Dawn or Sun help me decide

I have not sailed either ship. The Sun leaves out of Tampa and the Dawn leaves out of New Orleans. Both are equal distance travel time for us. Both have the same itinerary. We were looking at booking 2 SJ (that is the family suite without the balcony) on the Dawn or booking 2 SG (Forward penthouses) on the Sun.

The SG's on the Dawn look like there is some sort of panel or door between the bedroom and the seating area in these suites but I am not certain.

Both cruises are about the same price during Spring Break 2015. We will be taking 6 kids with us.

Thoughts from those who have a ship preference or who have any experience (or pics) of these cabins.

Thanks all!!

My vote would be NCL Sun , Old School classy ship .:)

I have sailed on the Sun and Star (sister to Dawn).

Buffet area on Star is larger than Sun. Sun has the hard scoop ice cream in the buffet area. Star has the hard scoop ice cream outside by the main pool. That matters because hard scoop ice cream cannot maintain "hard consistency" in an outside area if the case is left open for serving, whereas the buffet area is temperature controlled at least.

Both have crepe stations in the buffet in the evening. I thought the crepe station hours were a little longer on Star, but that could be my faulty memory.

Sun has a "glorious" Observation Lounge on Deck 12, with outside walkway. Star converted the Spinnaker lounge (on Deck 12) to SJ suites. Having said that, I have stayed in the SJ suites twice. Love the wall of windows. Tons of floorspace in our SJ but no balcony.

Libraries. Both have uncomfortable seating overall. However, the Sun has a couple of loveseats which can pass muster if you can snag one. Book selection seems to be equivalent. The Star library was glacially cold, while Sun seemed bearable to comfortable.

This would be an easy decision for me even if I hadn't already sailed Sun (and arlready booked her for next year). Dawn and her sis ships have no "Great Outdoors" - large shaded area on the stern where DDP and I tend to have every breakfast and most lunches. We sailed Star and could find no place to dine outside. Star has tables and a grill at the pool but that area (like all ships0 tends to have floor to celing wind buffers so dining there is always hot and tends to be crowded.

The Great Outdoors (on Sun and Jewel Class ships) is usually not terribly crowded and there is a mini buffet line "right there".

I would go with the SJs, having sailed both. They divide up nicely into 3 separate sleeping areas, they have separate tub and shower and a great walk-in closet!

I hear those SJs are nice.

But I prefer the Sun to the Dawn as I have sailed both. The front observation lounge and the great outdoors on the sun trumps any public space on the Dawn.

And I love Il Adagio on the Sun.

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If your kids are smaller, I'd say Dawn.

If the kids are younger, the Dawn has the great T-Rex Pool. I have not sailed on the Sun, but I have heard that the suite service is better as there are far fewer of them onboard. The SJ suites seem to have a much better setup if you are going to have more than 3 in a room. On the other hand, the sun will allow you to have a balcony. The Dawn will give you the Lavazza coffee machine where the sun only has a drip maker. :eek:

Sailed both the Sun and Dawn last month. With kids the Dawn is easily the best option. Without kids I would choose the Sun. I like Tampa as a port better than NO. You can't go wrong either way, but I would go with the Dawn in your case. The new suites on 12 are just awesome.

One more vote for the Sun:)

Look no further. I just got off a ten night cruise on the Sun today and have also been on the Dawn in 2011. Hands down, the DAWN. I wont say I had a bad cruise because I didnt, but to me there is no comparison between the ships. First of all the Dawn is larger which I will get to in a minute. The balcony rooms were almost identical, the difference is the doors going to the balcony. The dawn has sliding glass doors, the sun has a regular hinged door. The sliding door seems a bit wider on the dawn giving a larger view. The water in the stateroom on the Sun, to me, was not fit to drink. It had a very powerful bleach or chlorine taste, enough to burn my tongue while brushing my teeth etc. Which I found to be a inconvenience since I drink alot of water daily. Any other cruise ship I have been on had good tasting water from the faucet. Also a urine odor from the vent in the bathroom was present throughout the cruise. It may have been from a problem a few surrounding cabins (10th floor) had mid cruise. Where a sewage odor was very strong and got the attention of maintenance who pulled up carpet and kept portable blowers going for a few days. But this odor wasnt exclusive to the 10 floor, other areas of the ship also had sewage smells.

