Teen's Review of NCL Dawn cruise 3/24-3/31

Thank you for taking the time to write a review! I leave on the Dawn this Sunday and can't wait!!!

Gina

Hi Livetocruise,

This is one of the best CC reviews I've ever read. Very helpful and well written. I'm considering the Dawn for my 16 & 13 year old, so your perspective is invaluable.

Best wishes with school and life!

Cruise friends are some of the best people you'll ever meet. When you're on a cruise, you feel like you're away from the world, in a fantasyland, away from reality. You create such a special bond with cruise friends, because you experienced this magical time with them, and they are the only people who understand how amazing it really is.

Agreed! I think what helps people really connect on a cruise, is ironically, the lack of a cell phone and internet connection. Without the ever-present texting and Facebook, people connect with each other the old way: talking to people around them and sharing experiences. On top of that, not having to worry about ending up on YouTube when doing the usual silly dances with the crew helps people feel less inhibited, I'm sure.

Kudos for your writing style. The review is nicely written and fun to read.

My girls are 12 and 16 and I would like to know do you walk back to the cabin at night alone, with a group, with brothers or did your parents come get you. We have never cruised before so we don't know what to expect.

I'm enjoying reading your well written review. Thank you so much for taking the time to do it. I hope you have many, many more cruises in your future!

I really enjoyed your review, hard to believe it's written by a 15 year old. Did you ever finish the review? What happened on the last day?

-This is an edited version of my original thread/post, as I corrected all of the spelling errors :)-

Hi everyone! My family just returned from a 7-day NCL Dawn cruise that was from 3/24-3/31 out of Tampa, FL. I planned a lot for this cruise, and noticed that there isn’t much information for teens, so I thought I could help my fellow teenagers out there, or just others, with a review of my cruise.

I have to say: this was the BEST CRUISE EVER! Here’s some background info: our group was me (Katherine, 15), my parents, and my two brothers (17). We’re from Pennsylvania, outside of Philly. This was my 4th cruise, the first 3 being on Royal Caribbean.

Throughout this review, I'll try to sum up my family's daily activities, compare NCL to RCI, and give you everything through a teen's perspective!

If you have any questions, or specific topics you would like me to include, feel free to ask!

I will be posting my review bit-by-bit over the next few days. This is my first time writing a review, so I apologize if it’s not as good as it could be, but I hope you enjoy.

so far you are doing just fine. I will be anxious to read what you have to say.

I just came on to post a thread asking about teens and the Dawn ship, and your thread was the first one in the queue!

 

My fifteen year old daughter thinks the NCL Dawn is for a "lazy cruise" and there is nothing for teens. I will be looking forward to the rest of your review. We are planning on taking the Dawn next summer out of Boston to Bermuda. She has never been on a cruise before and has nothing to compare it to. I have been on 1 Carnival and 2 RCCLs, so this will be my first time on NCL as well.

Heavens, if she has never cruised how can she judge what there is to do for teens? Maybe she should get on the roll call and see if there are others her age that will be cruising? I am sure there are. I will add, our grandkids never found cruising boring and they only took one cruise that even had a teen club.

Before I start, I'd like to thank all of the CC members with their posts and reviews, which I found VERY helpful in planning this cruise. CC members are the best! Okay, so here goes nothing, hope you enjoy:

 

DAY 1- EMBARKATION

 

