NCL Dawn - Why So Many Poor Reviews?

[che5904]

Just returned yesterday, I will work on a sort of review once I return home from Tampa, mid week.

 

I didn't think anything could top our cruises to date, but I have to say this one did. Excellent cruise, excellent crew.

[jd1966]

We took our second NCL cruise (out of 23) on the Dawn in January and we had a great time! The overall service and staff were excellent and the ship was in very good shape (not perfect but perfectly acceptable). We had one incident at the MDR due to multiple large special parties that made us rather unhappy! However, the good folks at La Cucina stepped up and switched our scheduled reservation for another night to that night and we dined there. Good recovery NCL!

 

Take your cruise and decide for yourself if NCL is for you!

[Barb Nahoumi]

We had two great cruises aboard the Dawn, one to Bermuda and one repo cruise from Tampa abck to Boston.

 

I definitely enjoyed this ship, and look forward to sailing on her again. Maybe a repo to NO, when she relocates there, will interest me.

[mostrow]

We just spent three weeks on the Dawn. Fantastic. Yes, if you want to dine at 6:30-7:30 pm in the main dining room, you will have to wait. 8:00 it was empty. They do give you a pager and a coupon for a drink at any bar while you wait. We were able to make a nightly reservation at the same table each night at 7:00 pm. 21 days on the ship, we ate on the MDR 12 nights. The rest we enjoyed the other dining options. Thought the $ 119.00 dining upgrade was a super value. Moderno was our fav. Don't be discouraged by one post that they had to wait 45 minutes. They were set on a certain premium dining slot. But, I do agree, its There time Dining when they give you a pager. You are on vacation. Our cabin was in great condition and we had a very good room stewart.If you go to the Venetian MDR, ask for SanBoy as your waiter. He is fantastic. Best of our 104 cruises. We thought the food was way over the level of Royal and Carnival. Five years ago, we paid twice than today for a 7 day cruise. Just add in the $ 119.00 and have fun. Explore and enjoy.

[hladygirl]

I have been on the Dawn 3x in the past two years. Had a great time on all of them. The crew on the Dawn are awesome. I'm just getting tired of the Dawn. ncl needs to give Boston a different ship just for variety factor.

[Winston Wolf]

Hi. We just booked a trip on the Norwegian Dawn travelling in April. We are very excited about this trip. We like to try new ships. However, we are concerned about the numerous negative reviews/comments about this ship on this message board.

 

I hope some of you will share your thoughts with me on what we can expect. I have a 12 year old girl with my husband with me on this trip. We booked a suite so I am hoping that takes away some of the challenges that I see people complaining about but I could be wrong on that.

 

We have never said on NCL before. We have been on Royal Caribbean and Princess before also.

 

Any info you could share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Really? From what I can recall, everyone on CC raves about the Dawn.

[MAMATAMA]

we have been on the Dawn several times and have had no problems, we loved it…service has always been great.

[newmexicoNita]

Hi. We just booked a trip on the Norwegian Dawn travelling in April. We are very excited about this trip. We like to try new ships. However, we are concerned about the numerous negative reviews/comments about this ship on this message board.

 

I hope some of you will share your thoughts with me on what we can expect. I have a 12 year old girl with my husband with me on this trip. We booked a suite so I am hoping that takes away some of the challenges that I see people complaining about but I could be wrong on that.

 

We have never said on NCL before. We have been on Royal Caribbean and Princess before also.

 

Any info you could share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

just a quick comment here: I just checked the review section and the past 2 months; 14 reviews have given the Dawn ratings of 4 or 5 stars, only 3 with 2 stars and 8 with three. Some of the negatives have to do with the debarkation/embarkation problems in Tampa. I don't think indicates there have been a lot of negative reviews. I would suggest you read the reviews posted to get a better, overall opinion.

[Demonyte]

Really? From what I can recall, everyone on CC raves about the Dawn.

 

There were some very poor reviews because of the immigration issues while disembarking in late November and early December. For some one bad experience at the end of the cruise is enough to call the whole week a disaster and write NCL off completely (even though the ultimate reason was with lack of resources and planning by CBP -- once they got things coordinated with NCL there have been no complaints).

Edited February 17, 2014 by Demonyte

[aimathy]

I mentioned this briefly in my other post, but I just wanted to reiterate that you need to just read what people loved or hated and then compare it to what your needs will most likely be.

