NCL Dawn review, 1/20/05 - 1/30/05, Eastern Caribbean (long)

Hello,

I'm going to do this in sort of an outline format, since I'm a little too tired to write complete & coherent sentences ... still getting used to being on "rat race" time!

Best things about the cruise:

- Colin, the Cruise Director. A flamboyant Scotsman and a natural comedic star, overflowing with charisma and the gift of the gab. Everything he said was entertaining - we found ourselves looking for events that he hosted in the dailies, just so we could see him!

- The Second City improv-comedy troupe. This was the first cruise for my wife and myself, and we had braced ourselves for a rather stodgy and retiree-oriented entertainment roster. (We're in our mid-thirties, and would prefer punk rock bands to Vegas-style shows.) We were surprised and delighted to find ourselves in the company of these four young, energetic, passionately creative people. After we saw their first show, we made a point of attending everything they did - which was one more show, two improv workshops, and two "game shows".

The improv workshops were a revelation to me; an introduction to a whole new way of thinking and interacting with others. If you're cruising on the Dawn, just go to one of these workshops.

Second City's presence on the Dawn is a pilot program worked out between them and NCL, and for the sake of both entities (and the cruise guests), I hope they expand it to as much of NCL's fleet as possible.

One amusing footnote about Second City: during a question & answer session, one of them confessed that they had become resigned to the fact that Colin would always be funnier than them.

- The Crew Show. American Idol should relocate to the Philippines, because there appears to be an inexhaustible well of singing talent (as well as maritime workers) there.

Favorite island moments:

- Visiting an old sugar plantation in Barbados. We'd been eager to experience some of the history (instead of just the leisure-industry-oriented present) of the islands, and this was the moment. Like most things of this nature, it emphasized the genteel lifestyle of the owners, and glossed over the slave economy that made that lifestyle possible ... but that's a rant for another time!

- Renting a car of Antigua, exploring the rainforest area, and visiting Elaine's Fig Tree Drive Culture Shop. This front-porch store features incredible homemade jams, syrups, and hotsauce, as well as some less-incredible touristy knickknacks. The truly amazing thing about the place, though, is Elaine herself: this busy mother of three and small-business owner thought nothing of taking an hour to chat with us while boiling guavas and peeling sorel. More than that, as she put it, "Everyone who comes here, I try to share with them from the heart." And she did, speaking with absolute directness and sincerity about her children, her work, her political & spiritual beliefs, etc. It was an inspiring experience - Antigua could not have had a better cultural ambassador.

Even if you're not the type to talk politics with strangers, please do stop by the Culture Shop and buy some delicious guava syrup (or whatever else she's made)! A stroll up to the nearby reservoir is also highly recommended.

- Skinnydipping on the French side of St. Martin. Hey, when in Rome ... getting naked on a public beach was a first for us, but we figured that it's one of those things that you don't want to regret never having done when you get older! Somehow, it seems, when everyone's naked, no one's embarrassed or self-conscious. Noticing that there were plenty of people on the beach whose bodies were far from the entertainment-and-fashion-industry ideals (to put it politely :) ) helped us overcome our hesitation, too.

Food:

- Overall, a B+. The best meal I had was off the ship, though: grilled red snapper on the French side of St. Martin. Absolutely incredible ... I may never be able to order it in a restaurant again! I'll just have to go back to that same seaside grill ...

- The Indian food in the vegetarian line during lunchtime at the Garden Cafe: A. We were amazed that it was there at all, and even more amazed that it was as good or better than most Manhattan Indian restaurants!

I was impressed in general by the fact that NCL seems to go out of its way to accommodate all sorts of dietary restrictions: there were readily-available kosher and sugar-free options as well.

- Garden Cafe in general: B-. Food sitting under heat lamps is not my thing. Breakfast was the best, when the Cafe had waffle and omelette bars.

- Freestyle Dining (i.e. free) restaurants: B. A lot of creative and well-made food, surprisingly so given the volume.

- Le Bistro: B+. Supposedly the best food on the ship ... and it was good, but I preferred:

- The sushi bar: A. I felt so bad for the sushi chef, because the bar was almost always empty. NCL either has to sell more tickets to Asians and Asian-Americans, or convince traditional cruisers to give this cuisine a try. The food here was consistently excellent.

- Bamboo: ditto.

- Teppanyaki , the hibachi-style restaurant in Bamboo's "back room": also an A. I love the showmanship, and there's something very satisfying about seeing exactly how your food is made.

- Salsa: C. This was the only real disappointment in the onboard dining: uninspired Tex-Mex. Guacamole really shouldn't be a bland green paste ...

Onboard amenities:

- All of the public areas were well-designed and attractive. I particularly liked the Reading & Writing Room.

- Our cabin (a balcony room on Deck 11) was great - attractive and not at all claustrophobic. In retrospect, I wouldn't have minded not having a balcony, since we spent so little time in the cabin ... but it was nice to be able to get some fresh air by opening the balcony door.

- The spa and health club were by far my favorite part of the ship: they were designed to have a friendly, soothing atmosphere, and it works perfectly. The lap pool was often crowded with people just standing around, but it was often empty, which made it a great place to do laps (even though the water was way too warm). It was fun doing laps there in rough seas, because the resulting wave action in the water would push you back and then pull you forward.

