Dawn 10 day review...Garden Villa!!! 12/4-12/14

[jdvmd]

Second Port: Tortola

 

This was the primary port that we wanted to see and we were not disappointed. We visited the Baths of Virgin Gorda and in our opinion, this is NOT to be missed!! There's just no where else like it.

 

First, we got off the ship around 9:30 to meet out guide. Actually, Virginia, the concierge led us off the ship. She led us through the crew area and a back elevator and we were on the dock in about 3 minutes flat. We thought that was very sweet of her.

 

Speedy's is the ferry that will take you over to Virgin Gorda. What a pleasant surprise they were!! They are located just at the end of the pier. You'll see the sign if you choose to go to the Baths. The boat is FAST, plus it's clean as a pin and air conditioned! They offer you water and have a movie playing on the flat screen. We've never seen a Caribbean ferry this clean or well organized.

 

The ride is about 25 minutes to get to Virgin Gorda. Between the movie, and the views, it seemed like we were there in 5 minutes. There are open air buses waiting to take you to the Baths when you leave the ferry. So, we were off. You can choose the beach at the end of the 375 yard path, or you can take a left at the end of the path and go to Devils' Bay. We picked Devil's Bay because we didn't want to just LOOK at the Baths....we wanted to climb all over them!

 

I wish I had the words, or even the pics, to describe the Baths...but, alas, I don't. They are incredible!!!! So, I'll just let my pics do the best they can. Next post...pics of the Baths!

 

Was this a private excursion that you booked? What was the cost?

[Kristi Williamson]

The 375 yard path...yep, there's actually a sign posted that tells you how far it is! lol

 

 

 

More of the path...

 

 

 

My man's idea of fashion...lol! See the little thingie I'm holding? Once that's blown up, my youngest child can hold it while she swims and the clear part acts as a "snorkel" lens. She LOVED this! Once it's inflated, it helps you float as you look through it. We found it on Amazon.

 

[Kristi Williamson]

 

 

Just to give you some scale as to the sheer SIZE of these boulders!

 

 

 

One of my favs...

 

 

 

A few tight spots. If mobility is an issue, this excursion is NOT for you! It could be dangerous for those with difficulty walking well and certainly for someone with bad knees!

 

[Kristi Williamson]

 

 

 

 

My girls climbing the stairs in places where the rocks are impassable.

 

 

 

 

 

Devil's Bay...

 

[Kristi Williamson]

More Devils' Bay...

 

 

 

 

 

My eldest and my husband climbed all the way to the top...

 

 

 

[Kristi Williamson]

You can do a private excursion, or book this through the ship. If you want to do it yourself, just look up Speedy's at Tortola. They will be right at the end of the pier. Buy your tickets and your all set. The ship's excursion is a little more, but not horrific.

 

At the end of the path, the beach there has facilities to use and some shops and a little restaurant. Devil's Bay has none of this. Just be prepared for that and it's no big deal. After you leave Devil's Bay, you'll see a sign that says, "Car Path". This is a GORGEOUS, but long, walk that takes you right back to the top where you started. Or, you can go back through the Baths and end up on the other beach with the facilities.

 

Again, this is NOT an excursion you need to do if you have mobility issues. However, even if you're not in great shape, you CAN do this!! If you're scared simply because you don't hit the gym, don't be. I PROMISE you can do this! The only people who couldn't do it would be someone who has problems with regular, every day, mobility. GET OUT THERE and DO IT!!! ;):)

[www3traveler]

You will have a marvelous time, Cheryl! I'm sure cruising alone can be intimidating, but we found the crew and passengers to be friendly and kind. I'm glad that the review is helping to get your nerves gone and your fun meter going! The Dawn is lovely and the ports are just wonderful. I'm sure your cruise will be a great Christmas present. Come back and let us know about all the memories you'll make! :)

MY Christmas present to myself for 2012 will be a Christmas cruise on The Dawn. I will also be sailing solo. Hopefully a friend of mine will be The Restaurant Manger on that cruise. He just left The Dawn a few days ago for his vacation.

[Kristi Williamson]

OK...I'll break this up with a few more ship pics and family things we did before covering some of the other ports.

 

Face painting day at the Kid's Crew. My kids particularly enjoy this every single cruise we take. :)

 

 

 

The Dawn!

 

 

 

 

 

From the chocolate buffet on maybe the 5th night? While it's really beautiful to look at, we never enjoy the taste of any of the ones we've attended. Personal preference, maybe? Also, suite guests get to enter about 15 minutes early and avoid the rush and long lines. This part was nice!

 

 

 

From deck 12 looking down into the atrium.

