Norwegian Dawn 9 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise Review

Embarkation Experience and First Cruise Night

We woke up at 9:45 AM so had a bad start to our first cruise day because of the terrible Chesterfield Hotel. Everything, however, seemed to go well after that. The taxi from South Beach to the Port of Miami took about 20 minutes costing about $25 including tip. Embarkation was pretty speedy- we arrived at the terminal at around 11:30 AM and got on-board a little after noon.

http://www.reviewcruises.net/cruise-pics/v/norwegian-dawn/Shower+and+shower+door+of+inside+stateroom+aboard+Norwegian+Dawn.jpg.html

The Norwegian Dawn Garden Cafe selection is very similar to that of the Norwegian Sun cruise we took in 2007. It was definitely a much better selection of food than the Carnival Pride's buffet. The crepes were good desserts for dinner:

Our cabin is inside this time and there were a few minor issues- the toilet seat would not stay up, the shower door came off the hinges, and the shampoo container was empty. Otherwise the cabin was clean and the bed was comfortable.

We always enjoyed the Norwegian Cruise Line sail-away party with BBQ, and on the Dawn it was no exception. Too bad the newest NCL ships (Epic, Breakaway, & Getaway) do not have the tradition of grilling up some delicious meat as the ship is leaving the home port.

The first show on the Dawn starred Jean Ann Ryan dancers and comedian Dave Heenan. The dancers were terrific. Heenan had some funny bits but his jokes didn't transition from one to another. On our Western Caribbean NCL cruise on the Norwegian Sun in 2007 he was one of the performers, so maybe we were getting tired of him .

Jean Ann Ryan "Band on the Run" Highlights First Sea Day

We slept in and ate lunch at The Venetian restaurant. The grilled portobello mushroom starter was good, the "summer rolls" was weak, and the farm chicken soup was too salty. The wild mushroom omelet was pretty basic- pretty much just scrambled eggs pancake with mushroom on top.

Dinner at the Aqua dining room was decent. The mushroom quesadilla was good but the grilled asparagus dish wasn't good cold like the way it was designed. The Miso Tilapia with Singapore Noodles was good though the tilapia was a tad fishy. The Grilled Salmon with Asparagus was good, and the Madura Indian dish was so-so.

The "Band on the Run" show was terrific. Good dancing and singing, and Sasha and Natalia showed amazing strength (like they did when we first saw them Pearl). The Jean Ann Ryan company performers are definitely superior than the dancers from the Carnival Cruises we were on.

We finished off the night with some fun ping pong on deck 13. We like how NCL gives you freedom to play anytime whereas at Carnival you have to check out the paddle and ball.

Norwegian Dawn Salsa Tex-Mex Restaurant Review

Since we had eaten at Le Bistro the night before and had a $10 off coupon for Salsa, we decided to give it a try. It was $10 per person. For appetizer we had pork taquitos and a tostados salad. The former was a bit oily but good. The tostados salad was okay- the beef and salad itself were good but the shell was a bit soggy. We also had their tortilla soup which was way too salty and not edible. For our main course we had Lobster Tacos. The tacos were hard-shelled and the lobsters were in chunks in a soupy sauce that was very hot (temperature-wise). Too bad they couldn't leave the lobster alone and also used soft tortillas instead. It was not very good. The desserts were a different story, however. The flan was rich yet fluffy and not too sweet, while the chocolate caramel cake was yummy as well. Overall, however, we probably won't be eating at Salsa Tex-Mex again.

The restaurant is now defunct and has been placed with the Moderno Brazilian restaurant.

Port Review: Barbados

The Dawn was supposed to arrive at port at 9 AM but was late so there was an extremely long line waiting for for the gangway to open. And because the ship was docked far away from the Barbados terminal, we had to take a shuttle to get there. There could have been better organization and communication on NCL's part that morning. There was no announcement about when the gangway was going to be open, and the scene at the pier with guests waiting for shuttles was chaotic.

