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

[vols_159]

We went to Maya Chan last year and immediately booked it again for this year. It is fantastic.... great food, exceptional service, and gorgeous setting. We did not notice anything different about the sand, and all the beaches are pretty much lined up, so if one area is having an issue (sea grass sometimes comes in) all the beaches will have that issue. They do a fantastic job of trying to rake sea grass, and keep the area great. My kids played in the water all day, and had a blast- no "peanut butter sand". It's very clear water, and was calm when we were there. There were kayaks that you could use (free) floats, floating chairs... they'd even serve drinks to you (included in the price) while you were floating in the water. It was really a class act- we booked again for this year.

 

 

What happens if the ship misses port? do they offer a refund?

[rjm11]

What happens if the ship misses port? do they offer a refund?

 

Yes- full refund, also if you decide not to go because of weather I believe you get a full refund, but check their site for specifics.

[vols_159]

Dear Op,

 

Did they have Lobster on the menu one night?

[jdvmd]

Dear Op,

 

Did they have Lobster on the menu one night?

 

NCL serves lobster in the free main dining rooms always on the first night of the cruise, embarkation night.

[jackparts]

Just reserved Maya Chan. Real pleasant people, site looks fantastic. I googled reviews and decided it was for us.

[Beane]

Great review! I'll be on the Dawn in May and can't wait!

 

Could someone tell me what the check marks on some of the items the menus are? I thought at first they were vegetarian dishes, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Thanks!

[SMSACE6]

I am enjoying your review and photos very much. Thanks so much for taking the time to post your review.:)

[rjm11]

Just reserved Maya Chan. Real pleasant people, site looks fantastic. I googled reviews and decided it was for us.

 

I don't think you'll be disappointed... Maya Chan is awesome! Food is great- people are great, and setting is beautiful!

[clean1owner]

Just reserved Maya Chan. Real pleasant people, site looks fantastic. I googled reviews and decided it was for us.

 

 

You won't be disappointed

[clean1owner]

I've read a few reviews lately that said that the Dawn was tendering in Cozumel. I'm wondering if that was your experience? Thank you. Great review!

 

We docked in Cozumel. If I remember correctly, there has to be 7 ships in port before one has to tender.

[clean1owner]

Dear Op,

 

Did they have Lobster on the menu one night?

 

Lobster was the first night. It is served in the MDR.

[clean1owner]

Great review. So nice of you to share your experience. We have sailed the Dawn in 2012 Boston to Bermuda and will sail again in July. We absolutely love it and I was curious to see where she was sailing these days.

 

Just curious about your reference to eating in Cagney's for breakfast one day. Is there a cover charge to eat breakfast in Cagney's? When we sailed last year it was reserved for suite guests during the morning and lunch hours.

 

Thanks.

 

We hosted the Cruise Critic Meet & Greet. While we were setting up, the Concierge asked me our cabin numbers. The next day we received the invitation to dine in Cagney's for breakfast and lunch.

[Love2CruiseMore]

Can you tell me if it was cold in the public areas, theaters, dinning rooms? When I was on the POA we froze at the shows!!! Thank you!

[clean1owner]

Day 7 Sea Day

 

 

Had breakfast in Cagney's. Once again it was excellent. Afterwards just hung around by the pool, and walked around taking pictures.

The wife wanted to play the final bingo session, but at $39 and $49 for cards she decided to pass. We went down to the Q & A session with the Captain and Senior Officers. It was apretty interesting session.

Met up with the girls and decided to try the Blue Lagoon for lunch. I was disappointed once again. The waitress we had this time was very nice, but she just seemed a little green. Our order was messed up again. I ordered a cheeseburger with nothing but mayo, and an order of chicken strips with barbecue sauce. The burger came with lettuce tomato and onions, but no mayo. The chicken strips came with no sauce. Both had an order of fries, even though I specifically said I didn't want any. I reminded the waitress that I asked for barbecue sauce, and was told it will be right up. I finished my burger completely and still no sauce, so I started eating the chicken strips plain. I was almost done when the waitress came by and asked if I ever received my barbecue sauce, and I told her " No, but forget it now, I'm almost done with them." Sure enough, I finished my meal and she shows up with some barbecue sauce.

 

Fun Pool Games was on the Daily, so we went up to watch. They consisted of some goofy relays and contests. Bre got on one of the teams and they won, so she got one of the big prizes

 

 

 

 

I entered the final qualifying sesson for the blackjack tournament. For those that don't know how these tournaments work, here it is:

 

It costs $20 to enter ($15 if you are a CAS member). You get $2000 in tournament chips. 7 hands are dealt, rotating who bets and gets dealt first. After the 7 hands, whoever has the most chips wins the table.

