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Vicky

Age: 46
Occupation: LPN
Number of Cruises: 2
Cruise Line: NCL
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Sailing Date: February 10th, 2005
Itinerary: Western Caribbean

Embarkation was a nightmare in NYC. The ship was late to port due to a medical emergency, and this changed our entire itinerary. We were not able to travel as far south due to time allowances. To make up for this, we were taken to Old San Juan, Puerto Rico for a few hours. We were not very impressed with what we saw. We enjoyed St. Thomas but found it to be very commercial. St John, Antigua was great fun for us on a catamaran sail to Bird Island. St. Maarten was the cleanest and most tourist friendly area we visited. Tortola was spectacular. If you have the opportunity to visit the Virgin Gorda there, put that at the top of your list!

We have nothing but positive comments on the Dawn itself. Excellent service, excellent food, excellent entertainment and an excellent time was had by all. The ship is so clean!! There was always cleaning going on. Our stateroom was larger then we expected and kept spotless by our room stewardess. The main restaurants all seem to have the same menus each day, but the food was excellent. We never had to wait to be seated. We found the galleria to be very over priced, so we did not shop on the ship. The best shopping bargains are definately in St. Maarten.

Debarkation was also a nightmare in NYC. Even though we were only 1 hour late getting into port, we sat for hours waiting to get off the ship. Even though they call you off the ship by colored tags, we saw many people in line with tags of all colors of the rainbow, pushing their way through to get off before you. Once they clear you from the ship, you must navigate the terminal which is an absolute nightmare. Pure chaos. No one seems to know where they are going, they have people standing all over the terminal trying to get on the same ship you are trying to get off of. It was very nerve wracking and tiring. After all is said, we want to book with NCL again but we have serious issues with the embarkation and debarkation process in NYC. The cruise line itself was terrific, and we would recommend this line to anyone wishing to travel.

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