Dawn 8/11-18

[MOMOFTWOSONS]

Hi everyone! Just got off the Dawn this morning. Wanted to share my experience with future cruisers. Hope this is helpful.:)

Embarkation - no problems. Went to Venetian for lunch - Garden Cafe was very crowded - they only had one side open around 1:00 - was told they had a health inspection that day and were running behind. Because of this, the Venetian was slower than usual but very apologetic.

Ship - nicest ship we have been on - this was our 4th cruise - the others were with different lines.

Room - we had a mini-suite mid-deck on the 11th deck & were at times upset because of the noise coming from the Oasis which was right above us (chairs being dragged, running & the music was at times loud - we were right below the band). We were not told this when we booked directly with NCL - we specifically asked for a quiet room. Disappointing for the amount of $$ we paid. The room itself was nice & the steward was good - no complaints there.

Kids Club - my two boys (ages 7 & 10) had a blast. They wanted to go to every session!! They loved the staff & the kids talent show was cute. The kids pool area in the back was awesome - you got to sit back there & watch them & they loved the two water slides.

Entertainment - excellent! The Stardust lounge is beautiful - we loved Romano Frediani, and the Gleason magic show was great. The comedy show was very funny. One of the comedians actually has an audition with SNL this week.

Gym facilities - very nice and well kept. About 15 treadmills and 6 steppers plus other equipment. One piece of advice, definitely use the spray sanitizer (on a small washcloth) they provide on the equipment both before starting

and after finishing. I had a woman next to me blowing her nose the whole time and putting her used tissues in the holder and she never wiped down the treadmill when she was finished.:(

Cruise Director - Jimmy was great & a really funny guy - my kids really liked him.

Food - My husband & I weren't overly impressed with the food. We seemed to hear that from many people. We went to Salsa and the food was good there. We tried to make reservations for Impressions but were unsuccessful unless we wanted to go at 9:30PM. I even set my alarm for 7:00AM to call for reservations for the following day but the line was busy & when I finally got through, no availability. I did not know that you could go stand in line instead. I found this system to be very frustrating. We mostly ate at the Venetian. Just so that you know, when you dine at the Venetian, if you do not like what is on the menu as entrees, you can request broiled salmon with a baked potato as a substitute. This is not posted anywhere - I just asked because they had that on a HAL ship we were on two years ago. We also ate at Aqua one evening which had the same menu as the Venetian.

Ports of Call - We arrived an hour late into Nassau (we had to make a slight detour because of responding to an emergency beacon - which false thankfully). Getting off the ship was a slow process. We got off the ship about 3:00 and then we hopped a taxi to Atlantis, looked around and then went to Cabbage Beach for a while. We then headed back to go shopping only to find out that the shops closed at 5:30 - we felt that the ship should have let everyone know that. The only thing that was open was the straw market. We had a nice time at the private island - no problem tendering off the ship. We went to the right which as someone had previously posted was very rocky. We got some seats in a shady spot on the beach & just about BBQ time, the sky opened and it was a quick departure. We got soaked to the bone on the tender & the staff was not very fair to those of us sitting on the top of the tender - they let the lower level (drier people) off at the same time as us. There were a lot of unhappy cold & wet people that day. Bermuda was our favorite stop - we went to Snorkel Park which is about a ten minute walk from the ship. It is a small beach that had chair & umbrella rentals, snorkel rentals & float rentals. They had a water slide out in the water for you to swim out to. They also had a bar/restaurant that had drinks & food if you wanted it. My kids really enjoyed it. I was sorry that we weren't in Bermuda for a longer time because we would have liked to go to Hamilton as well - next time....

Disembarking - We did the express walkoff and we were off the ship within minutes. Very glad that we did that.

Overall, we had a great time. Was it my favorite, probably not.

I hope this review is helpful.

[neverthought]

Wonderful, Glad you had a great cruise, Thank you for getting your review out so quickly. We have been on the Dawn twice and love it.

[nyflush]

Thanks for the review:) we went on the Dawn 2 years in a row and never did snorkel park it sounds fun.

[joilee329]

Thanks for the review! My husband & I are sailing on the Dawn next week.....I would like to know if there is a special waiting area for Lattitude members for embarkation.

Glad you had a great time!

[nybumpkin]

Hello - We departed on Carnival Victory on 8/11, and I took these photos of Dawn as you left port - hope you enjoy!

[MOMOFTWOSONS]

Thanks for the great pics - how was your Carnival cruise & where did you go? (Not sure if I'm doing the reply thing correctly...haven't posted a reply here in two years:o )

[phillyf]

Yes the Lattitudes area is upstairs. We were also on the 8/11 cruise and had a great time. We preregistered at 1045 and were up in the Lattitudes area by 1050 enjoying coffee, juice, pound cake.

