Dawn Princess Review 8/5/08 sailing

[melika091900]

Yep we are fresh off the Dawn Princess from Alaska, heres my review before i forget everything

 

embarkation- we arrived in SF at 11am by Limo since we live about 20 miles away, and we pulled right up, porters were there waiting, it was very easy, then we were directed in , and we signed in , no line and off we went to the ship, it was that quick.It was the easiest check in we had ever had on all our cruises.

 

Stateroom- we had an inside cabin on the Baja deck ( B407) the stateroom was nice,typical room for a cruise, nothing special about it, the only thing i didnt like is that if you drank something from your fridge they do not restock it, i have to leave several notes asking for this, and they do not give you ice in the room. our attendent was Julio he was ok, not too friendly , just ok,

no towel animals, but quick room service, the only thing i didnt like is that they charge you to deliver a pizza that is free. it was like 3$ no biggie but just a money maker for them i think

 

Ship - the ship is nice, good layout , very clean, i was happy to see all the hand sanitizing stations all over, ( even though i still got a cold )

it was good to see this , and see people using it . The casino was nice and big, the only thing that bothered me was that there is NO ATM !!! that is crazy , i know you get money from the casino, but when its closed then you luck out,

theres a nice area on deck 10 ( baja) and 11 right at the bow of the ship where you can walk out and see everything , this was great in alaska, and not too many people know of the area, we knew since our friends had traveled on the same ship, it was great when we sailed under the golden gate bridge, and sailing around tracy arm fjord, while everyone was on the top decks we were on the bow with about 10 people or less, that was a plus for sure, and it was nice having a laundry mat right next to us to do laundry if we needed to for only 75 cents,

the dining area was nice, kinda small, but nice, clean, all the areas were clean,

and the pools were awesome , they were HEATED !!!!! that was a big plus when you head to alaska ,,

the only other thing i didnt like is if you buy cigarettes you get them the night before you get off, ive never seen any other cruiseline do this, i just thought that was weird.

 

staff and service- All of the staff were just ok, they were nice, but nothing spectacular, our dining room waiters were ok, but didnt know our names, and didnt ask, just did their job, nothing special,

no one got extra friendly until the day before we were getting off and they were asking us to mention them in our comments, crazy,,

 

food- food was good, loved the prime rib, king crab legs, and beef tenderloin, all the soups were good, great shrimp cocktail, boring salads,

but overall good food.

 

ports- Ketchikan,nice warm day, sunny !!!

we did the totem bight park, ok theres only 4 poles there not including 2 near the entrance, it was ok, but honestly its kind of a waste to go there, the guide tells stories but doesnt tell you what the poles mean, or what they think they mean, so we headed back to the ship after and walked to creek street, nice area, very pretty, good shops,

then we headed back to the ship

 

Juneau- it was POURING @! we did the mendenhall glacier with the salmon hatchery tour, it was a nice tour, the only thing i didnt like is that it says its recommended for people in wheelchairs, which my mom is, ok so i notified the tour office when we boarded that shes in a wheelchair so they would know for her excursions, well we got to the bus and no lift, she had to get out and walk up stairs and she has really bad knees, i was upset since princess advertises it differently then what it is, but the tour was fine, we were at the glacier for 1 hour, then headed to the salmon hatchery, which was neat to see all the salmon there our daughter liked it, the tour was perfect, not too long to get bored for kids, and good for the adults,

then we got dropped off in town and headed to the twisted fish resturant to eat some food, its right at the pier, and the food was very good, along with the service, my husband loved the halibut and i of course the king crab..

then we headed to mt roberts tramway, it was foggy and raining but we did it , im glad we did, at the top there was a rescued eagle to view ,and learn about, and we looked out in the city at what we could see, then headed down.. then off to the boat again ,,

 

Skagway_ warm and sunny , we did the white pass railroad tour, the 3 hour tour, it was ok, nice and scenic, but to me kinda boring, i would rather ride the train up , and then the bus down, and we were starving, if you do this tour make sure you take snacks , they only have water.

we did see a bear here though right next to the train so that was neat.

 

tracy arm- scenic cruising, cold and amazing very pretty, we saw a mama bear and her cub on the shore, it was very neat to see the ice and glaciers, very scenic , very cold.. hee hee

 

kids club- our daughter liked it alot, it was good, they always changed the schedule though as far as activies , and there werent many crafts or anything for the 8-12 year olds. but she had fun..

