Dawn-- Feb 12-21

[lynneamycruise]

We just returned from the Dawn Feb 12-21.

Great cruise overall.

Dawn is a nice ship...we went on the Star to Alaska a few years back and they are definately "twin" sisters. The ship was clean and in good repair.

 

Just a couple notes:

*Food- overall good. I did not really like the new menu set up...for a 9 day cruise it got a little tiresome to only have a few new choices each night. We went to Bamboo and Le Bistro which were both good..but with a family of 4 we decided to limit those costs each night and stay in the main dining room. Buffet was better than the Star...we used it for Breakfast on port days and some lunches at sea.

Only dissappointment was the desserts...only a few were really good IMO.

 

*Ports- Fantastic...this is why we chose this cruise for sure!

Samana; Cayo Leventado excursion...great! I broke down and purchased our very first cruise excursion(after 7 cruises)...paid $178 to get my family to the beach...but it was worth it..it was not crowded at all...great facilities...good snorkeling. Very relaxing day.

 

Tortola; Baths on Virgin Gorda through Speedys ferry..they added a 9:45 ferry (which actually left at 10 am)...Baths were a hit with the kids...great beach and good snorkeling..took the 3:30 ferry back...no problems.

 

Antigua;Extreme Tour with Eli's...wow...great trip...went all the way around the whole island. We swam with stingrays, stopped at beaches, snorkeled, great lunch. Definately a highlight.

 

Barbados; Catamaran trip with Silvermoon. Relaxing..visibility was low that day in Barbados so snorkeling wasn't good, but weather was amazing and lunch and freeflowing drinks were great.

 

St Kitts- took private tour with Rose and Jim tour service..Rose was nice..tour was interesting but kids lost interest and wanted to go to beach. Went to Cockelshell beach which was OK, but not the best.

overall nice day

 

Other thoughts;

Entertainment was good..Comedian was ok...Juggler was entertaining..the dancing shows were somewhat cheesy, but fun none the less.

 

Spa;

Did a nice treatment on the last day...I feel that the staff was a little cold and a bit unfriendly. Took a tour of the spa on the first day and was told that I had to buy a $119 weeks pass to even get im...that no, there were no day passes, and no, that when you purchases a treatment (mine was $160..yikes) that you could not use the thermasuite facilities. Hmmmm...when we went later...it was yes, we have $20 day passes, and yes, I could certainly use the facilities before and after.

 

Staff; Friendly and accomodating...we had a problem with some noise in our cabin and they really bent over backwards to fix it. I was really impressed with the overall friendly crew.

 

NCL does a nice job overall...yes, there are many "sales" pitches throughout the trip...but it is your choice to say yes or no. I call it "a la carte"...great price to get on the ship and I can choose how much additional I want to spend. Thanks to these boards I knew many things I would have been in the dark about.

 

We had a great week!!

[cruisinreunion]

You said you had a family of four, does this include any kids? and if so, did they use the kids club at all? If they did, any feed back would be great

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.

[cruizinrican]

Thanks for the great review. We really appreciate you taking the time to tell us all about your week on the Dawn. I do have a question though, do you mind going into a little more detail about how to do the Baths on your own with the taking the ferry and using Speedy's. What was the cost of each thing and directions on how to find them? Do I have to make reservations up front or just show up?

 

Thank you in advance.

[martinchem]

Nice review.

[qoap24]

Just a couple notes:

*Food- overall good. I did not really like the new menu set up...for a 9 day cruise it got a little tiresome to only have a few new choices each night.

 

You didn't happen to take any pics of the menu's did you? :D I am curious to see what the new menu is like.

 

Thanks

[lynneamycruise]

You said you had a family of four, does this include any kids? and if so, did they use the kids club at all? If they did, any feed back would be great

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.

Yes..my kids were with us and had a blast!! Ate so much icecream!

No, they did not go to the kids club...but there were about 200 kids on board and they had tons of fun activities...

including:

pool games, face painting, scavenger hunts, pizza making...the conselors seem like so much fun.

Your kids will love it...we are a really busy family....so it was more of a together, family-bonding cruise for us...that is why they didn't really do much with the kids club.

Have fun!

[lynneamycruise]

Thanks for the great review. We really appreciate you taking the time to tell us all about your week on the Dawn. I do have a question though, do you mind going into a little more detail about how to do the Baths on your own with the taking the ferry and using Speedy's. What was the cost of each thing and directions on how to find them? Do I have to make reservations up front or just show up?

 

Thank you in advance.

It was really easy...

This is what we did;

Off the ship at about 9:10 am...walked down the pier and straight the the ferry terminal (ask for directions from the info desk at the cruise terminal...they will give you a map...it is super easy and about a 8-10 minute walk).

Bought tickets for Speedys ferry...no need to get them in advance...in fact the Smith's Ferry and Speedy's ferry guys were fighting over our business. $35 round trip with transportation to the beach/beach for each person...kids were $28

Speedy added a 9:45 am ferry which we purchased tix for...it actually left closer to 10 am...beautiful ride over (25 minutes)...then at Virgin Gorda, we got off the ferry and directly onto open air buses that took us to the Baths (8-10 minutes). From there you can buy tix for the Baths ($3 for adults $2 for kids)...no one else bought them...and no one checked our tix (but we felt we should buy them).

