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4 hours ago, Chris_Texas said:

Happy to help.  We were VERY put off by the difficulty contacting Emerald ahead of time, but once we got there the cruise was fantastic.  Great cruise, beautiful ship, and the weather turned out fantastic.  

 

Masks were required anytime you were moving around, including when up at the buffet line. Once seated at dinner or in the lounge, you were allowed to remove your mask. It was a minor annoyance at worst - it really was no big deal. Compliance was probably 95% (the other 5% likely falling in the "I forgot my mask and am just going out to fill my water bottle" types of scenarios). I don't think there was anybody on board who just flat-out refused to wear one. We also had to mask up on bus rides and when entering castles/museums/cathedrals.

 

You can sit with whomever you like.  There was a lot of intermingling (too much, perhaps, since 3 of the 4 of our group tested positive for covid upon our return to the states - thankfully we were negative for the return-flight test). 

 

I don't know what form of documentation they accept. I had hardcopies, as did my wife - those were fine. I can't say beyond that because we were the first to board the ship.

 

We signed up for excursions in advance by calling Emerald (painful, I know). I don't know if anybody was blocked out of ExploreMORE excursions due to them being full, but I'd suggest taking the time to call them.  I had to call them after I returned home and I think the wait was only about 20 minutes.

 

The pool is heated (I never saw anybody in it) and enclosed. It gets quite warm in the pool room (comfortably warm, not stifling).  We had 2 pieces of laundry included so I didn't get prices on them - but the turnaround was same-day - leave it in the morning when you leave, it shows up sometime in the afternoon.

 

I hope you have a wonderful cruise.

Thank you so much for taking the time to provide such detailed and helpful information. We will take your advice and try (again) to get in touch with Emerald. Thank you!

On 4/20/2022 at 7:45 AM, Chris_Texas said:

I was on the Emerald Dawn that cruised the Rhine between April 10 and 17.  They tested everyone around lunchtime on Apr 16 and results were available after dinner.

Thanks for the information from a recent Emerald Dawn cruiser. I hope you had a wonderful cruise.

It's been so hard to find out information about Emerald with all of the website/customer service issues the last few months. May I ask if you would provide any more information about Covid-related policies on the cruise? For instance, when and where were masks required? Did you need to show a physical vaccination card or was a digital photo of the card accepted? Were you permitted to sit with different people at dinner? 

Other random questions -- Due to the website issues, we've been unable to sign-up for excursions. Do most people sign-up in advance? Is the indoor pool completely indoors and heated? Do you recall approximate laundry pricing on board and turn-around time?

Thanks in advance for any insight you can offer!

I don't think you have to worry about the ship sailing at full capacity simply because it appears they need to keep cabins empty and available to quarantine passengers testing positive during the cruise.

Currently the cruise director on the Dawn is Jodie Kelly and general manager is Tony Winkler.

I saw crepes last night on the Dawn when we were walking through the buffet, but I'm not sure if they have them every night.

Currently on the Dawn...no safe. We took a picture of all our valuables and count our money. According to guest services, the safes weren't working so they removed them from the cabins...

We were on the Dawn last month. After a number of NCL cruises, we decided to finally try Bamboo. We had not tried it before since we are generally very pleased with the food in the main dining room and the specialty restaurants. Since we enjoyed the Asian food during lunch in the buffet on the Dawn and other NCL ships,  we had hopes that the food in Bamboo would be just as tasty. 

Contrary to other comments above, we felt extremely rushed during our meal. We had 7:00 reservations and I think we were done in 30 minutes! Our soup and appetizers were all brought out at the same time (hard to eat two hot things at once) and our entrees were brought out quickly thereafter.  In addition, we found the Asian food served during the lunch buffet to be much more tasty.

At least we can say we tried it. However, I doubt we will return.

1 hour ago, KansasinJune said:

How does this delay self disembarkation?  We are on the Dawn in Feb and have a flight out at 11:50 am.   

Towards the end of the cruise, you will receive information regarding disembarkation and the time slots available to you. If I had a morning flight out, I would request the earliest time slot available to you. That way, if you end up at Terminal 2, you can be one of the 1st ones off the ship. The later you wait, the longer the back up becomes waiting in line on the ship and in the Terminal.

We received the same text before our cruise on the Dawn earlier this month. Having embarked and disembarked, I believe the problem is not with the Dawn, but rather with Terminal 2 in Tampa. It is our least favorite terminal.

