Dawn Review April 4-11 -- A "Suite" Spring Break Story

[CC Help Michell]

Hi, everyone! We flew back from Miami today and while the laundry's going and I'm getting ready to head back to school tomorrow I finished my review of our spring break cruise on the Dawn and submitted it to CC. Since publication takes a few days, I'll also post it here. I glanced at the posts and it seems at least one review from the cruise before ours has generated a lot of buzz, so I'll be curious to see what it says!

 

Enjoy and as always, feel free to ask any questions. I have all the dailies, and a ton of photos I'm still working my way through prior to uploading.

 

MichellP

 

 

This cruise was intended as a relaxing spring break getaway for my SO and me. We are experienced cruisers, and I’m an elementary teacher – so when I found a great price on an AE Penthouse for this spring break sailing back in 2007 I booked it – yes, we waited nearly two years for this cruise! We are 40-somethings and it’s just the two of us when we cruise, so I’m afraid I won’t have much helpful info to offer about children’s programs and such. Our goal was to enjoy ourselves, relax as much as possible, try the various specialty restaurants – and basically rest and rejuvenate.

Pre-Cruise: We flew into Miami on Friday, the day prior to sailing, on Delta. Our flight left a bit late but landed on time at MIA. We had reserved a town car through LeBlanc Limousine (http://www.leblanclimo.com) and our driver was waiting for us at baggage claim. He stopped by a Publix for us so we could get soft drinks for the cruise, then dropped us off at the Intercontinental. I’d originally reserved a room at the Holiday Inn POM, but about three weeks prior to the cruise TravelZoo offered a fabulous deal at the Intercontinental. A guaranteed harbor view room at the IC was only $10 more than a standard room at the Holiday Inn (no view guaranteed), so we switched. We were really glad, too. The room was enormous, with a fabulous view of the ships sailing on Friday – the Norwegian Sky, the Norwegian Pearl, Carnival Inspiration, and the Jewel of the Seas. We walked over to Bayside for dinner at the Hard Rock.

Embarkation: We woke up Saturday morning fairly early, to the sight of our ship, the Norwegian Dawn, plus Liberty of the Seas and Carnival Liberty. As we took our time getting ready we saw the U.S. Navy Hospital Ship Comfort pulling into port with a fireboat water salute. Around 11:15 AM we took a cab to the port, arriving around 11:30 AM. Check in was a breeze since this trip we sailed in a suite. We met the concierge, Anshuman, and his assistant Edwin, and gave them our dining preferences list. We were escorted onto the ship and were sitting down in Cagney’s to lunch by 12:10 PM. It was a wonderful, relaxing beginning to the trip. After lunch we visited the El Dorado Spa, and booked the spa package for the duration of the trip -- $150 per couple, or $99 for an individual.

The Ship: The Dawn is a very well-maintained ship. We saw cleaning and polishing going on at all hours during the cruise. I found the layout confusing at first, due to the large atrium in the middle breaking up several of the decks. I studied the deck plans (again – I THOUGHT I’d done that before the cruise, but not well enough, apparently!), and decided to use Deck 7 as the main thoroughfare to get to the various elevator banks. That helped a lot, plus it was convenient – our cabin was on Deck 8 so we only had to walk down one flight. One thing I really liked about the Dawn was the art deco brass artwork in several places onboard.

Our sailing was over spring break and the week before Easter, and the ship was very, very full. There were over 2700 passengers and over 800 children. Even so, the ship seems to handle those kinds of loads fairly well. There were only a few times where we really felt like part of a crowd, but as I mentioned above there were only two of us and we weren’t sailing with kids who wanted to use the main pool, etc.

Cabin: Our cabin was 8670, an AE cabin looking out over the stern of the ship. It was wonderfully quiet, since it is located away from foot traffic and the elevators. The cabin is large, with tons of storage space (hanging, drawers, and shelves). We loved the bathroom arrangement with the tub and shower. The bedding was very comfortable, and the pillow menu was a nice touch – I could order firmer pillows, which I prefer. The large TV with built-in DVD player was much appreciated – we brought our own DVDs and enjoyed watching them in the evenings. My SO really liked the espresso machine, while I liked having the fridge (we asked our steward to empty it so I could use it for soft drinks, milk, etc.). We also enjoyed the extra room in this cabin, with enough space for a small sofa, a cushioned chair, plus a dining table with four chairs.

