Anyone just back from the DAWN????

I'm about to go ito single digits and I'm becoming crazed for information :):)

You'll love the Dawn! We were on the Dawn (11 nights) Nov.02-Nov.13/2011) and it was another wonderful and memorable cruise for us.

This was the first time we did free-style cruising; it was all very relaxing. Dining whenever, wherever, and with whom you want. You can have a table for two, four or larger. It feels as if you are on land, and dine at one of your favourite restaurants. (we didn't try the specialty (cover charge) restaurants though)

Cabins (inside for us) are well apppointed, mini fridge, safe, plenty of towels etc.

The Dawn is very clean, pleasantly decorated, spacious, and very well maintained throughout the cruise.

The ports of call are for most part either right downtown, or within a very short walking distance of downtown.

We found the crew to be impeccable, helpful, friendly, and very customer satisfaction oriented.

I'm about to go ito single digits and I'm becoming crazed for information :):)

Although I have not been on the Dawn for a year now :(, I love the Dawn! The ship is a beautiful ship with a great layout. Also, has lots of stories which makes her even more exciting. The crew on the Dawn is the friendliest at sea. Have a great vacation!

Just off her yesterday. Any specific questions? It will be a few days before I can review. Some tidbits:

-Ate at La Cucina, Moderno, Bamboo and the Sushi Bar

All were good. The boring risotto at La Cucina was the only real disappiointment. Moderno was awesome. The dessert at Bamboo was very memorable. Sushi was very good. The Red Hokkaido roll was particularly delicious.

-Dinner in the MDR was the best I've had. We both had some entrees that we've had over the years on NCL, but the quality seemed improved. Meat was always done just as we asked for it (Medium rare in his case, medium in mine). Even burgers at the poolside BBQ and Bimini Barb DH said were perfectly cooked.

-In your Day 1 Freestyle Daily, look for an annoucement to leave your name at the front desk for an opportunity to dine with a ship's officer. We were able to dine with two other couples and Neill, the F&B director.

-The White Hot Night party was held in the Spinnaker, which was a little disappointing as we'd been to two others on NCL that were held on the pool deck.

-The first day and last day were pretty wavy seas.

-Free tenders to Cayo Leventado on Samana, so make a beach day if you don't have anything else going. It was a quick tender ride.

-Lots of piano based entertainers, doing a lot of classics. All are pretty good, but we yearned for more variety. Kenosis in Spinnaker and the pool band were the only other options.

-20% off martinis in the Star Bar. It wasn't busy at all, which was kind of sad. The bartender said since the 2 for 1 was discontinued, business has been way down.

-3 martini tastings were offered. One on each sea day, and they did a different style (first was a mish mash, second was "fruity" and third was "dessert and creamy") each time.

-There was no "Best of" lunch or dinner that I saw offered, but they did do a "Taste of India" lunch. We didn't sign up.

-They had eggs benedict at the breakfast buffet, which was new to us. The eggs were hit or miss on nice creamy yolks. In the MDR, the yolks were perfect. The waffles were really good. They had berries, caramel bananas and sugar free or regular syrup.

-I wish they had salsa at lunch on the buffet. They had tortilla chips at lunch, but no salsa. They had salsa at breakfast, though.

-For any nighttime pooldeck parties, it's kind of cool to hang at the Bimini Bar and overlook everything.

-We grabbed wings to go from Blue Lagoon to eat in Pearly Kings for the Packer game. Worked great! The new location (Deck 8 over atrium) for Blue Lagoon seems to make it a little quieter and service a little better. Not being in a main traffic thoroughfare is probably good.

-Had to ask for a room service menu, but then we ended up not using it. :-)

Just off her yesterday. Any specific questions? It will be a few days before I can review. Some tidbits:

 

-Ate at La Cucina, Moderno, Bamboo and the Sushi Bar

All were good. The boring risotto at La Cucina was the only real disappiointment. Moderno was awesome. The dessert at Bamboo was very memorable. Sushi was very good. The Red Hokkaido roll was particularly delicious.

