Dawn Repo 2016 Picture Review

[gail-s]

My parents were on the trip with you. They liked the itinerary but my father was SO disappointed in the food. He's been on the Dawn 7 or 8 times and he said the food was just awful this time around. Breakfast in the Venetian was cold and eggs were runny after waiting an hour. Chicken marsala came with red sauce. Tiny tiny portions in the main dining room. My father never complains about the food on the Dawn so I was in shock. He said the spinach and artichoke dip in O'Sheehan's was still good (used to be in the Blue Lagoon) and that the fish and chips there were good as well. They never eat in the buffet and they ate there quite a bit this last trip because the food in the main dining rooms was so bad. I'm curious what other people thought.

[katiecat]

Thank you for joining! I see you're on here too. I love that southern route :)

 

It's the two one way connecting flights that I worry about but the Dawn and itinerary are worth it.

[AKR2011]

Harry O'Donoghue must do the Repo's. He was on our November 2014 Repo from Boston to New Orleans. He's a really nice guy. We spoke to him several times. The last time we saw him he had shaven and was meeting his wife in Aruba. I think that is were he got off the Ship. Jose & Patti were also on that cruise. There were a lot of people who follow them and the Atrium was always packed every night.

 

I'm looking forward to next years Repo to San Juan. Have planned a B2B.

 

Yup, definitely a packed atrium! They have quite the following. Fun to see! I think Harry stayed with us most of the cruise. He may have gotten off at one of the later ports, but he did a late night show later in the cruise too. We ended up skipping that one. Something about the rocking of the ship makes us want to go to bed :p

[AKR2011]

Following....can't wait to read more and see those pictures:)

 

Coming right up! :D

[maja651]

LOVE your writing style! You are inspiring me to do more planned activities on my next cruise. THANK YOU!

[AKR2011]

We are cruising on the Dawn this Xmas Dec 23rd out of New Orleans. Did you get the spa pass? If so did you enjoy the new upgrades? Were there any new major changes to the main pool deck? Thanks

 

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I admit that I don't do the spa thing. I have never tried it. The pool deck got some nice new lighting. No more of those palm tree lights. Overall, the ship is very meh. I wish there was more than just neutral colors everywhere. Take those lights for instance. I'm glad the palm trees went, but the new lights are completely boring, as is much of the new furniture around the ship. And moving the chairs in Bliss for Trivia or socializing is just about impossible. They are incredibly heavy, but at least they are a brighter green than most other shades around the ship.

 

I like the on-screen menu on the TV. You can see your account, book excursions and dinner, etc. I don't cruise to watch TV, which is definitely a good thing. I couldn't find much of anything when I turned it on. Mostly ship TV and two movie channels. Three times I turned on the TV at the end of movie credits, and I was excited that I could catch the beginning of another. There were literally 30 minutes of previews before the next movie would show up, so I felt like I was wasting time just trying to watch.

 

Although I didn't sail on the old Dawn, I know that Cellars Wine Bar is new, and I loved it! You can choose a wine via tablet, and it's a great way to find the right one for you. The staff are also really knowledgeable. The other big change is O'Sheehan's. I enjoyed their food most of the time, but it only has a few "Irish" offerings for a pub. Breakfast is especially standard. The location is great, though!

 

Oh, and the thing that everyone is complaining about is the artwork in The Venetian. They painted lines over the paintings in there - right across the faces of the people in them. It was asked about at several Q & As, and the Hotel Director is not a fan either. Everyone is complaining and hoping to get it fixed. It's supposed to look modern. Instead, it just looks bad :mad:

[AKR2011]

How come I can't see the uploaded pics? I'm using Chrome as my browser.

 

I don't know. I use Chrome too :confused:

[AKR2011]

My parents were on the trip with you. They liked the itinerary but my father was SO disappointed in the food. He's been on the Dawn 7 or 8 times and he said the food was just awful this time around. Breakfast in the Venetian was cold and eggs were runny after waiting an hour. Chicken marsala came with red sauce. Tiny tiny portions in the main dining room. My father never complains about the food on the Dawn so I was in shock. He said the spinach and artichoke dip in O'Sheehan's was still good (used to be in the Blue Lagoon) and that the fish and chips there were good as well. They never eat in the buffet and they ate there quite a bit this last trip because the food in the main dining rooms was so bad. I'm curious what other people thought.

 

My husband had pancakes in the Venetian one morning that made him not want to go back. But when he did, he thought the French Toast was good. I also found runny eggs in the Garden Buffet, but usually only on port days. very strange, but I remember reading that in another review too. On those days, I just stuck to Eggs Benedict. That's a big treat for me.