Ship’s Staff and Crew: We thought Anshuman and his staff were simply outstanding. This was our first trip with concierge privileges, but it won’t be our last. We never did quite figure out what our butler was for (perhaps this is something he could have explained) – he didn’t seem to do the kinds of things I’ve read of here at Cruise Critic (I’d read he was responsible for our in-cabin dining requests, but we were rebuffed on the first sea day when I called during the afternoon to see if we could get some orange juice to make mimosas). After that I basically didn’t call him again until the last night, when we wanted Cagney’s in our cabin for supper – I guess I just didn’t know what he was for, if bringing us juice wasn’t part of his duties, and we were having a great cruise anyway so just let it slide.

Our steward (Salaam) and his assistant were really personable and nice, and they did an adequate job of keeping the room clean and restocked. Like others have posted here, I think these folks must be greatly over-worked. They appeared to be responsible for servicing at least 25 cabins twice per day. There wasn’t anything major that happened, but there were several minor things I noticed during the week – just a few forgotten things (like no wash cloths one night; trash can not put back in room one morning) that made me think they must be really stressed.

We met a lot of waitstaff during the week and they were uniformly friendly, smiling, and efficient. I left a STYLE card for Jessica, our waitress at LeBistro – she was SO sweet and really worked hard to make sure we had a memorable meal. Bar staff was also really good overall, though one lady at Pearly Kings could use some retraining – right after muster drill I stopped by there to pick up a bucket of beer so we could put some in the cabin and there was a lady ahead of me getting a daiquiri. Apparently the bartender thought the woman had ordered her drink “virgin” and the customer smiled and said “oh no I’m sorry, you must have misunderstood me – maybe when I said I wanted it frozen? Anyway, please just pour some in and I’ll stir it up.” The bartender said “No, I made you exactly what you said to make you.” The other customer and I just looked at one another, pretty amazed. Other than that, though, I didn’t encounter or witness any kind of rudeness or poor service during the cruise.

The things we’d ordered or should have received were all in our cabin on sailing: Romance package letter, chocolate covered strawberries from romance package, champagne from romance package, champagne from NCL, Latitudes party invite, Latitudes pins (heard those are going away, but we received them on the Dawn), VIP party invite, and so on.

We thought the crew earned every penny of the $12 per person daily service charge, and we tipped extra for nearly everyone as well. We really thought everyone was trying their best to help us feel pampered and welcome – and we did.

Entertainment: We have always enjoyed the entertainment on NCL ships and the Dawn was no exception. Shona, the cruise director (filling in for John Ibrahim during his vacation) was really great – funny, animated, engaging, and friendly. We greatly enjoyed chatting with her in the hot tub in the spa one afternoon (she initiated the conversation – we figured she was enjoying her down time and were going to leave her alone!). George, from the entertainment staff, ran the morning and afternoon trivia games at Pearly Kings, and he did a great job (even though they weren’t very heavily attended).

The ship is literally filled with music all day and evening long. Show band, pianists, vocalists – something was going on all the time. The night time shows we made it to were really good – we thought Band on the Run was best, but we also enjoyed Bollywood and the welcome aboard show. The magician was okay (his tricks were much better than his delivery/showmanship), and we were sorry to have missed the comedian’s late night show, because we thought he was pretty funny at the welcome show – but unfortunately we fell asleep the night of his adult show.

Casino, Spa, Internet: We didn’t win big at the casino, but we did enjoy the time we spent there. I like the chances for match play NCL offers, and the slot tournament is always fun. The casino wasn’t as smoky as many I’ve encountered, but the smell was definitely noticeable. There are non-smoking machines up in Spinnaker’s, though, as an option if you just like slots.

