Dawn Review April 17-28, 2022

[JennKach]

Hi Everyone,

For a little background, my husband (59) and myself (56) mostly cruise NCL with a couple Carnival, one RCI and two other lines no longer in business.  We booked a family ocean view back in October to celebrate our 25^th anniversary, which is actually now our 27^th due to COVID and elder care responsibilities delaying our trip.  We are very laid back travelers that can find a way to enjoy ourselves in any situation.  I bid for an upgrade to balcony but didn’t want to risk not getting it, so I chickened out and used my NCL Mastercard points to do a free upgrade to BA balcony a week before sailing.  Yes I paid more than the last minute prices, but I had four specialty restaurants which helped make up the difference.  I also got triple latitudes points putting me super close to Platinum.  I guess I need to book another cruise!

 

Our cruise was the April 17^th Dawn 11 day reposition sailing out of Tampa which visited Key West (substituted last minute for Grand Cayman), Aruba, Bonaire, St. Lucia and Antigua, and ended in New York City.

 

My husband and I spent some time at our condo in Clearwater prior to the trip which always helps me prepare to unplug.  I’m lucky to work from home, and he is retired.  His flight was uneventful, but mine five days later, was delayed several times and eventually canceled, so it took me 24 hours instead of 3 to get there.  I wasted an Uber trip and inconvenienced my daughter twice for a ride.  Eventually I arrived 7 days ahead of embarkation.  We did last minute shopping and I keep a small amount of clothes and travel supplies there so I don’t have to pack so much from home.  This trip didn’t work out so well with the cruise ending in New York, so I have to drag everything back to Michigan and then back to Florida.  I hate paying for checked bags!

 

Covid Testing

We got our Covid tests two days in advance at Walgreens in Florida, having reserved exactly 7 days earlier when the new appointments opened at midnight.  It was super quick and easy in the drive thru, no jamming the swab way up the nose.  Our results were emailed in an hour.  As a backup I scheduled tests at CVS since they allow booking well in advance. We visited FedEx Office to get paper copies of our results printed out.  The port staff really appreciated it and it was easier than juggling phones multiple times or risking bad cell service, a lost phone or a dead battery. 

 

Embarkation

We originally had a 9:30 check in time but the FB group mentioned drop off was still closed shortly before 9am, and TA’s were saying boarding was delayed.  We took our time and our son dropped us off at 11:30.  Each of us had a small backpack and our CPAPs were in the shared suitcase which we left with a porter. No one checked our appointment time.  In order to enter Terminal 2 we had to show negative covid test and wear masks.  In line we heard of an airport snafu where there were supposed to be 7 NCL transfer buses and only one showed up.  A couple we spoke with had waited 90 minutes to get on the first bus.  We were then allowed into the building, sent the carry-ons through xray, and went through the metal detector without incident.  Then we moved on to check in.  There was quite a line that snaked through a room and eventually we were let into the main check in area and directed to a line at one of about 12 stations.  The agent used an ipad, asked us a bunch of health questions, scanned the passports, looked at Covid results, and took our pictures.  I don’t remember having to show our vaccine cards at all.  At some point during the process we went up an escalator.  Stopped for the obligatory photo, walked onto the ship and rooms were ready, time elapsed: 45 minutes from drop off to boarding the ship!  We left our hand luggage in the cabin and headed to the muster station to get our cards scanned.  My husband got rejected because he hadn’t “officially” watched the safety video.  Note:  watch the video link from your own email or app!!!  He just looked over my shoulder when I watched it, and it didn’t count in the system for him.  The solution on board was to watch the video on the cabin TV and it registered him as complete.  We hit Venetian for a sit down lunch and cocktail. 

 

Sailaway

There were two ships in port and we left first.  Carnival Pride followed us out, escorted by the authorities until after we passed underneath the Sunshine Skyway bridge about 6:45.  We were right up at the bow, deck 12, and the view was spectacular!  Not much room for error on the captain’s part.

 

Food

Garden Cafe - was open for all three meals, plus snacks, continuously from breakfast though 11pm. I thought this was very cool because I’ve been on some ships where there is no food available between 3pm and dinner, and that’s when I’m looking for a snack to tie me over until a later dinner.  It was self serve except for omelette, pasta & carving stations.  Food was very good at the buffet.  I am diabetic so it was nice to have sugar free dessert choices.  We love fresh brewed iced tea at breakfast (their idea of machine dispensed tea was awful) so we made hot tea (Lipton products) and poured over ice.  All beverage stations were open.  We ate all breakfasts and some lunches at Windjammer.  Bacon was declared not as good as RCI but we were able to get some crispy pieces if we searched hard enough.  They still had the little round hash browns.

