Norwegian Dawn Review 2/3 - 2/10

The Stats

When: 2/2/13 - 2/10/13

Who: 5 women, ages 33 (me) and the rest in their 50's.

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Rooms: 1 oceanview room (8008) and 1 family balcony (8032)

Destinations: Tampa --> Roatan --> Belize --> Costa Maya --> Cozumel --> Tampa

Excursions: Tabyana Beach (Roatan), Bacab Jungle Park (Belize), Maya Chan (Costa Maya), Playa Palancar (Cozumel)

Day One - Tampa, FL - Embarkation

We arrived at the Port of Tampa around noon or so from our hotel (mistakenly booked near St. Pete’s airport, not Tampa!) and the port was a’hopping! People were everywhere and running to and fro. The porters got your luggage out of the trunks and onto carts in an instant. We found out that we couldn’t check our water and pop (boo) so we opted to carry it on instead. It made for tricky maneuvering and a LOT of side eyes from people but we made it work. After finding out our friends had checked in and were waiting for us, we got in line. I’d say all told it took about an hour to get through security and then check in.

This is when things got interesting.

Originally there were 5 of us - 3 in one cabin and 2 in another. All of us are friends, no relations. One of the women in the 2 person cabin had to cancel her cruise at the last minute due to a medical emergency with her husband. We had all bought travel insurance thankfully. Well, starting at just over a week out, we started calling and trying to find out how to go about getting the person, Barb, cancelled and her insurance paperwork going. Every.single.person at NCL had a different story. The first person was going to do it with no fees and everything would be fine, in retrospect I should have just said yes but at that point we were still hoping for the best (he took a turn for the worse the next day). Once we knew she definitely couldn’t go, we called back to finalize what had supposedly been set in place for us and that is when things got crazy. In the end I was in contact with someone from the executive office and even HE couldn’t give me much of a straight answer. You’d think this is the first time ever someone cancelled a cruise booking and their roommate still went on the cruise. Essentially they wanted to charge the other person a single rate fare, yet still keep the full fare from Barb since she was past the refund date. So they’d get the fee from Shirley (her roommate) as well as Barb. Then we wanted to move our third over and that got even more sticky. In the end they advised for us to board and THEN for Barb to cancel. I threw a bit of a fit on social media I will confess. I’m still irked because Barb was never able to cancel and I hope this doesn’t mess with her insurance claim.

When we were checking in, the lady got this really odd look on her face and scurried away. We both were thinking that I was on a naughty list for the fuss I raised over the incident. Then our checkin lady comes back with a girl who has an envelope and we’re told she’s going to escort us to a secure area. Oh crap.

We get there and our friends are there in this VIP area that has coffee, drinks, sandwiches, water and so forth. We are greeted by a man whom hands us a bunch of things including our cards, an envelope and a Freestyle Daily. He introduces himself to us as our concierge, Ryan and has someone take the water from me to carry it and escort us to our rooms. I asked if we were in trouble and he laughed and said no.

We went straight to our rooms which was a novelty as it was just past 1PM and I don’t think they’d made the call for rooms to be opened yet. It was nice to be able to drop all of our things off! We opened our letter and found out that we were VIP and were invited to dine in Cagneys for all of our meals. Essentially we got all of the perks from a suite without being in a suite. We also had chocolate strawberries waiting for us.

The room was nice but pretty small, our third person (Dawn) moved over to the vacancy left by Barb so we were 2/2 to a room. We were kind of glad in the end for that small perk of the sadness of our friend not being able to go with us, that room would have been awful with three adults (family balcony, 8032). The others were in an oceanview room nearby, 8008 and their room seemed SO MUCH larger than ours. I was concerned about the hull balcony after seeing so many lament about how awful they are and so forth but ours was nice. We had a glass wall so still had the view and being tucked in meant less wind. I heard some complaining about the windy conditions on the regular balconies as well as the noise so I was glad for our hull!