 

Blue Lagoon and O'Sheehan's are very similar. I liked the food for the most part, including the spinch artichoke dip. Alex and I tried the wings that everyone likes so much, but they were not crispy. When we went back, he ordered them again and specifically asked for them crispy. In order to do this, they have to put the sauce on the side. This turned out to be a great option.

 

I also am not a huge fan of the buffet. I really only went for a quick breakfast before my walks, when we woke up late on port days, or coming back from an island when nothing else was open. I have my go-to food there - Pretzel Bread, fruits and veggies, and a burger or some chicken. Alex liked their Indian food. Overall, I didn't think too much of the food was bad, but there were some disappointments that I'll point out at times.

[AKR2011]

LOVE your writing style! You are inspiring me to do more planned activities on my next cruise. THANK YOU!

 

Aw, thank you! We like to take it all in and live it up...Then pass out quickly at the end of the day ;)

[AKR2011]

Day 5:

 

We finally arrived at our first port - San Juan!! We were here last in fall of 2013. At that time, we only had 6 hours in Port - I believe 3-9. This time we had a full day, and we were there in the morning. That meant time to do something fun! I looked into different excursions, but was not positive on what we should do by the time the trip rolled around. I also knew that there would be people in port offering rides. My thought was that if the weather was nice, we could catch a ride to Yunque Rainforest and explore on our own. I also thought about a trip to Bacardi. I had gone last time, but Alex had not. However, it used to be free. Now tours are $12.50, and I know that's not a lot to spend, but he wasn't sold on doing it. Alex also wanted a tour of Old San Juan, since the last time he just explored on his own.

 

We had a leisurely breakfast at The Venetian where Alex had hard, dry pancakes. They were so bad that he threatened to not return there. I had the breakfast croissant, and that was good. Other guests were also complaining about the pancakes. You can't win them all, right? He shook it off, and we got in line to get off the ship. It was an easy walk-off since we had already been docked a little while.

 

When we got off the ship, sure enough there was a tour guide offering 4 hours of fun for $48 each. He promised a Rainforest Tour followed by Old San Juan. I wasn't so sure, but leave it to Alex to jump at the first thing. He thought this was the best idea ever. When we took our seats on the bus, I was tempted to walk off, and in the end, I wish I did.

 

When it came to planning our vacation, I did all of it. Alex wanted to be surprised. I didn't leave out a lot of details, but this port was missed. Sure, I had notes on things to do, but I had heard that not all Rainforest tours are great. This one was with Happy Tours, and it didn't make us very happy :(

 

We drove to the Visitor's Center at the Rainforest where we had beautiful views:

 

We were there for awhile, and I was dreaming of a walk through the Rainforest. Instead, we drove to an Observation Tower, walked to the top for 10 minutes, and then drove to another location. It didn't seem like we were going into the forest at all. Next up was a roadside waterfall:

 

There was a lot of construction on the road, so it was difficult to get anywhere. The guide explained that we would be going to a big waterfall next, and this was up a hill in the woods. It was beautiful:

 

It was a 5 minute walk up some slippery rocks, but a really nice view. There was a woman in platform sandles that couldn't make it all the way up, but the rest of us did. I live in my Crocs Boatshoes, and they worked well for the walk.

 

After this waterfall, we left the rainforest. Yup, we should have just booked a different tour or done it on our own. Well, at least we had Old San Juan, right???

 

We arrived in Old San Juan, and the guide said, "okay, this is where the tour ends. You can get off here and walk around, or I can take you back to the ship." Really??? That was it??? We were disappointed that there was no tour, but we didn't want to make a fuss. There were about a dozen of us on this tour, and no one else seemed to complain either. I left thinking lesson learned.

[AKR2011]

There are two things that I buy in every port - a Christmas ornament and a pin. I bought these at the Visitor Center at Yunque, so I didn't have the need to shop in port. We went to one of the squares for a little Internet and that was about it. I was frustrated with the tour, and Alex felt bad for picking the first thing he saw, but how could he have really have known? We should have both asked more questions first, and that was our biggest lesson from this. Was it a bad day? Of course not. But definitely not what we expected. Don't promise Old San Juan if you're just going to drop us there and not tell us anything about it. The rainforest part wasn't the best, but I can forgive that.

 

It was about 2:00, and all aboard was I believe 4:00, but we were hungry. Time to head back for some food. We were surprised to see a line outside to get back onto the ship. Only one gangway was open. By the time we made it back to the ship, it was almost 3:00. This was the worst I have ever seen a port.

