DAWN 3-26 Thoughts, Comments and .... Follies

[captNcrunch]

I was looking at some of your pictures and I must say a western carribean itinerary is my dream trip. Next year the Dawn is doing this same itinerary during my kids April vacation at a price that is less than the 10 day we're taking next Sunday but if I even bring it up DH will KILL me.

 

In Life there are some things worth dying for :D !

[Smellytoes]

CaptNcrunch: This is probably one of those things that is worth dying for but I'm leaving next Sunday on the Dawn and I have one of those aft balcony cabins. Really, it would give him too much opportunity and no one would see a thing.lol

[Cruisinbunnies]

Wed March 29, 2006 Jamaica

 

First port day today. Excited to get off the ship. Ate at the Venetian for breakfast today. I always seem to forget ordering something off of the menu at breakfast in a sit down place. At least with the garden Cafe, you can walk back up and easily get some more. With sit down service, it usually takes a few minutes and I don't like to waste time in the mornings. This would be the first and last time we would eat breakfast here.

 

Watched us dock up on deck 13 with cruisediva and her DH. Got off the ship and boarded bus for cool runnings excursion. Short catamaran to the Dunn's river falls. Stayed on the beach mainly. Beach quality was poor. Wave runners only offered as guided tours. Pretty narrow and congested place to rent a waverunner. Wait till Cozumel if you want to do this. Sat under falls and got a nice fresh water shower. That was fun. Did not climb the falls today. Heard the experience was good.

 

Catamaran back to ship lasted over an hour with rum punch and rum and cokes all round. Dancing aboard was fun, considering the 8 - 12 ft seas. Not one drink spilled!! Good pictures of this event on other replies. Captncrunch and his 'bad hip' in full display! Back to Ocho Rios for a free drink at Jimmy Buffetts. I sat in the pool for my drink. Good beach out front with beach volleyball available. Original bus driver picked us up and brought us back to the ship.

 

SSS and then headed up to Deck 12 to call the kids using our cell phone. Fun to leave Jamaica talking long distance.

 

Ate at Salsas tonight after changing our 7pm reservations from Impressions. Best thing about freestyle is that you can really make plans on the fly, even when you have plans already made. Hit the Pearly King's for some trivia and sining before hand. Ricky is beginning to know us quite well now!

 

Salsas was pretty good, with the food being nice and spicy if you wanted it to be. Had the fajitas and they were good and fresh.

 

Closed out the evening in Dazzles for some dancing and Karaoke. Another night in paradise is gone!

 

The weather for the entire trip was terrific. A couple of windy days and one sort of rough night at sea were all the tings we encountered. This is the second year in a row that this has happened to us and I feel that our luck will soon run out.

 

The Dawn itself is in very good repair. All of the public areas are well kept and more often than not were not crowded at all. The layout of the ship is great and it was easy to get around. I got used to the stairwells and the pictures to designate which stairwell you were in. The only problem I had was that the midship stairwell was facing the opposite direction as the aft and bow stairwells, so I frequently made wrong turns coming off the midship stairwell. I guess the extra walking did not hurt.

[Big Al B.]

Another day with no breakfast served to us :). Actually spent the morning/early afternoon helping at an American Legion breakfast. Downstairs toilet looks like it needs a repair. Welcome back to the real world.

 

Generally this was one of the best cruises we have been on. It was made more enjoyable by the CC'ers we met and kept seeing throughout the trip.

 

Embarkation: We had taken a pre and post hotel package. The hotel was the Holiday Inn on 57th St. Serviceable, but nothing spectacular. Bus picked us up around 11:30 and we were at the terminal by 12 or so. We had taken an upsell to an AC suite, but we missed being collected for the priority embarkation. Waited a short time in a very warm (actually hot) Latitudes/Suites area before being led downstairs. Line did seem to move fairly quickly and we were on board about 1 o'clock. We had been told that the rooms would not be ready until 2, so we grabbed lunch in the Venetian, waving and chatting with another CC group. (We had met three of the CC couples on Saturday night for dinner and drinks afterwards which was great fun.)

