Dawn Review - Enjoying The Suite Life! July 26th - August 2nd

[tammi0916]

Hello! We traveled on the NCL Dawn from July 26 – August 2nd.

Here is my review of our trip, but please remember that this is my opinion of my vacation – so here is the good (so much!), the bad (too much eating) and everything in between!

 

Background:

 

This is our 7th cruise – but the first with NCL! Traveling is myself (Tammi), my husband (David) and our 14 year old daughter Victoria and her best friend Tabby. We live in Connecticut so leaving out of Boston was a great option for us.

 

This was a special trip for us as we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this year and I decided to go all out and book a suite. After doing many hours of research I decided on the Owners Suite with 2 balconies. Boy am I so glad that I did – this suite is awesome!

 

We left our house in Connecticut around 8:30am on Friday morning; one of the special surprises that I arranged was to have limo pick us up and drive us to the port. The girls had no idea so they were so shocked and thrilled – seeing the surprises on their faces was so worth it. I had told David the week before as he was digging in the attic for the car rack to put all the luggage. He works second shift so I also thought this would be a great relaxing way for him to start the vacation.

It was a rainy Friday here and in Boston so it was nice to have someone else driving us to port!

We arrived at the port around 10:15am and the driver dropped us and our luggage off at the terminal and we headed up to security and the Priority Lounge.

 

Our concierge; Virginia met us there and after a short wait she had a butler (Jayson) take us on ship. We were in our room by 11:05am and got a chance to check out our room before Jayson came back to get us to take us to Cagney’s.

Lunch at Cagney’s was so relaxing; this was a great perk of staying in a suite and we really enjoyed eating at Cagney’s.

 

After lunch we went back to our room and met our butler; Erlindo. We explored our suite and relaxed and then our bags arrived so I started the process of unpacking. The weather was still raining and grey so we just hung out in the suite until the drill – we had to go to the Stardust palace (this was by far the quickest and easiest drill I have ever been to!) it took all of 5 minutes!

 

Just a note that all of my pre-concierge requests were completed and ready in the room when we boarded!

 

Since the weather was still bad we decided to watch sail away from our balcony. I got a call from someone on our roll call “whenisthemidnightbuffet” and her and her husband stopped by the suite for a drink. It was great meeting you Phyllis and Scott! We were a little late sailing off so they had to leave to go to the CAS party!

 

I called Virginia to make dinner reservations at Venetian (love having that option!) so we got finished packing and then got ready to head out to explore the ship and have dinner. We then went to the teen club to sign the girls up and this was a mess – they had about 50 people in line and 2 workers signing kids in – it took forever and seemed really unorganized.

 

When it was time for dinner we walked right into the Venetian and told them Virginia had made reservations and were seated immediately.

I hated the Venetian dining room! The tables were on top of each other and you could barely walk to your table. The wait staff seemed so rushed and I did not enjoy dinner. Food was good – not great but good and everything was served hot. This would be the last time we would eat in the Venetian.

 

After dinner we walked around the ship to explore and then went to the late show. We used the reserved seating in the Stardust – seats were ok but you have to really lean forward to see the entire stage.

 

It had been a long day and so after the show we went back to our suite and watched tv and I finished unpacking.

 

Tomorrow would be our first sea day!

[tammi0916]

 

 

 

[tammi0916]

 

 

View of Bridge from our balcony

[MAMATAMA]

we leave Friday would love to hear more

[MMOMOM]

Enjoying your review ... keep it and the pictures coming! Never cruised NCL but have been up a lot on it. Years and year ago, we almost went on the Dawn, but something came up and we never booked it.

[bguppies]

Excellent review so far....

 

Excited to read more.

 

Bill

[dexddd]

Did you figure out all the light switches?

[tammi0916]

Did you figure out all the light switches?

 

 

I think I needed another week- damn I will just have to go back!! :D

[whenisthemidnightbuffet?]

It was lovely meeting you and yours as well Tammi. I am enjoying your review and look forward to reading your other installments.

 

Phyllis

[tammi0916]

Our first sea day – we got up and let the girls sleep in and then once we all got up and ready – headed to Cagney’s for breakfast.

Breakfast was great and we had the same servers – Kevin and Jason!

It was windy out and not really hot but boy were the chair hogs out in force (this is one of the things I noticed the differences between CCL & NCL – the chair hogs seemed much worse on NCL; even on super hot sea day on CCL we could find a chair up top looking over the pool – never by the pool but on NCL there was nothing! We had to go up to the sports deck to find a single chair) but we had the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet at 10:30 so we didn’t stay long at our single chair!

