Dawn review 6/17-6/24

Better late than never? It’s taken me a couple of weeks to write this review, but I wanted to put it out there anyway.

Our profile: My sister and I (ages 25 & 28) took the Norwegian Dawn Bermuda/Bahamas cruise from New York on June 17th-24th. We both had a really great time! Both of us had cruised before on RCCL with our parents as young pre-teens but she hadn’t cruised since, and I had only sailed on small, intimate sailing ships since then.

Embarkation and the first hours on board: Embarkation was not bad at all. We got there a little after 11, I think, and were directed to sit in the big waiting area because they had already finished pre-check-in. We sat and waited probably 30-40 minutes and then they took the Latitudes members in and then started letting us in row by row. Luckily, we had sat in the 2nd row, so we were toward the beginning. We went right up to the counter (no line) and were checked in lickity-split! It couldn’t have been easier. We were on by noon or so, and were told our cabins would be ready after 2. We went and had lunch at the Venetian, which opened at 12:30 so we had to wait for a few minutes until they did. We stopped at the reception desk on the way and asked for the week’s menus so we could plan when we wanted to make reservations at some of the specialty restaurants.

The Dawn is stunning – so clean and new; they really take care of it and you wouldn’t know she’d been sailing for almost 4 years now. And it’s SO BIG! I still got turned around a bit even toward the end of the cruise, but for the most part you figure out where everything is by day 2 or 3.

After lunch at the Venetian, we went to make our reservations for the week, since we knew we wanted to eat at Salsa and at Le Bistro. We just walked to each restaurant and someone was there taking reservations. It was no problem.

Then we went to check out the spa and Kristin volunteered to be a model for the demo treatments they were doing in the afternoon. They asked her to come back at 2:00 and they would give her a free seaweed wrap and mini-massage! So she did, while I went to the cabin to drop our carry-on bags off and then I walked around the ship for a while. She said that the treatment was really nice – and of course, for free, you can’t beat that! So if you get on board early the first day and want a free spa treatment, make sure to stop by and ask if they want volunteers. Of course, you’ll have people walking through and have to hear the staff explaining the treatments to people, but Kris said it was still very relaxing.

Cabin: Being young and cheap, we went for the least expensive cabin possible – cat. N guaranty – and ended up with a very nice inside cabin on deck 10 right by the aft staircase. The location was great for walking between decks… we would mostly go up to 12, or down to 6 or 7, so the walk was easy. The cabin wasn’t huge, but it was actually bigger than I expected. The bathroom was a nice size, but then, I live in New York City, so my bathroom at home isn’t much bigger! My sister, who lives in the suburbs, wasn’t as impressed with the size of the cabin or bathroom as I was as a city-dweller, so I guess my standards are not high.

Food: I thought the food was pretty good! No, it is not the best food I have ever tasted and I have to admit being pretty disappointed with Salsa (Mexican is my FAVORITE, but I found the food here just so-so), but I never downright disliked anything. Favorites: The French toast (which I had for breakfast in the Venetian nearly every day!) was amazing, don’t miss it! Also, the soufflé desserts in the main restaurants (I think there are at least 3 throughout the week… a Grand Marnier soufflé at the beginning of the week, a chocolate soufflé, and something else) were great. And our dinner at Le Bistro was the winner of the week. We weren’t sure if we wanted to spend the $15 cover charge, but it was well worth it because it was our favorite meal for the whole cruise. I also have to say that I enjoyed lunching (or snacking) at the Blue Lagoon. For some reason, the hot dogs tasted SO good to me (maybe because I don’t eat hot dogs very often in my “real life” so they are such a summer vacation food!), and also the fish & chips were great. Least favorite: the buffet (Garden Café). To be fair, we only ate one breakfast there, and never for lunch/dinner (that was a conscious choice). It just didn’t look appealing at all – it reminded me of a high school cafeteria. I much preferred the atmosphere of the Venetian – “let me put the napkin in your lap for you” service! We ate at all the main restaurants at least once, but the Venetian was our favorite.

Ports: We didn’t choose the cruise for the ports, and they were fine. I’d never been to Bermuda, and wasn’t as enchanted with it as some are. We spent much of the day just shopping and walking around in Hamilton, and then went to Horseshoe Bay for a short time. The beach was really beautiful. Nassau was pretty lame, but I actually had a great time at Great Stirrup Cay (which I wasn’t expecting to like at ALL!). We got there a bit later in the morning than we expected so we didn’t get on the beach until almost 11 but it was SO nice and beautiful. We brought corn flakes to feed the fish as per the great advice on this board and I bought an underwater camera on the beach and got some AMAZING pictures of all the fish! It was quite cool.

