Dawn Review 10/17-10/24

My husband and I took the Norwegian Dawn cruise to Florida and the Bahamas this past week. I wanted to write a few brief comments before I get busy. We are in our late thirties, celebrating our wedding anniversary. This is our first cruise on NCL. My husband's second cruise and my fourth.

EMBARKATION:

DH and I arrived at the pier at about 2:20pm and went right in. There were no lines at that time. It did take a while to get there from Brooklyn, due to traffic. Went right to our room, then on deck with a fruity drink!

STATEROOM:

We had an AG minisuite on deck 11. The balcony was great! The room was pretty big. It had a small hallway when you first went in and the bathroom was right there. Vanity area. Closet. King size bed. Small table and chair near the TV, refrigerator and safe. Pull out couch area. I enjoyed having a larger room and DH and I enjoyed the balcony immensely! Coffee in the morning, watching the water. Watching the sunset, romantic. Hanging out drinking cold beers and chatting. Great great, spoiled for life due to the balcony! Room was clean, it could have been a bit cleaner. But not bad. The people taking care of our room were as nice as can be.

FOOD:

We had breakfast in our room a couple of mornings. Mostly fresh fruit, coffee, tea, muffins. No hot food on menu. We enjoyed the coffee pot in the room in the mornings. We ordered room service one night, sandwiches and beer. They were good.

We went to the breakfast buffet the rest of the time. Pretty good breakfast with lots to choose from. The only thing DH didn't like were the scrambled eggs.

Lunch was at the buffet, or the BBQ. Decent hamburgers and hot dogs. Had a sandwich at the deli that was good. Other hot food was standard buffet food.

Dinners:

We ate at Cagney's one night. Very good steak, great service. Had a few drinks at the Star bar before.

One night we ate at the buffet, we were too tired to get dressed. It was mexican night. It was okay, not hub's fave but I was happy.

The other nights were at the main dining rooms. Aqua was the first one. It was very pretty and service was good. We had a nice table for two. I had the lobster which was okay. DH had chateubriand which he liked, although the portion was small.

Impressions was very nice, had a good table near a window. We had a few drinks at the Gatsby bar right there and listened to piano music. We both had beef wellington and it was good. Our waiter, Prince, was great.

Venetian is the biggest room. Service was good, and it was Italian night. Had the mussels and shrimp risotto which was great. DH had chicken parm, very good. We didn't have such a great table, I think it was because my hub pissed off the woman at the front. LOL. She was sort of ignoring us and hubby wanted to leave. She was busy chatting with another couple and not paying attention.

PORTS:

We stayed on the ship at Port Canaveral. We were kind of tired and wanted to take in the sun on the deck.

We took a bus (BB HOPPER) to South Beach in Miami. The bus was 18 dollars per person and you could use it all day to go to South Beach, the mall area and back to the ship. We spent the day on the beach in South Beach. Pretty beach, it was fun. Then we walked up and down the strip and wound up eating lunch at Waldorf Towers. Delicious pasta and fish dish but it was a fortune! Oh well. We didn't go shopping at the mall.

We skipped the private island and spent a day and a half at Nassau. We took a cab to Cable Beach. Our taxi driver gave us a brief history of the island, he was very nice. The trip was 15 dollars. He dropped us off at the Wyndam Hotel. We walked through the casino and down the beach to the Radisson (nicer beach). We tipped the woman at the towel stand and got some chairs right near the water. There were other cruise people there. Had a great day. The water was beautiful, sand soft. Spent time sunning and swimming. Then we went to the beach bar and had margaritas, chatting with the staff. (very nice). We liked it so much we might go back there in March. The taxi driver dropped us off at the shopping area on the way back and we got some souveniers. The people are really nice but a bit pushy with the sales.

Since we were leaving Friday at 11am we just stayed on the ship and had breakfast.

There were plenty of excursions, but they were kind of expensive. Hubby and I wanted to do our own thing though.

NIGHTLIFE

The first night we hung out in the Pearly Kings pub and watched the Yankee game, had some beers. It was a cute pub, people were fun.

We went to the Casino one night. Lost about 50 dollars in 15 minutes at the slots and quickly got out of there. LOL

We saw a few shows. The Jean Ann Ryan company is really good. The first show was an Andrew Lloyd Weber musical. Very good. The second was Bollywood which was great. We saw comedian Dave Heenan one night. He was silly, but funny.

We liked the singer/pianist, Pamala, I forget her last name. She played in Gatsby's the champagne bar.

We listened to Karoeke one night, it was kind of silly, but fun. That same night we went to the disco in the Spinnaker Lounge. It was terrible. The music was so low, we thought there was a problem. People were getting really upset. Turns out the cruise director ordered that the music stay at a low volume. Two people were dancing. We left, disappointed. We were looking forward to a partying night dancing. They were supposed to have a rock band there too, but it must have been cancelled. There was a silly comedy thing going on in their earlier with the cruise director.

Another night we listened to the Willie Lynch trio (Irish music) at Dazzles Lounge. My hub loves Irish music. That was nice.

DISEMBARKATION:

This was a NIGHTMARE. We were late arriving, which could not be helped. But once we found our luggage (colors mixed, our blue tagged luggage was with the purple tagged luggage) and got outside to get a cab, man oh man what a scene. So many people! Fighting for cabs, fighting amongst themselves, wow. Couldn't wait to get out of there. You had to get a ticket for a cab and not everyone knew this. They need to get more organized here.