We finally left for our excursion, Best of Barbados, in a coach bus, at around 10:10. The guide spoke perfect English and was informative and pointed out different highlights on the way to 3 (yes, only 3) destinations. First was the Tyrol Cot house (See Photo Gallery) which is the former home of Prime Minister Adams and his wife. The home has historical importance, though it is not very impressive as a sightseeing stop.

The second stop was Orchid World where we found a large variety of beautiful orchids and other plants on display. This was certainly the highlight of the excursion and came with a free drink.

See more Orchid World Pics

The final destination of the "Best of Barbados" excursion was a visit to Gun Signal Hill, which was a former signaling station and fort a top of a hill about 760 feet above sea level. You get some nice panoramic views there of Barbados. And then that was it- we were driven back to the Barbados cruise terminal with the entire excursion lasting only about 3 hours instead of the advertised 4 hours. It's definitely not worth the $60 per person- maybe $35 to $40 would be more reasonable. I strongly advise that if you want to have more fun you take another tour.

More Gun Hill Signal Station Pics

The Barbados Bridgetown Cruise terminal (picture gallery) itself was full of shopping for tourists. There you can make phone calls to the US for 25 cents a minute or go online for 30 minutes for $5. We didn't try either though. We did purchase this hand made souvenir of a Barbadian gathering shells for $10.

Later after returning on-board we ate dinner for the first time at the Dawn Venetian restaurant. The shrimp potato soup was salty though the napa cabbage and orange salad with Asian dressing was good. The crab fritters were over-fried, however. For our main entree we chose the Miso Glazed Salmon with soba noodles. It was a decent dish but not great.

Tonight's show featured Dave Heenen doing some singing (pretty nice voice) followed by about 30 minutes of comedy. It was pretty entertaining- though his adult comedy from last night was much funnier. Then it was Gene Yaws turn to entertain the crowd. We actually have seen him in the earlier Jean Ann Ryan shows. He is from Broadway and sang a couple of songs- he had a good voice but the music genres of the songs were not our favorites.

Then it was off to the Spinnaker Lounge for the Norwegian Dawn's version of "Dancing with the Stars" where brave fellow cruisers dancers are paired up with staff of the ship, some are even from the Jean Ann Ryan dance troupe. It was very funny and entertaining until one of the guests, a 50 year-old woman, tripped and fell on her face really hard. She bled profusely but seemed to be okay. The mood turned a bit somber after that. Overall it was an entertaining "show" with the celebrity judges making funny remarks. They even had a "losers lounge" where dancers who got voted off participated in humorous interviews with Sinan the assistant cruise director from the Cinema room.

Port Review: St Kitts Frigate Bay Beach Excursion/Bassaterre City Tour and Beach Excursion

We signed up for the Reggae Beach Express excursion. At the port pier area we were told that the beach we were supposed to go to got dirty and messy and that we would be going to Frigate Bay Beach instead. The tour guide told us that the original beach was the best beach so that was disappointing. After a short tour of Bassaterre that included a photo stop at a hill that showed beautiful scenery, we arrived at a beach at Frigate Bay called Monkey Bar Beach.

It became pretty much the same NCL excursion tour named "Bassaterre City Tour and Beach". We had access to a free beach chair with umbrella and were given a free rum punch. The beach sand was dark and extremely hot- you would burn your bare feet if you stood in the sand for too long. We did walk in the sand splashed by the ocean waters and that was no problem. The waves however were pretty strong and the water murky so it was not a good place to snorkel. Overall it was the worst beach we experienced on the cruise, but still you can't complain about hanging out for a couple hours at a Caribbean beach!

See more photos of the beach here.

