My husband and I cruised on the Norwegian Dawn to Bermuda last week (May 3, 2009). I am 32 and my husband is 38. This was our first cruise with Norwegian. Together, we have cruised once on Carnival. My husband has cruised with his family on Carnival and Celebrity. I found the Cruise Critic website when I was searching for reviews of the Norwegian Dawn and my husband and I had a lovely cruise thanks to all of your reviews. We knew exactly what to search out and what to avoid before we even boarded. Thanks to everyone who posted a review. They were invaluable.

Embarkation: We live 15 minutes from NYC, so my in-laws dropped us off at the pier at 11:00 a.m. We left our 4 bags with the baggage handler (as well as a nice tip) and headed into the terminal. Not many passengers were arriving this early, so there really weren't any lines to wait on. There was more than enough terminal and Norwegian staff to usher us from one step to the next. The whole process took about 15 minutes. We were given a Freestyle Daily and directed to a waiting area until boarding began at 12:15. When we stepped on board, we were warmly greeted with our choice of champagne or orange juice. My husband and I found our way to the Venetian (main dining room) and sat down to a lovely lunch with our champagne still in hand. By dessert, the announcement was made that the cabins were ready (about 1:30).

Stateroom: Our cabin was a mid-ship obstructed oceanview on deck 8. I had purchased the Anniversary Package (more on that later) and a bottle of chilled champagne and 5 small chocolate covered strawberries were waiting on the table for us. The cabin was very clean. The size was a bit of a shock at first but we quickly got used to the small accommodations. There is a lot of storage space - very large closet with space for hanging things and shelves inside, 6 drawers for clothes, quite a few shelves scattered around. We managed to find space for all of our things (and we are heavy packers). Our 4 suitcases all fit inside one another and took up only half of bottom of the closet. The bathroom was a nice size and there was plenty of storage space for toiletries, one shelf over the sink and two below. Our cabin stewards, Reginald and his assistant, Sammy?, introduced themselves within the first few minutes of our arrival. We were always greeted by name and we always received a friendly hello from our stewards. The guys did a wonderful job and any request that we made was taken care of immediately. We got towel animals 4 of the 7 nights and cabin was made up and turned down every day and night. We never had to request fresh towels. Reginald was right on top of everything. From reading reviews prior to sailing, we knew to bring an adaptor since there is only one American outlet and our travel alarm clock/sound machine. Always make sure that the curtains are closed prior to changing because (trust us) the staff do check those life boats. One thing to note, there is a lot of creaking and tapping in the cabin. Light sleepers, I suggest bringing a sound machine. We used ours every night and still heard noises throughout the night. We both found the bed to be very comfortable. Read more