We chose this cruise for the itinerary. Norwegian has decided to nickel and dime people as a way to become more and more profitable. It became baffling. Buying water to drink as it was not included in the beverage package we ordered. Paying a gratuity for a free beverage package. Specialty coffees not included in the package either. The cruise director was active and all around the ship however as he was Filipino his accent was at times very hard to understand. There was also a Japanese member of his team that I never could understand. Entertainment was quite good however. The food experience was average. Service in the complementary restaurants was quite slow to get started but when orders were finally able to be placed the food was delivered in a timely manner. I had a package for specialty restaurants. The steakhouse and the French restaurant would both terrific. The Italian restaurant was, I hate to say it, disgusting. Read Less

My friend and I were excited to be cruising on the Norwegian Dawn, that quickly changed. We’ve both have been on 12 cruises each, and this had to be the worst experience we’ve had on any ship. The food in the dining room was like basic “diner food” - Absolutely No- 5 star unless you wanted to pay$$ at one of their seven restaurants. There was not enough staff in the dining room and it would take over an hour to get your food. Not a lot of actives going on around the cruise ship, so we would go sit in our cabins to watch the same movies played over and over again. The last 3 days of our cruise I noticed red bite marks on my skin that were extremely itchy...I was scared it might have been bed bugs. Today, I decided to looked into bed bug complaints on the NCL Dawn and found a news story about a family that were bitten by bed bugs, on deck 8 of the Norwegian Dawn, last year. Obviously, the bed bug situation is still a PROBLEM. Our cabin was #8003 on deck 8 - and when we disembarked they were turning the ship around and going back to New York for 12 days. Read Less

It was the closest cruise to our 50th anniversary date. Friends had recommended Norwegian. Long time waiting to get aboard, Much better getting off ourselves. We were VERY disappointed in our "Ultimate dining package " We found out at the first restaurant, first night, that it was only good for ONE meal ! I had made reservations for each of the 4 nights, thinking I was getting 4 meals. In speaking to several of your staff prior to the cruise, NOBODY mentioned that we were only getting one meal ! Not very transparent, actually SNEAKY ! Bad Job, Crappy way to treat first time cruisers on Norwegian. But , you probably train them that way. The specialty restaurant , La Cuchina, was only average as it turned out. We cancelled the other 3 reservations, after noticing that they cost about $75 pp ! The breakfasts and dinners in the Venetian dining room were OK. The Beverage package was OK. The pool deck was very crowded, no chairs available and not enough staff to get you a drink without a long wait. This was the smallest ship we have been on. On board shopping was very limited, except if you wanted to spend hundreds or thousands. $10 T shirts were advertised for the last night but there were NONE there, only trinkets and junk . The ring we bought for my wife is turning her finger black. NCLs 100 mins of WIFI was useless, never worked. The entertainment was OK, for a small ship. Patti and Josy were very good. The highlight was our cabin and cabin steward, both very good. The weather was beautiful the whole cruise. Way too short of time to do anything in Bermuda, a place we like alot. Been there before. Stores closed in Hamilton, on a Sunday. We would classify NCL as better than Carnival, not as good as RCL. We would like a response to this review from NCL Read Less

We have sailed on the NCL Dawn three times.Always have enjoyed.This time was no exception.The Dover Sole at Le Bistro was so delicious.Patti and Jose in the Atrium each evening performing was wonderful. The only negative we found was the twenty year olds in the suite next to ours who got so drunk and had screaming girls at 3am pounding on their door.Who do you call on a ship in the middle of the ocean at 3 am to report this kind of event?This only happened on the last night out but left such a terrible memory.Our suite on deck 12 was very large and our room steward kept it very clean.Our butler was pleasant.Not our best ever butler but he tried very hard. All the meals were very good and we had no complaints.Bermuda was beautiful as always even after a hurricane.Such a special island.We hope to sail on NCL again soon. Read Less

