Back from the Dawn July 10th 2007

[llachance]

Sailed under the Golden Gate Bridge at about 7:00 am this morning. Carried my own luggage, was at my car and home by 9:30! My cruise was over!

 

We were on the Dawn Princess. We left San Francisco on June 30th. We stopped in Victoria, Sitka, Juneau, Skagway and Tracy Arm in that order. We had a couple of sea days thrown in the mix and we had a wonderful time.

 

Dining - Anytime dining. We made reservations a couple of times because we like a waiter in a particular section. Except for a couple of times we ate at a table for two. It worked well for us. We brought our own wine into the dining room (bottle opened and carrying a glass) and we never paid a corkage fee. That said we ordered numerous cocktails while aboard so I did part company with a few bucks for alcohol. The buffet was open 24 hours a day. We sampled it at about all those hours (we were in Tracy Arm from 5:00 am to 10:00 am) and the food was normally pretty good. I stuck to oatmeal for breakfast and soup and salad for lunch because I didn't want to gain weight on this cruise and I didn't. I thought most of the desserts were pretty good! When both sides of the buffet weren't open it could get crowded but it was always manageable. Didn't ever have a problem finding a seat despite the weather making it difficult to sit outside. Ate at the steakhouse once. The steak was great and the personal attention was nice. Too much to eat though. We had a piece of steak wrapped and put it in the fridge. Bought it home as a treat for the dog.

 

The room A601 - balcony on the starboard side. The smallest cabin I have ever been in bar none! It was fine. Had the egg crate on the bed and it was still the most uncomfortable bed I have ever slept in! Our steward Reul was the best cabin steward and I tipped him extra before we got off the ship. The bathroom was small but had no problems there and I am not tiny.

 

Excursions - In Sitka we watched the 4th of July parade and went Kayaking. Saw numerous jelly fish and star fish. It drizzled the entire time but the company provided rain gear and we stayed dry. In Juneau we went ziplining and rafting. Foul weather gear provided for both and we had a wonderful time. The zip line had two cables and made me feel safer (sounds silly I know). In Skagway we went on the White Mountain railroad and panned for gold. Had a wonderful time. In Victoria (our first stop) we got off the ship on our own and wandered. I had bought tickets on line to see the Titanic exhibit. It was very interesting but very crowded. All the rest of the excursions were through the ship and I thought fairly priced.

 

Had a great Cruise Critic group and we met on the first evening - to put faces to the names from our emails! There was a notation a couple of days later that the cruise critic group was meeting again. The same group of folks showed up but none of us had put the notice in the Patter but it was good to catch up again. It was really nice to be able to say hi as you met on the ship and trade stories. I highly recommend joining a Roll Call for your cruise if you haven't done so already.

 

Couple of things I didn't like - $1.50 for Hot Chocolate. That is really nickel and diming you! It is a 10 cent pack of cocoa, water added and some whip cream. I brought my own packets and added my own water!

 

When we were in Juneau we originally tendered in. The night before they found out that we were going to be able to move to a dock later in the day. All is well and good but the afternoon excursions then left out of the new pier about 1 1/2 miles from the old pier. Now Princess kindly offered a bus ride for $2.00 a piece! Also, the letter wasn't clear to some of us that our tour was starting from the new pier and when we got to the tender pier, too late to walk to the new pier, we had no choice but to take the bus! Apparently enough people complained so those of us on tours didn't have to pay the $2.00 - and the busses stopped at the tender pier to pick up people that really hadn't gotten the word! I think they just really weren't prepared for the shift!

 

Would I sail Princess again - for the right destinations and price! Unfortunately I haven't found a loyalty to one particular line at this point so I may never get enough cruises on any single line to reap the benefits of a repeat cruiser!

 

Happy Sailing

Lisa

[Colo Cruiser]

Great review thanks. :)

[Bucky3]

Thanks for your review. We'll be going on the next cruise of the Dawn! Did you take your wine to the dining room or Horizon Court for dinner? Never heard of doing that before. How was the bedding - do they have new beds and linens? I thought I read somewhere that they did. And, finally, how were the seas on sea days - much rough weather? Thanks for taking the time to post so soon after your cruise. Really appreciated by those of us waiting for our turn!

[llachance]

They had new bedding and it was very nice. However, the beds were the worst I ever slept on even with the egg crate on it.