Buying the week-long spa pass was the best decision we made all week! It was heavenly with the two different types of hot tubs, the lap pool, the steam room, the sauna, the loungers facing the ocean, the relaxation rooms, water and juice, showers and blow dryers, etc. Considering our sailing was so full, the spa was a quiet haven and we thoroughly enjoyed it every day of the cruise.

No in-cabin internet was available during our cruise – a big disappointment to us, so we didn’t buy a package as we usually do. Apparently they’ve removed all the hard-wired connections to prepare to go wireless throughout the ship, but it’s still in transition. We did take the laptop to the internet café one day to send 2 emails we’d composed ahead of time and spent over 15 minutes getting connected and waiting for acknowledgement that the emails had been sent. After that we went “old school” – no phones, no faxes, no internet!

Food: Food is subjective, I know. We aren’t “foodies” by any means and it doesn’t take much to make us happy. All I can report is our impressions and experiences, and I’m going to since we tried lots of the specialty dining venues and someone might find this information helpful.

Great experiences, plus the things we liked best:

• Salsa’s (warm lobster tacos and Il Popo),
  
• Teppanyaki (shrimp and filet combo, mochi ice cream),
  
• Le Bistro (escargot, chocolate fondue),
  
• Cagney’s (shrimp cocktail, filet, prime rib), and
  
• breakfast offerings at Cagney’s – that was a wonderful way to begin our days.
  

Okay (“no complaints”) experiences:

· the sushi restaurant (we had lunch there one sea day),

· Bamboo (the appetizers were especially good),

· room service club sandwich and hamburger (delivered at 3 am when we woke up hungry one night – have to love that!),

· the Garden Café buffet (but we did avoid peak times here)

Poor experiences:

· Blue Lagoon’s wings (this was SUCH a disappointment to me – I’ve loved the hot wings at BL in the past, but on the Dawn they offered tiny wings which tasted like they were previously-frozen and then baked to warm them up, with a small bit of sauce poured on them before they were served – they weren’t hot either in temperature or in spiciness),

· Lobster Night at Venetian (very tiny portions – 2 asparagus tips were my entire appetizer, plus the food was barely warm by the time it was served – I expected the lobster to be pretty rubbery/tough – but it was also cold!)

· Impressions (the appetizers were okay, but my osso buco was mushy and flavorless – so much so I actually returned it and asked for lobster ravioli instead – the ravioli was okay, not great – and the pizza here was just plain inedible)

Again, those food judgments are our opinions only – and any restaurant can have an off day.

Ports of Call: We were blessed with gorgeous weather on this trip and made all of our ports of call without any problems at all. In the first port, Samana, Dominican Republic, we booked a ship excursion (Caves, Mangroves & Beach Exploration). One thing we really liked about this excursion was that the tour operator picked us up right off the ship and off we went – since this is a tender port I liked not having to tender into town first. We enjoyed seeing the sights on this tour a lot – I will say these open boats were extremely hot on this warm day, and there is a good bit of walking up and down hill in the caves – it was nice to be dropped off at Cayo Levantado and to sit down in the shade with a pina colada (served in a pineapple -- $5 each; beer was $3 each).

Our second port of call was St. Thomas, U.S.V.I. We booked an independent tour here – Air Force One, with “Papa Bear” (http://www.havefunwithus.com). This was a great day! Papa Bear was very knowledgeable and informative. I was impressed right off the bat when he apologized profusely to those of us who met him on time, saying he was missing seven others and asked if we minded if he waited just a few minutes for them. We all said that was fine, and four of the others did arrive within ten minutes. Papa Bear handled it very professionally, and was an excellent tour guide (and advocate for his island!). We stopped at several overlooks as he explained some of the history and geography of the island. He shared information about some of the local flora with us (a bay leaf tree, stinky toe fruit, breadfruit, a cashew tree), and then dropped us at Sapphire Beach to spend a few hours. This was a gorgeous beach, with several places to find shade, on the beach food service, a bar nearby, and it wasn’t too crowded (we heard later that both Magen’s Bay and Coki Beach were jammed with cruise passengers that day – three large ships including Independence of the Seas). We returned to the ship well ahead of sailing time, and could have been dropped off downtown or at Havensight Mall to shop if we’d wanted. We highly recommend this tour -- $25 per person, payable at the end of the tour, but you must reserve ahead of time – Papa Bear doesn’t pick up folks at the pier just to fill his bus.

