Review cruise Dawn Princess Mexican Riviera, March 2007

[DoubleDutch]

All our experiences with the cruise and some info I think might be helpful. I will put a review on the different ports (Mazatlan, Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, Puerto Vallarta, Cabo San Lucas) in “ Ports of Call – Mexican Riviera “.

Embarkation: quick and easy. Already early in the morning (10:00) we dropped of our luggage at the ship so we could spend the rest of the day in San Francisco. At about 15:00 we got back at the ship and checked in which went quick and easy since almost everybody was already on board and we had completed all the forms on the Princess website before we left.

Cabin: Bigger than expected, we had an inside cabin B726 on deck 10. We never sailed with Princess before, and some reviews stated that cabins were small, so we expected less and therefore were very positive that it met our standards. Especially because of the fact that the closet space was quite big and filled with more than enough hangers. The bathroom was small, especially the shower, but was ok. Everyday there was new shampoo, soap, lotion, so no need to bring any of that. The only negative thing was that the temperature of the water in the shower after the first day, was only one temperature (thermostat was not working, and no incident since it was the same with other passengers we spoke), which was fine until we got sunburned… The location of the cabin was great: no disturbance of motor noise or people passing by, definitely a big plus.

Luggage: Unfortunately our luggage was not in the cabin, we expected it to be there, since we already dropped it off early in the morning. But all suitcases were delivered around dinner time. So we had no sweater to wear when we went sailing of under the Golden Gate. And people with early dinner seating had no chance of changing before dinner.

Dinner: we had the second dinner seating where we enjoyed a great meal every night with our excellent waiter Flavio, except for the last night. The last night was our anniversary so we chose the Sterling Steakhouse restaurant, which costs $15 pp extra. There is not much choice there, except of course in steak. And although the meat was great, we were a bit disappointed about this evening. No attention was paid to our anniversary although there were only 4 tables with people eating (if we would have eaten at the main dining room we would have gotten a card from the captain, a special cake and a song from the waiting staff like our dinner companions the evening before). We had to ask for our coffee at the end of the meal and personnel was so busy talking to themselves that they noticed very late that we left so they shouted “have a good evening” when we already left the restaurant. So next time: no Sterling Steakhouse.

Drinks & eating: we bought a fountain soda card (you get a thermo can which you can have filled or show the sticker on your card if you don’t want to carry the large can every day) which we recommend. It costs about $25 including gratuities: 11 days of free coke, diet coke, ginger ale, tonic and fanta. The pizza restaurant was excellent: very tasty real Italian pizza’s at no extra charge. The buffet restaurant we only used for some lunches, but wasn’t really that great, but that’s just a personal preference. Once we had a cheeseburger at the grill bar at the pooldeck, this was also excellent (for the Dutch: there you can also have mayonnaise with your fries!).

Other facilities: very convenient are the laundry rooms on several decks, each with 2 washing machines and dryers. Per use they cost 75 cents, there is a dollar -> quarter exchange machine in every laundry room and a machine with washing powder. If you don’t want to do it yourselves: on 2 days they have a “all you can put in a bag” for $20 cleaning offer. Not really a facility but just to mention: there was no difference between ship time and port time in any of the ports.

Entertainment: The shows had excellent singers and great dancers (especially the first few evenings, later a new group of dancers came on board), I would definitely recommend to see the shows. But bring your drinks: twice we ordered drinks and we never got them!

During the days there are some activities like Bingo, Trivia, Shuffleboard etc. The lectures were a disappointment. There were lectures mainly focused on elderly people (like how to handle assault etc.). Of course a lecture about all the shopping you could do in the different ports. But rather than hearing “Diamonds International” for at least one hundred times, I’d have enjoyed some info on cultural aspects of the ports.

In the morning you can watch the Wakey Wakey Show on your stateroom television. We watched this show every morning while getting dressed. It covers the program of the day and the hosts Neil and Anna are great. We especially loved Dusk in the show (only known to insiders, so if you meet Neil or Anna, please ask how Dusk is doing).

Cruise critic get together: before the cruise at the roll call board we had decided on meeting after muster drill at the Oasis bar. Because of the temperature (when moving it got quite windy and thus cold) and the photo moments of the Golden Gate etc. we lost track of each other. But great was our surprise to find a Cruise Critic get together on the program on the second sea day. When we got there everybody was wondering who arranged it. Soon it became clear that Neil, the cruise director had done this for us and he was waiting for us with a bottle of champagne! Thanks Neil and Princess, these small attentive gestures make a cruise extra rememberable.

Tendering: on two ports we had to tender (no big dock for cruise ships): Zihuatanejo and Cabo San Lucas. This went very smoothly, you could get a number ticket in the morning, just before the tendering and we never had to wait very long. In and out of the tenders was easy.

