NCL Dawn review 2023

[MrsTabs]

Before I sailed I looked everywhere for a recent review and could not find one so here is everything I wanted to know.

 

I (49F)have cruised before my daughter (24F) had not, we are from the UK so chose a UK cruise on an older ship, figuring if she liked that then cruising is for her. We sailed from Southampton on the 14th Sept, and ended in Southampton on 24th Sept 2023.

 

We visited Edinburgh(Newhaven Tender) Inverness(Invergorden), Kirkwall (Orkney), Belfast, Liverpool, Dublin (Dun Laoghaire Tender) Cork ( Cobh) and Portland

 

Yes the ship is older but she is still in good shape.  We had no complaints about the decor or furnishings. We had a balcony cabin it had 2 outlets on the desk an UK and a US or EU ( we never used that one) and one more under the fridge again US or EU didn't use it.  No usb in the room at all - not really a problem we managed and charged our phones one at a time ( this may be a problem if more people in the cabin) plenty of space, plenty of storage.  Very clean and room steward was brilliant (and received a good tip to reflect this) didn't really miss two cleans a day, one was more than sufficient.  No robes or slippers in the room or beach towels.  ( Towels were available on the pool deck and easy to get) We had the spa pass and robes were available there when we needed them.  We were in Cabin 9662 which has been flagged as 'noisy' we found it absolutely fine, very easy access to the quiet lounge on deck 9 (literally outside the door) and yes you could hear noise from the atrium when bands were playing and this door was opened but it ended at 10pm ish so no issues unless you wished to sleep before then.

 

We ate at Cagneys, Bamboo, Buffett, Venetian, Aqua, Modernos, O'Sheehans and Le Bistro - all good Le Bistro was exceptional.

 

Being from the UK we wondered whether our phones would work as normal - in port they did no issues at all even on the ship, out to sea they were hit and miss depending how far from land we were, and in Southern Ireland we needed to use the wi-fi in port.  We have not been charged any roaming fees.

 

Weather was surprisingly good for the first 2 days and the last 3 days, the pool and hot tubs were used  a lot.  Colder for the other days ( but people still in the hot tubs all hours of the day and night)

 

We only missed one port ( Liverpool) due to the weather as it was stormy and we could not dock - not a problem for us, we only live an hour away and had planned a ship day that day, but a lot of people were looking forward to it so that was a shame.

 

All other ports we got off and did our own thing, with the exception of Orkney where we took a tour ( glad we did much bigger than we thought) Belfast was the only let down, not much to do or see and didn't really seem set up for cruise ships.  We loved all the others.

 

Smoking area deck 13 bimini bar was large and covered ( one side of bar) and in Casino when playing deck 7 - we were also allowed to use the cigar lounge on the day when rough weather meant the outside areas were closed.

 

The staff were fantastic, they work so hard and always a smile.

 

We had no issues while onboard and would happily sail her again!

 

All in all a fantastic cruise, my daughter loved it so we will be booking another.

 

Any questions feel free to ask

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mcmomny]

Thank you so much!  We will be sailing The Dawn Jan 2025 for Africa so I am happy to hear your great review!

[quercus alba]

Yes, appreciated! We're boarding in Trieste for an Eastern Mediterranean cruise in mid November, and it's nice to read something recent about the ship.

[kellyg70]

My mom and I were on this cruise as well!  As the days went by, we noticed more and more coughing people though. We both tested positive yesterday, so that wasn’t ideal. 
we weren’t impressed with our room at all but do agree that the staff was super friendly.  I had a sub-par spa experience. I had 3 people walk in on me during my massage. Or the same person 3 different times. Not really acceptable. 
The ports we great fun though. 

[caisseold442]

Was on this same cruise Staff was great ship showing its age  food good for the most part. Just wanted to point out Viator refused to refund our Tour for Liverpool for the Canceled stop due to high winds 

For a company that lives by tours & cruise tour alternatives   Bad for there reputation  

[kellyg70]

Get Your Guide wouldn’t refund our Liverpool activity either. 

[kattybiz]

My parents and I were also on this cruise and had a wonderful time.   Staff on the ship were wonderful, our steward was one of the best we've had on NCL.   Ate at Cagney's, Los Lobos, La Cucina, Teppenyaki, Bamboo and the buffet and the food was wonderful everywhere.   Buffet was a little small, but never had too long of a wait for a table and people were always willing to share.    

 

Was sad to miss Liverpool, but ship (and weather) happens.  😁

 

Was my first trip on the Dawn and loved it immensely.   Would be happy to sail her again.

[slavetoabunny]

Hubby and I were on the Dawn for our last cruise pre-covid in March 2020.  In fact, it was the Dawn's last cruise before everything shut down.  It was our first NCL cruise and we loved absolutely everything.  We were in the Deluxe Owners Suite and were absolutely spoiled by our butler.  The specialty restaurants (Moderno, Cagney's and the Italian one) were all exceptional.  Our favorite place to hang out during the day was the Bimini bar.  We would definitely sail on her again.

[travellingscouse]

Going on the SA cruise Feb 24, first time on the Dawn - can I ask what were the queues like for the buffet, bars etc? Did you have trouble getting seats? TIA.!😊

[MrsTabs]

Hi

 

We never had any trouble getting a seat in the buffet and had no queuing at all, but we did not choose peak times to use the buffet so this probably reflected that, we found by going 30 mins later that we had no issues, on port days we used O'Sheehans for breakfast and it was not crowded and allowed us to have a leisurely unhurried breakfast thus avoiding the crowds getting off it worked for us