 

We just opened a bottle of wine, poured a glass and took it with us. If my husband wanted a glass of wine he just used the glass on the table. We never asked our table staff to pour the wine for us or open the bottle. The only time we bought wine was in Sterling Steakhouse. We weren't ever charged corkage but can't speak for others. I am sure others that were on my cruise will pipe in with their experiences but most of the ones I met are still traveling home :)

 

Sea days - some would say that they were rough while on the Pacific, my husband included, but I didn't have a problem. My husband took ginger and was fine. Others used the patch. The second to the last day was the roughest and there were several spots around the ship that were marked off for sanitizing. Watched in the dining room where one table was completely cordoned off and everything on the table was disinfected and then put into a red plastic bag for removal....actually saw one older lady leaving the ship this morning accompanied by the medical staff wearing masks and gloves and spraying disinfectent behind her. When we got into the warehouse (where the bags are) she was standing there waiting for someone else to get off the ship...guess it was just a precaution. There was a crew member waiting to get off the ship with us and he said he had worked on various ships for 17 years and had never gotten Norwalk Virus. If you use the typical precautions you should be alright...I have to agree, the problem is not everyone does.

 

One addition to my early report. We did the balcony breakfast (in our stateroom because it was too windy on the balcony), thanks to our Travel Agent (if you want her name please send me a PM). There was an enormous amount of food and we actually put some in our little fridge to eat at a later time...any more questions please ask. Lisa

[Bucky3]

Thanks, Lisa.

[LARGIN]

Lisa.. How was debarkation with the All Star game in town?

[llachance]

We got off the ship at 8:30, walked across the street to our car (bummer the elevator didn't work :) ) and got home to San Jose before 10:00 am. I think that people that were getting off later may have had a hassle but the road were empty at that time of the morning!

 

BTW - please help me understand why anyone would make airline reservations for 9:15 and 9:50 respectively. There were two couples that wanted to be off the ship "First" and from the beginning of the week they said debarkation would begin at 8:30! They actually sent about 4 people off a little early with medical conditions but at 8:30 customs gave the all clear....one of the women complained that they let "those" people off why can't they let us off we are going to miss our flight! Everyone - look at your airline reservations, in today's world you need to be at the airport about 90 minutes ahead of your flight, look at the distance from the ship to the airport and plan accordingly. Don't end your vacation with such huge stresses! Life is way too short.

[mii]

Thanks for the review. I was also curious about the All Star game. I imagine it might have been busy about the time the ship was going to leave on her next cruise. I read somewhere on this board that the Dawn left later than usual. Maybe they had to wait for passengers. Who knows.

 

Marilyn

[LoveThisCruisingThing]

Thanks for the review. I am on the sailing on the 20th. I was watching the Dawn leave SF last night. It didn't pull out of the dock until 6---2 hours behind schedule. Think they were waiting for late passengers due to the all star game. glad i planned on the 20th sailing

[jdklee]

Thanks for the great review. We're on the August 19th sailing. How was embarktion at SF's Pier 35? What time did you get to the pier and what time did you get on board? Is there a place at the pier that a car could stop to drop off passengers and luggage? Thanks!

[llachance]

Princess advises you to get there then because the crowd is earlier. Seemed to be pretty long lines when we got there but they did move quickly. You are in a warehouse so it is pretty noisy and absolutely nothing fancy. They took pictures and then added a nice border that we bought and there are actually two gangways you can go up so if the first looks crowded head to the second. You have to continually show your cruise card so don't put it away :)

 

There is a small pull out for people to be dropped off. It got pretty crazy but was manageable. My husband dropped me off with our bags then went across the street to the parking garage and was back in about 10 minutes. When we returned we dragged our bags across the street. My understanding is it can get really crazy when people are getting off the ship and people are arriving to get on...so probably would avoid 9-11 or so because that would be the crossover.

[jbh7]

I thinking about taking the Dawn Princess from SF to Alaska next year and have a 12 and 15 year old. Don't know if you were with or without kids - but did you see a far amount of families on board? Want to make sure they will have plenty to do and people to meet. thanks!!!

[llachance]

a lot of kids on board. Some were definately happier then others. I didn't travel with a teen but one of our group did - their daughter is 13 and she seemed to have a good time but she was good hanging out by herself, with her parents and with other teens as the mood struck. I will say that by the end of the trip you could tell that most of the kids were getting bored. With the number of sea days, unless the clubs were open, there wasn't a lot for them to do. You saw it as much with the parents who were tired of tackling their kids problems and since the weather isn't the greatest on an Alaskan cruise you couldn't always be outside. Most days they did show movies that teens would be interested in....the pools were heated so there usually was one or two kids in it....but I didn't find the length of the trip to be especially kid friendly, if they have to be entertained at all times. Someone else might pipe in, who had kids with them and say something different :)

 

Lisa

[n2scuba]

Thanks for the great review. We're on the August 19th sailing. How was embarktion at SF's Pier 35? What time did you get to the pier and what time did you get on board? Is there a place at the pier that a car could stop to drop off passengers and luggage? Thanks!

 

I was dropped off with my bags via cab right at Pier 35 at 11:30 and was through the process and actually on the ship just after noon. No line that early. I found in more fun to go aboard early and have lunch. Seemed to extend the vacation time.