The third port of call was Tortola, B. V. I. After dithering a good bit over what to do here, we booked the half-day Patouche catamaran sail to the Baths at Virgin Gorda (http://www.patouche.com). This was a SUPER choice! The cab driver arranged by Julie at Patouche, Carlton, was right at the pier to meet us and the other family from the Dawn taking the tour – there were five of us in all, and we had the catamaran to ourselves! Clive, the captain, and Branson, the mate, were informative and friendly – the music was good – the sail across Drake Channel was scenic and fun – it was just a super relaxing experience. After we arrived at the Baths Branson led us on a snorkel tour from the catamaran to the beach, then we walked/crawled/climbed through the Baths to Devil’s Bay, and at that point we were free to swim for a while, sun on the beach, snorkel some more, and eventually to swim back out to the catamaran. As we were making our way out to the catamaran we saw two different large tour groups arriving – apparently the ship tours from the Princess ship and either the Dawn or the Costa ship. We were SO glad we’d been able to make our way through the Baths without large groups on the scene. On the sail back to East End they raised the spinnaker and let the wind take us most of the way back – it was completely quiet and so peaceful. They offered snacks, soft drinks, water, beer, and rum punch as well. This was just a wonderful day – we can’t thank the good folks at Patouche enough.

We also had a day at Great Stirrup Cay, NCL’s private island, on this trip. We were on the first tender of the day – which I highly recommend – it’s worth getting up early to get as early a tender ticket as possible. Only two tenders were running (apparently there are two others but both were being serviced on our day), and we heard stories of folks waiting over two hours in corridors and stairwells just to get on the tenders. Later arrivals at the beach also had trouble finding chairs. We felt very fortunate not to have had those issues, and we really enjoyed our day on the beach. I also enjoyed snorkeling once I finally got out far enough to see anything, but I really don’t like having to wear a float vest – I think I understand why they require it (liability, probably) but I still don’t like it!

Overall impressions: We had a wonderful week on the Dawn. She’s a beautiful ship, with a great staff and crew. Our main goal for this trip was to relax, and we were able to do that very well, especially by purchasing the spa pass for the cruise. I would love to sail the Dawn again out of New York to Bermuda. We bought a Cruise Rewards on this trip, and might well use it on the Dawn.

[mickeysgal]

Ship’s Staff and Crew: We thought Anshuman and his staff were simply outstanding. This was our first trip with concierge privileges, but it won’t be our last. We never did quite figure out what our butler was for (perhaps this is something he could have explained) – he didn’t seem to do the kinds of things I’ve read of here at Cruise Critic (I’d read he was responsible for our in-cabin dining requests, but we were rebuffed on the first sea day when I called during the afternoon to see if we could get some orange juice to make mimosas). After that I basically didn’t call him again until the last night, when we wanted Cagney’s in our cabin for supper – I guess I just didn’t know what he was for, if bringing us juice wasn’t part of his duties, and we were having a great cruise anyway so just let it slide.

 

I'd like to know what they really do as well. Dining arrangements would be made via the concierge, not a butler. We're sailing soon in an AE suite on the GEM but I really can't put my finger on what a butler does that a concierge already doesn't take care of.

[Stillfloatin']

Nicely written review. Thanks for sharing!

[Grandpaul]

We mainly use the butler for in-cabin meals.

 

Was Hugo, the Hotel Manager on board?

 

Liked your review. The Dawn is my favorite ship and I'm heading out on her later this month.

 

One of my favorite things about a Spring Break cruise is watching the college students opening their bill on the last day and looking at their bar tab. I'm glad my boys are out of school.

[lidstone]

:)Could you explain the spa pass to me?

Thanks!

[SolidGoldCruiser]

Mickeysgal - We were confused on this, as well. It was explained to us that the Butler takes care of you "in the cabin" and the concierge sets up dining/events "outside the cabin."

