Just Off The Dawn....what A Trip!

[Mary Jane 711]

We just returned from our Dec 1 thru 12 Mexican Riviera cruise aboard the beautiful Dawn Princess.
I think we were among the first to embark, as we boarded at a few minutes after 11 am. The ship was beautifully decorated for Christmas and we made our way to our staterooms. We had our first balcony room on Caribe deck, so we practically ran there to see it. We were not disappointed. It was spacious and the baclony was fabulous. We spent loads of time out there throughout the cruise.
The only bad part about early embarkation was we were among the last to get our luggage. That was okay, but I like to have my bags unpacked and stuff organized right away.
We traveled with another cople, and they had a nice inside room. Only problem was that it reeked of cigarettes. It was pretty bad. But fortunately their room steward changed the bedspread and sprayed something and it was much better for them the next day. The seas were calm and weather was just great. Going under the Golden Gate bridge was a pleasure. I will never forget that. We left after dark, but it was so clear and crisp out. Everyone clapped as we went under the bridge and the flashes from cameras everywhere made it all the more exciting.
We enjoyed each port and took excursions in some and did our own thing in others. If any one has any questions, I will be glad to answer any.
The ship did have an outbreak of norovirus, which kind of creeped me out and made me super paranoid, but we did not get it. As the virus got more widespread, they took away more things...no salt and pepper shakers, just the packets. No bread left on the table, they served it to you. Near the end of the trip, no fruits on toothpicks in your drink..Pretty grim... No one wanted to shake hands, everyone who coughed got the evil eye. They even closed the self serve laundromat rooms for extra cleaning during the day. That made for some crafty moves to get yourself clean clothes. ALways a line in there. Had to get up early and be first in ine.
I think the ultimate creepy thing was when the quaranteened rooms were being serviced. The had workers in gloves and masks going into the staterooms with biohazard bags. All those people got their meals on paper plates with plastic utensils. Sadly, a few of the quaranteened people did not follow the rules and went out and about on the ship to pass their germs around. The would be summoned to their rooms and told to call 911. That happened at least three times. Like I said the virus thing really made me paranoid.
The last two seas days we encountered pretty rough seas. Some of the shows were cancelled. The pools were drained and it was just a different mood on board. The swells got up to 13 feet and a force 6 wind factor. Not too bad, I have been in worse. But it was a rocking out there.
Again, any questions, I will be more than happy to answer.

[cruiserforlife]

Yep Mary Jane,sounds like the same cruise we were on!
Glad you enjoyed your balcony...no going back to an inside now.Great to hear you guys made it back safe and sound.

Need any pictures?Email me @ [EMAIL="johnlipori@salinasvalleyford.com"]johnlipori@salinasvalleyford.com[/EMAIL] and I'll send you some.

Take care,

CFL

[chasetf]

Great to hear you enjoyed your trip.

We did the Dawn trip earlier this year. Our trip had the stops in Catalina and San Diego. It is great sailing out of San Francisco and under the Golden Gate. Sorry about the virus breakout. Going north on the Pacific coast is always rougher, but we only had a litttle bouncing the last day.