 

For example, My Time Dining is touted as a restaurant-like experience where you can just walk in when you're in the mood. I thought that sounded great compared to being set at a certain time and not having flexibility with your evening. But here's the catch....we had two little ones with us (3 and 5). Routine in most families would dictate that most little children eat dinner after 5:30 and before 7:30. No matter what time we showed up during that two hour span, we waited over an hour or an hour and a half....with hungry 3 and 5 year olds! Not fun for anyone. :) Now yes, if you're a couple or have older kids, you can leisure stroll around with your free drink coupon and it isn't the end of the world. But every single night we had to wait for that long. Nobody really mentions that alot, because for most people it doesn't affect them much. If you're a family with children, this can make or break most nights for you. Then, by the time we waited we usually missed the early show AND most of the late show, so that wasn't even fun for us adults. So, if you know what is important to you and with whom you're cruising, it helps in your decision.

 

Another example would be the staterooms. We were in a lowly two person inside cabin...the lowest of the low. :) My parents graciously paid for our trip, so I can't complain much....but the cabin was not nice compared to the other cruise lines we've sailed. (And we are usually in inside cabins just to save money for excursions!) Now if you're in a suite, or a higher up cabin...the rooms looks AMAZING. Of course I'd have no complaints! I saw those rooms from the hallway!! :D But our rinky dink inside room? We had dirty sheets at least twice, dirty caked on the counter tops, broken wood, scraped shower base etc, etc. So for us, it wasn't a plus for NCL.

 

If you don't sail with children...you won't care what they say about the kids clubs. If you DO sail with kids...what they say can make or break your trip!! I will say though that we sailed during a week that had only 40 kids TOTAL. So it was very different than a sailing with 600 kids....for better and worse. Again, your week will differ from others and some of the good will happen for you and some of the bad will happen for you. Just sort out what is important.

 

I guess I'm just pointing out that you can't just look at a percentage rating for happiness or read a rant or rave about one specific thing. Read lots of reviews and think about how it will affect you and your traveling partners. Overall, it was still a decent ship and we have very happy memories of our cruise...but what did go wrong made us realize that there are other cruise lines we prefer.

Edited February 17, 2014 by aimathy

[albertamom]

Just returned yesterday, I will work on a sort of review once I return home from Tampa, mid week.

 

I didn't think anything could top our cruises to date, but I have to say this one did. Excellent cruise, excellent crew.

 

Can't wait to read your review (especially details about disembarkation for non-US citizens)!!! :)

[graphicguy]

I know i peruse the boards of every cruise line, here and on other cruise WEB sites, even when I don't have a cruise scheduled. Seems every once in awhile, regardless of cruise line or ship, these "Poor cruise reviews" crop up.

 

It happens on the RCCL boards, the CCL boards, the HAL boards, NCL boards, etc.

 

I'm not so convinced there are some posts that are geared more towards goading cruisers to different cruise lines. At least one cruise line was caught a couple of years ago of privately birbing some vruisers to post positive reviews for them (and negative reviews of competitors).

 

Further, I'm never less than amazed at some find to complain about regarding any given cruise.

[DCP]

I would suggest that if you are in a time situation - and want to be sure to eat a certain time when the MDR is busy....go to the Garden Café! (or Blue Lagoon) You don't have to go the MDR for dinner, or pay extra, there are several options. Your choice! Still loved the Dawn, her crew, and our cabin. You'll have a great time.

[artist47]

Hi. We just booked a trip on the Norwegian Dawn travelling in April. We are very excited about this trip. We like to try new ships. However, we are concerned about the numerous negative reviews/comments about this ship on this message board.

 

I hope some of you will share your thoughts with me on what we can expect. I have a 12 year old girl with my husband with me on this trip. We booked a suite so I am hoping that takes away some of the challenges that I see people complaining about but I could be wrong on that.

 

We have never said on NCL before. We have been on Royal Caribbean and Princess before also.

 

Any info you could share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

I have hesitated for 2 days to answer this. But here goes my two cents: I have been reading this board for 14 years. Yes. You read that right. Since about 2000. Somewhere in there. And in that time, I have counted many, many trolls at CC. For whatever reason, CC has its share of trolls. And I have come to believe that alot of the negative reviews, not ALL, but SOME, are fake. I really think that.

 

CC is no exception in the internet world. Just because it's posted, doesn't mean its true.

