Norwegian Dawn Review
Rating by category
Additional details
This is my first review for CruiseCritic but not my first cruise. I have been on four previous cruises (five if you count the Disney cruise I went on when I was 10) before this one. My first one of my adult life was with Princess (can't remember which one, sorry) and then all since have been Norwegian. The first was an Eastern Caribbean cruise with six friends on the Sun. Then my honeymoon on the Pride of Hawaii. Then it was with my husband in the Western Caribbean on the Pearl. And then, again with the hubby, this 5 day (too short) Western Caribbean on the Dawn. We picked this cruise partially for the great cost but also because this was going to be our first trip away from our son and we thought a 5 day was a good first time 'abandonment.'
EMBARKATION
We flew into Fort Lauderdale because we're fans of Southwest and stayed in the Comfort Inn Airport Cruise Port South which offered a sleep and cruise package for the Port of Miami. We got exactly what we paid for. The hotel wasn't luxurious or anything but we got a bed for the night. Plus two free drinks at the bar. And free breakfast, which was inedible (Broken waffle makers! The horror!). And then right on time, transport to the port. There were probably 300 people at the hotel on Sunday morning waiting for transport to the Ft. Lauderdale port and from what we could hear, they were running pretty late. So I can't give any advice on them for FLL but for Port of Miami, they were right on time and perfect. We got to the port around 1:00pm and the lines were a mile long. About 20 minutes to get through security then another 40 minutes to actually check in. That was kinda annoying but nothing out of the ordinary for getting on board. We walked right into the Grand Atrium where there were plenty of stations to get wine packages, sign up for tours, or make reservations for dinner. But no one hounded us or anything. It was easy to do what we wanted to, which was make reservations at Cagney's for my birthday. We went to our cabin, dropped off our stuff and then headed to the buffet for lunch. We had wanted to eat in the Venetian but they closed at 2pm. Overall, except for the long wait, very smooth.
Cabin Review
Mid-Ship Mini-Suite with Balcony
The cabin was great, just about everything we needed. My only complaint about the mini-suite was that there are only 2 drawers and they are tiny tiny tiny! The closet is big enough for everything you need but I like to put things in drawers. I managed though. The location was nice, close to the stairs but not too close to hear everything. However, we were right across from the crew stairwell and the storage closet. So we would hear that door slamming occasionally and the steward's cart was often right outside out door. This wasn't an inconvenience at all, just something to note. We were also apparently right under a huge walk-in freezer for the buffet so in the morning, we would hear stuff going on above us. Nothing too bad.