Cabin was fine as noted below. However I did notice that the carpet could have been cleaner. Bathroom was tight but well laid out. 1). Fun party boat with mostly middle age and younger folks. (A waiter told us the average age on this 4 day Bermuda weekend cruise was 48 as compared to an 11 night Canada/New England just prior to our sailing where the average age was 68!) 2). Local folk from all walks of life. 3) We experienced every level of service.. From stellar service from Rose in ship photography who went above and beyond helping us connect to wifi when the IT department was long gone, to downright rude staff. Notably a front desk member was annoyed with a very simple question and a eat staff member seemed to unexplainably stomp off in the middle of serving us. (It appeared were walked in on some some of dispute between her and the hostess, since i we did nothing to provoke this. 4). The food:. The free stuff was not good. Honestly, barely edible, with exceptions. Garden Cafe buffet: Mainly just gross. Go here only if you have no other option. Omelets were ok. Crepes were ok. Fruit salads and slices were good. Soft serve machine was always broken. Topsiders: Mini version of inside buffet food but since it's exposed to heat and humidity, I'd just stay away. They do offer ice cream, and that is the exception here. Wings at O'Sheehan's were ok, as was the Spinach artichoke dip. Everything else we had was just weirdly prepared or not good. Bamboo: Didn't get to experience because strangely the Norwegian app indicated that "Reservations not Accepted". However, when we went there they were only accepting those with reservations. ??? Venetian:. Let me just say this. Save yourself. Eat here. We had something very good at every meal. Although, it takes time for your food, it was worth it. Aqua:. We didn't get to but has same menu as Venetian. Los Lobos:. Good, small portions, and you are paying reasonable ala cart prices. Teppanyaki:. Good. Entertaining but expensive. Drinks:. About average for vacation, figure on $10 drink. We did not do the drink package. We figured we'd have to drink at least 10 drinks a day per person to make it worth it. We brought wine aboard. All in all, it was a fun weekend cruise. Read Less

DINING/DRINKS/SERVICE: We paid for the Meal Specialty Dining Package, Adult Ultimate Beverage Package and the Prepaid Service Charge. It was money well spent and a great value. We were able to eat at four specialty restaurants and the food in each was excellent. The Venetian Main Dining Room also had great food. Some of the desserts were better than what we had in the Specialty Restaurants. The Garden Cafe was great for breakfast and snacks, fresh fruit, soft serve ice cream, salad, breads/muffins. O'Sheehan's Neighborhood Bar & Grill had good food. The dinner food in the Garden Cafe served was mediocre. SERVICE: The service throughout the ship was great and the staff works hard. I saw some of the wait staff, especially bartenders put up with some rude people and they did it gracefully. Even though we prepaid Service Charges we tipped our room steward extra and also tipped extra in some of the specialty restaurants (even though 20% was included). ENTERTAINMENT: What we saw in the Stardust Theater was okay. The seating in the main area is cramped, not much leg room which made it uncomfortable. The upper side levels had more comfortable seating. Because the majority of the people were older the Stardust was packed the two times we attended a show. BAND ENTERTAINMENT We really enjoyed the Jose and Patti AND the band Sonata. SHORE EXCURSIONS: All of our excursions were booked through Norwegian and most of them were excellent. The "Fortress of Louisbourg" was good; however, our bus arrived 30 minutes late and returned us to the dock 10 minutes early. The time was 10:30 AM-2:15 PM and we note each excursion states "estimated." It was an extreme rush to try to see and enjoy the Fortress of Louisbourg which was a disappointment. This excursion should be longer because there is a lot to see and they have reenactors in the buildings which are period dressed and it is very interesting. The "Iconic Towns of Nova Scotia" tour our guide on the bus was excellent. The area the bus stopped at in Mahone Bay is across from a beautiful church and next to the water. It is a beautiful area; however, there is only shopping here. It would have been better if they eliminated Mahone Bay so more time could be spent in Lunenburg and Peggy's Cove. Regardless, it was wonderful and the prices were very reasonable. HOT TUBS/POOL: The hot tubs (6) and swimming pool were great and often empty at night Read Less

I choose this cruise because of the ports of calls visited and the cruise length was the shortest (9 days) of all cruise lines. This was the second cruise we’d taken with NCL, the last was about 20 years ago. The embarkation process in Quebec City was clumsy and resulted in long lines and wait times even though you were required to select a check in time in advance. All of the port of calls, except two, required you to be tendered to shore and required you to pick up tickets in advance. One of the two ports where we docked required passengers to be bussed to the terminal because the dock was a commercial facility. Tender process took away from the amount of time in port, especially in New Port, RI where we only had 5-1/2 hours in port. The disembarkation process in Manhattan was quick and easy. I was most dissatisfied with the quality of food on the ship. The ingredients were stretched very thin and and in many cases the food was over cooked, and was overall not very tasty. The food in the speciality restaurants (3 visited at additional cost) was better, but not up to the quality on other cruise lines The service in most venues was slow, and we only ate in the Main dining room once. We also ate at O’Sheeans, which was was no better than other venues, and we ended up walking away from our table because it took so long to get our food. We ended up eating our mid-day meals in town at the port of calls which was our best meal of the day. The overall look of the ship was good (recent upgrade), service at bars, excursion desk and customer service was good. The entertainment was average and onboard activities typical to other lines. Our cruise package included 250 internet minutes. However the quality of the wi-fi was very spotty across the ship and poor in our cabin. I spent a lot of those 250 minutes “spinning”. Shore excursion offerings were passive in nature (bus tours) and and didn’t really appeal to us as we have an active lifestyle. Therefore, we researched the ports of call and made our own tour. Overall very dissatisfied with our cruise and won’t be sailing with NCL again. Read Less