Main Dining - ate dinner in the main dining rooms 5 times, mixing it up between Venetian and Aqua.  Menus were the same so it was just based on which atmosphere we preferred.  Venetian is large and bright with high ceilings, and Aqua is small, dark and intimate.  There was never a wait.  We enjoyed the food, service was very good, and the bar orders came quickly.  I wish they would post the dinner menus on the NCL app though like RCI does.

Bamboo – we tried this one night and liked it so well we came back the next night!  It is a no-charge restaurant with sushi upcharge.  I highly recommend the pot stickers, calamari, lemon pepper shrimp and chocolate spice cake.

O’Sheehan’s – we had a couple snacks here like chicken wings, pretzel bites, and irish stew (aka broth with a couple pieces of corned beef and potatoes).  Loved the wings.

Le Bistro – can’t complain about anything here!  I liked that they asked for a more dressy attire and most people complied.  I did see one man in shorts and the rest of his party in very casual clothes.  We showed up early and were seated immediately.  Food was excellent and the meal took about 90 minutes.

Moderno – it was our first time at a Brazilian steak house and it did not disappoint.  I didn’t fill up on the salad bar so I had lots of room for the rest.  The pace was very nice and we didn’t feel overwhelmed by the servers offering meats.  I tried the filet, top sirloin, chicken leg, lamb chops, leg of lamb and pork sausage.  The grilled pineapple with brown sugar and cinnamon was delicious.

La Cucina – we got the filet as recommended on Cruise Critic.  It really was better than any of the other venues, including Cagney’s.  By this time in our voyage were were cutting back on food intake so I skipped the appetizer, had two bites of risotto (not worth the calories or carbs), and dessert. The only criticism I have for this venue is the noise level from the entertainment right outside at Gatsby’s.

Cagney’s – we always eat at Cagneys and it did not disappoint.  The open kitchen had my mouth watering as soon as we were seated.  I was good and limited myself to filet, broccoli, shrimp cocktail and part of a dessert.

We did not eat at Los Lobos, Teppanyaki, Top Siders, or use room service.

I found the food to be really salty.  I retain water just looking at a salt shaker and my ankles were AWOL on this cruise.  That’s really my only complaint. The same thing happened when I was pregnant, but I can assure you that was not the cause on this trip.

 

Cabin

I had the TA choose the room and she did great with balcony 9128 midship starboard.  We were steps from the Atrium, one floor from O’Sheehan’s, and an elevator away from the buffet, pool, and dining rooms.  I liked the bathroom with separate large shower and toilet space.  Unfortunately that took away space from the sink area and storage was difficult.  I can’t imagine more than two people sharing the space.  The room itself had plenty of room, but again storage was an issue.  There were only three drawers and one wouldn’t open.   The shelves are hidden sideways in the closet and it’s awkward and dark even with the closet light on.  We used the couch area for clothes instead of putting things away.  There was plenty of space to stash the suitcase and back packs under the bed.  RCI definitely wins the storage war!  Having two CPAPs was not a problem.  I balanced mine on the back of the couch, and my husband had a tiny table on his side of the bed.  We ran the cords under the bed and plugged them into an extension cord I brought.  The cabin steward provided bathrobes and distilled water at no charge. There was only one outlet in the room so I brought an adapter that had two outlets and three USB ports.  There were two stemless wine glasses every day, and two complimentary cartons of water even though we are only Silver level.  A sign said they would bring a coffee maker on request.  Cabin service happened in the blink of an eye!  Even if we were only gone 20 minutes for breakfast we came back to a clean room.  There was a dial outside the door to indicate if you wanted the room made up, turned down, not to be disturbed, or welcome.  Bath towels were replaced twice a day, and the pool towels kept disappearing, though we were not charged for that.  We had to hide them in the closet for use on shore excursions the next morning.

 

COVID Protocols

Passenger masks were only required in the cruise terminal at embarkation, in St. Lucia, and in some parts of Antigua.  All NCL employees wore masks except the performers while they were entertaining.  Sanitizer stations were everywhere.  I saw lots of people cleaning walls, doors, railings and elevators.  Hand washing/sanitizer was enforced when entering the buffet.  We played shuffleboard and they had signs and wipes to clean the equipment after use.  I never heard any communications about COVID cases. 

