GlamorousGirl

We just got back from a 7-day Western Caribbean cruise on the Dawn out of Tampa, and we were thrilled with the condition of the ship, service we received on board, and the fun that we had both on and off the ship. This was our second time on the Dawn, the first being last December.

We were very pleased with our oceanview cabin. I was disappointed that our upgrade bid wasn't accepted (last time we got upgraded from interior to balcony), but I kind of expected that because it was spring break week for a lot of colleges. Despite staying in our category, the cabin felt roomy compared to other non-balcony cabins we have had in the past, and we had so much storage space we couldn't even use half of it! We were happy to have a refrigerator in the room (some ships we've sailed on didn't even provide one!) The decor in the room was bright, colorful, and cheery and put a smile on my face the minute I walked in. The bathroom was cramped, but the temperature and water pressure in the shower were excellent. The bed was comfortable for a cruise ship bed.

The entertainment was amazing. There was a Vegas-style production show, acrobats, magic, and comedy, and the showroom was packed every time and for good reason. We liked the casino more than any of the other ships we've sailed on, and we also enjoyed the entertainment at the bars in the evening. Three of the excursions I took were tremendous fun - a horseback ride through underwhelming but still interesting Mayan ruins, a Segway ride through town and by the beach, and a dolphin encounter. But in Harvest Caye I wished I'd stayed at the port - the port was huge with 2 gigantic beaches and a pool with swim-up bar, parasailing, zip-lining, and tons of shopping. The excursion I took, in contrast, was supposed to be a wildlife encounter but I didn't really see any wildlife. I had been hoping to see some manatees as advertised, and not just the tip of their noses poking out of the water...

There is a dizzying array of dining options, both specialty and complimentary. There are 5 complimentary dining venues: 2 main dining rooms (Aqua and Venetian), an Asian restaurant (Bamboo), an Irish pub (O'Sheehan's), and the buffet (Garden Cafe.) I felt as though the food in the main dining rooms was not as good as last time. Some of what we were served tasted like it came from the frozen food aisle of the grocery store. But we had other options that did not. Bamboo and O'Sheehan's were hit-or-miss for us - we loved some of the items on the menu... and others not so much. But luckily the staff were happy to replace anything we weren't happy with until we found options we liked, and for sure we did. As for the buffet - we don't like ship buffets in general, on any cruise line, so we can't really comment on that. There is a huge selection and great views at the buffet if you don't mind the crowds. As for the specialty restaurants, they have been outstanding for us. I have had some of the best meals I've ever had in the specialty restaurants on the Dawn. La Cucina wasn't as good as it was last time (different chef that night?) but it was still great. Teppanyaki was very entertaining as well as delicious. Los Lobos had the best bartender and drinks on the ship in my opinion. And Cagney's Steakhouse blew us away.

The Thermal Suite was worth every penny. It includes a sauna, steam room, pool, 2 different Jacuzzi tubs, heated loungers, and a relaxation room. It was just what I needed after a long day of walking on the big ship and exerting myself on excursions, especially since I have osteoarthritis. It was never very crowded, and at night we practically had the place to ourselves. I slept very well after a blissful relaxation session in the Thermal Suite.

The lido deck was very crowded, and lines were long at the bars. Granted, it was Spring Break so this was really to be expected. It didn't bother us though because we found a nice quiet spot on the promenade deck with loungers, which was close to one of the less-busy bars. Waiter service on deck is limited - primarily close to the pool on the lido deck. Wait service was abundant on the interior of the ship at the bar tables, though. I particularly enjoyed The Cellars, the wine bar.

The ship is beautiful. It is extremely well maintained and I did not detect any sign of wear and tear. The decor is also fresh, modern, and trendy. We love the swimming fish on the carpets that tell you which way is forward and which way is aft, too! On a ship this size it's easy to get lost, so that helped!

If you vape or smoke, the Dawn is also a good ship for you. There is a cigar lounge that is very nicely furnished and extremely convenient to the action on the ship, right next to one of the bars and 2 restaurants and near the casino. Smoking is also allowed on the promenade deck on one side - our favorite place outside to relax and have peace and quiet. It is also allowed in the casino. We vape, and it was nice knowing we were not bothering others while still not feeling like we were being treated like second class citizens.

Service was excellent. I have seen other posts on these boards where people said their experience with service on Norwegian has been lacking, but that was not the case at all for us on this cruise. Staff was very friendly, courteous, and efficient. Two servers even remembered us from 3 months ago - I was very impressed!

I would definitely sail on the Dawn again, and definitely recommend the Dawn to anyone planning a cruise. I hope this review has been helpful.