 

Now, I do not have a cruise booked for the Dawn, and not planning on it. But I have noticed the same thing re; the Star, which I will be happily sailing away on 3/16.

 

I don't even read reviews anymore, unless I need specific information about a certain amenity onboard, or maybe cabin descriptions or something like that. I pay no attention whatsoever, to others "opinions" about food, the crew, the ship, etc.

 

Before I was able to actually become a working artist, and earn my living as an artist full time, I had to have various "day jobs". And a lot of those jobs required contact with the public. I have been the victim of "fake reviews" on the internet. It's very unpleasant and very cruel. I am fortunate because those reviews will not affect my ability to earn a future living. Some of these "bad reviews" border on defamation at best.

 

My advice: pay no attention to the subjective "opinions" of others, including the "positive" ones. Go, enjoy your cruise for what it is. You will have a better time once you stop caring what other people thought of "your ship".

 

Trust me -- I stopped doing it years ago before a Windjammer cruise and suddenly, a weight was lifted and I was able to enjoy the planning a lot more.

[newmexicoNita]

I think like some of you do that people just like to complain about most things. I am noticing that most of the concerns seem to be around wait times for restaurants and activities. I see some about service levels too. The service complaint concerns me very little. People will highlight any small negative experience they can find.

 

Really, I am eager to go and my goal with the question is to hear from people who loved it. I want to love this cruise too.

 

What wait times, what activities? yes, there are times when you might need to wait for dinner, that depends on many things. We have cruised NCL so many times and only had to wait a couple of times: that was with a large group. But service is normally above and beyond compared to other lines we have cruised. As for activities, I have no idea what you are referring to; Nothing is perfect and there will always be those who can find fault with anything or set their standards just a little too high.

[newmexicoNita]

I mentioned this briefly in my other post, but I just wanted to reiterate that you need to just read what people loved or hated and then compare it to what your needs will most likely be.

 

For example, My Time Dining is touted as a restaurant-like experience where you can just walk in when you're in the mood. I thought that sounded great compared to being set at a certain time and not having flexibility with your evening. But here's the catch....we had two little ones with us (3 and 5). Routine in most families would dictate that most little children eat dinner after 5:30 and before 7:30. No matter what time we showed up during that two hour span, we waited over an hour or an hour and a half....with hungry 3 and 5 year olds! Not fun for anyone. :) Now yes, if you're a couple or have older kids, you can leisure stroll around with your free drink coupon and it isn't the end of the world. But every single night we had to wait for that long. Nobody really mentions that alot, because for most people it doesn't affect them much. If you're a family with children, this can make or break most nights for you. Then, by the time we waited we usually missed the early show AND most of the late show, so that wasn't even fun for us adults. So, if you know what is important to you and with whom you're cruising, it helps in your decision.

 

Another example would be the staterooms. We were in a lowly two person inside cabin...the lowest of the low. :) My parents graciously paid for our trip, so I can't complain much....but the cabin was not nice compared to the other cruise lines we've sailed. (And we are usually in inside cabins just to save money for excursions!) Now if you're in a suite, or a higher up cabin...the rooms looks AMAZING. Of course I'd have no complaints! I saw those rooms from the hallway!! :D But our rinky dink inside room? We had dirty sheets at least twice, dirty caked on the counter tops, broken wood, scraped shower base etc, etc. So for us, it wasn't a plus for NCL.

 

If you don't sail with children...you won't care what they say about the kids clubs. If you DO sail with kids...what they say can make or break your trip!! I will say though that we sailed during a week that had only 40 kids TOTAL. So it was very different than a sailing with 600 kids....for better and worse. Again, your week will differ from others and some of the good will happen for you and some of the bad will happen for you. Just sort out what is important.

 

I guess I'm just pointing out that you can't just look at a percentage rating for happiness or read a rant or rave about one specific thing. Read lots of reviews and think about how it will affect you and your traveling partners. Overall, it was still a decent ship and we have very happy memories of our cruise...but what did go wrong made us realize that there are other cruise lines we prefer.

 

I don't remember, from reading your review what lines you have cruised with, but I am a little surprised to hear you say the cabins were not as nice as other lines. Can you give us examples? We have cruised almost every line (no not Disney) and have found NCL cabins as nice if not nicer than most. That being said, with the exception on HAL I see very little difference in cabins period. I am talking, NCL< RCI< Celebrity< Carnival and Princess. I do think HAL has the nicest cabins of all the mass marketed lines. I assume you and your kids were not sharing a cabin? If you were, of course an inside cabin would have seemed less than ideal.