 

[Kristi Williamson]

Family LEGO time on the 1st sea day!! LEGO's are a big deal at our house... :D

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet "Santana Claus" from family cupcake decorating on the 1st sea day! Courtesy of my husband!

 

[Sugar*Magnolia]

I am enjoying your review! It is wonderful, well written and....excellent pictures. Now Im disappointed we didn't go to the Mangroves when we stopped in Samana. Next time. :) What a wonderful experience.

 

:)

[Kristi Williamson]

3rd port St. Marteen: We've been here about 8 times, so we just got off the ship and shopped for a few hours. We lazed around with a few drinks and then hopped back on the ferry and played in our room.

 

For those of you who haven't been here: When you debark from the ship, there'll be a shopping area right there. However, it's nothing more than knick knacks, so we prefer to actually take the water ferry over to the island. The ferry is 6 dollars, per person. This takes you to the island AND back ALL DAY LONG. If you want to do something early, then come back and have lunch on board, you can. When you hop back off, your ferry bracelet is still good. No need to "re-purchase".

 

Also, if you've never been here before, Orient Beach is fun and Maho Beach is cool because the airport is RIGHT behind it and the planes essentially land right over your head.

 

That's all we did this day. It was relaxing and some good down time to prepare for our zip lining adventure coming up in Antigua! :D

[Kristi Williamson]

I am enjoying your review! It is wonderful, well written and....excellent pictures. Now Im disappointed we didn't go to the Mangroves when we stopped in Samana. Next time. :) What a wonderful experience.

 

:)

 

 

Thanks, CruiseDiva! You'll enjoy the caves and mangroves! They were great educational material for my kids, too! ;) Did you guys get to go to the beach? If we go back on this trip, we would probably do the "free" beach they offered. If that's where you went, did you enjoy it?

 

I'm including photos because the reviews that I read with them really help me plan. I sincerely hope that this review gives others the same great info and ideas that so many have given me. There's just nothing like "seeing" where you're going to be soon! I'll admit, it makes me long for every single day we experienced, though. We had such a marvelous time...I wish we could re-live the days. Maybe that's motivation to book another one soon, huh?! lol

[Kristi Williamson]

4th port: Antigua

 

This port was officially the one that would help me mark one thing off my bucket list: ZIP-LINING!

 

When we debarked, we walked to the end of the pier and there was our sign....ZIPLINING CANOPY TOUR! YAY! We jumped in an eight seater van and off we went.

 

Our driver, Eustice, was GREAT! He was a local who really knew his history and was very generous with his knowledge. We were there on a local holiday to celebrate Antigua's heros and he was kind enough to tell us about them. He also took us through town on the way up, and through a local village on the way back. That was neat, as well. It was surreal to see Christmas decorations hanging on doors, and be in a tropical paradise in 80 degree weather!

 

One warning: The ride up is WINDING! Around and around we went. While my youngest son doesn't get sea sick...he DOES get car sick! And bless his heart...he did. :( Eustice was a doll, though. He simply pulled over, grabbed us a bottle of water and some wipes and let Dakota recoup and off we went again. One of the other passengers was very kind and gave him another bottle of water to help his stomach settle. No one made a big deal of it, and that really helped his embarrassment to pass quickly and smiles to return. As a mom, it's always heart warming when someone else is kind to your kids.

 

Anyway, we reached our destination in about 20 minutes, we were given lockers, and a very clear safety briefing and we were headed to the lines. Many reviews say there are 9 zip lines that you do, but we did 12. Each one cooler than the last! This is also an excursion that is a no go if you have mobility issues. There are some very sketchy bridges that are crossed in getting from some of the zip lines to the next ones. They are HIGH.

 

However, the ENTIRE staff of the Antigua Canopy Tour was AWESOME! They were informed, safe and very kind. They would also make VERY sure that the next ranger was aware that the zip liner heading to them was a "short zip"...meaning a kid. Again, as a mom, I appreciated this.

 

Another hint: They do NOT allow you to take photos during the tour. You can purchase a video and pics at the end. They are very good and very clear and we, of course, bought them. They are 25 dollars per person and you get the entire CD and DVD....not just a few. Since there are 6 of us, they offered us a deal. At 25 dollars a piece, there's just no way I was paying 150.00 bucks for a 5 minute DVD and 5 picture of each person. So, they offered it to us for 100.00 dollars and we bought it. It's still high, but it was nice to be offered a break, so we took advantage of it.

 

They used to mail them to you, but now they have them ready RIGHT THERE! I'll try to upload some from the CD later and put them at the end of the review. They were much better than anything we could have taken simply because you're doing the excursion and they're standing at the end of the longest zip taking the pics. The perspective is, of course, much different. It's nice to have pics OF you, instead of just pics BY you. It's expensive, but worth it, in our opinion.

