pathubia

Been there twice now, we love it. We usually book everything on our own, but decided to check it out this past January. We loved it so much we went back in November. The water was a little cloudy, it had rained the week before we got there. There are so many animals to check out, and you get to go in the monkey cage with two monkeys, they jump all over you, its pretty cool. You also get to hold a stick with a parrot on it. The food was pretty good, water and iced tea is included in the price, there is a cash bar, but none of us drank there. We were there for 4 hours, that was plenty. When we got back to the port area my daughter and her friend did the zipline.

Not too far off that in MA--we have broken records all over the state. No White Christmas here--but' date=' we'll take it for now--snow won't be too far away...:eek: Enjoy your holidays!:)[/quote']

 

Also from MA, loving the almost 70 degree weather today!!

 

Merry Christmas to all!!

Living in Florida, we're use to unpredictable beach conditions (seaweed, red tide, Vibrio vulnificus, and even those rare oil spills that can affect our coasts for years ) so it was really no big deal to us. We were just looking for time off the ship NOT shopping. But I can understand it being disappointing to those that don't get many beach days where they live.

 

Just gives us an excuse to go back another time!

That's the way we look at it too!! We live in Boston and you never know when the water will be ok to swim.

We were there in November, it was our 2nd time and already planning on going again in May.

Make sure you try "The Court of the Two Sisters" on Royal St. in the French Quarter. Enjoy your cruise!;)

We went there for their Saturday Jazz Brunch, beautiful setting, delicious and great music.

We tipped the chef in Teppanyki $10 extra ($5 per person), he was great and we had a really fun time.

I sail in 25 days and leave for NOLA in 21! I booked this cruise/trip way back in June 2014 and can't believe it is almost here. I've only sailed on NCL one other time, 7 day Hawaii. I'm very excited to experience this cruise line again and this time in a suite!

 

Thanks to all you CCers for all the very helpful tips and info about NCL!

You will have a great time. We have done this cruise twice and absolutely love it!!

NCL just added the repositioning cruise from Nola to Boston, April 23, 2017 on the Dawn to their website.

It is a 12 day cruise with 5 ports, Cozumel, Roatan, Cartagena, San Juan and Tortola.

The Pats usually do well in the Super Bowl, as long as the Giants aren't there.:D

No kidding, those two games were terrible for us. I don't think the Patriots need to worry about the Giants this year, though.

I think of the Patriots for the deflating scandal, either you love them or hate them. Like the Yankees or Red Sox i on the other hand love the Saints WHO DAT! and my beloved Blue Jays

We all love out teams whether it's the Pats deflate gate or the Saints bounty gate.

I would love to go on the Gronk cruise, but I already have two cruises booked and I don't think I can swing it right now. Looks like it will be a wild time!!

Myself, my daughter and her friend all used one password.

I had prepaid for the unlimited plan, I went to the internet café and set it up and we each used it on our phones (one at a time).

Were you able to stream music with the unlimited plan? I usually purchase the data plan so because of limits I haven't tried to stream. Was thinking of buying unlimited this time if I would be able to stream.

I don't know, I never tried.

While I'm sure there will be "special" parties for the people who paid Sixthman prices, I highly doubt it will be a 24/7 type thing. Also, I don't see how they could possibly keep the island party separate, since they could not prohibit other pax on the ship from going to the island.

 

I don't want to party (as I said, I'm too old for that), but it would be fun to share a ship with other Patriot fans, especially since I'm a short drive from the port.

I would love to take this cruise, just for the fun party atmosphere. I too am too old for the constant party time. We are all the way up in Boston though, and I do have a cruise in May and one in October. I wish he had done a Boston to Bermuda party cruise!! That would be one heck of a party, no airfare, just a short ride to the pier and start the party.

In the past there was a web site that allowed you to buy 50 dollars of casino credit for $25. for NCL Casinos..

Does anyone have the web address??

They stopped those about a year ago.

WOW !!! When the Gronk sailing was first announced, I thought it was a complete ship charter. I may want to go just to share the ship with other like minded Pat's fans, however, I wouldn't pay the Sixthman prices to participate in the festivities (plus, we're tooooo old for that kind of partying).

We thought the same thing....May have to book it now!!

Thank you!! That's fine, but I can switch from device to device as long as it isn't at the same time?

Yes, I gave my daughter and her friend my password and we were all able to sign in one at a time. When you log in, it gives you a message like "someone is already sign in, do you wish to continue".

I'm disappointed to see the Dawn coming back to Boston for 2017. I like the Dawn but I was ready for a different ship.

We are cruising on the Dawn two times next year, the last week before the refurbishment and then in October. Looking forward to the do-over.