Now back to the size between the two ships. The main buffet area on the Dawn is huge, in fact it takes up both port and starboard sides of the ship. At least it did when I sailed it in 2011. The buffet on the Sun is way too small!! Its only a fraction of the size of the buffet on the Dawn. With a very limited choice of places to eat on the Sun, at times the only place to eat is the main buffet. Now try squeezing 2000 people in a place that might seat 200. Yes there is seating out back where the "great outdoor cafe" is. But thats not always convenient to walk back inside, wait in a long line again for another helping. The outdoor cafe is nice and being able to sit outside and eat is wonderful, but it still doesnt make up for the overly small main buffet. The food quality on the Sun was the worst of any cruise I have taken. Other cruisers who love NCL had all had the same opinion. The food in main dining rooms was pretty good. But some combinations I couldnt understand. Like putting apple chunks in turkey dressing??? The buffet food on the Sun was medium at best, not a lot of selection and pretty plain. I remember way more options on the Dawn. What surprised me was there is no 24hr food on the Sun, and no midnight buffet, a first for me. The sun claims to have "comfort food" from 10pm to 5am, in one of the bars. I went to check it out one night. I found a popcorn popper with popcorn in little bags, I guess I learned what comfort food is. The Dawn had a midnight buffet, and I loved the "Blue Lagoon" restaurant, real 24 hr food. Other ships have 24 hr pizza, deli's, etc. The sun has a nightly snack in the outdoor cafe from 9-11:30pm, pretty much the same menu day and night, hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, and fruit. On occasion they will mix in tacos and chicken wings at 9-11:30pm eating. At dinner on the sun you are limited to two choices, the main dining room or main buffet. If you dont like either the only other option is eating at one of the pay restaurants. Which I cant comment on.

I remember the chocolate buffet on the Dawn as a very impressive spread. Taking up one whole buffet area. The Sun has no such thing. The do market their chocolate night as a "extravaganza". Its not even close. There are a limited number of chocolate dessert choices in each dining room at supper time. But nothing like a real chocolate buffet that is displayed to impress as well as consume. The nightly desserts on the Sun, especially the bars and cake, all had a rubber texture and no taste. They looked delicious, but no taste. There were many who had the same opinion. One lady compared them to diet desserts without sugar, a good comparison. Definitely store bought and froze, not home maid. As far as the staff goes, both ships did a great job.

Again, I wont say I had a bad cruise, I didnt. I'm not necessarily fond of the fact cruise lines are going more towards paid food venues. These specialty restaurants take up too much space on a smaller ship like the Sun. If the Sun eliminated one of these, there would be room to add a place like the blue lagoon or a deli of some kind. But as long as there is enough demand to pay extra for a meal, something else will suffer.

Lastly, as if were not pestered enough on shore by the locals to buy whatever. It seems were getting the same treatment on the ship with a chance to "win a free cruise" or win this or win that. Or $50 dollar, no wait now its $20 double bingo. And naturally, the prize money always seems to be on-board credit, seldom, if ever cash.

Another vote for the SJ Family Suites without balconies on the Dawn. We had one in 2012. The room is nice and open with plenty of room for 3 kids if you have two staterooms.

We didn't miss the balcony at all. The floor to ceiling windows allow you to see out all you want with no worries of kids on balconies or smokers next door on the adjoining balcony. And the bathroom is really nice with a full sized tub separate from the shower.

There is an accordion style divider that makes a temporary wall around the king sized bed and I think on the Dawn it went all the way to the wall of windows too. (On the Star it is mostly curtains for the dividers). There are several reviews with pictures of these suites - just do a quick search to pull them up.

FYI, Sounds like the Sun is going to dry dock sometime next year - probably Fall 2015 before she heads to South America in 2016 - and the Sun will likely get suites similar to the SJ's on the Dawn and Star, but for your 2015 spring break cruise, I'd go with the Dawn.

In complete agreement here, I have sailed both and the Sun is great for a couple or older kids. The observation lounge is tremendous (the Dawn does not have this as this is where the suites are now.) Also the Sun has the Great Outdoors which is very relaxing to sit out there and have some burgers and snacks. I personally prefer the Sun over the Dawn for its simplicity. It is smaller, things such as the buffet are smaller, the Blue Lagoon 24/7 pizza place is a bit out of the way, but it has a charm to it.

The Dawn is far superior for kids. The T-Rex pool is awesome, especially for younger kids. For the older kids, there is just more room which is always a bonus, six kids need some space to have a lot of fun and the Dawn allows that.

So to sum up my answer - both are great ships - but with 6 kids I think the Dawn is the better bet. Just trying to find a row of seats on the Sun in its smaller theater would be difficult at night - it is just a smaller ship, period. The kids would be more impressed with and have more to do on the Dawn.

Sailed both the Sun and Dawn last month. With kids the Dawn is easily the best option. Without kids I would choose the Sun. I like Tampa as a port better than NO. You can't go wrong either way, but I would go with the Dawn in your case. The new suites on 12 are just awesome.

We will be on the Dawn for the first time in just 9 more days, so I can't totally compare, but we love the Sun. Yes, the buffet is small, but the Great Outdoors makes up for the size of the buffet. The crew goes above and beyond for everyone, the cabins are nice, not huge but actually sq ft wise they are a little larger than the Dawn. The one thing they do not have is Cagney's, but they do have a steak house, so I don't think this is an issue. I will have a better idea when I get back. Someone mentioned the chocolate buffet; I don't care which ship you are on, the old chocolate buffet isn't like todays. Things change, for us this isn't even an issue, I can't imagine it being an issue for anyone, but we all have different ideas. We did miss not having Blue Lagoon, but the sports bar pretty much makes up for that and the Sun has the Las Rambles with nightly tapas. I love that part of the ship, hubby didn't really care for the tapa bar..