After a grueling drive from Philly, we visited with some relatives in FL, and arrived to the port in Tampa around 11:00. My dad dropped the rest of us and the luggage off, and then parked the car in the long-term parking lot. We gave our suitcases to the porters, and were in the waiting area at around 11:30. We went to the check-in tables/desks, and were given our Sea Passes and waiting Group #5. Those waiting were offered water, juice, and the daily cruise news. We (Group 5) were quickly called, and boarded the ship around 11:45. We went straight up to the Garden Café for lunch, and I would HIGHLY suggest boarding early, then directly going to lunch, as it got VERY crowded. Afterwards, we went to the Teen Center so my parents could register us, and explored the ship until our cabins were ready at 1:00. Our bags arrived at about 2:00. The Muster Drill was around 3:15, our meeting area was in the Stardust Theater, and was very sweet, short, and to the point…WAY shorter than on RCI. We made a reservation for the Venetian for 5:45. I would suggest going before 6:20 or so, because there was a VERY long line, and I would assume, a VERY long wait. On the first night, they were allowing people with shorts, a worker explained that this was because many people weren’t aware of the “no shorts” policy, and they would start to enforce this rule for the rest of the cruise. I had the shrimp and potatoes, surf and turf, and key lime pie. It was all very delicious! Other family members got the cheesecake (BEST EVER) and the bread and butter pudding, both which I would HIGHLY recommend to anyone!

 

Then it was off to the teen club! I arrived at around 8:00, and there was a line of teens, for the staff was checking everyone in, making sure they were registered, and you got an eyeball sticker on your card to verify your registration. While the others were getting checked in, those of us already in sat on the couches/chairs and met each other. This is how I met three of my closest friends on the cruise! So once everyone was checked in, the two teen counselors introduced themselves (Dazzle and Pebbles), they were awesome! They went over rules and such, and then we played a bunch of ice breaker games to get to know each other. I made a group of about 7-8 friends, and we all went to the pool deck to talk and go in the hot tubs. We checked back at the teen club late that night, but it was a group of people awkwardly break dancing, so we just hung out until the 1am curfew.

 

My opinions of the Teen Club:

 

I have to say, I had a much better experience with the teen club on NCL than on Royal. Though the fact that my NCL cruise was a 7-day on the Dawn during spring break and my RCI was a 3-day on Monarch OTS during President’s Day weekend could have made a difference. I did meet some nice friends on RCI, but overall I felt that the teens on NCL were just really friendly and fun.

 

Facilities: The Teen Club on the Dawn was really great! There were 2-3 TV’s on the one side, with couches/comfy chairs and gaming systems. These (video games) were usually occupied, but kids were taking turns. There were about 4 tall tables with chairs where people just sat and talked. There was an air hockey table and a foosball table. As for the dancing area, the main/center part of the whole room was a dance floor. On the side there was a small DJ booth, and surrounding the dance floor were couches/love seats. There were rectangle bean bag cushions that were pushed to the side, but sometimes my friends and I would throw them on the dance floor and lay on them. I noticed that almost every night there were pizza, wings, and other finger foods delivered to the club.

 

Activities: The activities on RCI and NCL are pretty much the exact same. There was a schedule (I’ll post copies) of Teen Club activities given out when you first board the ship, and it was posted outside of the Club as well. Most of the fun activities started at 8:00, and the dances started around 11:00 or 11:30 and then went until closing (1:00am). What my friends and I normally did was, we would meet at the Club at 8:00, decide if we wanted to do any of the activities they offered, if not, we hit the hot tubs or talked at the top deck, and went back to the Club for the dances. There were groups of other teens coming in and out of the club throughout the nights, so I guess most others did the same.

 

Teen Staff: With the staff on RCI, I felt they tried to act too much like teenagers, they were very friendly though! Dazzle and Pebbles (NCL) were fantastic counselors! They weren’t too much like “Mom and Dad”, and weren’t trying to be everyone’s best friend either, they were just really great! I feel like they interacted with us enough, without trying to dictate what we did. For example, if the majority of teens weren’t thrilled with the activity listed on the schedule, they were more than willing to cater to what we wanted to do. Finally, Dazzle taught all of us how to do a dance that the crew had done at the Sail Away Party called “Danza Kuduro”. It was literally the most fun thing I’ve ever done at any type of dance! It became the teen crew’s “theme song” in a way, as we danced to it almost every night! If anyone is interested, I have the video of us doing it, and the video is a good way to see what the teen club looks like as well!