 

The Suite (9500)After finishing lunch we proceeded to find our suite on deck 9, forward. The room was very, very nice. A small sitting area with couch and chair, dining area with seating for four, sleeping area with queen sized bed (could be curtained off), a dressing area and bath. The dressing area was at end of short hall with storage/bath entrance on one side and closet on the other. The closet had doors both on the dressing room and the stateroom entrance side which made it nice when the two of us were dressing at same time. The bath had tub/shower, basin area, and toilet with sliding door. The shower was excellent. You could set the water temperature and it would be the same anytime you turned the shower on. The deck was huge :). The only complaints I had was that the deck chairs we had could have used a bit of maintenance. I noticed our friends had nicely varnished ones while ours had no trace left. It was also an effort to get the backs adjusted. It wasn't enough of an inconvenience to make a big deal of though. We didn't use the deck much the first and last sea days because of the wind and cold, but the wind was not a factor at any time other than that. A note to those who like to sleep with the balcony door open, they would close the steel sea door each night.

 

More in the next installment :).

[CruiseDiva1]

Hello Everyone. Just wanted to add some of my pictures to the board.

More to come.

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/549350225bPhaUl

[Cruisinbunnies]

Just wanted to add some of my pictures to the board.

 

 

Diane, The pictures of your suite are very nice. AE cabin, sounds pretty nice, especially since it is a aft balcony.

[tweety0227]

Everyone's pictures are just beautiful. I've put mine on the website that Laurel sent us the link to. It's Webshots, but it's under her password. On the left side of the screen is a listing of other albums. Mine is "Melanie's pictures"

[Cruisinbunnies]

Thursday March 30, 2006 Grand Cayman

 

Knowing that there was to be 7 ships in total today at Cayman, we decided last minute to do the Sting Ray City tour privately. Took a leisurely b fast at the Garden and off the ship we went. Easy off the ship this morning, no tender tixs required as we left pretty late.

 

Met up with Meadowvalers (who organized the tour, thanks!!!) Tweety, Andre (scubamama) and Bob Gaffney and off to the Capt Crosbys tour. Knowing that there were so many people on the island that day, we did not expect too much from the tour. The company was good and Capt Crosby was entertaining, which still made the trip worth it. Sting Ray City was very busy and the encounters with the Rays were few and far inbetween, but it was still fun. Snorkeling stop at the aquarium and then back to the island.

 

Tender back to the ship was quick and easy. That can't be said for the passengers of the two Carnival ships anchored that day (Conquest and Victory). The line to get back onto these two vessels was quite long, I suspect a 1/2 hr wait at least. Shower and a snack at NYC deli. Took back the tray to my balcony, the only time I ate there the whole trip.

 

Previewed the art auction and then attended the murder mystery. Met at the Stardust and got matched up with BigAlB, Meadowvalers, and Halger. The 8 of us headed on down to Aqua for the event and were seated promptly.

 

If you get the right group of people, the MM is a lot of fun. We had a fabulous group who took it seriously and made it fun at the same time. Geri and Yvonne got right into it, so much so that the two ladies seated next to us thought it was all real! The look on those two ladies was priceless as Yvonne went into her speil with Geri. We all had a good laugh when we revealed to them that it was a MM.

 

It took us over 2 hours to play it out, with many tables leaving much sooner than us. This was one of the highlights of the trip. If you don't rush to trying to solve the murder, then you can really make this enjoyable. Thanks again to you all for a great evening.

 

Well, my evening was done,.............. well not really. I decided to get hypnotised in the Spinnaker lounge tonight as well. My fourth time being on stage in my life and it gets easier each time. Had lots of fun on stage and met many new people as a result of my antics. I'm sure that Tweety and Fundygirl and the gang had a blast. Then I spent the rest of the cruise hearing 'Hey, your shoe phone is ringing' and 'Sleep'

 

Went down to flyingpirates in the owners suite and had a night cap. Talked away our fall back time change tonight. Oh well, who needs sleep!

 

We spent some time in pirate's suite over the course of the cruise. This was the focal point of many ideas and follies. Without their generosity, many of the things we did on the ship would not have happened so I thank them here for all that they did. Can't wait to cruise with you again, pirate!

[flyingpirate]

Diane -

 

So sorry you had other plans for the adios dinner - consequently we didn't get your info for the contact sheet.

 

Please email me soonest convenience and I can add you to the list and send you the url and password for the upload site so you can add and grab our photos too!

 

Great pics of the AE....Al, is the AC similar, we have hte connecting booked for Alaska.

