Norwegian Dawn Review 2/3 - 2/10

[macimoo1]

Warmer Climes, really glad to hear your thoughts on Maya Key because we are on the same excursion as you next week! It is 22 degrees here right now and I can not wait to get to Tampa!

Sorry for the highjacked thread. I absolutlely loved this review, the pictures were fantastic and writing style was fun to read!

[mommaof 3]

If I might make a suggestion- we are sailing the Dawn on Sunday and going back to Maya Key in Roatan. It is a small island and a boat runs back and forth to where the Dawn is docked all day. They have rescued animals, a beautiful beach, snirkeling, a beautiful pool, a great lunch, fake Mayan ruins. It's a ship excursion.

 

mayakeyroatan.com

 

has lots of information. We went there when my daughter was 12 and my older son was 25 and liked it enough to repeat, which we almost never do.

 

Thanks for the suggestion, sounds wonderful!

 

Sorry for the highjacking Corey, i remember reading that you know the area well so...:o

 

It's been a delight reading your review!

[gelo7]

Great review.

[biker@sea]

Can't wait to be back on board in April !

[Rounder]

Hi cOryann,

We were on the same cruise. Good review. Missed you gal's at the M&G.

Glad you had a good time. Our slot pull was great, Linda,won, $1194.00

We also had fun.

Take care.

[tammi0916]

Hi cOryann,

We were on the same cruise. Good review. Missed you gal's at the M&G.

Glad you had a good time. Our slot pull was great, Linda,won, $1194.00

We also had fun.

Take care.

 

Wow congrats! So are slot pulls slot machines or something else?

Thx

Tam

[camz]

Funny, I find the USA ones too sweet - haven't tried the Canada ones.

 

I didn't even know there was such a thing as Bermuda Coke and I have been there 4 times and love a good Coke. Guess its time to go back! :eek:

[camz]

Very well written, detailed review! The Dawn and her sister ship, the Star are my favorite ships. Does the Dawn still have a very friendly crew? Thanks for sharing your vacation experiences. :)

[pgm2786]

Coryann,

 

I may have missed it but did you explained why you got the "Suite" Perks

[Travelicious]

I may have screamed out on our balcony because the kids next door were screaming again. They shut up after that.

 

Snort!:p

[Rounder]

Wow congrats! So are slot pulls slot machines or something else?

Thx

Tam

slot machine, usually Wheel of Fortune :cool:

[yogi636]

Hope your friend's Husband is doing well.

I am curious. Did your friend receive reimbursement from the insurance company?

We have sail the Dawn before and loved it. We are booked for 4/21/13.

 

Have you joined the meet and greet?

[theflake]

Thx for the suggestions - yes three kids along with hubby and myself. Our son will be 17, and our daughters will be 8 & 11. It can be a challenge to make everyone happy with the wide spacing. We definately want to do a Mayan ruin and I think an animal swim. Bannister island looks like a great option in Belize. Also think we'd love to try a zip line through the jungle, but not sure the littlest one is ready for that and she's very tiny (not even 50 lbs).

 

Awesome pics!

 

We just sailed in a two bedroom family suite (the Diamond Suite, no less!) on Feb. 10. Spectacular room! Our kids (15 year old boy, 13 year old daughter) had a blast. The Suite perks are great-Cagney's for breakfast is awesome, and the priority embarkation and tender benefits are great too.

 

We did the Jungle Top zipline (top rated on Trip Advisor) in Roatan. It is literally 3 minutes from the port. Don't bother booking it in advance. We walked into the guys selling tours and made a deal - $50/person for the zipline plus a mini-bus ride to West Beach and back. ($10 for beach access). Got a great 30 minute guided tour on the way back to the ship. There was a kid about 6 ahead of us, and she was fine.

 

We just wandered around the port in Belize.

 

I would also HIGHLY recommend Maya Chan. Maybe the best day of the trip. They couldn't possibly push more food or drink on you if they tried!

 

It looked like rain when we docked in Cozumel, so we just wandered around. Ended up at Margaritaville, and had a great time. You can swim/snorkle right off the back of the restaurant, and they have big inflatable climbing and bouncing toys as well. Very touristy, and the food and drinks are pricey, but no cab fair or admission.

 

You'll have a great time!

[theflake]

We just sailed in a two bedroom family suite (the Diamond Suite, no less!) on Feb. 10. Spectacular room! Our kids (15 year old boy, 13 year old daughter) had a blast. The Suite perks are great-Cagney's for breakfast is awesome, and the priority embarkation and tender benefits are great too.

 

We did the Jungle Top zipline (top rated on Trip Advisor) in Roatan. It is literally 3 minutes from the port. Don't bother booking it in advance. We walked into the guys selling tours and made a deal - $50/person for the zipline plus a mini-bus ride to West Beach and back. ($10 for beach access). Got a great 30 minute guided tour on the way back to the ship. There was a kid about 6 ahead of us, and she was fine.

 

We just wandered around the port in Belize.

 

I would also HIGHLY recommend Maya Chan. Maybe the best day of the trip. They couldn't possibly push more food or drink on you if they tried!

 

It looked like rain when we docked in Cozumel, so we just wandered around. Ended up at Margaritaville, and had a great time. You can swim/snorkle right off the back of the restaurant, and they have big inflatable climbing and bouncing toys as well. Very touristy, and the food and drinks are pricey, but no cab fair or admission.

 

You'll have a great time!

 

Geez, you'd think it was my first time online or something - first off, I forgot to thank the OP for a very thorough and thoughtful review! So thank you very much!

 

Just to confirm, in my original post I meant to say there was a 6 year old ahead of us on the zipline, and he was fine. They will let the younger kids go together with a parent.