I had arranged for our meet and greet for our roll call – we did not have an active roll call but I wanted to do a meet and greet as I have heard about how great NCL is with them so I set it up and hoped for the best. We had about 12 people show up (so not too bad!). This is an area that NCL wins – they put out snacks and juice and all of the top officers show up and introduce themselves; they also give you a card with all of their phone numbers on for you to call with any issues or concerns. I do like that Carnival has a drink package for all you can drink for an hour ($11.44 – great deal!) but otherwise great event.

It was great to meet some of the folks that I had been chatting with on our roll call and then seeing them around the ship.

After the meet and greet we decided to hang out at the pool deck and enjoy ourselves. We then cleaned up and headed to lunch at Cagney’s – great as usual!

After lunch we walked around the ship and discovered pretzel rolls and sticks – OMG!! These are my new favorite cruise food!!

We then embraced the freestyle cruising and decided a nap was in order so we all headed back to the room and relaxed and some of us napped and others watched a movie.

Tonight was dress up or not night and we were planning on dressing up so before long it was time for showers and getting ready for dinner. We had reservations at the Tappenyaki tonight and then we were invited to the Captains Party after dinner.

We loved the Tappenyaki – we love going to the hibachi at home and have been many, many times and this one was great. We had a female chef and she was wonderful! We ended up sitting with our balcony neighbors so we took up an entire side of the hibachi! Great night and the chef even had a couple of the kids come up and try the egg toss into their hat – very fun and Victoria and our neighbor Lauren really enjoyed tossing eggs into their hats.

After Tapenyaki we headed to the Spinnaker lounge to the Captains party and free drinks. It was a nice event and we had a couple of drinks but didn’t try any of the apps as we had just eaten and were completely full!

After the party we went back to the cabin to change into casual clothes and then headed back out to walk around and get better seats for the late show – Band on the Run….we got seats in the front middle section and thought the show was good. I think the shows are better of Carnival (just personal opinion) but they were still good.

After the show we headed back to the cabin to relax and pack a bag for our first day in Bermuda!

Day 1 in Bermuda up next!!

[Fins2theleft]

Great review so far, keep it coming.

[Gig103]

Get review, keep sharing! I like the porthole photo!

[tammi0916]

We were scheduled to dock in Bermuda at 11:00am on Sunday; we had received a letter from the concierge that we can meet for priority debarkation at 10:30 in La Cucina

We got up fairly early and got our beach bag packed and headed to breakfast in Cagney’s; we had a great breakfast and then back to the room to watch us dock from our balcony. Bermuda is beautiful so we wanted to take pictures – we docked around 10 am and then headed down to the meeting spot to get off the ship.

At a little before 11 we headed were lead off the ship by Virginia and then we were off!

We had the Power Snorkel booked for 1:30pm but wanted to go to snorkel park before our tour started so off we went..it is a very easy walk to the beach; you pass the busses, taxis and the Maritime Museum and the Frog and Onion Pub – just follow the footprints painted on the sidewalk and it takes you directly to the beach.

It cost 10pp over age 12 for the each access – we paid our money and headed to find a place to put our stuff done, chairs are an additional rental (which I thought was strange since you have to pay to get in but oh well) I think the chairs were 10 each and 10 for umbrellas – not positive as we just put our towels out and did not rent anything since we were not staying all day.

They do have a large trampoline in the water that you can swim to and use free of charge. The girls and Dave really enjoyed jumping off of it and playing on it.

WARNING: Jelly Fish are really bad in Bermuda (not sure if it was just this time of year or if it is always that way but they were abundant – as we found out the ones you see don’t sting you it is the ones you don’t see!)

We grabbed a light lunch from the bar area and then headed back to the port to meet our excursion.

It was really hot and the this part is my fault – I didn’t realize that our tour left from Snorkel Park so we could have just stayed there – so once we met the person we all walked back to snorkel park. This is where I had the only issue on the trip that was a minor bump in the road-

When I pre-booked this excursion; I read the description and since we snorkel every year I just thought we would be on a boat like we had been on every other excursion we had been on but on this one you have to carry your power source (a very large bullet looking thing) out to the ocean and then swim with it out to the reef (a pretty good distance).

This was a problem for me; my daughter is on the smaller side and does get tired easily and since we had been in the water for a few hours and all the walking back and forth, she was already tired – usually she goes in the water, snorkels a bit and then when she is tired – her and I get out and hang on the boat while Dave and the others snorkel so it’s works well for us.