 

Drinks

We had the drink package and made good use of it.  It was nice to order two drinks at a time, or add an extra shot, which saved me some carbs if I chose a mixer with sweetener.  I mostly had tequila or vodka drinks with club soda and fresh lime juice, or Truly (only available at limited bars), but splurged one day poolside with a mudslide.  I also brought some zero calorie powdered mixers in margarita, mojito and cranberry flavors for variety.  NCL really needs to step up with some sugar free mixers like triple sec since we can’t bring liquids onboard ourselves.  The included wine selections were very limited but the cabernet was quite good at dinner.  My husband enjoyed the tequila. We finally made it to the Tequila bar on the last night for him to try the much talked about spicy margarita, but he hated it. Note: that bar is only open from 5:30-9:30 so plan accordingly.  We kept missing it due to excursions, dinner and show times.  Same situation with the mojito bar.

 

Excursions

We normally do independent excursions, but with the NCL discount and lack of time to research, it was just easier and sometimes cheaper to book through NCL.  We did go independent in Bonaire.  It was our first time at all ports except Antigua.  Note:  on NCL tours you should arrive well before the meeting time if you want a choice of seats.  People were very early.  One of the excursions had multiple buses and ours left 15 minutes before the tour was supposed to begin.

Key West – did the one hour conch train to get overview of the city, then walked around.  The train was packed and several rows had to squeeze four people in where they should have only three.  Prepare to be cozy.  Had a lobster roll and conch fritters for lunch, and shared key lime pie for dessert.  Ship docked right downtown.  We had a delay leaving because a supply shipment hadn’t arrived.  The supplier missed getting to the ship in Tampa, and again in Key West.  Eventually the supplies were obtained in Aruba according to the food service manager.

Aruba – Did “Best of Aruba” tour for 4 hours.  Visited an Aloe farm and factory, rock formations, natural rock bridges on the coast, a lighthouse and 30 minutes on a beautiful beach.  This was my least favorite port and wish we could have skipped the rock formations and spent more time at the beach.  At least there were opportunities at almost every stop for refreshments and bathroom facilities.  The tour operator provided bottled water at two stops.  There was free wifi in the nice air conditioned port building with lots of chairs.  Walked around down town but nothing too interesting.  Lots of jewelry stores.  Got to see the fuel ship pull up alongside us and fill up our tanks.

Bonaire – only had from 6am to noon in port.  I am not a morning person so it was a struggle to be off the ship before 8am.  We rented a golf cart from Bonaire Cruisers and toured the south side of the island.  It took about three hours and was well worth it.  We saw the sights at our own pace and stopped at a beautiful beach we had all to ourselves.  There is a lot of shopping in this port if you forgot anything.  This was my favorite port and I wish we had a whole day here.  We will return!

St Lucia – We did the NCL catamaran trip to the Pitons and swimming at a small beach.  At first we were disappointed to see so many people in line for this excursion, but we fit easily on the double decker catamaran with plenty of seats.  This tour left directly from the pier next to the ship.  The available refreshments were water, juices, coke, sprite and diet coke.  The snacks looked like doritos and some other chips.  Two bathrooms on board.  We did a guided tour along the shore to the Pitons, then pulled into a bay with several other boats for a 30 minute swim.  You enter the water via a stairway in the front or the back of the boat.  The front water depth was about 4 feet, and the back was well over my head.  Do not do this excursion if you expect to be deposited on the beach, or are not able to handle pretty strong current walking in the water.  There was no assistance at the bottom of the stairs to get in the water.  After swimming they served really strong rum punch which got the dancing party started for the cruise back to port.  The tour guide was pretty good and I would recommend this tour.  There was free wifi in the port shopping area too.

Antigua – Another early morning!  We met at 8:30 for the Nelson’s Dockyard and fort tour.  Our guide was excellent and we got a nice tour of the island on the way there.  The buses here are vans that hold about 15 people, and there was only one bus doing this tour.  Normally they have 5 buses full.  We did two stops at fort ruins at high elevations that gave awesome harbor views with picture opportunities.  Each of these had restroom facilities and of course, locals selling beverages and souvenirs.  The final stop was the Dockyard which is a fully functioning marina and the historic buildings are restaurants, shops and guest rooms.  The multi-million dollar yachts were incredible!  There is a quick guided tour and then 30 minutes to explore on your own.  This stop included a cup of rum punch, water or juice and bathrooms.  The port area had shops but most were closed on Sunday.  We found a bar with free wifi and paid 5 bucks for a diet Coke so I guess it wasn’t really free.

