Just got back from the Dawn

[SPman00]

Full review to follow soon, here are some initial thoughts:

 

This was my first experience with Freestyle Cruising and now is the ONLY way I'll ever get on a cruise boat. I have to dress up in a suit, sit around tables of strangers and be social for work, it's the last thing I EVER want to do for a cruise.

 

Tropical Storm Olga made for a green Tuesday for most people, Samana was cancelled.

 

The reservation system for dinner is...interesting. There are lots of empty tables in the specialty restuarants, but you can't walk up and eat. For anyone that's a 1st time traveler on NCL, I have to advise learning this system as best you can. The "free" specialty restuarants fill up FAST, so do the 9pm and 9:30pm 2 for 1 deals at Cagneys and LeBistro.

 

Food: The food on this ship was generally good. I'd say the feed trough (garden cafe?) was about as good as a Hospital Cafeteria, but there were some hidden gems inside the cafe - The pasta and wok people were very good. Breakfast was decent at the cafeteria.

 

Salsa - This was the best all-around food, appetizers, starters, main courses, and deserts. Very, very good tex-mex food

 

Impressions - The main dishes were excellent, the appetizers and desserts were plain

 

Cagneys - I thought the steaks were wonderful, some people complained. It's only $20, don't expect a substantially better meal than outback. I was dissapointed in the sides, they were substantially the same as the other establishements. Dessert was excellent.

 

We didn't eat in the main dining hall much, not many choices. Breakfast in the Venitian IS better than the feed trough. Binimi Bar has EXCELLENT French Fries, you can get them right out of the frier.

 

 

We took a couple of shore excursions, but nothing there isn't tons of information about in the port pages. The "online shore excursion" system did not feed our reservations to the Dawn, so I ended up wasting an hour in line.

 

Great Stirrup Cay is very interesting, you MUST be on the lower level of the 1st tender to get a nice lounge chair and umbrella. We waited in line for a tender ticket, but the staff didn't check for those tickets and tons of people pushed thier way on the tender without passes.

 

 

There were quite a few random thoughts in this, but fire away with questions anyone might have!

[salty dingo]

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a good time on the cruise.

[emdia43]

Tickets- you have to get a ticket for a tender??

[heelfan94]

Tickets- you have to get a ticket for a tender??

Yep. But only if you're in a hurry. If not then you can wait until the announcement comes on that anyone can tender over.

[Tecumseh]

We just returned from cruising on the Dawn Dec.2~9 cruise. I agree completely with your breif review and thank you for stating it better than I could have. I would add that we had excelent service and the Dawn is a very nice ship, easy to get around. We especially enjoyed the hot tub at the bow of the ship.

[SPman00]

I had an excellent vacation (Less Olga), the Dawn was a very good ship!

 

 

To respond to the "Do I have to get a Tender Ticket"

 

Only if they're checking, I saw a couple respond in Japanese when asked "od you have a tender ticket" and instead of arguing, they just let the couple keep going.

 

Remember to sit in the lower section of the boat near the aisle if you want to get a lounge chair.

[BgRoFan]

Did you go in the casino at all? My husband wants to know if they have a regular low limit poker table where you play against other players?

 

Thanks!

 

Sheryl

[SPman00]

They did have "Poker Tournaments" that were all passengers. I overheard someone say the buy-in was $25 and you could make an additional purchase. They also complained about "the house's cut", I think it was 10% of the winnings.

 

 

I'm not a gambler at all, loosing money is really miserable for me!

 

One note: I LOVED the placement of the Dawn's Casino, it's on Deck 6. I've noticed some other boats make passngers walk through the casino all day long. The Dawn's gives the people playing some privacy since it's one Deck below almost everything.