After getting settled we headed to Cagneys for lunch. At first, we got the look for trying to go there when not in a suite but they eventually figured it out and we were seated. I had the fettuccini and it was OK but I wasn’t in love with it. We didn’t return to Cagneys for lunch after that, mainly because we were usually off doing something else. It felt weird to be in the restaurant that we technically weren’t allowed to be in.

We wandered the ship a bit after that and got annoyed with the elevators that didn’t work on our floor. This would be a continuing trend for the rest of the trip. At least once or so a day, I’d go out to find the elevators passing our floor. While it wasn’t a huge deal, it did get annoying and troublesome for some of the passengers who couldn’t just walk up or down a flight to catch an elevator.

We hit up guest services to get an extra door card and also planned out the shore excursions. If at all possible, book everything you can ahead of time online. The restaurant and shore excursion lines were a zoo and it took about an hour of time to try and get through them. I gave up with the shore desk and we filled out forms and dropped them off after someone cut in front of me for the 50th time. We then booked a couple nights in specialty restaurants and we found out later that she misheard us and booked us in the wrong one later in the week. Make sure to double check your receipt!! In retrospect, I guess we could have used the concierge for this but I honestly had no idea what the heck he really was for, I didn’t read up on the suite life stuff before the trip since we were not in a suite.

We then headed to the spa and I signed up for a thermal pass. Biggest mistake of my trip. I ended up getting burned on the first day and had blisters - chlorine was not my friend. So I never was able to use it once. I asked, a few times, if it was possible to exchange the value for a spa service of even a lesser value (I would have been fine with a shampoo!) but they always had to "ask a manager" who was never there and I never got a return call :( IMHO it's a waste of money unless you are going to be staying on the ship when in port or are in colder temperatures. Otherwise there just isn't enough time to use it between meals, excursions and the like. Then there's the whole burn thing. LOL Oh well. It's a lesson!

We got back to our rooms around 4 or so and our bags started to come in while we watched the sail away we unpacked. The weather was beautiful and the sunset was amazing! However we were not happy to find out our toilet didn’t work. This would be a reoccurring incident throughout the trip.

They had the Super Bowl on that night in a few places (Pearly Kings, Poolside and a few other places) but the main place to watch seemed to be the Spinnaker Lounge were there were few seats left. They also had set out munchies - nachos, cheese, salsa, hot dogs and wings. I thought that was a fun touch. The food was pretty tasty!!! It was neat to watch it in such a setting but for some reason we didn’t get the commercials that everyone else got - or at least it didn’t seem like we did. I lost interest about midway through and hit up the 2 for 1 martinis up in the Star Bar.

We ended up at Blue Lagoon later for a late dinner and I liked what I got and the ladies I was with LOVED their salads. We went to bed and were thrilled to find out that we picked up some robes and toiletries in the meantime. We also found the futon folded out and about died at the lack of room and were somewhat glad that it worked out so only 2 were in each room. The egg crates were a nice touch (not sure if that is normal?) and we slept with the door open and the ocean sung me to sleep.

Day One - Pictures

*I am a professional photographer but I decided to bring my B team gear (D700) and ended up using the C & D team gear most of the time due to ease of carrying (Canon G11 & iPhone 5) and that whole sand factor.

Three of us in the VIP lounge awaiting what the heck was going to happen to us. I'm in the blue/white shirt.

The 4 of us during boarding.

Our first of many treats of the week. I had no idea until afterwards this is standard for suite guests.

Not the greatest image but they were working on this section for the whole week and it was closed off. Not sure why but I saw some earlier reviews saying there were a few windows fogged up in the suites so I was wondering if that was what they were fixing?

View of the pool area during the sail away.

Near the pool deck they had a table set up for the pop, wine, water and beverage packages.

Sunset during the sail away.

Looking back at Tampa as we left.

The Sunshine Bridge + Sunset

Such a bad pic but you get the gist of what the Spinnaker Lounge was like for the Super Bowl. It was PACKED (if you sail during the Super Bowl get there early for a good seat!). They had tons of screens up though which was nice.

