Dawn - Condition

[rhinomike]

I'm on the Dawn right now. We just boarded today. Our first time on her. I had read a few reviews about her needing dry dock and seeming run down. I was actually a little worried after reading some of those reviews. I have explored every inch of this ship today..... I don't know what people are talking about. Looks like every other ship I have ever been on. I have about 50 cruises under my belt and I think she looks fine. I am usually a pretty critical person but I can't find anything wrong. I think it's a beautiful ship in good condition.

 

So dont believe all of the reviews or negative talk. I am being honest. If you have a cruise booked on the Dawn you can relax. She is in good shape.

[MekesMom]

Thanks for posting. I'll be boarding April 19

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[jasbo49]

Thanks, Mike. That's good to know. I've never seen a ship that is as bad as its worst reviews.

 

Jim

[mitsugirly]

Glad to hear she's in great shape. We will be on her in 5 months and can't wait. We've been on her sister ship, the Star and thought she was beautiful. Have a great cruise! :)

[BabsterA]

Yay, and thanks for the info! A week from today we'll be on her for the first time, so knowing she's in good shape is a relief! Thanks for taking the time to say something nice.

[CanadaTraveller]

Thanks Mike,

 

I have convinced friends to join us in February, and even though I just sailed Dawn last fall, I was getting a bit worried. I just couldn't decide if I had completely missed all the poor maintenance or the boat had really deteriorated in a year. Either way, I was feeling bad getting friends to book. Now I am back to excitement.

[NH Cruisers]

I am happy that you set the record straight. I too was on her last May. I saw no real issues then. But reviews, even the one I was on, stated how delapidated she was. I have sailed on ships less than a year old with more issues than the DAWN had.

 

She to me feels like a very well maintained ship.

 

I will be sailing the DAWN again for the third time come May 2015. Heres to hoping she maintains her condition.

[mdvlprof]

I take reviews with a grain of salt.

 

I didn't have problems with the Dawn. Yah, she's an older ship, so doesn't have all the bells and whistles. Ship was clean, well-maintained. Customer service was great. Buffet could be a little crowded, but that's par for the course.

[Barb Nahoumi]

OP, thank you for your post. We're planning on a Dawn cruise in June, which would be my third time aboard her.

 

I have always enjoyed the Dawn for the Boston/Bermuda cruises. She's not a megaship, not many bells and whistles, but a nice ship, none the less.

[welove2cruise2014]

To echo the previous posters... Thanks for this. Dawn seems to get a bad rap that I feel is not deserved. Maybe I'm biased since she's the only ship I've cruised on... But I find the accommodations and facilities to be very well-maintained and classy. As a comparison, I did attend a wedding on Carnival Breeze last year and while a much newer ship, the decor was not necessarily to my liking.

 

I find Dawn to be a beautiful, enjoyable ship... Not to mention great value when compared to the premium one might pay to cruise on one of the newer mega-ships.

[amor1964]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. It's a refreshing change from those that take time to post mostly negative. 6 days and counting for us, and I had already assumed that I would not find the missing elevator button(s), piece of tape holding a light fixture somewhere, a run in a section of carpeting...somewhere. I probably would not even notice the few light bulbs that are out from the hundreds lit. Guess I'm too busy enjoying all of the great positives:D We did a Carnival Conquest trip last year and I confirmed very quickly my appreciation for NCL. And that's without me being the type that LOOKS for the negatives!

[seemoreroyals]

We were on the Dawn 1st part of December. Nothing wrong with ship. Like anything else if you look hard enough you are sure to find a few things. I was impressed the most with the quality of entertainment.

[Da-Painter]

Hello, thanks for the review, I have also read a lot of degrading comments, and was concerned. We hop on in about 3 weeks.

How are the interior of the cabins, what type of cabin are you in???

Thanks.:)

[Laszlo]

We sailed her November of 2013. Great shape is not a word I would use. We had a mini suite and the carpet was way past its life. Our balcony rail (metal parts) had a lot of rust, more than what I have seen on any other ship. They were in the process of painting and on one of the port days we got a notice saying someone would be painting our balcony during the day. They did a real good job painting but when you don't scrape of at least some of the rust.......LOL. They painted right over it. Overall we found nothing really wrong withe the ship

[rvsullivan]

We sailed her November of 2013. Great shape is not a word I would use. We had a mini suite and the carpet was way past its life. Our balcony rail (metal parts) had a lot of rust, more than what I have seen on any other ship. They were in the process of painting and on one of the port days we got a notice saying someone would be painting our balcony during the day. They did a real good job painting but when you don't scrape of at least some of the rust.......LOL. They painted right over it. Overall we found nothing really wrong withe the ship

 

No more chipping paint on the ship. New technology allows the rust inhibitor to be in the new paint. Paint over it and it stops the existing rust with the new paint.