For dinner this night we ate at Aqua. Tonight the main dining rooms offered the best food quality. The rack of lamb was tender and delicious, and the scallops dish was also very yummy. We would rather see more of these dishes instead of lobster that is overcooked. We skipped the Neil Diamond show by Jose and Patty because it wasn't our type of music. We went to the NCL Chocoholics Buffet which was always fun. The sweets themselves were not very memorable but the ice sculptures and decor always made for nice photos- though the sculptures on this ship were not as elaborate as we have seen on a few of the other NCL cruises we were on. We then attended the "Liars Club" show that starred cruise director Shona, Sinan, Dave Heenan, and Charles the Juggler. All four had very funny comments and scripted bits. It was certainly one of the most entertaining shows of the cruise. "The Quest" adult show was entertaining to OBSERVE as always.

Jean Ann Ryan Bollywood Show Highlights Second Sea Day

It was nice to have a sea day after 5 consecutive port days. We slept in and had a relaxing day consisted of pigging out and playing ping pong. The highlight of the day has to be the "Bollywood" show put on by the Jean Ann Ryan company. It started off with the performers in elaborate costumes singing a Indian number with some Spanish lyrics. The set had the Taj Mahal in the background with other Indian themed structures. The acrobat did an amazing job and so did Sasha and Natalia just wooing and ahhing the crowd with their displays of grace, flexibility, and strength. The main "character", an Indian-looking dancer, also did a terrific job on the white sash ropes high above the floor. That combined with stylish Indian-style dancing and good vocals made this the best dancing/song performance we have seen on a cruise to date.

Immediately after the show the Norwegian Dawn crew members came on stage and received applause and appreciation from the crowd. Then it was on to the NCL White Hot Party at the Spinnaker Lounge. Cruise Director Shona pumped up the crowd and passed the torch to Sinan. The staff passed out noise makers and colorful wreaths and had snow-making machines. It was a fun party.

Taste of India

The next day we slept in again and at 11:30 went to the Salsa restaurant on Deck 8 for "Taste of India". The event lasting from 11:30 AM to 1 PM has been advertised throughout the cruise and we liked Indian food so we thought we tried it out. At $15 per person, it's not as pricy as Le Bistro which is $20/pp but not as cheap as the Italian or Tex-Mex either which were $10/pp. The Salsa restaurant was decorated in Indian themes- there was a round basin with floating fresh flower petals, a flag banner of India, and Indian style fabric. The wait staff were all Indian and wore traditional Indian clothing. There was also mellow Indian music playing in the background. So they really took the effort to make it feel like an Indian restaurant. It was a buffet style service which was a positive because it made it easy to try all the different dishes.

Picture Gallery of Dishes Served

The food was spicy (but not overly so) and very good as was the service. "Taste of India" was well worth the money- highly recommended. Rating: 4.5/5

We have been on 4 or 5 NCL cruises since this one, but unfortunately we have not seen this delicious event offered again.

Second City Comedy Troupe

The first night of Second City's performance (located in Stardust Theater) included both scripted and improv skits. We were glad to see most of the material were new since we have seen several Second City performances on other NCL cruises. A few of the skits were a tad boring but most were pretty funny, with the funniest being the silent "taking the shower" skit.

The last night of the cruise the Second City performed again, this time in the Spinnaker Lounge. There was a family-friendly show at 8:45 PM and one at 10:45 PM that was adults-only. Both were improvs. The 10:45 was funnier but both were enjoyable. The funniest skits for us involved the cast getting phrases and words from the audience, writing them down on small pieces of paper and then scattering them on the ground, and then doing improv from them. Another really funny skit was the letter-exchange ad-lib.

Overall this troupe was very funny- much like the other two Second City performances we experienced in the past on NCL cruises. They get a highly deserved rating of 4 out of 5.

Dave Heenan Performing on the Cruise Ship

Dave Heenan had quite a few performances on the Norwegian Dawn. Some of his material were okay but most were pretty funny. He started out slow on the first night but his adult comedy show at the Spinnaker Lounge was hilarious. Heenan also appeared on the Liars Club and was pretty funny there. His other shows were fairly funny. Dave gets a 4 out of 5.

