NCL Dawn Suite - 11 Day Southern Caribbean (Day by Day Review)

We recently returned from the NCL Dawn, 11 Day Southern Caribbean Cruise in cabin 12026 - one of the new Family Suites with Balcony.

I joined Cruise Critics many months ago and found it incredibly helpful planning my recent cruise. So I thought I'd return the favour and post my cruise review. This section is the "short version" but I also have a Day by Day review which I'll post a section at a time.

The Great:

• The new suites on Deck 12

• The awesome balcony and deck chairs in the new suites on Deck 12

• The suite concierge (Virginia) and Butler (Flor)

• Researching our own excursions in Dominica and Barbados

• Chicken wings at the Blue Lagoon (24hrs a day)

• Room service, especially served on the balcony

• The rain shower in the bathroom of the new suites

The Good:

• The ships excursions (although you pay a little more)

• The specialty restaurants

• The guest comedians and magician (especially Second City)

• The dancers in the ships entertainment crew and at least 1-2 of the singers

• The towel animals

• The portable phone with access to the butler and concierge from anywhere

• The last day entertainment: the Crew Show and Bollywood

The Bad:

• The regular buffet

• The new embarkation process (or maybe just the growing pains of the change)

• The regular comedian that was there for the entire voyage

• The karaoke song list

• Most of the singers in the regular cast (although we liked the dancers)

• Lots of night club dancing but not enough “slow dancing”

The Ugly:

• The confusion within NCL applying OBC (at least in our case)

• The ongoing calls for “Bingo”

• The tendering for the main island at Samana

• The inconsistency of the regular staff; some were great but some seemed to “pass the buck”

• The weather on a few days… oh well, what can you do?

We arrived a day early and stayed at the Intercontinental in Miami, quite near the port. It was a great hotel and we got a good deal booking and paying in advance online. Did some touring and shopping around Miami thanks to a good friend that taxied us around. Had a nice dinner in Lincoln Road and then crashed and slept well.

We’d had such crazy hectic schedules for the last few weeks, we decided to sleep in on our first real vacation day. So slept until 9 and then got ready to head to the ship (had to correct Brian, its not a “boat”, it’s a “ship”). We had plans to get onboard by 10-10:30 but didn’t make it to the port until about 11:30. There was quite a line up outside the building for security. We were probably 30min to get through security into the VIP lounge. Several people on prior reviews have said the embarkation was a breeze for suite passengers -- not for us. We waited in one lounge for 10min, were moved to another lounge for 10min, then checked in. The wait really wasn’t that bad but the whole process was very disorganized. It seems they have changed their embarkation process and took people to suites in groups (Concierge did not come to meet us). After being checked in (also a bit strange because they wouldn’t answer any OBC questions), we waited another 10min for someone to bring us as a group onto the ship. About 10 suite passengers were escorted from the VIP lounge to the Star Bar. Then it got really frustrating. We would have been happy if we could have just dropped off our luggage and gone to explore or even get lunch at the buffet. We were left sitting in the bar for at least 30min until finally I asked, what is the process here? Anyway long story short they seated us in an overflow area outside Cagney’s. It was 1:30 before we sat for lunch. Lunch was average, probably because we were frustrated. During lunch they announced that cabin’s were ready.

We went to our cabin and finally began to relax. We were in 12026 the new Family Suite with Balcony. It’s awesome, just like others have explained. The balcony is particularly amazing with two large and comfy lounge chairs. We put our knapsacks down and went to explore the ship. A few more frustrating things – I was missing $160 in OBC and told to come back tomorrow. Got the pop package for me but couldn’t find lemonade for Brian. We tried several times to call Virgina to book a few dinners and finally got through (still haven’t met her). Met our Butler Flor and our cabin steward Mickey. Flor was immediately helpful (think we’re going to like her!). We signed up for “Casino at Sea” and cashed in our Triple Pay Chips ($15 for $10) and Free Slot Play Coupons ($20 for 10). Told to come back for the “SlotPlayCoupons.com” promotion, which we bought in advance ($50 for $25).

We hung out at the pool area for the sailaway and then went back to our rooms. Bags arrived 1 at a time between 3-6pm and I started to unpack. The room has great space and lots of drawer space. Closet is a bit strange but we made it work (and I brought too many clothes). Bathroom is awesome and has lots of storage and counter space. Bed seemed comfy. Had 1 robe but steward brought us a second when we asked. I experimented with the Lavazza machine and spilled hot water everywhere as I tried to change the language from Spanish to English ☺

Fruit and flowers were delivered plus a plate of yummy chocolate covered strawberries. And there was water and Champagne waiting when we first arrived.