Look no further. I just got off a ten night cruise on the Sun today and have also been on the Dawn in 2011. Hands down, the DAWN. I wont say I had a bad cruise because I didnt, but to me there is no comparison between the ships. First of all the Dawn is larger which I will get to in a minute. The balcony rooms were almost identical, the difference is the doors going to the balcony. The dawn has sliding glass doors, the sun has a regular hinged door. The sliding door seems a bit wider on the dawn giving a larger view. The water in the stateroom on the Sun, to me, was not fit to drink. It had a very powerful bleach or chlorine taste, enough to burn my tongue while brushing my teeth etc. Which I found to be a inconvenience since I drink alot of water daily. Any other cruise ship I have been on had good tasting water from the faucet. Also a urine odor from the vent in the bathroom was present throughout the cruise. It may have been from a problem a few surrounding cabins (10th floor) had mid cruise. Where a sewage odor was very strong and got the attention of maintenance who pulled up carpet and kept portable blowers going for a few days. But this odor wasnt exclusive to the 10 floor, other areas of the ship also had sewage smells.

 

Now back to the size between the two ships. The main buffet area on the Dawn is huge, in fact it takes up both port and starboard sides of the ship. At least it did when I sailed it in 2011. The buffet on the Sun is way too small!! Its only a fraction of the size of the buffet on the Dawn. With a very limited choice of places to eat on the Sun, at times the only place to eat is the main buffet. Now try squeezing 2000 people in a place that might seat 200. Yes there is seating out back where the "great outdoor cafe" is. But thats not always convenient to walk back inside, wait in a long line again for another helping. The outdoor cafe is nice and being able to sit outside and eat is wonderful, but it still doesnt make up for the overly small main buffet. The food quality on the Sun was the worst of any cruise I have taken. Other cruisers who love NCL had all had the same opinion. The food in main dining rooms was pretty good. But some combinations I couldnt understand. Like putting apple chunks in turkey dressing??? The buffet food on the Sun was medium at best, not a lot of selection and pretty plain. I remember way more options on the Dawn. What surprised me was there is no 24hr food on the Sun, and no midnight buffet, a first for me. The sun claims to have "comfort food" from 10pm to 5am, in one of the bars. I went to check it out one night. I found a popcorn popper with popcorn in little bags, I guess I learned what comfort food is. The Dawn had a midnight buffet, and I loved the "Blue Lagoon" restaurant, real 24 hr food. Other ships have 24 hr pizza, deli's, etc. The sun has a nightly snack in the outdoor cafe from 9-11:30pm, pretty much the same menu day and night, hamburgers, hotdogs, salads, and fruit. On occasion they will mix in tacos and chicken wings at 9-11:30pm eating. At dinner on the sun you are limited to two choices, the main dining room or main buffet. If you dont like either the only other option is eating at one of the pay restaurants. Which I cant comment on.

 

I remember the chocolate buffet on the Dawn as a very impressive spread. Taking up one whole buffet area. The Sun has no such thing. The do market their chocolate night as a "extravaganza". Its not even close. There are a limited number of chocolate dessert choices in each dining room at supper time. But nothing like a real chocolate buffet that is displayed to impress as well as consume. The nightly desserts on the Sun, especially the bars and cake, all had a rubber texture and no taste. They looked delicious, but no taste. There were many who had the same opinion. One lady compared them to diet desserts without sugar, a good comparison. Definitely store bought and froze, not home maid. As far as the staff goes, both ships did a great job.

 

Again, I wont say I had a bad cruise, I didnt. I'm not necessarily fond of the fact cruise lines are going more towards paid food venues. These specialty restaurants take up too much space on a smaller ship like the Sun. If the Sun eliminated one of these, there would be room to add a place like the blue lagoon or a deli of some kind. But as long as there is enough demand to pay extra for a meal, something else will suffer.

 

Lastly, as if were not pestered enough on shore by the locals to buy whatever. It seems were getting the same treatment on the ship with a chance to "win a free cruise" or win this or win that. Or $50 dollar, no wait now its $20 double bingo. And naturally, the prize money always seems to be on-board credit, seldom, if ever cash.

On every table in the Sports Bar there is a menu for food same as Blue Lagoon with waiters to serve you. The Great Outdoors also has a great little buffet. There is also a grill on the Pool deck. So wonder why you felt limited?

Also when I toured the galley I saw the Sun consistently gets the highest customer satisfaction rating.

Not all sun balcony doors are hinged.

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Sailed both the Sun and Dawn last month. With kids the Dawn is easily the best option. Without kids I would choose the Sun. I like Tampa as a port better than NO. You can't go wrong either way, but I would go with the Dawn in your case. The new suites on 12 are just awesome.

Exactly this...I have been on both and agree, without kids I love the Sun - but with kids I definitely vote for the Dawn. More for the kids to do.