 

Entertainment

In the theater we only saw a singer, comedian, Elements, and the closing piano show, all 8pm showtimes.  The last three were very good and I’ll stay silent about the first.  The lounge musical entertainment was all very good and varied like piano, guitar, comedy, singing duos, a jazz band and guitar/keyboard/drum band.  We never saw any of the game shows.  No bingo or trivia for me.  I got a chance to catchup on some Netfix shows before bed. We went to the art auction once to enjoy the people watching. I tried to donate $20 at the casino and hit for $127.  There were two deck parties, one called Oceanfest that was excellent.  Many of the musicians performed together and got a break from boring music to rock out to everything from Kiss to ACDC to Bon Jovi and Shakira.  Too bad it only lasted an hour.  I highly recommend.  The other was the glow party, but it was so cold that night that we only stayed 15 minutes.

 

Lounges

The Dawn doesn’t really have too many lounges compared to other ships.  The Atrium layout is awesome and very well thought out and utilized.  First level is now a Starbucks, second story is large O’sheehans with cocktail seating in the center.  Third level is just seating.  I liked it when the musical entertainment was in the atrium.  Other than that it was the Bliss night club or Gatsby’s, and the smoke for terrible at Gatsby’s with the cigar/smoking room and casino right there.  The art auction turned Aqua into a lounge for their events.

 

Pools

With such an empty cruise there was always plenty of seating at the pool.  Of course there were some chair hogs, but there were also lots of clearly abandoned towels.  It was so windy that the chairs cleared themselves!  We used the “warm” tubs a couple times.  Bar service was very good around the pool.  As we headed north for New York, the seas were quite rough and the weather got cooler.  The last two days were not conducive to sunbathing and the pool was drained due to high waves.

 

Cruise Critic Events

The Meet & Greet was held at 11am on the first sea day in LeBistro.  Several of the department heads attended and were briefly introduced.  They had coffee service and pastries, and filled out name tags for us.  There was an excellent turn out of over 60 people.  It was nice to put faces with names, and recognize the people we’d run into over the next 11 days.  The slot pull was immediately following and I believe there were about 35 people participating.  It was fun cheering everyone on and we split the winnings to come away with $14 each.  I did not attend the pub crawl but I did see a group of them heading up to Top Siders.

 

Other observations

This itinerary attracted a much older crowd and only a handful of kids under 18.  The nightlife was not as lively due to that fact.  There were reported to be just over 1200 passengers which was so nice!  Most people were very friendly and went out of their way to say hi or start conversations.

 

We sailed past the Statue of Liberty about 3:30am.  She was not on our side of the ship so I didn’t bother getting up to go outside.

 

My husband managed to call 911 by accident when he bumped buttons on the phone reaching for the light switch under the TV.  Don’t do that.  A voice came over the speaker phone asking what our emergency was.  Good to know how rapidly they answer though!

 

The ship tracker channel on the TV was weirdly wrong for a couple days.  The time was wrong by like 3 hours and 42 minutes, and it said we were heading to previously visited ports.  Bermuda triangle perhaps?

 

You always run into some unique people on a cruise and this was no exception.  There was the classic complainer we managed to be seated next to at dinner, who we then saw complaining again at guest services, cornering an officer to complain in the hall, and then again at the buffet.  I would hate to go through life being that miserable.  Then there were the entitled impatient people who ironically turned out to be from the city stereotyped for that behavior.  I also heard a woman changed her bikini on the beach during an excursion, at no extra charge.  Does anyone know the story behind the stuffed dog?

 

I had the 250 wifi minutes that worked slowly, but I was able to put out a few minor fires at home instead of being surprised upon arrival.  Note:  your minutes expire on the last night of the cruise.  I tried to log in just after midnight and the app was totally changed.  I couldn’t view my account either. 

 

Our suitcase was one of the last to show up after boarding.  I was getting nervous!

 

Disembarkation

We received priority luggage tags the night before and could choose to walk off anytime before 9:30.  The other luggage tags had times of 8:30 and 8:45, and airport transfers got as late as 9:15.  We were asked to be out of our cabins by 8am and wait in public areas. The ship was given clearance just after 8am and the stampede began.  With Priority, we walked to the theater and were taken down a separate gangway which eventually joined up with everyone else.  We found our bag and it took about 10 minutes to get through immigration.  Just before the exit you will find snack machines and bathrooms.  We headed out of the port area on foot and arrived at our hotel 12 blocks away just after 9am.