We decided to try the Aqua Main Dining room for dinner and arrived about 6:15. Short line up but went quick. Unfortunately they seated us in an overflow area facing a dark curtain, the ambiance was non-existent. Dinner was good to average but we plan to try all the specialty restaurants so wouldn’t go back to Aqua. After dinner we went to the casino and I turned my $20 slot play pre-purchased money (payed $10) into $45 but Brian lost a good bit more than that at the Craps tables (ouch). Finally we went to the 9pm show, which was very fun, then back to the Casino, then to bed. Slept like a baby!

... coming soon...

What a treat, opening the huge curtains to the spectacular blue sky and blue ocean… LOVE this balcony. We ordered breakfast in bed and relaxed until 10:30 when we went to meet some new friends at the Cruise Critics Meet and Greet (Thank you to our organizers). Great to meet the captain and some crew.

Later that day, on to the Poker Crawl with Cruise Critics which was fun. Great to see so many cabins and now I’m firmly rooted in the belief that our cabin is the best on the ship! Finally back to our amazing balcony to relax. While we were out on the balcony a tray of small appetizers was delivered. Yummy! Bless you Flor!

We chose Teppanyaki for dinner and had an early seating. It was terrific; I highly recommend it. Steak was melt in your mouth and the chef’s show was fun. After dinner we went to the early show “Band on the Run”. Great music and dancers, very entertaining. We followed that with the (not so) Newlywed Show, which was a riot. Cruise Director Paul Scally is very entertaining. Ended up back in the casino where Brian made a small come-back at the craps table and I turned $20 from the “SlotPlayCoupons.com” credit into $35. If anyone is interested, these coupons were great and if you plan on playing slots they are easy to buy and redeem. Slot machines were fairly busy but the Craps table has been quiet all cruise so far. We’re not smokers and the casino is tolerable but we left by 11pm when it started to get more smoky than we were comfortable with.

We were on our way back to our room when Brian hesitated at the elevator…. He had “that look in his eye” and said, lets try Blue Lagoon … it had been about 36hrs and Brian had resisted the CHICKEN WINGS… no more, off we went to try them and it was worth the trip ;)

Still having problems with OBC and they double billed me for Internet access. Hope to get that sorted quickly. Met Virgina in the day and have reservations for tomorrow arranged. She was helpful all week.

Sorry for the multiple posts, took me a while to figure out pictures:

We woke up to open the curtains to a sunny day and a lush island in the distance. We hadn’t made plans but were going to buy the Beach Day excursion at Cayo Levantado. It seems that NCL has had problems with Samana. The excursions are said to be good because the island is so lush but the village apparently is not much to see. So the whole ship was offered free entrance to the beach at Cayo Levantado and tenders were ready for either the beach or the port. We took our time. Got to Cagney’s too late for breakfast (time zone change) so tried the buffet, which was pretty good. We then packed our beach bags and got in the line for the tenders. We were given VIP priority boarding passes the night before.

The beach was beautiful. Flat soft sandy beach, warm shallow water, lots of beach chairs and a beautiful sunny day. We had a few yummy icy drinks but didn’t eat the BBQ. Spent lots of time in the water and resting then headed back to the ship when we felt like the sun was too much. Brian of course turns immediately brown and I’m red like a tomato. Back on the tender to the ship.

On Princess cruises we loved the afternoon tea. I’d seen scones and jam in the buffet the day before so I called Flor. Shortly after Flor brought us a big tray of scones, jam, cream and some chocolate treats, plus a big pot of hot tea …. Ummm, what an afternoon!

We had dinner at Le Bistro and it was excellent. After, we went to show which was a magician, also very good. Spent some time at the casino and came out a little ahead and Brian did a brilliant job singing at Karaoke.

What a treat, opening the huge curtains to the spectacular blue sky and blue ocean… LOVE this balcony. We ordered breakfast in bed and relaxed until 10:30 when we went to meet some new friends at the Cruise Critics Meet and Greet (Thank you to our organizers). Great to meet the captain and some crew.

 

Later that day, on to the Poker Crawl with Cruise Critics which was fun. Great to see so many cabins and now I’m firmly rooted in the belief that our cabin is the best on the ship! Finally back to our amazing balcony to relax. While we were out on the balcony a tray of small appetizers was delivered. Yummy! Bless you Flor!

