Dawn Princess May 2015 Dry Dock Singapore

Can anyone shed any light on what changes (if any) are happening to the oldest Princess during its upcoming Dry Dock? Or is this mainly a scheduled maintenance/tuneup stop?

As far as I am aware it's just a tune up admittedly when we were on the Dawn last year it looked very tired. It will be interesting to see how she looks when we board her in July.

Can anyone shed any light on what changes (if any) are happening to the oldest Princess during its upcoming Dry Dock? Or is this mainly a scheduled maintenance/tuneup stop?

I believe the Sun Princess is the oldest in the fleet. I had read the Dawn Princess is getting a beer garden.

The Sun Princess had a touch up recently and looks quite good.

I believe the Sun Princess is the oldest in the fleet. I had read the Dawn Princess is getting a beer garden.

 

Sun is 18 months older than Dawn.

Sun is 18 months older than Dawn.

Sorry my mistake, the Sun is a little bit older then the Dawn.

I have read that Dawn is supposed to be getting a Beer Garden / Wine Festival set up on deck at least twice per cruise on cruises over 7 days. They are aiming at catering to what we Aussie like, more beer and wine. Apparently it will be under marquees with music and entertainment just like a real festival. Sounds great. They are also having a bit of a redo in the Horizons Buffet, adding a new Italian Café and changing around to more World Cuisine. I think the name is changing on Horizons to World Food Market or something like that. I posted it on our roll call as we are on the cruise after dry dock, leaving Singapore on 25/05/15. Hopefully all will be finished. They are also doing a bit of a spruce up in the bar, is it The Wheelhouse, and it is now going to be carrying 56 different kinds of Whiskey. They were the 3 main points mentioned in the article I read, but hopefully a general spruce up all over as well.:)

Sort of answered my own question, just found a small titbit of information (courtesy of CW) which I thought i'd share;

Princess Cruises has announced that Dawn Princess will cruise out of dry dock in May offering Australia’s first beer and wine festivals at sea and a neat new whisky menu.

As part of the multi-million refurbishment in Singapore from May 11 to 24, the Australian-based superliner will become the first ship in Princess Cruises’ worldwide fleet to offer a Beer and Wine Garden Festival experience at sea.

To be held twice during every cruise of more than seven days, the new offering will see the top deck transformed into a lively mini festival with marquees showcasing regional beers and wines plus live music.

Princess Cruises Vice President Australia and New Zealand Stuart Allison said the festival was a homegrown idea which had been developed with two of Australians’ favourite things in mind – a beer garden and wine festival.

“We’re thrilled to be debuting this exciting Australian-first cruise product on Dawn Princess and think the combination of wine tasting on the top decks and the buzz of an evening festival will really appeal to local cruisers,” Mr Allison said.

In line with the growing trend towards whisky appreciation across all generations, Dawn Princess will also emerge from dry dock with a renovated Wheelhouse Bar offering a comprehensive menu of 56 whiskies including five local tipples: Larks Single Malt and Hellyers Road from Tasmania, Western Australia’s Limeburners Single Malt and Bakery Hill’s Double Wood and Classic whisky from Melbourne.

Mr Allison said the old world charm of Wheelhouse Bar with its dark, moody ambience and the addition of two grand pianos, made it the perfect place to enjoy a whisky whether it was made from Tasmania barley or matured in the Scottish highlands.

In a nod to Australians love of good coffee, a new Italian café called Amuleto will be added to the Horizon Court Buffet, which will become known as the World Fresh Marketplace, offering a new range of cuisines from destinations the cruise line visits, such as Mexican, Brazilian and Asian street food.

Meanwhile the ship’s Lotus Spa will receive a makeover with new treatment rooms, a refreshed reception area and an upgraded sauna. As part of its revitalisation, the spa menu will feature three New Zealand-inspired treatments developed especially for this market including a Healing Kawakawa Massage, a Rotorua Mud Ritual and Manuka Honey Hand and Foot Ritual.