Things I would change:

- My biggest complaint is, I'll admit from the outset, unreasonable and selfish. :-) I think my wife and I would have had more fun if the cruise had been more oriented toward people our age -- rock and reggae bands instead of piano crooners, comedy or one-act dramas instead of Vegas-style shows, Brooklyn Brewery Lager on tap instead of skunked Dos Equis (in an "English-style pub", no less!).

Having thus ranted, I will emphasize again that I know this is unreasonable: as everyone knows, the only major market for cruises is retirees. However, I do think that a clever cruise line could pitch a cruise of the type I describe to younger urban folks like us and maybe a find a market for it. Or maybe I'm just incredibly ignorant about the cruise industry ... from their advertising, it seems like this is a market that Carnival has pursued, but I'm not sure how it's worked out for them (I haven't heard many good things about them).

- A slightly more practical complaint: I would rather have stayed more than one day at fewer islands. It would have been great if the ship had stayed overnight at St. Martin, Barbados, and/or Antigua. I suppose that the number of destinations is a marketing point, but after experiencing the one-island-per-day thing, I would be more inclined to book a cruise with fewer destinations and more time at each destination. Specifically, St. Thomas and Tortola should be skipped: the shore time isn't long enough to spend a decent amount of time away from their rather depressing port areas.

Random advice and observations:

- Don't bother to book shore excursions, unless you really want to do stuff with a large group of shipmates, or it's something really unique that you couldn't do on your own. For a small group, it's much more convenient to rent a car or hire a taxi to go and do the exact same stuff. Compact car rentals ran about $75/day, which was reasonable enough that we did it on three islands.

- Do the 5:30 trivia every day - they need more people!

- Why do teenagers always travel in packs, like feral dogs?

- Three things that I'm glad I brought -- and I brought them specifically because of advice here on CC! : a power strip, an extra pair of swim trunks, and a canvas laundry bag. Thanks guys!

- Two things I wish I had brought that I didn't: a nightlight and a white noise generator (would've helped us sleep; our neighbors were loud talkers & early risers, a deadly combination).

- I heard about the problem on Holland America's Vandeem. There seemed to be little risk of similar problems on the Dawn -- hand sanitizing stations were prominently featured at the entrance to every eating establishment. The ship as a whole was amazingly clean, as well.

- The crew on this ship was incredible. I've never seen such a high level of customer service; everyone was cheerful, helpful, and competent. One of our waiters told us that NCL requires three months of training before deploying their staff, and it shows.

All in all, this cruise was a great experience and I'm profoundly grateful that I belong to the small percentage of the world's population that can afford such things. Being mindful of that, I have one further suggestion for the Powers That Be in the cruise industry (if any of them are reading this): it would be great if they would organize more things like this . Perhaps one excursion per island could be philanthropy-related: helping to build a playground, distribute food aid, help out at a social services agency, clean a roadside, etc. This would be a draw for me!

And finally, thanks to all of you for the great advice and help that you give out on this board. I found answers to all of my pre-cruise questions and some very helpful advice here! If any of you come across any punk-rock, limited-number-of-island, gourmet-beer cruises, please let me know! :-)

Thanks for all that. We are headed out on Dawn March 20th with children and I am reading everything I can find.

Thanks for a detailed and informative review. Regarding your main complaint, if you are really looking for a younger passenger group, you might want to try Carnival. You will find very few seniors on that cruise line and perhaps more music to your liking.

Thanks for taking the time to review your dawn experience. If you were looking for a younger crowd maybe you should have considered the 2/20 Presidents' week cruise. I will be on that one and and I am sure there will be plenty of young families with lots, and lots and lots of kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!It's all about research and timing. Glad to hear you have a great time!

:) Jimma, THANK'S for such a GREAT review!!! It was well thought out, the descriptions were super, I enjoyed it VERY MUCH!!!

I am going on the Dawn on April 17th, with my Husband and (almost 13) Daughter. I am sure we will have an EXCELLENT time too. I don't think we are going to take any organized excursions, we will probably rent a car in Port Canaveral, I am not sure what we will do in Miami and just "beach it" at Nassau and at NCL's island. (you had much more exotic ports-of-call.....)

I would LOVE to try the Sushi restaurant but, my Husband and Daughter are definitely NOT "lets try some new foods..." kind of people, oh well......

See how everybody has different "wish" lists, you wished for a younger more contempory cruise, I am just hoping my Daughter will make some friends!!.....Maybe, allowing her old Mom and Dad to have some "romantic dancing time".....

We shall see.......

Suesan:):):)

Glad you liked the review ... if your daughter is anything like the dozen or so teenagers who were on my cruise, they will naturally gravitate towards each other through some mysterious process ... pheromones, perhaps. :-)

I forgot to mention the other public area that really impressed me: the Teen Disco. I finally checked it out during disembarkation -- it's really cool looking, in a Jetsons / 50's-diner kind of way.

POST DAWN 1-20-2005 TRIP STUFF

heres the url to our trip pictures, i am not completly done posting all so keep checking back - theres an album for the Dawn cruise and one for the Wind cruise (see below)

http://community.webshots.com/user/hkburke

also here my Dawn 2005 trip diary, also a work in progress

http://www.pinonpc.com/cruise-2005-diary.htm

or for broadband readers

http://www.pinonpc.com/cruise-2005-diary.doc

also here is the trip diary from our prior, and first, cruise on the Wind, dec 2003

http://www.pinonpc.com/cruise-diary2.pdf

or

http://www.pinonpc.com/cruise-diary2.htm

Heather Burke

were in cabin 11010 deck 11 - Penthouse AB