 

We chose Teppanyaki for dinner and had an early seating. It was terrific; I highly recommend it. Steak was melt in your mouth and the chef’s show was fun. After dinner we went to the early show “Band on the Run”. Great music and dancers, very entertaining. We followed that with the (not so) Newlywed Show, which was a riot. Cruise Director Paul Scally is very entertaining. Ended up back in the casino where Brian made a small come-back at the craps table and I turned $20 from the “SlotPlayCoupons.com” credit into $35. If anyone is interested, these coupons were great and if you plan on playing slots they are easy to buy and redeem. Slot machines were fairly busy but the Craps table has been quiet all cruise so far. We’re not smokers and the casino is tolerable but we left by 11pm when it started to get more smoky than we were comfortable with.

 

We were on our way back to our room when Brian hesitated at the elevator…. He had “that look in his eye” and said, lets try Blue Lagoon … it had been about 36hrs and Brian had resisted the CHICKEN WINGS… no more, off we went to try them and it was worth the trip ;)

 

Still having problems with OBC and they double billed me for Internet access. Hope to get that sorted quickly. Met Virgina in the day and have reservations for tomorrow arranged. She was helpful all week.

Thanks so much...Looking forward to the rest of your posts....

We're taking the Dawn on 12/14...so excited...I also am worried about my OBC from the TA...hope it works out for us....TA said it would be no problem, but still...I have my receipt from her, but wonder if NCL would honor that if the communication between my TA and NCL didn't work out. Did you finally get this worked out through the Customer Service desk?

I have a non-NCL excursion planned for Samana and am wondering if NCL will give everyone on our cruise the "free" Cayo Levantado trip....If so, I'm sure this will impact our getting to our excursion negatively due to priority tenders for so many going to the beach. I wrote NCL about this today.

Barbara

Thanks so much...Looking forward to the rest of your posts....

 

We're taking the Dawn on 12/14...so excited...I also am worried about my OBC from the TA...hope it works out for us....TA said it would be no problem, but still...I have my receipt from her, but wonder if NCL would honor that if the communication between my TA and NCL didn't work out. Did you finally get this worked out through the Customer Service desk?

 

I did sort out the OBC eventually. I had 3 OBCs directly from NCL. Two were posted fine and the third (most recent) was somehow messed up. It was posted with "Pending Payment" ... or some incorrect code of sorts. I ended up calling the NCL booking desk (from the courtesy phone at guest services) and it got sorted out within NCL. Keep your receipts and you should be fine.

I have a non-NCL excursion planned for Samana and am wondering if NCL will give everyone on our cruise the "free" Cayo Levantado trip....If so, I'm sure this will impact our getting to our excursion negatively due to priority tenders for so many going to the beach. I wrote NCL about this today.

 

Barbara

It seemed like the free access to Cayo Levantado is a new and ongoing thing; sort of like their version of their private island for this voyage. There were two sets of tenders - one to the port and one to the island/beach. People were able to get to the port but they were limited on timing (had to wait for later in the morning). But I spoke to 2-3 people that made a fuss and were given access to get off the ship early to get to personal excursions. Ask in advance when you get on the ship and ask your tour guide in Samana if he/she has heard of any new arrangements. I'm sure they will have worked out the kinks by your cruise. :)

Thank you for your review and the beautiful pictures. I have a friend who is at the moment a Senior Staff Officer (Restaurant Manager Noel Chaves) on The Dawn. He has been trying to convince me that I need to come sail with him and I think you just convinced me. Mandy

Thank you for the great photos of your suite. We are scheduled to be in one of them in March. It will be our first taste of the "SUITE" life.

Thanks so much...Looking forward to the rest of your posts....

 

We're taking the Dawn on 12/14...so excited...I also am worried about my OBC from the TA...hope it works out for us....TA said it would be no problem, but still...I have my receipt from her, but wonder if NCL would honor that if the communication between my TA and NCL didn't work out. Did you finally get this worked out through the Customer Service desk?

 

I have a non-NCL excursion planned for Samana and am wondering if NCL will give everyone on our cruise the "free" Cayo Levantado trip....If so, I'm sure this will impact our getting to our excursion negatively due to priority tenders for so many going to the beach. I wrote NCL about this today.

 

Barbara

I had an OBC problem on the Gem last month. I had a few different types of OBC and one of them was from my travel agent directly. I had all my documentation from my travel agent but the OBC from the travel agent was 100.00 dollars short.

I went to guest services and they took my correspondence and said they would e-mail the billing department and have them contact the travel agent. According to NCL they contacted my travel agent and the money was denied. They then let me use the courtesy phone days later. I explained situation and was told keep a copy of my entire bill and they could deal with it when I got home.

After a few phone calls and faxes I got my check this weekend. They also told me they were never contacted by NCL while I was on the ship and that it was never denied by them.....

Not sure who to believe but I'm just happy I got my money.

Lesson: bring extra money and credit cards just in case OBC is never worked out on the ship........

Great review and pictures.....keep it coming!!!!!!!

