Norwegian Dawn Review

A great break from winter in Ohio

Review for the Eastern Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Dawn
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ClevelandOhio
First Time Cruiser • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Feb 2010

We have done lots of cruising in the last couple years. We normally cruise on Holland-America, Cunard and Royal Caribbean. This was our first trip on Norwegian. It had it's ups and downs but we very glad to be in the warmth and sun . Cruising on Norwegian was very different than we had experienced previously. While we don't mind dressing for dinner, not having to take all those clothes along was fun also. People were dressed in resort casual for dinner every night as requested. The oddest part of the trip was dining alone every night. In all of our previous cruises we had fixed dining with the same dinner partners each evening. For non-dinners we usually ate with others at the table. On the Dawn we ate at a table for two for each meal. They made no attempt to seat groups of people together. We missed meeting other people and hearing about their adventures. Norwegian did a fine job of seating you whenever you wished. Only once was there a wait and that was because we came directly after a show along with everyone else. Even that wait was only ten or fifteen minutes. Dining alone was a much faster experience than fixed seating. We were usually out of the MDR in 30 minutes are so.

Food -- the food was really very good. The menu selections were the same every day in the MDR with three entrees that changed daily. We had sea food nearly every evening. With one exception it was fresh and well prepared. Breakfast was the same every day. They had REALLY good eggs Benedict. Lunch had a few items that changed daily and the rest of the items were the same every day. We ate a couple times in the buffet and found it acceptable but not as good as the MDR. We never tried the specialty restaurants. From what we could see there were very few people eating in the pay venues. We did not use room service.

Room -- it was probably a little smaller than most. In fact it was so narrow that it was difficult to walk on either side of the bed. Another foot wider would have been helpful. There was no couch and no chair except a desk chair. Bed was hard as a rock. Air conditioning control was the best we have ever encountered. Storage was plentiful. The bathroom was great. It was very spacious and divided into three areas, shower, sink and toilet, with doors separating each. BUT the smells which periodically came from the bathroom were disgusting. Apparently this was an on-going problem, because someone had hung an air freshener in there which wasn't helpful. The odor was a real problem. We did not complain.

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