Time of year and cruise itinerary. Ports of call were about what we expected but found the tendering to be very tedious . Snacks or light food in the late afternoon could have been more varied. The crew were very polite and helpful. The entertainment for the most part was top notch and Harry O 'Donoghue present a very funny and entertaining program. In addition we had dinner with him one night and thoroughly enjoyed his company.. I would suggest you have more performers like him. We ate at four of the specialty restaurants and enjoyed all of our meals (especially Cagney's - went twice) except for Modero's which I found the food to be overdone and very dry. We were very impressed at the cleanliness of all phases of the ship and the effort by the staff to keep every one germ free (washy, washy?) Will do Norwegian again! Read Less

We chose this cruise for the itinerary. We had not cruised on Norwegian since the mid-nineties, but past experiences had been good. More recent cruises had been on Princess and Celebrity. Our biggest disappointments were with the food in the "complimentary" venues and with the seemingly constant nickel and diming we saw. The food on past Norwegian cruises had been good- the "specialty" restaurants had been for a special occasion, not to get a good meal. This is our first cruise ever where neither shrimp cocktail or escargot was offered- the menu reminded us of a diner or Cracker Barrel- nothing exotic at all. Can you imagine a cruise to Canada and New England not offering lobster? We certainly couldn't, but they didn't. On the plus side, our mini-suite was spacious and nice- the only negative was it was below the uncarpeted buffet dining area and patrons or cleaning staff moving chairs made noises that carried down to our room. This will be our last cruise with this line. Read Less

Wait staff, ship's officers and crew, security & maintenance, as usual, are all top notch. Management is just the opposite. From 6 hours on the phone over 5 weeks unsuccessfully trying to get a return call from a "supervisor" at the NCL Air Department to rectify air connections that flew us into a City 200 miles from the port on the wrong day to condescending, rude, in-your-face "service desk" managers who couldn't communicate effectively and blamed you for their errors. We overheard one loud argument that would later echo our sentiment exactly. He was yelling "This is your mistake, not mine. I shouldn't be having to work for YOU to straighten out YOUR errors on MY vacation and spend MY time trying to resolve YOUR problems." They called security on him. We smiled and thought, well, he probably could have handled that better..." Little did we know that a day or two later we would find ourselves in the same position and being goaded by these very same incompetent, argumentative "service personnel" about our credit card and saying roughly the same thing and ultimately having to "go to work" on our vacation to correct yet another error by NCL. (I guess they figured since we let them get away with taking our $200 in airfare they'd attempt to go back to the well for more.) Ours is far from the only observation on the web that over the last 5 years, while the day-to-day personnel continues to remain gregarious, friendly, courteous and competent, there has been a tectonic shift at the Helm of NCL's home office & bean counters resulting in business management that just gets more pathetic with each passing cruise. Not vessel management, "hospitality" management. As for the air department in particular, don't waste your money. Read the plethora of negative reviews about this cruise and those who've been snookered into the Montreal/YQB switcheroo. Since no one would return our calls, we finally just wrote off the $200 airfare as a loss and booked ourselves into Quebec (YQB). NCL may have taken our money, but we refused to let them steal our joy. We spent 4 fantastic days enjoying Quebec Quebec City, and wished for more to be honest. Sadly we listened to horror stories each day of people with similar experiences who had to find their own way to the port from some far away city or who sat for hours on the side of a major highway, the bus rocking from the traffic whizzing by their broken down bus. They said it was terrifying thinking about becoming a statistic. One reviewer said it took NCL 12 hours to get them from Montreal Trudeau to the ship. It's so laughable even the comedian made their misery the butt of several