 

Advice/Pointers: GO TO THE TEEN CLUB THE FIRST NIGHT AT 8:00. I cannot stress this enough! This is where everyone first meets each other…it’s basically how you form your group of friends for the rest of the cruise! There are plenty of ice breaker games, though awkward, you meet people. Make sure to be outgoing and friendly, even if you are shy at home, no one knows that! Also, if you don’t make friends right off the bat, try again the 2nd night; people were very open and friendly and groups grew with more people as the cruise went on. I mean, we love our families, but you don’t want to hang out with your parents every night, right!?

 

A side note: I posted on the CC Roll Call for my cruise, and got in contact with some other teens pre-cruise. I set up a facebook group so we could all meet each other, which I highly suggest! Now, we use the facebook group for all teens that were on the cruise and post funny memories and such. It’s also a great way for everyone to find each other, just in case they forgot to get someone’s contact info.

 

 

Teen Schedule: (Below)

 

Hope you like it so far, and I apologize for the length! I'll try to post Day 2 and more pictures of Day 1 as quickly as I can!

I think you would make a wonderful writer after you finish your education or better yet a public speaker or maybe politics.

My girls are 12 and 16 and I would like to know do you walk back to the cabin at night alone, with a group, with brothers or did your parents come get you. We have never cruised before so we don't know what to expect.

My brothers and I ended up making separate groups of friends, so I didn't see them much! Fortunately, all of my cruise friends, as well as myself, had cabins at the front of the ship, so we would all take the elevator together and get off at our respective decks. So a combination of with friends and alone. I often went places alone during the day (to the gym, to meet friends, etc.) and at night I would walk to the teen club alone, but then spent the rest of my evening time with my friends until we went to bed!

I just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone for the great feedback! I am begging my parents to take me on another cruise sometime soon, and I promise to write another day-by-day review if we go!

After re-reading this review, I realize that I never remembered to make a post about the last day, and plan to do so within the next few days! Just so you're aware: this cruise was during spring break of 2013, so my memory outside of what I wrote down in my journal might be a bit foggy. Anyways, thank you so much for reading and the positive feedback; I'm very glad I can help, and stay tuned!

After dinner, I had about 40 minutes before I was supposed to meet my friends, so I laid in bed and chewed SeaBands brand ginger gum, which really helped. This gum works miracles, for I was up and running in about 35 minutes, not feeling sick at all!

Can you tell me where you purchased the ginger gum? I'd like to have some just in case.

Thanks,

Melissa

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Can you tell me where you purchased the ginger gum? I'd like to have some just in case.

 

Thanks,

Melissa

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

We got it at Walgreens, but I'm sure it's available at any drug store!

Thanks!

Sent from my iPad using Forums

Great review. I remember my first cruise (15 years ago) on RCI. I was 15 years old and the teen club wasn't as exciting as your experience. I am glad things are much better. We went on the Dawn 2 years ago and it was amazing. I am glad that you had the same experience. Was the white hot party on the pool deck? Our was in the lounge :(

Great review. I remember my first cruise (15 years ago) on RCI. I was 15 years old and the teen club wasn't as exciting as your experience. I am glad things are much better. We went on the Dawn 2 years ago and it was amazing. I am glad that you had the same experience. Was the white hot party on the pool deck? Our was in the lounge :(

Thank you! Yes, it was on the pool deck, and there were people watching from the sun deck as well! Having it outside under the stars was a great experience :)

This is by far the best thing I have read on CC. I'm taking my 13yo on her first cruise in a few weeks. Although I have been cruising for a few years, ( the Dawn was my first!!) this is a whole new experience for us. It is so hard to find inside info into what seems like the secret society of Entourage! Lol! Your review will really give her some insight!

I agree with other posters. You have potential to be a great writer! (journalist, maybe??) My daughter has always enjoyed writing and I will encourage her to keep a travel journal. Perhaps she will write a review as well!

