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Any reviews from those just off Dawn?

sftballmom

By sftballmom,
in Norwegian Cruise Line

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templed

templed

Posted
Posted

I can give you a review... but... I was off the Dawn about a year ago....

 

Let me start with this preface:

We sailed in March, so ... we kind of expected that the weather could be good, could be bad...

 

Embarkation: Tip... if you can avoid the ramp to the pier, do it... We took car service from our home in Staten Island.... and we sat on the ramp for a good 45 minutes... given an option, I would have had him drop me across the street (49th and West St.) and walked across the street... Once we met our friends, it was a short process from the security screening to the ship... maybe 45 minutes.

 

 

First impression of the ship... WOW... being that it was my first cruise... I was amazed... the decoration was elegant, and impressive. Our room... (My fiance, now wife, had surprised me with a cabin upgrade to a balcony on deck 9) was beautiful... we shared an adjoining cabin with our close friends, and we had the door open for the entire cruise... One thing that struck me as "unique"... the bathrooms are very big for a ship.

 

 

Our friends travelled with their 4 year old daughter... so, let me delve into that... if you are travelling with a child... they have great programs... She was well taken care of, and they had a lot to do...

 

(side note... we had pretty rough seas, so the little tike was not accustom to feeling "queezy"... so we got a lot of calls from the daycare to come pick her up)

 

Restaurants... I'll break it up in to categories... (if I can't remember names, I'll tell ya)

 

Breakfast:

Main dining room (Venetian): was good, but the variety was "challenged"...

 

Garden Cafe: Buffet style breakfast, with stations for omelets, waffles, etc... Don't waste your time with the dining rooms... just eat here... Food was good, and the variety was fantastic. The only criticism... seating... People were a little selfish about their tables... and we often had to wander a bit to find a free table.

 

Lunch:

 

anywhere was fine... they had a lot of barbeques in the pool area, and the food was plentiful and good...

 

One standout... on the starbord side of the Garden Cafe, they had a NY Style Deli setup... GREAT bread... very good cold cuts.

 

 

Dinner:

Cagney's Steakhouse: $17.50 surcharge... QUALITY steak... I had filet mignon that melted in my mouth... I highly suggest that you go here... at LEAST once... A word to how good it was... this is where the captain and his crew were eating, so I would guess that they would go were the best food is...

 

Tepanaki (Japanese Hibachi Grill): $10 srucharge... We had a BLAST... most fun we had a dinner on the whole trip. The food was comperable, if not better than your standard Bennihana....

 

Aqua: One of the smaller free dinning rooms... The wait staff was 100% attentive in this dining room... the food was good, and the menu had a good variety...

 

The Venetian: This was the only "complaint" I had throughout the cruise... The service was slow, to non-existant. Food was good... We sat with dirty plates in front of us for at least 45 minutes... Granted, we were in a seat close to the aft on the windows (furthest from the kitchen) but, I found the wait staff to be unresponsive.

 

Overall... I give the food, wait staff and A-

 

Things not to miss... The Chocolate Buffet... It's in the middle of the day... so make sure you pay attn to your itineraries.

 

Our Cabin attendant was nice... I actually never met him... but our cabin was well taken care of... I was a little disappointed, as we didn't have the same guy for the length of the cruise... Our first attendant got off in Miami and we got a new one...

 

what else can I tell you?????

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bfairey

bfairey

Posted
Posted

I hope you enjoyed your 2/20 cruise, we didnt. We had to pay for transfers , again, although we had prepaid them, I am trying to get my money back.

DO NOT TAKE INSIDE CABINS, garbage. In case you are wondering this is not our first cruise. Embarkation was a shambles, 2800 people milling around in the

embarkation room, the ship was late, it is always late, so we missed our flight coming home. Never again NCL

Brian Fairey

Canada.

