My Dawn Review from 8/30 Cruise

[jnmrlk]

I have to start this review by saying that the Dawn crew was great. They were constantly cleaning and very, very friendly. I enjoyed interacting with them as much as possible.

Getting on the ship was a breeze, it took all of about 20 minutes. We were a party of 12 (4 cabins) and after getting our key cards I was in the bathroom and they were boarding already!!

Our cabins were clean and kept clean every day – kudos to the housekeeping dept. We had towel animals every night (much to the delight of my Grandchildren). It is so funny how the small things make such a difference! The only problem I had with the cabins was that we were on deck 8 somewhat above Dazzles so we got allot of noise from the bands playing, when Fire and Ice played we were in Dazzles so it didn’t matter but the rock band was loud, this was my fault for not double checking floor plans when we booked!!!

We ate at both restaurants and service in both was wonderful. There were 12 of us and we had no wait to get in, we ate just after 6pm in one and about 5:30pm in the other. We were in and out in an hour, no problems at all. The food was great, it was always the right temperature and we had no problems with the menus.

The food in the buffet was okay but not great, the desserts from the buffet were sometimes a little on the rubbery side (in the main restaurants they were excellent). Food is always subjective and I think you have to take into consideration that buffet food is buffet food. We certainly did not starve and we could always find something to eat. We did enjoy the Blue Lagoon chicken wings and ate there quite a bit!!

My son and his girlfriend ate at Salsas and Cagneys and loved both. He said the steak melted in his mouth.

We watched Band on the Run (my fav show), South Beach Rave, Bollywood and the Crew’s show. I enjoyed them all, the comedian was so-so I wasn’t that impressed with him and the magician was good but they had a great one on the Spirit last time and this one was not quite as good (IMO).

I have to say that FIRE and ICE were fantastic – I didn’t want to miss them when they were performing, Rosie can sing anything she was amazing and she kept Dazzles packed with people.

Bermuda is beautiful, I have always loved Bermuda. We had great weather and the skies and seas were breath taking. My two sons went jet skiing (twice because they liked it so much). They went right off the boat next to the Bone Fish Restaurant I believe it was KJ Watersports. They had to go slow (no wake) out of the harbor and then they were allowed to open them up, they both loved it.

Horseshoe Bay was great and off course we took the taxi to the top for $2 a person!!

I went horse back riding at Spicelands, the early morning tour onto the beach. We didn’t spend allot of time on the beach and they do not take you into the water but I love being on the back of a horse and being in Bermuda just makes it that much better!

We also went scuba diving with Blue Water Divers, my 14 year old loved this, they took him over a ship wreck and he saw lots of fish. I had trouble equalizing my ears and couldn’t stay down long. They were patient with us (4 of us went). My daughter ended up switching for snorkel gear and gave up with the scuba and they were fine with that. I got some great photos!

We ate at the Frog and Onion at the Dockyards which was nice, be careful if they ask you if you want a souvenir glass as we ended up with 2 that cost us $12.75 each on top of the food bill, I thought they were going to serve the drinks in it and just charge and extra couple of dollars for the glass!!

My daughter-in-law got photos with the dolphins and loved that. My other daughter checked out all the history sites at St George’s and the Dockyards and enjoyed that.

We went to Snorkel Park to finish out our trip and that was also a good time. There are no waves and it is a great place for young kids to play. Thinking that I was being clever I took bread out into the water and went way out away from the crowds, I crunch up the bread and get attacked by a whole ton of fish, if anyone was watching me they probably laughed their butts of, I must have looked like I belonged in a Chevy Chase Vacation movie as I was trying to get away from the fish!!

Once again, the ship is in great shape. They were changing out the carpets in the hallways and they were quick and efficient.

All in all we had a great time, my son’s first cruise and he is totally sold on cruising. I cannot say enough about the crew they were great and several of the waiters had my son’s name down after the first day which made his day!!

We'll be back :D

[jnmrlk]

I forgot to add that there were several teenagers on this ship that were very, very unruly. There was allot of jumping, screaming, running and ALLOT of cussing from some of them, especially the last sea day.

I heard one group announcing they wanted to hit someone and they didn't care who.

I was kinda of glad that my teenagers (2 on this trip) didn't want to go to the teen club, I think they were kind of intimidated by the older kids.

The 10-12 club was good, my younger son enjoyed that and the younger kids (under 6) liked theirs.

I felt the need to add this as I think there are some parents that feel they can just let their teens run wild with no supervision. I do not envy the position that this puts the ships security people in, they were not there to police these kids that the parents didn't want to deal with.

[Teesa1021]

I also saw all of the teenagers and they need to be controlled. It seemed as though they got on the ship with parents and the parents were nowhere to be found.. Always in the hallways of stateroom decks being loud or sitting in the way on steps. Parents need to at least check in on these kids if they are going to let them run around free

[smokie36]

enjoyed your review can't wait to sail. to many horror stories about kids.thats why we go later thanks

[lobsterlover]

Thanks for taking the time. Such good information helps us to plan. Glad you had a great trip.

 

L.L.

[Zeno]

Nice to hear that you enjoyed the Dawn - we look forward to our cruise on her.

[jnmrlk]

enjoyed your review can't wait to sail. to many horror stories about kids.thats why we go later thanks

 

We may very well not sail when school is out as a family again. Last year we sailed during school (and took the boys out of school). I really did not want to do that, even though I requested work from the teachers so they didn't get too far behind I thought it would be better to sail during summer vacation. However, the boys enjoyed the cruise much better with less kids and we did not notice any issues with teenagers last year compared to this.

It will make me rethink the family cruise carefully as I do want them to enjoy themselves as much as me!!!

Next year the boys are staying home with family while DH and I go to the Med!!!

[dtiger]

You'd think security would do something about the out of control teenagers. After having bad experiences with out of control and disruptive kids I've chosen to sail after school is back in session.

 

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise and had good weather.

[jnmrlk]

I bet these are the same parents that say "Not my kid". Security is probably damned if they say something (and then security gets harrassed by the parents) and damned if they don't - they have to deal with the same issues as us.

I doubt that we will sail during school vacation again.

[smokie36]

amen these kids come from the parents that say 1 more time.