Norwegian Dawn Review

4.0 / 5.0
3,018 reviews

First time cruisers with a 4 year old son

Review for the Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Dawn
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MamiSherman
First Time Cruiser • Age 40s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Feb 2017
Cabin: Family Inside
Traveled with children

We are first time cruisers from Canada, a married 40 year old couple with a 4 year old son.

We chose a cruise, as opposed to an all inclusive resort holiday, so that we had a high level of service, great accommodations, excellent food, varied ports, and a kids club for our 4 year old son.

We chose this particular cruise because of its port (New Orleans) We wanted to go somewhere unique that we’ve never been and spend a few days in addition to our cruise. We were also attracted by the ports. We were excited about Honduras, Belize, Costa Maya, and Cozumel.

Cabin Review

Family Inside

Cabin I1

Small, dark, quiet, and perfect for 2 adults and a 4 year old.

Port Reviews

New Orleans

We went on a swamp tour in the Honey Island area. I booked it independently online through Cajun Encounters.

Cozumel

Cozumel - We got off the ship, got a cab for $15, and went to Chankanaab beach adventure park. We paid $56 usd to enter, $10 for masks and snorkels, and then $50 for beers and food. We enjoyed sitting under a palapa and had a waiter bring our drinks and food out. We watched the tour groups from all the ships marching by us so this is a reputable beach where many of the excursions go. We were there all day and had a blast! There is a little kids beach as well which was ideal for sand castles and wading in the water. The snorkelling here was really great. As well, they have dolphins, crocodiles, iguanas, a pool, a sea lion show, and several beach bars. Tip - bring small bananas or bread to attract the fish. Total cost to us : $150 usd

Harvest Caye

This was not Belize. This was a custom built island 20 minutes from the real Belize. I will go to Belize one day and I’m sure it will be lovely. This was basically a beach day for the entire population of the ship to move from the ship to a beach, sit on the beach, shop, go to the kids water park, pay to eat in the restaurants and then get back on the boat 6 hours later. We spent about an hour in the kids splash park (kudoos to the architect, that is a wonderful kids spash park!!) and then went back to the boat since it was mostly empty. There are excursions to the real Belize and I would encourage you to go on one to get a sense of the real country.

Costa Maya

Costa Maya/Mahahual:

This port was a sleeper hit for us, as I thought it would be another custom made port. We walked off into the Costa Maya port which is a huge custom built port with restaurants and shopping and immediately got a cab into Mahahual. We paid $6 each way for a cab that goes about 5 minutes into the real town. This town is really chill, we found a nice little beach for free, sat there all day under palapas, went in the beautiful water, ate lunch at a great beach grill and then got a cab back to Costa Maya at the end of the day. Total cost was around $50 usd and we had a wonderful relaxing day on the beach.

Roatan

Roatan Honduras - We loved this port! This was such an amazing and authentically beautiful island. The ship excursion to Gumbalina was around $425 for 3 of us so we decided to do the day on our own again. We hired a cab for the whole day for $50. He took us to the top point of the island for a view picture and some small little shops up there (they are really ready for the cruise ships to come in and make some money!); we then went to the butterfly farm for a $20 entry fee (my son was free) and saw a diverse array of butterflies, they had monkeys, parrots, and sloths. We then wanted to head to West Bay Beach, which we heard was a fantastic place to spend the day. He drove us all over the island, through the small villages and out to West Bay beach. He took us to the Grand Maya Beach club and we paid $20 (my son was free) to get in. That gave us nothing as far as I could tell but it said that we could sit on the beach chairs on the beach. The beach was packed with people! The water was beautiful and clear (reminded me a lot of Punta Cana, Dominican Republic), and the sand was soft and white, and the hawkers were out in full force. We couldn’t even get one minute without someone approaching us to sell cigars, bracelets, sunglasses etc. I always smile, say no thank you and they move on, but it certainly wasn’t relaxing. We ate lunch at Beaches grill with a fantastic outdoor patio overlooking the beach, that was about $35 for some ceviche, margaritas, a grilled cheese sandwich and fries. We spent a few hours at this beach and that was plenty, we then moved on to the rest of the island. We stopped and bought some rum, took some pictures, my husband wanted a haircut so he went to a local shop for a $5 cut and then back to the boat around 4pm. It was a great day for around $140 usd.

Tip: Look into Tabyana beach instead of West Bay beach - if I had it to do over again I would have tried that one instead as I have a feeling it wouldn’t have been so crowded.

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