 

overall - princess was nice, was it our favorite cruise, no, least favorite no , its right in the middle, i would go on any cruise again in a heartbeat i never base a cruiseline on one experience, i will keep going on the same line over and over if the price and iten is right..

i hope i dont sound like im slamming princess or anything, i liked it alot, but by far celebrity has been my favorite.,just my opinion, then carnival, then princess, then ncl..

 

tips- UGGS arent good for alaska, they are slippery and when it rains your feet are soaked !!!!!!!!! i almost fell a few times,

 

 

any questions please email me anytime

[tequilasunrise]

Thanks for the review and I'm glad you had a good time!

 

Interesting that you rank Celebrity, then Carnival, then Princess...in that order. I haven't cruised all of those but from what I've heard most Celebrity fans would hate Carnival and put Princess second in that lineup...and Carnival fans would like NCL but not Celebrity or Princess....what was it you liked about each line?

 

I live near Seattle and am thinking about trying some of Celebrity's short cruises so appreciate the input.

[dforeigner]

Thanks for taking time to write a review.

[Stevesan]

Thanks for the review. Glad to learn the inside cabin was satisfactory. I'm on Sea Princess next month, my first on a Sun class ship.

I've been concerned about the inside accomodation. I don't require "spacious", but adequate would be good.

 

Be grateful there was no on board ATM. Their fees are excessive! :o

I stick to land based, bank only, ATMs.

[melika091900]

Thanks for the review and I'm glad you had a good time!

 

Interesting that you rank Celebrity, then Carnival, then Princess...in that order. I haven't cruised all of those but from what I've heard most Celebrity fans would hate Carnival and put Princess second in that lineup...and Carnival fans would like NCL but not Celebrity or Princess....what was it you liked about each line?

 

I live near Seattle and am thinking about trying some of Celebrity's short cruises so appreciate the input.

 

well celebrity to me has the best customer service, very attentive, nice , friendly,. they get to know you , talk to you, and anything you want they will get it, ive never had such great service then what we had on our 2 celebrity cruises, when we went to hawaii for 14 days, on the last couple of days coming back to CA. i had a cold, our stateroom attendent kept coming to check on me, bringing me hot tea and soup, it was amazing, and we were in a inside room, it was just crazy,

everything about them was positive,

 

carnival suprised me this last time we went in feb, we went on the conquest before and the service was ok, but this time on the pride, they were very good, friendly, good food, good service all around,

NCl is good also, i just dont like the freestyle dining, i like to go to the same place, each night, it makes it easier for me, i dont like to think while im on vacation, hee hee

 

but i would honestly go on any line anytime , any cruise is good to me, im not picky, i might have sounded a lil anti - princess, but i would go on them again anytime, im not like some people who say, oh never again,

i think, never say never, i go for itenerary and price,

 

but yes try celebrity !!! i loved them,

[melika091900]

Thanks for the review. Glad to learn the inside cabin was satisfactory. I'm on Sea Princess next month, my first on a Sun class ship.

I've been concerned about the inside accomodation. I don't require "spacious", but adequate would be good.

 

Be grateful there was no on board ATM. Their fees are excessive! :o

I stick to land based, bank only, ATMs.

 

 

the inside cabins are small, but the same as every line, except carnival which are much bigger, i found it better to have the beds split in a twin configuration then you have a lot of room in the middle, if you have them together theres no room since the bed takes it all, and its hard to get up from one side since the vanity thing is there, just my thoughts,

 

yeah the atm thing was like WOW< i didnt mind, there were alot of atms in alaska, and we got money out at the casino, i was just like wow ive never seen that before, hee heee

 

have fun on your cruise !!!

 

melissa

[here2cruise]

Yep we are fresh off the Dawn Princess from Alaska, heres my review before i forget everything

 

embarkation- we arrived in SF at 11am by Limo since we live about 20 miles away, and we pulled right up, porters were there waiting, it was very easy, then we were directed in , and we signed in , no line and off we went to the ship, it was that quick.It was the easiest check in we had ever had on all our cruises.

