NCL Dawn March 14-21 review

[pbear23]

We just got back from our Spring Break Cruise on board NCL Dawn. Cruising with me was my wife and 9 year old daughter. We have previously cruised Carnival and Royal Caribbean. We had booked into a midship balcony (Cabin 9612). Itinerary was Miami,Sea Day, Samana, St. Thomas, Tortola, Sea Day, Great Stirrup Cay, Miami. After this cruise I will say that my favorite cruiseline is still Royal Caribbean. Not that this was a bad cruise by an means, actually we had a great time. We met many new people onboard and at the meet and greet that was arranged. It just seemed that there were several small things that were missing on this ship that Royal Caribbean offered. I will attempt to explain some of them below as I recap our trip.

Precruise- We flew into West Palm Beach and rented a car from Dollar. I checked with Dollar and if you return the car to Miami Airport, they offer a free shuttle to the port. We stayed at the Courtyard Marriott at Aventura Mall on our Marriott points. It was a beautiful hotel with a heated outdoor pool. Rooms were comfortable, clean and included free wi-fi so we could keep up on C.C. before we left for our cruise. Parking was also free.

Day 1- Port of Miami- We dropped the car off at the Aiport Dollar and caught the shuttle arriving at the port around 11:45a.m. The shuttle dropped us off right where the baggage carts and porters were so we didn’t have to touch our checked luggage. The Dollar driver gave it directly to the porter and away it went to be dropped off at our cabin later that evening. We also checked a case of cola and a case of water. We did carry on our camera and laptop and some toys to entertain our daughter until we could get into our cabin.

Embarkation was typical and took around 45 minutes from start to finish. We were standing on Deck 7 waiting in line for our free champagne at 12:30. Once onboard we proceeded to Dazzles to drop off some of our carry on. Staff took our luggage and gave us a claim ticket to retrieve it when we were ready. We then proceeded directly to the Venetian dining room for lunch. We found the service to be rather slow but chalked this up to the crew being busy preparing cabins, and preparing to sail. At 2:00 the announcement was made that cabins were ready. We finished lunch at 2:15, retrieved our luggage from Dazzles and made our way to our cabin. We have never had a balcony before so we did not know what to expect. Saying that, I found the balcony to be a bit small. It would be approx 3 feet deep by 8 or 9 feet wide. Enough to put 2 patio chairs and a small table on but not much more. The wooden side rail that runs along the balcony was weathered and worn from people leaning against it and was starting to splinter but nothing significant. That would be the only thing I can say was wrong with the cabin. Our luggage was delivered to our room by 5:00pm and the pop and water made it with no problems. We asked our cabin attendant to remove the contents from the fridge so we could place our stuff inside. We expected this would have been done shortly but did not happen until they turned down our room that evening. Speaking of which, Im not sure how it is on other ships but I found the layout for 3 people in the cabin to be poorly designed. The couch that sits beside the bed pulls out to make the 3rd bed. But when it is fully extended, it is almost touching a table right beside the balcony door, making it almost impossible to reach the balcony unless you climb over the bed. The main reason for booking a balcony was so that we could sit on it at night and in the morning until our daughter woke up but we were unable to do this. This is just my opinion. Just before dinner we did the family scavenger hunt which was a good way to get you familiar with the ship. You had to talk to different people and find out different facts about the ship. We really enjoyed the activities that NCL has. It seems they really tried to think of family activities. Everyone that participated received a free smoothee coupon. After dinner we attended the early theatre show which was a preview of all the shows coming up during our cruise. I must say the shows were definitely a strong point for NCL. The comedian, magician, and performances were all amazing. Second City was hilarious. Make sure you catch these shows if you can.

I will post again about each port of call when later today. If you have questions let me know.

[pbear23]

Today was a chance to explore the ship and activities. We started by attending Aqua. Being in a balcony allowed us access to Aqua for breakfast. Only Balcony and above can dine here for breakfast. There is a sign posted outside stating "Private Function" We virtually had the entire restaurant to ourselves. Aqua has its own buffet, as well as cooked to order omlettes, eggs etc. It was quite nice to have a quiet breakfast.

We then took part in some of the activities onboard. I attended the dodgeball tournament, but arrived 5 minutes late and it had already started. After the main tournament, they allowed free play before a basketball tournament took place.

From here it was time to take our daughter swimmin in the kids pool. This is the only fresh water pool( I think) onboard and was kept at a warm 88° for the kids. The main pool is saltwater and kept at 77° or this is the temperature that was shown on the information channel in our cabin.

We attended dinner in the Venetian as it was surf and more surf night. We arrived to the Venetian around 6:30 and there was no wait. I had the Grouper and Lobster. Found the lobster a little bland but the grouper was very nice. It had a nice sauce on it and portion size was good. I did notice that even on dress up night, several people were in the restaurants in jeans and a nice shirt. Nobody seemed to be enforcing the dress code policy.