Day One - Pictures

 

*I am a professional photographer but I decided to bring my B team gear (D700) and ended up using the C & D team gear most of the time due to ease of carrying (Canon G11 & iPhone 5) and that whole sand factor.

 

Three of us in the VIP lounge awaiting what the heck was going to happen to us. I'm in the blue/white shirt.

 

The 4 of us during boarding.

 

Our first of many treats of the week. I had no idea until afterwards this is standard for suite guests.

 

Not the greatest image but they were working on this section for the whole week and it was closed off. Not sure why but I saw some earlier reviews saying there were a few windows fogged up in the suites so I was wondering if that was what they were fixing?

 

View of the pool area during the sail away.

Enjoy reading your review, you pictures are not coming through. :(

They are working on my end, are they still not working?? Crud!

They are working...please keep them coming!!

Thanks for the report!

I'm enjoying your pictures and story. Going on the Dawn in April. I can't wait. Sounds like she has quite the following as far as ships go.

I see the pictures....

Headed to Tampa Saturday...Dawn on Sunday...excited.

Keep the review coming

Not sure which one is you, can't tell which shirt is blue/white

Day Two - Day at Sea

We woke up around 5AM or so because our neighbors were out on their balcony smoking and talking rather loudly. For the most part I found the hull balcony was great but it echoed the immediate neighbors voices and at times was annoying. I get that smokers have rights but I wish they had a smoking/non smoking side to the ship or something so you aren’t stuck with smokers by you. PSA: if you have a balcony and are on it late at night/early in the morning, don’t scream at each other. LOL!

I’m not sure how we got confused but we thought that this was the day to set our clocks back so therefore we missed breakfast at Cagney’s and almost missed it in the buffet, they sure close it up early (was about 10AM). The buffet was OK but slow moving and typical buffet style with lots of cutters and rudeness. Such is the way it goes in the buffet! I did think it was cute they had a kiddo area separate from the main buffet lines.

After breakfast we headed out to the deck to hopefully find some chairs. It took a lot of looking and we eventually ended up on the bow of the ship in the quiet zone. It was really breezy if you were standing but don’t let that sway you away, once you sat down the barriers broke the wind and it was actually quite hot. So hot in fact I got burned rather quickly. There were NO chairs anywhere near the pool and there was the usual saving going on. We hate that people do that so we just couldn’t do it ourselves. Eventually around 2PM or so chairs started opening up and we moved to the pool area. We were able to watch the Men’s Sexy Legs Contest and it was hilarious. I have to say Johnnie was a good director, he seemed fun and was upbeat without an annoying voice.

We got lunch at the Bimini Grill. I wasn't as in love with the burgers as everyone else was but I ADORE THE FRIES! Mmmm. They remind me of McDonalds. They are SO good. If you like McDonalds fries, definitely check these out on the trip.

I headed back to the room early due to my burn and zoned out watching channel 2 on the TV. That’s where it stayed for most of the trip. It was an update of the stuff on the ship - how fast, where you were, map of the ship and route, how far you’ve been, view from the bow etc. I don’t know why but that was the one we tended to stick on. I took a little nap before dinner and got up in time to watch the sunset. We were invited to the Captain thing for drinks but it was at the same time as our dinner reservation and we still felt odd about the whole VIP thing so opted out of it.

Dinner was at Le Bistro and it was delicious and the food was amazing. I tried the cone appetizer and it was OK - I’m pretty picky so the duck wasn’t my cup of tea but I LOVED the chicken salad one. I wish that was an option as a full sandwich somewhere! Maybe it is and I missed it? I had the Filet and it was also good but the sides were ho-hum. Everyone liked their meals (salmon, coq au vin and napoleon something or other) and we had fondue for dessert. Delicious! The decor is also amazing, some really gorgeous paintings that are real (a couple Monets among others).

Tip: if you don’t like the smell of cigar smoke or trying to talk over loud music, don’t take the tables they have outside of the restaurant. They tried to talk us into them but one of our group is pretty sensitive to the cigar smell and about 10 feet away is the door to the Havana Club where they smoke cigars and you could strongly smell it there. That’s also next to the piano where someone is singing live more often than not. I have a hard time singling out talking when there’s loud music playing so I am glad we ended up with seats inside beneath the Monet.

