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Dawn Review 1/13-1/20 Pictures, Dailies, Menus

clean1owner

By clean1owner,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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clean1owner

clean1owner

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Finally got enough stuff out of the way so I can start this review of our Jan 13-20 Dawn cruise.

 

First of all, the disclaimers. I am not a writer, or a photographer. I also did not sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night. So this review is just my thoughts, and the pictures were taken with a Canon Powershot 6 Mp camera. I still have a very busy schedule this week, so this will have to be done in installments.

 

The Players: Myself ( 9th cruise, 4th NCL), the Wife (6th cruise, 2nd NCL), Daughter Bre (5th cruise, 2nd NCL), and her friend Katie (First ever cruise). Both girls are 18 and freshmen in college. The trip was Bre's High School Graduation present.

 

 

DAY 1

 

We flew in the day before departure. My first ever experience with Southwest, and I was impressed. All the employees were friendly and efficient. Boarding was quick, and all the luggage made it to TPA surviving a connection and 2 late gate changes. PLENTY OF LEGROOM!

 

Stayed at the LaQuinta airport. Again, was very pleased. Free airport shuttle, nice clean room, nice pool, friendly staff. The breakfast left a little to be desired, but was in no way enough to make me dislike the place. Reserved a cab for 10:00am Sunday. The driver was there by 9:50, and we were to the port by 10:05.

 

Our first good look at the Dawn

 

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FIRST IN LINE!

 

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They started to let us in at 10:30. Got through the security check very quickly and made our way to one of the agents. As luck would have it, I picked the one who moved so slow, I practically took her pulse to make sure she was still alive. When she finally got to the point of printing our receipt, the printer was low on paper, so she had to change the roll (isn't this something you're supposed to check BEFORE the passengers arrive?). Then, when she finally found a new roll of paper, and put it in the printer, she messed something up and the IT guy had to come over and get things working right. The agents on either side of us processed 3 groups each in the time it took our agent to do us. We were giving boarding group number 7.

 

Waiting to be called

 

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They started boarding about 11:30, and we were on board by 11:45.

Our first order of business was to get extra key cards for the wife and Bre. Because the girls are only 18, we had to book 1 room with myself and Bre, and the other room with the wife and Katie. So the extra key cards were necessary for the wife and Bre to switch cabins.

Next it was time to explore the ship and get some lunch. We originally planned to eat in the Venetian, but the menu didn't really wow us, so we went up to the buffet. I really don't understand those who complain about the food,comparing it to Arbys, Denny's, etc, because we all found it to be very good.

I think it was around 1:15-1:30 when they announced the cabins were ready, so we went to check them out. We had cabins 11533 and 11535. For inside cabins they were pretty nice. Roomy enough that we didn't feel claustrophobic. The first thing we noticed was the sleeping arrangments were reversed. The girls room had the beds pushed together, and ours were separated. Our Cabin Steward, Eddison, came by and introduced himself. I told him about the beds, and he assured me it would be taken care of by that evening.

The girls went to explore on their own, so I put up a couple door decorations the wife made for the girls room.

 

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They called the mustard drill at 3:15, and it went fairly quick.

Back to exploring the ship, until sail away. We stood up front on deck 13 until about 4:30, when we wend to the cabins to get ready for dinner. Super Eddie had already changed the beds for us. Headed to the Aqua about 5:30 for dinner. Since it was lobster night, we wanted to be early. I was not very impressed with the Aqua. Not enough windows for my liking. Only 1 table that sat more than 2 next to a window. The rest of the window seats were a long bench along the windows where the people sitting on it had their backs to the window, and the people on the opposite side of the table faced the window. To me, this is a very poor design.

 

When we sat down, the shades were all lowered, so you couldn't see out the window. Everybody along the windows asked to have the shades raised, and we were told someone was "trying to find the guy who knows how to run the remote control". I told them to bring me the remote and I would give it my best shot. I was such a nice sunny evening that people were practically begging to have the shades raised. After about 15 minutes, they finally went up.

 

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clean1owner

clean1owner

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DAY 1 PART 2

 

I had the steak and lobster. The lobster was a little tough, but the steak was great. I can't remember what everyone else had.

 

Here are pictures of the menu. The left side is the side that changes from day to day, and is exactly the same for Aqua and Venetian. The right side is the same every night, with the only difference being that Aqua serves a Ribeye, and Venetian serves a NY Strip. After this posting, I will only be posting the side that changes.

The service has definitely deteriorated since my last NCL cruise. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great either. A little slow, and a very slight bit of what felt like a "don't care" attitude.

 

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After dinner we went to the Welcome Aboard show, and it was pretty good. After that we went to the Casino and signed up for Casinos At Sea, and got into the raffle for new members. Didn't win anything so we went to the Majority Rules Game Show. It was pretty funny and entertaining. After the show we just walked around checking things out until the Sing It If You Know It Game Show at 10:15. This was also pretty good.

After that, we were pretty tired so we hit the sack.

 

I am posting all 4 pages of the Day 1 Daily only. After that I am only posting pages 1 and 3. Pages 2 and 4 are pretty much the same all week long.

 

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That's enough for tonight. Still trying to get my body clock adjusted. Tomorrow is a new day.

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clean1owner

clean1owner

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DAY 2

 

Day 2 was a full day at sea. The girls got up and went to the Early Morning Stretch and Awsome Abs class in the Fitness Center. They did this the whole week.

We had breakfast in the Garden Cafe.

 

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Washy Washy Happy Happy!

 

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Once again, I don't understand the grousing about the food. I had an omlette that was as good as any restaurant serves. The wife and the girls all enjoyed their eggs, fruit, etc. I'm starting to think that some people get out of bed looking for a reason to complain. With the volume of people going through the line, everything turns over fast enough to be fresh. One thing I thought was pretty neat was the kids area. It had lower tables and chairs with a separate buffet line just for the kids.

 

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After breakfast it was hang out at the pool time until our CC Meet & Greet.

The M & G was at 10:30 in the Star Bar. We were hosting it so we had to get there early to set things up. The Star Bar doubles as the Concierge office, so the Concierge was in there when we were setting up. The first thing he said was "If you need anything at all, just ask." This was a theme that lasted the entire week with most any crew member we met.

We had 33 + 1 baby show up for the M & G. Everybody got to meet someone new. NCL set up a table with danish and drinks.

 

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I think NCL takes these boards and the Meet & Greets pretty seriously, because the Captain and the Senior Officers all showed up, introduced themselves, and answered any questions we had. The Captain is a very nice guy and has a great sense of humor. All the senior staff are quite friendly. I found out that the Hospitality Director, Calvin, and I have the same name. After that, whenever we met he would greet me by name.

 

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After the M & G we did a cabin crawl with poker run. It was very interesting being able to see the various types of cabins.

 

To be continued this evening

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jdvmd

jdvmd

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Cruisin the Dawn on February 17th...can't wait. Thanks for all the info...keep it coming

 

What is cabincruise with poker run?

 

Just different wording for a poker cabin crawl or cabin crawl with poker. You buy in and at each participating cabin, you pick a card. At the end of the crawl, everyone shows their cards. Winner takes or splits the pot.

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