FYI, three weeks ago, there was no worn carpeting showing anywhere. All looks new and fresh.

[gl1200a]

No more chipping paint on the ship. New technology allows the rust inhibitor to be in the new paint. Paint over it and it stops the existing rust with the new paint.

FYI, three weeks ago, there was no worn carpeting showing anywhere. All looks new and fresh.

 

They ARE chipping sections of the paint. With an old time chipping hammer to boot. Not a needle gun. I could hear them tapping above me and my aft balcony would have paint chips on it.

This was on the 14th through 21st of Dec cruise.

That being said, the ship is in FINE shape, contrary to some saying "in dire need of refurbishment."

 

The elevator issue some have spoken of is ONE of the elevators on ONE of the floors does not on the outside light up the up down arrow, and one of the cars the button is THERE just not the floor number. It's the only number missing so no biggie. That is unless you have a problem with 123456 8910. guess which floor the blank button is? (now before someone says it was floor 8 not 7, I don't remember which floor it was it's just an example.)

 

I would jump back on it Sunday if I could. If a person is emotionally stressed by a little missing paint or rust on their balconies........ stay home, I noticed some minor rust on the Getaway in October, it's what salt water does.

[pathubia]

I have been on the Dawn May, 2013, May, 2014, October 2014 and will be on in January, 2015.....There might have been lights out on the elevators or chipped paint on our balcony railing, we never noticed. The rug seemed fine in our mini suite 11012 in October and no problems with our suite 11020 and adjoining mini 11022 in May. If there were, we didnt notice.

 

Thanks for posting, I was beginning to get a little worried that the ship had been trashed since October!!

Edited December 29, 2014 by pathubia
Added sentence

[rvsullivan]

They ARE chipping sections of the paint. With an old time chipping hammer to boot. Not a needle gun. I could hear them tapping above me and my aft balcony would have paint chips on it.

This was on the 14th through 21st of Dec cruise.

That being said, the ship is in FINE shape, contrary to some saying "in dire need of refurbishment."

 

The elevator issue some have spoken of is ONE of the elevators on ONE of the floors does not on the outside light up the up down arrow, and one of the cars the button is THERE just not the floor number. It's the only number missing so no biggie. That is unless you have a problem with 123456 8910. guess which floor the blank button is? (now before someone says it was floor 8 not 7, I don't remember which floor it was it's just an example.)

 

I would jump back on it Sunday if I could. If a person is emotionally stressed by a little missing paint or rust on their balconies........ stay home, I noticed some minor rust on the Getaway in October, it's what salt water does.

 

You were on right after us! They were doing a lot of chipping to replace the running track and had to remove the surface to redo it. It scattered paint chips everywhere, they did try to capture most of them, but you know how that works.

[CANDYAPPLE]

It's great to read current reviews such as this, and very helpful. Especially since our travel agent just called to inform us that our fare has been reduced by $688.00 for the 12 day April cruise!

 

Two bits of good news in one day...wonderful!!

[jdvmd]

Glad to hear she is in still great shape. I, too, had read the reviews before our sailing and was worried to death. Nothing could have been farther from the truth. Have a great cruise!

[rhinomike]

Hello, thanks for the review, I have also read a lot of degrading comments, and was concerned. We hop on in about 3 weeks.

How are the interior of the cabins, what type of cabin are you in???

Thanks.:)

 

We have 2 connecting ocean view cabins. They are nice. Nothing wrong. Clean. Carpet looks ok. Good condition.

 

Here is a live pic from my bed. Relaxing before dinner. Lol.

[Samstress]

Thank you so much for taking the time to post. I too had been a little worried about our upcoming cruise on the Dawn. I am the 'trip planner' in our group & now I won't worry about my choice of ship anymore!

Cheers,

Sandra

[rollo89]

Just off the Dawn and I thought the ship was great! There are of course were a few small things but considering it having 2000+ people on it each week, it looked just fine to me!

[Oakman58]

Just off the Dawn and I thought the ship was great! There are of course were a few small things but considering it having 2000+ people on it each week, it looked just fine to me!

 

 

Glad to hear that. We will be boarding her in 17 days and we're getting more excited as each day passes.

[Bethwte]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. It's a refreshing change from those that take time to post mostly negative. 6 days and counting for us, and I had already assumed that I would not find the missing elevator button(s), piece of tape holding a light fixture somewhere, a run in a section of carpeting...somewhere. I probably would not even notice the few light bulbs that are out from the hundreds lit.

 

 

That's too funny - we did notice the things I bolded from your post (particularly the elevator buttons as one was at the banks closest to our room and my mother kept pushing that one even when it was wrong just because it stood out, lol) but it was nothing more than a passing comment, and certainly did not impede our enjoyment of the cruise in any way. Had I not read this post I probably wouldn't have even remembered them to be honest.