 

Stateroom- we had an inside cabin on the Baja deck ( B407) the stateroom was nice,typical room for a cruise, nothing special about it, the only thing i didnt like is that if you drank something from your fridge they do not restock it, i have to leave several notes asking for this, and they do not give you ice in the room. our attendent was Julio he was ok, not too friendly , just ok,

no towel animals, but quick room service, the only thing i didnt like is that they charge you to deliver a pizza that is free. it was like 3$ no biggie but just a money maker for them i think

 

Ship - the ship is nice, good layout , very clean, i was happy to see all the hand sanitizing stations all over, ( even though i still got a cold )

it was good to see this , and see people using it . The casino was nice and big, the only thing that bothered me was that there is NO ATM !!! that is crazy , i know you get money from the casino, but when its closed then you luck out,

theres a nice area on deck 10 ( baja) and 11 right at the bow of the ship where you can walk out and see everything , this was great in alaska, and not too many people know of the area, we knew since our friends had traveled on the same ship, it was great when we sailed under the golden gate bridge, and sailing around tracy arm fjord, while everyone was on the top decks we were on the bow with about 10 people or less, that was a plus for sure, and it was nice having a laundry mat right next to us to do laundry if we needed to for only 75 cents,

the dining area was nice, kinda small, but nice, clean, all the areas were clean,

and the pools were awesome , they were HEATED !!!!! that was a big plus when you head to alaska ,,

the only other thing i didnt like is if you buy cigarettes you get them the night before you get off, ive never seen any other cruiseline do this, i just thought that was weird.

 

staff and service- All of the staff were just ok, they were nice, but nothing spectacular, our dining room waiters were ok, but didnt know our names, and didnt ask, just did their job, nothing special,

no one got extra friendly until the day before we were getting off and they were asking us to mention them in our comments, crazy,,

 

food- food was good, loved the prime rib, king crab legs, and beef tenderloin, all the soups were good, great shrimp cocktail, boring salads,

but overall good food.

 

ports- Ketchikan,nice warm day, sunny !!!

we did the totem bight park, ok theres only 4 poles there not including 2 near the entrance, it was ok, but honestly its kind of a waste to go there, the guide tells stories but doesnt tell you what the poles mean, or what they think they mean, so we headed back to the ship after and walked to creek street, nice area, very pretty, good shops,

then we headed back to the ship

 

Juneau- it was POURING @! we did the mendenhall glacier with the salmon hatchery tour, it was a nice tour, the only thing i didnt like is that it says its recommended for people in wheelchairs, which my mom is, ok so i notified the tour office when we boarded that shes in a wheelchair so they would know for her excursions, well we got to the bus and no lift, she had to get out and walk up stairs and she has really bad knees, i was upset since princess advertises it differently then what it is, but the tour was fine, we were at the glacier for 1 hour, then headed to the salmon hatchery, which was neat to see all the salmon there our daughter liked it, the tour was perfect, not too long to get bored for kids, and good for the adults,

then we got dropped off in town and headed to the twisted fish resturant to eat some food, its right at the pier, and the food was very good, along with the service, my husband loved the halibut and i of course the king crab..

then we headed to mt roberts tramway, it was foggy and raining but we did it , im glad we did, at the top there was a rescued eagle to view ,and learn about, and we looked out in the city at what we could see, then headed down.. then off to the boat again ,,

 

Skagway_ warm and sunny , we did the white pass railroad tour, the 3 hour tour, it was ok, nice and scenic, but to me kinda boring, i would rather ride the train up , and then the bus down, and we were starving, if you do this tour make sure you take snacks , they only have water.

we did see a bear here though right next to the train so that was neat.

 

tracy arm- scenic cruising, cold and amazing very pretty, we saw a mama bear and her cub on the shore, it was very neat to see the ice and glaciers, very scenic , very cold.. hee hee

 

kids club- our daughter liked it alot, it was good, they always changed the schedule though as far as activies , and there werent many crafts or anything for the 8-12 year olds. but she had fun..

 

overall - princess was nice, was it our favorite cruise, no, least favorite no , its right in the middle, i would go on any cruise again in a heartbeat i never base a cruiseline on one experience, i will keep going on the same line over and over if the price and iten is right..

i hope i dont sound like im slamming princess or anything, i liked it alot, but by far celebrity has been my favorite.,just my opinion, then carnival, then princess, then ncl..

