Dawn Review - April 1-8

Just got off the Dawn with wife and 18 year old son - overall trip was great, here is a review of ship, ports, excursions, etc

Embarkation - Tampa - three ships in Tampa at same time is crowded. Got a call the morning of cruise saying ship would be late to port and we could not board until 1:00. Looked on PLZ and saw ship in port at 8:00 am so we showed up at our normal 11:00 am time that we do for each ship and was on-board at 11:45 - heard the lines at 1:00 were awful.

Room - stayed in obstructed ocean view on deck 8 - loved it because O'Sheehans was right around corner - bathroom great - large shower with sliding door, plenty of storage in room, obstructed view but still could see water.

Dining - had the SDP for three nights - ate in Cagneys, Moderno, and Teppanyaki - all three were excellent, missed the steak and lobster at Cagneys however. Did the Venetian and Aqua the other nights - food in those not close to the quality of SD restaurants. Aqua had better service. OSheehans was good and plenty of room.

Entertainment - shows were good - Elements was highlight, disappointed no late night comedian, piano guy in Gaspys Bar was good every night but smoke from the casino and the cigar bar filled the air in the Gaspy's Bar. Country music singers good in the Atrium bar. Disappointed at no music by the pool on Lido until lunch time - very quiet from 9-12 each day, not even DJ music.

Pool - one pool for the large ship - it was always crowded - hot tubs full of kids, we found a hot tub in front of ship that was good. Miss the big video screens that are other ships - not one here. No chair police - chairs saved all-day, each day

Service - the service on the entire ship was excellent - from bar tenders, to servers, to hotel personnel

Ports - Cozumel - did the Cozumel Oyster Farm - if you have not done this, you need to try it - excellent excursion, Costa Maya - went downtown to beach - survived vendors and had good food and good beach - taxi to and from cheap, Roatan - did some shopping, heard from others that you have to be careful - taxi drivers will tell you one thing and cost you money, Harvest Caye - only there a few hours, pool is good - beach is not - tons of weeds and grass, course sand

Embarkation - self assisted in this - said we could not get off the ship until 9 - was in car by 9:15 - again long lines, others did not get off boat that check luggage until about 11 - small terminal - slow process

Overall - good vacation - never a bad cruise, just some that are better than others.

Entertainment - shows were good - Elements was highlight, disappointed no late night comedian, piano guy in Gaspys Bar was good every night but smoke from the casino and the cigar bar filled the air in the Gaspy's Bar.

Just curious, were you making a pun, due to the smoking, near GATSBY's Champagne Bar?

If so, that's very clever!

Thank you for the review with some good information!

Glad you had a good time! Thanks!

Just got off the Dawn with wife and 18 year old son - overall trip was great, here is a review of ship, ports, excursions, etc

Embarkation - Tampa - three ships in Tampa at same time is crowded. Got a call the morning of cruise saying ship would be late to port and we could not board until 1:00. Looked on PLZ and saw ship in port at 8:00 am so we showed up at our normal 11:00 am time that we do for each ship and was on-board at 11:45 - heard the lines at 1:00 were awful.

Room - stayed in obstructed ocean view on deck 8 - loved it because O'Sheehans was right around corner - bathroom great - large shower with sliding door, plenty of storage in room, obstructed view but still could see water.

Dining - had the SDP for three nights - ate in Cagneys, Moderno, and Teppanyaki - all three were excellent, missed the steak and lobster at Cagneys however. Did the Venetian and Aqua the other nights - food in those not close to the quality of SD restaurants. Aqua had better service. OSheehans was good and plenty of room.

Entertainment - shows were good - Elements was highlight, disappointed no late night comedian, piano guy in Gaspys Bar was good every night but smoke from the casino and the cigar bar filled the air in the Gaspy's Bar. Country music singers good in the Atrium bar. Disappointed at no music by the pool on Lido until lunch time - very quiet from 9-12 each day, not even DJ music.

Pool - one pool for the large ship - it was always crowded - hot tubs full of kids, we found a hot tub in front of ship that was good. Miss the big video screens that are other ships - not one here. No chair police - chairs saved all-day, each day

Service - the service on the entire ship was excellent - from bar tenders, to servers, to hotel personnel

Ports - Cozumel - did the Cozumel Oyster Farm - if you have not done this, you need to try it - excellent excursion, Costa Maya - went downtown to beach - survived vendors and had good food and good beach - taxi to and from cheap, Roatan - did some shopping, heard from others that you have to be careful - taxi drivers will tell you one thing and cost you money, Harvest Caye - only there a few hours, pool is good - beach is not - tons of weeds and grass, course sand

Embarkation - self assisted in this - said we could not get off the ship until 9 - was in car by 9:15 - again long lines, others did not get off boat that check luggage until about 11 - small terminal - slow process

Overall - good vacation - never a bad cruise, just some that are better than others.

