Norwegian Dawn Review
Don't Believe What You Read Until You Experience NCL for Yourself
Rating by category
Additional details
Our review is for the Norwegian Dawn sailing for 10 to 17 January 2017. This would be our first NCL cruise after three cruises on Royal Caribbean. Prior to sailing we read the recent Cruise Critic reviews about the Dawn and thought we signed on for a bad trip. Both cruise lines have their style for their brand. I had to stop comparing the two once we got on board to enjoy the cruise for what it would be. I'm very glad I did. Those who have a problem with what the NCL Dawn provides must expect a whole lot more pampering than what they deserve. We were bowled over and impressed by most everything on the Dawn.
Hotel: We stayed at the Omni Riverfront Hotel the night before the cruise. A great choice and would stay there again. NOTE: The port is directly across the street from this hotel.
Embarkation: Our hotel was across the street from the NOLA Julia Street cruise port entrance. Signs guided us easily to where we needed to go. Baggage staff took our luggage outside the port entrance and allowed us to enter the building with that process complete. Hundreds of people entering the port at the same time added a bit of stress until we all made it through security screening. We moved onto the check-in process for NCL which became a two line event. NCL Lattitude members went to the left line and new cruisers moved the right line. Penthouse/suite guests were provided special check-in processing. WE finished a very organized NCL check-in process and proceeded to board the Dawn. This whole process lasted 45 minutes (front door of port to stepping on the ship).
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Balcony
We had a mid-ship cabin (9088) that was ready for our arrival when we opened the door at 12:40 pm. The cabin was a bit smaller than we expected. However, the full walk-in shower with sliding door was worth the loss of space (dry bathroom floor- yeah!!). Our cabin steward Januar did an outstanding job attending to our needs all week. Still don't know how he could clean the room so fast after we left each time. We enjoyed the nightly towel animals he made too! TV channels are limited to NCL channels, ESPN, all cable news channels, a Favorite TV channel (sitcoms, HGTV and etc programs), and two feature movie channels.
Port Reviews
Belize City
This tour is part of the cave tubing experience. We learned about many plants and trees that are native to Belize. A good combination of tours. Elvis our guide was highly knowledgeable of the things he showed us. We walked not more than 30 minutes. The trail is a little rough (rocks/stones) if you only have water shoes on your feet.
Roatan
We rented a taxi for a two hour narrated ride around half of the island. We had a great time our driver Dugard Connor.
Costa Maya
We made our own fun. We checked Trip Adviser for things to do in Mahahual. The recommendations were 100% spot on. Four of us took a taxi to Mahahual for $8.00 one way plus tip. We made a reservation at the Tropicante Bar & Grill and got a table under coco trees for the day. Great beverages, food, and massages under the trees. There's a white sand beach for easy access to the blue water. The Tropicante owner Steve checked in with us throughout our time there. We plan to came back to the Tropicante some day. It was that good!