MISC.

We liked the freestyle dining, but found it hard to meet people. People seemed to do their own thing. It wasn't too friendly, but I guess it is more fun when you go on a cruise with a group. The staff is really really nice though. Always pleasant and friendly.

There was a large group of German passengers. Must have been a special trip. Hearing everything announced in English and German was interesting.

The ship has a million things to do if you like doing stuff. It's great to just sunbathe and relax too. Hub and I spent time at the front of the ship on the deck as it was quieter. The pool area got crowded. We enjoyed the hot tub, but didn't go in the pool. We mostly relaxed. I read two books!

As you heard, we were late coming home due to a sick passenger and rough seas. They had open bar yesterday for 3 hours which was nice. But I didn't feel so well yesterday. Seas were rough since Friday and I couldn't wait to get off the ship. Got home late last night.

All in all, we had a good time.

If anyone has any questions, etc. feel free to ask. I hope I remembered everything.

Hi Patti

I was on the ship as well. I agree, at the end everyone was losing patience- they just wanted OUT OF THERE. -- I wonder if anyone knows when the ship actually got off last night.. Must have been pretty bad for the folks waiting.

Hi Sailors

So, did you have a good time? Who did you go with?

DH and I were afraid someone was going to get hurt at the taxi stand. It was getting pretty ugly where we were standing.

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip. We were on the Dawn in August and there were sooo many Yankees fans. I wish I could have been there to see my beloved Red Sox accomplish the impossible. What was the mood of the pax when the Yankees blew it?>?

It was just my DH and myself-- We had been on the Dawn before- in February of this year... I went primarily because I enjoyed it, and I got a GREAT price- I booked late, about a month ago.. We also were on the 11th deck in a mini-suite--- DH prefers the "suite" with real chairs, not that rock like couch-

I did have a good time- We went to Disney in PC and the small zoo in Nassau- ( it was small, but had some really unusual animals)-- We walked around Nassau looking at the stores and in the evening went over to Atlantis. I won at blackjack, and we were able to see quite a lot of the aquarium over there ( no one stopped us, so we kept on walking around)--

This may sound crazy, but we enjoyed the waves- we didn't get sick, and we both slept like babies rocked in the cradle.

I was ready to get off last night- I was just anxious to get home and prepare to go to work today- Yes, it did get VERY ugly at the taxi stand-- I did get a number and didn't wait too terribly long- It is crazy the way they allow private cars to pull over and pick up people thereby blocking the traffic flow. I actually heard someone say the captain shouldn't have gone back with the sick man-- as if a slight inconvience it worth somebody's life-- Unreal!!

Anyway, I enjoyed it- We joked at dinner tonight we should take all the silverware out of the drawer and put it on the table just to make it seem like we were on the ship.. BTW, are you from Bay Ridge?? We spoke to a couple from there- we might have talked and not realized it.

Smellytoes:

I would say that I and my fellow Yankee fans were pretty bummed out and quiet.

:(

Sailorsmate:

Sounds like you had a good time. My hub and I had a lot of trouble sleeping with all of the rocking and rolling. I'm still having trouble sleeping which is why I'm on this computer instead of in bed. lol

I can't believe that someone said we should not have gone back. Geez, what if it was someone from his/her family?

As a matter of fact, I am from Bay Ridge. Did we speak? lol Where was it and when? What do you look like?

It's a long shot though, there are other people from Bay Ridge I'm sure.

:)

I have been on the Dawn last summer and enjoyed it. We are leaving again on Sunday how was the weather on Monday's day at sea did it warm up enough to sit outside. Do we need warm clothes? Sounds like you had a good time, any time on a cruise is a good time I think this is our 15th we lost count along the way. Thanks for your help.

Hi Gig,

Yes, it was warm enough to sit out on Monday. At first, my husband didn't think so, but after walking around a bit, we changed into bathing suits and hit the deck.

Sun and fun all the way down.

On the way, back, hmmm...that was a different story! LOL

Your mention of Prince in Impressions just brought back some great memories. He was wonderful to our entire family! Glad to hear he's still there,maybe we'll see him again on the Dawn in August.

Patti-- I spoke with a couple from BayRidge in the casino- but from what you said about your casino experience I doubt it was you.. :) We are a non-descript 50 something couple --

And yes, I actually did hear someone say they didn't want the captain to go back to drop off the sick passenger. Some really WEIRD people out there!

Finally today I stopped feeling like the floor was rocking-- Still miss all the silverware at dinner though :)

Sailors:

Ah, no, we didn't speak then. We were in the casino for a very short time and did not talk to anyone.

I felt loopy until Monday night!

I have been on the Dawn last summer and enjoyed it. We are leaving again on Sunday how was the weather on Monday's day at sea did it warm up enough to sit outside. Do we need warm clothes? Sounds like you had a good time, any time on a cruise is a good time I think this is our 15th we lost count along the way. Thanks for your help.

GIG, It sounds like you'll be on our cruise. (Halloween) Check the roll call to meet us and find our party location and time. If you aren't on our cruise, have fun anyway!

Yes, we'll be on the Oct. 31st sailing, we are very excited, never left New York this late in the year. I wonder how many of us will be on board. Where and when is the meeting place? Hope we all have a great week!