A late report on an August dawn cruise.

[drron29]

Many things happened which prevented posting on our cruise on the Dawn's cruise from Barcelona. First I shattered my iPhone and then first my travel computer decided it was time to give up followed not long after by my camera. both were ~ 10 years old so not bad for these times. So better late than never. We started out from Barcelona on 11th August after spending a lovely night in the Arts Hotel ( Ritz Carlton ).

 

 After breakfast at the hotel we had arranged for our RAT test to be done at the hotel. We had booked a time between 0800-0830 for the test. The nurse was in the room at 0801. Very professional. Mrsdrron wanted to have a printed copy so she was taken downstairs and got that done. I think presenting the nurse with our bottle of Cava helped. Fortunately both negative.

Checked out at 1300 and a taxi to the ship. Before you get into the terminal you need to present your ticket,vaccination certificate and evidence of your negative test. Then inside the terminal and you queue up to do a health certificate for symptoms and any close contacts. I presume everyone answered no to all questions.
Then you lined up again for an Immigration check with all documents checked again plus temperature taken. From there to another queue for Silversea to check everything once more and a key card issued after your photo taken. Passports handed over. Then through the Duty Free to the ship.

 

Finally on board and lunch available as a buffet in La Terazza. Didn't partake of too much.

 

Finally to our cabin a superior Verandah suite.

 

And yes a bottle of real champagne waiting for us.

 

So for us Embarkation was no real problem.

[drron29]

And the views.

 

We then had all afternnoon in our suite apart from the mandatory muster drill. Certainly a lot less compared to past years with no necessity to wear your life jacket and instead of lining up at your designated life boat you just walked past it with a crew member pointing out the life boat number.
We did get a new accessory which will make a bag for our notebooks.

 

Then watched the passing parade of Ferries.

 

And finally to the pool deck to meet some of the entertainers. First the trio and then the Singers of Silversea. All quite talented.

 

The singers include 3 brits,a Latvian,another from Brazil and 2 Opera singers - An Italian woman and a Ukrainian fellow who is very talented and as well as opera does a show with Ukrainian folk songs.

Edited November 3, 2022 by drron29

[drron29]

The first night we ate in the main restaurant Atlantide which has one inportant thing in it;s favour. In the words of Anthony Bourdain -No Reservations.
So the menu.

 

[drron29]

So I had the scallops and Rojaan the beef and caviar tartare.

 

For mains I had the rare prime rib and Rojaan the mushroom risotto

 

The beef was up with the best I had ever had. Tender and full of flavour.

So to desserts.

I had the apple and walnut sable and Rojaan the lemon meringue pie.

 

The included wines were quite satisfactory. I had a Chilean carminere which was very good.

[drron29]

Arriving in Palma Del Mallorca.

 

[WNcruiser]

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Many negative posts on here have persuaded us from booking our first Silversea cruise on Dawn next year. 

[TLCOhio]

19 minutes ago, WNcruiser said:

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Many negative posts on here have persuaded us from booking our first Silversea cruise on Dawn next year. 

 

YES!  YES!!!  Super appreciate this detailed review and all of the visuals from Dr. Ron.  

 

The food looks super wonderful.  Keep it coming from our Aussie friend!!!  We are looking at and considering a Silver Dawn cruise from Barbados in February 2023.  Assume the ship is great and that SALT works well.  Look forward to reading and learning more.  Excellent sharing.  

 

THANKS!  Enjoy!  Terry in Ohio

 

Norway Coast/Fjords/Arctic Circle cruise from Copenhagen, July 2010, to the top of Europe. Scenic visuals with key tips. Live/blog at 245,178 views.

www.boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1227923

[Lois R]

Thanks for the photos🙂

 

WNcruiser, I will be sailing on the Dawn for the 2nd time in January😀.......yes, seems there are a lot of negatives on this forum lately but the Dawn is a beautiful vessel and I would have no hesitation in booking her (but that is just one person's opinion).

[ronrick1943]

Enjoyed reading your post, thank you for taking the time.  I’ll be cruising in a few months, looking forward to a great cruise…….

 

[netpj]

Thanks for posting, we are looking forward to reading the rest of your impressions.  We will be on Dawn for 26 days starting late January.  The menu you posted looked intriguing.  We recently returned from a cruise on Oceania, a line we have cruised many times.  We were very disappointed with both the selection and quality of the food, especially in the main dining room.  Not nearly as much variety as in the past, repetitive and many hot items served cold by the time it reached us.  We're hoping our experience on Dawn will be better.

[Randyk47]

Thanks for the posting with the pictures.  Food looks incredible!  We’ll be on the Dawn for our first cruise on her in 74 days.  It will be our first cruise since we stepped off the Wind in February 2020 with the pandemic starting shortly thereafter.   

Edited November 3, 2022 by Randyk47

[jpalbny]

12 hours ago, drron29 said:

The nurse was in the room at 0801. Very professional. ... I think presenting the nurse with our bottle of Cava helped.

 

Guess some things are nearly universal. That kind of gift would help with most of the nurses I work with too!