The Lattitude members boarded at 1210 and we walked on board by 1220. Ventian's was not open until 1:00pm which may explain the crowd at the Garden Buffet.

We always enjoy a sitdown lunch during the embarkation day and before ship exploration. Our room was ready by 200pm and we had purchased the soda and teenage drink card for our son.

Enjoy your cruise

[dibogart]

I also was on the Dawn that just arrived back to NYC this morning. It was my first time on NCL (I've been on 4 other cruises (3 different lines)). What I loved most about the cruise was the "free styling" as they call it, being able to eat whenever I wanted..(as long as I had a reservation, if needed). I was with a friend with 2 young boys, in the same age groups as MOMOFTWOSONS. The boys asked to go back to the "club" most of the time. In fact, they were upset with me when I was taking care of them when their mother was at the spa, when I didn't know ahead of time that they needed to be at the kid's club by 10am. We were having breakfast when they found out what time it was...we (I) had to rush through breakfast in order for me to get them to the club in time. The boys really did enjoy themselves, especially last night when there was a PJ party, where everyone needed to bring a pillow for the pillow fight and have their pajamas on.

We ate mostly in the Venitian rest. and one night in Cagney's which you need to pay extra for. Unfortunatley, my friend and I had decided to have the surf and turf which was an additional $10 charge to the already $20 charge. We didn't mind paying the extra $$$ since the food was out of this world.

I did not like the Blue Lagoon. I felt they had a very limited selection. We ate there the first night on board. My friend and sons went there anothe time, I stayed in the cabin and ordered a sandwich for luncvh.

We didn't leave the ship in the Nassua since the both of us had been there in the past. I was sooo nice to be in the Osasis pool with only about 12 people in the pool then. Someone made a statement that it was like we had reserved the pool us for "us". The first day out (Sunday) the pool was extremely crowded, couldn't find a vacant chair anywhere. I ended up getting a chair by the Bimimi Bar, while the others spent time in the pool.

 

Even though I've stated the cons of the trip, I really enjoyed the trip...just being able to get away from work and other family problems.

 

Diane

[NowVoyager908]

Enjoyed reading your review. I was on the Dawn in July. We also did the snorkel park and spent a great afternoon there. Everyone in my group had already been to Bermuda many, many times, so we decided to stay close to the Dockyard. We also wandered over to the Maritime Museum and checked out the dolphins. I'm a sucker for dolphins and took a zillion pictures because they had a mother and baby. Of course the combination of my camera clicking just as the dolphin dipped back under the water (LOL) and the light reflecting off the water, resulted in several pictures of not much . . . but the memories are intact.

[NowVoyager908]

We didn't leave the ship in the Nassua since the both of us had been there in the past. I was sooo nice to be in the Osasis pool with only about 12 people in the pool then. Someone made a statement that it was like we had reserved the pool us for "us". The first day out (Sunday) the pool was extremely crowded, couldn't find a vacant chair anywhere. I ended up getting a chair by the Bimimi Bar, while the others spent time in the pool.

 

Diane

 

I remember a couple of years ago on Princess, we stayed on board when the ship visited a private island (was traveling with someone who would not get on the tender). It was the best day . . . we had the whole ship to ourselves. I took all kinds of pictures that day to show my co-workers what it was like and all they kept asking me was where the hell all the people were. LOL.

[SweetpeaOne]

Thanks for posting your review. Sounds like you had a great time.

[bethany24]

Thanks for posting your review. Sounds like you had a great time.

Room - we had a mini-suite mid-deck on the 11th deck & were at times upset because of the noise coming from the Oasis which was right above us (chairs being dragged, running & the music was at times loud - we were right below the band). We were not told this when we booked directly with NCL - we specifically asked for a quiet room. Disappointing for the amount of $$ we paid. The room itself was nice & the steward was good - no complaints there.

 

MOMOFTWOSONS: If you don't mind, what was your room number??

 

Thank you for the candid review.

 

Bethany24

[nybumpkin]

Thanks for the great pics - how was your Carnival cruise & where did you go? (Not sure if I'm doing the reply thing correctly...haven't posted a reply here in two years:o )

We were on a 5-day to Saint John and Halifax, Canada - had a great time, although it was probably a bit cooler and foggier than your cruise!

[MOMOFTWOSONS]

Bethany24 - we were in room 11090. The location was ideal for getting around - midship is great - but as I mentioned, were disappointed by the noise factor. It wasn't all the time but often enough. We wanted a regular balcony room on a lower deck but because of our quad request, the regular balcony category was not available for quads so we opted to spend the extra $$ for a mini-suite.

[joilee329]

Phillyf......

 

Thanks for the embarkation info. Where did you pre register? Is there a counter set up that we should go to first?

Thanks again!!