Just off the Dawn 11/20-11/30

[marial]

Hi everyone,

 

Well, we are just off the Dawn, so I thought I would do a quick summary of the cruise, from my point of view:

 

Embarkation: We decided to go on a little late to miss the crowds..got there at about 2:30 and was on the ship in less than 5 minutes

 

Ship in General: I was very nervous taking a smaller ship than I normally do, but wanted the 10 night itinerary. I thought the ship was in good shape, but did feel it was a bit small for my taste, but I thought it was nicely laid out and equiped. It had a basketball court, golf simulator, 3-4 ping pong tables, shuffle board,a small gym, 5-6 game arcade (I have a 9 yr old) the pools had plenty of room, and were HOT..not warm, but hot tub like . So, all in all, I thought it was a bit smaller than I was used to, but was not disappointed with it. I liked it much better than the Vision of the Seas I sailed on a few years back. It was also all decorated with wreaths and trees for the holidays and looked really nice in the atrium.

 

Seas: I was also nervous about going out of SF on a small ship. The seas were amazingly calm, except for one night between Cabo and San Diego (they had to close down the pool one day because of the waves that were crashing out of it). I was amazed at how little I felt the ship the first 7-8 nights. It was a very smooth ride.

 

Service: I was very happy with the service I received almost all around. Great cabin steward, and dining room experience (I had traditional early seating). I felt most of the people working at the botiques could have been a bit more friendly, but other than that, I felt it was very good. Rosalyn at the Pizzeria was wonderful as well.

 

Ports: Catalina we just did the golf cart thing, PV - PV Beach Break - really enjoyed the resort and the pools, Mazatlan - beach, shopping and show - this was a self paced tour where you watch the flyers go shopping and go to a resort, all in your time, with taxis , Cabo, just walked to the beach and hung out at a resort using their chairs on the beach. Rented wave runners in Cabo and husband did parasailing in Mazatlan. SanDiego, just shopped and did the zoo.

 

Food: I thought overall the food was good. I was happy to see when I ordered something medium rare, it actually came medium rare. We did not do the Sterling Steakhouse.

 

Internet : My husband used it several times during the cruise without any problems.

 

Immigration: This was the fastest immigration I have ever done. You simply handed someone a form, showed someone else your ID and you were done..less than a 5 minute ordeal..wonderful..no lines, no waiting..great

 

Entertainment: There entertainment I felt was poor. I thought the shows feel well below the other cruises I have seen. We enjoyed one comedian, the magician was pretty good, but we felt the Princess Dancers were fair, and we were not impressed by any of the shows.

 

Debarkation: We did the express debarkation, and were pulling up to our home in Fremont by 8:45 am this morning. I think we got off around 7:15, and again, simply walked off, quick easy, painless..

 

I am sure I am missing alot of information, but wanted to post something. All in all we had a great time. This was our first 10 nights - we normally do 7 nights, did 8 last year..I think 10 was perfect.

 

If anyone has any questions, please ask and I will see if I can answer anything..thanks

[LARGIN]

Can you explain "Express Debarkation?

[marial]

If you are able to take your luggage off the ship on your own, you can sign up for the self help debarkation. You do not put your luggage out the night before, and you are the first to get off the ship once it is cleared. I may have used the wrong term, but that is what it basically entails.

[cezovski]

Thanks Marial! We will be on the Dawn (my first cruise) in February!

You're a neighbor! We live in San Jose. It sounds like you drove. Can you tell me about the parking experience? Did you park at the lot across the street? How far do you have to walk to the ship? What was the traffic like on the Embarcadero? Would it make more sense to drop off all our checked baggage and then go to the parking garage and carry what we plan to take on ourselves?

The weather you experienced will probably be similar to what we will have. For the first few days, do you think a heavy jacket sweater will be enough or should we wear something heavier?

What deck did you stay on? We will be on the Riviera. I wanted to be right by the pool! Did you have a balcony? How was it?

AND, lastly, what time were you off the tender and actually in Catalina? I have read in other posts it took a LONG time!

I might think of more later, but thanks for answering some early questions! I can't wait for February!

[SPARKLE10]

Hi:

 

This will be our 35th cruise and the 6th one on Princess. We are booked on the Dawn Princess for New Years Eve of this year, arriving in SF a day early, since we are traveling from the midwest and you never know about the weather conditions this time of year. Do you happen to know what they do for New Years? I was hoping they would have the ship decorated nicely for the holidays. I'm glad you liked the Dawn and had a good cruise and do not have anything negative to report, except for the entertainment. The entertainment is not really a big deal wilth us, as long as everything else is good. Any other comments or tips will be appreciated.

 

Thanks.....Sparkle 10

[buddsails]

Thanks Marial for the post report on your Cruise, I'll also be going on the Dawn in Feb. and do have a couple of questions.

How was the Waverunner experence in Cabo, Price, ETC, which resort had this. also the arcade do we need change for the machines

Thanks

Bud

[marial]

Hi cezovski

 

I actually have a relative that works for a hotel chain in the area, so we parked at the hotel and took a 5 minute taxi cab ride to the pier. We were dropped off at the entrace at about 2:30 and experienced no traffic at that time on a Saturday. Sorry, I can not comment on the parking garage, as I was lucky to not have to worry about that.