[flyingpirate]

Thursday March 30, 2006 Grand Cayman

 

 

We spent some time in pirate's suite over the course of the cruise. This was the focal point of many ideas and follies. Without their generosity, many of the things we did on the ship would not have happened so I thank them here for all that they did. Can't wait to cruise with you again, pirate!

 

Aw, shucks.......you and Karen rock....thanks making our vacation uber-special. We can't wait to voyage with you next year!

 

Remember, if lost in a crowd, meet at Darcy!

 

To the Pearl! ::raises blue frosted beverage::

[Big Al B.]

Pirate, looks to me like the AC we had was almost identical in layout to the AE.

[Big Al B.]

Cabin (cont'd) Since this was a suite we also could avail ourselves of the services of our butler, Putu, and the concierge, Alex. Both of these gentlemen did an excellent job of responding to our needs although I am sure we did not put them through too much trouble :). We had breakfast in our suite 4 times and Alex did get us off the ship quickly in Jamaica and made arrangements for us to do the Murder Mystery. However whenever we would see them, we would be asked if we needed anything. Our cabin attendant, Lalyn also did an exceptional job for us, especially considering that she was leaving the ship for her four months home when we got to NYC. I have a feeling that this was one of the cabins that might have been involved when the rogue wave hit, but there was no indication other than the different carpet in the hall at our end of the ship.

 

Food We chose not to eat in any of the extra-cost restaurants, but had no problems with the food anywhere we ate. The days we did not eat breakfast in the suite we ate at the buffet. We also ate most of our lunches there or in the Blue Lagoon. Dinners were split between the buffet and restaurants of which Impressions was our favorite.

Buffet - I found the choices to be quite sufficient at all the meals and had no trouble finding things to eat. As has been stated, it's a good idea to check out all the open serving lines since there are some differences. For example only one of the lines had an omelet or waffle station at breakfast (this was early when only two lines were open). Lunch has a vegetarian line, and a New York Deli where they will make sandwiches to order and also has hot dogs, fries, hamburgers. Supper: one line had a Ceasar salad section, pasta station, and ice cream but no bread. Other line had bread, but not the other things. Usually a carving station at all the lines. It might have been my imagination, but I think that there was a smaller dessert selection than I remember. I thought that they once had the desserts on tables separate from the serving lines instead of at the end as now. I also remember a fresh fruit station which is no longer available. They did not have fresh pineapple that I saw at all. There are enough lines that we did not have to wait very long and tables were generally available and cleaned off very quickly as they were emptied.

Restaurants - We ate in the Venetian (first day), Aqua and Impressions with our favorite being Impressions. In all cases the service was excellent and we were not hurried at any time. I thought that the menu choices were all right, but in actuality I tended to gravitate toward the buffet on many of the dinner nights, even though I could get the chicken breast and Ceasar salad any time. I'm not sure how much of this was the menu and how much was my desire to just eat quickly and go :).

[captNcrunch]

Fresh Waffles for breakfast, I like them a little more crispy!

 

Time for Rum in the Sun! Shore excursion aboard the Cool Runnings to Dunns River! Too much rum too little time, side trip to Margaritaville on return bus trip, had to get that free drink! Bus Driver Trev was great, he also does provate tours of the Island, would definatley use him if I go back.

 

Found a nice late afternoon treat at the NY Deli, Ceasar Salad with grilled chicken, bacon and grated cheese ummmmmmmm! Only available late afternoon, just prior to the dinner cutover.

 

Pit Stop at the Pearly Kings for a little sing-a-long and some trivia.

 

Dinner at Aqua was good, italian meatball appitizer was very tasty! Arrived at 8:00 no wait, and service was very good.

 

Did the pub crawl it was more than fun, shots ( B52, Orgasms, Kamikaze, godfathers ... ) at $4.25 and in a souvenir glass, not sure what I'm gonna do with them all.

 

Off to Dazzles for some karaoke and dancing .... Man am I having fun :D

[Big Al B.]

Ship The ship has been very well-maintained and looks as good as it did in 2003 when we were last aboard. Areas were always clean and polished. The selection in the Galleria seemed to have something for just about everyone (except the generously sized such as myself). I noticed that I was not the only big person aboard and you would think that the shop would carry more items to fit us :p.