 

I was lucky enough to win my table, so I made the final round. Luck wasn't on my side in the final and I was the second person out. I still got a bottle of wine for my efforts, so we had something to drink at dinner. The guy who won the tournament got $300.

 

Dinner in the Venetian again.

 

 

After dinner we saw the Bollywood show in the Stardust. If you are into theater and interpretive story telling dance, you will probably enjoy this show very much. It's just not my gig, so I wasn't really thrilled with it.

 

Next was the 55 To Stay Alive Game Show. Teams have 55 seconds to perform a goofy task, which was pretty funny to watch.

 

We had about 2 hours to pack our bags before Quest started, so that chore got done. I think this is when the first phase of post-cruise depression starts to hit you.

 

Quest:

 

All I can say is Quest is Quest and my belly still hurts from laughing.

 

 

[clean1owner]

Can you tell me if it was cold in the public areas, theaters, dinning rooms? When I was on the POA we froze at the shows!!! Thank you!

 

It seemed fine to me, but the wife always brought a light sweater with and did use it a couple of times. It's just a matter of what feels cold to you.

[vickic233]

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.

 

 

Washy Washy Happy Happy!

 

 

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.

 

 

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.

 

 

 

 

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.

 

 

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

Loving your review! Can I ask what you needed to set up for the M&G? I am in charge of my very 1st one and was just wondering....thanks!!

[clean1owner]

Disembarkation Day :(:(

 

 

 

We received Priority Disembarkation tags on the last night. I think it was another perk for hosting the Meet & Greet. Meeting time was 8:40 in the Spinnaker. This gave us time to have a nice breakfast in Cagney's. Same as always, it was great.

 

When our time came to leave, we were able to walk off with no lines. Our bags were closest to the exit, and grouped by cabin number. This was the fastest, most efficient disembarkation process I have ever experienced.

 

A few miscellaneous pictures

 

 

The Casino

 

 

 

 

I dare anyone to try and get 20 people into one of these

 

 

[clean1owner]

A Few Final Thoughts

 

THE CREW:

 

The crew was overall very friendly. No matter who the crewmwmber was, they greeted you with a "Good Morning, Good Afternoon, etc, " or just a friendly "Hello". However, there were 2 exceptions. First was the first waitress we had in the Blue Lagoon who gave me the impression she didn't want to be there. Second was the overnight girl at the Customer Service desk. I'm an early riser and twice I went to the Customer Service Desk between 5:30 and 6:00am. Once to get some small bills for going to port, and once to ask about cashing a check. Both times this girl gave me short hurried answers with a "Why are you bothering me?" attitude. Both times she was watching a movie or something on her laptop, and kept glancing at it while I was standing there trying to talk to her.

 

THE ENTERTAINMENT:

 

For me the best entertainment was the passenger involved Game Shows. The Cruise Director, Candi, and her Staff do a great job of keeping them going and making them fun. Maybe it was the time of year, or just the luck of the draw, but this cruise seemed to have more of an older crowd. This made for fewer people willing to volunteer to be contestants. A lot of people did it multiple times. I think the CD Staff did as good a job as they could with what they had to work with.

 

Suggestion to NCL--PLEASE BRING BACK THE HORSE RACES!

 

The stage shows didn't really do it for me. The performers are definitely talented, but I just didn't get real excited about them. I don't know if it was the acoustics or something else, but the male singers seemed a little flat to me.

 

The casino was nice and the staff very friendly. As I posted earlier, NCL nicks you by only paying 6:5 for a blackjack on tables with a minimum bet of less than $25. The slot machines also increased in price as the week went on.

 

DINING:

 

Sorry NCL, but Freestyle doesn't do it for me. I prefer the traditional plan where you just walk in and sit down without having to check in at the podium every night. I especially like having the same table servers every night. It makes dining a more personal experience.

Will this make me disqualify NCL in the future? Probably not. It just won't make NCL my automatic first choice. If I am choosing between NCL and one of their competitors, and everything else is equal, I will choose the traditional plan.

 

For me, the Venetian is definitely the better of the 2 MDRs. Better looking and better service. I will have to give NCL credit for enforcing the dress code in the Venetian. More than once I saw them turn people away for having shorts or flip flops on. I wish Royal would do the same thing.

 

Another Suggestion For NCL: Use the Aqua for the freestylers and the Venetian for the traditionalists.

 

The buffet is as good as any I have seen on a cruise ship. The food was fresh and tasted good. I don't understand all those who complain about the buffets. I have never seen a 5 star buffet anywhere on land or sea. Maybe their expectations are a little high. I can think of only one suggestion to improve it. Move the soft serve dispenser away from the dessert line. If you want to get a quick cone or bowl of soft serve, you have to stand in line behind everyone else getting other desserts to get to the dispenser.

