I have never been on a cruise ship that ignored passengers more than this crew for the Norwegian Dawn. My husband and I do not drink alcohol, but in order to get any kind of service for poolside drinks, we had to rely on people who had beverage packages to order even a simple water for us. We were told that drinks like water or iced tea can be obtained from the Garden Cafe, a full deck below and the opposite end of the ship where we were sitting. Bartenders rarely got drink orders correct, but freely offered the mistake drinks to anyone who would take them. Then still wouldn't bring the correct drinks for another 30 minutes or more.

I will say my husband and I are also smokers. The smoking section, while somewhat large, was only accessible via stairs. The Bimini bar attached to the smoking section would close randomly between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. without notice even though there were 20 people sitting at the tables enjoying themselves. Two passengers actually made an appointment with the assistant food and beverage manager to talk to them about keeping the bar open (along with other issues). Also, spills or trash on tables in the smoking area were ignored for hours or even overnight. There wasn't even a trashcan on Deck 13 for us to clean up ourselves. So we made a habit of bringing up wet napkins from the Garden Cafe to wipe down the tables ourselves every morning. Not even kidding. We cleaned up the smoking area ourselves for a good week before anyone in management noticed passengers cleaning tables and freaked out.

The food was subpar and tasted exactly the same no matter where you went, with the exception of the Italian specialty restaurant. When you serve food that you bill as Mexican, there's a certain flavor profile associated with the food. Everything was so bland, we tried to make it a game to guess what you were eating. We all failed. Read more