We took the 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise on the NCL Dawn in Feb 2019. This was our fifth NCL cruise in 5 years. We did take one seven day cruise on the Dawn five years ago. Also, two cruises on the Spirit, and a 14-day Panama Canal trip on the NCL Star, departing from Miami and landing in Los Angeles. Comments:

Food and service was generally excellent. The Venetian and Aqua have the same menu. We usually dined early, around 530-6 to get to the 7pm shows. O’Sheehan’s pub was perfect for quick breakfasts and lunches coming back from morning excursions. The meals were smaller, and they served a favorite Newcastle Brown on tap. The food is better quality and there is table service We had a few quick salads from the buffet, eaten by the pool and one quick grab and go breakfast on an early shore day. If we had a nine a.m. or later shore excursion, we took the time to have breakfast at the Venetian, MUCH better than the buffet. In the past we dined at the Chinese restaurant for lighter dinners. This cruise we ate there only once, since we had the 4 free upgrade dining package. Our speciality dining experiences were at Le Bistro for Valentines Day, La Cucina for Italian, Los Lobos for Mexican and Cagney’s. We would have gone back to Cagneys but by the time we checked it was sold out the entire cruise. We would have enjoyed a pool side grill out but none were offered.

Entertainment was about average, both in the evening shows and music in the Atrium and Gatsby’s. Both venues were similar to what we recall on past cruise. here was not a “special element” as visible as in past cruises. Maybe we have done too much cruising but we did skip a few of the evening shows, including Elements, that we’ve seen a few times already. The comedian, mentalist and magician were good. The ventriloquist was interesting. I’m sure the entertainment varies on each cruise. We did not take part in many of the Bliss lounge activities (Deal or No Deal, pull tabs, Bingo etc) and are not gamblers or dancers. We did enjoy the Newleywed game, always a hoot. I’d say our favorite evening activity was just to sip a drink and listen to music. Read more