But since there was no boat – she would have to stay in the water for 1 ½ hours without a break and you have to hold this power machine. I knew immediately that she would not be able to do this and was really worried about her safety going out like this. I discussed the tour guides and they said that they would contact the ship and let them know my concerns and that I did not feel it was clear in the descriptions that you were swimming out to the reef. This was not a cheap excursion at 84 pp so I wasn’t happy – they said I needed to contact the shore excursion desk to discuss options for refund if any.

Also just a note for anyone taking this excursion; you really can’t take pictures since you have to hold the power device with both hands to make it move, and they do not have secure lockers on site, just open cubbies with no one watching your stuff.

Dave and Tabitha went out to do the excursion and Victoria and I went back to the ship to swim and deal with Shore Excursions.

We had just gotten back to the room and were getting cleaned up and Dave and Tabitha came in – both instructors and one of the participants had gotten stung by a jelly fish and Tabitha freaked out and wanted out of the water so they swam back to shore and came back to the boat.

We are not new to snorkeling and have no issues paying for a trip but I really feel this excursion was not worth it and for one thought they should give notice of the possibilities of Jelly Fish in the descriptions as well as the fact that you are swimming to the reef. In all of our cruises this was the worse excursion we have ever done.

I did speak to Virginia about the issue and what happened and after a couple days of back and forth, the Shore Excursions manager was able to refund Victoria and I’s cost as an OBC. It was nice to have Virginia to handle that for me.

Since we were all on board and the ship was pretty empty we headed down to the pool to hang out and swim when the pool was not too crowded.

We grabbed something to eat from the buffet and then hung out by the pool. I had Virginia make us dinner reservations at 6pm in the Aqua Dining room.

We got showered and cleaned up and headed to Aqua for dinner. I found this dining room much more relaxed and not as crowded as the Venetian. We had a great waiter that was really fun and made dinner enjoyable. Food was good and served very hot!

After dinner we went to the show – Pure Variety. There was only one show tonight at 8pm. It was pretty good and before the show all the dancers stood in front of the stage and introduced them selves – it was nice to see the personal side of them.

We then made a stop at the room to pick up a couple of things and then headed out to the Bermuda Deck Party by the pool. We had a great time dancing and hanging out on the pool deck.

Victoria was having such a great time (she loves to dance) and slipped on the wet deck and twisted she knee a bit so that ended our party. Dave carried her piggy back style back to the room and we iced it and gave her some advil to help.

We then headed to bed as tomorrow would be a busy day starting with Swimming with the dolphins and ending with a Twilight Bermuda Triangle Cruise……

 

I will post pictures seperately from today's adventures.....

[tammi0916]

 

 

 

 

[tammi0916]

Get review, keep sharing! I like the porthole photo!

 

Gig103 - that was the porthole in our bathroom! Great photo spot!

 

tam

[cherylroslyn]

We were scheduled to dock in Bermuda at 11:00am on Sunday; we had received a letter from the concierge that we can meet for priority debarkation at 10:30 in La Cucina

We got up fairly early and got our beach bag packed and headed to breakfast in Cagney’s; we had a great breakfast and then back to the room to watch us dock from our balcony. Bermuda is beautiful so we wanted to take pictures – we docked around 10 am and then headed down to the meeting spot to get off the ship.

At a little before 11 we headed were lead off the ship by Virginia and then we were off!

We had the Power Snorkel booked for 1:30pm but wanted to go to snorkel park before our tour started so off we went..it is a very easy walk to the beach; you pass the busses, taxis and the Maritime Museum and the Frog and Onion Pub – just follow the footprints painted on the sidewalk and it takes you directly to the beach.

It cost 10pp over age 12 for the each access – we paid our money and headed to find a place to put our stuff done, chairs are an additional rental (which I thought was strange since you have to pay to get in but oh well) I think the chairs were 10 each and 10 for umbrellas – not positive as we just put our towels out and did not rent anything since we were not staying all day.

They do have a large trampoline in the water that you can swim to and use free of charge. The girls and Dave really enjoyed jumping off of it and playing on it.

WARNING: Jelly Fish are really bad in Bermuda (not sure if it was just this time of year or if it is always that way but they were abundant – as we found out the ones you see don’t sting you it is the ones you don’t see!)

We grabbed a light lunch from the bar area and then headed back to the port to meet our excursion.

It was really hot and the this part is my fault – I didn’t realize that our tour left from Snorkel Park so we could have just stayed there – so once we met the person we all walked back to snorkel park. This is where I had the only issue on the trip that was a minor bump in the road-

When I pre-booked this excursion; I read the description and since we snorkel every year I just thought we would be on a boat like we had been on every other excursion we had been on but on this one you have to carry your power source (a very large bullet looking thing) out to the ocean and then swim with it out to the reef (a pretty good distance).