jokes in his act. So if you think they'll actually treat you differently than all the other thousands of guests they've hoodwinked, then the joke'll be on you. One day NCL is going to screw over the WRONG attorney who's going to file a class action suit over their "bait and switch" tactics and false repeated claims that "there aren't seats into Quebec," to which we responded, "We've got 4 windows open with 4 different airlines with flights from 4 different cities into YQB all with empty cabins, so don't sit there and lie to me. I'm looking at planes I could play ping pong in and never hit a soul with a serve." It's a shame management is slowly sinking what was once a fine cruise line. The ship's older design must have been originally for the Caribbean or Mediterranean as the only observation areas are outside. A lot of women don't like their hair being blown around after they've fixed it up. There's no area aft to sit and watch the horizon recede. The ship has mysterious humps in the floor, odd, dead-end nooks and crannies and there is no bridge viewing room like there is on Jewel-Class vessels. The curries on the buffet were, as always, excellent. Healthy choices on the buffet were plentiful. Main dining rooms were on par with other ships in the NCL fleet. Specialty dining went from totally inedible in Los Lobos (other reviewers agree) to "OMG, this is the best meal I've ever eaten!" in the Italian Restaurant (La Cucina?) The manager Vaughn, was fantastic and very observant, not to mention funny. He's a true asset to the company. All of the ports were enjoyable other than maybe Halifax and simply because it's such a big city and industrial port. I mean there's nothing WRONG with Halifax, it's just not very walkable it's so large. Bar Harbor or Portland were likely our favorite, due to Acadia and the breath-taking views from Cadillac Mountain and the views of the lighthouses from Fort Williams. Still, each port was charming in it's own way. Quebec City is worth a week. Don't let NCL entice you into cheap airfare only to find they didn't give you time to explore this fascinating world of old and new. I'm told the entertainment on board was good. I don't go on cruises for food or entertainment, but my wife and other party members enjoyed the variety of shows. The pool deck was generally lightly populated due to the chilly temperatures. The library is in an odd, but very quiet place. I liked its location. Not alot of traffic due to it being isolated at the start of a U-shaped hallway of forward cabins. It's kind of where the health club "class" workout room is often located on the Jewel-Class vessels. We did not find the Ultimate Beverage Package to be a very good deal for us because we don't drink a lot so a beer or glass of wine would wind up costing $50 when you averaged it out per diem. And forget finding a Mountain Dew when you wanted one. I mentioned earlier the attentiveness of the staff. I should clarify that I mean wait staff, room stewards, etc. If you see an officer or security personnel, they are almost always approachable, congenial and helpful. On the other hand, any "hotel staffer" in one of the dark, business-like suits - is a waste of your time. The only solution they can offer is to write an email to the home office, because they have no authority to provide any solutions for you. Your room steward on the other hand can answer 90% of your questions and solve the majority of your issues, just remember all he did for you at the end of the cruise. Same with the food services. If you ask for something politely, if it's on the ship it will magically appear at your table generally within a reasonable time. Not always, but generally. A lot of it depends on your attitude toward your server. One final tip - and it's about tips. When we wanted to acknowledge a staffer who went above and beyond, we would add an amount above what was included in our prepaid tip package to the paper receipts at the restaurant only to learn that those tips went into the general pool for all workers, thus eliminating what we were attempting to do, which was let someone know we appreciated their specific extra effort. After learning that, we always carried a little cash around and looked for opportunities to make someone's day when it was deserved. I hope I can remember that the next time I cruise with Norwegian. They may be the American Airlines of the cruise industry, but they're cheap - sadly in more ways than one. Read Less

