Erin, I am sure the Dawn is the same as all NCL ships. You can bring all the water and soda on you want. I guess the gripe section (which you may want to stay away from) had to do with alcohal. All lines are cracking down on bringing your own booze. By the way this policy has always been the same, just never enforced til the past year maybe. We bring a 6 or 8 pack of water and re-fill the bottles as they are used. The ship's water is very good just from the tap. You can almost always find someplace to get free ice tea, sometimes lemonade and juice and of course coffee, but for the kids the idea of bringing on sodas saves a lot. We used to do this when the grand kids were younger. Happy cruisin
Nita