 

tips- UGGS arent good for alaska, they are slippery and when it rains your feet are soaked !!!!!!!!! i almost fell a few times,

 

 

any questions please email me anytime

 

we were on the cruise right before u in B429 and also had Julio...he was the worst rooom steward we've had yet. he never re-filled anything including the ice. everyday we had to ask or leave the bucket on the table. we had a burnt out light in the bathroom for 2 days and i finally had to ask him to replace it!

this was our 6th Princess cruise and we've always had great room stewards.

we also had boring waiters in traditional dining. we like to have fun with the waiters, but the head waiter didnt talk much to us until the night before we left telling us about the questionaire and to give all good marks on it.

we were also a little disappointed in the 2nd floraml night with the lobster dinner. all the other cruises had 2 lobster tails on the plate, but on this cruise we had 1 tail & 2 jumbo prawns...DH wasn't too happy about that.

all in all we had a great time and will go back one day. it was sure worth it to leave from san francisco so we didnt have to fly!

[commodoredave]

Thanks for the review and I'm glad you had a good time!

 

Interesting that you rank Celebrity, then Carnival, then Princess...in that order. I haven't cruised all of those but from what I've heard most Celebrity fans would hate Carnival and put Princess second in that lineup...and Carnival fans would like NCL but not Celebrity or Princess....what was it you liked about each line?

 

I live near Seattle and am thinking about trying some of Celebrity's short cruises so appreciate the input.

 

I agree with your rankings. I've been on them all, and for my money I would rank this way:

Celebrity; Princess; RCI and HAL; Carnival and NCL.

Of course, it all depends on the type of experience you have on each ship, and what type of cruise you are looking for.

[melika091900]

we were on the cruise right before u in B429 and also had Julio...he was the worst rooom steward we've had yet. he never re-filled anything including the ice. everyday we had to ask or leave the bucket on the table. we had a burnt out light in the bathroom for 2 days and i finally had to ask him to replace it!

this was our 6th Princess cruise and we've always had great room stewards.

we also had boring waiters in traditional dining. we like to have fun with the waiters, but the head waiter didnt talk much to us until the night before we left telling us about the questionaire and to give all good marks on it.

we were also a little disappointed in the 2nd floraml night with the lobster dinner. all the other cruises had 2 lobster tails on the plate, but on this cruise we had 1 tail & 2 jumbo prawns...DH wasn't too happy about that.

all in all we had a great time and will go back one day. it was sure worth it to leave from san francisco so we didnt have to fly!

 

 

OMG i know, julio wasnt friendly at all ... and i never got any ice, or towel animals or anything, i was like ok,

and at 1st he was leaving 4 handtowels, then it was 2..

 

and the lobster, yeah what a joke, i loved the crab though, and the same thing no one talked much until they wanted you to fill out the questionaire for them, that was sooo true, i was like wow,,, now everyone is friendly,

crazy !!!

 

and our bill didnt come until 8am the day we were leaving, he put it under our door minutes before we were heading to customs,

 

it was still overall a good cruise and the no driving or flying was a plus, we just took a limo, that was sooo nice.

 

i have pics on my webshots link under alaska 8/5/08 cruise..

 

take care

melissa

 

 

and did you ever try to use the laudromat on our floor? only one worked and the other one was always being used, we finally got to do laundry at 2am !!!!!!!!!!!!

[melika091900]

I agree with your rankings. I've been on them all, and for my money I would rank this way:

Celebrity; Princess; RCI and HAL; Carnival and NCL.

Of course, it all depends on the type of experience you have on each ship, and what type of cruise you are looking for.

 

 

 

exactly.... ;)

 

someone might go on one bad carnival cruise and say never carnival again, thats why i stay open minded , ill go on any cruise if the iten and price is right.. :)

[melika091900]

we were on the cruise right before u in B429 and also had Julio...he was the worst rooom steward we've had yet. he never re-filled anything including the ice. everyday we had to ask or leave the bucket on the table. we had a burnt out light in the bathroom for 2 days and i finally had to ask him to replace it!

this was our 6th Princess cruise and we've always had great room stewards.

we also had boring waiters in traditional dining. we like to have fun with the waiters, but the head waiter didnt talk much to us until the night before we left telling us about the questionaire and to give all good marks on it.

we were also a little disappointed in the 2nd floraml night with the lobster dinner. all the other cruises had 2 lobster tails on the plate, but on this cruise we had 1 tail & 2 jumbo prawns...DH wasn't too happy about that.

all in all we had a great time and will go back one day. it was sure worth it to leave from san francisco so we didnt have to fly!