 

Also, there is a little gift shop there that sells T-shirts, mugs, ect... We purchased a t-shirt for 15 dollars that has the Canopy logo on the breast pocket and a cute saying on the back. It says: I Dun Did Dat....and underneath this saying is say..."Translation from Antiguan"...I completed the Antigua Ziplining Canopy Tour. It's a good quality for 15 dollars, also. Not the thin, see thru stuff you get at many of the stores in town.

 

And now, for the few pics we were allowed to take... :)

[Kristi Williamson]

See the lines?

 

 

 

 

 

My DH and my youngest sitting on the little deck behind the gift shop overlooking the rainforest. It was GORGEOUS here..

 

 

The logo on my shirt... :)

 

[Kristi Williamson]

One last hint if you ever decide to do this here: Wear your hair in a bun. It's a requirement and if you don't, or have no way to put your hair up, you can't go! I had already slapped all of ours in a ponytail, so it was no trouble to just go ahead and make a bun. If we hadn't had anything to put our hair up with though, we'd have been out of luck. You CAN NOT go without your hair up! Also, NO dangling earrings. Again, we were lucky I'd skipped all jewelry on myself and my girls.

 

For me, this was truly a great experience. My entire family loved it, but I am quite scared of heights. However, I'm one of those people that refuse to just live scared of things, so this was a bucket list thing for me. I'm so happy that I did it!! We'll probably do this again somewhere else. The first zip was pretty scary, but after that it was smooth sailing. The views were beautiful and the entire day was just perfect!

 

OK...I need a break. Coming up....Barbados, St. Kitts, final thoughts and ratings on shows, food, etc... :)

[crzysttchr]

Kristi !!!!!! Thank you so much. I am so excited to see your posts and the pics!!!! AMAZING... I really like the one of the shot from the 12 level looking into the atrium.. I am really getting a feel for the ship thru your pics and commentary.

 

Keep it up and again,,,thank you!!!!

 

Lynn :D

[Sugar*Magnolia]

Thanks, CruiseDiva! You'll enjoy the caves and mangroves! They were great educational material for my kids, too! ;) Did you guys get to go to the beach? If we go back on this trip, we would probably do the "free" beach they offered. If that's where you went, did you enjoy it?

 

I'm including photos because the reviews that I read with them really help me plan. I sincerely hope that this review gives others the same great info and ideas that so many have given me. There's just nothing like "seeing" where you're going to be soon! I'll admit, it makes me long for every single day we experienced, though. We had such a marvelous time...I wish we could re-live the days. Maybe that's motivation to book another one soon, huh?! lol

 

Actually, it was a 14 night cruise and I planned our day in Samana to be real low key. I wanted to leisurely shop for local paintings to bring back and enjoy a chill sort of day back on board with my family. Every other port was a beach day for us. We love the beach. We did purchase nice artwork, I was happy.

 

I relive my own cruise days sometimes....by reading my reviews! And, reading great reviews like yours!

 

Cheers.

[Kristi Williamson]

Well, it turns out the laundry is still going, the house is clean and the kids are fed...so I'd rather be doing this than paperwork! LOL

 

Port 5: Barbados

 

We have been to Barbados before, and we think their beaches are really gorgeous. We are particularly fond of Rockley (the locals call it Accra) Beach. However, this trip we ended up staying on the ship. Turns out this was a good decision. This was the ONLY day that we had rain for pretty much the whole day, on and off. We slept late, ate, read and watched movies that our butler brought us from the suite DVD collection. We've read that many people have trouble getting what they want to watch, but we got every movie we asked for, every day that we asked for them. Maybe other people just weren't asking for them this trip?

 

Our youngest also wanted to take a dip in the pool, so there's a pic of that somewhere that I'll post!

 

Anyway, that's what we did. We were also surprised with a bowl of popcorn that Henri brought us. That was extra special for the kids!

 

In port, we were surrounded by Celebrity Constellation, Regent, P&O and a neat looking sailboat that was reminiscent of The Black Pearl!

 

 

Celebrity:

 

 

 

P&O:

 

 

 

The pools are salt water, of course, so Rayna always takes her goggles!

 

 

The moon coming up as we were leaving...

 

[Kristi Williamson]

A few more of the sunset and then some of the volcano we passed on the way out. The Capt. came over the intercom and pointed it out. He said that most days it was very "foggy" here because of the "smoke" and other things, but this night is was quite clear. I'll point it out in the pics...

 

 

Do views get better than this?!

 

 

 

 

 

See the smoke coming from the mountain on the far left? That's my first view of a volcano. I'm sure people in Hawaii are thinking..."THAT is NOT a volcano". But, to me...it counts! lol

 

 

 

 

A little closer...

