NCL Dawn Halloween cruise-just back

[BWWEX]

Hi Sandy,

 

Thanks so much for getting the cruise critic group together - we really enjoyed meeting everyone and spending assorted dinners and other times with everyone. It was nice having people to wave hello to every time we saw each other. Your review was excellent - we have been on 6 other cruises never saw a more friendly or accomodating staff. Impressions was our favorite restaurant. We were in cabin 10712 - a balcony port side near the rear of the ship - we were concerned about being so far back but it was fine.

 

Sandy - I have some digital pictures I took at dinner of your parents and the anniversary cake. I forgot to get your e-mail address, so if you would like them e-mail me at HAP18@aol.com with your e-mail address and I'll send them.

 

I'll be glad to answer anyone's questions about this cruise - Also, If anyone is being dropped off or picked up at the pier by a private car I have a few suggestions I can share as well.

 

To everyone going on the Dawn - you are in for a spectacular time - If you can get a Cruise Critic group together - DO It!!

 

Regards to my new cruise critic friends -

 

Barry

[Sandycruise]

Hi Sandy,

 

Thanks so much for getting the cruise critic group together - we really enjoyed meeting everyone and spending assorted dinners and other times with everyone. It was nice having people to wave hello to every time we saw each other. Your review was excellent - we have been on 6 other cruises never saw a more friendly or accomodating staff. Impressions was our favorite restaurant. We were in cabin 10712 - a balcony port side near the rear of the ship - we were concerned about being so far back but it was fine.

 

Regards to my new cruise critic friends -

 

Barry

 

Barry, It was my pleasure to arrange the meeting. I just wish I had done a better job of reminding people. Next time I'll know better. :p

 

Please share your car information with us!

 

Be well!

[Sandycruise]

Hey, all! I just posted a long detailed review about the entertainment on the Dawn and it was somehow erased. SO I decided to do a search and try to figure out what Broadway play I might have seen one of the the male singing leads in. (His name was Todd Noel). Well, I stumbled across this picture of the performers from our cruise. Check it out!

 

http://www.toddnoel.com/photoalbum2/rave%20opening/pages/cast_jpg.htm

 

There are more pix here

 

http://www.toddnoel.com/

 

Here is a site with the promo videos of the shows we saw! Guess I don't have to rewrite that review after all!

 

http://www.jeanannryanproductions.com/toppage4.htm

 

OK, I know I really need a life and I am so ticked that my review did not go through. BYE!

[Sandycruise]

Hi All! Please forgive the horrible grammar in the above post. I can't remember which president said "That sentence should be taken out and shot" during a debate, but...Good thing my English teacher does not monitor these boards.

 

Just wanted to let you know that the link below has a clip from "Music of the Night" one of the ship's productions that was so beautiful I had chills. The long review of the shows which somehow got sent to internet no-man's-land was not near as expressive as the sites I posted. A picture (and sound clip) is truly worth a thousand words.

 

http://www.toddnoel.com/audio/audioFrameset.htm

 

It turns out I could not have seen this performer on Broadway, so I guess he must just have one of those looks and stage presences that lends itself to feeling you've seen him before. Enjoy the clips, though I have to tell you the visuals and recorded sound don't come anywhere NEAR seeing it live.

 

One teeny little problem with the shows. After painstakingly designing costumes, hair, even having them change jewelry mid-scene, there was a flaw that seemed out of character for the company's detail oriented profile.

 

The dancer who performed the breathtaking lifts had the most amazing tiny little waist I'd ever seen. Not anorexic, but just plain perfect. It was obvious that they needed to cinch her costumes at the waist. Well, these costumes were beautifully designed. Many were flesh toned so it gave the impression that she just had designs painted on her body. This was not done is a tacky way, but added to the illusion of movement that seemed impossible for the human body. In several different scenes, they cinched the waist of her costumes with a bright white elastic. They did the same thing the following night, so it was not an elastic emergency type of situation. We were in port the day of the second night, so someone could have looked for flesh colored elastic. If I were directing, I'd have patted some flesh colored powder or foundation on the elastic to blend it, but I've been known to drive people nuts with my over-attention to detail.

 

The white elastic was a distraction from the illusions that the lighting, sets, costumes, and music were trying to create. It did not spoil anything for anyone, I'm sure, but I can't figure out how no one caught it before sending it out on stage.

 

Or, maybe I was just jealous of that girl's perfection! :rolleyes:

[Sandycruise]

OK, Let me tell you about the ship's virtual tour. It appears the galley tours, where cruisers would go behind the scenes, have been discontinued. I'm not sure, but I think that may be related to some public health issues.

 

ANyway, the cruise director gives a virtual tour in the theatre with slides. It was a truly interesting time and I'd recommend not missing it! I especially enjoyed the behind the scenes views of the crew area, something that was never included in previous tours.

 

Here are a few fun facts from the virtual tour:

 

Cost to build $420 million

1000 gallons to paint exterior

3000 for interior

 

Life boats: 20, each holding 150 people (3000 total)

life rafts with 101 person capacity (2020 persons altogether)

max guest and crew capacity is 4000, while combined boat and raft capacity is 5020.

(My personal take-I saw the little half circles drawn for people to sit on and there are pleanty of people on board who would take up two of those half circles. If one of the laws of physics (2 objects cannot occupy the same space at the same time) applies, I'm very happy we have more capacity than people!)

 

Life jackets 8096 plus 20 infant jackets.

 

Dawn is an azipod ship, meaning there are no rudders behind the propellers. THe azipod can turn the ship 360 degrees.

(I saw this on a few occasions as the ship turned on a dime to get into a port, and I have to say it was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. I would have needed more space to make a K turn with my Saturn!)

 

Personel

1115 people from over 50 countries.