This was our 4th NCL cruise and will be our last. We are not big eaters, but enjoy a "snack" before going to bed. The buffet, under title "24/7", closed at 10:30. We came up from shows and could not eat in the buffet. We did not want food from a restaurant, just bread or a cookie. We ended up going up earlier, getting bread and leaving it in the room. We are not "foodies" so the food was fine. Seems as though they were cutting corners. Outside entertainment was very good to excellent and production "elements" was excellent. The room was noisy because we were under a galley, but it seems that a lot of people had a noise problem. After complaining it got a little better and they did give us complimentary wine when we complained. Other then the noise, the ship was fine. The staff was courteous and friendly so we had no complaint with them. The ports were very good, unfortunately we had to tender in 4 of the 7 ports. We got credits for excursions so we used only NCL tours. The best tour was "Peggy Cove and the Titanic Cemetery" in Halifax. Excellent guide. You usually overpay for Cruise Line tours, but with the credit, it wasn't worth looking around. Since we had only 1 bag each, we disembarkation was easy. Read Less

On Thursday September 12 I had a rather testy conversation with a man who was working the customer service desk on that morning. I began the conversation by starting to explain that we had received a voicemail saying that my wife had left her purse in a public area and that it had been turned in to lost and found. What I actually got out of my mouth before being interrupted was “we received a voicemail saying” at which point he interrupted me and asked my room number. I stopped talking and gave him my room number but then began again explaining why I was there. He again interrupted and started talking over me. I told him I was trying to explain what I wanted but that he kept talking over me. I started utalking again trying to explain what I wanted and he again started talking over me. At this point he would say I was rude to him. I will call it not being very happy with him. I became very frustrated with him and told him that I wanted to talk to someone else. He waved his hand toward several other people at the counter and I moved over to that area and began to explain what I was wanting to another male worker but he moved over and tried to interject his opinion of what was going on. I then told this new person that he wouldn’t let me talk but kept interrupting me. The new person then said that was fine and how could he help me. I then explained (without being interrupted) why I was there. I gave him my name and room number and he was familiar with my wife’s purse so he went back to get it. When he came back with her purse I had my room card and ID out for him and in a matter of just a few minutes I was done. The rude worker was watching everything that went on and was laughing with another female employee as I was getting ready to leave. I asked him if he thought this was funny and he said no that he thought it was sad. I said that I thought it was sad also. I decided that I wanted to get this persons name so when I was sent an evaluation of my cruise experience I would know who he was. I did not see him behind the service desk again until the evening of Saturday September 14. All I really wanted was his name so I walked up toward him and tried to take a picture of his name tag. He tried to cover up his name tag and then tried to engage my wife in a conversation about how rude I was to him. He said I was not allowed to take pictures of him and said he was calling security. I said go ahead that I would talk to security. During that time my wife and I were able to read his name tag and I made a note of it. So, I waited. A woman who said that she was his supervisor came out to talk to me and I explained all that had happened. She said that for security reasons I wasn’t allowed to take pictures of him. I told her all I wanted was his name and that I now had it so I would delete the pictures of him. With her watching I deleted both pictures I had taken. She said that she would talk to him. By the way, a security representative did show up while I was talking to her but I never interacted with him. For the life of me I don’t know why he over reacted like that. As I explained to his supervisor I am the one on vacation here and the one who has spent a lot of money to be on this ship. All of the employees of this ship should feel like they work for me and most do. I am not sure what his agenda in working on that ship is but on that morning it was certainly not to listen to me or try to help me with a problem. It seemed to be to interrupt me and talk over me. While still on the ship I went to the NCL website and filled out a comment on my experience and made a note of the confirmation number and after not hearing from them I filled out another comment form a couple of days later (all while still on the ship). Two days before disembarkation I received a call from the manager over the service desk (a different lady) wanting to talk to me. I went down to talk to her in person. She was very nice and mentioned the NCL form that I had filled out on the NCL site. So at least I had got their attention. She was very apologetic and kept apologizing for his actions. She mentioned that they would use it as a training tool. The cruise itself including the itinerary was not bad and we enjoyed the ports. I will say that we have never been on a cruise that tendered so many ports. Out of the 8 ports we visited 5 of them were tendered and one of the dock ports was at a commercial dock so they had to bus us over to the passenger dock. So 6 of 8 were non-standard docks. Also, the food in the food court was subpar. We spent most of our breakfast and lunch meals in O’Sheehans. And unlike most Princess cruises we never had a dinner choice of shrimp, scallop or lobster dishes. The only fish meals we were offered were a variety of filleted fish. My wife and I frequently take cruises and they are almost always enjoyable. We have 14 on Princess, 4 on Disney, 7 or 8 on Carnival, 2 on Oceania and 3 on Viking. I believe this is either our 4th or 5th on NCL. I will tell you that this man and his actions will certainly make this cruise memorable but not in a positive way. But I walked away satisfied that someone had finally heard me and apologized for his actions. Ken Read Less

wanted to see the Maritimes, hopefully with fall colors, but too early for that, up the St Lawrence was great, lots of little , villages. fantastic homes in Newport, must hv been nice to have money in those days only downfall was number of ports where you had to tender in, some were 25 min each direction ship was very modern, wonderful staff in rooms & eating places ate all meals in Garden Cafe where food was very varied and good dress was casual which I prefer , entertainment in Stardust lounge very good enjoyed Halifax, Pier 21 was very enjoyable ( this is where immigrants landed, and had a Titanic exhibit, weather was good, sea rough coming into Rhode Island, end of hurricane Dorian Did not leave ship in most ports because of tendering and I use a cane to get me around very happy with trip and will most likely do it again Read Less