This was a problem for me; my daughter is on the smaller side and does get tired easily and since we had been in the water for a few hours and all the walking back and forth, she was already tired – usually she goes in the water, snorkels a bit and then when she is tired – her and I get out and hang on the boat while Dave and the others snorkel so it’s works well for us.

But since there was no boat – she would have to stay in the water for 1 ½ hours without a break and you have to hold this power machine. I knew immediately that she would not be able to do this and was really worried about her safety going out like this. I discussed the tour guides and they said that they would contact the ship and let them know my concerns and that I did not feel it was clear in the descriptions that you were swimming out to the reef. This was not a cheap excursion at 84 pp so I wasn’t happy – they said I needed to contact the shore excursion desk to discuss options for refund if any.

Also just a note for anyone taking this excursion; you really can’t take pictures since you have to hold the power device with both hands to make it move, and they do not have secure lockers on site, just open cubbies with no one watching your stuff.

Dave and Tabitha went out to do the excursion and Victoria and I went back to the ship to swim and deal with Shore Excursions.

We had just gotten back to the room and were getting cleaned up and Dave and Tabitha came in – both instructors and one of the participants had gotten stung by a jelly fish and Tabitha freaked out and wanted out of the water so they swam back to shore and came back to the boat.

We are not new to snorkeling and have no issues paying for a trip but I really feel this excursion was not worth it and for one thought they should give notice of the possibilities of Jelly Fish in the descriptions as well as the fact that you are swimming to the reef. In all of our cruises this was the worse excursion we have ever done.

I did speak to Virginia about the issue and what happened and after a couple days of back and forth, the Shore Excursions manager was able to refund Victoria and I’s cost as an OBC. It was nice to have Virginia to handle that for me.

Since we were all on board and the ship was pretty empty we headed down to the pool to hang out and swim when the pool was not too crowded.

We grabbed something to eat from the buffet and then hung out by the pool. I had Virginia make us dinner reservations at 6pm in the Aqua Dining room.

We got showered and cleaned up and headed to Aqua for dinner. I found this dining room much more relaxed and not as crowded as the Venetian. We had a great waiter that was really fun and made dinner enjoyable. Food was good and served very hot!

After dinner we went to the show – Pure Variety. There was only one show tonight at 8pm. It was pretty good and before the show all the dancers stood in front of the stage and introduced them selves – it was nice to see the personal side of them.

We then made a stop at the room to pick up a couple of things and then headed out to the Bermuda Deck Party by the pool. We had a great time dancing and hanging out on the pool deck.

Victoria was having such a great time (she loves to dance) and slipped on the wet deck and twisted she knee a bit so that ended our party. Dave carried her piggy back style back to the room and we iced it and gave her some advil to help.

We then headed to bed as tomorrow would be a busy day starting with Swimming with the dolphins and ending with a Twilight Bermuda Triangle Cruise……

 

I will post pictures seperately from today's adventures.....

Great review so far. Your daughter is adorable....I'm going to try to stuff my 24 year old daughter in a porthole for a picture in a couple weeks!!!!! (we started cruising after she was 18 so she will just have to deal with me)

 

Your daughter looks like she is having a great time.....hope her knee is ok.

 

Please tell me that you are joking about the price of snorkle park....

 

 

It was 5pp last year...it was free two years ago......tell me they are not getting 10 pp for snorkle park!!!!! That would make it more expensive than a bus trip to Horseshoe!!!!!

[Tyskie]

Enjoying your review..............we were on the Dawn last December for the Western Caribbean and we'll be on her again for Bermuda in about 4 weeks. :)

[flowers44]

Can't believe that Snorkel Park is charging $10 pp. That is outrageous for that beach. Two years ago, my DD and I went over mid afternoon and the gate guard let us in for free. He said since the ship was leaving in a couple of hours, he would not charge us. It was a nice place to swim close to the ship but definitely not worth $10 a person. We never went there this last trip. I'm enjoying reading your review of our cruise. You are so right about the chair hogs. If you were not out there by 7 AM to put a towel on a chair, you did not get one for the whole day.

[tammi0916]

 

 

 

 

 

[tammi0916]

We were up early today; David had a day of golf at Port Royal planned and the girls and I were doing swimming with the dolphins and then some shopping!

 

David had breakfast for him delivered by Erlindo as he had to meet the golf pro early and the girls and I got ready and headed to Cagney’s for breakfast.

 

We had a 9:30 time for the dolphin swim so after breakfast we headed off the ship to the dock to meet the contact person – they directed us to walk directly to the Maritime Museum. Once there we were greeted by staff and taken in to fill out some paperwork.

