Norwegian Dawn Review
Great destinations, poor communication and lack of transparency
Rating by category
Additional details
Overview (C):
We rated each category A-F based on our experience on the NCL Dawn. Overall the ship was okay... nothing exceptionally glamorous but not terrible either. Our main issue with the Dawn was terrible communication and transparency especially when it came to logistical problems such as boarding the ship (which took over two hours and we were there at our allotted time) and two different tender ports which precluded us from getting off the ship for the first two hours. People on Cruise Critic talk about the layout being confusing and not as easy as more updated cruise ships and they are correct. We LOVED all the ports and had great excursions. If you are a loyal NCL cruiser and like smaller ships, you will love the Dawn. All the people we met that like "less crowds, smaller ships, NCL perks, etc." loved it. But, if you are more loyal to Royal Caribbean or Princess and slightly larger ships (ex. Princess Royal at 142K tons and holds 3600 people or RC Adventure of the Seas at 137K tons and holds 3100 people vs Dawn 92K tons and holds about 2300 people), you will likely be disappointed.
Dinning (C-):
Cabin Review
Family Balcony
The cabin itself was a little nicer than the pictures since it has a big mirror behind the bed. It is towards the back of the ship and had more room in the bathroom/shower since it was a family balcony. Great view (not obstructed). Close to elevators - 2 floors up to spa - 3 floors up to gym and Garden Café (main buffet for all meals) and Mexican restaurant - 3 floors down to Venetian (main dinning room). We did not hear engine noises unless we were docking and outside on our balcony. The TV is very small and if you want to watch TV at night, there are only three channels. All movies are $9.95 to rent - no free movies. The navigation channel is more antiquated than on other cruise lines and if there was a port-information channel, we never seemed to find it at the right time of day.
Port Reviews
Newport
Beautiful port! The sailboats in the harbor are amazing and the Breakers/coastline is not to be missed with all the beautiful mansions.
New York (Manhattan)
We packed a lot in the day before the cruise and saw some spectacular iconic NY attractions.