 

Entertainment There was music to be had all over the ship each evening along with poolside Caribbean daily. We didn't spend all that much time at the pool (had that huge deck) but the group Caribbean Wave sounded good from what we heard. In the evenings there would be music in the Atrium, Star Bar, Gatsby's, Dazzles, Pearly King's Pub and the Spinnaker. We would listen to the two piano players for periods of time and they were both very good. We really enjoyed The Best of Friends, a trio who did a wide range of songs. Each night we would hit Dazzles to listen to Jumari and Gabrielle who were excellent. Modal Magic, the group who worked in the Spinnaker were amazing. Several times when we were there they would start a set and 45-50 minutes later would still be going. One number would lead right into another with no pause. The thing that impressed us was that not only were the lead singers singing but were doing choreography at the same time. The show band also provided dance music several nights. There were early evening sing-alongs in the Pearly Kings Pub and karaoke in Dazzles most if not all nights. Several evenings had parties poolside, but being in the thinking-about-being-a-geezer group we were usually doing research on the insides of our eyelids about then :p.

 

There was a variety of shows in the Stardust. Two Jean Ann Ryan productions, South Beach Rave and Bollywood. Having seen the two shows last time we were on, I opted to just go to the other venues those nights, but did hear that they were very good. There were two comics, Peter Sasso (who also juggled) and Al Ducharme (who did neat sound effects). Both of them were enjoyable and kept us laughing. The Second City troupe was also very good. The magician, Gleason, was excellent. His trick with the watch hanging in the air was just something else. I am not a big fan of hypnotist acts so I did not see that show and can't comment on it. That was the nice thing about the cruise - if you didn't like one entertainment there was always an alternative.

 

Ricky Matthews, the cruise director, was very energetic and personable. I had no problems with him, although to be very honest, I sometimes wonder why people put so much stock into the CD. I've never been on a cruise where that person really affected the quality of my cruise. His assistant, Chris and all the others in his staff were friendly and kept up their enthusiasm throughout what must have been some very long days. Overall, I would rate the entertainment offerings as excellent.

[Lisa_And_Steve]

Well, we made it home late Thursday night. We drove many many long hours to retrieve the dog and then get to Columbus. We were here around midnight.

 

We loved our cruise! I will say that the group was wonderful and I'm sorry we didn't get to do as much with all of you as we would have liked. Having the boys with us seemed to cause a bit of a hinderence (sp?) where that was concerned.

 

I will do my review:

 

Our cabin steward was not very attentive. Actually, we only once had an 'animal' created out of towels. I do know on other cruises even though we were in the inside cabin, our stewards of the past were still very attentive; for example bringing extra plates of cookies to the boys at night or slipping Danny extra chocolates, and ALWAYS making those silly animals.

 

To the positive side, however, we did have a bathroom 'explosion' when some pipe came loose from the bottom of the toilet (all clean clear water just flowing freely). This flooded our bathroom only (thank goodness for drains) but we did have shoes, some laundry and some smaller suitcases on the floor when it happened. As a result, the main person in charge from deck 7 insisted we put all of our laundry in bags to get washed and ironed. She also extended a 100.00 ship credit, sent a wine and fruit basket, and provided the four of us with complimentary meals at the pay restaurant of our choice. This was very nice of her and we wanted to give that credit for sure.

 

We loved the buffet, especially the omlet guy: as a note in case anyone didn't know- you can request he make overlight eggs or however you like - in case you didn't want an omlet. The one complaint I do have about the buffet is this: why all the green flecks on everything? I laughed and told Steve I think they must prepare all the huge silver trays of delicious food then grab what amounts to a giant salt shaker - only its filled with green spice flakes - and then they go around shaking it on literally every single dish! As a result I found myself often eating off the kids section of the buffet. (give me a good ole hot dog or buger with fries and I'm happy) I had to laugh when I discovered that in the KIDS macaroni and cheese they had cut up green AND red peppers PLUS put on the green flecks........what kid wants that in their mac and cheese?? LOL

 

Our favorite night out for dinner was the French restaurant. The waiter actually offered and then cut Danny's meat for him!! Now THATS service, lol! With Danny being 12 and Justin being 14--- you should have SEEN the look on their faces when they were handed the menus (you know, the ones with naked ladies in them). Of course WE know its 'art' but Danny calmly waited until the waiter walked away then he dropped his menu down and squarely looked me in the eyes and very SERIOUSLY said, 'now this just isnt right Mommy'. I LMAO!!

 

We used room service a bunch and never had a problem with it, actually its very very nice to say the least.

