Carnival Dream or Norwegian Dawn

Hi!

We are planning a cruise next April and are looking at either the dream or the dawn out of New Orleans. This will be our first cruise since having kids (we aren't going to be taking them with us) so I'm a little nervous.

We have cruised on carnival and Royal before, but not Norwegian. Has anyone been on both the Dream and the dawn? Since we aren't taking the kids with us, I'd rather a ship that is less kid friendly, but still with lots going on. I don't want to do Norwegian and get a bored, but it seems like it would attract less kids than carnival does. I think having lots of little ones on board will make us miss ours even more.

I think April is going to have a lot of kids due to spring breaks across the country. If you can go a different month (or maybe end of April) with kids in school, you will be able to avoid the kid crowds.

I was a little bored on the Dawn compared to the activities planned all day on the carnival ships. Dawn's fun activities were 50% seminars on selling you stuff...lol

The pool is extremely small and there are hoards of people all in one little area. That was funny on some days.

The specialty restaurants weren't really all that great for us, I wouldn't waste my money there if we go again.

The Dawn's sports bar is more like an Irish style whiskey pub and they had a cheese trivia event in there....lololol put pic of cheese up, "what cheese is this?" and there weren't even prizes for the winner. Some odd things on NCL.

I liked the suite and the suite perks better on the Dawn. I also like the casual cruising attire better than Carnival - no need to change for dinner on any night unless you want to.

I would choose carnival because of price and we have more fun on carnival ships in general.

I would definitely chose Dawn, much better entertainment and I felt much more to do.

We have sailed on both and would definitely pick the Dream. If the Dawn had been our first NCL cruise we would not have taken another cruise on that cruise line - the ship seemed dark and old to us, the food was not good (in our opinion), service was very poor in the dining rooms. The entertainment was excellent, but we have found that to be the case on NCL. The main thing I'd look out for on the Dream would be cabin choice - we had a cabin with a balcony directly overlooking a walkway, and because of the lights we could not see the ocean at night. Should we sail on the Dream again we'd pick a cove balcony or pay attention to exactly where our balcony was. We are interested in doing a New England cruise on NCL but decided against it this year because it would have been on the Dawn - that's how disappointed we were in that ship.

You should definitely pick a different month to on your cruise. I think no matter what ship you pick, there will be tons of kids. It's spring break! Good luck deciding.

Thanks for the responses! With my husband's job and out baby sitter situation, we are only able to go in April. There's a cruise leaving on April 23 on the Dream. I'm wondering if that'll be late enough to avoid spring break. Also, we were looking at a balcony room on deck 7 but I've been hearing about cove balconies.

If you're not sailing around Easter, the "tons" of spring break folks won't be "tons". Even if you are sailing on/through/over Easter if the cruise is longer than a week you'll see far less than tons.

That said, if I were to pick between the Dream and the Dawn (both of which are fine boats) I would do the Dream just for all it has to offer. Yes both CCL and NCL have their strengths/weaknesses, but IMO the Dream's strengths are greater than the Dawn's strength.

We have sailed on both and would definitely pick the Dream. If the Dawn had been our first NCL cruise we would not have taken another cruise on that cruise line - the ship seemed dark and old to us, the food was not good (in our opinion), service was very poor in the dining rooms. The entertainment was excellent, but we have found that to be the case on NCL. The main thing I'd look out for on the Dream would be cabin choice - we had a cabin with a balcony directly overlooking a walkway, and because of the lights we could not see the ocean at night. Should we sail on the Dream again we'd pick a cove balcony or pay attention to exactly where our balcony was. We are interested in doing a New England cruise on NCL but decided against it this year because it would have been on the Dawn - that's how disappointed we were in that ship.

Same here. If NCL would be our first cruise we would never cruise again.

Thanks for the responses! With my husband's job and out baby sitter situation, we are only able to go in April. There's a cruise leaving on April 23 on the Dream. I'm wondering if that'll be late enough to avoid spring break. Also, we were looking at a balcony room on deck 7 but I've been hearing about cove balconies.

Definitely try the cove! Been on sisters to Dream(Magic) and Dawn(Star) - Dream in a cove was a much better cruise for us than our dawn cruise in a Mini Suite. We did both of these cruises sans offspring.