It is a somewhat steep walk down to the Baths, but we were there by about 10:45..we explored the caves, swam around the boulders, good snorkeling in Devils Bay (which is the beach you walk get to after you walk through the Baths)...there is a food stand right there too..at about 2:50 we headed back up the path to catch the 3:00 bus back to the ferry...hopped on the 3:30 pm ferry back. Back in Tortola at 4 pm...time to shop around for a bit and jump back on the ship.

 

Super easy and tons of fun!!! Baths are really unique and IMO a must see!!

[lynneamycruise]

You didn't happen to take any pics of the menu's did you? :D I am curious to see what the new menu is like.

 

Thanks

 

The left side is the constant menus..

the right is the daily menu..

 

Constant menu items are very good...steak, salmon, chicken, lamb,

 

I would just have like a bit more variety! Overall, it was good food for sure.

[cruizinrican]

It was really easy...

This is what we did;

Off the ship at about 9:10 am...walked down the pier and straight the the ferry terminal (ask for directions from the info desk at the cruise terminal...they will give you a map...it is super easy and about a 8-10 minute walk).

Bought tickets for Speedys ferry...no need to get them in advance...in fact the Smith's Ferry and Speedy's ferry guys were fighting over our business. $35 round trip with transportation to the beach/beach for each person...kids were $28

Speedy added a 9:45 am ferry which we purchased tix for...it actually left closer to 10 am...beautiful ride over (25 minutes)...then at Virgin Gorda, we got off the ferry and directly onto open air buses that took us to the Baths (8-10 minutes). From there you can buy tix for the Baths ($3 for adults $2 for kids)...no one else bought them...and no one checked our tix (but we felt we should buy them).

It is a somewhat steep walk down to the Baths, but we were there by about 10:45..we explored the caves, swam around the boulders, good snorkeling in Devils Bay (which is the beach you walk get to after you walk through the Baths)...there is a food stand right there too..at about 2:50 we headed back up the path to catch the 3:00 bus back to the ferry...hopped on the 3:30 pm ferry back. Back in Tortola at 4 pm...time to shop around for a bit and jump back on the ship.

 

Super easy and tons of fun!!! Baths are really unique and IMO a must see!!

 

 

Wow, it sounds super easier to do on your own. There are a few groups from our roll-call that plan on doing this on their own too. I might try and be adventrous and try to do it ourselves. Thank you for responding back. Seriously thinking about canceling through NCL now.

[cruisinreunion]

Thanks for the reply on kids club!! Mine are getting very excited right now. I know what you mean about reconnect and bonding as a family. We are often in five different places at the same time. It will be nice to all be together and on the same schedule;) One other question please, you mentioned ice cream. Was it available at all times or just certain hours? Was it hard or soft serve and was it cones or were there bowls and toppings? DH likes his nightly bowl

[JohnSC]

We are taking the same cruise on March12 and I appreciated your posting. Can you give me details of your Antigua excursion with Eli. Did you book in advance or upon arrival. How much did it cost. Thanks

[luvlax]

Thanks for the great review. We really appreciate you taking the time to tell us all about your week on the Dawn. I do have a question though, do you mind going into a little more detail about how to do the Baths on your own with the taking the ferry and using Speedy's. What was the cost of each thing and directions on how to find them? Do I have to make reservations up front or just show up?

 

Thank you in advance.

 

 

go onthe cruise board where you can look at ports, hit caribbean and tortola. many people have written exactly how to do this. we are going to follow their advice

[luvlax]

You said you had a family of four, does this include any kids? and if so, did they use the kids club at all? If they did, any feed back would be great

 

Sounds like you had a wonderful vacation.

 

 

my kids have been on 5 cruises. heading out today for 6th. they love the kids club. we love it even more. it is especially good for days at sea because they get bored. they cant wait to go at night. so we feed them at garden cafe a light snack and afterwards they have another snack. we love it because we have date night every night from 7 to 10. i think.

[lynneamycruise]

Thanks for the reply on kids club!! Mine are getting very excited right now. I know what you mean about reconnect and bonding as a family. We are often in five different places at the same time. It will be nice to all be together and on the same schedule;) One other question please, you mentioned ice cream. Was it available at all times or just certain hours? Was it hard or soft serve and was it cones or were there bowls and toppings? DH likes his nightly bowl

 

Regular "dipped" ice cream is available right by the pool from 12-5.

Soft serve is available most of the night...from 5:30-10pm at the buffet..there are lots of topping to put on the softserve.

Yum!!!

[lynneamycruise]

We are taking the same cruise on March12 and I appreciated your posting. Can you give me details of your Antigua excursion with Eli. Did you book in advance or upon arrival. How much did it cost. Thanks

 

Eli has two tours...one is the Ecotour which is on a catamaran and goes to the north side of the island to Hell's Gate...they snorkel and eat lunch..heard it is very nice.

We did the Xtreme circumnavigate...which is on a high powered large speed boat. We met the tour just steps from where you disembark in Antiqua...we literally went around the whole island with two wonderful beach stops (one with lunch and one with rum punch), we stopped at Stingray City where we were the only ones there...we swam with the sting rays...wow....we also toured the Nelson's Dockyare which was very interesting and made another snorkel stop by the Pillars of Hercules.

We also went past tons of beautiful estates of celebrities.

 

The tour started at about 8:45 am and ended at 3:45pm..giving us a little time to poke around the town before heading back to the ship.

Cost was not cheap...this was our splurge..$152 per adult with discount on line..a little cheaper for our kids.

Definately book far in advance...they take just a $25 per head deposit...only 20 people or so on the boat...I think they fill up fast...we booked like 4 months in advance.