Pool area: I see what everyone means by “chair hogs”. I think it’s so rude that people would clearly just put towels on chairs and leave for hours at a time. We had difficulty a few times finding chairs ANYWHERE on deck (not just near the pool), but toward the end of the week we found that it was just as pleasant to sit on the sides of the pool in the shallow-water area reading a book. On the last day, however, they lowered the water level in the pool so you couldn’t do that.

Entertainment/Activities: We went to most of them, and found them to be about what we expected – cheesy but entertaining. Second City was great – we loved it, and went to their mainstage show, their later show at the Spinnaker, and their improv. seminar. The magician show was PACKED (I guess it appeals to many) but I thought it was the worst one I saw. I was more impressed with Bollywood than I thought I would be. The crew show would have been worth skipping, but the “Fountains” gig was hysterical to me for some reason. We went to a few of the game shows (the Newlywed game, the Quest), and they were amusing but horrifically cheesy and quite heterosexist (when the big gag is having men dress up in women’s apparel, or having two women go up and kiss, or two men hold hands and skip together?). That was a little lame and disappointing for a New York-based ship in the 21st century, I thought.

Some of our favorite activities on board were the martini and margarita clinics. The martini clinic was good and you got more “tipsy”, but I like the atmosphere of the margarita clinic better, since they seat you all together in a big circle which allows for more talking with other people. At the martini one, it was more spread out into separate parties and we didn’t really get to mingle with others much.

We also did the Murder Mystery dinner which was pretty fun – Kris enjoyed it more than I did, I think. I was the only one to guess who the murderer was, though.

Oh, we were also pretty disappointed with the Chocolate Buffet. It was not worth the hype (and the line!).

Casino: I love to play in the casino, though I’m not a HUGE risk-taker, so I loved that most of the blackjack tables were $5 as opposed to most land-casinos I’ve been to where if you find a $10 table you’re lucky, most being at least $15. I still lost quite a bit in the casino (over $200). I guess that’s a lot for me, but not for the Casinos at Sea program, since I was in the casino at least an hour or so every day, but didn’t even get one point on my card. I thought that was a little weird. I thought I would at least get a point or two. Oh well.

Disembarkation: We did the express and waited in the Pearly Kings pub until we could get off. We got in late to NY due to engine maintenance, so disembarkation didn't start until nearly noon. It was a bit crowded, but not horrible at all. I'd definitely recommend doing the express disembarkation if you can.

All in all – we had a GREAT time the whole week long! The staff was awesome and friendly (and patient and hard-working!). The weather was SO agreeable and we had bright sunshine nearly every single moment. I loved Freestyle cruising and the ability to eat where/when you want and with whom. I don’t think I would like a traditional cruise atmosphere as much. I enjoyed this cruise so much that just a couple of days ago, I booked another cruise on NCL – on the Spirit the first week of August! – with my significant other, this time. Hope it will be just as great as this one was!

Thanks for the review. I'm going on the Dawn in October with my DH and DD and I can't wait!

Nice review! I was on the cruise that you came off of...our embarkation was longer than yours due to the fact that your ship pulled in late but no big deal. I have to say I share your opinions on many things and I'm older than you so I'm glad to see that age wasn't a factor in our views on things! LOL...I posted my review a couple of days ago...I'm sure you'd see the similarities as well!

Better late than never is right...you will find almost all CCers have insatiable appetites when it comes to information!!! :)

Sounds like you had a blast! We're the same age as you and leaving on Saturday. Question: what time did the bars/lounges stay open until/serve booze?

Thanks!:D

The bars and lounges stay open until everyone leaves!! Have fun with that!! Do you have an email address? Could you email me jmb_20@hotmail.com? I can answer any questions you have. I have friends going out on this cruise date too.

Ennjay, nice review--thanks so much. I was on the Dawn a couple of years ago and I still love hearing about it!

You and your SO will LOVE the Spirit--beautiful, gorgeous, lovely, pretty, awesome, etc. Slightly smaller so you probably won't ever get turned around as you did (and as I did!) on the Dawn.

Both ships are great--how lucky you can go right back out!