We chose Norwegian to try the casual dining aspect and the itinerary was a new one for us. I had never been to New Orleans and with that being the departure port we were able to spend a few days there before the cruise. The Dawn had been recently refurbished so that also appealed to us.

Leading up to the cruise we took advantage of the cabin upgrade from a balcony room to the 2 bedroom suite, Compared to Holland, Norwegian is stingy with the extra services unless you go to their top tier rooms. With Holland you can do the mid level suites and get quite a bit more service included vs Norwegian. We also found Norwegian's customer service lacking empowerment to fix things. Having watched their CEO on Undercover Boss you can see how his cheap attitude filters down to the "little people". We had an issue with the phone agent being less than honest about a noise issue with one of the "upgrade" cabins and in the end were offered a whopping $25.00 room credit.

The room itself was fine inside except for the sofa being VERY uncomfortable and a sewer odor.. The sofa was designed for someone 6' 3" for some reason and the odor was taken care of with some treatment in the bathroom drains. . We were very disappointed in the balcony condition. The ship was supposedly refurbished less than a year ago and there was substantial visible rust on top and bottom railings which took away from the experience of paying for an upgraded room. Read more