Norwegian Cruise Line Norwegian Dawn

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Dining

Like other Norwegian Cruise Line ships, the Norwegian Dawn is designed to offer passengers lots of restaurant choices each night at dinnertime instead of just one or two main restaurants. That said, the ship does have two main dining rooms that are larger than the rest: The Venetian and Aqua. There’s also a main buffet called the Garden Café. The main dining rooms and buffet come at no extra charge, while the other “specialty” eateries cost extra.

The Venetian (deck 6 aft), offers à la carte breakfast, lunch and, dinner featuring traditional American cuisine. If you prefer a lido deck buffet, the Garden Café has an extensive choice, with eggs, salads, soups, pasta and sandwiches – along with a special kids-sized section. Breakfast is also served at the Blue Lagoon, the only place to get food 24/7 other than ordering room service. Room service is free, unless you order after 10.30pm.

Dinner choices on Norwegian Dawn are diverse: The second main dining room, Aqua (deck 6 mid), has a more modern feel, and only serves dinner. There is also an Asian fusion restaurant, Bamboo (deck 7), with a $15 cover charge per person. Located in the same area as Bamboo, in a separate section, is Teppanyaki, a Japanese-style restaurant with just 18 seats. You’ll also find a Sushi Bar in this area. The cover charge for the Teppanyaki is $25 and for Sushi $15. Also featured on the Dawn are two European-style restaurants, Le Bistro with French cuisine, and the Italian La Cucina. Both charge $20 and are located on deck 6. Cagney’s, located on deck 13, is the ship’s steakhouse, and charges $25.

Overall, we give mixed marks for the food on the Norwegian Dawn. We were disappointed with the quality of dishes at the two main restaurants, Venetian and Aqua, and even the dishes at some of the extra-charge specialty restaurants failed to impress us. That said, we give high marks to Le Bistro, the French eatery, and the Japanese Teppanyaki restaurant.

One nice touch: If you can’t finish your meal for any reason, most restaurants will deliver the leftovers to your room.

One thing we should note is that all the restaurants have different names for the same items, especially desserts. If something sounds familiar, it’s probably the item you ate in another place.