 

Glad to see your posts but sorry about all the tech troubles which caused them to be so delayed. Looking forward to catching up with your cruise report. 

[drron29]

Thank you for all the kind remarks. i started this report because of all the negative comments on here. They just didn't give the picture of cruising that we had on this cruise, Most of those we talked to on this cruise enjoyed it immensely.

 

Firstly the menus did change. Both Atlantide and SALT had a changing daily menu as well as the regular menus. We did back to back cruises and on the second the regular menus in Atlantide,SALT and La Terraza changed though not all dishes.

 

Then the crew. We found no major change in service. occasionally a bit slow as they have not filled all positions and some new staff learning the ropes. However we had long talks with a couple of the restaurant staff that we knew from past cruises. The Filipino fellow knew at least 40 crew from Silversea that had died of Covid though most when at home and not working. The indian waiter said that some Indian crew members had taken up regular non cruising jpbs and decided not to come back as they enjoyed the time with their families.

 

There are a couple of reasons why I think we get along well with the crew. First we talk to them. I was impressed with @WesW and his interviews with crew so I do try and have longer conversations with them.

But another reason is that we always contribute to the Crew Fund. This was told to us by a Silversea icon - Duct tape. no wonder the crew loved her and Joe. It is good to get the feedback from staff about this. I even found last night a hand written note from one of the entertainers thanking us.

 

We enjoyed meeting crew we had cruised with before. In our first night in Atlantide we were assigned a table looked after by Sean. We recognised him and Rojaan said we have cruised with you a couple of times before. to which he replied 5 times. Rojaan carries with her the list of cruises we have done so produced it and he pointed out the 5 cruises. Amazing memory.

 

Then there are the new crew members who have been given a bit of stick on occasions. We though appreciated the increased diversity of the crew. Our room attendant was from Kenya and did a superb job. He was very observant and always noted when people left their suites so those were available to clean

The star of the new crew was a was a waiter in Atlantide. I must confess I have forgotten his name but would recognise him and I remember our conversation. i asked him how long he had worked for Silversea. 6 days was the answer. it was Day 6 of our cruise. He was very observant and our wine glasses were never empty. His service was efficient so at the end of the meal when most tables around us were empty we had a longer conversation. i asked him what he would like to do in the future and he replied become the Hotel director. i told hime he obviously had the brains and work ethic to acheive this. he thanked me and then said maybe i should aim to own a cruise line!

 

So again it was the crew who relly made this cruise just as enjoyable as those pre covid.

I promise now to stick to more pictures and less talk.

[drron29]

We took an excursion to Soller with a vintage train ride back. A good guide with a couple of extra stops on the way back. So some pictures on the bus on the way to Soller.

 

Used to be lots of these windmills.

 

And this work of art is meant to represent a bull.

 

The magnificent Cathedral.

 

Then through Agricultural land. Mainly olives but other fruits as well.

 

[drron29]

Arriving in Soller village.

 

The information office.

 

We had a fair bit of free time in Soller so wandered the streets.

 

Then we bought the regions special ice cream -orange. Didn't really taste that special. We sat in the main square to eat it as there was some shade.

[drron29]

We then walked in a different direction and found the market.

 

The fish didn't really smell fresh.
Then a typical Spanish scene.

 

A Japanese and an Indian Tandoor restaurant side by side.
The vintage tram then went by.

 

an olive tree said to be over a thousand years old.

 

[drron29]

It was now time for our train ride.Our train arrives.

 

The loco has to change ends.

 

Obviously was a bigger operation in the past.

 

Then through various fruit trees.

 

Then views of the valley.

 

 

 

 

 

[drron29]

Back to Majorca. We had to wait for a passing train before setting out for the city. However we were getting off at the station before the old city so the bus could pick us up. So the last shots from the train.

 

Once off the bus took us on a drive by of the King's Summer castle -Bellver castle.

 

Views on the drive back from the castle to the ship.

 

 

[drron29]

On returning it was a late lunch on the pool deck. here is the menu.

 

Mrsdrron had the Mezze plate followed by an Eton Mess. It seems I missed photograpuing most of her mezze plate.

 

I had a classic reuben which was enough for me.

 

 

[drron29]

We won at trivia that day and I was second in the putting comp.
But some scenes of the surrounding harbour. It was very noticeable around the Med that there are huge numbers of Luxury yachts. Most probably owned by people who like telling other people how to live although they are major contributors to the world's ills.

 

We had the Captain's Welcome that evening followed by dinner again in Atlantide the main restaurant. Mrsdrron ate from the Menu of the day which changes every day. She had the white asparagus followed by the scallops main dish.

 

I had the beef and artichoke capaccio and the fillet steak from the every day menu. Once again the steak was excellent.

 

[drron29]

The next morning we were in Palamos Spain and took a morning excursion to Figueres and the Dali Museum.

 

We first walked past the Dali Museum.

 

[drron29]

Next walked through town to Las Ramblas.

 

[drron29]

Back along a different route back to the Dali Museum.

 

[mysty]

Awesome photos!  And delicious colour commentary! 

[jpalbny]

We did all of these stops (so far) last November on Spirit, but did totally different things. Nice to see your perspective!