Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Dawn

After nearly a decade at sea, the Norwegian Dawn no longer can be counted among the newest, hottest ships, and yet it’s still a solid choice for would-be cruisers, particularly families. While nowhere near as big as Norwegian’s latest ship, the Norwegian Epic (which is more than 60% larger), it offers a wide assortment of family-friendly activities including a large children’s area with programs split into three age groups, a dedicated children’s pool area and a main pool area with multiple pools and hot tubs.

Like other Norwegian ships, the Dawn is a good choice for cruising newcomers who are fearful of an overly structured cruise experience — the kind where passengers are assigned to a particular restaurant table at a particular time each night for dinner. This was one of the first ships Norwegian purposely built with its industry-changing eat-when-you-want, where-you-want “freestyle” dining focus in mind, and it offers an unusually wide array of restaurants for a ship its size. We’ve always been a fan of the Dawn’s Asian eatery, Bamboo, even if the menu isn’t quite as adventurous as we remember it being in the ship’s early days; other eateries, including Cagney’s Steakhouse, definitely could be better. We also think the Dawn has one of the best interior layouts of vessels its size (something it shares with several sister ships including the Norwegian Jewel and Norwegian Star). The flow between the Dawn’s many restaurants, lounges and bars is superb.

In recent years, the Dawn has spent a fair amount of time sailing out of northern U.S. ports such as New York and Boston, where the cruise choices are limited and the ship often is one of the most modern (and affordably-priced) options around. Keep in mind that it’s a mass-market ship. While it does offer two of the largest suites in the industry (its oddly gigantic, three-bedroom Garden Villas, which come with their own private outdoor garden area, steam room and whirlpool), it’s not a luxury product by any means, and even when staying in the top suites you won’t find the level of service you would on a vessel operated by such luxury lines as Silversea or Seabourn.