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Norwegian Cruise Line

MS Norwegian Dawn

Your Rating:
Reviewed by: Giancarlo Bruno
# previous cruises: 9
Date of Trip: August 24, 2003
Itinerary: Bahamas

What do I have to say about this ship, it's wonderful! I will constantly hear talk of "Food Court" dining, but that's not true. The cruise was the best cruise I've ever been on. I rate it 5 stars because it is probably one of the best mass market cruises out there, not because it's an ultra luxury cruise ship. For the average person, the Norwegian Dawn clearly has the most to offer. In some ways it even beats out RCI and Celebrity.

The ship has a decent array of public areas. The Grand Atrium features a beautiful waterfall, and "garden". It also has a Java Cafe, a scenic place to get some specialty coffee. The Stardust Theater was the ship's main show lounge, where the cabaret shows are held, it is pretty nice, and features air conditioned seats. The Spinnaker Lounge featured panoramic views, and hosted bingo, and the comedy acts, as well as some other smaller shows. For people who like to gamble, there is a sizeable casino. The ship also has a British pub, Gatsby's, and the Havana Club cigar bar, as well as a large galleria.

The Food was excellent, chances are, if you didn't like it, you ordered something not to your taste. The menu was designed by a former White House chef, and President's night was the best dinner I've ever had on a cruise ship. For Breakfast and Lunch, we ate in Garden Cafe most of the time. Although, we did have those meals in the dining rooms and Blue Lagoon too. The food was good, considering it was a buffet. There wasn't much service, it being self service, but in Blue Lagoon, when it wasn't crowded you could get rather good, quick service. The last night we ate at La Trattoria, and although it cost nothing, due to it's size and the fact that reservations were required, the food and service were slightly better than in the main dining room. The service was excellent, it hasn't been beaten by any cruise line I've sailed with, but it has been matched. The people who complain and call it food court dining are dead wrong. In fact, if you have to wait to be seated, and are over 21, you get champagne. One lady did nothing but complain about the wait, and guzzled about 5 glasses of it.

Cabins were somewhat small, but they were fine for four people, and while onboard we didn't notice they were smaller than others. They were well furnished, with nice paneling and materials, we had a category D outside. It wasn't noisy, unless someone made very loud noise. The closet space was adequate, and for four on a 7 night cruise, that's pretty good. The bathroom was a good size, and featured sliding doors to access the toilet or shower, the shower could fit a pretty large person easily, from the looks of it.

There was plenty of entertainment. Each night they had the cabaret show, and the comedian or game show as well as plenty of bands. The shows were all good, but the best one was Bollywood. You need good seats for that, but I won't tell you why. The comedians were really good. They were Lucas, and Chris Clobber, and had 2 shows each. Everything was great here.

There were plenty of activities, aside from the usual shuffleboard, ping pong, swimming, etc. They had a pool olympics, dance lessons, plenty of late night and afternoon deck parties, karaoke, and a good amount more. The itinerary was good, Port Canaveral offers tons of good tours, I didn't get off at Miami, Great Stirrup Cay was beautiful, but slightly crowded, and Nassau has improved greatly from just last year, it's worth visiting maybe every 5 years because of these constant improvements. They are celebrating their 30th anniversary in the Bahamas, so they have ribbons, and a new building by the cruise ship docks. There was babysitting, one for in port, the other for late night, I believe. There was a pretty good children's programs, that kept most kids busy.

Well, the fellow passengers were mostly New Yorkers and New Jerseyans. There was a very small amount of people who boarded in Florida, and some from all over. They were mostly in their 30's but their were plenty of older people, and kids. If you go in September or whenever school's in, you won't get as many kids, if that irks you.