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luvwater

luvwater

Posted
Posted

I am going on the Dawn April 3 for the third time. So I would only be wasting your time writing a review. I love it! The weather is impossible to predict. Every line that I have cruised out of New York, has been delayed. I look foward to the day I get right on the ship. On the Golden Princess, I did not get on the ship until 10:00 pm. Enjoy your trip and let us know how things went. Make sure to check these boards before you leave ... they help if the ship is going to be late. Enjoy!

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uneamie Great Review Rare

uneamie

Posted
Posted

Just off Dawn's 1/30/05 cruise...:D

 

Had a wonderful time! Will post a full review as soon as I get our bags unpacked and thoughts all organized.

 

Briefly, embarkation and debarkation....well not the worst I've ever been through but non the less both were equally frustrating. :(

 

The ship rocked and rolled the first 2 days...consequently the first night I literally fell out...rather rolled of bed :eek: , slept little to none and felt absolutely terrible the following day which also caused me to miss our CC meeting...sorry guys wish I could have met all of you...:(

 

Aside from a few minor complaints which I will get into when I post my full review, we had a terrific cruise on Dawn. My husbands wants to cruise on her again....having a poker table most certainly influenced that decision. ;)

 

Well...l still feel like I am floating on water as I am typing this and I have to say I am exhausted. Will get back here soon with my review.

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sinkers22

sinkers22

Posted
Posted
I hope you enjoyed your 2/20 cruise, we didnt. We had to pay for transfers , again, although we had prepaid them, I am trying to get my money back.

DO NOT TAKE INSIDE CABINS, garbage. In case you are wondering this is not our first cruise. Embarkation was a shambles, 2800 people milling around in the

embarkation room, the ship was late, it is always late, so we missed our flight coming home. Never again NCL

Brian Fairey

Canada.

 

If you didn't enjoy your cruise because of those few things, including having an inside cabin, which you probably knew would be small and claustiphobic, maybe cruising is not for you.

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rundogrun

rundogrun

Posted
Posted

Here's my best tip for you, since the ship does come in late sometimes and since you're leaving from home (as opposed to a hotel)...

 

Check the live webcam in the morning...it will give you a good idea of whether the Dawn is on time or running late. Then you can plan your time accordingly.

 

It's worked out well for us coming from Long Island. Both of our Dawn cruises were great. Too bad they did away with the 7 day itineraries next winter or else we'd be back on again.

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templed

templed

Posted
Posted

I'm surprised to hear that so many people have gone out late from NY...

 

I understand the nature of the body of water, so... It's understandable...

 

But... so far, I've been on one cruise (soon to be two), and that one left right on time... not to mention that it was still in the dead of winter, technically...

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sinkers22

sinkers22

Posted
Posted

The dawn is going into drydock to fix the azipod (??). This problem is keeping the ship from going the usual 25 kph and it is only going about 21 kph. I'm sure this is one of the reasons that it might be late getting into port. As for the last cruise that arrived on Thursday, they had a medical emergency that caused it to be even later than usual. When I checked the NY pier webcam at 7pm, it was still there. It was gone when I checked again at 9.

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marjudles

marjudles

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Posted

Just off the Dawn 2/10/05. Food/service is mediocre in the main dining rooms, much better in the specialty restaraunts. Not to worry though, - there is no way you will go hungry! The ship is virtually always late getting into NYC in the winter - not the captain or cruise line's fault - they are at the mercy of many variables. Get to the dock to embark as late as you can - even 4pm is not too late. In terms of tours - you can do virtually everything cheaper on your own. Tour buses/taxis are plentiful at every port - you can get off the ship and arrange something easily in Dominica (a beautiful island - I recommend a tour to Trafalgar Falls or the Emerald Pool - take or wear your swim suit). Antigua - I highly recommend a company called Paddles for an excellent, professional snorkeling, kayak, and pleasant hiking trip. You'll book the same tour on the ship for $20 per person MORE. (http://www.antiguapaddles.com). Try going on line to the official website of the islands you are visiting and you'll be presented w/a host of information to use to plan your day on the islands. You will have a wonderful time. The ship is lovely, the crew helpful and friendly. By midday on your first sea day you will probably be outside. And the cruise director, Colin, is absolutely hysterically funny - best I've had in at least 15 cruises! Enjoy yourself!

