Rather than socks and sweaters, we decided to give our family a cruise this year to build some quality memories. This was our first cruise on NCL, having been on several other trips with Holland America, Princess, Carnival and Cunard. We are not cruise snobs, but certainly not newbies, either. As others have noted, the Dawn is a little tired, but overall clean. However, the smaller size of the Dawn is a big plus, making it feel less crowded overall.

We had a balcony room, which had an oddly placed table and the door was extremely heavy and difficult to open. Our kids had outside view cabins on a lower deck, but had issues with noise and smoke coming from the casino and cigar bar areas. Again, these rooms were adequate, but not outstanding.

The biggest disappointment was the port of Harvest Caye. I get why NCL built this property, and they spent allot of money doing it. However, there is very little to do: jet skis were inoperable or not offered, paddle boards and other water craft were restricted to a very small area, life guards harping at everyone to stay off a small jetty and to get off the beach swim area due to "foam in the water"? While it is an NCL only island, you cannot use your cruise card or credits for anything while there. Spent over $200 for lunch and drinks for 6 people...and, unless you walk back to the ship, you have no other place to go. Read more