Dawn Thanksgiving cruise - Review

[Nola26]

I just returned home from the 11/19 Dawn cruise from San Juan

 

Solo Cruising: solo group didn't lead to meeting people, but I was able to do so on excursions and a few activities. This lead to a few buddies for dinners, shows and activities.

 

Food: I only used the main dining rooms and complimentary options

Breakfast - prompt service and delivery, orders were correct and food was good.

- Complimentary room service a couple of mornings prior to early excursions

- Venetian: sea day and final two mornings, good each time and once at OSheehan's

Lunch - all at at the buffet after excursions, good variety and quality, easy

Dinners - 2 at Aqua, 4 Venetian and one OSheehan's

I prefer the atmosphere at Venetian and made two reservations pre cruise Sea Day and Thanksgiving and it was helpful each time as I was able to avoid the line those evenings. Had easy walk ins at Aqua twice, first night as a late dinner and later in the cruise

 

Casino - I made donations, but for the first time I heard two slot jackpot announcements $7,000 and $8,000 but I don't know who or what machines. Several machines were out of order or required reset multiple times during the cruise.

 

Shows - I have sailed the Dawn before so the shows weren't a priority. Elements is the show to see. I was told Band on the Run is being replaced in two weeks so most needn't worry about my review. I'd rather a comedian than Second City so I skipped all of those shows as well as the magic show.

 

Music - This is where I think the Dawn has improved. There were often 3 different options to catch live music on the ship at night: a band in Bliss, duo or band in Atrium and usually the same in Gatsby's. There were also bands that played poolside in the evening. I didn't do any of the parties, but really enjoyed the lounge entertainment.

 

Excursions - this was the highlight for me as we had 6 ports and I had the Shorex perk

1. Barbados - best beach day at Harbour Lights at Carisle Bay, morning excursion so we had seats on the front row, snorkeled with my own equipment, able to see fish pretty close to the shoreline. Walked the beach and able to see some sites in town as well. Back to ship early afternoon showered, had lunch and took the shuttle to the cruise terminal (we docked at the Flour Mill port) and then a walk into town. Very pleasant walk and nice to see sites and shops at my own pace.
   
2. Martinique - St Pierre bus tour, great trip on an comfortable air condiditioned bus, great tour guide and we made stops at historic church, rain forest, rum distillery and the former capital of St. Pierre. Post tour had lunch and a break onboard then took a self tour in town. I visited a small museum, mailed post cards from the post office and stopped in the library and used the wifi there. Bought a few trinkets and headed back to the ship. I had Euros and used those for my shopping, however they were happy to to take US$.
   
3. St. Kitts - my most anticipated tour did not disappoint, I did the mountain bike tour of the island, great experience and fantastic way to see the island. We were given bikes and an orientationa by our guides. Arnold the tour guide was awesome and the pace was great, a second guide drove a van that followed up for the trip. We were able to put our backpacks on the van. This tour really is for experienced riders in good shape. There were just 3 cruisers on this trip. We rode for about 4 hrs, took a dip at a beach then headed back to port. We were given some fresh fruit, juice, coconut and banana bread at our beach stop and cold Carib beers to toast our accomplishment at the end of the tour. The views, sites and history lessons we received were great and Arnold made sure we were safe and had fun.
   
4. St John Antigua replaced St. Marteen on this cruise - I took a beach break with lunch excursion, but this was not a good match for me. I tossed my bag on the lounger and pretty much went in with my snorkel set. I couldn't see much as the water was pretty murky. Walked down to the other end of the beach, got into the water again for a bit and headed back. I decided not to stay. I'm not a huge beach person and if I'm there I need some activity, this beach was too low key and the tour was 5hrs. There was also an additional charge to move your lounger under one of the fixed place umbrellas, cash only. I had them call me a taxi and I went back to the ship. I had never been to Antiqua and knew I wouldn't see any of it by staring at water for 5hrs. I cleaned up and headed out and had a good day engaging with locals and got some great shopping in port. Happy with my decision to return to the ship.
   
5. St Thomas - took a short panoramic tour of the island, nice to see more of the island and also get some perspective as to the progress of the recovery. A good tour, but just two hours and thought it was a bit expensive. I bought jewelry at the stop at Mountain Top, great views of Megan's Bay.
   
6. San Juan - took City Tour and airport transfer option to end the trip. Well organized excursion, from luggage dropoff to finding our small bus for the trip. Friendly, energetic and knowledgable tour guide. We were given some insight regarding recovery efforts and saw lots of local sites. We stopped at the capital, Fort Cristobal, Old San Juan for shopping/strolling, and even a quick stop at the beach before heading to the airport. All bags were lined up neatly with handles extended for an easy grab and go into the terminal. Security process was quick and easy even though we had to take our bags for a USDA screening before checking in with our airline. One surprise in the gate areas: slot machines, I didn't know San Juan had those I'd only ever seen those in the Las Vegas airport. They were not turned on, but there were rows of them in the C terminal were the Delta gates are located.
   