 

Who can forget the Chocolaholic Buffet? My favorite was the chocolate fountain with fruit at the end. YUM YUM.

 

As far as entertainment goes, boy we are easy to please, lol! By far and away my most pleasurable times came by just sitting for hours and listening to the pianist outside of Le Bistro restaurant. He was so good. We only hit a couple of shows: the jugling comedian (awesome), Second City(so so), the magician(great), and the hypnotist(awesome). My oldest son got hypnotized and LOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!! He danced like Napolean Dynamite and pretended to be a vaccum cleaner on all fours cleaning up the stage....... that was worth the price of the whole cruise right there. (he's 14 and VERY 'cool' and would 'NEVER' do such things...........*snort*!) He didn't remember one bit of it and actually thought he fell asleep during the show and only after about 10 of his friends confirmed what he did THEN he finally accepted it.

 

Speaking of my oldest, he found the 'love of his life' on board and already they are in constant contact, etc. (eye roll and a big sigh from me)

 

The boat was beautiful. The walking was a bit overwhelming. The pools were okay, but we only used the spa pool since it was heated. For treatments there, they are expensive, but we used the in port specials and had a couples massage plus on formal night I had my hair done, so not bad there.

 

We won 3 times at Bingo and I won approximately 700.00 in the casino........so that was all good! We of course put in on the shipboard credit.

 

Did anyone else notice that the rooms could never get quite cool enough at night? Its like I wish we had a portable fan with us (next time for sure).

 

Our excursions were WONDERFUL. We had some private and some through the boat and two with no planned excursion at all.

 

In Jamaica we did Cool Runnings which we so thoroughly enjoyed!! Especially the trip back after the falls. The ladies of the boat began basically lap dancing everyone (at least up front) including my 14 year old son who LOLOLOL was SHOCKED and didn't want anything to do with it but the crowd was cheering him on. I later told the lady his age and she and I just laughed. It was all in good fun anyways. Oh yes, we did buy the video of us climbing the falls and we've already watched it and it was very good actually!

 

In Cayman we had an excursion originally but it fell through when all of our laundry STILL wasn't back (from the bathroom fiasco the night before) -- thus why we ended up with that additional shipboard credit. So, anyways, we rolled with it and took a cab to the VERY CROWDED 7 mile beach but enjoyed the heck out of it anyways. Did some snorkeling and obtained our first sunburns. Oh, and we ate grouper sandwiches and conch fritters at that beach side restaurant.

 

In Roatan we had Bodden tours and did the whole day with a private driver. We did the orphanage to drop off our supplies, had an AWESOME zip line tour on a different place than the cruise ship excursioners went, did the iguana farm, stopped at the ship wrecks, went to the private beach for snorkeling, then ate at a local place were for only 20 dollars we got 6 lobster tails, salads, potatos, beans and rice, spicy green beans, plantains, AND our lemonade!!! This lady sat and fanned us while we ate too, so believe me she got a huge tip! They even brought out and split up the boys their portion off mine and Steve's plates (that was two orders which more than enough fed all 4 of us). Oh yeah, we also stopped at Mr. Bodden's private shop and picked up Vanilla and Coffee.

 

In Belize we did Yahonny with cave tubing dot com. All I can say is WOW. Those guys are absolute freaking nuts and literally MADE the trip there a complete blast! They are not to be missed. I'm going to do a review in the 'ports of call' section of this website as I promised I'd do. If you want personalized service and hearty laughter then they are the guys to go see. Be prepared, though for a bumpy ride, hysterical laughter, Cashew wine, a long jungle walk then TWO caves along with open river tubing. The guides ROCKED. We stopped and ate at a local place and for 5 dollars each we all got a large plate of beans, rice, and chicken all mixed with coconut milk and stewed; along with fresh squeezed lemonade. I never laughed so hard as I did on that day. "Remember we have license to scrape cars but no license to squash people so be sure to close your eyes."

 

In Cozumel we did discover scuba through the boat. The water was crystal clear, the equipment was good, the guides were attentive, and the fish even cooperated too. There was a nice lady who made a DVD of us underwater and she got our names ahead of time then literally chased us about making sure to get plenty of underwater shots. She also made sure to get plenty of the underwater creatures we met that day too: the eel, the lobster, the ray, all of the corals and fans, etc etc. Later she spliced it all to music and put our names in scrolled credits as the 'stars' LOL.

