pauln_dtd

My wife and I are leaving on a cruise from Boston on Friday, Nov. 9, and are in search of something to do in Boston beforehand. We’ll just have the morning as we fly in around 7:30 a.m., and we would like to board later (1:30-2 p.m.) to do something the half day we’re in Boston. Neither of us has been since we were teenagers.

Anyone from the area have any good ideas for a morning adventure? We’re both in our 30s and have no mobility issues. Biggest issue will be luggage, but am hoping a friendly hotel bellhop and a tip might take care of that.

My wife and I walked from the boat to Fulton Street Garage (about two blocks further) when we disembarked. If you're OK rolling a suitcase on the sidewalk, it's an easy walk.

I can't speak for anything post renovations, but we were in the mirror image of that suite (10228) April 2016.

We loved it. The room was plenty big and the balcony is big enough (barely) for loungers to face directly aft looking at the ocean. It is extremely private. All the balconies on the back can't be seen from anywhere and that entire back hallway is only used by six cabins.

I'm on a 9-day repositioning from Boston in November 2018 with the Distinctive Voyages promo and noticed this morning that the Take 5 promotion includes that cruise as well.

I searched on here and it appeared that some people were able to combine the two (I'm not terribly concerned about the internet package, but would like double shore excursion credit) and stack them on top of each other.

I called NCL and the person I spoke to said that it was one or the other. It says they can be combined, but he made it sound like I wasn't going to be able to get $100/port.

Just wondering if anyone else had dealt with this and I should call back and try and get someone else.

Thanks in advance.

Stayed in 10228 Aft on the Dawn out of NOLA and would book again in a heartbeat.

The room and balcony aren't as big as the forwards, they are private and you don't have to worry about the wind and in our room on deck 10, there was still room for the loungers to be perpendicular to the back of the boat (barely).

I have booked room 10730 on the Dawn for our upcoming cruise. I was wondering if anyone has pictures of it since the ship was updated? Also, any input on the location, it's an Aft room. Thanks for any info.

I stayed in the suite next to that (10228) in April and loved the location. It was nice having a private balcony that just faced out and it was also a quiet part of the ship as that back hallway was only used by those six rooms.

You mention that suite breakfast and lunch were in La Cucina instead of Cagney's (as has been the case in the past). Do you know why the switch? Just curious.

Thanks

No idea. I was probably too busy stuffing my face with Eggs Benedict and Seafood Risotto to ask I guess. The menus they used did still say Cagney's though.

My girlfriend and I (28 and 30 years old) sailed on the 4/17-4/24 Dawn W. Caribbean. It was my 3rd cruise (first with NCL) and her first. Originally booked a porthole but ended up taking a $500pp upsell for an Aft Penthouse. We chose the SDP (4 meals) and UBP promos. I know the boat is going into drydock in a few weeks, but thought I would just share a few of our experiences as it helped me to look through other beforehand.

New Orleans

Before the cruise we did typical NOLA things: Bourbon Street Saturday night and Cafe Du Monde Sunday morning. Got there early enough (8:30) not to have a wait, but an hour later the line was snaking down the sidewalk. Walked around the Riverwalk Mall between dropping off bags and checking in.

Embarkation and disembarkation

We parked at Fulton Street Lot with no issues. The priority embarkation and disembarkation were one of the biggest perks of having a suite for us. After getting through security, we were whisked to the front of the line and within a few minutes were being taken to our room. We did priority walk-off disembarkation and were one of the first people off. It was a nice morning and we were staring down a 12-hour drive home, so we just skipped the shuttle and walked the three blocks to the garage. On the road by 8:10 a.m.

Room

We stayed in an aft-facing penthouse on the 10th floor. Really enjoyed it. Almost did a forward-facing room instead, but didn’t after seeing that the aft balconies were private and the forward ones were not. I was glad we did as the first three days were windy. We needed a bungee cord to keep the balcony door from slamming open and shut. It was my first time in anything other than an inside room and I was spoiled. We really liked our steward and the extra space the room had. More than enough closet space for two of us and the balcony was (barely) deep enough for the loungers to directly face the ocean.