Afterwards we headed off to the casino to play a bit of slots. Shirley was the lucky one, I forget how much she won that night but she did win $500 on the Wheel of Fortune at some point. I won $160 on the Goldfish penny machine. Those are my favorite but if you are there, play the oddball one that is second from the end on the left side. We played in there off and on for the whole trip and that one seemed to hit WAY more than the other two did.

Then it was bedtime - I was with a bunch of ladies that tend to go to bed early. I generally sat out on the balcony and read after they turned in for the night. I'm a night owl so that was a bit of a transition!

I see the pictures....

 

Headed to Tampa Saturday...Dawn on Sunday...excited.

 

Keep the review coming

 

Not sure which one is you, can't tell which shirt is blue/white

I'm the dotty-looking shirt, blue with red and white on it. Second from the left in the group picture from boarding :)

Day Two - Pictures

View of the bow and the crew's pool from our spot for the morning. I never saw anyone in the crew pool, has anyone else? LOL.

Looking back from our spot towards the stern.

Our snack of the day. I don't eat seafood so I didn't eat much of it. I had the salami and cheese one and that's it.

Sunset.

Appetizer. The one on the far right is the chicken salad. I can't recall all of them but I want to say one was olive salad, one was pear, one was duck and one was chicken.

Thanks for your review. Im enjoying it and looking forward to more.:)

Filet at Le Bistro. It was good but I wasn't crazy about the peppercorns, the flavor of the gravy was good though. Definitely didn't like the au gratin.

The Napoleon something-or-other. Nancy said it was good but too much cheese.

Fondue! MY FIRST FONDUE! It was yummy.

The Goldfish Machine. They are all the way in the back under oval lit signs. I always play these when I'm in Vegas and they are usually pretty kind to me. A friend told me that a pit boss once told her they hit more than other machines so I try and look for them when I'm in a casino. Even if they didn't hit, they are fun to play. LOL.

Day Two - Pictures

 

View of the bow and the crew's pool from our spot for the morning. I never saw anyone in the crew pool, has anyone else? LOL.

 

Looking back from our spot towards the stern.

 

Our snack of the day. I don't eat seafood so I didn't eat much of it. I had the salami and cheese one and that's it.

 

Sunset.

 

Appetizer. The one on the far right is the chicken salad. I can't recall all of them but I want to say one was olive salad, one was pear, one was duck and one was chicken.

Wow were was that appetizer served! It looks fabulous!

Tam

The Stats

 

When: 2/2/13 - 2/10/13

Who: 5 women, ages 33 (me) and the rest in their 50's.

Ship: Norwegian Dawn

Rooms: 1 oceanview room (8008) and 1 family balcony (8032)

Destinations: Tampa --> Roatan --> Belize --> Costa Maya --> Cozumel --> Tampa

Excursions: Tabyana Beach (Roatan), Bacab Jungle Park (Belize), Maya Chan (Costa Maya), Playa Palancar (Cozumel)

I'm really enjoying your review. You should never feel weird about eating in Cagney's if you are invited for the week as a VIP. They have enough room to accomodate a certain amount of VIP's for every sailing and you should just enjoy having some of the perks and the concierge.

I know I, for whatever reason, have been offered the perks on two sailings when I was not in a Suite.....and I just say thank you and I act inconspicuous. I know one of the trips that I had VIP perks I had no idea I was going to get any such thing and I waited in the long snaking lines at the Miami terminal for over an hour....when I finally got to the front of the line and did the check in process they did not have my room card. After a long tense wait they finally realized that my card was in a VIP box......they told me I didn't have to wait on the line and tried to walk me back though all of the raging people on the line to take me to the VIP Lounge.

I just wanted to be on the ship and I certainly did not want to walk back through all of the angry people (there had been a major delay that morning and the doors to the terminal opened very late and the people were on line outside wrappped around the building and down into an alley way :) We still had to walk back to the VIP Lounge to get my card....but after we got the card I bolted for the ship.......

