Rockin' & Rollin' on the Dawn!!

[CRAFTCRUISER]

You don't know how happy that will make me. I've been dying to do the Boston to Bermuda run, but really didn't want to do the Majesty. I really like the bigger, newer ships. Where did you hear this info.?

Why not do the majesty??? She is great..... If the larger ships have to go into the dockyard believe it for a one night stay.... could be wrong though....thought that was all they allowed....:(

[Welove2cruise2]

I heard this from several members of the senior staff, including the hotel director and cruise director. Both told us this is NOT a rumor!!

 

Actually, I'm ambivalent about the Dawn sailing to Bermuda; I was actually hoping it would be the Spirit. We love Bermuda, it's our favorite place, but we also love the Majesty (you can tell by my signature) -- very comfortable ship, the best crew in the fleet, and you're in St. George's the entire time, which is absolutely beautiful.

 

We will sail the Dawn to Bermuda when she comes to Boston! I'm actually hoping the price will come DOWN a little, since there are more staterooms. Time will tell...

[electricron]

"We had a great trip, and are looking forward to the Dawn sailing the Bermuda runs from Boston in 08."

Has this been confirmed yet? I had heard rumors, but hadn't heard anything since.

 

It probably will not be confirmed until NCL posts the 2008 Summer itineraries, most likely this May.

Assuming the rumor is true, where will the Majesty be sailing from that summer? For Star Cruises in the Far East? In the Baltic replacing the Dream? Somewhere else? I wonder if the Majesty can sail under the Kiel Canal bridges?

 

Let's try to place all the NCL ships for the Sumer 20008.

All three Prides sailing from Honolulu.

Pearl, Star, and Sun sailing to Alaska.

Dawn sailing from Boston.

Jewel sailing from Barcelona.

Gem sailing from New York City.

That just leaves the Spirit as the last Freestyle ship left, as a possible second ship sailing from New York City, or Dover.

 

The Wind and Crown will have left NCL's fleet by then. The Majesty "may" be gone by then if this rumor is true. The Dream is questionable, because presently it's last cruise is a repo from South America to Los Angeles. I suspect it's going to Los Angeles for dry dock, but where will it be going to from L.A.? To the Far East? To Alaska? To the Baltic?

 

Apparently, NCL has more ship reassignments and surprises for us in 2008.

[angeljt]

Welcome home!!!

Hope you had a fantastic time and are well rested.

I would love to see the Dawn in Boston, but would also like the Majesty to stay here too. Hope to sail on her once more before she leaves. I agree that she is a wonderful ship with one of the best crews around.

Jackie

[Welove2cruise2]

After I posted on Saturday, I wandered around a bit, then went to our cabin -- saw the sun beating in, so opened the door to see what the weather was like -- WOW! Went and got DH in the cigar bar and dragged him up onto the pool deck! I could not believe how beautiful it was! The pool and hot tubs were full -- human soup!!:D But I'd have to say that's a first for us, sailing out of NYC. We've usually done so in Nov/Dec, so we're accustomed to not being able to enjoy the pool deck that last day. We ended up parking ourselves and people watching until almost 4:00. Then we headed to the margarita clinic, said our goodbyes to Jose and the "usuals" that had been steady clientele at the martini and margarita clinics, and then it was our usual, stop at the NY deli for our cheese and crackers, out to the balcony to enjoy our treats and a few drinks before dinner (as well as our unbelievable last afternoon on our balcony!!). Dinner tonight was in LeBistro again -- we try to have our first and last dinner here. We both had the surf and turf, the second time we've had lobster on the ship, and again, it was absolutely delicious! We also both had the mussels -- if you like mussels, you must try them -- they are YUMMY! After dinner, we stopped by the cigar bar, had an after dinner drink and said goodbye to Ramona. I left DH there to go to the farewell show, which was wonderful -- Tim Hill and Romano, it doesn't get any better than that, ending with "fountains." We finally crashed around midnight.

 

Sunday morning we watched our progression thru the Hudson to the pier, arriving and docking sometime around 9:00. Debarkation began shortly after 10:00 (incredible!), and we finally said goodbye to the Dawn around 11:15. We sat inside the terminal, up near the coffee shop, until the bus arrived at noon. Our trip to Providence was uneventful; we arrived around 4:30 or so and were on the road before 5. We hit a very bad accident in the Milford area on 495 at around 5:30 and were stuck in traffic until at least 6:30, arriving home around 7:45.

