review from DAWN june 8-15

[zany]

this is disorderly but i'll be online most of this evening if anybody has questions.

 

champagne on arrival was nice

i went straight to reservation desk made res. for salsa for night 1. (be sure to double check the slip they give you - i didn't until later and realized they made it for hte wrong place and had to go back and luckily they still had the time slot open i wanted.)

i also asked if i could make reservations for venitian for night 2 and they said no - i'm not sure i understood but i think she said they only take reservations for before 6 and after 8. what's the point of that if there's no wait then anyways? maybe i got that wrong and she said they only take reservations for groups of 6 or 8 or more?? not sure.

 

other dining notes:

on night 3 there was a VERY LONG line at both venitian and aqua. (heard rumors of half hour or more wait) i'm sorry i forgot what time it was maybe 6:30 or 7:15???? we didn't want to wait so first we went to salsa just to make the attempt although we knew that would be busy too, and decided to take their earliest available time - 9pm. then we had a snack at blue lagoon and had a late dinner. no other nights did we have a wait in the main dining rooms.

 

the 'ny deli' was new since i was on the dawn 5 yrs ago. At first i thought this had replaced the old "la trattoria" which used to be in the front corner of garden cafe but nope it wasn't there. i eventually found it at the AFT PORT corner of garden cafe - it was ok - it had make-your-own sandwich stuff plus variety of brats, smokies and other fancy sounding hot dog type meat. i think they also had turkey burgers there, plus sauteed onions and peppers.

 

back to day 1 - our room was ready within an hour of getting on the ship. the room was OK. the bedding was good - i don't remember it being that much worse 2 yrs ago on POAM but my husband said he could tell the difference.

 

back to yummy Food:

salsa - the burrito was VERY delicious. my husband got it both times we went there. i got it once, then the fajitas. the fajitas were good, but ordinary. the flan was really good. the appetizers 'spicy springrolls' and "taquitos" were AWESOME.

 

main restaurants - i'll just list all the yummy dinners we had:

 

my favorite: gnocci with a pumpkin cream sauce (i had it w/out the mushrooms because i don't like them but it was offered with them.)

 

english-cut-steak-of-some-sort - very tasty

 

lamb (very good)

 

lobster tail (husband had this - says it was OK- and also ordered the always -available strip steak to go with it because it was small)

 

beef wellington (offered on lobster night) - i never had this before - the beef part was good but honestly i didn't know what's in beef welling ton at the time (i looked it up afterwards) so i didn't know what the layer of pate was at the time and i tried it but i think i was paranoid it might be something very weird and ate around that part. it didn't taste bad but i don't know how it should taste to comment on it.

 

roast turkey - traditional with stuffing - almost as good as home.

 

pasta and sausage - Good

 

2 nights offered souffle desserts (my favorite) strawberry, and coconut. also had a great creme caramel, peanut butter pie, and flourless chocolate cake.

 

 

lunch stuff:

the best BLT sandwich ever

super lamb skewers

pasta with chicken tomatoes and creamy sauce (day 1) was good/OK too heavy

 

 

we ate at the buffet for a couple lunches - there was a lot of variety but seemed a lot of cuisines that i don't care for so i'm sure others liked it a lot. i saw indian food and some kind of asian ingredients they would mix together for you - didn't look like anything i wanted so i don't know exactly what it is. the pizza at the buffet was not that great.

 

breakfasts were great - in venitian the eggs benedict and hash browns are AWESOME. buffet has the usual stuff - very good omelettes -but i heard somebody complain about them - i guess it depends how you like them.

 

went to 2 of the art auctions (free champagne at them by the way)

 

shows

comedian on our ship was pretty funny. better towards end of week.

magician was just OK - maybe just me, i'm not that into magic shows

comedy troupe from second city was very funny.

jean ann ryan troupe did 3 song-and-dance shows:

band on the run - OK, 70's songs, entertaining enough

something about miami beach or south beach - i missed this show

bollywood - good - i like the parts where people do acrobatics from the ceiling.

 

 

bermuda stuff we did

(we got a 3 day transportation pass - you get them immediately after exiting ship - cash only)

 

horseshoe bay beach (took bus 7)

beach was beautiful not too crowded, rented an umbrella.

on way back from beach we went to gibbs lighthouse and climbed up it. legs were sore the next day. (it's an uphill walk from busstop - plus the beach has a hill to and from bus)

 

took ferry to and walked around st. george, took bus from there to the caves at Grotto Bay resort instead of paying to tour the crystal and __?__ caves.

 

took ferry to and walked around hamilton.

 

walked around shops at dockyard - saw the glass blowing and tasted rum cake flavors. went to frog & onion and had the sampler of their beers.

 

saw a sign that they have a free food and beer 'tasting' evenings at ...6pm? we were there more like happy hour 4-6 so we missed that.

 

that's it for now - feel free to ask stuff

[goodml]

Thanks for taking the time to post your review.:)

[*Luv2Cruz*]

Thanks for the post! I'm heading down again next year but it will be my first time on the Dawn!

[joschwin]

We leave on 6/29 on Dawn also. First cruise. What was the weather like in Bermuda I have been watching and it is showing showers most days. Is this the typical Florida type weather where you get a very short shower each day? How about the water temp is it warm?

 

did you try any of the restaurants that charge a fee?

 

Would you agree that the dress was very casual? should I just leave my eve clothes home and pack lighter just sun dresses, leave the suit behind?

[xxTheRiverNJ]

We leave on 6/29 on Dawn also. First cruise. What was the weather like in Bermuda I have been watching and it is showing showers most days. Is this the typical Florida type weather where you get a very short shower each day? How about the water temp is it warm?

 

did you try any of the restaurants that charge a fee?

 

Would you agree that the dress was very casual? should I just leave my eve clothes home and pack lighter just sun dresses, leave the suit behind?

Hi, Im sailing with you. The weather isnt bad there, not too hot, you get a nice ocean breeze.Come and write on roll calls, there are a few of us going that day. See you there.....diane

[2Cruise4Ever]

We leave on 6/29 on Dawn also. First cruise. What was the weather like in Bermuda I have been watching and it is showing showers most days. Is this the typical Florida type weather where you get a very short shower each day? How about the water temp is it warm?

 

did you try any of the restaurants that charge a fee?

 

Would you agree that the dress was very casual? should I just leave my eve clothes home and pack lighter just sun dresses, leave the suit behind?

 

If history repeats itself, the weather that week will be quite warm. And, yes, the rain showers are typically very short (except for this week where it's supposed to rain constantly for a couple of days). We were there last week and the water temp was 79 degrees. And, yes, leave your evening wear at home (unless you WANT to dress up). Sundresses and slacks are perfectly acceptable in any restaurant.

 

We ate in Teppanyaki, Cagney's, and Impressions (twice). All were excellent!

[zany]

we didn't dress up - i wore skirts or jeans to dinner, my husband wore khakis and polo shirts.

 

we didn't eat in any of the fee restaurants.