AKR2011

How come I can't see the uploaded pics? I'm using Chrome as my browser.

I don't know. I use Chrome too :confused:

We are cruising on the Dawn this Xmas Dec 23rd out of New Orleans. Did you get the spa pass? If so did you enjoy the new upgrades? Were there any new major changes to the main pool deck? Thanks

 

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I admit that I don't do the spa thing. I have never tried it. The pool deck got some nice new lighting. No more of those palm tree lights. Overall, the ship is very meh. I wish there was more than just neutral colors everywhere. Take those lights for instance. I'm glad the palm trees went, but the new lights are completely boring, as is much of the new furniture around the ship. And moving the chairs in Bliss for Trivia or socializing is just about impossible. They are incredibly heavy, but at least they are a brighter green than most other shades around the ship.

I like the on-screen menu on the TV. You can see your account, book excursions and dinner, etc. I don't cruise to watch TV, which is definitely a good thing. I couldn't find much of anything when I turned it on. Mostly ship TV and two movie channels. Three times I turned on the TV at the end of movie credits, and I was excited that I could catch the beginning of another. There were literally 30 minutes of previews before the next movie would show up, so I felt like I was wasting time just trying to watch.

Although I didn't sail on the old Dawn, I know that Cellars Wine Bar is new, and I loved it! You can choose a wine via tablet, and it's a great way to find the right one for you. The staff are also really knowledgeable. The other big change is O'Sheehan's. I enjoyed their food most of the time, but it only has a few "Irish" offerings for a pub. Breakfast is especially standard. The location is great, though!

Oh, and the thing that everyone is complaining about is the artwork in The Venetian. They painted lines over the paintings in there - right across the faces of the people in them. It was asked about at several Q & As, and the Hotel Director is not a fan either. Everyone is complaining and hoping to get it fixed. It's supposed to look modern. Instead, it just looks bad :mad:

Following....can't wait to read more and see those pictures:)

Coming right up! :D

Harry O'Donoghue must do the Repo's. He was on our November 2014 Repo from Boston to New Orleans. He's a really nice guy. We spoke to him several times. The last time we saw him he had shaven and was meeting his wife in Aruba. I think that is were he got off the Ship. Jose & Patti were also on that cruise. There were a lot of people who follow them and the Atrium was always packed every night.

 

I'm looking forward to next years Repo to San Juan. Have planned a B2B.

Yup, definitely a packed atrium! They have quite the following. Fun to see! I think Harry stayed with us most of the cruise. He may have gotten off at one of the later ports, but he did a late night show later in the cruise too. We ended up skipping that one. Something about the rocking of the ship makes us want to go to bed :p

Thanks for taking the time to give us your thoughts and thanks for including information on the wine tasting classes. I plan to do some of those next year on our Dawn Repo cruise.

Thank you! Definitely a big highlight for us. I truly believe that a cruise is all what you make of it. We are not the type of people to sit in the sun all day. We like to take it all in :D

Enjoying your review. More please..

Thank you! I am working on it and will post more tomorrow.

Day 4:

Today was Halloween. I admit that I'm not really into the holiday. I also felt that we packed so much already that I didn't want to be bothered with costumes too. The ship had decorations all over, and that was a nice touch.

My morning was mostly the same routine - Walk a Mile and Zumba. We learned that it was the last day for Zumba, and Ralph was getting off the ship in San Juan the next day :( He worked us hard on this last day, so much that I skipped trivia to take a shower instead. I also woke up a little late and needed to eat. Luckily, Alex hadn't gotten out of bed when I went to shower, so we were actually able to eat together. We went to O'Sheehan's and then went to the bar after. We needed to get the benefits of the Beverage Package, and here we met our favorite bartenders on the ship. They were filled with puzzles and riddles for us. We have a bunch ourselves too, so we swapped. It was just after 10:00, but we lost all track of time drinking and swapping riddles.