I filmed a complete tour of the ship here:

[YOUTUBE]KaqPWBvwUew[/YOUTUBE]

My husband has mobility issues, so we called to get an accessible room and we were told all the accessible rooms were sold out for our sailing and we would have to take a regular room or pick another sailing date. This was 80 days out from the sailing. I would hate to think the rooms were sold out because people wanted the extra space while we needed the bathroom in the accessible for my husband.

My husband is disabled too so I also feel as though as long as there are open, comparable rooms still available for non-disabled people to book we appreciate it if they do so. I understand if they are the only rooms left and people book them, but given the option we would hope they would leave the accessible room available for someone who needs it when they can book the same category on another room.

We just sailed on the Dawn out of Tampa a couple of weeks ago. Check in with Norwegian was fast and painless, but getting to board the ship took a long time because customs took so long processing the people getting off the ship (government's fault, not Norwegian.) We got there before 10 and ended up having to wait until after noon to board anyway because of this. Of course, by then the number of people waiting to board was very backed up! So if you are open to the idea of boarding later I think you will be able to board a lot more efficiently. I was told by the company we parked with that Tampa has a small port and not enough customs agents - and based on my experience I don't doubt it.

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I am fairly new to YouTube (couple of months) but getting better (I hope!) I appreciate your support and thank you for watching!

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. We have not been on the same ship, but we have never had a bad experience on NCL and it is our favorite line.

Spring break weeks fall at different times for different schools, but I think you will miss most of them. I am a GMU student where it started March 10 (and I’m in the terminal getting ready to board my cruise today!) As for rowdy spring breakers, I plan on trying to behave myself (!) and hope the others don’t get too crazy. In my experience Carnival is more popular with the party-hard crowd so that will help.

Age limit?? I booked the Bliss because of the go karts and I am definitely not a child... I have always been able to use go karts elsewhere with no age or height limit so I can’t understand why they’d have one on the ship, but I may change plans if I find out we can’t use them.

They don't overbook the shows but at about 15 minutes before they start they release the standby line, so if you have a reservation and you're not in a seat by then, you may lose out. You need to get there before the standbys are allowed in. Obviously letting them in the second the show started wouldn't work, so they do it a bit before.

I was not impressed by the OPs complaint about this either. When I want to see a show I arrive early. This is generally how things work cruise or not. Getting to a show 15 minutes early (or even 30) is something I expect to do in being polite to make sure I get a seat before having to squeeze by people and make them get up, or, worse, block peoples view because the show started and I didn’t find a seat yet. I wait hours at the port to embark (EVERY line), 15 minutes in the showroom won’t kill me.

My counter advice to new cruisers is to sail on NCL and NOT Carnival. Every Carnival ship we have sailed on has been outdated and run down, we have never been offered lobster (that you say you were offered), and the food has been much worse with the exception of Blueiguana and Guys which don’t even stay open for dinner. The entertainment has been far, far better on NCL. We have also never had a fridge in our Carnival cabin, and they have always been cramped and poorly decorated. We love the Cabins on NCL. We also can actually enjoy the drink package on NCL because of the promotions, while on Carnival it is too expensive. I will sail on Carnival if it’s that or nothing, but given a choice I will take NCL every time. Princess second.

Thanks for the warning - the bathroom setup sounds like a total dealbreaker for us. We will not be sailing on Epic. Meanwhile, we are repeat NCL happy customers. I am responding to this at the Port of Tampa waiting to board the Dawn. We have cruised several lines and NCL is our favorite.

As for customer service, we have found that SOME employees do have the attitude you describe. But to us that’s still preferable to being on a run down ship with super friendly staff (our experience with one other line in particular...)

Seconding the anti age discrimination post, as a forty-something, married, college student (Senior at GMU) cruising tomorrow on spring break! I’ll try to behave myself...!

I prefer a balcony, with two main reasons. For one, I enjoy the peace and quiet and time away from the crowds while still getting to enjoy the view. Second, I am not a morning person, and the idea of setting my alarm extra early to get up and get dressed to go up on deck when we are arriving in port is not appealing. I'd rather stay in my pajamas and have my coffee and continental breakfast delivered to enjoy on my balcony until it's time to get ready for an excursion. I also enjoy being able to allow fresh air into the cabin. I can't always get one, but when I can I do.

New to YouTube posting and (hopefully!) getting better. Looking to regularly post cruise ship tours and excursion vlogs. Had a great time in Jamaica - even though I found Dunn's River Falls very challenging with osteoarthritis!

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I am VERY new to YouTube (about a month posting) and this was my first cruise ship tour video. I have learned a lot since I filmed and edited this video and am excited about using what I've learned since this was filmed to film the Norwegian Dawn this Sunday and the Carnival Pride next month. I have been trying to learn quickly so it will be interesting to see the difference when I come back in a couple of weeks! I am really hoping to be able to provide others with useful information to help them decide on their cruise ship and satisfy their curiosity before they sail!

