Norwegian Dawn Review
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We recently returned from a Christmas cruise aboard the Norwegian Dawn. This was an extended family group of 22 people including 5 families with all at least 3 or more past cruises on other cruise lines. We were highly disappointed in Norwegian!
Dining: We had reservations made in the main dining due to our large party but the times reserved beforehand were not the times that we had when we arrived on the boat. The reservation desk aboard refused to correct this, so we took what we could get. The freestyle concept dramatically increases wait times at all restaurants and made dining miserable. My son fell asleep at the table one night before the food showed up after 2 hours! We missed the show several of the first few nights because of this and finally just cancelled our dining in the main dining room for the rest of the cruise. The problem then became where to dine. We no longer ate as a group and did buffet or O'Sheahans (pretty good). I tried to get my husband and I in at one of the "upgraded" dining venues on the 4th day to just be told that they were booked for the rest of the cruise by the same unhelpful reservation girl. So out of 10 or so restaurants my only option was buffet, O'Sheahans and slow MDR.
Excursions: We did have fun on our excursions on most of the islands with the exception of Harvest Caye. It rained the entire day. I am not talking sprinkled, MONSOON! I know that Norwegian cannot control the weather but our $50 a person nature and manatee excursion was still running despite the weather so we had to go or we would just lose the money. I figured maybe it was a covered boat. Nope. They handed us ponchos and and said that we probably wont see anything but we will try. It rained so hard the entire time that the crew actually were using buckets to bail out the boat. You couldn't see 5 feet infront of you let alone any animals! It was actually unsafe and we wondered if you were going to be lost in the mangroves like Gilligans Island. Upon returning as drown rats, we complained at the excursion desk to just be told that weather happens. Our excursion should have been canceled and refunded.
Cabin Review
Port Reviews
New Orleans
The port was very easy to Navigate and embarkation went quick.
Costa Maya
The pool, restaurants and shops in the port are fun but not quite enough for the day. We took a shuttle for $3 to the local beach and had a great time with restaurants all around. We could see the beach that everyone paid $50 a person as an excursion to go to and our drinks were much cheaper from the locals! We had a great time.
Harvest Caye
It rained all day but our excursion still ran so they wouldn't have to refund our money! What a scam. You couldn't see anything it was raining so hard. We were soaked and never actually saw any Manatee or Wildlife. The new island appears nice and very private but the weather was too rough to actually know if it is a good destination.