 

Have fun!

[c0reyann]

Very well written, detailed review! The Dawn and her sister ship, the Star are my favorite ships. Does the Dawn still have a very friendly crew? Thanks for sharing your vacation experiences. :)

 

The crew was very friendly, although I will say that I found at the end of the week they were pushing the review things HARD. One waiter wouldn't get our drinks until we filled them out - that was pretty awkward! For the most part though they were quite friendly and helpful.

 

Coryann,

 

I may have missed it but did you explained why you got the "Suite" Perks

 

Essentially I ranted online about how my friend/us were getting the runaround about what to do since one person in our group had to cancel her cruise because her husband was in a coma. Every time we called we got a different answer on what to do and I got so frustrated I took it to social media and that apparently got their attention, hence the suite perks. What was odd though was that after the first day, the other room that was supposed to be VIP with us as well (she got the letter at boarding as well) stopped getting the invites, priority tenders, snacks etc. so we couldn't very well go without our friend so we didn't really use a lot of the perks we got. Not sure what happened there. I explained it on the first post. :)

[c0reyann]

Hi cOryann,

We were on the same cruise. Good review. Missed you gal's at the M&G.

Glad you had a good time. Our slot pull was great, Linda,won, $1194.00

We also had fun.

Take care.

 

I forgot to write down the time/location :( that's fantastic about the slot pull!!!

 

Hope your friend's Husband is doing well.

I am curious. Did your friend receive reimbursement from the insurance company?

We have sail the Dawn before and loved it. We are booked for 4/21/13.

 

He is on the mend, still in extended care but thankfully he is on the road to recovery!

 

Nope. That's all still a total mess. Despite their promises to the contrary, it's a mess. They told us to have Barb (our friend who couldn't go) call and cancel once we boarded to avoid any fees to her roommate for being a "single fare" which IMHO is stupid b/c they are keeping Barb's entire fare regardless if she sails or not so they got paid for a second body in the room even if she didn't go, why is there another fee on top of it? When she went to cancel, they told her she couldn't without more fees. It went round and round again while we were gone. She left herself as a no show and submitted the paperwork. It's a wait and see situation now but I wouldn't be surprised if they don't end up paying her. Needless to say, it's a situation that still irks me. I don't think I'd sail with NCL again after this. It's bad enough her husband was in a coma... you know? It can't be the first time someone has canceled just one person of a two person room (we had a third in ours that could have taken her place). Just a mess.

[Andoria]

Wonderful review! Thank you for taking the time to post it.

 

It's bogus that your friend is having such a hard time getting her money back since she had insurance.

[PhotogJon]

Just curious if anyone has ever upgraded their suite after they were paid in full... can this be done? I see there are still suites available on our cruise that are bigger and I'm thinking of upgrading if possible. I had budgeted $2k for airfare and ended up only paying $1k so I've got some money to spend... I think 4 adults in a mini-suite is plausible albeit a little tight. More room would be appreciated.

[candygirl27540]

Just curious if anyone has ever upgraded their suite after they were paid in full... can this be done? I see there are still suites available on our cruise that are bigger and I'm thinking of upgrading if possible. I had budgeted $2k for airfare and ended up only paying $1k so I've got some money to spend... I think 4 adults in a mini-suite is plausible albeit a little tight. More room would be appreciated.

 

Sure you can.You do realize that a mini-suite is not a full suite,right?

[PhotogJon]

Sure you can.You do realize that a mini-suite is not a full suite,right?

Of course... it was originally just three of us then I decided to bring my mom... how do you upgrade? With NCL or my TA?

[jdvmd]

Of course... it was originally just three of us then I decided to bring my mom... how do you upgrade? With NCL or my TA?

 

Whomever you booked with is who you have to talk to regarding paying for an upgrade.

[PhotogJon]

Whomever you booked with is who you have to talk to regarding paying for an upgrade.

Thanks... sorry for slightly highjacking the thread

[clean1owner]

The crew was very friendly, although I will say that I found at the end of the week they were pushing the review things HARD. One waiter wouldn't get our drinks until we filled them out - that was pretty awkward! For the most part though they were quite friendly and helpful.

 

 

 

 

I'm surprised to hear that. When we were on the Dawn we never heard a single word about reviews or surveys. We received excellent service all week and the crewe was extremely friendly.

[c0reyann]

I'm surprised to hear that. When we were on the Dawn we never heard a single word about reviews or surveys. We received excellent service all week and the crewe was extremely friendly.

 

If it was just one person I'd have been OK with it but the last day at sea especially we ran into it at least 4-5 times, although only the once with the waiter demanding they be filled out by the time be brought back our drinks. Awkward! I don't mind filling them out, I know they help the "little guy" out but being forced to makes it feel icky.

[c0reyann]

Day Seven - Pics

 

Here's some random pics from our last day at sea.

 

Sun over the ocean on our last day at sea.

 

The *(@#*$&ing elevator was broken AGAIN, this would be about the 5th time for the trip which included the entire first day at sea and the last (or at least a large portion of the day, whereas the rest would be the morning or evening etc). It would not stop on our floor unless the button was pushed from the inside of the elevator. By the last day I was over it.

 

The entrance to the best area to get some rays if you want some quiet/no kids. It would be windy when walking to your seat but when you sat down the winds were gone thanks to the glass. A bartender warned us the night before that the trip back is generally windy, so it seems to be the case more often than not on this particular trip so be warned and go here for no wind + sun!

 

The spot where my friends hung out for most of the day.

 

Our friend Dawn on the Dawn getting windblown, that's how windy it was here!

 

It made me sad no one was ever in the crew pool!