 

-Dinner in the MDR was the best I've had. We both had some entrees that we've had over the years on NCL, but the quality seemed improved. Meat was always done just as we asked for it (Medium rare in his case, medium in mine). Even burgers at the poolside BBQ and Bimini Barb DH said were perfectly cooked.

 

-In your Day 1 Freestyle Daily, look for an annoucement to leave your name at the front desk for an opportunity to dine with a ship's officer. We were able to dine with two other couples and Neill, the F&B director.

 

-The White Hot Night party was held in the Spinnaker, which was a little disappointing as we'd been to two others on NCL that were held on the pool deck.

 

-The first day and last day were pretty wavy seas.

 

-Free tenders to Cayo Leventado on Samana, so make a beach day if you don't have anything else going. It was a quick tender ride.

 

-Lots of piano based entertainers, doing a lot of classics. All are pretty good, but we yearned for more variety. Kenosis in Spinnaker and the pool band were the only other options.

 

-20% off martinis in the Star Bar. It wasn't busy at all, which was kind of sad. The bartender said since the 2 for 1 was discontinued, business has been way down.

 

-3 martini tastings were offered. One on each sea day, and they did a different style (first was a mish mash, second was "fruity" and third was "dessert and creamy") each time.

 

-There was no "Best of" lunch or dinner that I saw offered, but they did do a "Taste of India" lunch. We didn't sign up.

 

-They had eggs benedict at the breakfast buffet, which was new to us. The eggs were hit or miss on nice creamy yolks. In the MDR, the yolks were perfect. The waffles were really good. They had berries, caramel bananas and sugar free or regular syrup.

 

-I wish they had salsa at lunch on the buffet. They had tortilla chips at lunch, but no salsa. They had salsa at breakfast, though.

 

-For any nighttime pooldeck parties, it's kind of cool to hang at the Bimini Bar and overlook everything.

 

-We grabbed wings to go from Blue Lagoon to eat in Pearly Kings for the Packer game. Worked great! The new location (Deck 8 over atrium) for Blue Lagoon seems to make it a little quieter and service a little better. Not being in a main traffic thoroughfare is probably good.

 

-Had to ask for a room service menu, but then we ended up not using it. :-)

Thank you so much.....

I think everyone on here probably has some idea of how I'm feeling right now.........I just love getting excited about my trip by reading about other people's experiences.....

Thank you oldguyandgalls, camz, and weltek

Weltek was the tender process for Cayo Leventado Chaotic or a free for all???

Were there long lines or crowds at the beach???

Just off her yesterday. Any specific questions?

Who was the CD?

Did you see Jose' and Patti?

Was there a magician or juggler on board perfroming?

Thanks!

I'm about to go ito single digits and I'm becoming crazed for information :):)

What does that mean? --single digits?

Who was the CD?

 

Did you see Jose' and Patti?

 

Thanks!

Is this group expected to be onboard?? :)

I heard today John Sanchez is the Cruise Director now since Paul Scalley left. :cool:

What does that mean? --single digits?

under ten day till I sail??? 9 to be exact.......

Is this group expected to be onboard?? :)

 

I heard today John Sanchez is the Cruise Director now since Paul Scalley left. :cool:

I just had him on the Gem....great guy. I don't think he is as experienced as some of the people that are mentioned on this board (i.e. Matt Baker, Sinan and Paul).... but I think he is ever present around the ship and does his best to make sure everyone is having a great time!!!!!

Who was the CD?

 

Did you see Jose' and Patti?

 

Was there a magician or juggler on board perfroming?

 

Thanks!

Just off the Dawn 14 day Southern Caribbean. Fantastic ship, great itinerary, the usual stellar NCL staff.

There was a magician on board, and I believe he had a Stardust Theater show one night, and a more informal "close up" magic show somewhere else on another night. We didn't attend either show, though, so can't comment on the quality of the entertainment.