We chose this cruise because we wanted to visit New England and Canada. I am a Norwegian gold member. Unfortunately the Dawn disappointed. Being on the Dawn felt like being in a Petri dish. My husband and I are in our early 50s, generally healthy and active people. On the Dawn, we both got very sick about eight days in with an acute sinus infection. I have been sick for about three weeks, and imy husband for 1.5 weeks. I should’ve known what was coming when we walked into the room the first day...The sunlight was coming in so we could see all the fingerprints and dirt all over the cabin walls, doors and around the bathroom. There also appeared to be a small spot of feces on the toilet seat! I kid you not. I showed my husband. We immediately went to the cabin steward who insisted that the mark on the toilet was part of the seat, but that ‘he would try to clean it just in case.’ I asked him to also wipe down the room a little bit better. When we returned to the room, the spot was gone from the toilet seat. We didn’t complain to steward’s superior because we wanted to give him a chance. I recommend that you bring Lysol wipes on the Dawn. I ended up having to go to their doctor, get an antibiotic, and was charged $255. Guest services wouldn’t budge and I didn’t have the ship’s travel insurance protection. When I came home I had to get a stronger antibiotic over a week later because the bacterial infection was so bad. The ship as a whole just didn’t feel good and clean and fresh.... The food was just OK and the food quality was also just OK. The dining service was good. It’s time for Norwegian to offer more fresh alternatives like calcium free yogurt, dairy-free milk ( without having to wait for them to find it in the kitchen for you ) nuts, less salt in the food, etc. There weren’t any berries to be seen. If you go on Celebrity, and probably other cruises there are restaurants like Blu where you can enjoy a better, healthier quality of food. I think Norwegian should get with the program and not stereotype its clientele as unhealthy eaters The spa was terrible. We always go to the spa when we cruise. We paid upfront online. Right when we got there we saw that it was very small; there was just a pool and a little Jacuzzi that wasn’t even hot. What a rip off! So we immediately insisted on getting a credit for that and didn’t go to the spa for the rest of the trip. Stops were delightful. We couldn’t go to Charlottetown because a hurricane was looming. The captain did a great job making us feel safe. We did all of the excursions on our own. We enjoy activities involving exercise. So we rented bikes in Newport (awesome but wear a helmet!) Bar Harbor and Portland... all beautiful places to explore with bicycles. Lots of rental places right in town. Stayed in an Air BNB in Quebec City for a night afterwards....lovely, kind of expensive, European city. Read Less

At Manhattan Terminal, the Embarkation staffs are rude and shouting to the senior guests, this is the worst Embarkation experience have ever experienced for 25 years Cruse vacation. Free Dining: (1) Bamboo (Deck 7): Bamboo is the best ship's restaurant. Recommend menu items: appetizers (pot stickers and spring rolls), soups ( egg drop), mains (kung pao chicken, vegetarian fried rice), BBQ Pork noodle soup and desserts (coconut tapioca pudding, crispy chestnut and red bean triangles). (2) Main Dining Rooms: Venetian and Aqua (Deck 6): Prefer Venetian for comfortable seating and better services. Aqua has more crowded sitting. The Best Cruise Director and programs: the best Show “Elements”, the best Vocalist Jenene Caramielo, Jose & Patti@ Grand Atrium. Balcony Room class BB @ 10/FL Mid-ship is a little quieter than Class BA @9/FL mid-ship. The Room layout is not good to use. The storage has only 3 drawers. 1/3 Inside cabins (353) crowded the Buffet and public area. The TV is very small. The Buffet area are always crowded and food quality is so so. The Movies at Bliss room has poor quality and sitting. Read Less

We have cruised many time and this time we chose the Norwegian cruise from NYC to Quebec City for the itinerary. Overall we had a good time in the locations on most of our excursions. Our cabin steward, Rhayan, was outstanding, friendly and worked very hard to keep our cabin in excellent condition and help us have a good experience. We did take at least one excursion in each port and enjoyed most of them. The ones we felt lukewarm over were just our taste. Unfortunately the “NCL specialist” that helped us book our excursions and room was either not knowledgeable or just wanted to sell. After asking for a cabin in a quiet location, we were booked into a cabin directly above the Bliss nightclub. The first two nights the music was overwhelming and our bed vibrated. Each visit to the customer service counter resulted in earplugs and an apology that seemed more like an accusation that we shouldn’t complain since we chose the cabin completely ignoring the fact that it was chosen by the “NCL specialist”. If I ever chose to sail Norwegian again, I would definitely be sure to pick my own cabin! We were also told we would not be able to disembark before noon so we chose an excursion that ended at the airport and booked a hotel there overnight. Turns out we could have gotten off the ship early and flown home the same day. The food had good flavor but always came to us lukewarm. Even after returning the food to be warmed it came out less than warm. We did visit speciality restaurants and this must be where they put their efforts. Guess they want you to spend more money. If you sail Norwegian, do your homework first! Read Less