 

At Great Stirrup we got up late, got over there late and therefore just mainly lounged in hammocks except of course for Danny who snorkeled the entire time (and has the red thighs to prove it) and Justin who spent the entire day playing beach volleyball with his 'girlfriend' (where do these kids get their energy??)

 

Well, aside from some souvenier purchases (mostly shirts and necklaces)......thats about it!

 

We did get to see the crazy people (won't mention names, lol) who got in the forward hot tub in New York (what was it 40 degrees?) IN THEIR CLOTHES. LOLOLOL!! We did go to the 'owners suite' on the first day too and got to drool at how big it was, WOW!

 

The Dawn's Fools are a great group of people and I'm sorry I didn't get to spend more time with everyone. I'm glad Steve made it to that final dinner with everyone. I got a huge laugh out of seeing everyone in their togas, especially the poor guy who got left behind and found himself standing in Dazzles as the only toga sportin' guy left! He was a great sport about it though.

 

One last thought, congratulations to the free cruise winners!!

 

Oh, and the art auctions were so much fun to watch, I attended every one.

 

Okay, I'm shutting up for now, I swear!

 

Hope to see everyone soon, and I have 9 rolls of developed film to make my online photo album of and will post a link soon....

 

Lisa

[Big Al B.]

Activities There was never a lack of things to do while on board. I especially enjoyed the trivia games. There were movies every day (also shown on in-cabin TV throughout cruise), craft classes, fitness related activities (both free and extra cost), various workshops (Second City, memory training by magician, etc), tequila and margarita clinics (extra), card and board games, and of course bingo and the various casino tournaments. Again you could choose to be as busy or as unbusy as you wished. I chose basically unbusy :).

 

Casino It looked nice. I didn't go in this trip so that's all I can say about it.

 

Ports One of the main purposes we chose to take this cruise was to get a nice relaxing break away from home so the ports were really somewhat secondary to us. One of our traveling companions had had surgery recently and was not ready for a lot of beach activities. I don't snorkel because without my glasses I'm lucky if I can see the water let alone what is in it and living near the Pocono Mountains, I don't do enough snorkeling to get a prescription ground mask. We are also at that point in our lives when we really don't shop when we travel so the duty free and souvenier areas are not big attractions. We also kept with the cruiseline's tours rather than private ones for no reason other that it was easier.

Jamaica - took the Best of Ocho Rios tour which was a bus ride that visited Shaw Park Gardens, a former hotel now a botanical garden. It had nice views of the city and a pretty waterfall along with well kept grounds. There were a number of steps to climb both ways. Also included were a drive through Fern Gully which was a road through a small canyon with much vegetation on each side. No stops but we did pass a number of small stands selling things usually highlighted by a carving of a male with a huge ummm...male thing prominently displayed roadside. Drove 3 1/2 miles, turned around drove back to the Taj Mahal shopping area (eminently forgettable). Tour finished with trip to Dunn's River Falls where we walked along the side for a bit and watched the climber's although we didn't do any ourselves. We had planned to hit Jimmy Buffet's for our free margarita, but did not return in time. Just had to board.

Grand Cayman - did the Discover Caymans, another bus tour that stopped at the Tortuga rum factory (rum tasting at 9am - yum), Hell, and the turtle farm which was interesting to see. Nothing spectacular here. Tendering was no problem as we were with the tour group.

Roatan - we had reserved the Tabyana Beach Day but cancelled it for the reason I mentioned. If you don't go on a tour, this is a good stop to just stay on the ship. We took a walk into the town, and probably had to turn down at least 20 cab driver offers in the short time we were there. Really not much to see. As the port lecturer on board said, half hour at most.

Belize - Laminai Ruins and River Tour. This was an excellent tour. We took a narrated bus ride to the site where we boarded boats for about a 50 minute ride up the river to the Lamanai ruins. We then were provided with a lunch of chicken, slaw, several kinds of rice, and coconut tarts along with soda or water. After eating we walked through the jungle to visit the ruins which are only partially uncovered. There are several hundred remains although we only viewed about 6 or so. One of the pyramids is climbable and many people did. I heard the view from the top was really something. We then retraced the boat and bus trip back to the ship. Again, tendering was no trouble since we had to leave the ship at 7 so were among the first to depart.