Food

We really came to enjoy the suite breakfast and lunches in La Cucina. I started almost everyday with Eggs Benedict and a screwdriver. We did do room service one morning in our suite, but we honestly didn’t enjoy that more than just going to the restaurant.

Aqua and Venetian

We ate in the MDR’s three times. All were very good with no issues.

La Cucina

This was our biggest disappointment of the week. Neither of us thought our food was any better (or as good as) the food we got in the MDR. It was likely just an anomaly. We like to eat kind of late, so I also felt like by getting there a little before 9, the staff felt like we were keeping them there.

Teppenyaki

This was fun. We did the 9 p.m. seating and had a great time and had way too much food. The specialty sake drinks on the menu were good. Dinner took about 75 minutes but was fun the whole time.

Le Bistro

Best meal of the entire trip. We had the roasted pork loin and filet. The French Onion Soup was fantastic as was the creme brulee. We were the last ones in the restaurant besides some crew members eating in the back and the whole staff was great to us.

Moderno

Another fun dinner. A different way to try different food. The grilled pineapple was really good and was different than the meats. It was nice to sit and overlook the atrium.

Sushi

We discovered the sushi bar midway through the week and wished we had seen it earlier. We ate dinner close to 9 every night, so it was great to sit at the sushi bar around 5:30 and have a few of the half rolls on the sushi belt.

Drinks

Not sure if I would pony up the $79/day for the UBP, but having it for “just the 18%” was great. Never had any issue getting a drink or had long waits (partially because I believe the boat wasn’t very full) in line. Was a good way to try drinks/brands I wouldn’t normally buy or try. We usually got our breakfast Bloody Mary and Screwdriver in the atrium bar. We had fun nightly watching the karaoke in Pearly Kings. And would grab a nightcap at Star Bar before checking out the bow at night. Having the UBP made getting the bill the last morning a lot more ideal.

Entertainment

We weren’t much into the shows. The only shows in the main theater we went to were The Second City show and Elements. Both were good but nothing to write home about. We went to adult Second City show the last night and really enjoyed that. It was more improv than the other show and was surprisingly a full house.

Ports

With the exception of Belize, we did excursions at all four ports through Island Marketing Group with no issues.

Cozumel

We did the beach break at Nachi Cocom. Paid $55pp for the all-inclusive beach that included lunch. It was an $18 cab ride to the private beach that caps the number of people at 100. It was a fun, relaxing day. Food and drinks were good. We added on the snorkeling for $38pp and enjoyed that as well. Would do again.

Roatan

We did the canopy zipline excursion at South Shore in Honduras. We loved it. It was exciting and it must have been a slow day, as we were just part of a group of 4 people on the tour. We had a great time and finished pretty fast. We left around 10 a.m. and were back to the port just after noon. Ended up eating on the ship, before checking out some of the shops at port and reboarding early. Would do again.

Belize

We booked this through NCL and did the bike ride at Bacab Eco Park. It was probably our least favorite as the bike wasn’t the most comfortable and it was a decent ride out to the park. The lunch provided however was good and we spent the extra few hours at the park relaxing in the hammocks by the pool.

Costa Maya

We booked a Mayan Ruins trip here and enjoyed it. We had a good tour guide and driver who got us there in an air-conditioned van, provided us with water and gave a thorough tour. Got back to the port a few hours early and had lunch at one of the restaurants inside port.

Service

In general the service on board seemed to be good. We frequented the same bars/lounges at the same times of day, so would see familiar faces. I didn’t quite know what to expect from the butler and concierge and honestly still don’t. Neither of us really wanted or needed anything extra, we are fairly self sufficient and booked everything beforehand. We only saw our butler three times (when we checked in, walking off the boat the last day and when we had breakfast in the room). He did bring snacks daily. We did see the concierge at breakfast and lunch, but none of our conversations lasted longer than a minute. This wasn’t a bad thing, just something I noticed.

Only other things of interest was that the boat had a group of about 250+ Elvis fans on board which was interesting. Also, the waters were really rough the first two days. I believe they said the waves were 14 feet. It was nearly impossible to not sway back and forth while walking. No seasickness here, so it didn’t cause any major issues other than having to hold handrails.