This was my 24th Cruise, which includes river cruises in Europe. It was our first time on NCL and will be our last! Their customer service stinks! NCL booked our flights and 6 hours before our departure, our flight was cancelled. I called the NCL emergency number for flight problems and was on hold for 40 minutes! The NCL person said he could not help me and gave me a phone number to call.....which was the exact number I had just called!! The airline was finally able to rebook us, but it was touch and go. On arrival in NYC, we waited 3 hours for our prepaid transfers to the ship. Again, we tried to contact NCL with our new flight arrival time, but couldn’t get ahold of them on a Saturday morning. When we finally departed JFK on the shuttle, the shuttle driver was probably hi on something! He passed every car on the road and did a U-turn in the middle of the block. Everyone was frightened by his driving. Our first nite on board, our toilet flooded the bathroom floor due to a leak. In the morning, I called housekeeping and then guest services to report, but no answer at either place. About 3 hours later, we finally got ahold of housekeeping. It was repaired that afternoon. Nice bath towels from our room steward helped until it was repaired. Before departure, I called twice with questions....one time I was on hold for 40 minutes and the second time on hold for 20 minutes. This is no way to run a business! Also, the Dawn is rather tired, the food was only so-so unless you were dining at a specialty restaurant. The food there was good. Hamburgers by the pool were cold...couldn’t even eat mine. We had a balcony cabin with peeling paint and rust on the balcony. The cabin itself was adequate. Only one outlet in the entire cabin!! Always static on our phone line, which made it difficult to talk to our travel companions. Read Less

We chose NCL due to affordability and its casual atmosphere. We especially enjoyed these entertainers: Harry 0 the Irish guy, the Ukrainian aerialists, Jose and Patti, and the Elements show. La Bistro and Teppanyaki both A+. Cagney’s B (tough filet mignon), Bamboo C (over-seasoned), O’Sheehan’s B+ (good breakfast and lunch, other times not enough servers), Venetian and Aqua B (tough red meat, over seasoned or oddly seasoned), Garden Cafe D (hit or miss). All baked goods and desserts excellent no matter what restaurant. Excursions: Kennebunkport B - not much to see except Bush compound from a distance, Bar Harbor A - Testa’s for lobster, Quebec City A - long walk to tourist area. Our cabin 4501 was fine. At the bow, we rarely heard any noise from our neighbors. We occasionally heard a scraping rattling noise. The cabin (inside) isn’t pitch black since light enters through the peep hole, etc. Small space, but affordable. Read Less

We are in our 60s. We took the cruise because we wanted to visit new places up North before it got too cold. We knew no kids would be onboard as school started that week. So 8/31/19 12-day cruise was a Grandma & Grandpa crowd. Entertainment was great, & staterooms too. But food onboard gets a 3 out of 5. Soups were poor. Brown watery cream of mushroom soup. Minestrone was not a soup but a clear broth with 6 macaroni and 8 beans. Most soups missed the mark; 'brothy' and clear. Bakery was great. Dining room - everything had at least 1 flavor/ingredient added too much. Garden Buffet every sandwich had mayonnaise on each slice of bread, everything! Corned beef sandwiches one day, pastrami hogie next day, every panini all week, plus turkey & Swiss, you name the sandwich served daily and it had mayonnaise on it. And on both sides of the bread! Nobody could make me a sandwich w/o mayo no matter who I asked. I have high cholesterol and take Lipitor like many other seniors on a senior cruise might have, but this 90% fat condiment (look at the nutrition label) was on every sandwich all the time and I couldn't get anyone to accommodate me and make me a non-mayo sandwich, not once. Everybody has a niche in life. I have diabetes and high cholesterol, but I'm allowed certain foods in moderation 2-3 times a week. But never mayonnaise, which was in a bowl to add to your sandwich in at least 2 places along the buffet line. Mustard (only salad mustard & no spicy brown anywhere, UGH!) and ketchup were at each table. I can have unlimited ketchup and mustard, but I would have been mayo overwhelmed if I ate any sandwich served (other than the make your own franks and burgers). If they had ready made franks in buns or burgers on rolls, they too would have been drenched in mayonnaise. The chef was mayonnaise-happy, I guess. There was plenty else to eat, I didn't go hungry, but I would have liked a corned beef or pastrami or turkey sandwich the 1 day it was offered if done so w/o the mayo, Even the seafood sandwich was topped with Sirachi mayonnaise. PLEASE LOSE THE MAYO. I can always add it, it's right there on the buffet but I couldn't take it off after they drenched both sides of the bread and sandwich that way. Service in the dining room was hit or miss each night depending on which random waiter you got. Smoked salmon ONLY served in the dining room at breakfast, but herring in the buffet. The herring looked like the bait I use to go fishing. One night we had our dining room orders taken and were each served the wrong soups, then corrected, and followed by the wrong salads next. Salt and pepper were in grinders that were identical, no P or S or other distinction on the grinder and I ruined a dish by adding salt by mistake instead of pepper. The foods had a dozen ingredients each where 9 or 10 would have been fine if you know what I mean. This wasn't Master Chef or Chopped, after all. But I didn't go hungry. Just overkill. And PLEASE lose all that cholesterol laden Mayo, PLEASE! I'll add it if I want it. The 'midnight' snack buffet on an earlier cruise was from 11:30-12:30AM. This cruise it was 9:30-10:30. Way, way too early for me. Read Less