Thank you so much.....

 

 

 

I think everyone on here probably has some idea of how I'm feeling right now.........I just love getting excited about my trip by reading about other people's experiences.....

 

 

Thank you oldguyandgalls, camz, and weltek

 

 

Weltek was the tender process for Cayo Leventado Chaotic or a free for all???

 

 

Were there long lines or crowds at the beach???

I feel how you're feeling....we have 30 days and 22 hours...but who's counting?:p

Just off the Dawn 14 day Southern Caribbean. Fantastic ship, great itinerary, the usual stellar NCL staff.

 

There was a magician on board, and I believe he had a Stardust Theater show one night, and a more informal "close up" magic show somewhere else on another night. We didn't attend either show, though, so can't comment on the quality of the entertainment.

Ooops. Meant the "Dawn 10 day" of course. I guess I was wishing it had been 14 days!

Is this group expected to be onboard?? :)

 

I heard today John Sanchez is the Cruise Director now since Paul Scalley left. :cool:

My bad. Their website says they will not be on board the Dawn until February 5, 2012 and will stay until June 29, 2012.

http://www.joseandpatti.net/

Anyone that just got off the dawn recently stay in a mini suite on deck 11?

I have to book a cruise for myself, DH and another couple, we are all light sleepers and I have read horror stories about noise from deck 12,

but we all insist on a mini suites so we are stuck with deck 11, anyone been in a quiet cabin on that deck, maybe forward under the new suites?

Thanks for any input, sailing on the Sun in Jan. but can't wait to experience the Dawn in 2013.

I just had him on the Gem....great guy. I don't think he is as experienced as some of the people that are mentioned on this board (i.e. Matt Baker, Sinan and Paul).... but I think he is ever present around the ship and does his best to make sure everyone is having a great time!!!!!

Thanks for the review of the CD! I've never heard of him before so that's why I was curious! I guess you're going to have a lot of time with him over the next few weeks! :)

My bad. Their website says they will not be on board the Dawn until February 5, 2012 and will stay until June 29, 2012.

 

http://www.joseandpatti.net/

Darn! I met them on the Norwegian Spirit for the Tropical Storm Lee adventure in August and they were great! Very friendly and entertaining duo!! :)

Johnny Sanchez was a decent cruise director. He's young, so still developing a bit, but he was accessible and visible around the ship, making sure guests were having a good time. His support staff were also generally good.

Calvin was the hotel director. He was very nice at our CC M&G, but kind of looked past people as he walked around the ship. That was unfortunate.

Stardust entertainers were:

Dave Heenan (comedian)

James Stephens III (impresionist & comedian)

Greg Gleason (magician)

Band on the Run (musical variety)

TerranceB (hypnotist)

Gary Lovini (violinist)

Second City (comedy)

Bollywood (dance, acrobatics, music)

Claire Maidin (pop & classic cabaret....whatever that means)

Lounge/bar entertainers:

Lucky Duo (man/woman piano singer combo)

Eric Lilley (piano/vocalist)

Ariel Jacobe (piano/vocalist)

Kenosis (various styles/decades cover band...does the 70-90s party tunes among other more classic sounds)

New Season poolside regge band

Margie Hobbs (piano/vocalist)

DJ Dragna (spinnaker and poolside DJ)

Samana tendering:

We didn't go until the afternoon, when the rain had died down. It wasn't busy AT ALL in the afternoon. The weather I'm sure had something to do with this, and the average age of cruisers being 59 on this sailing. :-)

Note to anyone with private booked excursions in Samana, in case you didn't see it, you don't get tender boats for town right away. Generally noon would be a good estimate of when you'll be able to get off the tender boats in Samana. <---I didn't do this, but this is what people were estimating at our M&G after speaking with NCL. Arrange with your tour operator accordingly.

Johnny Sanchez was a decent cruise director. He's young, so still developing a bit, but he was accessible and visible around the ship, making sure guests were having a good time. His support staff were also generally good.

