I must agree with the previous review of the first time cruiser on NCL Dawn.

This was our 7th cruise and 3rd with NCL. We chose NCL because it is slightly more economical to book, plus some of our group like the freestyle dining. However, in the end it isn't more economical because you are "nickel and dimed" to death. We opted for the wine package and after selecting three different brands of red wine it came to $240. The guys bought the buckets of beer which weren't too bad. I had two "drink specials of the day" which also came to about $10 with the 15% gratuity.

The dining is really terrible. Since I feel that I paid for my meals in the cruise package, we avoided the specialty restaurants. We used the Aqua and the Venetian on most nights. Both were overcrowed and noisy, and the service left quite a lot to be desired. Service was slow, it was really understaffed, and the menu was unimaginative, and no shrimp cocktail available. The regular menu only changed once during the ten days. The first night I ordered key lime pie and the waiter got everyone's order wrong - then it was never on the menu again. We ate once at the buffet because it just seemed simpler! We also had lunch in the Blue Lagoon one day and checked the availabity for other days but the menu was the same every day, including dinner! We had breakfast everyday in the Garden Cafe because the Venetian closed at 9:30. We also found this breakfast buffet terrible for the same reasons. You just couldn't find a table to sit at. We were a party of four and usually had to take our meal to the pool deck. Read more