Happy to answer questions regarding the Dawn, ports, etc.

[Keith1010]

Enjoyed your review.

 

Very well organized with a lot of information.

 

Keith

[easyboy]

Sounds like you enjoyed your port activities! Haven’t seen slot machines in airport gates. Could be the first.

 

 

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[JimeBeMe]

Also just back from the same cruise. We are a mom/dad/teenager, so we probably have a different perspective than some. I do have to say that we were glad for our Family Suite as a quiet place away from the late night parties, but they looked like a lot of fun.

 

Food: We had a family suite, so had suite restaurant plus 3 meal package. We also had platinum coupons, so we never ate in main dining rooms.

Breakfast - Suite lounge in Moderno is good, quiet, and sit down service. Definitely not speedy.

- Room service a couple of mornings prior to early excursions, but other than coffee, OJ, and cereal, the menu did not offer too much. Delivery was on time and everything always as requested.

Lunch - on land 4 days at local restaurants, suite restaurant 2 days (again, good food but not speedy) and garden café / pool deck once. Hot dogs were good, but the brats somehow missed the mark. A slice of pizza now and then, and a plate full of fresh vegetables and fruit to snack on worked out well from the Garden Café.

Dinners - Tried all of the specialty restaurants except Moderno. Los Lobos was possibly best. Le Bistro my least favorite, in part because of the limit on platinum dinner selections. I thought the steak in La Cucina was better than in Cagneys. I was disappointed in Bamboo until the sushi rolls came ($8 upcharge on dining plan to include unlimited sushi). Had Teppanyaki for Thanksgiving dinner (no turkey) and they were busy enough to add a 4th seating!

Casino and bars - I am not a big player but I also made some donations and had some fun. I could never stay in the casino for long due to disliking the air quality and having other things to go to. Dealers were friendly. I was never asked if I wanted a drink in the casino, and would have to get up and go to the bar to get my own. Just as well, as luck was not on my side this trip. Bartenders around the ship were great, and I made 'donations' to some of them as well. The UBP is great for trying new things, and they were happy to help me explore.

Shows -Shows were familiar to us as well. The production troupe is down a man, and is on their last two weeks. Still, I think they did well. Elements certainly would be the best show to see, but alas, we took a nap. Second City was, well, I guess I found it good, but the shows in Bliss were better than in the theater. Their comedy is better in a small club than on a big stage. Enjoyed the acrobats quite a bit and found their act very well produced. Magicians were ok, but we walked out early to get a good seat for the adult comedy and Quest game show.

Music - Other than the duo in the Atrium each night, I would agree that there was decent music most everywhere we went. We left O'Sheehans twice when the duo was looping through Motown hits it seemed like they were just learning how to play/sing and following along like Karaoke on their tablets.

Football - It was a Thanksgiving cruise, and Norwegian did show all three games on Thanksgiving Day. They always had other entertainment in the same areas as the game, though, so you could not hear the play-by-play unless you went back to your cabin. Still, thanks for putting the games on!

Excursions - All private tours we arranged as we went ashore, mostly riding around islands. We gave up on St. Thomas as it seemed it just was not yet ready for visitors.

 

San Juan

Embarkation- We had no problems flying in, getting bags, getting a cab, getting a porter, getting on board. Others who arrived an hour later had different stories as locally very heavy rain flooded the runways and caused diversions of incoming flights to the DR or other areas of PR. The Pan American port WAS badly damaged by the storm and as a result there is only one gangway at dock level to board the ship. Have patience, and everyone will get on. Our muster drill was 4:30 PM. Many guests had to attend the make up drill held the next morning.

 

Debarkation- One of the platinum perks is to be escorted off the ship, and we were glad we had that perk. Even with priority, we stood in a long line to get across the single gangway. Once in the terminal, we spent the money to have one of the enterprising young porters take us all the way through customs and out to the taxi line. It worked out well, and we made it to the airport and were in line for the USDA inspection within 90 minutes of leaving our cabin. USDA and bag check took about 10 minutes and we ended up having almost 4 hours in the airport.

 

The situation in Puerto Rico- We had no problems, but we did not venture far. Most of our information comes from talking to many of the almost 1300 Puerto Ricans who were part of the 2900 guests on our trip (per hotel manager Alain). Most commercial hotels are in good repair, but are filled with relief workers and displaced residents. Water service is spotty outside of San Juan and bottled water is recommended. Bring what you can with you from the plane or ship. Electrical power has not been restored in wide areas, and even in San Juan seems hit and miss. Most traffic lights were not operational, but most stores we saw had big "OPEN" signs. Roads (in San Juan) were clear and trees have re-bloomed after losing most of their leaves and many branches. The island is very green from all of the recent rains, except where the predominant color is the blue 'FEMA' roof. The airport is eerily quiet without the international visitors and with the limited flights from the mainland. After talking to families there, we can't wait to go back and explore, but probably will need to wait 6-8 months before we return.