 

Weather - the first few days were beautiful. I wore shorts every daytime until we left Cabo...after that it was cool. It was in the 70s the whole time, or above.

 

We did not have a balcony, but I did see some, and they seemed fairly small compared to the one we had on the Grand. A small table and chairs fit but that was about it. We were on the Caribe Deck.

 

Catalina we were off about 9:30 I think. They had tender tickets but we picked them up late so had to wait about 20 minutes to be called.

[marial]

Hi buddsails,

 

The waverunner we rented in Cabo was $40 per half hour. Not sure what the hour rate would have been. You were able to go out and around the ship on it, just had to stay a certain distance away. My 9 yr old daughter had a blast going over the waves on it with my husband. They had adult and child vests. I can not remember the name of the place we were at, but I will write once I glance at the pictures, as I took a picture of the name.

 

You do need change for the arcade (there was a change machine which was broken). All games with the exception of one, were $1.00 per play. In the kids club they did have playstations for the kids to play for free.

[Nancyquilts]

We have used the garage at 55 Francisco several times. It is covered. We take the car there, then wheel our suitcases the two blocks to the pier - saves a lot of traffic hassle at the pier, which can be a real mess for loading and unloading. Nancy

[tequilasunrise]

If you are looking for good entertainment on the Dawn and like music, try the Wheelhouse Bar. They have 2 staff bands that I thought were both good. I especially liked the late night one Avante Guard, but both were superior to what you would expect on a cruise.

 

I agree the shows were marginal. That's how we discovered the bands :p

[marial]

I just looked at the log of the cruise and it said we tendered from Catalina a little after noon..so my brain must have still been on vacation when I was talking about Catalina earlier..sorry about the misinformation..

[cruiseman111111]

Food was pretty good? Sounds like a good ship.

 

Jim

[caseycat]

We are looking at going on the Dawn with family and I was wondering how the Youth Program was? Did you son attend the programs? We will have children with us between the ages of 5 and 10 years old.

[tradogna]

Caseycat, I also just got off the Dawn, I had my grandchildren with me 4, 8, 9, and 17. The children program is wonderful, I did not see the kids as much as I would have like because they just wanted to go to fun camp from the time they woke up till it closed. The 17 year old was in a wonderful teen program. Hope you have a great cruise. Teresa

[marial]

caseycat,

 

My daughter is 9. The kids program is broken up between 3-7 year olds and 8-12 year olds. When you get on the ship, the itinerary for the whole cruise is in your cabin. They have programs from 9-12, 2-5, then 7-10. The only time my daughter went there was a couple hours on the all sea days. They had lots of crafts, playstation time, board games, scavanger hunts, movie nights, etc....for the smaller kids they had a beeper system, and you could request one for the older kids if you liked..I thought it was well run and the staff were friendly..but my daughter was happier going to the pool, or the shows.

[shivfam]

Thanks Marial,

After 6 crusies on Carnival we will be taking our first Princess cruise on the Dawn Jan 19. Sounds like we won't be dissapointed.

[traci28]

May I ask who the magician on your cruise was?

[marial]

The magician was David Womach. I thought he was decent. Last year on the NCL Star we saw a great magician, Shawn Farquahar..so that might be clouding my judgement a bit..

[scubapilot2000]

My family and I will be on the Dawn leaving on 12/20 for the ten day cruise. It's our first cruise on the Dawn and our second overall (last year, same timeframe but 7 days on the RCL Vision of the Seas).

 

We also live in the east bay. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a van service that can take us there and pick us up. I'm thinking that it may be more convenient and probably cost the same as parking for that time and probably safer.

[donnaw]

So glad our favorite ship is still the grand lady she has always been! For first time cruisers you will get hooked on cruising and for first time Princess cruisers, you will get hooked on Princess! Seriously thinking that is time to use our open booking and go back on her.

[mmyorkston]

We're going on the Dawn Jan 9th. Does anyone know who the Cruise Director is, or might be then???

 

Thanks!

[CL-JW]

My family and I will be on the Dawn leaving on 12/20 for the ten day cruise. It's our first cruise on the Dawn and our second overall (last year, same timeframe but 7 days on the RCL Vision of the Seas).

 

We also live in the east bay. I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a van service that can take us there and pick us up. I'm thinking that it may be more convenient and probably cost the same as parking for that time and probably safer.

 

When we sailed on the Dawn in October we used East Bay Airport connection. We had 4 couples and it worked out to about $30 per couple each way. It was the first time I had used them and they were great. On time pick up from our house in Dublin, and they were waiting when we got off the ship. They do ask for you to call when you are getting off the ship and they will have a van waiting and tell you were to meet the van. When they picked us up it was the corner just down from Pier 35. It was very easy and quick we were home with in 45 minutes of getting off the ship. I hope that helps and enjoy your trip, the Dawn is a great ship.

[T&TRenault]

I agree with Craig. The Dawn is great!! We live in the next town over from Craig and we also had a car pick us up and we were also home within an hour. Very nice!! The cruise was perfect. Of course it is what you make of it but we honestly had a blast. I would do it again in a heartbeat. Have a great time!!! Happy Holidays to everyone!!!