 

 

Let me post this before I lose it, then some final thoughts...

[Welove2cruise2]

One of the questions they ask on the comment card is "did you enjoy this cruise more than your last?" I had to say no. Don't get me wrong, we had a great time (who wouldn't on a cruise where you are waited on hand and foot, entertained, fed, don't have to cook or clean or make your bed??) and we LOVE the Dawn, but there were some issues that really took away from our usual great time. Plus, we were treated like GOLD on our Spirit cruise -- really! Hugo and his team had a lot to do with that. But the Spirit is a smaller ship, so they can really cater to the gold and platinum members. We also enjoyed our Spirit cruise more than we did our Majesty cruise in September...

 

If I had anything to complain about it was the KIDS -- in the adult pool and hot tubs, at the shows -- climbing over seats, up and down throughout the show to see their friends 12 rows ahead of us (causing everyone else in that row to have to stand to allow that lovely child to pass...), saving seats for friends who never appeared. Adults (okay, not kids here) arriving at the shows 45 minutes late??!! Come on! :mad: Kids at the Quest -- after repeated announcements that no one under 18 was permitted in the lounge, and several crew members speaking to the group of pre-teens/young teenagers at the back of the Spinnaker Lounge, they never left. We had a very embarrassed couple on our team (we were sitting near the back) when they realized there were kids in the lounge! I suspect (though I can't prove) that the kids told the crew members that their parents were at the show, and they were told to stay put. If that was the case, the crew should have FOUND those parents and escorted them AND the kids from the lounge!

 

Parents with babies IN DIAPERS in the pools! HELLO??!! There was a crew member standing as life guard at the pool all the time, and never said a word. When I saw that I was completely turned off from going in the pool and hot tubs...:eek:

 

It was so noisy on the pool deck (never experienced such a crowd in all our cruises on the Dawn) that after a while we had to retreat to our balcony for some peace and quiet. Wish we had that AC on this cruise! Why was it like this? I have no idea. Jimmy said everyone (parents with kids included) wanted to be at the Oasis pool instead of the kids pool because they wanted to hear the live music. On our last sea day, Jimmy was all around the ship with a technician, checking the sound systems -- still couldn't figure out why we couldn't hear the entertainer in Gatsby's while sitting in the cigar bar, but they did finally fix the feed from the entertainment at the Oasis pool to the kids pool. Of course there were plenty of other places to "hide" but when the weather is good, we love sitting on the pool deck...

 

Would we sail NCL again? Absolutely -- we have our next cruise booked on the Majesty, and are hoping to get on the Spirit repo in November (if a balcony becomes available;) ) and the Gem cruise in February (hoping the prices will come down)! But I don't think we'll cruise in March again...

 

So that's it. Any questions, fire away! I have most of the dailies (I gave up my daily on Quest night) , but I have all the rest.

 

For anyone sailing on the Dawn (newbies or returnees) the ship is in great shape, the crew is wonderful, the entertainment is top notch, and the food is fantastic. You'll have a great time!!

[judyf]

Thanks for sharing your adventure with us.

 

I will be on her 2 weeks from today! wooo hooo

[rxcruise]

Hi Marilyn, Jim, Anyone Else who can add,

 

We're leaving in 4 days on the Dawn, with a 14 yo daughter and 11 yo sons. This will be their 3rd cruise. They're very well behaved in general but when with kids of their own age tend to "run in packs". The last cruise I saw the boys exhibiting less than stellar behavior and I came down hard.

 

This go-round we've been through all the safety warnings and the manners lecures, but what else can all of you-tell me -TO TELL THEM?

 

Should the adult pool be off limits to kids their age? I've also instructed them to cool-down other kids who might be acting up. They're pretty good at that- no matter how uncomfortable, because that's what i ask of them in our home. It takes a real bad-ass to defy my daughter- she's a good baby-sitter...

 

(parents of toddlers- I'm not talking about your kids-they're supposed to be just who they are...wild and defiant at times-none of us mind them. We just mind the older ones who should know better.)

 

Marilyn, would you mind posting or e-mailing those dailes to me? we'd love to see what's up....hekkl5@earthlink.net laurie