Back from Dawn Mexican Riviera today

[DavidO]

We just got back from the Dawn Mexican Riviera from San Diego. On the flight back home my wife and I were rating this cruise on the Dawn. We rated it an 8 out of 10 for an overall score. We got an excellent price for this cruise and it was a great value. We have no real complaints and had a great time.

 

Some quick comments:

 

Overall - 8/10

 

Service - 9/10. The crew was very helpful and friendly over all. No service problems. Our room steward kept the room clean. On the first day we requested an egg crate mattress and an extra towel and they were there by bed time.

 

Buffet - We gave the buffet an 8/10. Pretty good variety for lunch. Breakfast was not too varied. Food was good to very good. Typical cruise ship buffet fare.

 

Dining room - 8/10 We had anytime dining. We usually ate about 5:30-6:00 and only had to wait on one formal night when we showed up at 6 pm. The wait was about 10 minutes, not bad. Service was good overall. The food was good to very good. The only thing that was bad is my wife ordered a beef dish medium and it came very rare. I think they just grabbed from the wrong stack. The waiter offered to exchange it. It was not a big deal (it's vacation, you have take things in stride). The crab legs were very good.

 

Entertainment - 7-8/10. We saw two of the production shows and several of the other comedians and magicians. Most were good with some very good moments. The production shows were very good. Plenty of evening show options to keep you busy.

 

Ports - This was our second time to these ports and they are not among our more favorite ports. We had a good time though. The water was too cool for us to swim at the beach.

 

I'll make an extra mention here that on Friday night there was a medical emergency. We heard a 14 year old girl had an appendix problem. The Captain kept the passengers informed without giving details on what happened (we heard the appendix from a crew member). The US coast guard and navy sent a ship and when it was closer sent a helicopter to transfer the girl off the Dawn. Princess handled the emergency very professionally and seemed to take it seriously. We and everyone we spoke with give Princess a big thumbs up for how they handled this. It is comforting to know if anything does happen they are prepared.

 

This cruise was to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary and we had a great time. It was relaxing and fun. We give it a thumbs up.

 

David

[vickie_bernie]

thanks for the post and so quickly too. We love the Dawn.

[tequilasunrise]

Thanks for the posting. Always fun to read reviews! Glad you had a nice cruise :)

[JLC@SD]

Thanks for your post.....we watched you depart last Sunday from Anthony's restaurant, next to the pier.

 

We have noticed they do have great fares for the trips.....:)

[mii]

Thanks for a well balanced review. Too bad the Dawn will be leaving the fleet.

 

Marilyn

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[San Diego Cruizer]

We were on the same cruise, and I totally concur with everything you have said. Our room steward (Nadine) was the best we have ever had. Such an amazing young woman. I also agree about the medical emergency, and I have something to add. Our daughter (age 33) fell and broke her ankle in Cabo, and Princess couldn't have been more wonderful to us. They sent a rep to the hospital to meet her with a wheel chair.....transported her back to the tender, then back to the ship. They gave her the wheel chair to use for the rest of the trip, and checked in on her several times.I must admit, watching the helicpoter circle the ship at 5 AM in horrifically windy conditions was very scary. The captain kept us well informed, and that was appreciated. My only real complaint was that both our "neighbors" were smokers, and they smoked non stop on their balconies so we were confronted with non stop smoke. It sure would have been nice to leave our door open at night, but the smoke was almost non stop. I wish something could be done about this.This was my second time on the Dawn, and I love this ship!! I am going back in May!!

[marilynbn]

I wish they would ban balcony smoking. We had the same issue on our cruise in July on the Sea Princess. If we pay for the balcony we should be able to use it. If you are sandwiched in by neighbors that smoke on their balconies our balcony becomes unusable to us. We also could not leave the door open to get the fresh sea breeze. This is so frustrating. They should just have a designated area on the ship on deck and maybe one lounge. At least in those areas you can choose not to be there and move if smoke bothers you. If you are comfortably in your cabin/balcony you have no where to go! I HATE the smell of smoke and I can smell it easily anywhere...and I used to smoke up until 18 years ago! Marilyn

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

 

Could you repeat that? :D

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[bdjam]

I wish they would ban balcony smoking. We had the same issue on our cruise in July on the Sea Princess. If we pay for the balcony we should be able to use it. If you are sandwiched in by neighbors that smoke on their balconies our balcony becomes unusable to us. We also could not leave the door open to get the fresh sea breeze. This is so frustrating. They should just have a designated area on the ship on deck and maybe one lounge. At least in those areas you can choose not to be there and move if smoke bothers you. If you are comfortably in your cabin/balcony you have no where to go! I HATE the smell of smoke and I can smell it easily anywhere...and I used to smoke up until 18 years ago! Marilyn

Um...not to fire up an anti-smoking thread, but did you perhaps check in with your neighbors to see if you could compromise? Perhaps they didn't realize they were causing such distress.