Overall Impressions of the Cruise

• The food was not as good as the Norwegian Pearl Alaska Cruise but was good overall

• Excellent service overall

• Only one lobster night (in Antigua), but not a big deal

• No internet in cabins- you have to go to one of the wireless hotspots on the ship or use the Internet Cafe

• Cruise Director Shona Blair was a great MC and speaker, and assistant cruise director Sinan was hilarious- he should make for a good cruise director someday (which happened as we read that he became the Norwegian Breakaway Cruise Director

• Cabin had several minor issues

• Shower temperature was a bit too hot in the morning and too cold at night (past midnight); the shower water temperature controls did not work

We really enjoyed the Dawn 9 Night Southern Caribbean experience, and give the overall rating of 4.5 out of 5 for it.

[Editor's Note: This Cruise was originally undertaken February 26, 2010]

Picture Gallery of the Norwegian Dawn

Pictures of Food & Dishes served on this particular cruise + other NCL ships

First day on the cruise (sea day)

We arrived the Miami port at 11:40pm and since we were early to check in, everything went quickly and smoothly for us. We went on board at 12ish pm but couldn't get into our cabin until 2pm. So we went to the Garden Cafe (main buffet restaurant) on deck 12. There were still few people when we were there but more and more people boarded and next thing we knew, it was packed. We went for a little tour of the ship after out lunch, but at 1:30pm we decided to check if our cabin was ready and sure it was (we just got lucky).

Since we didn't get much sleep the night before, we both took a nap for an hour, and we were required to go through the mandatory lifeboat drill at 3:30pm � had to bring out life vests. Then we went to join the sail-away party with barbeque � there were so many people. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the beach and million dollars homes while we were eating our meal. At 5:30pm we went to the spa raffle and hubby won a $20 casino money, and they were offering everyone at the raffle $100 off the 2 hours top-to-toe & facial package with regular of $234. I went to get the package, but the catch was that you had to book the session on today � I got an appointment at 7pm. The massage was pretty nice but the facial was kind of weak � the whole session wasn't fully 2 hours. The masseuse ended 20 minutes before the total of 2 hours, so she could sell the skin products � I didn't buy anything, since I preferred organic skincare.

Then I went back to the stateroom then to the Garden Cafe to get something to eat quick so we could make the 9:30pm night show. Tonight show was more of an introduction of the entertainment staff and there was a comedian show starring Dave Heenan � I personally didn't like the guy that much. Afterwards, we went to the Blue Lagoon 24 hours restaurant � the food there isn't that very good. We ordered fish n' chips (fish wasn't good), nacho with cheese dip (good), and the wanton noodle soup which was really bad. The wanton tasted old and there wasn't any noodles. Then we went to the Garden cafe to see if were open for midnight snack and sure enough they did, but there weren't many choices. We just took very small samples, and we went back to our cabin afterward.

Second day on the cruise (sea day)

I woke up at 9am and went around at the shopping area and checked out the shops, and I went for breakfast afterward � I got a roasted tomato, French toast, one boiled egg and egg white omelet and had an orange juice with my meal. Then I went back to the cabin at around 11am, and hubby woke up at got ready.

We went for lunch at the Venetian restaurant at 1pm. I got the three starters with Vietnamese summer rolls (it was bad, tough glass noodles some raw vegetables � I'm Vietnamese myself and it was nothing like the Vietnamese summer/spring rolls); fried calamari/squid (not so good either, the batter is too thick and dry) and the last starter was the chicken noodle soup with vegetables (way too salty). Hubby had better luck with his dishes � he got portabella mushroom with feta cheese and tomato sauce on the bottom, + mushroom omelet with fries. Both plates were good.

After the lunch we went to check out what Garden Cafe has to offer, and there we got some Indian samples with lots of sauteed green beans & some fruits as well. Then we went outside at the pool area and relaxed on the beach chairs � there were some activities that the cruise staff had with passengers and we watched a little bit of that. But 30 minutes later we decided to go back to our cabin. Hubby took his laptop and went to the area where there is signal for the wireless and I was about to take a nap, but turned on the TV and saw the break news about the 8.8 earth quake in Chile. I watched the news for a bit; hubby returned and watched the news with me but we both got a bit tired and fell asleep until 6:30pm.

