Dawn 08/25-09/01 review- very long

[lukes]

Background: This was our second cruise, both with NCL, previously was Spirit Dec/06. There are 4 of us, 2 parents 2 grown children, booked into an inside cabin. We travel by Amtrak day of sailing.

There were 2800+ sailing on this cruise including for 900 under the age of 21. The following is only our experience and opinions, the other 2800 will have quite different experiences and opinions.

 

Embarkation: We took our chance and travelled day of sailing with Amtrak an arrived in NYC at 1:35. We were at the pier by 2:00. We had booked directly with NCL and had registered on-line. Unknown to us we were suppose to print our own tickets from the computer. This delayed us slightly as we had to join another small line to receive a boarding pass. We thought arriving at 2:00 that most of the passengers would have been processed and onboard, this was not the case and the line for processing was still quite long, we were however able to jump this line and joined a much shorter Latitudes line, we were processed and on board by 2:45. Since rooms were available at 2:00 we proceeded to our room where much to our surprise 2 of our bags were already waiting for us. They were already begining to make annoucements regarding the lifeboat drill so we decided to wait and unpack, before the lifeboat drill started the remainder of our luggage arrived. After life boat drill we proceeded to the pool area for a BBQ lunch, the hamburgers were very good, though my bun was still slightly frozen. We proceeded to the Bimini bar to meet people from our roll call as had been previously arranged. There we met RustyBolts & Zelda, & John & Margie. We enjoyed the sail away, the sights, the skyline and passing under the bridge. We were underway by 4:15.

Our latitude pins were in our room later that evening.

 

The next morning we went to the Cruise Critic meet & greet we had arranged. Unforunately there was only 10 of us, those previously mentioned plus Michael & Debbie (Warpdrive). The cruise director Jimmy and 5 officers attended. We had a very exclusive audience with them, several requests were made and each was quickly addressed. The officers were very friendly and helpful. Later we attended the Latitudes party, where the captain and many officers attended.

 

Cruise Director Staff: Jimmy Koval started as our cruise director however on the 3rd day he left to attend a Cruise Director conference in Miami. To bad because we enjoyed his sense of humour. Ingrid Thomas took over and we found her to be very dull, she introduced many events but then seemed to disappear, she did improve somewhat by the end of the cruise. Richard the assistant cruise director was very funny, he hosted many events and seemed to be everywhere.

 

Entertainment: The entertainment was mixed. There was a juggler Romano Frediani whose juggling was ok but his interaction with the audience and humour was great, especially during second show and when he hosted the Quest (more on that later). The magician Greg Gleason, was ok, we have seen better elsewhere. The dance company productions were also mixed, first was Band-on-the-Run, the music was great, the dancing could be considered somewhat racy but the young audience has seen more on any music video. the second production was Bollywood and this was completely boring. Second City was better here then on the spirit last year, this troupe seemed to interact better, their unscripted show was very good especially when they re-enacted a day inthe life of a passenger. The various music acts/entertainment throughout the ship were all very good, the party band Fusion Wave was very good and fun, the Dawn house band was excellent, music act Fire& Ice was very good with tons of energy. The band playing by the pool was also very good, thought sometimes the music was too loud, it should have been more background. I will also include in the entertainment the games. We are game players and participated/ or watch many, all were good, especially those hosted by Richard. If you intend to go to/particpate in one game make it the Quest. This is the second time we have particpated in this game and both times we could not stop laughing, and I am smiling now just thinking about it. It was better this time thanks to Romano's sense of humour and excellent job hosting.

 

Food: We are the type that are not too fussy with food. I feel that if I don't have to prepare it, cook it or clean up after it, then I am going to enjoy it that much more. We did not eat in any of the extra fee restaurants. All breakfasts we ate in the buffet. Garden Cafe. There were no trays. We found the food to be good, hot, and an excellent variety. You could have eaten different things almost every day. Though my daughter had french toast almost everymorning, it was the thickest, lightest french toast I have had.

Lunch was split between the main dinning room Venetian, excellent variety, pizza is available every day though it is not always on the menu. BBQ by the pool on all sea day, again hamburgers were excellent. BBQ on Great Stirrup Cay was excellent, and we went a little later and the line was not long and moved very quickly (there was hamburgers, chicken, pizza, salads), or the buffet, part of the bufett converts to a NY deli. You could make your own sandwich or there was deli sandwichs already made.

Dinner we had 3 times in Venetian & twice in Aqua, both main dinning rooms. The menu is the same between both. The food was good, presentation excellent and the staff always friendly and accomodating. Once I was torn between the Lamb chops or the steak, our waitress brought both (which I didn't really need). But both were delicious and done to my liking. We ate once in Salsa, a free, though reservation required restaurant. The food is tex/mex. I worried that it would be too spicy but for the most part it was not. The fajitas were brought sizzling to the table. The selection was excellent, in fact too many choices. One night we ate in Impressions - Italian. This was a dinner with our cruise critic friends. The antipasto was excellent and could have been a meal in itself. Again the food excellent and the staff very attentative.