First time I ever cruised was in the Star version of that room. The best part is if you want that balcony feel, just walk 20 feet down the hall and voilà!: You're on the Lido.

I did a cabin crawl in January, we were in a family suite with a balcony, but when I saw the one without the balcony, I said SOLD!! I do love having a balcony, but as I cruise I spend less and less time out there. Being on deck 12 is a plus, so close to the pool and if you want privacy, just find a quiet spot on deck 13.

Yes, David Klooster is his real name.

LOL, thanks!!

This is my great, good, bad and ugly review of the Dawn December 6th cruise.

 

Great

• My aft penthouse suite
  
• Butler, Orlando – Been with NCL for 17 years.
  
• Room Steward, Eric – Has also been with NCL for 17 years.
  
• Concierge, Patrick
  
• The Entire Crew – Everyone had a smile on their face and the service was outstanding. Sometimes they give what they get; a litle respect, a smile and a kind word goes a long way.
  
• Went to Guest Services a couple of times during the cruise to get copies of my bill and was always treated respectfully and with a smile.
  
• Meet and Greet – Jannia (CJR10) put together a great meet and greet with fantastic name tags and a fun game of bingo. The turnout was awesome. Thanks Jannia for all your hard work and I really enjoyed meeting you, Chris and Alex.
  
• Sail-A-Way party – Thanks to Linda and Ron (Candydane) for putting together a great party.
  
• Casino – Even though my spa treatment was well over the $150 credit, they picked up the entire thing. They also picked up all my charges, but some additional tips I had given out. Ended up being a winner….the first sea day, I won $2,754, so I was able to play on their money the rest of the cruise and able to take some money home as well.
  
• Cagney’s – Had three dinners there and they were all fantastic, as the food was well prepared, tasted great and the service was exceptional.
  
• Teppanyaki (Concierge had already made the reservations by the time I boarded, but had him change the times and there were no issues) – had two dinners there and both were great. The first dinner with other cruise critic members Brian and Jan (rvsullivan), Connie and Jim (Ohiotek) and Jorge and Dawn (hammockqueen..) was a lot of fun and the company was awesome. Jorge, thanks for all the information on Cuba. The second dinner with Brian and Jan (rvsullivan) was fantastic and we had a great time and lots of laughs. Loved dining and cruising with others who were very positive about their cruising experiences. The food is always well prepared, great tasting and you get a nice little show.
  
• Beverage Service – never waited for a drink on the pool deck (disclaimer, didn’t sit out on the pool deck at either sea day) or any of the bars.
  

Good

• La Cucina – Had two dinners there. Food was good, not great, but the company was great Brian and Jan (rvsullivan)...lot of fun and laughs. Am really looking forward to the new menus at this restaurant.
  
• Had a spatopia treatment (stone massage, scalp massage and mini facial), the treatments were good, but not great and also had my hair washed and blown dry twice, both times it was were really good. I wrote no sales pitches on my on my paperwork and no on tried to sell me anything.
  

Bad

• I don’t think the buffet was nearly as good as the buffet on my previous cruises on the Pearl or Jewel. Seemed like the food was the same every day.
  
• Disembarkation. On every other cruise, suite passengers were always allowed to disembark prior to the rest of the passengers, but on this cruise, they started both groups at the same time. Still fast for me, as I was able to get a porter and he went around and got me into his special taxi line, where I could bypass the long line.
  
• Beverage Service in the Casino was really slow, when one server was on duty.
  

Ugly

• The man smoking on his balcony which was right below mine. I did say to him that smoking was not allowed and there is a $250 cleaning fee if caught, when he looked up and saw me.
  
• Nothing to do with NCL, but some passengers just don’t have manners.
  
• Not NCL, but the Port Of New Orleans is a total mess. Last year, it was so easy, this year not efficient at all.
  

 

Miscellaneous

• The Dawn came in late, so our embarkation was backed up. Got on the ship at 12:30 or so. Not a big deal for me, as there were some Cruise Critic members sitting around me and I got the chance to meet them.
  
• Latitudes Perks: Dinner for two, wine and cheese party, behind the scenes tour, laundry, priority disembarkation, cocktail party. Only used the laundry.
  
• Didn’t seem like folks were having an issue making dinner reservations.
  
• I’m sure the ship had some cosmetic issues, but was having too much fun to notice nor would I let those kind of issues ruin my experience. One couple, that was in Harrah’s after the cruise, said that the pool needed work and the railings in the theatre were in disrepair and that they were treated disrespectfully at Guest Services.
  
• Now that Bamboo is a complimentary restaurant, it was packed.
  