 

 

oh yeah , we drank alot of the soda and water from the fridge, he never re stocked it at all, i had to leave him notes to do it, and finally the 3rd day or something he did it , from then on i ordered it from room service,

crazy ,,

[here2cruise]

OMG i know, julio wasnt friendly at all ... and i never got any ice, or towel animals or anything, i was like ok,

and at 1st he was leaving 4 handtowels, then it was 2..

 

and the lobster, yeah what a joke, i loved the crab though, and the same thing no one talked much until they wanted you to fill out the questionaire for them, that was sooo true, i was like wow,,, now everyone is friendly,

crazy !!!

 

and our bill didnt come until 8am the day we were leaving, he put it under our door minutes before we were heading to customs,

 

it was still overall a good cruise and the no driving or flying was a plus, we just took a limo, that was sooo nice.

 

i have pics on my webshots link under alaska 8/5/08 cruise..

 

take care

melissa

 

 

and did you ever try to use the laudromat on our floor? only one worked and the other one was always being used, we finally got to do laundry at 2am !!!!!!!!!!!!

oh wow at least it wasnt only us that he wasnt friendly with! we thought it was that he didnt like us!!! there wasone day that he only left 1 washcloth...we never got any animals, but we never have on any of the cruises we have taken...

and our patters were always slid through the door...i dont know, call me weird but to me it's fun to come back from the evening and see that we have mail in our slot! LOL

we tried to joke and talk with him but he basically just smiled and said have a nice day....

we did try to do laundry 1 day and yes there was a broken one and some lady was sitting in there and said she'd be a while and that we could go to another floor...well we didnt want to lug our laundry to another floor so we didnt do it!

we did have a wonderful table for 2, but sure wish we would have had more fun waiters...we had Armando & Henry...Henry was more friendly then Armando!

and another thing that relaly upset us was that they took our cruise cards as we disembarked...i emailed Princess and got some generic letter in the mail saying each ship has different policies....i emailed back saying i still was upset as i wanted to put it in my scrapbook along with all my other cards! anyone know what other ships dont let us keep our cards?

[Colo Cruiser]

Thanks for the review. :)

[rdsqrl]

oh wow at least it wasnt only us that he wasnt friendly with! we thought it was that he didnt like us!!! there wasone day that he only left 1 washcloth...we never got any animals, but we never have on any of the cruises we have taken...

and our patters were always slid through the door...i dont know, call me weird but to me it's fun to come back from the evening and see that we have mail in our slot! LOL

we tried to joke and talk with him but he basically just smiled and said have a nice day....

we did try to do laundry 1 day and yes there was a broken one and some lady was sitting in there and said she'd be a while and that we could go to another floor...well we didnt want to lug our laundry to another floor so we didnt do it!

we did have a wonderful table for 2, but sure wish we would have had more fun waiters...we had Armando & Henry...Henry was more friendly then Armando!

and another thing that relaly upset us was that they took our cruise cards as we disembarked...i emailed Princess and got some generic letter in the mail saying each ship has different policies....i emailed back saying i still was upset as i wanted to put it in my scrapbook along with all my other cards! anyone know what other ships dont let us keep our cards?

 

I sailed on the Dawn in March, and my cabin steward (Joon -- he was terrific, by the way) also slid the Patter under the door each evening instead of putting it in the mail slot. It's such a silly thing to be irked by, but I really hated having to bend down and pick it up off the floor -- usually after I'd already stepped on it coming in the room and, 9 times out of 10, putting a hole through it with my high heels. . . .

As far as them taking the card, you need to act fast when you see up ahead of you in line that they're keeping them. When it's your turn to ding out, just say you couldn't find your card that morning, or you locked it in your cabin, or something -- believe me, sadly, they will indeed still let you off the ship: Shhh, don't tell that security officer on the ship, but my Dawn card (my last Gold one, yay!) is hanging on its lanyard from the coat closet doorknob at home, reminding me of a great vacation.