After I woke up, we got ready for dinner at Aqua restaurant (one of their two sit-down dining rooms). We didn't ordered too much there and finished out dinner at 7:35pm. We rushed to the first show that started at 7:30pm- just making it. The entertainment was pretty cool and exciting (a lot of sexy dancing movements). All the dancers and singers looks really good, and it seemed like that many of them can both dance AND sing (most cruises that we had been on didn't have dancers who would sing this often during the show). It ended at 8:30pm and we met the cruise director Shona (young pretty lady) standing greeting people walking out of the theater (I got to take a picture with her). All the dancers were also greeting guests too and people could come up and talk to them (we got some picture with some of them).

Then we went to Garden Cafe to get some fruits (that was the plan) but there were some nice warm food that we just couldn't resist, so we got some samples. The crepe was pretty good. Afterwards, we went back to our cabin and relaxed a bit and watched some TV. But we got bored and we wanted to walk off the calories but sure enough we got to the Blue Lagoon restaurant (open 24 hours) and here we didn't continue our walk. We ordered some chicken buffalo wings, chicken strips with fries, and chips and cheese dip. Then we felt bad and decided to play some ping pong and hoped that we could burned some of those nasty food intake. It was very windy out side and the ping pong area has a glass wall, therefore we were able to play, and we played three games � I won 2 to 1 It was 1:10am when we got back to the cabin. Tomorrow, we will be in Samana and we booked an excursion- Cayo Levantado beach escape the island, and we need to meet up at Stardust theater.

Port day: Samana, Domina Republic

We woke up at 9:30am and went for breakfast at the Garden Cafe at 10 am. We got back to our cabin at 10:40am and we left for the Stardust theater at 11:10am to meet up the rest of the people who also would go on the Cayo Levantado beach escape on Samana island. We went on the tender boat and were there on the island 10 minutes after � it was nice and sunny.

The Cayo Levantado beach is a private island and had very nice tropical atmosphere. There were lots of tall coconut trees and some gift stops in different corners; a main open bar in the center of the beach area, and a barbeque place next to the bar. Though there were also few other small dining areas as well. After we found two seats, we jumped right into the water which was warm and clear - the beach wasn't over crowed and it was pretty nice.

We were in the water for about 1 hour, and we saw there was a small group of tourists who did the package of beach and "hanging" out the sea lion. It was cool to see that sea lion, but I wouldn't pay $150 to just get up close and touch it for 30 minutes or so. After we had been swimming in the water for a while, we chilled out on our beach chairs and it was so comfy and relaxing. However, we started to smell a strong cigar smoke and we relocated to avoid it but it didn't help. But it did seemed to get better later on. We both chilled on our beach chairs for almost two hours, but then I went down to the water and swam a bit more while hubby went around the island to take pictures.

Then I went back to my beach chair to relax some more but I thought that we would be leaving soon, so I decided to swim for some more and got some shells on the bottom of the sea, and I saw also many sea stars. At 3:45pm we got ready to get back to the duck area to get ride back to the Dawn via tender boat. It was a nightmare to breath in the exhaust from all the many other tenders (we had really hard time to breath), and the worst part was that we had to wait in that smoke for 15 minutes for the last two people to get on our boat � just don't like when people being late and let everyone wait for them.