After dinner we headed down to the Stardust to catch the performance. You can access the Stardust on either deck six or seven. Deck seven allows access to the balcony which runs along either side of the theatre from front to back however the front rows of the balcony are reserved for the Garden Villas and Owners Suites and are closed off until just before show time at which time if they are still unoccupied, they open them up to anyone. The Stardust theatre is huge. I believe they said it sat over 1000 people. We never had a problem getting a seat for 2 even when arriving 5 minutes before showtime.

Well thats all for now. I will write later about our First Port Day which was Samana. This happened to be our favourite port despite what we had read about it.

[joteacher]

Thanks for the review so far! I just booked this same cruise for next February:D

[CruisnGram]

I did notice that even on dress up night, several people were in the restaurants in jeans and a nice shirt. Nobody seemed to be enforcing the dress code policy.

 

Great review so far. I like how you are pointing out both positive and negative things...keep it coming! :)

 

I do have to say though that regarding the jeans in the dining room, one NCL main dining room has a dress code that says "no jeans" every night. All other dining rooms on the ship allow jeans every night. So even though it was "dress up or not night", if the Venitian was not the 1 dining room that prohibited jeans, then the dress code wasn't being violated.

 

I know for those cruising NCL for the first time, the dress code can be difficult to get used to, but that's what sets NCL apart. You truly can (with some restrictions of course) dress the way which is comfortable for you. It's not unusual to see people at one table in dresses and suits, and next to them is jeans and golf shirts. That's freestyle! :)

 

CG

[pbear23]

Got up early this morning to catch the sunrise as we passed the Dominican Republic. It was an overcast morning with showers in the distance which brought on multiple rainbows which my daughter loved. Made for some great photo shots. I found it quite pretty sailing by the Island as the island has several areas where there are cliffs with the waves crashing up against them. Again, great for photos but you have to be up early to see this. Imagine sunrise, photos crashing up against the rockface, as you near your first port of call.:) Tip for anyone wanting pictures. Head up to Deck 13 at the rear of the ship. Not many passengers venture here, and you have clear unobstructed views of the port, starboard and aft of the ship. You know you are there when you see the helicopter landing area painted on the deck.

As for Samana, so many people say this is a poor choice for a port of call, but we found this to be our favourite port of call. We had booked a private excursion with Tours with Terry. Originally we were booked to do El Limon Waterfall by horseback, but changed it to El Valle waterfall and were glad we did.

Tendering tickets were available starting at 7:30am for those that were not on NCL booked excursions. Since I was up for the sunrise, I headed down at about 7:00am and there were already 20-30 people in front of we waiting for tickets. We ended up with ticket #178. Announcements were made starting just before 10 calling all passengers on NCL excursions to make their way to deck 4 and that they would begin general tendering around 11-11:30. Also, due to strong winds, tendering would only be done from one side of the ship so things would be slower. Around 10:45, they announced that things were going far faster then expected and they were ready to begin general tendering. This is where things got a bit crazy. I believe NCL has some work to do here with the disembarking process. The announcement was made that those with tickets 0-100 could make their way to deck 4. Shortly there after, it was announced that people with tickets 100-300 could make their way to deck 4. We started to head towards deck 4, got to the main stairway, and found it a zoo, backed up to deck 6. People were taking elevators down to deck 5 and squeezing into lines. Again with only 20-30 people in front of me, to get tender tickets, I thought we would be one of the first to get on a tender. This was not the case. But hey, we were still going to get to tender in earlier then expected so no big deal.

Once into Samana, we met Terry at the pier. He was there waiting for us and took us and another group to his 4x4. On the way to the horses he gave us a private tour of the island, explaining about the new Dam that Samana is putting in, history of the island, etc. The roads in Samana are in extremely poor condition and typically we could not travel more then 20mph due to potholes etc. Once we arrived at the horses, we rode for at least 2 1/2 hours before arriving at a beautiful beach where we left the horses. We had a wonderful Dominican lunch here before driving to El Valle waterfall where we swam in the pool at the base of the waterfall. After this Terry dropped the other group off and then drove our family to do some shopping. I was after coffee beans so Terry took us to a local supermarket to buy fresh beans, and then to the market for some souveniers before dropping us off back at the ship. Anyone not sure of what to do in Samana, I would highly recommend Terry. If you want more info, or pictures, let me know.

Once onboard, we headed to Aqua for dinner and up to kids club to drop off our daughter. I thought it was great that kids club takes the kids to the performance in the stardust. Other cruise lines, have not done this and our daughter quite enjoyed the shows.

We attended the Dr. Ruths Love, Sex and Romance game show in Spinnaker not sure what to expect. It was ok and called for audience participation.

From here it was on to the late show of the Stardust for the Gleason Magic show. This was an excellent show. Im still trying to figure out some of the illusions he performed. He was amazing!!

After the show, we picked up our daughter from kids club, hit the garden cafe, for a late night snack and called it a night.

Tomorrows port of call, St. Thomas

[Warmer Climes]

I am enjoying every installment of your review. We also enjoyed Samana and I'll definitely keep your excursion in mind for our next visit.

 

Thanks.

[Maryfrei]

Enjoying your review, thanks!:)