 

I do know, even if your kids were not crazy over the kids program, most families rate it as outstanding or close. I have heard many, including our granddaughter say, they couldn't keep their kids away from the kids club.

 

Isn't it nice, we have so many choices, as what works for one does not work for everyone.

[graphicguy]

I have hesitated for 2 days to answer this. But here goes my two cents: I have been reading this board for 14 years. Yes. You read that right. Since about 2000. Somewhere in there. And in that time, I have counted many, many trolls at CC. For whatever reason, CC has its share of trolls. And I have come to believe that alot of the negative reviews, not ALL, but SOME, are fake. I really think that.

 

CC is no exception in the internet world. Just because it's posted, doesn't mean its true.

 

Now, I do not have a cruise booked for the Dawn, and not planning on it. But I have noticed the same thing re; the Star, which I will be happily sailing away on 3/16.

 

I don't even read reviews anymore, unless I need specific information about a certain amenity onboard, or maybe cabin descriptions or something like that. I pay no attention whatsoever, to others "opinions" about food, the crew, the ship, etc.

 

Before I was able to actually become a working artist, and earn my living as an artist full time, I had to have various "day jobs". And a lot of those jobs required contact with the public. I have been the victim of "fake reviews" on the internet. It's very unpleasant and very cruel. I am fortunate because those reviews will not affect my ability to earn a future living. Some of these "bad reviews" border on defamation at best.

 

My advice: pay no attention to the subjective "opinions" of others, including the "positive" ones. Go, enjoy your cruise for what it is. You will have a better time once you stop caring what other people thought of "your ship".

 

Trust me -- I stopped doing it years ago before a Windjammer cruise and suddenly, a weight was lifted and I was able to enjoy the planning a lot more.

 

BRAVO....couldn't agree more.

[aimathy]

newmexiconita- It's probably just easier to read my review because I included some photos as well. And I don't really mean for this to just be a rant against NCL. There will always be good and bad on any cruise line!

 

We have sailed NCL, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Carnival and Celebrity. We often have inside rooms just for the sake of saving money and we're hardly ever in the room. This particular cruise it was just me and my youngest daughter (5). My older two children and husband were home, poor things! :) Our room on NCL was not great. The short version is that we had stained sheets 3 or more nights, broken off hooks in the room, dirt crusting the tables in the room, broken wood and trim, chipped shower base, hairs in corners of shower and sink from previous cruisers, stained toilet seat etc. I included some pictures in my review. Did it make the cruise unbearable? No. Did I scream and yell? No. But it did make me realize that they do not put much care into the lowly inside cabin rooms, and many of the other cruise lines we have sailed had far nicer rooms for the same category. Many people will say "we've had nothing but great rooms"....and I believe that's probably true....but either they're higher levels or I just had bad luck and got a cruddy room. Either way, that was my experience with that room on our week away...and it didn't impress me!

 

I'm sure the kids clubs are usually great too. I also put more about this in my longer review. But the week we sailed, there were only 40 kids TOTAL on board. There were only 7 kids in my daughter's age group and that was included her and her younger cousin. We can't help that. Neither can NCL. But we expected to have just as good an experience with the kids club, regardless of the number of kids, and we didn't. They often told us with a sigh that there were no kids their age in the kids club, but wouldn't tonight be more fun to come back? (As in, please don't leave them here now.) This happened on both sea days during the day. If they did stay, we learned after the first day that they had the 3 and 5 year old play with the 11 and 12 year olds, and I'm not crazy about that. She learned a few new words that day. :( I know they can't control the number of kids...but as a teacher, I know that you can do great things with 30 kids and you can do great things with 1 kid. You need to be flexible. My daughter and niece love arts and crafts, are good listeners, love games and puzzles etc. It wouldn't have taken much more than a smile and some quiet activities to keep them happy, but instead they just tried to turn them away as often as possible. (Also, on Carnival and RCCL, I couldn't keep my daughter out of the kids clubs. She LOVES them. So she was definitely enthusiastic about them in general.)

 

Again, I hope my week was a fluke. But sadly it was OUR vacation week and there were things we didn't love.

 

What I do love about CC is that people can share information to get an idea of what to expect. What "ruins" one person's vacation (which can often be silly, haha) will not bother another person. I hope the OP has a great time on the Dawn!!

