Norwegian Dawn Review

Good time on the Norwegian Dawn out of New Orleans

Review for the Western Caribbean Cruise on Norwegian Dawn
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debway
2-5 Cruises • Age 2020s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Apr 2017
Cabin: Mid-Ship Balcony
Traveled with children

Yes, there were good and bad sides to the cruiseship and it's staff, but overall we really enjoyed our trip. We encountered some really bad service, and we found some good. My husband was treated rudely by the staff in the spa/fitness center on the 1st sea day - did not start him off on a good impression. We were planning on putting money down towards another Norwegian cruise, but unfortunately he felt the service on Norwegian was not as good as on Royal Caribbean, so we may cruise them instead. We also had horrible experiences 2 mornings in the Venetian room for breakfast. The service was incredibly slow, the food took forever, and then it was wrong when it appeared. We complained and they kept trying to make it up to us throughout the rest of the trip, but they kind of failed. First of all, nobody gave a real apology - kept offering excuses. It took several days and several reminders that they needed to apologize before someone truly did. They kept sending shrimp to our cabin (I guess in an apology), but we are allergic to shellfish! So we couldn't eat it. Then they sent a really bad wine (we are from wine country in California) with a generic "hope you enjoy your cruise" note - still not an apology. Eventually they did manage to get us an ok bottle of wine at dinner, and an officer came by and completely apologized.

The ship was wonderful and we had fun exploring all the places to eat and drink on board. Our cabin was a good size (balcony cabin on the 10th floor), though the lack of US outlets was really a bummer. Luckily we had brought extension cords. There is only ONE US outlet (just one, not two) and it was on the opposite side of the room from the bed. Made it tricky for us to run our 2 cpap machines which are next to the bed. As well as charge our phones and devices. Luckily the extension cords and dual charger were very helpful. Our cabin steward was awesome and always around to help us out - getting into the kids' room, etc. Good towel animals every night, and it was kept nice and clean. Loved sitting out on our balcony watching the water. There was quite a bit of noise from above our rooms (10650, 10652 and 10656) that must have come from chairs scraping in the Garden Buffet. That was a bummer, but I didn't let it distract me too much from my vacation.

We enjoyed most of our meals, though we didn't think Teppenyaki was very good. The "show" was great, but the food was blah. Cagney's was excellent as was Los Lobos (we ate there twice!). We had great experiences in Aqua when we could get Greshen from Nicaragua as our server. She is amazing! She even had the chef's honor my request for a bread pudding dessert one night. We never ate at the buffet as that is not my thing, though our teens were there a lot. Bamboo Garden was delicious and they did a very tasty tofu stir-fry for my vegetarian daughter. And the sushi was top notch.

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Balcony

Cabin BA

Decent amount of space. I liked the bathroom with the separate shower, sink area and toilet room - 3 compartments. Best bathroom I've been in. Hated the lack of US plugs - ridiculous to only have 1 and on the opposite side from the bed. Balcony was great for watching the sea. Noisy in the am from scraping chairs in the buffet.

Port Reviews

New Orleans

Love New Orleans! Such a fun and cool city. We just explored on our own as we had been there before. Stayed at the Saint hotel in the French Quarter and I would recommend that.

Harvest Caye

We splurged and treated ourselves to one of the private cabanas on Harvest Caye. After a crazy adventure the day before, we were happy to just relax and chill out. We loved the airconditioning, free wifi, butler service, hammock and lounge chairs. The water was incredibly warm. The island is very clean and fun to wander around. We knew this wasn't a real Belize stop, but we plan on going there on a longer vacation to get it all in another time, so we were good just hanging out. Our only complaint is that the day was too short - we had to be on the ship early, and it didn't leave for hours after. Would have loved to enjoy more time in the cabana and on the island.

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