Norwegian Dawn Review
Dawn Feb 12-11 Day Southern Caribbean (Summer Camp 4 Adults)
Rating by category
Additional details
Background Info: My wife and I were on the February 15 Southern Caribbean 11 Day sailing of the Norwegian Dawn. It was our 13th cruise overall and 3rd with NCL. This is our 2nd cruise on the Dawn and we have also been on the Pearl. Other cruises include 9 Carnival & 1 Royal Caribbean.
Pre-Cruise: We flew into Miami a day early arriving around 4:00 p.m. Living in Michigan; we always fly in the day before we cruise (even though this is the year without a winter in Michigan and most of North America). The cab ride to the Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay cost $30 including tip and took about 25 minutes.
The Miami Marriott Biscayne Bay is a nice hotel in a bad location. When I say "bad" -- I mean there are very few options to pick up last minute needs (i.e. soda, sunscreen, etc...) or have dinner. There is not a Walgreens, Rite Aid or grocery store within 1.5 miles of the hotel. Right next door is a Double Tree hotel that has an underground mall with a few shops and restaurants but no place to buy cases of pop (we don't call it soda in Michigan). We ate dinner at a little deli and picked up a couple of bottles of liquor. The good news is a Publix grocery store will be opening soon that is an easy 10 minute walk from this hotel so this problem will be remedied in the near future.
Cabin Review
Balcony
Cabin: We had a balcony cabin on deck 9 forward port side (#9566). The bed was comfortable and had many pillows. The bathroom was functional. The shower was big enough and had a door instead of a curtain which kept the floor dry. The toilet was sectioned off in an area that could be made more private by closing the sliding frosted door. It was snug with the door closed but not impossible. One opportunity for improvement was the sofa sleeper. It looked a little worn out and should be replaced. The TV was a nice flat screen (last year it was an old school picture tube TV).
We did not have a lounger on our balcony. It was 2 chairs and a table. Other balconies had 1 lounger and a chair (along with a table.) I imagine you can have a lounger if you ask the room steward. It was not a problem for us. The air conditioning worked great. Closet/drawer space was not an issue as there were only two of us and we pack lightly.
As I mentioned earlier, we brought a cooler bag loaded with a case of Diet Coke and Coke Zero each. Every evening I left the room steward (Bago) a note requesting he fill it with ice every day (along with a couple of bucks for his extra effort). He exceeded our expectations throughout the cruise.