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Review: Dawn 11 day, Jan 17th


woozles
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Good Morning!

 

A quick review of our best cruise yet!

 

This was our 4th cruise, first on NCL. We took the beverage package as our perk and had an inside cabin.

 

We stayed in Tampa the night before at the Airport Quality Inn, $167 for the night and 11 days of parking. They had a towel animal in our room when we checked in. Desk clerk said he though everyone at the hotel was there for our cruise. He may have been right. Before checking into the hotel we drove down to the manatee viewing center and enjoyed our first opportunity to see manatees!

 

We arrived at port at 10 am but chose to walk over to the FL Aquarium and tour. We work at a small local aquarium so usually try to get aquarium visits in. The FL Aquarium is well worth the money!

 

Because we arrive back in line at noon, I expected a long wait, but heard numerous others complaining about the length of the wait. We were on board about 2:15pm and our room was ready. We use cash for our on board account so I went to Guest services to put cash down. BUT they closed it at 2:30 for the muster drill at 3. So no drinks for us and waiting for muster. Muster was inside and I like that they do it over the intercom system.

 

Back to guest services to put cash down. For those interested, I had no trouble just putting $200 down. We did not plan to spend much on board.

 

The cruise was rocky, but we both handled it well. We are smokers and spent LOADS of time in the cigar bar. In fact, there were times, when I doubted I was going to get dh out of the cigar bar!

 

We ate at Los Lobos and Moderno. Both were excellent with the lamb chops in Monderno being well worth the price! We also ate at Bamboo, O'Shehan's, Aqua and the Venetian. Food in all three was good to very good, but nothing really outstanding. I was unimpressed with the two apps we tried n O'Shehan's because the chips were either stale or cooked in oil that was too cold. Also the service in O'Shehan's tended to be slow. I was unimpressed with breakfast in the buffet, O'Shehands and the Venetian. Frankly breakfast was just ok. Wound up sticking with croissants and fresh fruit - which was probably good for me. LOL They do have wonderful chocolate croissants for breakfast.

 

The coffee lady on deck 12 was Fabulous! We have never had that kind of coffee service before and it was so nice not to have to get up from the pool deck and go in for more coffee.

 

I did the Canvas by you and really enjoyed it. We took an intro to Mandarin Chinese class for fun.

 

Shows: we saw two comics - Julie Bar and Dan someone. Both very good. Elements was great. The Arial show by Duo Nika was Fabulous as well.

 

We enjoy watching Karoke. made it to three Karoke nights which were mostly poorly attended, but still fun.

 

Gatsby's was always hopping and had a great piano guy named Jim. Gatsby's bar staff was fabulous as well. Bar staff on deck 12 was good as well.

 

I did spend a day in bed, not sure what it was, no fever but nausea and general malaise.

 

Iconcierge: we did not get the chat feature. With just the two of us, we did not feel the need to worry about communication. I had used Carnival's app the year before and was highly dissappointed in Iconcierge. No deck plan, no menus or hours for the restauarants. With the activities, they were occasionally in error and I was used to CArnival's app telling you how to get to where they were. I know Norwegian hsa a new app that is only available on a few ships. Hopefully, it is better. Speaking of technology, Carnival offers the option of a social media package for $5 a day, I would have liked that option on NCL. I did not use the internet on the ship at all.

 

All in all we had a good time and enjoye the 'freestyle' cruising. There is no reason we will not go on NCL again.

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We are on the 11 day on the dawn next week! Any tips/advice? Did you go to Santa Marta as well? Any advice for there? I am unable to find much info for that port. I would love any info you have to give :)

 

 

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We did not go to St. Marta.

 

The Venetian can be difficult to find. You have to go up to deck 7 and then aft to Bliss. Just before Bliss take the stairs down to the Venetian. It has the same menu as Aqua, but slightly different atmosphere. At least one couple said they preferred the Venetian. It is lighter than Aqua, but if the ship is rocking you will feel it more in Venetian because it is at the back while Aqua is more mid-ship. Breakfast and lunch are only served in Venetian.

 

Consider specialty dining on the first night. It seems everyone decides to eat at the same time that first night or two. We went up to Los Lobos the first night. It had not yet been discovered so was empty. Los Lobos is a little tricky as well. It is at the very front of the Garden Cafe near the spa. Definitely have the tableside gaucomole. Freshly made and one of the best things on the ship!

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We are on the 11 day on the dawn next week! Any tips/advice? Did you go to Santa Marta as well? Any advice for there? I am unable to find much info for that port. I would love any info you have to give :)

 

 

Went to Santa Marta in December on the SUN.

There is a shuttle bus that takes you to the end of the promenade. There is a market there. The other place of interest is the Simon Bolivar Park. There are shops and cafes on both sides of the park. You can get to the cathedral where Simon Bolivar was buried by walking past the park and following the signs. The rest of the town is not very safe for tourists.

If you want a full day then go on an organised trip with the ship or Dora.

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