 

What we liked best about having a Butler is the option of having all the menus from all the restaurants available in the cabin (you might have to request this) and then being able to order anything you want to dine "en suite."

 

Enjoy!

[crusingalong]

Grandpaul, you are lucky to be be going on the Dawn NY to Bermuda. My DH and I were on the Dawn 3/21/09 cruise (Eastern Caribbean) and were lucky to have been invited to have dinner with The Hotel Director HUGO. Enjoyed the cruise so much that we signed up for cruise rewards. We told Hugo that we would be booking again and he wanted us to do the NY to Bermuda-But sadly to say- we cruise but not quite that often. The Ny-Bermuda cruise is a bit too soon plus it involves flying from our western location. I would like to cruise again some other time with him as HD. He is so personable, caring and compassionate. Wouldn't you agree?

Ruth & Bill

[doglover5]

I was amazed by Hugo on our Dawn trip in March. Could not believe how often we saw him in different areas of the ship and how eager he was to make sure we were enjoying our cruise and everything was going smoothly. He has a great crew and his enthusiasm seems contageous as we found the his staff excellent.

[nyflush]

Thanks so much for your review of the Dawn:)

 

Was Ravi your butler? the butler should have brought you any room service you ordered including breakfast or lunch from cagney's.

 

I hope they didnt change the wings in Blue lagoon, They were so good on our last cruise.

[Grandpaul]

Grandpaul, you are lucky to be be going on the Dawn NY to Bermuda. My DH and I were on the Dawn 3/21/09 cruise (Eastern Caribbean) and were lucky to have been invited to have dinner with The Hotel Director HUGO. Enjoyed the cruise so much that we signed up for cruise rewards. We told Hugo that we would be booking again and he wanted us to do the NY to Bermuda-But sadly to say- we cruise but not quite that often. The Ny-Bermuda cruise is a bit too soon plus it involves flying from our western location. I would like to cruise again some other time with him as HD. He is so personable, caring and compassionate. Wouldn't you agree?

Ruth & Bill

 

Couldn't agree more about Hugo. Great guy. I can't remember another Hotel Manager off the top of my head. Only him. You are quite a distance from New York. Lake Tahoe area. An absolutely beautiful area. I usually like to combine a trip there with one to Yosemite. We like to ski out there too. I keep looking for the cops from Reno 911 but can't find 'em. LOL.

[CC Help Michell]

We mainly use the butler for in-cabin meals.

 

Was Hugo, the Hotel Manager on board?

 

Liked your review. The Dawn is my favorite ship and I'm heading out on her later this month.

 

One of my favorite things about a Spring Break cruise is watching the college students opening their bill on the last day and looking at their bar tab. I'm glad my boys are out of school.

 

Hugo was onboard; we saw him often. I didn't pursue the whole butler thing up the ladder (other than asking Anshuman about it on the last day when we wanted to order Cagney's delivered to our room -- just to confirm that IS something our butler should do for us. Anshuman (gently) chided me for not bringing it to his attention earlier, but truly it didn't affect our cruise that much and I didn't want to spend my vacation time complaining). You can't really miss what you don't know you are supposed to have -- which is why I said that perhaps the butler should explain their role up front, or even maybe the concierge staff taking care of check in could do that.

 

:)Could you explain the spa pass to me?

Thanks!

 

Sure, there's an adult-only spa area on the Dawn with a lap pool, two hot tubs, loungers looking out over the back of the ship, relaxation rooms, a steam room, and a sauna. You can purchase a spa pass to all those areas (plus the changing room) even without booking spa treatments. We used it every single day during the cruise. In the next day or two I should get my photos uploaded and I'll come back here and post a few pictures to show the area.

 

Thanks so much for your review of the Dawn:)

 

Was Ravi your butler? the butler should have brought you any room service you ordered including breakfast or lunch from cagney's.

 

I hope they didnt change the wings in Blue lagoon, They were so good on our last cruise.