[Aquahound]

Hi. We just booked a trip on the Norwegian Dawn travelling in April. We are very excited about this trip. We like to try new ships. However, we are concerned about the numerous negative reviews/comments about this ship on this message board.

 

I hope some of you will share your thoughts with me on what we can expect. I have a 12 year old girl with my husband with me on this trip. We booked a suite so I am hoping that takes away some of the challenges that I see people complaining about but I could be wrong on that.

 

We have never said on NCL before. We have been on Royal Caribbean and Princess before also.

 

Any info you could share would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

Look, reviews are what they are...people's individual opinions of their cruises. Some people on these boards get so bent out of shape over negative reviews, as though they are taking them as personal insults. On the other hand, some others only want to destroy a cruise line's reputation...many of who never seemed to have even cruised the line. First thing, ignore both of their posts. They dont do anyone any service.

 

You have a legitimate concern. I'm an equal opportunity cruiser, having cruised 4 lines and will be on a 5th in only 2 days. I only say this because my only agenda is to enjoy cruising, not champion or bash any one particular line.

 

I cruised Dawn in Dec 2012 and because of that cruise, NCL is not in my considerations for cruises in the near future. The simplest of service issues were an ordeal...to the point I just gave up on them. My balcony was so dirty, after several requests to clean it, I asked them to just leave the vacuum cleaner. Even then, they still never swept it.

 

 

From some sort of mystery fluid showing up on my mirror..

 

 

...to this being their way of fixing things in my room...

 

 

...to a wide range of other service and cleanliness issues they had that week, of course I'm going to write a negative review. To do otherwise would be dishonest and would not do anyone any good. Some people don't see this as a big deal, but if I'm going to review a cruise, I'm going to review it against my experience on other ships/lines.

 

This isn't necessary for you...more for the folks who take bad reviews personally...negative reviews aren't always just to bash a ship or cruise line. It's a way to get them to fix the problem. If they don't know there's an issue, they don't know to work on it.

 

Go with an open mind. Personally, I didn't think the Dawn could compare with RCI's or Princess' fleets. But you may think otherwise and really like it.

[aimathy]

aquahound - I think that was well said.

[horses434]

aquahound,

 

I agree...well said

[artist47]

newmexiconita- It's probably just easier to read my review because I included some photos as well. And I don't really mean for this to just be a rant against NCL. There will always be good and bad on any cruise line!

 

We have sailed NCL, Royal Caribbean, Disney, Carnival and Celebrity. We often have inside rooms just for the sake of saving money and we're hardly ever in the room. This particular cruise it was just me and my youngest daughter (5). My older two children and husband were home, poor things! :) Our room on NCL was not great. The short version is that we had stained sheets 3 or more nights, broken off hooks in the room, dirt crusting the tables in the room, broken wood and trim, chipped shower base, hairs in corners of shower and sink from previous cruisers, stained toilet seat etc. I included some pictures in my review. Did it make the cruise unbearable? No. Did I scream and yell? No. But it did make me realize that they do not put much care into the lowly inside cabin rooms, and many of the other cruise lines we have sailed had far nicer rooms for the same category. Many people will say "we've had nothing but great rooms"....and I believe that's probably true....but either they're higher levels or I just had bad luck and got a cruddy room. Either way, that was my experience with that room on our week away...and it didn't impress me!

 

I'm sure the kids clubs are usually great too. I also put more about this in my longer review. But the week we sailed, there were only 40 kids TOTAL on board. There were only 7 kids in my daughter's age group and that was included her and her younger cousin. We can't help that. Neither can NCL. But we expected to have just as good an experience with the kids club, regardless of the number of kids, and we didn't. They often told us with a sigh that there were no kids their age in the kids club, but wouldn't tonight be more fun to come back? (As in, please don't leave them here now.) This happened on both sea days during the day. If they did stay, we learned after the first day that they had the 3 and 5 year old play with the 11 and 12 year olds, and I'm not crazy about that. She learned a few new words that day. :( I know they can't control the number of kids...but as a teacher, I know that you can do great things with 30 kids and you can do great things with 1 kid. You need to be flexible. My daughter and niece love arts and crafts, are good listeners, love games and puzzles etc. It wouldn't have taken much more than a smile and some quiet activities to keep them happy, but instead they just tried to turn them away as often as possible. (Also, on Carnival and RCCL, I couldn't keep my daughter out of the kids clubs. She LOVES them. So she was definitely enthusiastic about them in general.)