 

Needless to say, we were famished by the time we made it back on board. The Garden Cafe was crazy, but at least they still had food. After this, we played some Goofy Golf, enjoyed drinks with our bartenders at O'Sheehans, and did some Beatles Trivia. This trivia was probably my favorite one. I have two huge fans for parents, so I know just about every song. The thing is, everyone seems to know them too. There were three teams (including us) with perfect scores, plus the bonus. I will say that the music was all the easier songs. I was hoping for some Rocky Raccoon or the Benefit of Mr. Kite - anything challenging really - but Michelle ma Belle seemed to be the biggest challenge. Oh well. Super fun anyway.

 

We were excited for tonight's show, The Ineffable Two, and we were not disappointed. I have never been to a real cirque show in person and love seeing the ones on ships whenever possible. This duo is so beautiful and incredibly strong. We thoroughly enjoyed the show.

 

Next up was Bandaoke in Bliss. I like a little Karaoke now and then, so this sounded like fun. All of the music was really old standards, but I give Muz'k Nation some credit for offering us the chance to sing with them as back-up. They had 180 songs to choose from, and I went with some Whitney Houston. That was probably the most recent of choices :D

 

We were hungry again but didn't want a lot, so we decided to head back to O'Sheehan's. We sat at the bar, attempted to bend a cigarette without breaking it (yet another puzzle from the bartender), and ordered some wings with fries. We had heard great things about the wings and wanted to give them a try. I grew up in Central NY and spent some time in Buffalo, so I like to think that I know what a good chicken wing is. Alex is also picky about his. Unfortunately, we were not impressed. They were on the small side and not crispy at all. Don't get me wrong; they were edible. The sauces were also good, but maybe our expectations were too high? :confused:

 

After learning how to do the cigarette riddle and finishing our drinks - I think we were doing Moscow Mules, Picso Punches, and Mojitos that night - we decided to retire to bed. Another sea day waited us tomorrow, and we had a new friend too:

[AKR2011]

Day 6:

 

This morning I woke up at 6:30 and was excited to read for a little bit before walking the mile. I turned on the bathroom light, and I got a surprise: The bathroom had flooded again. There was water all over the floor, and it smelled like horrible sewage. With the need to pee, I ran down the hall in my pajamas to the bathroom at O'Sheehan's. When I returned, I turned on the main light and called the front desk. Alex was still in bed, and I apologized, but this needed to be fixed. I threw on some clothes quickly before the plumber and Muzleena knocked on the door again.

 

Alex got up so Muzleena could do the bathroom, and I went to Guest Services. I'm an easygoing person, but waking up to a flood is not cool. We still have over a week to go. They apologized and explained that the plumbing was re-done in the refurb. I explained that I missed those loud, scary toilets that they used to have on the ships. I never had this problem before. But there was nothing they could do but apologize and promise that it would be cleaned up. I nodded and remembered that I hadn't gotten my ship pin yet. They handed me a couple, and I headed up to the pool deck to grab some eggs and read before my walk.

 

It was a regular sea day for me from that point on. I walked and tried out a new Fitness Dance Class that replaced Zuma. This was even better than Zumba and probably my favorite one all cruise. I was a sweaty mess after, but they moved Trivia in that room, so when I saw my team, I decided to stay. Then I headed back to the room to shower and change for the day. Guest Services called while I was there and asked about the bathroom. I had to be honest. Yes, Muzleena had cleaned it, and it looked much better, but it still smelled like sewage. I asked if this could be rectified, and they said that they would do what they could.

 

I went back to my book at Gatsby's with a couple drinks, and then headed to Bean Bag Toss. Then it was lunch at the Venetian, and Towel Folding Demo :D

[AKR2011]

Alex found me during the Towel Folding (he knows me so well :)), and we met back up again after I came back from lunch. He had eaten a late breakfast again, so we agreed to do the afternoon challenges together. There was Ring Toss, Goofy Golf, and Bean Bag Toss. I drank a few Manhattans and enjoyed watching everyone play along. We had Sonny again, and he made it enjoyable as usual. We always played these challenges outside The Stardust, which was fine most of the time. On this day there was a 3:00 Neil Diamond show, so that made it a little challenging, but we made do. I remember doing Goofy Golf on The Sun and putting all around the atrium. They don't allow that on The Dawn, which is disappointing. We had a very small space to play in.

