Dawn

[meggie711]

Ready to plan our next cruise! We are looking at Norwegian Dawn, and this would be my second Norwegian cruise. This would also be our son's first cruise (4 year old). We felt that Norwegian did a great job of having activities and areas for the kids on Epic, and we never felt overrun by children on our spring break cruise. Could we expect the same on the Dawn at spring break?

[RIvacationgirl]

We went during Feb. school vacation, and were very surprised as to how quiet the ship was. Beware that we did not go to any of the activities that involved little children, but we did not see many small tots. We did not have any issue with "party crowd" either. For this we were VERY grateful!:p

[rmandmm]

We've never been on Dawn, but just scheduled our first family cruise on her for Thanksgiving week. We also have two kids that will be just-turned-3 and almost-5 at that time.

 

Not sure if you're aware, but NCL has a great rep for its kids programs and the Dawn has a really cool t-rex kids pool area that my kids are already looking forward to. Also, since she's a smaller ship we're also hoping to avoid that party feel that sometimes prevails on cruises (also, Thanksgiving is less of a 'party time' that Spring Break, but anyway...)

 

I'm not a voice of been there, done that, but I will say that we feel absolutely no hesitation about taking our little ones on the Dawn. :)

[ClaireAndMike]

I'm also looking at the Dawn for next March/April and have the same question. I've never experienced the spring break rush. I don't have kids (they somewhat terrify me since I've never really been around them as an adult) and don't usually travel during the summer or school holidays so I'm not sure what to expect!

 

We may end up going earlier if the ships really are that crazy/crowded but I have another cruise scheduled this September so I don't want to take another vacation from work too soon and then have to wait like a year before I can get away again!

 

Ready to plan our next cruise! We are looking at Norwegian Dawn, and this would be my second Norwegian cruise. This would also be our son's first cruise (4 year old). We felt that Norwegian did a great job of having activities and areas for the kids on Epic, and we never felt overrun by children on our spring break cruise. Could we expect the same on the Dawn at spring break?

[meggie711]

I'm also looking at the Dawn for next March/April and have the same question. I've never experienced the spring break rush. I don't have kids (they somewhat terrify me since I've never really been around them as an adult) and don't usually travel during the summer or school holidays so I'm not sure what to expect!

 

We may end up going earlier if the ships really are that crazy/crowded but I have another cruise scheduled this September so I don't want to take another vacation from work too soon and then have to wait like a year before I can get away again!

We were truly fascinated on Epic at spring break because we were afraid there would be kids running up and down the halls, taking over all of the public areas, etc. but it was nothing like that. I'm not saying this doesn't happen, but it just wasn't our experience on Epic. I can't help but wonder if it was just because there was so much for kids of all ages to do..

That T-Rex pool looks really cool, and right up my almost-4-year-old's alley. :)

[ClaireAndMike]

Yes I can't imagine they would be running amok with no supervision. The youth programs seem to be pretty well structured, at least from what I've heard and read. Obviously I've had no personal experience. We've never really noticed any crazy behavior on the whopping two cruises we've been on so far but again, we went at weird times of the year.

 

I'm trying to remember the one just a few months ago that ended up being chartered by a huge group and apparently it was an absolute nightmare for people but that sounds like it was kind of a different situation.

 

I'm trying to decide which week to go for the Western Carib route leaving from Tampa.

 

We were truly fascinated on Epic at spring break because we were afraid there would be kids running up and down the halls, taking over all of the public areas, etc. but it was nothing like that. I'm not saying this doesn't happen, but it just wasn't our experience on Epic. I can't help but wonder if it was just because there was so much for kids of all ages to do..

That T-Rex pool looks really cool, and right up my almost-4-year-old's alley. :)

[Tinyturtle22]

I was on The Dawn from April 7-14 this year and they said the previous week they had "900 kids". Our week there was less than 50.

[ClaireAndMike]

Wow, the week in April you went is the same week I want to take next year but that's a really, really bad time for me to miss work. If my coworkers and boss are okay with it, I think I'll stick with it though. Less chance of snow messing up my departure from Chicago in April.

 

I was on The Dawn from April 7-14 this year and they said the previous week they had "900 kids". Our week there was less than 50.

[vols_159]

I was on The Dawn from April 7-14 this year and they said the previous week they had "900 kids". Our week there was less than 50.

 

I was on there march 17-24 didn't seem to have alot kids probably about average

[dexddd]

We were truly fascinated on Epic at spring break because we were afraid there would be kids running up and down the halls, taking over all of the public areas, etc. but it was nothing like that. I'm not saying this doesn't happen, but it just wasn't our experience on Epic. I can't help but wonder if it was just because there was so much for kids of all ages to do..

That T-Rex pool looks really cool, and right up my almost-4-year-old's alley. :)

 

The T-Rex pool is perfect for a child that age. The kids club is a couple floors up from there. The main pool doesn't have any slides though unlike the Star.

 

If you sit by the main pool it is really too deep for a 4 y/o but there is a smaller pool the other side of the stage that has a railing seat that you could sit on with your son. The Dawn has a small selection of ice cream by the pool as well plus the ice cream in the buffet.

[meggie711]

Thanks for your responses!