Here is a trick I learned on our last cruise, regarding reception desk, account problems, etc. At 6 in the morning there is staff, but usually they are in the back, they come right out when you ding or say hello, I forget which.

Anyway, those morning people seem (at least in my experience) to have a great attitude. We sorted everything out quickly. I usually wait until Monday because they probably have to check with Miami if there is a problem.

Here is a trick I learned on our last cruise, regarding reception desk, account problems, etc. At 6 in the morning there is staff, but usually they are in the back, they come right out when you ding or say hello, I forget which.

 

Anyway, those morning people seem (at least in my experience) to have a great attitude. We sorted everything out quickly. I usually wait until Monday because they probably have to check with Miami if there is a problem.

Great idea...I'm an earlybird so this will work for me!

BArbara

As I was planning the excursions months ago I had full intentions to go to Jost Van Dyke beach with Tortola Charters. Several of us never heard from them so gave up on that route. I had planned to book the excursion on the ship but found that JVD was already booked when we checked on Day 2. So we chose the Baths and Snorkeling tour, which turned out to be a great choice.

We left the ship mid morning and walked around the village. Not much to see other than the basic tourist market stuff. I did pick up a Digicel GSM SIM card for my iPhone (seemed to work perfectly but for phone and text only). We got on the tour ship about 1:15 and headed out under large dark clouds. Typical of the Caribbean, we motored through some pouring rain but the sun came out about 30min later. We got to the Baths just as the sun was coming out. The boat anchored 200 yards from the beach and we all snorkeled in. Then a tour guide took us through the boulders, through the baths to another beach where we snorkeled some more. The day was beautiful and the scenery was amazing. The swim back to the boat (against the tide) seemed a lot longer than the swim in but we all made it and welcomed the rum punch waiting for us!

Back to the ship, quick shower and out to dinner. We’d had Victoria make reservations at the Venetian, which was a good move. We walked past a long line and were seated almost immediately at a table at the back with a beautiful view of the wake and Tortola shrinking in the distance. Dinner was good, thankfully much better than Aqua on day 1. After dinner we went to Guest Services to see if the OBC was sorted out and were told, head office had checked and we did not qualified for the OBC (despite the fact that I have copied of the confirmation with an invoice number). Very frustrating and have to go back tomorrow. Later we hit the casino (Brian is now even and I’m up about $45) and then to the Hypnotist show. Naturally the hypnotist picked Brian (very light hearted and trained in acting) and he (and the rest of the stage) was a riot. I have pictures but I’m sworn to keep them in my private collection ;)

Early night tonight after a long day in the sun and water.

Finally we managed to get up early enough for breakfast at Cagney’s. The Crab Cake Eggs Benedict was terrific… could fill you up for the entire day. Unfortunately it was grey and rainy in the morning so we just hung out in our cabin and relaxed. We headed into town in the afternoon with an umbrella. Didn’t have an excursion planned today (many were cancelled) but just walked around the city. St. Maarten is one of the better shopping areas in these islands but we only saw the main street because of the rain.

Dinner that day was La Cuccina and it was good but not great. Brian liked his Steak Florentine but my pasta was average. Nice ambiance in this restaurant though and at $10/head its pretty good value for money. After dinner we saw the comedian that opened Day 1 but he didn’t seem as funny. Later the casino was very busy and didn’t treat either of us well so we called it a night.

Not the best day weather-wise but any day at sea is better than a day at work!

Thank you for your review and the beautiful pictures. I have a friend who is at the moment a Senior Staff Officer (Restaurant Manager Noel Chaves) on The Dawn. He has been trying to convince me that I need to come sail with him and I think you just convinced me. Mandy

Great for you!! You will be well taken care of. Enjoy!

Thank you for the great photos of your suite. We are scheduled to be in one of them in March. It will be our first taste of the "SUITE" life.

It really is the Suite-life and totally worth it. It is what sold us on NCL and was a big part of what we enjoyed on our voyage. Enjoy!

Great idea...I'm an earlybird so this will work for me!

BArbara

Oh my, you guys are both early birds.... but good suggestion for those that are up. There are many times when the front desk is very busy so any special attention would be worth it.

Please continue this fabulous review. I am on this itinerary on 1/4/2012 and it's been nice to read along about the ports and the ship. Keep it coming!

Thanks! :)

Do you have any photos of the bathroom?:o

Do you have any photos of the bathroom?:o

Not crazy at all! The shower head sounds like it would be soothing based on the OP's description of it. :)

Do you have any photos of the bathroom?:o

Here are some pictures. Unfortunately I don't have a picture of the shower-head which was the best part - big rain-shower type.