• Love that I saw only a very few trays and/or plates in the hallways. Thanks NCL for turning this around.
  
• There were quite a few children onboard and it was a pleasure to cruise with most of them, especially the little boy at the meet and greet who was going to go with me LOL!
  
• Since I’d been to all the ports but one, I choose to stay onboard the ship on port days….it was wonderful!!
  
• Loved the grumpy passenger at Guest Services, she was telling everyone how awful her cruise was and the first words out of her mouth to Guest Services was, I am not pay $13.50 a day for me or my sister.
  

Captain: Teo Grbic

Hotel Director: Alain Magnier

Food and Beverage Director: Andreas Sommerfeld

Cruise Director: David Klooster

Guest Services Manager: Ana Maria Haza

Executive Chef: Alistair Fonseca

Restaurant Manager: Mihaela Mocan

No more Dingo Dave?

Thanks, and yes, we are in a suite. Appreciate the quick reply.

If there is someplace you really really want to go to on a certain day, make sure you tell Patrick (or whoever the concierge is) when you get your room keys in the priorty waiting area.

At our meet and greet we were told the pearly kings was going to be changed to a Wine Bar and that Moderno (and maybe Blue Lagoon) was going to be changed to a Pub. Moderno is moving to the Star Bar.

We are booked on the last cruise before the refurbishment, May 8 for a 10 night cruise. It will probably be held together with bandaids by then.

Alain said that once the passengers leave the ship on May 18 they will be getting rid of all the mattresses, curtains, not sure if he mentioned rugs and just dumping everything.

Are you in a suite? We were and we just let the concierge know when and where we wanted to go. We only had trouble with getting ressies at Cagneys, there were 6 of us and we couldn't get the night we wanted. (we like to have dinner around 6 and we tried to get ressies that day).

If you want to book Teppanyki, I would book that as soon as you get on the ship. That has limited seating, so you really need to book that right away.

Thanks for the review! So what did you think of Goff's Caye when you went last time? I have read such wonderful things about it so we booked it, but I just keep seeing how tiny the island is and wonder if I made a mistake. We really just want to snorkel and hang on the beach (don't care about chairs). The main reason we did this one was because I read reviews that you could swim out to snorkel from the beach.

I loved Goffs Caye. They were easy to find at the pier, then they took us out by catamaran to the island. Some people chose to stay on the island, while the others went snorkeling. It is very small (they do have a mens and ladies room). They brought those of us that were snorkeling back on the boat and we geared up, jumped in (I actually bellyflopped, lol) and snorkeled back to the island. We were all split up into groups of 6 (I think) and we each had a guide. Our guide dove down and grabbed a lobster and kept diving and pointing out fish to us. The only down side was that it was pretty rocky getting out of the water.

They had a yummy lunch you could buy, two lobster tails for $12 or so or chicken, not sure how much that was, we both got the lobster tails.

I would have done this again, but my daughter and her friend didn't want to snorkel, so we hung out at the pier.

Thanks for posting.

Congratulations at winning in the casino. My biggest win to date was on the old Norwegian Majesty. I won $675 the last day.

Casino bar was the worst. Not only did so many people have the UBP, but add on the free drink card that the CAS people have made for long waits.

My husband is a smoker and I booked a family suite without a balcony so he wouldn't be tempted to smoke on the balcony.

I visited guest services a couple of times to have my room charges printed out too. I hate surprises at the end of the cruise.

Better late then never:

MY husband and I took this cruise in January. We loved it so much we booked it again as soon as we got home. We talked about it so much in glowing terms, ten more people from Boston decided to join us.

Four of us drove to New Orleans and the other eight flew in. Four of us stayed at the Prytania Park Hotel in the Garden District. We love this hotel and it offers free parking (even when you are on your cruise). The rooms were very nice. They do have some loft rooms which shared with my daughter and her best friend.

We took a taxi to the cruiseport, I had requested a large van to pick us up at 10 am, there were 6 of us plus a lot of luggage. A 6 passenger van came to pick us up which was a bit squishy with our luggage, but we made the best of it. The taxi ride is a set fee of 8 dollars per person. So for a 5 minute ride (its less than 2 miles) it cost $48. But whatever we got there nice and early. I have heard horror stories about embarking in New Orleans, we had no problem, the taxi driver dropped us off, we grabbed a porter and headed in to check in. There were two lines set up, there was a wedding party in one line and we were sent to another line. They checked that we had our passports and tickets and sent us in.

