Off Dawn-Nov 2-13 S. Carribean

[wrmiles]

Real good cruise with only a few minor disappoinments. A few observations:

 

Cabin--SF 10228. Liked larger balcony compared to previous aft suites. Dawn no longer has curtains around foot of bed (:. Didn't use the foldout bed but couldn't have held more than one additional person.

 

Food--Breakfasts in Cagneys. Not onboard for lunch most days. Dined in MDR's, Cagneys, Teppanyaki. Lines not bad exept for one night, service good, food mostly good to excellent, slightly better than Gem a year ago.

 

Crew--Excellent. Captain was entertaining and Funny, Cabin steward Reynard excellent, Butler Leila and Concierge Virginia both good.

 

Embarkation--Hit VIP checkin at wrong time, slow, cramped and disorganized. Baggage screening overzealous. Had to go to Naughty Room for wifes small electric fan, concierge helped us get it back.

 

Debarkation--Slow getting off ship (said it was a baggage unloading problem), better than usual once off ship.

 

Ports--Enjoyed them all, did mostly ship's excursions, including sea lions at Samana, helmet dive at St Marteen, river tubing at Dominica, train at St Kitts. 7 ports in 7 days sort of tiring.

[Sparky38]

Hi. We have this cabin in Feb! Can you tell me more about the facilities? Thanks!

[monicamn]

Oh, no. We are leaving this Wednesday on the 11 night southern Caribbean on the Dawn. We have something planned at each port. I guess the last two days on the ship will be needed. Glad to hear the food was good. Wishing I had a suite this trip, but hoping a balcony will do just fine. Thanks for the post!

[wrmiles]

Hi. We have this cabin in Feb! Can you tell me more about the facilities? Thanks!

 

Overall size about twice as big as balcony cabin

 

One big room, has curtain along side of bed, no longer a curtain along foot of bed. Bed bigger than queen, not sure if as big as a king.

 

Good size closet with doors on both sides (from entry hallway and hallway to bathroom/vanity). Additional storage drawers and shelves.

 

Bathroom with combo tub/shower. Vanity at end of bathroom hallway.

 

Balcony big enough for two loungers lengthways.

 

Newish flat screen TV. No DVD player or DVD menu apparent, but didn't ask.

 

Smallish couch apparently folds out to single bed.

 

Table with two chairs for dining. Butler will deiver meals to cabin on request.

 

Standard mini-bar refrigerator. Cabinet above with glasses, dishes, etc.

 

US abd European outlet at vanity. European only at desk, but butler can get you adapter and converter.

 

Any other questions, just ask.

[DebbieCruises]

Embarkation--Hit VIP checkin at wrong time, slow, cramped and disorganized.

 

Debarkation--Slow getting off ship (said it was a baggage unloading problem), better than usual once off ship.

 

We'll be cruising in January. What time did you try to board and how late was the disembarkation? We like to be there by 11:00-11:30 to get on board.

We have a 12:00 return flight out of Fort Lauderdale and hope to meet our shuttle no later than 9:00.:eek:

[CruisinMaterial]

OP: You mentioned you did river tubing in Dominica. I am scheduled to do that same excursion on the 11 day Dawn cruise in January 2012. Any feedback, comments, critiques would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. :)

[wrmiles]

We'll be cruising in January. What time did you try to board and how late was the disembarkation? We like to be there by 11:00-11:30 to get on board.

We have a 12:00 return flight out of Fort Lauderdale and hope to meet our shuttle no later than 9:00.:eek:

 

We got there about 12:30. VIP checkin consisted of a small room with two agents with the small VIP lounge across the hall. They were overwelmed with number of people at that time. Took about an hour.

 

We met at Stardust Theatre at 8:00 for an Everglades tour and transfer to FLL. Think we got off the ship about 9:00, among the first off.

[wrmiles]

OP: You mentioned you did river tubing in Dominica. I am scheduled to do that same excursion on the 11 day Dawn cruise in January 2012. Any feedback, comments, critiques would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. :)

 

We enjoyed the River tubing. Quite scenic, the tubing itself lasted about an hour. Our excursion also included a waterfall visit (don't remember the name) on the same van that took us to and from the river. Not really worth it, not enough time to do anything but look at the waterfalls.

[tbmrt]

Real good cruise with only a few minor disappoinments. A few observations:

 

Cabin--SF 10228. Liked larger balcony compared to previous aft suites. Dawn no longer has curtains around foot of bed (:. Didn't use the foldout bed but couldn't have held more than one additional person.