 

Again, I hope my week was a fluke. But sadly it was OUR vacation week and there were things we didn't love.

 

What I do love about CC is that people can share information to get an idea of what to expect. What "ruins" one person's vacation (which can often be silly, haha) will not bother another person. I hope the OP has a great time on the Dawn!!

 

Hi there....I read your review and you are definitely NOT the kind of poster I was talking about. You clearly have some legitimate complaints and concerns and if I worked for NCL I would escalate your review to upper management for resolution.

 

I am NOT an NCL Cheerleader. I have not cruised with them since I was on the Norway sailing when the boiler blew and killed 7 people. I was also onboard about a month before that and had a wonderful time.

 

Since then, I have cruised several other lines but in the last few years have not cruised at all, mainly due to work constraints.

 

Your review was very well detailed, very well written and I want to make it clear that I was not referring to your type of experience in my post. I was simply making the observation that I do believe some reviews, both POSITIVE and NEGATIVE are fake, for whatever reasons and that people need to give each line and each ship it's fair shake and it's own "try".

 

I am really sorry you had that experience -- I do want to say that I can relate: on the sailing that I was on aboard the Norway, April of 2003, there were very similar problems aboard the Norway. Norwegian needs to pay more attention to its older ships. This seems to be an issue for ALL cruiselines.

 

A friend of mine recently cruised on Celebrity Century (which is now older, but which I cruised when it was slightly "newer") and she had a nightmare of an experience.

 

In all, I think that ALL cruiselines have this problem -- it comes down to where less experienced staff are placed, and where budget cuts are made. Not a good combo. In any case, I hope that in future, you will enjoy cruising again with the line and ship of your choice.

 

Very best regards,

artist47

[jaasb0808]

We cruised on the Dawn in January, in the 2 bedroom family suite with our 3 kids, ages 7,4,1.

 

We had a wonderful time, the only major issue we had was with the shore excursion desk, all I can say is just make sure if you book an excursion ahead of time you bring your printed confirmation with you and make sure they give you your tickets for it on day 1.

 

Other than that the ship and staff were great, our kids LOVED the Splash Academy---sounds like your child is a little older than ours but my 12 year old nephew was also on board and really enjoyed it.

 

The spa and food were not as good as we have had on other ships but they made up for it in other areas. We loved our suite and the little perks that came with it. Embarkation and Debarkation were a breeze. The entertainment was good.

 

Overall a wonderful time on the Dawn even though we had bad weather that week! I think a lot of times people are just looking for something to complain about.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip!

[newmexicoNita]

We cruised on the Dawn in January, in the 2 bedroom family suite with our 3 kids, ages 7,4,1.

 

We had a wonderful time, the only major issue we had was with the shore excursion desk, all I can say is just make sure if you book an excursion ahead of time you bring your printed confirmation with you and make sure they give you your tickets for it on day 1.

 

Other than that the ship and staff were great, our kids LOVED the Splash Academy---sounds like your child is a little older than ours but my 12 year old nephew was also on board and really enjoyed it.

 

The spa and food were not as good as we have had on other ships but they made up for it in other areas. We loved our suite and the little perks that came with it. Embarkation and Debarkation were a breeze. The entertainment was good.

 

Overall a wonderful time on the Dawn even though we had bad weather that week! I think a lot of times people are just looking for something to complain about.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip!

good advise about booking the shore excursions prior to cruising. We normally do our own tours, but have decided to use NCL for our next cruise. Our last cruise we used them once, did book ahead of time, but had a concern after our tour and wanted to talk to someone at the desk. We couldn't even find anyone there. After a couple of tries, I just gave up.

[che5904]

We cruised on the Dawn in January, in the 2 bedroom family suite with our 3 kids, ages 7,4,1.

 

We had a wonderful time, the only major issue we had was with the shore excursion desk, all I can say is just make sure if you book an excursion ahead of time you bring your printed confirmation with you and make sure they give you your tickets for it on day 1.

 

 

We've had dealings with shore ex on our past cruises. This is very good advice, no matter what NCL ship you are on.

 

We booked 2 out of 3 online and the last one on the ship. We did bring our confirmations, just in case our tickets weren't in our cabin, but they were.

 

The 3rd I had research prior to sailing my 1st, 2nd and 3rd choice (in case they were full). So the only dealings I had to have with shore ex, was for them to fill out the paperwork :)