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Thanks for the responses! With my husband's job and out baby sitter situation, we are only able to go in April. There's a cruise leaving on April 23 on the Dream. I'm wondering if that'll be late enough to avoid spring break. Also, we were looking at a balcony room on deck 7 but I've been hearing about cove balconies.

We have had balconies on the Lido, Panarama and EMpress on the Breeze and Magic and this last cruise we had a cove on the Breeze. We have also had a couple of suites(courtesy of a great upsell fairy) but I think our favorite is the Cove. Make sure you are not under the galley though - so check carefully when you book. We were in 2281 which was fantastic.

I have never been on the Dream but I have been on the Dawn and I wouldn't cruise on her again. There is very little room for evening entertainment except for in the main theatre. Once the show was done for the night you had one small lounge and a small pub. If you weren't in either of those early, you weren't getting in.

I have never been on the Dream but I have been on the Dawn and I wouldn't cruise on her again. There is very little room for evening entertainment except for in the main theatre. Once the show was done for the night you had one small lounge and a small pub. If you weren't in either of those early, you weren't getting in.

Very good to know. We like to hang out in pubs or lounges or anywhere there's live music, so I was hoping to have a few options.

We have had balconies on the Lido, Panarama and EMpress on the Breeze and Magic and this last cruise we had a cove on the Breeze. We have also had a couple of suites(courtesy of a great upsell fairy) but I think our favorite is the Cove. Make sure you are not under the galley though - so check carefully when you book. We were in 2281 which was fantastic.

I've never been that low before. How is it with motion sickness? I tend to get motion sick in a car but never have before on a ship.

If you're not sailing around Easter, the "tons" of spring break folks won't be "tons". Even if you are sailing on/through/over Easter if the cruise is longer than a week you'll see far less than tons.

 

That said, if I were to pick between the Dream and the Dawn (both of which are fine boats) I would do the Dream just for all it has to offer. Yes both CCL and NCL have their strengths/weaknesses, but IMO the Dream's strengths are greater than the Dawn's strength.

It's a 7 day cruise at the end of April. It looks like most spring breakers will be back in school by then.

I do want to have a lot of options so we aren't sitting around getting home sick. I've only ever done two other 7 day cruises and by the 6th day, I was ready to come back so I know with missing the kids, we'll be ready.

I have never been on the Dream but I have been on the Dawn and I wouldn't cruise on her again. There is very little room for evening entertainment except for in the main theatre. Once the show was done for the night you had one small lounge and a small pub. If you weren't in either of those early, you weren't getting in.

Just FYI: The Dawn has underwent a refurbishment since the time you went on her.

See: https://www.ncl.com/press-releases/norwegian-dawn-sets-sail-bermuda-new-ship

Definitely try the cove! Been on sisters to Dream(Magic) and Dawn(Star) - Dream in a cove was a much better cruise for us than our dawn cruise in a Mini Suite. We did both of these cruises sans offspring.

 

 

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Im looking at 2260 which is under the main bar area. It looks like theres a gap in the lifeboats above. Do you know if anything else is up there? Or would it just be open?

Wife and have been on Breeze upcoming cruise on Magic in April and the following April a b2b in a spa interior on the Dream and a spa balcony on the magic

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I've never been that low before. How is it with motion sickness? I tend to get motion sick in a car but never have before on a ship.

I thought it was amazingly smooth sailing. We even had a storm one night, and didn't notice a thing.

Also Dream is going to dry dock in February so some new features will be on by time you would sail on her.

Do you know what the new features are?

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No official word yet although was announced it will get Guy's Pig and Anchor in 2017, so maybe then. And the new connectivity is a guess also.

I'm hoping Guys burgers and blue iguana burritos

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That would be awesome! I think we're leaning more toward the Dream. To get a balcony cabin on the Dawn would be $1,100 more, but it would include alcohol and daily gratuities. I just don't think we'd spend that much in alcohol anyway.

I'm booked on the Dream April 9, 2017 in a spa interior, this will be my third cruise on the Dream. I was married on the Dream in 2010 and fell in love with the spa cabins last December! When we booked our cruise the rep from Carnival said for sure the rooms and common areas were getting re furbished in dry dock and the sushi bar was going away. As to what is going in its place he did not say. I did read somewhere about getting a Guys as well. The Indian place in the back of the ship is Delish! The buffet on this ship is disappointing but with so many other options on board it did not bother us. I have never sailed on the Dawn and can only speak for Carnival and RCC.

We got a spa balcony on Magic

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