I can't possibly sit still in a lounge sipping orange juice when I know I can board a ship!!!!! Its like asking a four year old to sit and pose withthe presents under the tree......but don't open any!!!!!

Anyway excuse my hijack....... Lovely pictures, can't wait to read the res of the review!!!!! I hope everything is okay with your friend's husband.

The Dawn is my all time favorite ship....it was my first ship and I fell in love with cruising because of the Dawn...... I am in the process of booking Dawn for Bermuda August 30, 2013.........

Enjoying your review and your pictures are excellent. Looking forward to reading more.

Cdn in KS

Thanks for your comments! Keep them coming.

Funny, I absolutely love the filet mignon with green peppercorn sauce and really LOVE those dauphonis potatoes from LeBistro. I replicate the menu at home on a regular basis.

what a wonderful review ! I really enjoyed the pics, esp the food ones.. yummy! made me hungry.. :) Looking forward to my first Dawn cruise even more now.. :)

Thanks for the review and your comments. Keep them coming!

Thanks for sharing! I keep hoping for new Dawn reviews to hold me over before it's our turn. Can't wait to read on!

Day Three - Roatan, Honduras

We got up bright and early because we were all quite excited for our day on Roatan. Shirley opted to stay on board because she tore a muscle in her side before the trip and she wasn’t sure how active she could be but the rest of us signed up for the Tabyana Beach Break after I read about it on here and fell in love with the pictures.

We watched the docking and it was a fun sight, we were the only ship in on our pier, which was fun! The music started and there was a big party it seemed just for us to welcome us to the island. We were on the starboard side and got to watch everything since we were facing the island and pier. This was the only time we did through the trip though, so if you like watching the docking/departing you may want to keep that in mind.

The weather was fantastic - 80's and sunny. The whole week would continue this trend, there were few clouds and no rain. I didn't find Roatan humid either, you could tell it was more humid than it was at home but overall it wasn't that bad (especially compared to Belize).

We finally made it to Cagney’s for breakfast and I had the french toast, delicious!!! They have a menu to order from and a bar set up with fruits, veggies, deli meat, fish, pastries, cereal and juices. The menu was pretty vast with various options from a custom made omelet that came with hash browns, french toast, waffles, pancakes, 2 egg meal etc. It generally would take about 10 minutes or so to be seated and another 40 or so minutes for the meal so plan for that when going in if you are on a schedule for an excursion.

We got off the ship (deck 4 and follow the signs) and headed to the meeting point for Tabyana. We boarded a van shortly after. If you are claustrophobic, stick toward the front as they have a strange seating thing on these vans. They are set up like an airplane with one seat on one side, two on the other. However after the seats are all full there are these seats that pop down into the space where the aisle is and they fill up the bus but there is no longer an aisle. Not a big deal for me but I could imagine anyone who has to have an escape route would maybe not be so cool with it. I think this is standard for the island though and not just the excursion.

The trip took about 45 minutes or so and it was a bit bumpy but not too bad. The worst stretch is the final .5 mile to the beach. The van stopped along the way at a scenic overlook that was absolutely breathtaking. It was neat to drive through the mountains to end up at the shore.

We got to Tabyana and they have you meet up at a spot near where you exit the vans and they explain how the resort is laid out and where everything is. My one regret is not reading up enough on everything to know that most places had changing rooms and showers so you didn’t have to stay in a wet suit all day! Now you know ;) They had both here and their facilities were pretty good for the location. They also had a gift shop, an art shop, a man making hammocks and a guy with cigars. There was a place to rent snorkeling gear as well. There is also a bar and then the place for lunch.

We headed over to the chairs and sat down. I was still pretty red from the day before so I stuck to the back where the shade was and the other two went to the sun. They had waiters running around so you didn’t have to go back and forth between the bar and the beach which was nice. Our waiter ended up being Wild Bill and he was a darling. I started out with this punch they recommend and it was delicious.