[mamad!]

"our attendent was Julio he was ok, not too friendly , just ok"

 

We were on the ship the same time as you. I am so sorry your guy was just okay. My family was right down the hall from you I am not sure if they had the same guy or not they did not mention being unhappy. We were in P 349 we had a great room attendent he was very friendly, helpfull and kept the room very clean. Our last night he made my boys a really cool monkey out of towels they loved it.

 

Our room on the other hand was very noisy and some nights it was really hard to sleep there was a storage room or something like that below us and the sure seemed to bang thing around alot in the middle of the night thank goodness for sleeping pills!

 

My boys (4 years and 6 years) did not want to leave the ship they had such a good time. The kids program was great! They could not wait for it to open everyday they did lots of crafts and even a talent show. Besides the noise we had a great trip and would go back again but stay somewhere on Baja Deck.

[green.herbs]

When we were on the Dawn Princess in February we were in A505 and our steward was Karla and she was great, she even brought us a plate of cookies every night, and in the dining room we had Victor and he was awesome really fun, and he would always offer you a second entree if you wanted one that was pretty awesome!

[DougH]

Thanks for taking the time to give us your thoughts on the cruise. I sail on the Dawn in a month on the last Aalska trip of the season. Hope the weather is decent, I'm looking foward to lots of end of season bargains both on shore and aboard ship. Not sure why they took your crusie card but thanks for the 'heads up" on this

[melika091900]

hey doug

the best shopping was in juneau right by the port theres a shopping area,and one of the stores has medicines, tolietries, etc, and alot of great bargains for all kinds of alaska soveiners( sp) ...

 

just wanted to throw that out there, since i was suprised what we got there for great prices,

 

 

have fun on the dawn, and remember on deck 10 and deck 11 all the way forward you will see a door with a tinted window on it, you can walk out there on the bow, its a big open area, and no one is ever really out there, we went there when we sailed under the bridge and when we were scenic cruising in tracy arm, it was totally not crowded at all, not alot of people knew that was there, ;)

[DougH]

Thanks for the tips melika091900 but the Dawn/Sun/Sea are my favorite ships

This will be cruise #12 on this class ships, I know all of secrets :) This is also #13 to Alaska. What I really meant for in bargain shopping was the huge end of season markdowns. Did and end of season sailing a # of years ago on the Mercury and they took 10% more off each day of the cruise on all Alaska merchandise. It was a big game to see how long you could wait for an item and hope it was still in the shop. FYI I bought a bunch of the Alaska crusie companion book/map and believe I paid about $1.00 each. Last day of the cruise there was just a small pile of stuff on the center of the floor in the shop. All of the shops in port also had big end of season sales.

 

As this is the last cruise of the Dawn before she sails down to Sydney and out of the fleet I'm hoping they will be discounting all Dawn Princess logo stuff

[rcacace]

As far as them taking the card, you need to act fast when you see up ahead of you in line that they're keeping them. When it's your turn to ding out, just say you couldn't find your card that morning, or you locked it in your cabin, or something -- believe me, sadly, they will indeed still let you off the ship: Shhh, don't tell that security officer on the ship, but my Dawn card (my last Gold one, yay!) is hanging on its lanyard from the coat closet doorknob at home, reminding me of a great vacation.

 

Yea they ticked me off also when they took my card & it'll be the last time it happens. I even told the security officer I intended on losing mine from now on (as if she actually cared). I emailed Princess about their new policy and asked for replacement cards, which I didn't get. Their explanation is that it's a security issue & they want to check the total people getting off the ship (?)

I'm assuming that this is their policy on all their ships.

I'm going to misplace mine the next time we're re-boarding in St Thomas. As the word starts to spread about the cards they'll be more & more people requesting replacements.

I intend on spreading the word to as many people who care to listen.

[cruiserdru]

When we were on QM2 last December, they also took our cards and said it was a security issue. We had been on her just a year before and we got to keep our cards.

[GAPeachessweety]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving on the Dawn on the 25th for Alaska staying on the Baja deck. We are on the back (aft?) so I hope we don't have the same room steward as you did. Can you ask for another one or at least let someone know what is going on (ie not refilling the frig, not enough towels)? This is service you're paying for and should be corrected asap so you can enjoy your cruise. Any suggestions if we get a bad steward? Same with service at dinner, can you ask for another waiter?