 

I intentionally didn't name our butler; I'm a teacher, so I praise in public and critique in private. ;) As I said above I did at least mention it to Anshuman, so hopefully corrections will be made. I believe our butler was fairly new either to the Dawn, or to butler-ing (buttling?), or both -- which might answer your question?

 

I hope for your sake the wings are better on your cruise than ours -- it's funny, because I'm truly low-maintenance when it comes to food, but I'd SO been looking forward to those wings and they were such a disappointment! :( Good thing there were only about a zillion other things to eat on the ship! :D

[kallen3024]

MichelleP,

 

We were on the same cruise, and as it turns out, the same floor. Salaam was also my cabin steward...what a small world (or forum).

 

Kelli

[CC Help Michell]

MichelleP,

 

We were on the same cruise, and as it turns out, the same floor. Salaam was also my cabin steward...what a small world (or forum).

 

Kelli

 

Sure is! Welcome to CC -- hope you had a great cruise, as we did!

[kendallison]

Hi! We are sailing on the Pearl in October but with the same itinerary that you just did. A few Q's...

 

Was the limo less expensive than taking a cab from the airport to the Interconinetal?

 

What hours were you in Tortola? We will be there from 7AM to 3PM. Is that enough time to do the tour you did? What was the cost?

 

Thanks!

Susan

[CC Help Michell]

Hi! We are sailing on the Pearl in October but with the same itinerary that you just did. A few Q's...

 

Was the limo less expensive than taking a cab from the airport to the Interconinetal?

 

What hours were you in Tortola? We will be there from 7AM to 3PM. Is that enough time to do the tour you did? What was the cost?

 

Thanks!

Susan

 

A cab straight to the Intercontinental should be cheaper than the car service -- but I couldn't ever get a straight answer from a cab company about what they would charge us to stop en route and wait for us (the grocery store stop we wanted to make), and I was afraid it would be one of those unknowns that could wind up very pricey -- like $2 a minute or something. I also priced renting a car for the day, and the town car was much cheaper than doing that.

 

We were in Tortola from 10 AM - 7 PM, and we didn't worry about having enough time since we booked that excursion through the ship. It was $89 per person. Hope you have a great cruise!

[terrymtex01]

Michell, thank you for taking the time to write and post such a great review that was wonderful reading. I do have a question and OF COURSE...lol.. it is something you mentioned about the casino. What is the "match play" you mentioned? I don't remember any promo's like that before.

 

I am so glad you had such a nice time on the Dawn. We have 200 days to go, but we can not wait to board her this coming Nov.

[kendallison]

We were in Tortola from 10 AM - 7 PM, and we didn't worry about having enough time since we booked that excursion through the ship. It was $89 per person.

 

I'm confused... I thought Patouche was a private tour not an NCL tour.

[CC Help Michell]

We were in Tortola from 10 AM - 7 PM, and we didn't worry about having enough time since we booked that excursion through the ship. It was $89 per person.

 

I'm confused... I thought Patouche was a private tour not an NCL tour.

 

It is -- I didn't read your post very carefully; I'm sorry -- you said Tortola and I read Samana (guess I'm out of practice after a week away from keyboard)!! We were in Tortola from 8 AM to 4 PM. We were at Patouche's dock by 8:40, and left their dock to head back to the ship at 1:15 or so. We were easily back at the ship by 1:45, and could have shopped or walked around Roadtown for about 90 minutes before all aboard. They were well aware what time we needed to be back at the ship, and their half day trip fit well within our time in port -- your times are a bit tighter, but you could call to see whether this trip would work for you as well.

[CC Help Michell]

Michell, thank you for taking the time to write and post such a great review that was wonderful reading. I do have a question and OF COURSE...lol.. it is something you mentioned about the casino. What is the "match play" you mentioned? I don't remember any promo's like that before.

 

I am so glad you had such a nice time on the Dawn. We have 200 days to go, but we can not wait to board her this coming Nov.

 

Hi, Terry! The match play I used came from the casino booklet we were given when we got our Casinos at Sea cards (like buy $10 in chips and get an extra $5 chip, $10 in slot play when you purchase $10 in play, the house matching a $10 bet at the poolside table), and from the Cruise Reward we purchased ($15 in slot play when we purchased $15 -- can't recall if that one had a table match option or not). Obviously nothing major, they were just fun and as a result I spent more time (and therefore more money!) in the casino than I normally do.