Mr Allison said local cruisers could also look forward to seeing some of the cruise line’s new initiatives with Animal Planet and Discovery at Sea introduced down under, including guided star gazing from the top deck.

I have read that Dawn is supposed to be getting a Beer Garden / Wine Festival set up on deck at least twice per cruise on cruises over 7 days. They are aiming at catering to what we Aussie like, more beer and wine. Apparently it will be under marquees with music and entertainment just like a real festival. Sounds great. They are also having a bit of a redo in the Horizons Buffet, adding a new Italian Café and changing around to more World Cuisine. I think the name is changing on Horizons to World Food Market or something like that. I posted it on our roll call as we are on the cruise after dry dock, leaving Singapore on 25/05/15. Hopefully all will be finished. They are also doing a bit of a spruce up in the bar, is it The Wheelhouse, and it is now going to be carrying 56 different kinds of Whiskey. They were the 3 main points mentioned in the article I read, but hopefully a general spruce up all over as well.:)

Thanks for the information.

Should be an improvement, as she was beginning to look a bit tired when I was on her earlier a month ago.

Good to see they are still improving the old Sun Class ships.

We'll be on her in September. They should have ironed out all her "bugs" by then!

Please Frieda58 come on back after your cruise in May and give us a review! :)

Presumably Sea and Sun will follow.

Presumably Sea and Sun will follow.

Sun had a refresh fairly recently - 2013 I think. That's when they added the International Cafe.

Sun had a refresh fairly recently - 2013 I think. That's when they added the International Cafe.

and spruced up the buffet area.

Sun had a refresh fairly recently - 2013 I think. That's when they added the International Cafe.

I was told that Sea was looking at 2017 [not sure if just a refresh or a do over] and a do over for Sun about '19.

Sun had a refresh fairly recently - 2013 I think. That's when they added the International Cafe.

What will happen to the Kai Sushi on the Sun since she doesn't spend the summer in Japan anymore?

What will happen to the Kai Sushi on the Sun since she doesn't spend the summer in Japan anymore?

by the number of passengers that frequented the Kia Sushi on the 2 cruises we have had (Sun & Diamond)with that restaurant......I wouldn't be surprised if they change it to something else more cost effective????

by the number of passengers that frequented the Kia Sushi on the 2 cruises we have had (Sun & Diamond)with that restaurant......I wouldn't be surprised if they change it to something else more cost effective????

Well as they added a sushi bar when it was Asia based, maybe they should make it a pie shop [i know one line was serving Harry's Pies for a while].

Well as they added a sushi bar when it was Asia based, maybe they should make it a pie shop [i know one line was serving Harry's Pies for a while].

They already serve Aussie pies & chips at the Grill. When we were on the Sun for the re-location back to Australia last year, we were told the Sushi bar was going to be removed when the ship got back to Sydney, but apparently it wasn't. We were on the ship for around five weeks last year and only ever saw a couple of people in the Sushi restaurant, but there were three staff there at meal times.

They already serve Aussie pies & chips at the Grill. When we were on the Sun for the re-location back to Australia last year, we were told the Sushi bar was going to be removed when the ship got back to Sydney, but apparently it wasn't. We were on the ship for around five weeks last year and only ever saw a couple of people in the Sushi restaurant, but there were three staff there at meal times.

The only pies I've ever had were pretty ordinary.

My real tip is something that sells booze.

by the number of passengers that frequented the Kia Sushi on the 2 cruises we have had (Sun & Diamond)with that restaurant......I wouldn't be surprised if they change it to something else more cost effective????

It was quite popular on the Sun cruise I did over Christmas but they were charging a flat $20 cover charge instead of a la carte. However the quality of most of the dishes was quite poor - I can get better sushi from my local supermarket!

