Negative Dawn and Sun Posts?

[cruisingirl53]

Ok... I'm new in here but I am glad I got to read all about the Dawns recent sailings as I am sailing on her on March 10 & plan to celebrate my Birthday on the 15 on her. I was on the Sun in '96 so I WANT TO KNOW IF THINGS CHANGED THAT DRASTICALLY SINCE THEN.:eek: I don't think so from the response here! :)

[FutureFlash]

We'll raise a glass to you on the 15th en route to St Thomas! Only 5 weeks 'till our first trip on the Dawn!

[kendon]

We've been on many Princess ships and we loved the Dawn as a ship itself. But, we felt that the entertainment was definitely weak and in some cases not even there! Overall, the feeling was that Princess put its energy in the bigger ships. Too bad as I prefer the Sun class size and style. I am sorry to see that they will continue to build Caribbean Princess super mega-type ships. The sun class is most elegant.

[cruisingirl53]

Thank you FutureFlash! If you hear a big ruccus on that day it will probably be us celebrating....lol:D

[Clubber]

We've cruised the Dawn twice over the last couple of years and enjoyed it both times. Great food and great service.

[patti o]

Nancyox, we were neighbors on the 1/8 sailing! We were on our second segment of a b2b, in R328, a few doors down from you. But we didn't experience the sewage smell you did. Weird, so close but we didn't have it.

 

However, on our first segment we were in A305, and one evening, it was awful! So I know what the smell is, just didn't get it at our Riviera location.

 

Our cabin stewardess was Alicia, but her partner assisted one night when we lost power in part of our cabin, no lights but TV worked. Her partner (I forget her name; began with an "L", I think) got maintenance right away. We could have lived with no lights overnight, but "L" (wish I could remember her name!) said that with no lights in the bathroom, it's too high a safety risk; so maintenance was 'on it' immediately.

 

Allegedly, this was the "cruise from hell"....I totally disagree. I've been on 22 cruises with Sitmar or Princess. Norovirus was an inconvenience, sure; but Princess handled it very well. Weather wasn't the best, but oh well. It sure beat the over 8 ft. of snow that fell at our house while we were busy cruising!! Seas were one of the roughest we've experienced, as were the gale-force winds for so many days.

 

But is this Princess' fault? Absolutely not. We love the Sun class of ships, have sailed on Sun/Dawn several times. In November 2004, we sailed Sapphire Princess...way too big for our likes. Personally, I like the smaller ships, even 1,200 (Sitmar's Fairsky size) to 1,500 (Regal Princess) although Regal isn't our favorite.

 

By the way, there was no Norovirus on the Sapphire, but the hand sanitizers were present everywhere, just the same. I'm beginning to think that this is becoming an industry-wide routine thing at the food areas.

 

It was NOT a cruise from hell. Things happen; it still was great!

[nancyox]

patty:

 

we were on the 1/18 sailing, so i'm not sure we WERE neighbors...the steward(ess) u were speaking about was lidia...she was wonderful...on top of every little thing that came up...my mother and sister in law next door had a toilet overflow and she jumped to it 1-2-3 and had every dept. necessary there in a flash to fix things.

 

our weather wasn't so bad...a few days of overcast weather, but lots of sun...i got a nice tan!!!

 

we thoroughly enjoyed the entire cruise; food, personnel and service.

 

nancy

[pacurnl]

We had a great cruise on the Dawn. Were the seas rough- you bet! Did we miss Princess Cays and

Grand Cayman, again, yes. Did they cancel all water excursions in Cozumel, yes. The food was great, the service was wonderful, and we had a very relaxing vacation. I have had some cruises that don't measure up, but this wasn't one of them. I have been on bigger ships, and I liked them as well. I do think it is easier to get around on the Grand Class ships, and I believe I prefer a larger ship, but the Dawn is still a beautiful ship, and I would book again-- in fact, I was sorry to hear she wouldn't be back next year so we could do the same trip next Jan. Maybe all the complainers have great weather all year round, but in Ohio, it sucks in Jan. A 10 day cruise in the warm Carribbean is a wonderful break! You can tell she is not a brand new ship, but still well maintained and lovely. YMMV.

[patti o]

Nancyox: My error! Misread your post. We got off 1/18, so we were "neighbors" a cruise apart. Yep, Lidia was who I was thinking of, got us our electricity back late one night after our stewardess, Alicia, was off already.

 

Our weather was pretty bleak most of the time. Of our 20 days (we did a b2b), 16 were very rocky, gale-force winds. Had some great days here and there. But we still had a wonderful time, no complaints, beats the over 12 ft. of snow that fell at our house while we were gone those 20 days!

 

And yes, Nancyox, we enjoyed our entire cruise, crew, etc. also. Just got tired of rocking and rolling for those 16 days. Got old bouncing around so much. Still a wonderful time!

[nancyox]

it sounds like there is still a lot of rocking and rolling going on on the sun this week as well!!!!

