Attn Spanish Eyes: Dawn Princess Review

[judithann423]

Have just returned from a 12 day cruise of the Dawn Princess from Fremantle to Singapore 29 April and we had a lovely time.

 

As promised for 'Spanish Eyes' a short review in particular for cabins D604 and D606.

 

A little history, I usually travel with my husband in a balcony cabin on deck 12 but this time I was travelling with an old friend and we decided to have obstructed view cabins on deck 8 due to the cost of single occupancy.

 

The location of these cabins was great just past the Casino with no noise whatsoever reaching our cabins. A quick walk to the aft elevators which are so much quieter than the forward ones, and straight through the casino to the glass elevators.

 

These are unusual shaped cabins and are smaller than the norm with less wardrobe space but more draws space. I had my cabin as a twin which allowed a much more workable floor space. My friend had hers as a queen and the cabin seemed to be all bed with quite an awkward space to manouvre. If there are two people travelling in the cabin I would certainly recommend a twin set-up otherwise it could be a little difficult if you are both trying to get ready at the same time.

 

Check-in at Fremantle was very swift. I had to checkout of my hotel at 1100 so I went to the wharf and virtually walked on. Suitcase arrived and was all unpacked by 1.00 pm.

 

The Dawn was looking a little 'sad' which we expected as she was on her way to a well deserved drydock. Overall appearances weren't too bad.

 

Perhaps the crew may have been a bit distracted on this cruise due to the drydock but they didn't appear to be their usual happy selves. Saying that

though the service was still good with no complaints from me.

 

We caught the tailend of a cyclone a couple of days in which made it quite rough with many people suffering from sea sickness. It was a very quiet ship on the Saturday

 

The food in the dining room was excellent, perhaps the best I have ever experienced on a Princess Cruise. Pizzeria and buffet were OK. Stirling Steakhouse, as always, excellent.

 

The dreaded Novo reared it's ugly head on the last two days and the ship went on code red. We were kept fully informed by the Captain, and the crew handled this in a very efficient manner.

 

The shows was quite good with some good entertainers being bought onboard. Plenty of opportunity to see them for both sittings. Please princess no more British Invasion, surely this was run it's life span by now!!

 

Happy hour in the Wheelhouse Bar 3-4 pm - very popular!!

 

Tendering in Bali became a chore with some taking over 2 hours to get ashore. There was a large swell running which it made it extremely difficult for the Bali Hai and 2 lifeboats to tie up to the ship and load and unload us all safely. All other ports we were able to dock.

 

Disembarkation at Singapore was a breeze as you would expect. Lovely new terminal and extremely well organised. Taxi to the airport was S$24.00.

 

Hope this helps Spanish Eyes, any questions, please ask.

 

Regards to all

Judy

[tickford]

I was on this cruise as well.

 

The embarkation in Fremantle was the best we had experienced, very easy and super quick.

 

The ship was looking quite poor in our opinion, mainly the outdoor areas and I do hope they fix some of that.

 

I am over the Princess shows, far to similar and certainly over the "British" theme. So much so I didn't go this time though hubby did as he just loves music. The resident band was pretty ordinary but they are limited by Princess what they are allowed to play. The film clips on "Movie under the stars" I have seen on 3 other princess cruises, it gets boring after a while.

 

Food? As expected, pretty much the same as ever, think I need to cruise another line to be honest.

 

Staff, we found to be good, happy and helpful.

 

Bali embarkation at the end of the day a total shamozzle, everywhere else was good, fortunately we did not get sick with noro but our friends did and although I do not know figures I think a lot of people got it as there were not a lot of people around the last couple days.

 

I think I am going to take land based holidays for a while