 

Let me know if you have any more questions -- I think you'll love the Dawn; she's a very "happy ship" with a really good staff and crew.

[kendallison]

It is -- I didn't read your post very carefully; I'm sorry -- you said Tortola and I read Samana (guess I'm out of practice after a week away from keyboard)!! We were in Tortola from 8 AM to 4 PM. We were at Patouche's dock by 8:40, and left their dock to head back to the ship at 1:15 or so. We were easily back at the ship by 1:45, and could have shopped or walked around Roadtown for about 90 minutes before all aboard. They were well aware what time we needed to be back at the ship, and their half day trip fit well within our time in port -- your times are a bit tighter, but you could call to see whether this trip would work for you as well.

 

Thanks! We are travelling in a small group and we are the only ship in port that day so they may work with us. What was the cost? How long was the cab ride and what was the cost of that?

[kendallison]

One more question... was the water you had to swim across to get to the baths from the catamaran somewhat clear? My daughter does not like to swim in water that she can't see in... she has watched too many shark shows on Discovery.

[kallen3024]

Samana was my favorite port, and it's the one everyone said would be a waste of our time. When we got to Samana we were greated by dozens of "tour guides" and taxi drivers. I picked one of them out of the crowd, he found us a taxi driver, and the two of them spent the entire day with us. Our "tour guide" spoke many different languages and seemed known/liked by people everywhere we went. We knew we wanted to go to the waterfall, so he told the driver to take us there. We stopped several times along the way to take photo's of sights our "tour guide" thought we might be interested in. When we got to the area where we would park the car to hike to the waterfall, the taxi driver waited in the car and to my suprise the "tour guide" went with us. The hike wasn't bad at all (especially considering that I was wearing flip-flops). There were several people along the trail with cooler's, selling water, soda, rum, and beer. Okay, the hike wasn't bad considering I was wearing flip-flops and carrying a beer (or two :D). After the waterfall, we went to the beach for a couple of hours, and finished up the afternoon with a little shopping. Our "tour guide" was with us every step of the way. When we were at the beach, he was never more than a few hundred feet away. When we went shopping, he even haggled with vendors to get the best deals. We paid Miropez (our tour guide) $100, when he delivered us back at the ship. We took his phone number (and a picture of his badge). I would recommend this type of service to anyone visiting Samana.

[CC Help Michell]

Thanks! We are travelling in a small group and we are the only ship in port that day so they may work with us. What was the cost? How long was the cab ride and what was the cost of that?

 

It was $80 per adults, less for kids (not sure how much), and Julie said that for this year they are covering the cab fare one way for cruise pax ($6 per person), but you pay it going the other way -- we just paid the driver $20 for both of us on our return to the ship. Hope that helps! :)

[CC Help Michell]

One more question... was the water you had to swim across to get to the baths from the catamaran somewhat clear? My daughter does not like to swim in water that she can't see in... she has watched too many shark shows on Discovery.

 

The water is extremely clear (completely gorgeous!). Here's a shot of our guide, Branson, in the water waiting for us to jump in with him -- you can clearly see his body under the water, and his bright green fins, as well as his head above --

 

 

And here's one more -- I was playing with a new waterproof system for my old digital camera and really got some good underwater pics this time (for the first time ever) -- here's a shot of the bottom taken while I was snorkeling -- you can even see the waviness in the sand 20+ feet below --

 

 

Hope that helps your daughter's anxiety! :) Feel free to ask if you have other questions.

[CC Help Michell]

As promised, here are some photos of the Dawn's spa area.

 

The aft view with loungers:

 

 

The lap pool (that's the lounger area past the pool, with juice and water station on the right -- you can see this is a large room):

 

 

The thalassotherapy hot tub:

 

 

The regular hot tub:

 

 

Hope that helps anyone considering the spa -- it's a large area, as you can see, and the amenities were really wonderful. Feel free to ask more questions if needed.