We returned to the ship 10 minutes later and returned to the cabin. I was exhausted and just wanted to crash down on the bed, but I had to take a shower and hubby went to check his emails. We went to one of the specialty restaurants called Le Bistro for dinner tonight. We each ordered two starters where we both got foie gras, and my other start was escargo and hubby got the scallop. For the main course, I got the duck confit and hubby got rack of lamb. All of our starters was really good, but the foie gras was so rich that we both couldn't finish them. My main course with duck confit with pan fried foie gras bedded with beans and sausages was pretty good � nothing special about the duck, but the pan fried fro gar tasted like a piece fat (pretty good). Hubby's dish of rack of lamp was a sizable and it came with sauteed squash and artichokes + some cherry tomatoes. The lamb was pretty good. Then we ordered crepe and chocolate fondue for dessert, and they both were quite tasty.

After dinner we went to the late night show with Charles Peachock, the juggler � the show was really funny and good as the guy was the best juggler we have seen so far and he was funny too. Even after the show we were still full from the heavy dinner so both were kind of tired, so we went back to the cabin and relaxed for a bit. But we felt like exercising to burn of some of the calories from dinner, so we went to the gym for 40 minutes. We got back to our room and got ready for bed since we had to woke up early (7ish am) for the excursion in Tortola tomorrow.

Port Day: Tortola, British Virgin Island

We both went early to bed at around 10, but I couldn't sleep until 2 am. We woke up to join the "Best of Tortola" tour with 28 other people in a shuttle. During the trip to the BEACH we were driving on very narrow roads going up hills, with breathtaking views. When we arrived on the beach, we got 1 � hours to explore the area and needed to meet back at the restaurant where they dropped us off. We first walked on the beach with our bare feet touching the warm water � the sand was very soft.

There were a lot of people on the beach. We walked about one mile or so along on the beach, and the weather was quite pleasant. We then walked on the streets (to take pictures of the surrounding) on our way back to the restaurant. We started to have lunch (included in our tour package) at the restaurant at 1pm. They served us drinks and we needed to line up for their buffet where the servers scooped the food (Caribbean fare with a bit of salad, stew pork, fish, chicken, and fried plantain) on our plates. Our guide gave us the lunch ticket right after he dropped us off. After lunch, we had 40 minutes to walk around some more so we traversed the beach some more.

We then took off back to port, but some of us got dropped of at the shopping area (near the ships). We went back to the ship about 40 minutes later and went for lunch at the Garden Cafe � got some chili, tortilla chips, and wide pasta noodles with tomatoes sauce. Then we returned to our stateroom and took a nap.

We went for dinner at the Salsa Tex Mex restaurant ($10 per person) at 8 pm. We had been with the cruise line before therefore we a NCL coupon book from so we took advantage of one coupon which provided a Buy 1 Get 1 Free Specialty Restaurant. We ate at Le Bistro French restaurant before, so we just needed to show the receipt at Salsa. The food at the Tex Mex restaurant wasn't that good and we would not recommend it. We started out with the taquitos with pork inside (not too bad), and pepper pan fried tuna (hubby said the dish was kind of cold and salty). Then we both got the lobster taco (their signature dish) and we weren't not impressed by it. The lobsters were slightly overcooked and there was too much sauce on the inside, plus the flavor wasn't that good either. However, our desserts were actually pretty good � we got Mexican flan and chocolate cake, and both were really tasty.

After the dinner, we went to the late night show at 9:30pm in the Stardust Theater with "The Second City" from Chicago. They were pretty funny. Since it had been a long day for us, we both were very tired and went back to the cabin and got ready to sleep � we need to walk up early for our tour tomorrow in Antiqua.

Port Day: Antiqua

Antiqua is an independent island country with a population of 80,000 who speak English with Caribbean accent - the capital is St. Johns. We woke up at 7:45am and went for breakfast at the buffet at 8 am. We got off the ship at 9am and we had a bit hard time looking for a person with a sign saying: "Best of Antique". The schedule printout said that we needed to meet them at the pier, so we went to the end of the pier, nearby the tour center and we got help. Finally we got set up to get ready for our tour with another couple from Chicago (nice and friendly people).