[RSWBADGER]

Great Review, glad to hear you had a good time!

 

What was the weather like on your sea days?, I have heard it has been a bit cool lately.

[DavidO]

The weather on seas days was a little cooler but nice still (mid 70s). We wore shorts but at times it was pretty breezy so it made it cool out on the deck. The first and last day are the coolest. During the cruise we did not see many people in the pools at any time as the water was not that warm.

 

We had an inside cabin on deck 11 (Aloha) and one morning we woke up smelling a little smoke. We've been on many cruises and have never had that happen before. Evidently someone near by must have been smoking and we could smell it through the vents. My wife called the front desk and said she smelled smoke. They said it probably was nothing but they sent someone to check it out and to check the cabins above and below ours. They were knocking on our door in about 5 minutes. No fire but another example of super service. I did not realize people could smoke in the rooms too, sounds more dangerous than an iron which is banned.

 

San Diego Cruizer - Sorry to hear about your daughter's leg. I am glad to hear Princess was so helpful though.

 

David

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[ARRTrain]

I hated the smoke smell from the Casino. The way the Casino is open to Deck 7 makes the smoke travel through the ship. I liked the Non - Smoking Day in the Casino, made the ship smell nicer.

[leeuwarden]

turning into another anti smoker post?????????

[San Diego Cruizer]

My intent was not to turn this in to an anti smoking post, and I am sorry if I offended you. But in all honesty, if there was something that very much annoyed you about your cruise, wouldn't you comment about it.I just wanted one 30 minute period at a time that I could sit outside and not have the smoke filter in to my room. I don't think that is too much to ask. I didnt cause a stir, didn't complain,didnt rant and rave on the ship. etc. I just thought it would be ok, to present my feelings in this public forum is all. I can tell from the above posts that I am not the only one to have experienced balcony smoke!! Ok, off my sope box!!, Thanks for listening, Terry!

[leeuwarden]

Thank you dave for such a nice positive post,

we have been on the Dawn a couple of times and really like everything about this ship because its smaller, we just sailed on the golden and the size of the ship can be overwhelming.

what really gets me upset is that some people will take any post to talk about theyre pet peeves, so matter how positive the review is.

You know that people dont smoke 24 hrs a day, Knock on the door and ask if they give you a break from the smoke, we have done that with no problem. our neighbors were very accomadating, hope you give that a try.

[San Diego Cruizer]

If you read my post you would have seen that I said wonderful things about this ship! I had a great time, they handled our medical emergency with diplomacy and aplomb. I made one small statement about the smoke.Dave gave a wonderful review, I concured. If you remember, you are the one who made the anti smoking comment. Like I said before, we had a fabulous time. Sorry to have offended you

[imagine1]

This is so obnoxious. If you don't like other people smoking, get off your "sope" box and sail on another cruise line. Or stay home, Dear.

[imsulin]

This is so obnoxious. If you don't like other people smoking, get off your "sope" box and sail on another cruise line. Or stay home, Dear.

 

Wow! What's a "sope" box, anyway?? "Sail on another cruise line"?? Please, imagine1, tell us which cruise lines are smoke-free! "Or stay home, Dear". Excuse me?? Who is "Dear"?? You used the word "obnoxious", which I feel free to ascribe to your post.

 

Oh, BTW, I am a SMOKER, but on cruises, I always ASK if it's OK , even though it's on the designated outside areas. I don't smoke in my cabin or on my balcony. Even in my own home, I only smoke outside. There's such a thing as courtesy!

[qsuzi]

Please tell us about the decor and food at the Bistro on Deck 14.:)

[ARRTrain]

The smoke on the Dawn probably wouldn't be a problem if the ship would put in some kind of ventilation system in the Casino to get the smoke out. I was just pointing out the fact the Casino has an open atrium design which leads to the deck below and it lets the smoke travel out of the Casino and through the ship. When 50-100 people start smoking in the Casino it gets pretty bad. I hardly noticed smoke in any other areas of the ship, even in the smoking areas.

 

It is not a anti-smoker statement.