3 departments

 

DECK

Led by Captain and includes all Bridge Officers, Deck, Medical, Security, and Safety depts.

 

ENGINE

Led by CHief Engineer

 

HOTEL

Led by the Hotel Director (Klaus Lugmaier) and includes all Stewards, Pursers, Cruise Director and Staff, Galley and Bar Staff.

 

That is just a part of the info you'll get at the virtual tour, so don't miss it!

 

That's all for now, Folks!

[shoreguy]

Thank you for the links. There is a hidden surprise with pics from the current cruise with Both the Dawn and a the Spirit in Antigua on the 10th.

 

http://www.toddnoel.com/photoalbum2/rebeccas%20trip/rebeccastrip.htm

[Dolphins]

I note that Norwegian Dawn was able to dock in St. Thomas which is unusual since it arrives late. We had to tender there on our last 11 day cruise. Hope we can dock on Dec. 1st.

[zyezye]

You can also go to Jean Ryan Production web page

and watch clips from Bollywood, South Beach Rave, ect.

 

http://www.jeanannryanproductions.com/toppage4.htm

[Sandycruise]

Thank you for the links. There is a hidden surprise with pics from the current cruise with Both the Dawn and a the Spirit in Antigua on the 10th.

 

http://www.toddnoel.com/photoalbum2/rebeccas%20trip/rebeccastrip.htm

 

Shoreguy! THose pix were awesome! I think NCL should print some of them. Or, better yet, fire the Dawn's current photographers and hire Todd Noel as a singing photographer. :D. I'll bet people wouldn't have those annoyed looks on their faces then. :p I love pictures of several cruise ships docked together.

 

I'm intrigued. I saw that Becca in a few photos before. Does anyone know if she is in the show? She has a face like poetry.

[Sandycruise]

Hi Everyone!

 

Klaus was on Good Morning America with the Dawn this morning. There is another thread that goes into more detail about it.

[Sandycruise]

Boo Hooo! I am emptying my last suitcase finally. :( When is my next cruise?

[Sandycruise]

Happy Thanksgiving!

[madelinerose]

Same here! Every pic I've seen makes the cabin decor look so dark and busy with a mishmash of very bright colors. I particularly don't like those tropical-looking flowered bedspreads shown on some pics/virtual tours. I am so glad to hear about the white duvets/comforters. IMHO, it makes a huge difference. ;)

 

Hi Everyone!

 

The colors in the cabin were perfect...tasteful and not that dreadful combination of neons that I've seen. The art was very well chosen, with pictures of underwater scenes.

 

I"m so glad someone has finally mentioned the stateroom color scheme! I too had reservations about those horrid neon stateroom colors shown in all the brochures and virutual tours. I kept thinking they could trigger a migrane for sure. Now I'm really ready to get on board!!!

[biloxi92]

Its been a while and I guess we just never posted because that would have meant the cruise had come and gone. Back to reality, laundry done etc. We had a wonderful time. The Dawn was breathtaking, all the picture of her look like a post card.

 

First I would like to thank Sandy for setting up the meeting for us. It gave gave us the opportunity to meet people we would never have. And hopefully we will keep in touch with. It was great walking around the ship and seeing people that we knew and just met. Thank you the conversations were great.

 

For those that weren't able to meet the rest of us, I wish you did. We gathered that evening for a wonderful and memorable dinner and that is about the food and company. The service was fabulous.

 

For all those that sailed before us, some complained about the service, they all said that because tips were included the staff didn't hustle. I found the staff and management on this ship to be the most curteous bunch of people who provided service with a smile. This includes those that delivered trays laden with snacks for my son as he fulfilled his room service fantasies.

 

I enjoyed all the restaurants that we dined in. For the most part breakfast was either in the cabin or in the Garden Cafe, the choices were plentiful and quite tasty.

 

Lunch, if we had was at poolside. The ice cream bar Sprinkles was my favorite, except they changed the flavors too often, so natuarlly we had to try them.

 

Dinner, loved La Trattoria, Aqua and Impressions. The habachi in bamboo was worth the upcharge. My son and his crazy eating schedule allowed us a visit to Blue Lagoon, we didn't eat, he did and what can I say but fried is fried. We ate in Salsa, I thought it would be better, it was good and what I had was great, but I thought it would be more Tex-Mex than it was. My least favorite was the Venitan. Food and service was great, I just found it a little too noisy.

 

Excursions, we did not find the prices way out of line for the excursions and the convenience of making reservations from the comforts of my home and having the tickets delivered to the cabin was great. Also no problems with making changes or cancelling. The price was even less than on the brochure.

 

More to come

[Sandycruise]

Biloxi, hello! It is so great to hear from you! Hope all is well.

[Sandycruise]

Hey Eddie and Ellen, sorry we've been unable to get together for dinner AGAIN! Hubby's family has a tendency to explode into chaos every holiday and this one with two siblings just getting out of the hospital, another just getting out of ICU, (but still in the hospital) and a father going into the hospital this Monday is, apparently, no exception.

 

Hubby sent you a long IM, which I explained to him you may never have seen, since he did not e-mail it.

 

Well, main reason I'm posting is to say the entertainer Todd NOel updated his site with some GREAT shots.

 

 

http://www.jeanannryanproductions.com/toppage4.htm

 

http://www.toddnoel.com/

 

You have GOT to check it out!

 

BYE!

[Sandycruise]

Hey Eddie and Ellen,

trying to track you down. Missed your IM last night! Hope your cold is better!

[Sandycruise]

CHecking in to see if any of you are still out there. Any cruises coming up in your future?

 

Eddie, my kids tell me that sometimes an IM pops up from you while they are online. (I let them surf when I do private practice sessions downstairs, but they are not allowed to open IM's). Let me know how you and the family are.

 

Hope to hear from the old cruisers!