 

Calvin was the hotel director. He was very nice at our CC M&G, but kind of looked past people as he walked around the ship. That was unfortunate.

 

Stardust entertainers were:

Dave Heenan (comedian)

James Stephens III (impresionist & comedian)

Greg Gleason (magician)

Band on the Run (musical variety)

TerranceB (hypnotist)

Gary Lovini (violinist)

Second City (comedy)

Bollywood (dance, acrobatics, music)

Claire Maidin (pop & classic cabaret....whatever that means)

 

Lounge/bar entertainers:

Lucky Duo (man/woman piano singer combo)

Eric Lilley (piano/vocalist)

Ariel Jacobe (piano/vocalist)

Kenosis (various styles/decades cover band...does the 70-90s party tunes among other more classic sounds)

New Season poolside regge band

Margie Hobbs (piano/vocalist)

DJ Dragna (spinnaker and poolside DJ)

Thank you for this comprehensive list of entertainers! Calvin will be on our sailing and so will Johnny Sanchez. Good to hear the Cruise Director is younger, that usually signals a good time in the disco! :) Did you experience the DJ at all?

THNX for sharing.. nice to see some info on the performers and directors!

Lynn :D (still uber excited... 19 days to go)

Terrence B (the hypnotist) is a nice guy with a funny show. We met them (he and his wife) on a tour excursion to Virgin Gorda, and chatted with them for a long time before he revealed that he was one of the entertainers on the ship.

Caught one of his Stardust theater shows, and found it very entertaining. Up to you to decide if it's all for real or not...I tend to believe it was, DW is a doubter. But you'll have fun no matter whether you believe in hypnosis or not.

We were in a 2 bedroom suite, 11060. We were able to hear some running in the mornings and chair noise as they were setting up for the day. It was always after 7AM. We were already awake by then ao it did not bother us. It was only brief and ony happened a couple of days. I would suspect, that the further back you go, the louder it would be as it is under the main pool deck. Our cabin was right under the entrance to the pool deck and I suspect that limited the noise as you had to stop to get through the sliding doors of deck 12.

We were in a 2 bedroom suite, 11060. We were able to hear some running in the mornings and chair noise as they were setting up for the day. It was always after 7AM. We were already awake by then ao it did not bother us. It was only brief and ony happened a couple of days. I would suspect, that the further back you go, the louder it would be as it is under the main pool deck. Our cabin was right under the entrance to the pool deck and I suspect that limited the noise as you had to stop to get through the sliding doors of deck 12.

Thanks so much for your reply, very helpful :cool:

We got off the 10 day Southern Carib Dawn cruise on Dec 14 and had a great time.

John Sanchez, aka Johnny Cash, we found a bit annoying but others may have found him entertaining.

We had wonderful dinners in Le Bristro and Asian Fusion. Mixed bag in La Cuchina, I thought the food was awful, hubby liked, not loved, it. We found the menus in the Main Dining Room a bit boring and only ate there 2 times. Had a pizza delivered one evening to our stateroom and enjoyed it, but a 16 inch pizza was way to big for us. My advice is to plan to eat in the specialty restaurants as we did if you can.

Enjoyed the entertainment. If you like a piano bar make sure you check out Areil Jacobe at Gastby's, he's really good.

We were in a 2 bedroom suite, 11060. We were able to hear some running in the mornings and chair noise as they were setting up for the day. It was always after 7AM. We were already awake by then ao it did not bother us. It was only brief and ony happened a couple of days. I would suspect, that the further back you go, the louder it would be as it is under the main pool deck. Our cabin was right under the entrance to the pool deck and I suspect that limited the noise as you had to stop to get through the sliding doors of deck 12.

Island Beachdog -- We are in 11060 in a few weeks for the 10-day cruise, our first time in a SC-2 bedroom - how was it? Anything we should know about the accommodations and perks involved?? Thanks!!