The next thing we knew it was 1:00 and time for our next Wine Class. I don't know why I don't have a picture of this one, but it was a black glass tasting. We were broken up into teams and had to guess what kind of wine we were drinking from black glasses. This was a great way to end our wine journey, and many of the same people were in each one of these classes. Once again, I really love being able to bond with other passengers. Our team actually got the most points in the contest, and I was proud. Those previous classes helped us a lot. There was one more class on aroma that we did not take. These classes were a great way for us to enjoy our sea days and really get a great education on wine. I cannot say enough about how great the experience was.

We grabbed a few snacks from the Garden Cafe after the class, but were careful not to overeat. At 3:00 Harry O'Donaghue had a matinee, and we wanted to see him again. We love Irish music. Sadly, more talking than singing again, but still an enjoyable show. Then it was back to O'Sheehan's to have another drink and harass the bartenders a little more :p

Bingo was taking place in Bliss before Progressive Trivia, and it was running late. I think we started 20 minutes late, and everyone was a little cranky. Our team was still doing okay, and we vowed to stay in the top 5 as long as possible. We were still third at this point.

The best meal in my opinion was tonight's dinner at Los Lobos. Delicious drinks, and a guacamole truck!

The food was SO GOOD. Alex had the fajitas and I went with tamale and enchilada with salsa verde. The waiter insisted that we have roasted corn as well. This was on top of the rice and beans and all that delicious guacamole. This would be my one food coma on the ship. We still had dessert! Alex went with Flan, and I had these Mexican doughnuts.

I was so full after dinner that I insisted we walk around the top deck as many times as possible. We did about 5 laps before my stomach started to cramp. Never had I indulged so much. When we arrived back at the room, we had all intentions of going to Comedian Rod Long. Alex went, but I could not move. He said that Rod Long was pretty good, but the same old cruise jokes. I didn't miss too much and was happy to have stayed behind with my new friend:

They left us a notice about the Zika virus of course, and I mentally prepared myself for a day in San Juan. We had been there before, but not for a few years. I will type up those adventures (with some better pictures as well) tomorrow. Stay tuned

I love the DAWN, I am cruising on my first repo next November.

Hooray for your first Repo! This was mine, and I have fallen in love with them. I hope a Transatlantic is somewhere in my future. Nothing better than a day at sea :)

Love the report. We were on in August and had a fabulous time ... Can't wait for more of your report

 

 

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Thank you for following! I am working as fast as I can :)

My wife, son (20), and girlfriend (18) are scheduled to go on the Xmas cruise Dec. 23rd out of New Orleans. I am looking forward to seeing some recent photo's of the Dawn. Thank you for posting.

That's such a great way to spend the holidays. I keep telling my parents to forgo gifts so we can all take a family cruise instead. One day perhaps...Thank you for following :)

following

Thank you for joining! I see you're on here too. I love that southern route :)

Following...

 

 

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Thank you for being here! :)

Waiting?

 

 

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Sorry about that :o Sometimes I lose Internet...I am trying to get back today though :)

Following...

 

 

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Thank you for joining me :)

Following

 

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Thank you for following my adventures :)

Following... :)

Thanks for being here! :)

We did the Boston to Nola Repo in November 2014. We are now booked for the Oct 27, 2017 with family then we will stay on and continue on the Repo to San Juan, PR. My husband keeps kidding me that I will leave the Ship in Boston and go home to do get laundry done, then go back into Boston.

Let your husband know that they have laundry specials on board. A whole bag for $19.95, and I heard that if you roll your clothes tightly, you can really cram them in ;)

Thank you for following :)

Following since we board the Dawn on 11/20.

You are so close! Have a blast, and a thank you for following :)

On next year's repo was on Dawn two years ago to Bermuda not our favorite ship but since we live in Boston thought we would try her again on repo. Hoping you enjoyed and had smooth sailing....

The Sun is still our favorite, but we had a GREAT time on this Repo. It was rocky the first night, but smooth otherwise. Great weather is also a nice plus :) I would book next year's if I could afford it. Need to save a bit longer unfortunately :(

Nice start, following

Thank you! This is my first big review. I appreciate your being here! :)

Exciting start. Following.