 

The irony was that with so many Puerto Ricans on board who had perhaps escaped plumbing issues at home, the Dawn had a shipwide issue with the water system early Monday morning. There was no water at all from about 1:00 AM until at least 7:00 AM. On deck 12 where we were, the air in the pipes caused us to have water sprayed all over our bathroom (and I do mean all over walls and ceiling). They left the faucet in the tub open for about a half an hour before the spurting and whooshing subsided. We had problems with toilets not flushing on two other mornings, but I think that was more of a local issue.

 

We enjoyed our trip and made a point to reach out to people on board and in the islands. I learned a lot and met people in places I had not been to before. Great itinerary. Maybe a few too many people on the Dawn for my comfort, but her crew handled it well. An above average cruise for us, all in all.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for sharing your review.

[7leagueboots]

Nice review. Your St. Kitts tour sounds amazing.

[Clarea]

Excellent review, thanks!

[excitedtocruise]

Thank you both for sharing your cruise experience with us. My family will be on the 10 day later in December, so all information is helpful. Were you able to use your platinum at Los Lobo's?

[JimeBeMe]

Thank you both for sharing your cruise experience with us. My family will be on the 10 day later in December, so all information is helpful. Were you able to use your platinum at Los Lobo's?

The platinum coupons are for "Cagneys/Le Bistro" and "La Cucina/Moderno". The coupons are limited to $20 or less entrees and a single appetizer and dessert. I used them at Le Bistro and La Cucina. We did not try to use them at Los Lobos, and I don't think I would really want to. Los Lobos is a-la-carte too, but has the biggest serving sizes of any restaurant for the lowest prices. I used one of my meal plan dinners there, and had guacamole (yumm) fish tacos (yumm - are you sure that is an appetizer :o) and shrimp skewers as my entrée (nothing shrimpy about that either!). I had way too much to eat and refused dessert. My total bill there would have been something like $21 including service charge. Next time, guac and another app would be plenty, and I would save my meal plan for the other restaurants!

[IRONGUT99]

 

1. Barbados - best beach day at Harbour Lights at Carisle Bay, morning excursion so we had seats on the front row, snorkeled with my own equipment, able to see fish pretty close to the shoreline. Walked the beach and able to see some sites in town as well. Back to ship early afternoon showered, had lunch and took the shuttle to the cruise terminal (we docked at the Flour Mill port) and then a walk into town. Very pleasant walk and nice to see sites and shops at my own pace.
   

Not sure what you mean by the Flour Mill port?? How long was your trip to Harbour Lights?

[Russ Lomas]

Thanks to both of the posters here for there comments. We are eagerly anticipating our upcoming 10 day sailing on the Dawn in December. It has been 10 years since our last NCL cruise and we are looking forward to trying NCL again.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[GlamorousGirl]

Thanks for this. We sail on Dawn in 12 days. No excursions listed for Antigua for us.

[Coolwhip82]

Not sure what you mean by the Flour Mill port?? How long was your trip to Harbour Lights?

 

We docked at the industrial pier (locals called it the flour mill) and had to take a free shuttle provided by NCL over the "regular" pier. It was 10 mins max.

[Nola26]

Not sure what you mean by the Flour Mill port?? How long was your trip to Harbour Lights?

 

The Flour Mill was not at the main cruise terminal. It is located near an Arthur Daniels Midland(ADM) plan. I suppose a flour mill, thus the name.One benefit of being over there, on the drive back the driver pointed out the street where Rhianna grew up. I read they are naming a street after her this week, so maybe ask about that during your trip.

 

The beach excursion was about 4hrs. We left about 8:30 and pick up was at 11:45 though the bus was a bit delayed coming back for us, but nothing major. Also there is actually a beach right next to the flour mill port, so you could simply walk over and enjoy. If you dock at the main terminal I'd take a taxi and ask to be taken to the beach by the Flour Mill. There is a naval base right there as well though I don't recall the name.

 

One thing I didn't mention, the cruise terminal in Barbados has a post office that accepted US$. I mailed post cards home. I found a few trinkets and the post cards at a vendor just outside the building near the post office. I also mailed a card home from Martinique, but the post office line was longer and slower and the stamp was 1.30 euros, pricey, but a cheap souvenir.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Nola26

[Nola26]

Thanks for this. We sail on Dawn in 12 days. No excursions listed for Antigua for us.

 

Same was true for us. Just stop by the Shore Excursion desk to pick up a sheet and make your selection. One really nice thing about St John Antigua is the shops are literally at the end of the pier, super close and easy in and out.

[IRONGUT99]

We docked at the industrial pier (locals called it the flour mill) and had to take a free shuttle provided by NCL over the "regular" pier. It was 10 mins max.

Is that where the Dawn usually docks or was there many ships in port that day?

 

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[Coolwhip82]

Is that where the Dawn usually docks or was there many ships in port that day?

 

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I was told that is NOT where it usually docks (we almost missed our private excursion over the confusion). There were 5 ships in that day.