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Lisa

Age: 29
Occupation: Physician
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: NCL
Name of Ship: Norweigan Dawn
Sailing Date: February 15th, 2003
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

My husband and I took our first cruise ever on the Norwegian Dawn. I am ready to go again now! We had a disastrous beginning to our trip. We missed the boat because of 10 inches of snow in the mid west and would have arrived at the port 3 hours after the boats scheduled departure. Northwest Airlines was extremely helpful, and flew us to Jamaica the next morning to meet the boat at its first port, while giving us meal and hotel vouchers. For this reason, I highly recommend arriving at your departure port the night before-nearly our entire plane was cruisers on all different lines that missed their boats.

Once we arrived at the Dawn, we were overwhelmed by the size and beauty. It gleamed like a Vegas hotel! The staff was great, and we were in our room in minutes. Food over all was delicious! We spent one evening at the Japanese restaurant for which there is an additional $10 per person charge. The service was phenomenal and so was the presentation,...and the food was good. However, it was not any better than the main, free, restaurants. We had rack of lamb, sirloin, veal, and one night I had the unadvertised special at the Italian restaurant-lobster! I ordered a second plate for desert, (total= 4 tails that night). The deserts were only fair, but the ice cream was wonderful. The buffet restaurant could be very crowded at times, and we only glimpsed at the chocolate buffet. The line was out the door and people had 2-3 plates each PILED with cakes, etc. We went for a walk instead! Drink prices were high, but not outrageous (wine starting at $4.95 a glass, mixed fruity drinks mostly around $5.00-$7.00, $1.50 for a can of pop). The coffee bar was great, and the cappuccinos included at dinner were great. Deck side grill lunches were also fun and good (steak, ribs, burgers, etc.) The Venetian was my favorite and we ate breakfast and dinner there often. Stunning, huge dining room with gorgeous view off back of boat. Sprinkles Ice Cream bar has only 2 choices of flavors and one topping at a time and was open only in the afternoon for limited hours, which was disappointing. The Freestyle seating was awesome! We never waited for more than 5 minutes to be seated. The staff was extremely pleasant and the service was fast, contrary to other reviews. We enjoyed chatting with the young wait staff who are from all over the world and hearing of their "adventures" at sea. We did walk through the other restaurants and saw the famous paintings-you can see them from the hallway through the restaurant windows instead of paying $12.50 per person to eat in front of them.

Ports-Jamaica we went to Dunn's River Falls. There is a nice little beach at the bottom to drink a Red Stripe, listen to reggae and relax. The Falls are impressive, but we did not climb them, and saw many people coming out with bloody shins and knees from falls ($10 for park entrance-extra for special shoes to climb and climbing guide).

Cayman-Had to tender in rough waters, delayed two hours in getting off because of this. NOTE-when they say pick up tender tickets, it is first come first serve for departure times, so go early if you want a full day at port. The NCL Stingray tour was sold out, so we grabbed the first tour operator we saw. $30 per person included a snorkel site and then Stingray City. A must do! Chest-deep water with 4-foot creatures sliding all over you! This took 3 hours, then we walked around the port and shopped.

Costa Maya-Rainy and windy. We did the NCL tour to the "special beach" which included drinks. Not worth it at all. It was an hour drive and locals were peddling the whole time. The beach is small and the drinks were only OK, but we sure drank our money back. The beach at the dock is nicer with a pool, hammocks, and a great outdoor restaurant and bar. Spend the day there or on the boat.

Cozumel-We walked around to local dive shops and found a snorkel trip that went to three sites for 3 hours total, drinks included (pop, beer) $30 pp. It was fantastic! We were pretty near the boats (8 in dock that day) and the water park (Chakkunuba) so we had little travel time in the glass bottom boat and lots of water time. The we cleaned up on the boat and walked around the city and shopped. Very nice.

The last day at sea was great! The pool is crowded on these days, but at dusk everyone went to get ready for dinner. We had the entire pool and a hot tub to ourselves, only 20 people or so were left on deck for the other 3 hot tubs and tables, etc.) It was a perfect end to the trip, watching the sunset in a hot tub drinking pina coladas, alone!

Went to one show, the comedian, and he was great. Departure was smooth and quick as well.

BEST TIP-GET A BALCONY! We had breakfast there, watched the sunrise/set, and moon, watched the other cruise ships at night following us...very cool. Rooms very comfortable, larger than expected. I did feel the motion of the boat but took non-drowsy Dramamine every day and never was sick (and I am usually the motion sick poster girl).

Loved it! Are already planning to do the northeast fall trip, and Hawaii next spring. Norwegian definitely won our vote!

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