 

Food--Breakfasts in Cagneys. Not onboard for lunch most days. Dined in MDR's, Cagneys, Teppanyaki. Lines not bad exept for one night, service good, food mostly good to excellent, slightly better than Gem a year ago.

 

Crew--Excellent. Captain was entertaining and Funny, Cabin steward Reynard excellent, Butler Leila and Concierge Virginia both good.

 

Embarkation--Hit VIP checkin at wrong time, slow, cramped and disorganized. Baggage screening overzealous. Had to go to Naughty Room for wifes small electric fan, concierge helped us get it back.

 

Debarkation--Slow getting off ship (said it was a baggage unloading problem), better than usual once off ship.

 

Ports--Enjoyed them all, did mostly ship's excursions, including sea lions at Samana, helmet dive at St Marteen, river tubing at Dominica, train at St Kitts. 7 ports in 7 days sort of tiring.

 

On one of our NCL cruises there was a great bar/restaurant near the pool where one could go for homemade omelets for breakfast...Anything like this on the Dawn?

Thanks

Barbara

[tbmrt]

We're also doing the 11 night S. Caribbean cruise. Can you tell me what night was lobster night? The White Hot party night?

Thanks again

Barbara

[wrmiles]

On one of our NCL cruises there was a great bar/restaurant near the pool where one could go for homemade omelets for breakfast...Anything like this on the Dawn?

Thanks

Barbara

 

There is the topsiders bar/resaurant near the pool. don't know about omelets.

[Thirdbase]

Was on this same cruise. Read my review of this cruise under the cruise reviews, wasn't a huge fan of this one, found it lacking it a few areas.

[wrmiles]

We're also doing the 11 night S. Caribbean cruise. Can you tell me what night was lobster night? The White Hot party night?

Thanks again

Barbara

 

Lobster night was first night. White hot party was second to last night following sea day.

[oldguysandgalls]

We were also on the Norwegian Dawn Nov.02/11-Nov.13/11 cruise, and since the Dawn was arriving empty from Boston, we decided to be at the Cruise Terminal at around 10.00 AM. Good thing we did, because we were on board and in our cabin between 10.30 and 10.45 AM.

 

Our cabin attendant Eugene, (inside midship deck 9) was a very attentive, courteous and polite young man. Our cabin was always made up promptly, beds turned down for the night, fluffy towels, bathtowels, etc. etc.

 

We enjoyed most of our dinners in the Venetian and the Aqua Restaurants where we found the variety and the presentation of the food to be very good to excellent.

 

Having visited most of the islands on previous cruises, we enjoyed walking around in the various towns, taking in the local sights and sounds at our leisure.

 

On sea-days we enjoyed long strolls around the decks, take in a show, a little gambling, or enjoying a late cup of tea and some cheesecake at the Blue Lagoon.

 

Disembarkation was a breeze. First, we enjoyed a leisure breakfast in the Garden Cafè and (since we packed light) we carried our own luggage off the ship within the announced time frame of between 8.30 and 10.00 AM.

 

In short, it was another delightful and memorable cruise with NCL.

[CruisinMaterial]

We enjoyed the River tubing. Quite scenic, the tubing itself lasted about an hour. Our excursion also included a waterfall visit (don't remember the name) on the same van that took us to and from the river. Not really worth it, not enough time to do anything but look at the waterfalls.

 

Thank you for your reply! Looking forward to it. :)

[CruisinMaterial]

Lobster night was first night. White hot party was second to last night following sea day.

 

Awesome news!!!! :D A sea day the next day is just what the MD called for!!! :D:D

[APDMOM]

Thank you for posting your review! We are about 22 days from embarkation... :D

 

If you had to pick your top 3 ports/excursions from this itinerary, what would they be? We are also considering NCL excursions only.

[Rochesterboatingdotcom]

We'll be cruising in January. What time did you try to board and how late was the disembarkation? We like to be there by 11:00-11:30 to get on board.

We have a 12:00 return flight out of Fort Lauderdale and hope to meet our shuttle no later than 9:00.:eek:

 

Debbie - we were on the same cruise with a return flight from FLL at 12:00. We booked SAS shuttle, they were great. We got off the ship at 8:45, by 9:15 we were underway to FLL. Very easy disembarkation and no problem at all making a 12:00 flight.

 

-Ron and Jane

[DebbieCruises]

Debbie - we were on the same cruise with a return flight from FLL at 12:00. We booked SAS shuttle, they were great. We got off the ship at 8:45, by 9:15 we were underway to FLL. Very easy disembarkation and no problem at all making a 12:00 flight.

 

-Ron and Jane

 

Thanks so much! We'll be using SAS, too. They have always been very reliable, friendly, and helpful. I can hardly wait!!!