Looking for a ship to bring out your wild side, take you to paradise, and allow you to do whatever you want, whenever you want? You've guessed it: I have found the a ship just for you! Norwegian Dawn, celebrating 10 years of cruisetacular service this December, will have you and your family waiting for her arrival dock-side time and time again. Currently sailing from Boston, Massachusetts to Bermuda, Norwegian Dawn is the only seasonal cruise ship from New England sailing to Bermuda. In my review below, you'll see I compare Norwegian Dawn to Norwegian Star. They are identical ships currently sailing to the same destination: Bermuda--one just sails from New York, the other from Boston.

Norwegian Dawn has the passenger capacity of 2,224 (double occupancy), streched out for 965 feet, and can top cruising speeds of 25 knots (28.8 mile per hour). She's jammed packed with great public spaces, nooks for reading and of course anything else your cruisexploring heart may desire. Coming off a recent refurbishment in 2011, she's another ship that embodies the Freestyle Cruising craze. Norwegian Dawn has 14 dining options--of which 2 are main dining rooms and 6 are at no additional charge to you! She also sails with 8 bars/lounges/cafe's, a wine cellar, spacious spa, and a many, many more cruisemazing must-dos!

Norwegian Dawn is currently sailing from Boston, Massachusetts to the beautiful island of Bermuda until mid-September 2012. Then, she'll be heading to America's friendly top hat, Canada, during September and October 2012. And as we all learned in physics, whatever goes up, must come down... and down Norwegian Dawn will go. Beginning November 2012, Norwegian Dawn will be offering sailings to the Western Caribbean from Tampa, Florida. Norwegian Dawn is slated to return to Boston next year and do another year of Bermuda cruises from May until October 2013.

The entertainment on-board was very similar to the offerings aboard Norwegian Star (read my review). Dancing with the Dawn Stars, Deal or No Deal, Battle of the Pans (similar to Iron Chef America) and The Second City comedy troupe are all musts to experience while on-board! The 1970's dance party was great, but I think the way Norwegian Star held the '70s party was better because Norwegian Star had an actual top 10 hits countdown, invited men from the dance floor to be honorary members The Village People (of which I was a member--the video's coming soon), and even had a Tina Turner dance off competition. Norwegian Dawn had none of the above. But I did like how Norwegian Dawn had a Michael Jackson tribute one evening (I lead the crowd in "Thriller" and showed my moves to "Beat It" as well). I also noticed Norwegian Dawn had no water slides by the pool. Norwegian Star and many other NCL ships have water slides by the pool. Some parents with kids under 10, but over 3 voiced they would have liked to have seen water slides abaord for their children to enjoy because the T-Rex pool ares is mainly for smaller children.

I'm going to be up front with you all. Norwegian Dawn is just an okay cruise ship, in my opinion. I don't mean to shock some of you, but this ship didn't quite wow me like others in the NCL fleet. The crew was okay, but I've experienced and seen better within the NCL fleet (I liked the crew on Norwegian Star, Norwegian Sky and Norwegian Epic way better). The food was great--no complaints there (LeBistro, French cuisine speacialty restaurant, was truly the bomb diggity)! I think more than anything, the fellow passengers had a play on my emotions about this ship. The cruising crowd out of Boston is very different from any other port I've sailed. If comparing this ship to Norwegian Star doing the same cruise from New York, Norwegian Star wins by miles! Better crew, better passengers, and better overall experience, in my opinion. Norwegian Dawn barely gets 4.0 waves on the cruisetacular sailing scale (versus the 4.6 I gave Norwegian Star)--making her my least favorite ship in NCL’s Fleet.

 

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