 

[Kristi Williamson]

Last port: St. Kitts!

 

We were very pleasantly surprised with St. Kitts. We'd never been here, and didn't really have any expectations. Turns out, it was one of our favorite excursions and we really enjoyed ourselves. We booked the Catamaran and snorkel thru NCL. We didn't dock until 1:00pm and our excursion didn't begin until 2:30, so we had the opportunity to sleep in and enjoy our day, PLUS have a great excursion. We found this really worked for us.

 

After disembark, we found our sign holder at the end of the pier, as usual. We got off right at 2:30 and waited less than 5 minutes before we were off. We were led directly to the catamaran, which was less than a football field away from the pier. We've never been on a catamaran, so the entire experience was just great. The weather was PERFECT, the ride was peaceful and crew were awesome. We were not allowed the included rum punch (or any alcohol) until after snorkeling. We think that was a GREAT decision!

 

I'll say that the snorkeling isn't great, but then we've also snorkeled in Belize and Roatan and after that I think snorkeling is ruined for us anywhere else. They have the second largest barrier reef, behind only the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, so we've seen great snorkeling! However, this was...peaceful. That made it great to us! There were little schools of fish, and huge rocks that had sea urchins everywhere. The kids LOVED that!

 

Also, we got to just jump in directly from the catamaran and that was COOL!

 

After snorkeling, we reboarded and the rum punch was ready to go. I'll say that no one seemed intoxicated and everyone acted responsibly, which is always a nice bonus, yes?!

 

We did have ONE incident of a lady slipping and, literally, kept herself from going overboard by grabbing onto the rope at the bottom of the catamaran. The crew ran over and jerked her back up. She never left the interior cabin area the rest of the trip back. Bless her heart...I think it scared her to death! Her and her partner basically hugged the whole way back!

 

The funny part? She NEVER let go of her drink!!! We had a Big Lebowski moment of... "Hey!, Careful, man...there's a beverage here!" Seriously, we're so glad she was OK, but the whole not dropping her drink was priceless. When they finally pulled her up, she grasp the drink between her teeth and helped them pull her up. :D:eek:

[Kristi Williamson]

Pulling away from the pier on the catamaran...

 

 

 

 

 

My babies after snorkeling...OK, so maybe one of them IS seventeen, but he'll always be MY baby! ;)

 

 

 

 

 

Self portrait of two people just tickled pink to be exactly where they are!

 

[cherylroslyn]

You will have a marvelous time, Cheryl! I'm sure cruising alone can be intimidating, but we found the crew and passengers to be friendly and kind. I'm glad that the review is helping to get your nerves gone and your fun meter going! The Dawn is lovely and the ports are just wonderful. I'm sure your cruise will be a great Christmas present. Come back and let us know about all the memories you'll make! :)

Thank you!!! ;)

[Kristi Williamson]

On the last day at sea, we were given the opportunity to tour the bridge. All suite guests were invited, and I'd say maybe 15 people total showed up. It was MAH-VELOUS!! The captain made an appearance and his 1st mate showed us the ropes. My kids were enthralled...and frankly, so was my DH and I!

 

1st mate giving us the run down...

 

 

 

The Captain!

 

 

 

Navigational stuff...

 

 

The Bridge!

 

[hectorbog]

You can do a private excursion, or book this through the ship. If you want to do it yourself, just look up Speedy's at Tortola. They will be right at the end of the pier. Buy your tickets and your all set. The ship's excursion is a little more, but not horrific.

 

At the end of the path, the beach there has facilities to use and some shops and a little restaurant. Devil's Bay has none of this. Just be prepared for that and it's no big deal. After you leave Devil's Bay, you'll see a sign that says, "Car Path". This is a GORGEOUS, but long, walk that takes you right back to the top where you started. Or, you can go back through the Baths and end up on the other beach with the facilities.

 

Again, this is NOT an excursion you need to do if you have mobility issues. However, even if you're not in great shape, you CAN do this!! If you're scared simply because you don't hit the gym, don't be. I PROMISE you can do this! The only people who couldn't do it would be someone who has problems with regular, every day, mobility. GET OUT THERE and DO IT!!! ;):)

 

We are doing this excursion at Christmas. What did you were on your feet?

[Kristi Williamson]

We are doing this excursion at Christmas. What did you were on your feet?

 

 

If you look closely at the pics, you'll notice that we all have on water shoes. They were sufficient for protecting our feet and making sure we didn't slip and slide everywhere! We purchased ours for 10 bucks a piece at Dick's Sporting Goods about 10 days or so before we left, so any sporting store near you should carry them. As long as you wear something close to these, you'll be good to go!