Cozumel - We again had an early wake up for the Tulum Ruins. We took a tender directly to Playa del Carmen on the mainland (not the regular tenders). Then we took a hike (all of us carrying our ship's provided white cardboard lunch boxes) through the town to buses that took us to the ruins (with a shopping stop on the way). The ruins are in a beautiful setting and to ex-educators were very interesting. You cannot go on or into them because of past vandalism problems, but it was worthwhile. We returned to town and were left off much, much closer to the pier than we were when we got on the buses. We were given a little over an hour to shop and then tendered back to the ship.

[captNcrunch]

Light Room Service Breakfast, coffee and danish, service was excellent, right on time.

Quick exit to tenders, 7 ships in port today, tender service was very good. No long lines and quick turnaround.

 

1st stop Eden Rock, less than 5 min. walk from tender pier. Excellent snorkeling saw a multitude of Green Parrot Fish, Sergeant Majors and Yellowtail Snapper, along with schools of large tarpon. All within 3-10 feet from the shore.

 

$4.00 cab ride (each way) to 7-mile beach. Very crowded in certain spots but a short walk resulted in plenty of free space. Luch on the beach grouper sandwich, a beer and a water .... $20 food was good but a bit on the high side as are most things in GC.

 

Return to the ship for a Chicken Ceasar, followed by a cocktail and some entertainment in the Pearly Kings.

 

Dinner at Aqua, salmon was very good. Service was good, no wait at 8.

 

Little Karaoke at Dazzles and a trip to Spinnakers for a night cap before calling it a day.

[FundyGirl]

Just uploaded more photos...check them out!!!

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/549294113TVhqxk

[tweety0227]

Just uploaded more photos...check them out!!!

 

http://community.webshots.com/album/549294113TVhqxk

 

Very nice pictures Kathy!!

[Cruisinbunnies]

Nice Pics, Kathy.

 

Looks like I should finish my review. Not much interest in this thread. I suppose it's because the Western is done until the fall.........

 

..........or we are not very well liked!:eek: :rolleyes:

[meadowvalers]

Hey all!!

 

guess what I am watching right now? Rosie O'Donell's show taped on the Dawn last year called "All Aboard" Rosie's family cruise. Its on Rogers On Demand. very cool

 

Cheers.

[tweety0227]

Hey all!!

 

guess what I am watching right now? Rosie O'Donell's show taped on the Dawn last year called "All Aboard" Rosie's family cruise. Its on Rogers On Demand. very cool

 

Cheers.

 

Yes, we watched that also. Last July we actually sailed with Rosie's R Family vacations aboard the dawn. That's when we went to New England and Canada, but we sailed with some of the same people that were featured on the show that was taped and aired.:D

[electricron]

Can't seem to find the time to write my review so let me start with a few pictures :D

http://community.webshots.com/album/549294113TVhqxk

To be continued.....

 

I noticed you took the New River boat tour to Lamani while in Belize. You had the exact same boat driver (tour guide) and assistant that I had. It appears you had great weather, I had off and on rain.......but I had a grand adventure never-the-less.......

 

Check out my Sun photos in my signature, you see I'm telling the truth.

 

I hope you had a much better time than I, but I still had a great time in the rain.....

 

p.s. Watch out for the :eek: CROCS :eek:

[MermaidMomma]

Nice Pics, Kathy.

 

Looks like I should finish my review. Not much interest in this thread. I suppose it's because the Western is done until the fall.........

 

..........or we are not very well liked!:eek: :rolleyes:

 

Hi Cruisin' Fools!

I am enjoying your thread very much. I hope our CC gang "The Leid Back Cruisers" has as much fun as you guys when we sail The Dawn on April 26! We have a pretty wild roll call going! Keep the reviews coming. You guys are an inspiration to us. TO GA! TO GA!

[flyingpirate]

Nice Pics, Kathy.

 

Looks like I should finish my review. Not much interest in this thread. I suppose it's because the Western is done until the fall.........

 

..........or we are not very well liked!:eek: :rolleyes:

 

I know I want hear the rest of your review because we're seriously considering the five day western next year in conjuction with the southern nine day on the Pearl.

 

And I'm quite sure you're well liked. I've heard from some of the people who cruised with you that the Fools were absolutely delightful, lovely and behaved with decorum and dignity at all times.

 

Especially the Carpenters and the Schumanns. :D