The beach here is nothing short of breathtaking. If you want a beach with fine sand, clear blue water and abundant palm trees go here. After a couple cocktails I headed into the water with my snorkeling gear I’d brought and my camera. I’d bought underwater housing for it and was nervous to try it but it worked beautifully. When in the water find the guys in the kayaks if you are snorkeling. There is one that will be feeding the fish and that is fun to watch - well provided you aren’t scared of them! There is also one of those big inflatable things there with a trampoline and such. They have a roped off section and will come and let you know if you get too far out. There is also a snorkeling tour you can take that is a separate excursion and I heard they saw some sting rays, wish now that I’d done it! Oh well!

The only SMALL downside to this place is there is quite a bit of people on the beach trying to sell you things - jewelry, clothing, hair braiding and the like. They won’t approach you when in the chairs but they will when going to/from the water. It’s not a HUGE deal but towards the end of the day I was dodging this one girl that was trying everything to get me to do a massage. Not a big deal but be warned. :)

The best fish were to the left of the beach. If you go in the water and walk towards the cliffs on the left and you will come to a spot where there are TONS of fish just swimming around. It’s just amazing!!! Much better than straight off of the resort.

The sand here is quite fine and not rocky in the least. I didn’t find that I wished I brought my water shoes and I never stepped on anything that would hurt. Of course once you are by the coral reef, all bets are off but you shouldn’t be standing on them anyway! :)

We headed in for lunch and were treated to one of the most delicious lunches we had on the trip. They had BBQ chicken (ask for extra, trust me, this is amazing!!!!), rice and beans, hot dogs, hamburgers and fruit. I may be forgetting something. They also had water and lemonade available for free. There is a few tables around the eating area and another huge covered pavilion across the way to sit in too. My tip here is that they have a live band which is AMAZING but they are pretty loud so keep that in mind if you prefer quiet.

We spent the rest of the day enjoying the beach and water. I am in love with the place! There was only one other ship there and they had a sign for the ships and when the vans were leaving. They came every half hour from 1PM until the last one at 3PM. We ended up staying until the end and when we left around 2:30PM we were on one of the last vans as most left early. I know a few elderly people weren’t keen on the venue since it’s a lot of sun but you can find shaded areas. I also know a few people were there with little kids and I just don’t think it’s the place for the little ones if they aren’t content with just the beach and water. If they need playgrounds or something else to keep the kiddos occupied it’s not going to be a fun day for them.

We got back to the port around 3:30PM or so and did some browsing but the stores at this port IMHO aren’t that interesting. Bring your passport on shore if you want a stamp, there is a hut just off the right side that will have a small sign if you want it stamped. There is a small donation requested for it FYI.

That night we went to Aqua for dinner. It was nice but you could tell it was the step down from the main dining room. I had thought they were both the same but they aren’t. i.e. if the Venetian has Strip Steak, Aqua has Ribeye, Venetian had a Rosemary Grilled Chicken, Aqua had a plain Grilled Chicken and so forth. Similar items but the Venetian is a notch above Aqua. I found the Venetian to be MUCH better all around and unless you are committed to your shorts, I would recommend it over Aqua. I had the Ribeye and it was OK but pretty thin and very fatty. It was chewable though. I did love the broccoli and white cheddar soup as well as the apple pie. Delicious! Also I never saw anyone stopped anywhere that had a dress code for anything other than shorts. Jeans and flip flops seemed to be totally fine.

After dinner we stopped in Gatsby’s and had some drinks. I love champagne so was elated to have a champagne bar on ship. It’s adjacent to an area where live music is going on more often than not and we were surprised to find a woman singing that we’d be in the hot tub with earlier. She was amazing!!! We listened to her for a bit and then went to bed.

Great review and photos so far! Keep it coming! :)

Day Three - Pictures

Cagney's breakfast menu.

French Toast with a side of bacon!

View along the road to Tabyana.

View of the water thing at Tabyana.

Snorkeling at Tabyana.

View from my chair in the shade.