Keep up the great work! Your parents should certainly reward you with another cruise!!

I agree, this is the best review I've read in years! Great job, well written and really gives a person a sense of the layout and how things work. Thanks so much for writing this :)

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Forums mobile app

I think Norweigan should sponsor her next cruise!!

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Forums mobile app

Great review! I especially appreciated the photo of the porthole cabin.

I have finally unearthed my last post, as it was lost in all of my Google Docs folders. I sincerely apologize for the inconvenience:

DAY 7- AT SEA

I woke up around 8:00, already a little sad knowing that this was the last day of our magnificent cruise. I grabbed a quick snack, hit the fitness center for a while (needing to work off all of the cheesecake that I had consumed throughout the week), then had a nice breakfast with my family in the Garden Cafe. We went back to our cabin and packed our suitcases up, leaving out the things we would need for the day, as we didn’t want to have to do this at night. I found my friends on the pool deck at about 11:30, and we got lunch, tanned, and swam for a long time. Our group of 8 found a section of lounge chairs, but by 2:00 we had a bunch of other teens come join us, so we moved down the sun deck and found more chairs. I remember it being really windy on the deck, so much so that it was a little cold when the clouds would cover the sun, so we wrapped our towels around us. We stayed out swimming and tanning until about 4:00, then we had to go back to our cabins as some people in our group had early dinner reservations.

We ate dinner in the Venetian and requested Rachael as our server again. I had the seafood chowder, pork chop, and decided to do a last-hurrah and ordered both strawberry ice cream and cheesecake for dessert. At the end of dinner, we got pictures with Rachel and exchanged emails to keep in touch, as we still do today.

I met my friends at the Teen Club at 8:00 and we took a bunch of pictures with our group, and with some of the other teens. We tried to go to our hideaway spot but more and more rowdy teens kept joining us, so in trying to escape, our group kind of got split up, so the few of us that were still together went to the Garden Cafe for some late-night snacks, only to notice that it was closed. We could kind of still sit down at the tables (we did, but I wasn’t sure if we were supposed to). My one friend spotted some cookies still on the serving platter at the “Kids Korner” of the Garden Cafe, so we had some of those before heading back to the Teen Club. Thankfully, the rest of our group also went back to the Teen Club, and we had one last dance party, and the entire club (counselors and all) danced to Danza Kuduro one last time. Then, it was time for all of the goodbyes and exchanging of phone numbers. Since the teen club had closed at 1:00 am, all of us went to the Blue Lagoon and passed our phones around to exchange contact info, and said our goodbyes, as we all took the sad last walk back to our cabins. I was thankful that I had packed my bags earlier, as I was able to just sit in my bed and watch the waves crash beside me for the last time.

DISEMBARKATION

We had a big breakfast in the Garden Cafe- it was very crowded- and carried our bags off, and we were back in the terminal and to our car by 9:30. (There was a huge line to disembark)

I really hope you enjoyed this review, and am completely willing to answer any questions that you might have! Thanks for reading!

[quote name='live_to_cruise;38494969

Cruise friends are some of the best people you'll ever meet. When you're on a cruise' date=' you feel like you're away from the world, in a fantasyland, away from reality. You create such a special bond with cruise friends, because you experienced this magical time with them, and they are the only people who understand how amazing it really is. I still text my cruise friends probably once every two weeks or so, and we often tweet our inside jokes to eachother. I miss them so much, and we're all planning a reunion![/i']

this is one of the best things I have ever read on this site...thank you for writing a great review.

I think Norweigan should sponsor her next cruise!!

 

Sent from my SPH-L720 using Forums mobile app

I think a travel magazine should hire her free-lance to do teen reviews.

Thank You so much for such a great review

Were on the Dawn March 22nd doing the same ports u were at

Can't wait :D

this is one of the best things I have ever read on this site...thank you for writing a great review.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed!