*Luv2Cruz*
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Jun 2009
Cabin: Aft-Facing Balcony

NCL Dawn NYC to Bermuda June 7-13 Review The beginning: My wife and I just returned from our fourth cruise to Bermuda and our first on the Dawn. The Dawn was a beautiful ship and the staff was excellent! We went with a CC Group and had our first of two M&G's right after the muster drill and of the 65 members on our roll call, not including lurkers, about 20 or so showed up which isn't bad for a M&G after the muster drill as many cruisers have their own plans for sail away. It was great to put some faces to the screen names and everyone was very nice. We were also very lucky to have one of the CC members who had both GV's and some owner's suites offer all of us a tour of the GV! It was amazing and thank you so much Dennis for having us! Since part of our roll call was our CC group, we all proudly wore our "King's Wharf Rats" shirts and it was great meeting most of the group during the afternoon and early evening while we wondered around the ship. We had dinner with one of the couples on our roll call and the cruise was off to a great start! On Monday we had our "official" M&G with the NCL senior staff including the captain, and everyone showed up for this one! The staff all spoke to us and we could put our names into a raffle to eat with the staff and just like I read it's almost a guarantee you'll get picked if you enter!! A continental breakfast was served and we had a fun time with a gift swap myself and the roll call had planned. Since I organized the M&G I didn't get a chance to enter my name in the raffle so after the M&G I went to the front desk and asked to speak to Anna (forgot her title) about entering the raffle. They asked me what I wanted to speak to her about and I told them and the next thing I knew Anna came out and said hi Barry, how can I help you. I told her I wanted to enter the raffle and even politely asked her if I could eat with the comedian and the doctor who I read about on the boards as a good table to be at. The doctor was out but Anna said she would see what she could do. We wound up eating with Dave the comedian who was very very funny, and John the Cruise Director and we had a great dinner with wine provided by the staff! Embarkation: Our son dropped us off at pier 88 around 10:30 and as latitude members getting through security was a breeze! In fact, everyone at the pier had an easy time getting through security and checking in to the ship. They gave us numbers to board the ship and we were onboard before noon and went directly to the Venetian for lunch which was great! Room/Food/Shows/Casino: We had our first aft BA cabin 9238 and it was excellent though we thought the room was a bit small. But having the aft was like having private water fall when the balcony door was opened and when shut, it was very quiet! We had the cabin steward empty our fridge the first day and loaded it with water and ice tea we had brought on board! And yes; if you can get one of the two BA afts on deck 10 the balconies looked to be almost twice the length! The food was good at both the Aqua and Venetian while I'm not sure we liked the new menu's which are different in each restaurant, but the same each night. And don't forget, you can get ice tea and cappuccino at no extra charge in the dining rooms! But there was plenty to eat and we only had to wait to get in the first night so go early to beat the crowd!! The Blue Lagoon was great and always open and we had the wings several times and I even got our breakfast for the last day there with no crowds and my DW and I enjoyed our last morning having breakfast in bed. The buffet was huge with lots to choose from and we loved the pasta bar! We had dinner at two of the pay restaurants. We ate at was Impressions which was excellent for the $10/pp cover with a real good multi course Italian meal. I even asked for Veal Parmesan which was not on the menu and they made it for me!! We also ate at the Teppanyaki with 6 of our CC Group Rat friends. The presentation and food was very good and we all had a great time and dinner for the $25/pp cover! We caught all but one of the shows and liked them all! The band and dancers were excellent and they also had some specialty dancers who were amazing as well as some gymnastic type entertainment which was amazing. We loved Dave the comedian though he's not for everyone. And unfortunately we missed the magician. The casino was nice though there was only one roulette wheel which did get crowded at night. However, they did have an automated game with around 10 seats for what I call "quick" roulette with an actual wheel and computer payouts. I saw something similar in Vegas and really enjoyed it as sometimes the real table is too slow with payouts and chip staking. You can bet around every 20 seconds after a roll. I play the same 5 numbers every time so I bet using the repeat button was nice and easy. I am a moderate gambler but usually win one night during the cruise and our first night at the table was my night!!!!!!!! One of my numbers came up three times in a row and I racked up my second biggest win ever gambling. Thank you 6 (you know who you are) and all the rest of my friends who routed me on at the table and I ended my night with some Yager shots to celebrate!! Ya baby!! Bermuda: What can I say about Bermuda! We love the place and if there are any beaches nicer then Horseshoe Bay and Tobacco Bay please let me know! Returning to Bermuda for the fourth time we knew our way around. We rented mopeds as we always do and NO, I do not recommend them for everyone and YES, we did see several people go down! The roads are very windy, you have to drive on the left, and there are many blind spots! We had perfect weather every day of our cruise! On the first day we went to Horseshoe Bay and it was even more beautiful then I remembered. We got there early and saw a lot of our group members. Though it does get crowded, the beach is so large you can get all the privacy you want. And if you walk to the left of the beach you can walk to several other beaches which are breathtaking! On our second day we had a very busy day planned. We got up early and took the moped on the ferry and headed to St. George and Tobacco Bay! Awesome!! We stayed about an hour or two then headed to Alexander Battery beach which I read had sea glass and we wanted to do something new! There was tons of glass just laying there though the jackpot stash was a short walk on the right and you'll see a cave loaded with sea glass. You have to navigate over some rocks to get there so I passed as I'm not as young as I used to be! From there we took about a 20 minute ride to the original Swizzle Inn which we had never gotten to on our first three Bermuda cruises. We had planned to meet up with several other couples from our CC group and they were all there though I could only have one drink since I was driving. The rum Swizzler's were excellent and we carved "Rats '09" into one of the tables on the upstairs balcony and look forward to finding it on our next cruise to Bermuda as we will definitely go again. We then took a leisurely ride back to the Dockyard passing and stopping for pictures at all our favorite south shore beaches. When we got back to the Dockyard we dropped off the moped which ended probably one of our favorite days in Bermuda ever! On our final day we booked a catamaran snorkeling excursion with the Rising Sun II. Real nice boat and crew and we snorkeled a very pretty cove and I even got to snorkel in a cave which was really cool! There weren't that many fish to see and I'm still trying to find the best snorkeling in Bermuda so if you know a place, let me know! They served unlimited rum punches on the way back which was great, and we headed right for lunch when we got back on the ship. We then headed back to the room to clean up and planned to go the Frog and Onion happy hour and visit Snorkel Park but fell asleep. I guess we needed it!!!! Disembarkation: Getting off was a breeze! I'm not sure how or why but we were given VIP status! When we went to our choice of meet times, I thanked one of the butlers I had met as some of our CC group members did have butler services and he said "I heard of you so I added you to the list". Nice way to end the cruise eh!! Final Thoughts: We loved the Dawn and traveling to our favorite port with our CC Group is the only way to go! Besides the great rates and amenities offered by the CC group cruises, we met the nicest people and every thing was near perfect! We would definitely do it all over again and you never know but there might be a "Kings Wharf Rats II" coming up in the future! For our next cruise were heading to the Eastern Caribbean on the Miracle with another CC group and we're already counting the days! If you have any questions let me know. I am a CruiseAholic and Luv2Cruz!!

Cabin Review

Aft-Facing Balcony

Cabin B1

A bit smaller then expected but excellent in every other category! The aft views were amazing!

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