Our tour guide drove us pretty much around the island, and we first went to the place with hundreds of years old windmill, and to the old sugar cane factory. One of the highlights was the Nelson's Dockyard. We also went to a high up a hilly area that had fantastic view to the ocean, landscape and the city it was very beautiful. The tour guide drove us through a rain forest and at one point, we stopped at a fruit stand and to sample local pineapple. It was extremely sweet- likely the sweetest one I have ever eaten. He also drove along the coast with pretty views of different beaches, and we stopped at the Valley Church Village and hung around there for about 10 minutes. We got a drink while experiencing the most beautiful beach with three different colors of blue in the water the beach wasn't to crowed, so it felt like a private beach. The tour lasted for about 4 hours and it had been a great tour.

The tour guide dropped us off near our ship at around 1 pm, and since the ship wouldn't leave until 4:30pm, we went back on-board for lunch and came back out to the shopping area at around 3pm. Hubby took advantage of the free wi-fi around the internet cafe to check on his work. 1 hour internet is cost about $50 on the ship. Meanwhile, I went round the St Johns downtown area to take photos and went shopping a bit, and I came back to him at 4 pm to get back on the boat.

Afterwards we went straight to our cabin and took a long nap until 7 pm. We then went to the Aqua restaurant for dinner but the food wasn't impressively good (some starters were too salty). We then went to the Garden Cafe and got some salads, fruits and small samples of the warm food. Then we went to the late night show at 9:30pm at the Stardust theater with where the dancers performed, and afterwards we went to see the adult comedy show with Dave Heenan. He was a little big better this time. The show lasted for about an hour and we went back to our stateroom to get ready for bed, since we needed to wake up early for an excursion next morning.

Port Day: Barbados

The Dawn's docking time at Barbados was a tad behind the schedule, and many of us were already lined up even before the gangway was ready for us to get off the ship. The line only became longer, and we had to wait for 20 minutes or so. It took another 10 minutes to get on the shuttle to drive us to the port center (where we'd start the tour), and there was no order in term of lining up for the shuttles � there was a lot of chaos. But we managed to get a ride and once we got our tour bus, we had to wait for the rest of people in our tour group before they could get going. The bus finally got started with the tour at 10 am.

Our tour guide was a nice lady, but the excursion itself wasn't not impressive and likely not worth the money ($65 per person). We got back to the cruise port (very spacious and full of duty free and gift shops) at around 1 pm. We went to shop around there and got back to the ship an hour later. We went to the Garden cafe for lunch, and there were a lot of people at the restaurant. We then returned to our cabin and took a nice long nap until 7pm.

Next, we went to the Venetian restaurant. Once again, the food wasn't too impressive. We rushed to finish our dinner because we went to make the today's only show at 8:30pm @ Startdust with comedian Dave Heenan. Toward the end of the comedy bit, one of the main singers, Gene Yaws, sang 3-4 songs to conclude to show. We then went to the Garden to get some fruits and salads, but they only offered late night snack with fatty fast-foods like french fries, hot dogs, fried chicken wings, pizza and sweet stuff. We got small very some samples of the onion rings and some sweets, as well we shared 4 oranges (very juicy and sweet).

Then we went to watch the "Dancing with the stars of the Norwegian Dawn" show. There were 8 passengers who got matched up with 8 cruise's "stars" (some were professional dancers and other were the ship employees). The show began with the 8 couples dancing to songs that played and it was up to them how they would dance according to the music. There were four judges to critique the performances. Proceeding each song, there would be three dance couple being picked for having the least impressive showing. One couple would be voted out of the competition and would go back "stage" to be "interviewed" on how they felt about being kicked out the competition, just like in the TV dancing with the stars show. It was pretty funny and so much fun to watch the losers speaking out about how they were "robbed", etc. Everything was going along well, but unfortunately, a lady fell and bled from her nose. She seemed ok after she got some ice for the injury and she even wanted to stay to watch the rest of the show. When we finished watching the fun entertainment at 12am, we went back to our cabin to get some sleep. It was nice to be able to sleep in, since our tour at St. Kitts Island wouldn't start until 12:30 pm.