 

Itinerary: The ports were Nassau Bahamas, Great Stirrup Cay & Bermuda. This was the last run for this itinerary. The Dawn was next doing Canada/New England and in the fall/winter repositioning to Miami. We arrived in Nassau after 1p.m. and felt it was too late to head to a beach. We perfer beaches in the morning when it is not too hot and generally less crowded, so we went to the Straw market which was extemely hot but not humid, something we are used to from home. The vendors were very friendly and my wife and daughter bought several purses. We walked through town and stopped in several jewellery stores. My wife found much better bargains here then in St. Thomas last year and ended up buying a ring. (I knew we should have headed to the beach, would have been much less expensive) At Great Stirrup cay we caught one of the first tenders. We had our pick of locations. There are no umbrellas on the beach, the unbrellas are located further inland and attached to chairs or picnic tables. My wife found a spot there inthe shade. The water was very warm and very clear. After snorkeling for a while my daughter and I played volleyball for an hour, in the very hot sun. The BBQ as said previously was excellent. My advice would be go early, the beach really filled at 11:00. Bermuda was very beautiful and we hope to go back someday. We went to Horsebay, again we went early and it was not to crowded arrived there about 10:00. Chairs and umbrellas rented for $10 each, plus deposit that was refunded when returned. The water was very warm but too wavy for snorkeling. We left about 12:30 we had an excellent cab driver back (fare was $24 for the 4 of us) who had a great sense of humour and pointed out all of the sights. When we arrived back at the ship the sky had become quite dark and it appeared to be raining very hard back at the beach. We had lunch onboard, changed and went back shopping around the pier area, missing all the rain while were we onboard.

 

Other: The new NCl towel program was very good. Each room is delivered beach/pool towels 1 for each occupant. When used leave on the floor of your bathroom and they are replaced with fresh (or you can exchange them at the pool). If not accounted for at the end of the cruise you will be charged $ 25 each. This certainly beats lining up and signing them out each day.

 

Overall we had excellent time. We are already looking forward to our next cruise. We met some very wonderful people through cruise critic and hope to stay in touch.

 

If you have any questions regarding, our cruise, the Dawn or NCL please feel free to ask. I will try to answer as best I can. Sorry this was much longer then I intended.

[snorklinbarb]

Great fun to read your review. Thanks!

 

Didn't know pizza was available in the DR at lunch.

 

Isn't Ingrid the Asst. CD? She used to be. Now it's a Richard?

 

Haven't experienced the new towel policy. Do you think it's helping cut down on the chair hogs who used to just leave towels? It would seem you wouldn't just leave your (expensive) towel and walk away for hours.....

[lukes]

Thanks for the response:

 

There are many things available but not always listed on the menu. Ie; Ceasar salad is always available, as is Grilled chicken.

 

Jimmy & Ingrid were both listed as CD's. However as I said Jimmy had to leave and she took over the duties. Could be why they were jointly listed. Wouldn't want the assistant to take over part way, this way the transition was easier. She was not very good. How was she as assistant? Richard (from England) was excellent, would make a good CD.

 

As for the towels, that is a good question. One sea day around 10:00 there certainly appeared to be more towels then there was people either inthe pool or hot tub or mingling around. However there was still many chairs available on the tiers. The spaces immediately around the pool were gone but because of the Dawn's tierred levels there is alot more chairs available. I don't how well the policy is being inforced, at this time is could just be the threat of a $25 charge. It will be interesting to see how the policy plays out and what other people have experienced.

[bethany24]

Thanks for the response:

 

There are many things available but not always listed on the menu. Ie; Ceasar salad is always available, as is Grilled chicken.

 

Jimmy & Ingrid were both listed as CD's. However as I said Jimmy had to leave and she took over the duties. Could be why they were jointly listed. Wouldn't want the assistant to take over part way, this way the transition was easier. She was not very good. How was she as assistant? Richard (from England) was excellent, would make a good CD.

 

As for the towels, that is a good question. One sea day around 10:00 there certainly appeared to be more towels then there was people either inthe pool or hot tub or mingling around. However there was still many chairs available on the tiers. The spaces immediately around the pool were gone but because of the Dawn's tierred levels there is alot more chairs available. I don't how well the policy is being inforced, at this time is could just be the threat of a $25 charge. It will be interesting to see how the policy plays out and what other people have experienced.

lukes

 

We're set to cruise on The Dawn on 10/13 for Canada/New England. We're almost 4 weeks from sailing and we're getting very excited!! We've debated about the paying the additional fee for the specialty restaurants. We think we'll be fine in one of the dining rooms. We're not picky eaters. This will be the first time on The Dawn and we're hoping for a great cruise!!

 

Bethany24

[Rumncoke]

So, are you saying they're not freely handing out towels at the pool anymore? That you can only get a fresh one if you turn in another? I certainly hope that's the case, I'm so sick of the chair hogs and that would have to help, I would think?

 

Thanks for clarifying.

[dadof2]

So, are you saying they're not freely handing out towels at the pool anymore? That you can only get a fresh one if you turn in another? I certainly hope that's the case, I'm so sick of the chair hogs and that would have to help, I would think?

 

Thanks for clarifying.

 

When we were on the Dawn in July, we were told that we were to bring our pool towels (that were in our cabin upon boarding) to the pool/excursions, etc. Bring them back to your cabin and leave them on the restroom floor along with your other towels...clean towels replaced the used ones.

 

If they (the pool towels) were not in our cabin on debarkation...we would be charged.

 

If we did not bring them to the pool (excursions), we would have to sign out towels at the pool and if we did not return them (at the pool area) and get our receipt, we would then have to pay $25 per towel.

 

The system worked well and did cut down on the "chair hogs" and a great loss of towels at ports:)