We were in a suite, so when we got to the next “check in” spot, we told the woman we were in a suite and she put us in the first row of chairs and gave us our health forms to fill out. By the time we filled them out, she called us to go and do the check in process with the credit cards and have our pictures taken. As soon as this was done, we were escorted to the Priorty waiting area. There we met Patrick, the concierge, he gave us our package of room keys, dailies and specialty restaurant info. We were also able to book Teppanyki for Monday night right then.

This six of us took over a corner, ate some sweets, drank some juice and coffee and waited for the “All aboard”. As soon as the ship was cleared for boarding, we were called by deck, there were about 10 of us for deck 12, we were called first. We lost our escort somewhere after the escalator, so we just got in the line. I think the only passengers in front of us were with people in wheelchairs, it was a short wait, and it was our 5th time on the Dawn, so we knew where to go.

We went directly to our suite, family suite, no balcony, 12032. It was a handicapped accessible suite. The bathroom was roomy, no bathtub just a large shower area with a fold down shower chair. It was my first suite without a balcony and I didn’t miss it at all.

We went to most of the shows, Showtime, Band on the Run, David DaVinci the illusionist, Rex Haven-comedian, Elements, Jose and Patti’s Neil Diamond Tribute…..I think we only missed the show on the first night (we were too busy in Pearly Kings rooting on the Patriots).

This was our third cruise with Dingo Dave the Cruise Director and he is a lot of fun.

We also went to the shows in the Spinnaker, Not So Newlywed, Perfect Couple…and Second City, let me tell you, this group of Second City was the best out of my 5 cruises, they were very very funny. I had never gone to “the Quest” it’s an adult scavenger hunt. My daughter had done it before on a cruise and knew what to expect, what a fun time….it’s a lot of fun.

We had the Ultimate Beverage Package, they only time we waited for drinks was at the casino bar, took forever to get drinks there.

We had the Ultimate Dining Package, we ate at LeBistro, Cagneys, Moderno, LaCuccina and Teppanyki, the other two nights we ate at the buffet had great meals in all, LeBistro was very crowded the night we were there and it took the server about a half hour to take our order but the food was great. The only meal that was just so so was LaCuccina, it was ok, but not great.

Very happy we purchased the unlimited internet package, we had two 22 year old girls with us and we used over 2000 minutes.

Jose and Patti play in the atrium on most nights, its very had to get a seat. I was really happy that we could listen to them while having dinner in Moderno.

I went in the hot tubs a couple of times, not a huge fan of hot tubs, and I don’t understand why people like to stay in them for hours. I only went in the pool once when we got back from one of the ports, not sure which and it rained for about 10 minutes.

Which brings me to the weather, we had great weather all week, it was hot, but not unbearable. It poured off and on the last sea day. Which made it easy for me to go to bingo twice and deal or no deal once, LOL!!

Cozumel: My daughter and her friend wanted to go parasailing. When we got to the port, we walked up to Jimmy Buffett’s Margerittaville. They called the parasailing guy and he came for them after about a half hour. It was $60 each and they had a great time. Jimmy Buffets doesn’t have a beach, but you can jump in the water and swim, they have the big water floatee things, trampolines and the things you see on Wipe-Out. We stayed there a couple of hours, had a few drinks and nachos. We left there around 1pm and met up with some of our group at Senor Frogs. We had a great time there singing, dancing and doing shots. It was a great day.

Roatan: We were supposed to tender at this port, when I woke up we were docked. Seems we beat the other ship and got to dock. We booked Maya Key through the cruise line. It was beautiful. We got to go in the monkey cage and hold a giant parrot. It is an animal rescue and they have some great animals there. We had lunch there and swam. We headed back on the catamaran around 2. My friend, my daughter and my daughters friend all wanted to zip line, so they did the Monkey La La Zip line that went across the water, they got to go twice for $30 each. They had fun. We stopped at Money LaLa for a couple of beers before we headed back to the ship. I felt terrible for the people on the Jade, they were tendering and they were only using lifeboats to tender, some people were in line over an hour to get back to the ship.

Belize: Last time here my husband and I went to Goffs Caye. The girls didn’t want to snorkel and I really didn’t want to do much here, so we just shopped and then sat at a bar and danced and sang and had a great time.

Costa Maya: Best Day Ever!! All twelve of us went to Maya Chan!! We couldn’t snorkel due to cloudy water, and it was kind of mucky, but since the waiters bring your drinks to you in the water, it was no big deal. We all had fun and when we got back to the port, we all jumped into the pool at the port, swam up to the bar and had drinks.

We got back to New Orleans alittle later then I expected. I woke up at 7 am and was surprised that we were still rolling down the river….

Once the ship was cleared we headed up to the Star Bar and waited to be escorted off the ship. Not sure of the exact times, but we were back at our hotel by 1030 am. This time we took two taxis.