This is the Carnival Sensation from about a month ago:

[YOUTUBE]BUbNeu7JVBk[/YOUTUBE]

I need some advice before my next cruise on Sunday regarding the GoPro Hero 5. I'm going on several excursions where I will probably need to be "hands free." Some I may also be required to wear the helmet provided by the excursion company. I purchased the helmet harness/mount for GoPro, but I am concerned there are parts that need to be affixed to the helmet so I won't be able to use it with the excursion company's helmets (and I doubt they allow you to bring your own - but if you know otherwise please let me know). Now I am thinking I need the chest harness for those excursions. One of them I will be required to wear a life jacket, and I don't know if that will be a problem or not.

If anyone has used these accessories with the GoPro on excursions I could use the advice. Do I need to buy the chest harness? Will it even work over a life jacket? When I don't need a helmet, how well does the head mount work with a backwards baseball cap? And has anyone had any problem with the excursion companies not allowing the camera on the excursion?

If it helps, I will be doing horseback riding (likely be given helmet), parasailing (likely be given helmet and life jacket?), segway (will be given helmet), and dolphin encounter (could wear baseball cap?)

Thanks for your help!

Email the Access Desk at accessdesk@ncl.com and tell them you will need wheelchair assistance for embarkation and debarkation. They will send you a form that needs to be completed and sent back to them. When you get to the terminal tell them that you need wheelchair assistance and they will take you anywhere you need to go, ie: MDR, buffet, wherever. There may be a wait if there are a lot of people needing assistance and/or there is a limited number of crew assigned.

My husband is disabled and I can also confirm this information is correct. They probably could accommodate you if you just showed up and asked for help, but to be on the safe side contact them in advance. Someone will help you get checked in, probably including skipping the lines, and onto the ship wherever you want to be dropped off. I have found them extremely efficient and helpful. Then you will be on your own until disembarkation until you make alternate arrangements for the rest of the cruise. NOTE: when you contact them to let them know you need wheelchair assistance they will limit the excursions that are available to sign up for. There were several I was able to sign up for that my husband was not.

Thanks for the update! We just got off the Dawn in December but out of San Juan, so I appreciate your feedback on Tampa where we will be sailing out of in about a week. I agree with you that the Dawn is a great ship (of course, or we wouldn't be sailing on it again!)

On my last NCL sailing, I was upgraded 2 weeks in advance to a balcony. This time I am sailing in about a week and still haven't heard anything yet so I am getting worried my bid was inadequate.

Unlike every other line I have sailed on, it is not included. I find this extremely disappointing. I also find it very illogical that they won't charge for a drink with alcohol that would ordinarily cost more, but not a specialty coffee which carries a lower price tag than the alcoholic beverage. Makes no sense. Guess they prefer I order a Bloody Mary in the morning and cost them more money instead. NCL is still my favorite line, but this, and the fact that sparking water is not included, are the 2 things that bother me the most. As much as I love specialty coffee and visit Starbucks regularly at home, I don't order the coffee on NCL to protest the fact that it is not included in the beverage package.

Definitely worth it for us. It's one of the reasons (not the only reason) Norwegian is our favorite line to sail. The cost of the beverage package is usually prohibitively expensive for us, so Norwegian is the only line we always get to enjoy unlimited drinks. I'm not a heavy drinker but I like to try new drinks and not have to worry about a big bill at the end of the cruise. As for the specialty dining - we have found the specialty restaurants outstanding and well worth it as well.

I'm all for not being uptight about every little thing, but riding to the wrong floor to placate rude idiots seems a little doormat-like to me, lol. I deal with the NYC subway every day. We just shove past.

I agree! Why reward people for behaving badly?! I would do what I had to do to get on and off the elevator where it suits my needs, not those of rude people who think they have a monopoly on the elevator!

Going to Alaska out of Seattle on the Bliss this August!

Some of the specialty restaurants get booked up very early. For example, Cagney's on the first sea day at dinnertime, you'd have to have booked months in advance on the last two sailings I have had booked. If you have your heart set on a particular restaurant, time, and night, I would book online as soon as possible rather than taking the chance. I also saw a number of people with no reservation try to get seated at different restaurants and be given a long wait time or turned away. I always make reservations as soon as it becomes available. You do not get charged anything up front.

I think this is pretty standard policy, not only on cruise ships but land-based resorts, regarding these type of accommodations. Luckily you can find pictures, reviews, and video tours online with a quick search, and hopefully that will give you the information you are looking for. I understand not wanting to shell out that much without seeing what you are getting first.

When you think cruising 365 days a year would just barely be enough...

Loved all your great responses! I resembled a number of the replies!