 

No towel animals??? :( Isn't that a cruise "signature"?

 

And thank you thank you for the tip about the place for viewing that few know about. You can find us out there frequently ;)

 

Would someone please tell me about the formal nights. Which 2 nights were formal? How were the ladies and gents dressed? I'm taking one floor length and about 7 cocktail dresses. My Husband plans on wearing a black suit for formal and grey, brown etc...the other nights. Will we be okay?

 

Did anyone do any of the scholarship@sea programs? I am very interested in the culinary bits. At first I thought this was only for the kids and I may still be wrong. Anyone?

 

Any other ship activities that were enjoyed?

[melika091900]

Thanks for the review. We are leaving on the Dawn on the 25th for Alaska staying on the Baja deck. We are on the back (aft?) so I hope we don't have the same room steward as you did. Can you ask for another one or at least let someone know what is going on (ie not refilling the frig, not enough towels)? This is service you're paying for and should be corrected asap so you can enjoy your cruise. Any suggestions if we get a bad steward? Same with service at dinner, can you ask for another waiter?

 

we were mid ship in the odd numbers,, what is your stateroom number? you shouldnt get him if you are aft,

 

 

No towel animals??? :( Isn't that a cruise "signature"?

 

And thank you thank you for the tip about the place for viewing that few know about. You can find us out there frequently ;)

 

Would someone please tell me about the formal nights. Which 2 nights were formal? The 1st sea day , and then the day you are in Victoria,

 

How were the ladies and gents dressed? some people were real formal, alot were more just dressed in regular dresses like summer dresses, not to many men wore ties , more like slacks with a nice shirt

I'm taking one floor length and about 7 cocktail dresses. My Husband plans on wearing a black suit for formal and grey, brown etc...the other nights. Will we be okay? oh yeah

 

Did anyone do any of the scholarship@sea programs? I am very interested in the culinary bits. At first I thought this was only for the kids and I may still be wrong. Anyone?

the scholarship at sea had a lot of programs to do,with computers, ceramics, etc... i think it was all mostly for adults

i have the list of programs I can scan it so you can take a look.. let me know ,

 

and our pics are on my webshots link under alaska cruise 8/5/08

 

Any other ship activities that were enjoyed?

 

the new years party was fun , they have a champagne waterfall, and they do a countdown, this was towards the end of the cruise, sadly we didnt go to any shows or anything, they had a lot of shows going on, but we did other things, no deck parties or anything since it gets cold and foggy,

and remember theres an AFT pool right by the gym, theres also 3 hottubs there, the 1st few days of the cruise no one is there since they dont realize its there, its nice, and heated!! all the pools are heated !! so bring the swimsuits

[melika091900]

i was looking for my scholarship at sea stuff and i didnt see it, ill ask my DH where it is,,, and see if he remembers

 

but i know they did a culinary demo the last sea day at 945am that everyone raved about, it also includes a tour of the galley..

[GAPeachessweety]

Thank you for everything. We plan on taking advantage of the whole ship and everything it has to offer. It sounds like we may be over dressed if my DH wears a tie very much. I almost don't care because he looks HOT in a suit and tie. Not to mention dressing up is something I'm looking forward to.

 

I never thought about the pools being heated.....swimsuits are on the list now. And thanks for the tidbit about the aft hot tubs, we will certainly enjoy those ;)

 

We are in B726 inside room. We actually got upgraded much to my surprise. We planned on being down under so to speak. We chose an inside room so we could focus of the excursions and extra's we wanted to do/drink :).

 

We are lined up for some pretty awesome excursions. You mentioned a couple of yours but did you perhaps hear or talk to anyone that had done some of the more adventurious excursions? We are going ziplining in Ketchikan, helicopter to Mendenhall Glacier and a alaska salmon bake in Juneau and probably try to ride the Roberts Tram, then river rafting in the bald eagle sanctuary in Skagway, whale watching in Victoria. Hopefully get in some walking around the towns and shopping. Our activities are costing almost as much as the cruise :eek:. My fingers are crossed that we get to do them all and don't get "weathered" out for some reason.

 

I'll go take a look at your pics.

 

Again, thanks for all the great information.

 

Mel