 

We were teamed up with another mother and her 2 daughters so there were six of us in our group. They also had a large group going with another trainer.

 

After we were fitted with life jackets, water shoes and snorkel masks we headed to one of the enclosed pens.

You sit on a ledge and the trainer has the dolphin come out (we had Baily) and gets her comfortable with us and doing commands and then go in to the middle of the pen to interact with the dolphins.

You go thru a series of interactions with the dolphins as a group including watching tricks underwater. All was great!

 

You then go out with the dolphin individually and give her commands and get a kiss. All in all it was a great time. Although Victoria and I have swam with the dolphins before it is always exciting to be in the water with a dolphin.

 

After we were done you go into the shop to see the pictures that they took to see if you want to purchase any – well of course I did! I ended up buying the flash drive with all of the pictures on it. So after the flash drive and dolphin necklaces and dolphin stuffed animals for the girls – we left with my wallet a whole lot lighter!

 

We walked around the outside of the museum (would have done the inside but we were wet and salty!) and then decided to head to the ship to get cleaned up and go back out shopping.

 

We changed and got cleaned up and grabbed a snack and headed back out to do some shopping, we started walking towards the Clock Tower and stopped in some shops on the way and then walked around the clock tower buying souvenirs and then decided to stop and have some pizza for lunch at a small Italian restaurant in the clock tower. The pizza was very good but I thought it was pricey.

 

After shopping, we headed back to the ship to meet Dave. He got back shortly after us and said he had a great time and the course was great – he is a huge golfer and really enjoyed his day golfing.

 

We had made arrangements to have dinner served in our suite tonight since we had a night excursion and wanted to go to the chocolate buffet (we had an invitation from Virginia to have an early preview).

 

We had ordered apps and desserts from the specialty restaurants and the main course from Aqua. Erlindo was right on time and served each course (he waited in hall while we ate) and then cleaned up when we were done. It was a nice option for dinner and gave us some more time in the suite to get ready for our evening out.

 

After we were done we headed to the meeting place to go to the chocolate buffet – it looked so good and there was so much food! We tried a couple of small items and then it was time to head out to the pier to our excursion.

 

We were taking the Twilight Bermuda Triangle glass bottom tour. The tour guides were good and the scenery was breathtaking – watching the sun set and all the colorful houses.

 

Other than that I didn’t think much of the tour – we did not really see anything thru the glass bottom boat however it was a beautiful night and we enjoyed the ride and the rum swizzle!

 

After the boat ride we decided to head back to the ship as it had been a very long day and tomorrow we were planning to go to horse shoe bay for the last day in Bermuda!

 

 

[tammi0916]

 

 

 

 

[cherylroslyn]

So cute!!!!!

[tammi0916]

Once we were all up and dressed for the beach and packed a bag we headed to breakfast and then got off the ship. We bought passes to take the special directly to Horse shoe bay. The bus was right outside the dock. We waited a few minutes until the buss filled up and then off we went.

It drops you off at the top of the hill and you have to walk down to the beach – it is a steep walk but not too bad (I have really bad knees and was able to walk down with no issues). The walk down is only a few minutes and beautiful to see the beach as you walk down.

We went directly to the rental place and rented 2 chairs (they only have chairs and not the loungers) and an umbrella – you also have to carry your chairs and umbrella to the beach. IT was $11 for each and a $5 deposit for each which you get back when you return it.

We found our stop and got all set up. This is a beautiful beach with great waves! We spent the day in and out of the water and walking the beach. The waves were very strong and we got pummeled a couple of time – I saw more than one bikini top get pushed down in the waves so be careful! I had also brought inter tubes from the dollar store and the girls used them to float in the water (as long as they stayed out past the break they were good – but a couple of times they went for a wild ride on them in the wave!)

We ordered lunch at the beach and then played a while longer. By 2pm we were tired and sunburned and decided it was time to head back to the ship. We packed up and returned our chairs got water for the ride home.

 

There is a shuttle that will take you to the top of the hill for $2 pp – not bad and we were going to do this but one of the taxi guys said they would take us back to the port for $28 we thought about this for a slip second and went to the taxi. We didn’t know how long we would have to wait for the bus and how many stops that bus would have.

We had a great driver that shared history of Bermuda with us and talked to my husband about the status of the old Navy base that Dave was stationed at form 1983-1986. It was well worth the cost.

He dropped us off right at the dock and we headed to the room to clean up – we were covered in sand!

We decided to grab a snack at the buffet and then get ready for dinner. We were going to Moderno tonight.

[noshoobie]

Loving your review and your pictures . . . . glad you had a great time!

[tammi0916]