When I started traveling on cruise ship years ago, a travel agent told me : the most important factor for a cruise is the SHIP, destination and ports are are not important. In this case the Dawn should not be on top of your list. Lets start with the negative: Embarkation is long process, cannot blame NCL its a private company who does all the work Cabins: NOT confortable , small narrow no chair to sit bathroom has 3 section with 16 inches doors between each of them (take your measurements first) As mentioned by many previous members the ship is outdated .... Dining: hits and miss, no WOW .... too many "breaded meat or fish" the appetizers are practically the same every night, only the order changes and a few are replaced every night Cabin attendant : I guess we had a "new guy on the job" never knew would do the cabin if we took a nap at 11:00 he would knock on the door, sometimes after lunch .... no steady schedule. NCL gives returning customer a bottle of sparkling wine NO glasses, we asked twice ..... Nothing Now the good: Have to admit the personnel (except security staff who take their job too seriously) is very nice always smiling Dining room. Buffet, bars The shows are not too bad, its free - nothing to say. the ports were interesting we didn't take any excursion, because of all bad experience in the past. shore excursion always end up being bus ride Read Less

I live in New York and like sailing from here. The Dawn was the ship I took my first cruise more than ten years ago. I know that it was renovated and it looked beautiful. Embarkation went smoothly because my sister who traveled with me needed wheel chair assistance which we received shortly after arriving at the pier. We were immediatley taken to security and on the ship. That was excellent service. We had to wait a little while for our room to be ready, however a delicious buffet lunch was waiting for us. W had a balcony room with a pull out bed. Even though it was three of us in the room we were comfortable. Our cabin stewart gave us excellent service. Overall the food was good the only critizen was at breakfast the bacon everyday was over or under cooked presented in a big ball which was hard to pull apart. The overall cruise was excellent Read Less

I've been on 4 cruises all with Norwegian. The Dawn was not what I expected compared to the Gem and Breakaway. The couch in our room was stained. The little touches like towel animals didnt happen even after we asked for them. Everything was so crowded an tight. Never a table for meal times in the buffet. The employees at the restaurant wouldn't give us the empty table to accommodate our family of 11. We were told we had to sit separate even though we could see the available big table. We finally won that fight and ended up with the best waitress who remembered us all by name. On the other side the entertainment was great. The cruise director and his team are amazing. The woman in the jewelry story needs a raise. She has the best personality. No complaints about the food itself. But the drinks are on the weak side. We love to take pictures but they are pricey and the packages are not worth it. To sum it up its time to try another company. Read Less

Sunsush. Head mixologist , kesar bartender , saber bartender, jimmy waiter, wayouin bartender/Waiter Karina wine steward. Were the best servers ... They are five star Employees and Norwegian is very luck to have such amazing people working for them... they made our trip memorable and I can’t say enough about their talent , compassion and sense of humor. The food was amazing ... the restaurants were on time together and made your experience special ... we had a girls week ..6 of us had many laughs with crew members...The spa was great and the service was always with a smile. We all had a lot of fun and can’t wait to do it again . My husband and I are going to book for next year. I couldn’t be happier or ask for anything more ...all our needs were taken care of. There were days when the waiters would just come and give you a cold water because it was so hot and they wanted you to be hydrated. Amazing time Laura Read Less

It was a last min cruise and I figured give Norwegian a try. I have cruised with another carrier many times and loved it. Had high hopes for this one. I was very disappointed. Most of the crew was unfriendly, kind of walked around like robots. The food was the worst part of the trip by far. The ships lay out is strange but since its an older smaller ship I guess that's how they built them then. Our room was good, the ship is clean. Our excursions were pretty good but no real order when time to disembark. They had us waiting in a construction zone in the Bahamas. A literal construction zone where they moved the fences for us to stand among reinforcing bar, bricks and holes. I have to say anything to do with the entertainment staff was great! I do not think I will cruise with them again, maybe if I got an incredible price and it was a much newer ship I may give a second chance other than that I wont. Read Less

We have cruised over 20 times. This was our first time on Norwegian. Very disappointed with the service in the dining rooms, it took over 2 1/2 hours for dinner service. Only one glass of wine and iced tea all dinner. The waiter never came back for another round of drinks, and we had the drink package. Food in the Garden Cafe was warm at best. The waffles were hard and cold, the scrambled eggs were hard and dry. Not a very appetizing presentation. The floors were almost always wet. The tendering operation at Great Sturrip Cay was a joke. We had to get tickets an hour before departing, then they called all the groups at the same time anyway. No impressed with Free Style Cruising at all very sloppy dressed people at dinner. Entertainment was good. Cabin Stewart was very good. We most likely will not be cruising with Norwegian again. Read Less