 

 

HOUSEKEEPING:

 

Our Cabin Steward was Eddison. I would rate him as neck and neck with the Cabin Steward we had on Disney, who I have always regarded as the best I have ever had.

When our bed arrangments were not right, he fixed it promptly.

Our bed had a noticeable gap where the 2 singles were pushed together. I mentioned it to Fast Eddy and it was fixed pronto.

Our A/C got stuck in the full cool mode and our room was getting rather cold. The wife said something to Eddison about it and there was a technician working on it within 30 minutes.

Eddison gave us the same service you pay a premium for when sailing with Disney, at an NCL price. I really can't say enough good things about him.

 

 

MISC:

 

Just a couple of small annoyances

 

First- The TV channels showing replays of the shows, or information about the cruise, kept cutting out like a satellite dish in a rainstorm. I'm assuming this is a closed circuit connection, and don't understand how it could happen. The other channels came in just fine.

 

Second- I understand the need to produce revenue for the Photography department, but could you please not set up in one of the main walkways to the Dining Room every night?

 

FINAL THOUGHTS:

 

Overall this was a great cruise. If I were to cruise NCL again, the first thing I would do differently is make dinner reservations for the week right after boarding on day 1. Based on this experience, I would rate NCL equal with Royal Caribbean.

 

Since all of my other ramblings have had pictures attached, I may as well post a few more

 

 

A couple of the animals we found in our bed

 

 

 

 

The pool at night

 

 

 

 

Roatan from the ship

 

 

 

At sea is the only place you will find scenery like this

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for reading my review. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask.

 

I took over 500 pictures. If there is anything you would like to see a picture of, just ask, I may have one.

[clean1owner]

Loving your review! Can I ask what you needed to set up for the M&G? I am in charge of my very 1st one and was just wondering....thanks!!

 

 

As far as NCL goes, all you have to do is email the Group Event Coordinator for the ship you are sailing, about 2-3 weeks prior to departure. Give them your name, cabin and reservation numbers, and how many people you expect to attend. They will send you an email back with the location, date and time reserved for your grooup.

 

The email address is groupevent(ships name)@ncl.com.

 

For instance; For the Dawn the address is groupeventdawn@ncl.com.

 

The rest is up to you and what you want to do.

 

Do some kind of an icebreaker. We bought 4 bags of miniature candy bars ( on clearance after Christmas) and sorted three of them by type of bar, Krackle, Mr Goodbar, etc. We placed the sorted bars on the tables around the room. There were about 3 tables of each candy bar. When the people showed up, they pulled a candy bar from the 4th bag. What they drew determined which table they sat at. Groups of 4 were split up into 2 groups of 2, so they had to meet someone new.

 

We made nametags for everyone who signed up.

 

We did some trivia for cheap prizes, Tic Tacs, Life Savers, etc.

 

You are usually allotted 1 hour for the event.

 

The worst thing you can do is nothing. The idea is for people to meet someone they didn't know before the cruise.

[SyberCat]

Thanks again for all the great info! As I mentioned, we're sailing on the Dawn in November and are super excited -- hope we get Fast Eddie for our steward! The only thing that looks like kind of a bummer is the size of the pool. Can't believe how tiny it is for a ship with 2,000 people on it! Just ridiculous -- it looks like a baby pool! As someone who loves to swim that's kind of sucky but oh well, I'm still excited! Plus I'll have the whole Caribbean to swim in on four days out of the trip so that oughtta make up for it :cool:

[babsroth]

Great review - thanks for posting the menus, and Daily letters... Loved the photos too.

 

Can you tell me does the ship change its time to the various ports? Or does one need to keep track of local port times on their own?

 

Thanks!

 

Barb

[tweetylori]

What a wonderful review and pics...thank you so much! Did you, by any chance, take any food shots?

[funredhead]

We docked in Cozumel. If I remember correctly, there has to be 7 ships in port before one has to tender.

 

 

 

Thank you!

[vickic233]

Thank you for your suggestions.....yours ideas are great! I think the candy idea is a great way to get people to talk to each other. Btw, we also are fans of Maya Chan! We visited there the last time we were in Costa Maya, and have again made reservations for March. My 12 yr old still talks about his time here and it is the only place he requested we re-visit. Thanks for a great review and loved the pictures!

[vg247]

Thanks so much for taking the time and provide this review of your trip on the Dawn...

 

I am all new to this forum and it will be our very first cruise ever on March 24th aboard the Dawn with your same itinerary..I was very fortunate to have come across this review, as it has been very insightful for what we can expect.

 

-Looking forward to learning more in preparation for our trip from expert members like yourself :)