 

Post Cruise and Travel home

We spent the day in NYC walking off the calories from the cruise.  After hanging out at the hotel lobby with comfy chairs, a clean bathroom and wifi, we walked to Broadway and bought our tickets to Book of Mormon.  If you spend any time in NYC you appreciate a decent available bathroom.  My husband’s policy is to use it regardless of need because you never know when you’ll find the next one. We had a Krispy Kreme snack in Times Square and you got a code for permission to use theirs.  Then I was on a mission to find a discontinued lipstick that some Sephora’s supposedly still had. It only took three stops and I bought out the last ones on clearance.  Score! I spent part of my casino winnings.  Had an overpriced unmemorable dinner and thoroughly enjoyed Book of Mormon.  It made Justin Golan look like a Sunday School teacher.  After 24,000 steps today, we took the subway back to the hotel.  The next day was spent getting a mani/pedi, people watching in Central Park, eating pizza and grabbing cheesecake to take home.  We Uber’d to La Guardia because I didn’t feel like dragging the suitcase on the subway and bus.  Normally we just have backpacks so it’s not an issue.  Our flight home on American Airlines was uneventful and we were sleeping in our own beds by midnight.

 

I have all of the Freestyle Daily newsletters if anyone has any questions.

[PammyMouse]

Hi! Thank you for the nice review! We are on the Dawn on the 13th of June from Amsterdam.

 

A quick question, did you notice if Splash Academy was open?

 

PM

[gatorchinsky]

On 5/4/2022 at 6:27 PM, JennKach said:

Covid Testing

We got our Covid tests two days in advance at Walgreens in Florida, having reserved exactly 7 days earlier when the new appointments opened at midnight.  It was super quick and easy in the drive thru, no jamming the swab way up the nose.  Our results were emailed in an hour.  As a backup I scheduled tests at CVS since they allow booking well in advance. We visited FedEx Office to get paper copies of our results printed out.  The port staff really appreciated it and it was easier than juggling phones multiple times or risking bad cell service, a lost phone or a dead battery

Sounds like you had a really nice cruise!

 

As for the covid testing, did you get the Rapid Antigen test or the NAAT test?  Does NCL approve both that are offered from Walgreen’s?

[JennKach]

12 hours ago, gatorchinsky said:

Sounds like you had a really nice cruise!

 

As for the covid testing, did you get the Rapid Antigen test or the NAAT test?  Does NCL approve both that are offered from Walgreen’s?

We got the NAAT.

[Sea saw 56]

At Walgreens, the choices were Rapid Antigen (that is the one they called the NAAT), or the PCR.

For us it was drive thru, and it was FREE!.  The only issue we had was that their computers were down (system/company wide) that morning.  

We took the test 2 days prior to embarkation at 9:30 am, we didn't have our results until mid afternoon, but it was certainly inside the time frame needed.  They emailed the results, we printed them.  Easy Peasy.

We just downloaded their app and picked an appointment time, which opened one week prior to the date selected.

[okpaddy]

Thank you for your thorough review and honest evaluations. I will be doing a B2B on the Dawn this fall and I'm looking forward to the trips even more after reading your post. 

[JennKach]

On 5/6/2022 at 10:09 AM, PammyMouse said:

Hi! Thank you for the nice review! We are on the Dawn on the 13th of June from Amsterdam.

 

A quick question, did you notice if Splash Academy was open?

 

PM

I don't know to be honest.  There were only a couple kids on board and I never saw anyone in the windows of the kids club area when I went past.

[alwalaska]

Thank you for the great review.  I was wondering if Bamboo is only open at dinner time, or if it is an option for lunch at any time?

 

Thanks.

[mafig]

Thank you for your review on the Dawn.

We're considering a cruise on her in January.  At first I thought "my heavens, she's an old ship" but I have read reviews that she's still looking good.  Is she?

[hernando52]

We'll be on the Dawn in November.  Does the Venetian Room still have the edgy artwork?  

[gmac460]

Thanks for the great review! We will be on the Dawn in February 2023. Do you happen to know which nights are the "formal" nights? Just a comment - we are only getting 2 free specialty dinings on this 11 day cruise whereas we previously had gotten more. Everything is changing!  Thank you!

[craig01020]

On 11/15/2022 at 3:12 PM, gmac460 said:

Thanks for the great review! We will be on the Dawn in February 2023. Do you happen to know which nights are the "formal" nights?

I've only been on two NCL cruises, but there were no formal nights on either cruise.