We will be on the Dawn in 3 1/2 weeks out of Boston. Can't wait. As for getting on and off the ship, the last 3 NCL cruises we have taken we have had hang ups one way or the other, specially getting off: . Always a different reason, but I do realize generally it is the fault of the port authority. I hope this isn't the case out of Boston. As for crowded pool areas, this is one of my biggest gripes about NCL, not always good pool areas and always small.

Thanks for a nice review; glad you had a good time.

I like the Dawn, but I hate the pool. It’s small and crowded. I love RCCL because they have an adult pool with a jacuzzi.

Thank you for your review. We are looking at sailing on the Dawn next March. Glad you enjoyed it.

Thanks for the feedback.

Did you happen to see how much the spa passes cost? I'm looking forward to a cruise Jan 2019 but I'm wondering if I should consider the spa pass.

Just curious, were you making a pun, due to the smoking, near GATSBY's Champagne Bar?

If so, that's very clever!

Thank you for the review with some good information!

smoking, near GATSBY's

Note the Cigar Bar is adjacent to Gatsby's and a potential for the smoking (gun).

Gatsby's is a great bar but it's location in a drafting corridor between two of the three smoking locations

leaves much to be desired for NON-smokers.

Smoking locations: 1 Casino 2 Cigar Bar 3 Pool Deck Port side

Gatsby's is for the most part always crowded due to its location right in front of Le Bistro and next to La Cucina.

While waiting for your table (reservation) it is a great location for a pre-dinner cocktail.

The bar tenders at Gatsby's always made my drinks on the strong side to my satisfaction.

Great report - missing a review of Los Lobos - glad you found the Hot Tub on deck 13 forward !

Sad to hear of the disembarkation problem - this really throws a wrench in airline travel plans to make

timely flights. Your option for the Walk-Off was a wise choice.

We will be on the Dawn in 3 1/2 weeks out of Boston. Can't wait. As for getting on and off the ship, the last 3 NCL cruises we have taken we have had hang ups one way or the other, specially getting off: . Always a different reason, but I do realize generally it is the fault of the port authority. I hope this isn't the case out of Boston. As for crowded pool areas, this is one of my biggest gripes about NCL, not always good pool areas and always small.

Thanks for a nice review; glad you had a good time.

Re: Boston Cruise Terminal

You will find the Cruise Terminal in Boston is not much better than the one in New Orleans.

Just the right amount of space to accommodate the crowds under NORMAL Embarkation and Disembark.

But any delay sets in motion factors making a mess even for seasoned travelers but somehow the ship

sails on time thru the chaos - sort of like a bad ride thru Universal Studios and then the set is put all back

together - sun rises and shines and you sail off into the sunset.

Disembarkation - Advantage to Boston for airline travel the airport is closer than it is at New Orleans

and again Walk-Off is the way to go hands down - no waiting for organized confusion to raise its ugly head !

Does help if the Port Authorities have their act together !

Re: Pool areas

NCL is not all that great on Big Pools even on the mega -AWAY class ships catering to more of a wide variety

of other non water activities. Sort of unlike you go sailing on a big ole Ocean Liner and swimming in a pool

in the middle of the ocean is the thing to do. The DAWN except for the winter cruises in the western Caribbean

is best suited for the northern cruises Boston - Canada New England Bermuda. One thing though NCL needs

more Hot Tubs - DAWN - location pool deck - 1 aft near the childrens pool aft and the best forward deck 13.

And then factor in some of the pools use sea water and are still mixed with chemicals for sanitation.

You are not of Norwegian blood if you need your pool heated like Hot Tubs. When your toes curl up and

become fins that is the correct temperature for fjord swimming in a NCL ships pool. Your wrinkled skin becomes you !

Just wondering if you knew the recent:

Captain_____

Hotel Director____

C.D. _______

Thanks

Garry

Thanks for the review.

"Dingo" Dave was cruise director - had him earlier on the Jade.

Thanks for the review! I’m going on The Dawn June 22nd out of Boston.... looking forward to it!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

We were on the Dawn the same week. I completely agree with the review. I was concerned after reading some comments prior to leaving. But it was a great vacation. Kids were missing the giant screen on deck for movies and the putt putt golf. But everything else was better than expected. We did ATV tour in Cozumel (my family loved it), Bodden tours to zip line and snorkel in Roatan and just visited the port in the other two stops.

Bodden tours were excellent! The zip line was the highlight of the trip. 14 lines in total. We had George as a driver who showed us the island and took us anywhere we wanted to visit. I would highly recommend them.