 

 

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Thanks for being here :)

Looking forward to getting a good look at the all new Dawn, and some vicarious thrills, too. Thanks in advance for your efforts.

 

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Thanks for following! She has a very "blah" look to her in my opinion. Lots of neutral tones, but kept up very well.

Looking forward to the rest of your review. Considering the repo for next year, so interested in your thoughts on flying home. I know next year it ends in San Juan instead of New Orleans. Love the Dawn, she was our first NCL ship and always makes me smile!

I knew that I would be exhausted and ready to come home soon after got off the ship, so I am thankful that we had a flight later night. I'm a nervous flyer and much prefer traveling by ship. I was just thankful that we only had to fly one way.

Can't wait for the review will be my 2nd time on The Dawn this time in The Garden Villa in two weeks!

You'll have a blast! Thanks for following.

Time for Day 3:

After being famished yesterday, I woke up and had breakfast before walking the mile and doing Zumba. I mean, how can anyone be hungry on a cruise? There is no excuse. I grabbed some eggs, bacon, and a croissant, and hung out by the pool to eat and read a little before the walk. I'm an early riser. Alex is not. But that's always fine. At the walk, more people showed up, and we would have the same group from this point on. An awesome little club we had. I really enjoyed chatting with our group each morning as we walked. Then more Zumba and Trivia before I grabbed a quick shower. No flood - Yes! :D

I was going to check out the craft that morning, but there were Cruise Critic people there, and they reminded me that we had our Meet and Greet at 11:00. I didn't want to miss that, so I headed there instead. We had a great turnout, and lots of officers showed up to answer questions. I have to say that although he talks a lot, Richard Matic is my absolute favorite Cruise Director. We had him on The Sun and were ecstatic when he heard that he was on The Dawn. He always has a story for you and provides a great program. The Hotel Director was also great and made a great presence around the ship. The NCL Crew is really why we continue to cruise with them. We always have a great connection.

After the Meet-and-Greet, I found the husband, who had just finished breakfast. Well, I was ready for lunch at this point. Go figure. To the Venetian I went for more of that yummy hummus, tomato soup, and peanut butter cup cheesecake. I'm predictable, but I know what I like.

At 1:00, we had our Riedel Glass Tasting. Once again, we learned SO MUCH. I need to invest in some new glasses and try out my favorite wines at home. They sell these glasses as a set on the ship for I believe $149.99, but that's beyond what I am willing to pay.

I guess we didn't have enough to drink, so we went to Gatsby's next. Another cruiser got me hooked on Limoncello Vodka Martinis. So good! We had those with some nuts and hung out until the 3:00 Bean Bag Toss. As cheesy as the games are on the ship, we love them. It's fun to watch everyone, and and once again, we love the crew. For all of the Cruise Staff events, you earned signatures for the events that you attended. I was collected a bunch from the walking, Zumba, Trivia, contests like these, etc.

After the Bean Bag Toss was General Knowledge Trivia and Progressive Trivia. We were in 3rd place in Progressive at this point and feeling good. There were a lot of teams. Our team was just in it for fun. As long as we had 50% correct in any of the games on the ship, we were happy. Other teams were a bit more competitive. I was thankful for ours.

Tonight's show was Band on the Run with the Dawn Production Cast. I swear that I've seen this before, but it was still enjoyable. The head vocalist, Kaitlyn, is especially good. I always enjoyed her numbers.

After the show we tried our Aqua for dinner. They had a yummy sweet potato soup. I ordered the pesto pasta with shrimp and was confused. It was a runny basil sauce. So much oil and not like the pesto I had in the past. Good thing that soup was so good.

We walked around the ship a little after dinner, did a couple laps around Deck 7, and checked out Joze and Patti. They have quite the following on this ship. Maybe it's our age, but we just didn't get the hype. They were alright, but definitely not our thing. We like the musician in Gatsby's a bit better, but that's okay. We are always thankful for the variety of music on NCL ships. Back at the room we got a new friend: