Dawn Review 8/19-8/26 Long!!

[susanrobert]

This is my first review so please be patient with me!! We are a family of 4. Myself, husband and 2 boys 11 and 8 years old. My review may possibly be biased based on our "sweet suite experience".

 

Embarkation: We arrived a little later than I wanted, around 11:30. Parking was simple as was the entire embarkation process. We were excorted to the regular line but it appeared we were pushed to the front because of VIP. We were then escorted to the VIP lounge and met the concierge. I was disappointed when I heard that Anoop was going to be on vacation. I had heard such wonderful things about him here on CC. My disappointment was very short lived. The concierge filling in during his vacation is Virginia and she is nothing short of wonderful. She is so efficient and professional. We were so impressed with her. We were given a few minutes to have a snack, drink and read the daily and then escorted to our suite.

 

Suite SC 11050: We are huge fans of these cabins. The second bedroom works wonderfully with the kids. Not to mention the 2nd bathroom!!! We quickly met our butler, Flor who I swear was a magician in a prior life. She is amazing!!! She seemed to know what we wanted before we did! I can't say enough good things about her. Only bummer for future cruisers is that she is leaving for vacation in early Sept for 2 months.

 

Food: I know, very subjective. We had breakfast and lunch in Cagneys which was always good. Sometimes the service was a little slow but always friendly. Dinner in the MDR was good. I'm not a big fan of the new menus. There are more offerings on the classic side of the menu that the daily side. I lot of old favorites are now missing. We ate in Aqua 3 times and all 3 times the service was very good.

 

We ate in Le Bistro twice and it was excellent both times but very fast paced. We had to slow them down both times as we were still having our wine and they were trying to bring the coffee. I'm guessing that's what a lot of people want so they can make the shows. But for us, a dinner without the kids, we like to take our time.

 

We ate in Teppanyaki. Our chef was Ryan and he was excellent, very entertaining. The food was also very good. We also ate in La Cucina. I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was. It was moved during the drydock to where Impressions was and I think it's a much better venue that where it was before, up near the buffet.

 

Entertainment: The Second City was excellent. The magician was good but spent way too much time hawking his DVD and children's toys, that he was conveniently selling on stage after the show. It really took away from the show. The production show was also very good. The comedian however, was not my cup of tea. JMHO.

 

Bermuda: We chose to hang back and not get right off the ship. We let the kids use the pools when they were uncrowded. They were extremely crowded while at sea. We took the bus to Horseshoe Beach around 3. It was actually a nice time to go. Many people where leaving when we got there. We stayed until around 6 and took a cab back.

 

On Monday we took the ferry to St. Georges and went to Tobacco Beach. The beach was really nice in the morning but got insanely crowded shortly after the next ferry arrived.

 

Tuesday we did the Restless Native Catamaran tour. My younger son does not swim and my older son is a little nervous snorkeling in water over his head so this was perfect for us. They also give you some history on Bermuda on the way over. Very nice tour. They also served refreshements as cruisers cannot go more than 1-1/2 hours without eating.:D

 

Kids Crew: Both my kids went the first night and both said they didn't like it. They said the counselers were mean. My younger son went back once and still didn't like it. So, that was the end of the kids crew. This is the 2nd time on NCL that they didn't like the kids crew. The girl signing the kids in was kind of rude. The bracelet was a little tight on my 8 year olds wrist. I asked for a larger one and she said "I have a trick" Well, her trick was looping the bracelet through an elastic band and putting the elastic band around his wrist. Yes, that looked so comfortable with an elastic cutting off his circulation and the bright orange bracelet dangling from it!!! I really couldn't argue with my kids. They have always enjoyed themselves on other lines so it's not like they're adverse to the kids crew. Maybe they were having a bad week. There were 600 kids on board. This was the only negative in our entire cruise.

 

Disembarkation: NCL really excells in this area. No stress. We took our time, had breakfast and when we were ready walked off the ship and right out the door. Boston is a great port to sail out of. Parking is so convenient. I wish there were more offerings from the port of Boston.

 

We had a fantastic time. Every crew member we encountered always said hello. Service was good all around the ship. Thank you for reading my extremely lengthy review. If I can answer any questions or forgot to mention anything, please ask away.

[jimswims]

Glad you enjoyed the Dawn and Bermuda. We also love the SC suites. The first and second time we stayed in a suite it was 11030 on the Dawn. We just got off the Gem and stayed in 11018. Awesome for families!

[mikenpatti]

Haven't even read your review yet but HAD to jump to the end to say thank you!

[fiftyguy]

Thank you for the review - it was nice to hear your family enjoyed the cruise. It was nice to hear you were as impressed as we were with Flor. She was so wonderful to us earlier this year. Did she say if she'll be back on the dawn after her vacation? I would love to see her agin next spring when we cruise the dawn.

[Dr. Jack Daniels]

Great review! Thanks for taking the time to give back!

[cruiser12]

The same sailing --- feel the same way - great cruise -- we too like the suite life -- ours this sailing was in the Garden Villa--Virginia was excellent so was our butler Henry and Dell our RS.

 

La Cucina was moved to Impression awhile back -- good move -- food improved with the move --

 

So looking forward to planning our next cruise --

[mikenpatti]

Thought of another question (of course).

 

What did you think of the new Spinnaker Lounge? Heard it is a lot different than before.

[susanrobert]

Thank you for the review - it was nice to hear your family enjoyed the cruise. It was nice to hear you were as impressed as we were with Flor. She was so wonderful to us earlier this year. Did she say if she'll be back on the dawn after her vacation? I would love to see her agin next spring when we cruise the dawn.

 

Yes, Flor said she would be returning to the Dawn in November when her vacation is over.

[susanrobert]

Thought of another question (of course).

 

What did you think of the new Spinnaker Lounge? Heard it is a lot different than before.

 

I know there was a lot of disappointment with the movement of the Spinnaker but I think it's very nice. We especially liked the bistro tables in the back which are higher than the ones in the front so you can still see even if you're sitting in the back. There are some windows on the side so it's not dark during the day.

[mikenpatti]

Thank you!

[deecruzer]

Thanks for the great review. We are going in two weeks and are planning on having a livery service bring us and pick us up. What time were people getting off the ship? I need to have a rough estimate to tell the driver. We are planning on carrying our luggage off ourselves. Thank you.

[susanrobert]

Thanks for the great review. We are going in two weeks and are planning on having a livery service bring us and pick us up. What time were people getting off the ship? I need to have a rough estimate to tell the driver. We are planning on carrying our luggage off ourselves. Thank you.

 

I'm really not sure. I wasn't paying attention because we had VIP and could go whenever we wanted. We stayed on board for a while and left around 9:30am. If I had to guess, I would say they started the walk off around 8:30 am. Maybe someone else here has a better answer for you. Sorry I couldn't be more helpful.

[deecruzer]

Thanks.

[Seashells22]

Walk off starts at 8:45 and you have to be off the ship by 10:15

[deecruzer]

I knew I came to the right place for the answer. Thank you.

[doitallWMB]

Thank you for a great review. We are sailing on the Dawn in 2 months and are getting very excited!

[cruisingberger]

Graet Review! Planning a trip in November and enjoyed the info.:D