 

i guess we were very lucky that it was only a few days for us and that the weather pretty much held up....hot and sunny most days. but, i agree patty, that no matter what, it still beats the lousy snow and cold at home!!!!

 

nancy

[whale-watcher]

Here is the Dawn Princess write-up I posted on another message board:

 

We just returned from a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise on the Dawn, and in spite of the recent negative reviews, we enjoyed the trip very much. The ship seems to be running at full speed, and we arrived and departed all ports on time. There was a somewhat long line at embarkation (we arrived at 1pm), but it moved quickly. There were no significant delays getting on or off the boat at any of the ports (even with the passport check at St Thomas), and the disembarkation process was quick and easy. The staff and crew were friendly and professional, and the photographers and film processing were superb. All of our shore excursions left within 5 minutes of the stated departure time (although we did notice some passengers arriving 30 minutes early and then complaining about the wait!).

Dominica was our favorite port, and the whale watching excursion was superb -- better than Alaska! (note that whales are only common in the winter). We had pleasant dining experiences, but we enjoy eating later in the evening; the demand for the early sitting in the traditional dining room far exceeded the capacity (perhaps because of the demographics of the passengers), and this was a cause of stress for some. We travelled with our three children, and they enjoyed the youth programs thoroughly.

Our cabins (side-by-side balcony double and minisuite on the Baja deck) were clean, and the minisuite had a large marble and tiled bath with whirlpool tub and separate glass-door shower. I hope others enjoy their Dawn Princess experience as much as we did!

[Floflegs]

We are going on our first cruise from US on Sun on 11/18. We are looking forward to it very much and are not put off by negative postings. A holiday is what you make it!:)

[teach223]

We sailed on the Sun Princess in November, 2004 and the Dawn Princess in 2005. We also sailed on the Caribbean Princess in November, 2004. We enjoy the smaller size ships. Both the Sun and the Dawn are beautiful ships in our opinion. We found the food to be fine and the service the best compared to other lines. We have sailed previously on Carnival, Royal Caribbean, and Celebrity lines. We always come back to Princess and the Sun Class ships. In fact, we will sail on the Sea Princess in January. We probably will not sail on the CB again. Just too large for us.

[SeaBands]

Did a caribbean cruise around Easter and was disappoined w/the Sun. Cabinswere smaller than on past veranda bookings, coffee terrible at every venue, beef was not the quality or prep of Celebrity or Carnival and the entertainment rooms and presentations poorer than on other ships.

We are sailing on the Diamond in Feb.and expect better w/the exeception of the coffee. If not, Sayonara Princess, happy returns to Celebrity.

[mr green]

Did a caribbean cruise around Easter and was disappoined w/the Sun. Cabinswere smaller than on past veranda bookings, coffee terrible at every venue, beef was not the quality or prep of Celebrity or Carnival and the entertainment rooms and presentations poorer than on other ships.

We are sailing on the Diamond in Feb.and expect better w/the exeception of the coffee. If not, Sayonara Princess, happy returns to Celebrity.

 

I have been on the Sun and the Dawn, and they have their faults. Cabins are small, theaters small, and both getting old.

BUT, they are the same ships that set a new high in cruise ship construction,[the Sun was the largest cruise ship when built for over a year.] As of this moment I am more than happy to be booked on the Sea Princess in November.

I have travelled Celebrity, and, I do not wish to repeat the experience. The customer relations are very poor, and since you speak of coffee, I found it to be undrinkable by the second day, good only for frequent jokes from the C.D.. I found that the shore 'getaways' were poorer, and more expensive than others offered by the rest of the industry.

If a person prefers a large 100,000 ton+ ship, fine, but, I believe that the 'Sun Class' ships to still be among the very best of the smaller 'large ships'. john

[coiran]

The Sun Class are our favorite ships!

 

Ron

[DandyCandy]

We are going on our first cruise from US on Sun on 11/18. We are looking forward to it very much and are not put off by negative postings. A holiday is what you make it!:)

 

 

Fiance and I are doing our first cruise(honeymoon) on the Sun this sept. And i agree with you about not letting negative postings/comments put me off from the sailing. What impresses me so far about the princess boards, is the passion that people exude towards their fav. ship and towards the princess line when something negative is said.

[susancruzs]

I am so looking forward to my 3 weeks on the Sea Princess in Sept.! I think I'll love the size of a Sun class ship! Negative reviews never bother me because alot of times things that concern people, I wouldn't give a second thought!

 

I tried Celebrity once, too and not my favorite cruise line. I was on the Summit for 12 days and not impressed at all. I was so glad to get back to Princess!

 

18 days away, woohoo!

 

Susie

[regnig]

The Sun Class are our favorite ships!

 

Ron

 

DITTO THAT FOR US TOO!

[gopher's girl]

I am actively searching for a Dawn, Sun, or Sea Princess cruise that matches with my hectic schedule. Would love to be back on Sun class again!