The waiter told us they were going back to charging a la carte after our cruise so patronage probably dropped right off again.

i certainly wouldn't bother going there again if I cruise on Sun anytime in the future.

It was quite popular on the Sun cruise I did over Christmas but they were charging a flat $20 cover charge instead of a la carte. However the quality of most of the dishes was quite poor - I can get better sushi from my local supermarket!

 

The waiter told us they were going back to charging a la carte after our cruise so patronage probably dropped right off again.

 

i certainly wouldn't bother going there again if I cruise on Sun anytime in the future.

Yep doing al carte on the Diamond in March........lunch menu and a dinner menu!

every time we passed you could have thrown a rock in the place and NOT hit anyone :(

We cruised on the Sun to NZ in January 2014 and Kai Sushi had the $20 flat cover charge. We found the quality of the food quite good (all 3 of us are sushi lovers) and we dined there 4 times over the two weeks. We said to ourselves how it was a bargain with $20 for effectively all-you-can-eat sushi. During our cruise, they had about 4-5 tables each time they were opened.

We cruised on the Diamond to Melbourne and Tasmania in January this year. We were looking forward to Kai Sushi and the $20 all-you-can-eat again (especially this time we got OBC from our future cruise deposit. To our disappointment, it has been changed to a la carte and not only so, the price was so expensive for a single dish of sushi.

I only saw a handful of diners at the Kai Sushi on our Diamond cruise, though it seems to be quick popular with the officers of the ship? I saw them dining there more than once. Do staff get a discount?

Does Kai Sushi enjoy higher patronage when Diamond is in Japan? I can't see them even breaking even when Diamond and Sun are in Australia.

We cruised on the Sun to NZ in January 2014 and Kai Sushi had the $20 flat cover charge. We found the quality of the food quite good (all 3 of us are sushi lovers) and we dined there 4 times over the two weeks. We said to ourselves how it was a bargain with $20 for effectively all-you-can-eat sushi. During our cruise, they had about 4-5 tables each time they were opened.

 

Does Kai Sushi enjoy higher patronage when Diamond is in Japan? I can't see them even breaking even when Diamond and Sun are in Australia.

That's interesting. They must have changed their minds and decided to leave the flat cover charge on a bit longer.

We found a couple of the dishes were good but both the sushi and the sashimi were very disappointing, as was the udon soup where the seafood was overcooked.

I've read some posts about Diamond in Japan last year and apparently they weren't getting many customers there either. It was a la carte then too.

Oh for a decent Aussie pie shop on the Princess ships!!!

The last two ships we have been on (Diamond & Dawn) have promoted Aussie pies in the buffet but they were nothing like the good old Aussie pies. More like those little Pommy pork pies and something else like a quiche

Oh for a good old Mrs Mac's a Vili's or something similar of which there are many to choose from from all States in Australia

After 10 days or so on board of eating the excellent MDR and other buffet food, I am really hanging out for a "real" Aussie pie and sauce

John

 

I've read some posts about Diamond in Japan last year and apparently they weren't getting many customers there either. It was a la carte then too.

They had a set price for lunch of $17 per person. Its not all you can order. But some choices of that amount. It wasn't very popular this was on the Diamond in March. I did notice that in the MDR they had introduced some Japanese style dishes, I had a couple of those at times.

Oh for a decent Aussie pie shop on the Princess ships!!!

The last two ships we have been on (Diamond & Dawn) have promoted Aussie pies in the buffet but they were nothing like the good old Aussie pies. More like those little Pommy pork pies and something else like a quiche

Oh for a good old Mrs Mac's a Vili's or something similar of which there are many to choose from from all States in Australia

After 10 days or so on board of eating the excellent MDR and other buffet food, I am really hanging out for a "real" Aussie pie and sauce

 

John

Yep

Mrs Mac's or Vili's would do. Harry's would be even better, or the pie shop in Adelaide [can't think of the name]. And if only they would serve, even what they pass off as a pie, HOT.