Everyone coming off the ship is required to take an escalator or elevator downstairs once inside the terminal. You are required to have one hand free to ride the escalator. Otherwise, you are required to take the elevator. The wait for both the escalator and elevator were extremely long and this created a long line of people waiting to get off the ship. Needless to say, all of the passengers are not off the ship in a timely manner. I believe this is what delays the ship from being ready for the boarding of the new passengers. 

Terminal 2 also does not have a designated area for suite passengers until after you go through security. We arrived shortly before 12 and there was not a line outside the terminal (other cruises we have waited in a long line outside Terminal 2). Once inside the terminal, there was a line to get through security. After that, you can proceed to the suite check-in line.

There is a very large room used for spin and other classes that you can use for your workout even while a class is in session. There are extra hand weights in this room as well (up to around 10 lbs). There were also mats, bosu balls and pilates rings in this room. As for sliders, you will not find these. Either bring your own or use cheap white paper plates. They glide just as well! Enjoy your cruise!

According to the staff in Cagney's on our recent Jade cruise, they are exactly the same. One is just newer than the other. My husband enjoyed both and could not tell the difference between the two.

We recently returned from an Avalon cruise (different ship). We arrived at the ship around noon. We were able to leave our luggage on the ship at that time and have a light buffet lunch set up in the lounge. Cabins were not available until around 4pm which was fine since we wanted to explore the town in the afternoon. Have a wonderful cruise!

We were on the 2/25/18 to 3/4/18 Dawn sailing out of Tampa. We have sailed out of Tampa many times on different cruise lines (including NCL) and never had any issues with embarkation or disembarkation. Our experience this time was very different.

We arrived at the Port for embarkation shortly after 12pm. As others have stated, the line went on for blocks and blocks. It had just started to move when we arrived. Rumor had it there was a delay in the disembarkation of the passengers from the prior cruise (after our disembarkation, I understand why!). There were no porters to be seen so everyone was just trudging along with their luggage as the line slowly moved. We saw our first porter once we were at the door to go inside the terminal. (It was 1:30 at this point...at least our cabins were ready for us!) We (along with many other passengers) decided to just carry our luggage on the ship (a first) for fear of not seeing it again until 9pm. I believe it was between 2 and 3 by the time we finally got on the ship. Luckily, we had eaten before heading to the port. If I had expected to walk on the ship and have lunch, I would not have been happy. I heard they closed the lunch buffet and dining room at 2pm. Needless to say, O'Sheehan's was a zoo. The muster drill was at 3pm and there were still passengers waiting to get on the ship. I've never seen a muster drill without mandatory attendance of all passengers.

Moving on to disembarkation. Non-US citizens were supposed to clear customs first before any US citizens would be permitted to leave the ship. I'm not sure what time the non-US citizens were supposed to report, but US citizens were to begin disembarkation at 9am. Breakfast started shortly after 6 (I believe) and if you were a US citizen, you were permitted to remain in your cabin until 9am. Numerous announcements were made for the non-US citizens to report for check-in, followed by numerous announcements listing names of passengers holding up the process. Finally, close to 9am, they announced that US citizens could disembark. Good, right on time...

However, deck 7 was an absolute zoo. A chaotic line of passengers snaked around the entire length of the ship. If you chose to carry your own luggage off the ship, you were allowed to leave through a separate door. However, once off the ship, they were not permitting any passengers to proceed down the escalator. Security announced that they were still moving luggage off the ship and into the terminal with "big machines" so it was not safe for passengers to walk through the area (which you needed to do in order to reach the customs agents). It was probably closer to 9:30 once they allowed passengers down the escalator. I can't imagine what time they finally had all of the passengers off of the ship. If embarkation was any indicator, it was hours later.

Having said all of that, in between embarkation and disembarkation, all-in-all, we had a fabulous cruise!

1st cruise; RC; hope to snorkel for the 1st time.

Plan on Mayan Ruins tour, then day at Playa Palancar. Looking at reviews but confused; does anyone know - do we need to reserve a snorkel tour or can we do that right at the beach whenever we arrive, since we are not sure how long we will be at ruins?

When we have been to Playa Palancar, you sign up for the snorkel tour at the dive hut once you get to the beach.

If you wanted to snorkel @ Little French Key with your own equipment, is your only option to do the package that includes the boat ride/guided snorkel tour? Is it possible to swim out to the reef and snorkel on your own instead? Thanks for any feedback.