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Jett456

Jett456

Posted
Posted

uneamie

 

We are considering doing this cruise 4/17. We were on the 1 day Mothers day cruise last year and really loved the ship. You say there was a poker table on the ship. Was it a casino organized table or did some passengers get together and run a game? My husband wants to do one of those poker cruises but the schedules don't work for us. I wish the ships would see the interest in poker and act accordingly.

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uneamie Great Review Rare

uneamie

Posted
Posted
uneamie

 

We are considering doing this cruise 4/17. We were on the 1 day Mothers day cruise last year and really loved the ship. You say there was a poker table on the ship. Was it a casino organized table or did some passengers get together and run a game? My husband wants to do one of those poker cruises but the schedules don't work for us. I wish the ships would see the interest in poker and act accordingly.

 

Jett....the poker was a casino organized table. Just one table but it was adaquate enough. They have a sign up sheet and my husband would sign up and usually everyone who signed up showed up in the evening to play. Some nights there were more people then table room but my husband managed to play every night. I am about to post my very long review so you can read more about it there.

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debbiecape

debbiecape

Posted
Posted

We loved our 1/20 cruise- you can read my review under debbiecape- another passenger, iceburg1 just posted his review.

 

You are going to have a fabulous time- we really had no compaints even with the very long wait to board. NCL brought food and gave information- anyone cruising out of a northeast harbor in the middle of winter should expect some delays- it sure beat flying out the day before!

 

We agree with other posters, Colin was fabulous -setting the tone of a fun,relaxing, wonderful trip.

 

Enjoy!

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Brian Raine

Brian Raine

Posted
Posted

I know this is going to stir up some adverse comments from my colonial cousins.We were on the DAWNS pre Xmas sailing ,I'm looking for comments regarding the Coast Guard SEALs standing at the head of the gang plank !!!!!! . It looks like overkill as is the want in NY at present .According to the onboard Security Chief they have 3 teams on board 1 covering the bridge as well as 1 covering the engine room. They didembark when the ship gets to the pilot station You will not see this type of thing at Southampton of Harwich or Dover.

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Tomct

Tomct

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Posted
Brian Raine....neither Dover nor Southampton suffered the devatation that New York did on 9/11. A cruise ship would be a "wonderful" target for terrorists. Frankly, I'm for any additional protection that can be offered.

 

I'm with you!!

 

As for the comment about arriving as late as possible, our 12/9/04 10 day left on time, so I would just keep tabs on this board and NCL's site to see if it looks like it might be late. We like to arrive early, board early, and start enjoying the cruise and ship ASAP, typically with a lunch at Venetian, Shrimp Scampi for me. If you plan to arrive late, and time it wrong, a number of negative things can happen: Worst case, you hit some unexpected traffic and miss the boat. Also, you may also arrive midst the debarkation of the prior cruise, and wind up sitting in traffic. By arriving at your planned time, you will most likely experience your anticipated traffic and boarding expectations, unless there has been a significant delay. In that case, depending on the length of delay, you can always find something entertaining to do in the city, and NCL appears to do a decent job of making an unexpected stay on the pier as tolerable as possible with chairs, refreshments, and some music.

 

Good Luck to future Dawn cruisers.

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templed

templed

Posted
Posted

Brian...

 

This kind of security is not only researved for the cruise ships... I am on the Staten Island Ferry daily... and we have similar patrols on it as well...

 

Not as heavily armed mind you... but Coast Guard roving patrols are on most boats in the harbour.

 

given the alternative... I welcome the security.

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captbill

captbill

Posted
Posted
I'm looking for comments regarding the Coast Guard SEALs standing at the head of the gang plank !!!!!!

 

No slight intended to the fine men and women of the US Coast Guard, but SEALs are only found in the US Navy, not in the USCG. This Naval Special Warfare Team should not be confused with any other service.

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