[ Cruise Reviews ]  [ Port Reviews ] [ Cruise Chat ]  [ Cruise Links ]  [ News ]

Sonya

Age: 42
Occupation: Travel Agent
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: Norwegian
Ship: Dawn
Sailing Date: April 3rd, 2005
Itinerary: Bahamas

Traveling with 3 children, 10, 14 $ 16. Loved the ship, kids had an awesome time. Tip...only buy pop card for each kid, then 1 smoothie package for all kids to share. Embarking and disembarking was extremely frustrating, be prepared for long waits. Shore Excursions are hardly worth it, by the time you line up to get off the ship, get where you're going and come back, it seems hardly worth the money. Great Stirrup Cay... be in the main lobby by 7:15 am to get tickets for the shore tender, otherwise you will never get a chair/umbrella on the beach. Great island though, worth getting off for swimming and sun. Pearl Island shore excursion was fun, but barely enough time to enjoy as we only had 1/2 day in Nassau.

Cabins are great for kids, ours were very impressed. Spinnaker Lounge is open for everyone (kids included to hang out, dance, watch (or participate in) Family Feud, etc. until 11pm every night, then adults only. My kids loved the cruise, and want to live on one! Kids club is great. Teen Club could use some improvement as teens are a little harder to get them to actually participate for fear it's not "cool". It took a couple days for my teens to check out the teen club, but then they really liked some of the activities. My 14 yr old son loved the freestyle dining and choices of restaurants, he must have ate 20 times a day!

Tip....alcoholic drinks average $6USD and a 15% tip is automatically added on any bar bill. You can purchase small incidentals on ship should you forget them or run out...such as bandaids, sunscreen, etc. In Port Canaveral we chose to take the ship's shuttle to Cocoa Beach for the day. After a long boring line up to get off the ship, we waited to board shuttle and finally got there at 10:30 am. Went to Ron Jon's surf shop (WOW...great!)...then laid on the beach.

Tip...go to the pier, you can see sharks at the end of the pier. In Miami, we did the Everglades Fan Boat Tour....tip...boring!!!!!! Kids thought it was a waste of a day. Too large a boat with too many passengers, going on a path though tall reeds. Saw 2 alligators there. Info show at end of tour was ok, but this excursion is definitely not worth the $400 CAD we paid. Every evening they put a schedule of the next day's events in your cabin. Evening entertainment was awesome...we all loved going every night!

Tip...make sure you book shore excursions before you leave..but be prepared...we booked our ahead of time, but found out upon boarding that "Snorkelling with Stingrays" in Bahamas was cancelled. Upon trying to rebook anything (especially dolphins), everything was already sold out! Very disappointing! Another tip....we did not do Disney in Port Canaveral, heard from many that it was way too rushed!

Tip: Teen girls can wear flip flops to dinner with dresses, skirts or dress pants. Teen boys can wear cords. Dress code on ship was absolutely great! You absolutely do not have to dress formal unless you want to. We always felt really comfortable on board, all ages ranges, and all types of people. We are middle class from a small town, never felt out of place on board. NCL is great, would highly recommend it!
 

Ask a Question About NCL, Norwegian Cruise Lines