Disembarkation: Because of immigration formalities you had to stand in line early in the morning (7:00-7:45) to have your passport checked. I used this waiting time to check the bill you receive at night with the total costs of everything during the cruise. Some people were already waiting to get of the ship at that time. This is something I didn’t understand, since it was clearly stated that nobody would be able to get off before 9:00 because of the formalities. And depending on what you would do afterwards (flight etc.) you were given luggage tags a day before, which stated the time slot you would be able to get off. After the formalities we went for breakfast at the buffet and just when we were ready, our group was announced to be able to get of the ship. We chose self-help, which means we carried of our own luggage and the people in this group would be the first to exit the ship (as we did). Getting off was a matter of a couple of minutes and then we walked with our luggage to Pier 39 where you can store luggage for $5/dag/luggage at the welcome center, so we could enjoy some more of SF before our flight in the late afternoon. In the afternoon we took a tram ($1,50 per 2 hours) from the pier a tram to the Bart train station at Embarcadero from which it takes about 40 minutes and $5,15 to get to SF international airport.

All in all a great cruise with a Love boat – itinerary (I wish Princess would produce and sell DVDs with the tv-series).

If anyone still has questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

[CruisinCadie]

Thanks, DoubleDutch, for the great review. Will be on the April 23 sailing, and I can't wait. Now to head on over the MR board to check your review of the ports.

 

KD

[cruzinchris]

Dinner: we had the second dinner seating where we enjoyed a great meal every night with our excellent waiter Flavio, except for the last night. The last night was our anniversary so we chose the Sterling Steakhouse restaurant, which costs $15 pp extra. There is not much choice there, except of course in steak. And although the meat was great, we were a bit disappointed about this evening. No attention was paid to our anniversary although there were only 4 tables with people eating (if we would have eaten at the main dining room we would have gotten a card from the captain, a special cake and a song from the waiting staff like our dinner companions the evening before). We had to ask for our coffee at the end of the meal and personnel was so busy talking to themselves that they noticed very late that we left so they shouted “have a good evening” when we already left the restaurant. So next time: no Sterling Steakhouse.

DoubleDutch,

Sorry to hear about your disappointing dining experience in Sterling Steakhouse. DH and I had a fabulous dinner there when we were on the Dawn in January. We had dined in SS twice previously (Star and Golden) but weren't planning on going again because the second dinner hadn't been anything special.

 

We originally planned to have dinner at a 4* restaurant in Acapulco but after our long morning shore excursion, we decided that we didn't want to venture out again for the evening. We were able to get a reservation in Sterling's and had an absolutely wonderful dinner. Our table was the one right in the center of the room that provided a magnificent view of Acapulco Bay. The service was attentive and professional, and the food was outstanding.

 

Did you tell your dining room waitstaff that you were going to Sterling Steakhouse on the last night of your cruise? I'm sure they would have arranged for the cake to be delivered there. DH and I do "anytime" and received an anniversary cake (we did the vow renewal) and my birthday cake in the "anytime" dining room; several waiters/assistants sang for us. We enjoyed the birthday cake for dessert but asked to have the anniversary cake sent to our stateroom where we nibbled at it for two or three days.

 

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.

Chris

[TrojanJulez]

Thank you for posting this review - very informative! :)

[Tahoestarr]

Thanks for your great review....Memories! However, unless they were having a sale on the the soda card, I think you have the price wrong. I believe we paid 49 bucks or so...wasn't worth it for us at that price...we didn't use it nearly enough to make it pay off.

 

Niel also arranged for our CC gatherings which were nice. I say gatherings, because he planned two of them since he forgot to come to the first one :eek: ...What a great CD though, he and Anna also got our mornings off to a great start.

 

We also ate at Sterling's on our Anniversary, and like you....NO CAKE! Kind of a bummer. :rolleyes:

[DoubleDutch]

Thanks for the reply Tahoestarr. You're right: I made a mistake, the soda card was 49,97 incl gratuities. Sorry for that.

[TrojanJulez]

Thanks for the reply Tahoestarr. You're right: I made a mistake, the soda card was 49,97 incl gratuities. Sorry for that.

So that makes it about $5/day for soda... how much would 1 soda cost without the card? (Trying to figure out if it would be worth it for us).

 

Thanks!

[DoubleDutch]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the soda's were $1,50 (so about $1,75 incl gratuities). I guess when you drink 3 soda's per day it's better to buy the card. For us that was easy (1 at the pool, 1 at trivia, 1 before dinner and 1 during the show).

[Tahoestarr]

When I bring the kids, we always buy them a soda card, or we'd go broke..LOL. However, hubby and I don't drink that much, but got "suckered" in as we were being shuffled on board, and we told the very nice young lady that we didn't want it, that we didn't drink a lot of soda. She told us that..."oh, you can use it for water and other soft drinks". We thought...."cool...we can get water before we go ashore", and we do drink a lot of water. Not the case, it wasn't good for "bottled water". Also, the only time we really drank soda (don't know why that was) was when we had room servie....and it didn't apply then either :rolleyes:

 

Glad you got good use out of yours Double Dutch! It sure is a deal if you are a soda drinker.

[CruisinCadie]

Wow, $50 for a soda card!:eek: Still, I do drink sodas for lunch and dinner, and usually have one if we stop by the Wheelhouse after a show, so it will probably be worth it. (I can't drink alcohol due to my meds, and don't like their iced tea.)

 

KD