I am writing to all you mothers out there with young children! My advice is to stay home rather than to be cramped in these extremely small cabins for 7 days where you lose your sanity!!! If you are someone who likes to spend time in your cabin, or someone who has children, make sure you have enough money to book a suite or don't go!
When my husband and I booked this cruise for April (Easter) vacation, we investigated the cabin size and services provided on the Norwegian Dawn. We read that the cabins were average to above average in size and that this new "freestyle cruising" was the best idea for families that decide to go on a cruise. We booked an Oceanview Stateroom with a Balcony. Our room was 166 square feet. I thought this would be an OK size for our family because other ships had much smaller cabins and I figured 166 square feet was spacious by comparison.
After an hour and 1/2 of waiting on lines to enter the ship, we were pointed in the direction of our stateroom. I had held my 2 year old for nearly two hours while my husband lugged our bags, stroller, playpen (which we brought to use as a crib)to our stateroom. When we entered the room, our jaws dropped! This stateroom was not even big enough to hold our luggage comfortably! The bed was what looked like a "full" sized bed rather than a queen. My daughter was not old enough to sleep on the sofa, but there was no room to open it up anyway! The only room that you have to stand is in the place that the sofa bed opens up, which is right in front of the balcony doors.