 

I went back to the room quickly and discovered a nice surprise:

 

Wow, they really do care! :D I thought this was a sweet gesture for the toilet issues, and it made a nice little snack. After this, I did some more reading before Progressive Trivia. We had moved down the ranks to #5, so the pressure was on. Afterwards we decided to see about eating in Bamboo. It was difficult to get in, so we made a reservation for the next day. We went back to O'Sheehan's for some drinks and then headed to Aqua for dinner. I have to say that that I always had a good time at the main dining rooms. The food was sometimes a miss, but mostly it was good, and service was always great. They always offered us drinks from the bar, so we had wine each night. We were also in and out in about an hour each time.

 

We were thirsty again after dinner, so we headed to Gatsby's for Martinis, and grabbed refills to go on the way to the 9:00 show. I'm pretty sure we had made this beverage package worthwhile by this point of the cruise. I'm not used to drinking this much regularly, and it was nice to try lots of different things without worrying. You don't even have to sign for your drinks. There wasn't much of a line either.

 

Tonight's show was the Thrillusionist - David DaVinci. He has been living on ships with his wife and 3-year old for years. They are such a cute family and are switching ships and headed to Europe soon. I'm so happy that we were able to see David perform. We really enjoyed his show.

 

When we arrived back to our room, another surprise awaited us:

 

Yes, that's right. We had chocolate! This is our first cruise as silver, and I knew that we were supposed to have nightly chocolate but didn't want to make a fuss. Apparently now that they wanted to keep us on their good side with that flooding, they also remembered the chocolate. Another Zika reminder was there too, as well as free bug spray. Yup, they were definitely sucking up now, but that was alright with us. I just hoped that we were done with flooding. Muzleena also ran into us in the hallway and explained that she was using a new Lysol Cleaner for the bathroom. It smelled much better now.

Edited November 16, 2016 by AKR2011

[AKR2011]

I need to head out and will try to post later, if not tomorrow. Thank you all for following and for your patience! :)

[mabones]

I'm am so enjoying this Review? It brings back great memories!

[lanceholt]

FYI we are both over 70 and don't like Jose and Patti either....two nights and that was it for us. Don't understand the following at all.

[bedfordmom]

Same here--I enjoyed the Neil Diamond Show with them and otherwise they were OK. I was on the same cruise and I am loving your review! it's like reliving it again

 

 

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[pathubia]

I guess it's all in your taste, our group of 16, age range of 40 to 55 loved Jose and Patti.

 

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[easyboy]

Very nice pictures indeed!

[AKR2011]

I'm am so enjoying this Review? It brings back great memories!

 

Thank you!! :)

[AKR2011]

FYI we are both over 70 and don't like Jose and Patti either....two nights and that was it for us. Don't understand the following at all.

 

I'm glad that we're not the only ones :) There is so much other great entertainment on board that it never bothered us. I was especially surprised when they had a matinee and people were really fighting for seats. I was outside doing the Bean Bag toss when people were going in, and it was crazy! :eek:

[AKR2011]

Same here--I enjoyed the Neil Diamond Show with them and otherwise they were OK. I was on the same cruise and I am loving your review! it's like reliving it again

 

 

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Thank you! :) We liked the 4 Seasons Tribute and also saw El Gaucho on the last night and wished we had gone to his full show.

[AKR2011]

I guess it's all in your taste, our group of 16, age range of 40 to 55 loved Jose and Patti.

 

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That's why I love NCL. Lots of different entertainment for different people :)

[AKR2011]

Very nice pictures indeed!

 

I need to get access to my husband's. He's the photographer. But thank you :)

[AKR2011]

Day 7:

 

Today was another port day - Bonaire! We had a nice long day in Port, and I was excited. Many months before, I booked a full 6 hour tour with Voyager Bonaire. They had offered me both the north and south tour for only $30. And well...When it seems too good to be true it probably is :(

 

I learned a few lessons about excursions on this trip, and today would be another lesson. Although I booked ahead and was promised a particular tour, we were mixes with others who just showed up, and it was more like 4 hours that 6. We missed Seri Lagu and didn't stop in Rincon (the oldest village) during the northern part. Then in the southern part, we skipped the lighthouse and Sorobon Beach, and we didn't get to stop at the salt flats.

 

Our guide seemed very rushed. When I asked to stop at one point, she was a bit taken aback and said that she never usually stops there. But she pointed out the spot as an overlook. Why wouldn't we want to stop? We did make some of the planned stops, such as the Thousand Steps:

 

In Bonaire, you don't have to go far before the water gets really deep, so Scuba Diving is really popular. They have lots of great dive spots, and this one is famous for all of it's steps to get down:

 

Here is a view from that pretty overlook:

 

Everything is so naturally beautiful on Bonaire. I was sad to be rushed through. I am understanding more and more why people choose to do things on their own.