The Dawn Suite Life - April 21-27

[xenite2525]

Another great trip on the Dawn! We sailed last October with the same destination, Bermuda. Last time we were upsold to the Deluxe Owner’s Suite and have found out we can’t go back. My teenage son and one of his friend’s accompanied us for this vacation that we planned late last year using Cassandra, my PCC at NCL.

We arrived early at the Black FalconTerminal knowing that the Dawn had arrived empty from Miami. Security was quick and easy and we were brought directly to the VIP lounge where we were reunited with Virginia, our concierge from our last trip. She is so sweet, remembered us immediately and before long we were escorted onto the ship as its first guests! Our suite was all ready and we were introduced to Jeffrey Ignacio, our butler and my hero for the entire cruise. He alone made the extra for the DOS well worth it. Jeffrey made sure the boys had all the food, movies and drinks they needed and watched over them like a ……butler! He was awesome. Anyway, we proceeded poolside where we were greeted by Dennis and Jeffrey (different from our butler, poolside waiter). We remembered these guys from our last trip. That is what we love most about the Dawn – we’ve gotten familiar with a lot of the staff and we enjoy seeing all their faces. Some remember us, some don’t. From poolside we went to Cagney’s, hands down the best perk for booking a suite, breakfast and lunch at Cagney’s! I had their shrimp appetizer every day at lunch.

Soon enough we were off and the party began. I like to do spa treatments on the first day while we are heading out (so I don’t miss casino time, LOL). DH enjoyed the poolside activities. Having the kids with us, we decided to eat at the Venetian for the first night. I will say, it was not the best service We let the waiter know, but didn't get much of a response. I chalked it up to the first night with new staff and hoped for the best. We proceeded to the casino where my DH ended up winning a small amount at the Poker table and I broke even at the slots. The night was very rocky and the seas quite rough.

Day 2 was filled with bingo and trivia after our morning breakfast at Cagney’s. DH won (well split) the poker tournament and we continued to have rough seas, but the sun was out. The wind was totally outrageous later in the afternoon. We went on a bar crawl with friends and that was very unimpressive. Close to 200 people on a 6 bar crawl was not worth the $25 per person. We went to the Vegas show which was fun after dinner in the Aqua which was extremely good with fast service. They had a new game – Deal or No Deal that was a blast.

Day 3 was our arrival in Bermuda. Beautiful, but windy. Our excursion to jet ski that we planned on our own was rescheduled to the next day due to the weather and we decided to take the bus into Hamilton. We had not gone to Hamilton the last time and we found this city to be very over rated. We stopped off at the Crystal Caves and did the tour which was nice. Again, we did this on our own and saved a ton of money. $20 at the caves compared to $49 NCL excursion price. We came back to the ship and ate in the Garden Café with the boys and took in the “Not so Newlywed Show” at Spinnakers.

Day 4 started off with a tad bit better weather and we decided to try out Horseshoe Bay with the kiddos. Water was way too cold for me, but the kids enjoyed it. There was an awful lot of jellyfish washed up on the shore. We headed to our jet ski excursion afterward, just as the sun came out and the wind died down. We had a blast!! Can’t say enough about Somerset Bridge Watersports. Great guys, great tour on jet skis and great time. We returned to the ship and had an awesome dinner at Cagney’s after sailaway and found out we had a bit of a burn. I went to the spa and they were able to reccomend some creams for the sun burn. Slept very well that night!

Day 5 was back at sea and we continued to fill our days with Bingo and trivia. I won $1000 on their raffle tickets!!! Woot woot. We had dinner at La Cucina, it was okay, but I am not a big Italian food fan. Service was very prompt though. I returned to the Casino since I was feeling lucky and hit a few good slots!

Day 6 was a much laid back day. Trivia, Bingo, Spa treatments and checking our room charges. Everything was in order. This is a good place to mention that I was very disappointed with my Iconcierge app for my iphone. I could not get it to work on the ship from Day 1 and whenever I asked anyone about it – no one knew about the app. Not our concierge or the internet café people. I do have to mention that to NCL. We ate at Moderno which was extremely good and extremely filling.

We met up with Virginia Friday morning and were disembarked within 15 minutes after saying good bye to our favorite staff members. There was a lot more of course, but this is a general overview. Please feel free to ask specifics. I was able to show some dailies.

daily april 2012.pdf

day 3 daily april 2012.pdf

day 4 daily april 2012.pdf

[Epic_Bear]

I was on that cruise too...totally agree about the wind! It was insane at times!

[smg53]

Thank you so much for your review. We leave on Friday for our second Dawn suite trip and your review helped with our excitement level!

 

Just an FYI - The iConcierge app (at least on the iPhone) works exclusively on the Epic. I thought about downloading it myself but upon further reading of the description I saw that it was an Epic only app. That is probably why nobody on the ship knew about it.

[xenite2525]

I agree with your post also - it was a great cruise to relax and take it easy. Would have liked it a little less windy, but hey, no one was bugging me with work and I didn't have to cook so I could put up with it!

[gelo7]

Nice review.

[LaCal]

Thanks for your Review....

 

Did they have Daily Texas Hold-Em Tournaments?

 

Didnt see any mentioned in the Dalies you posted....

 

Thanks

[vivavegas]

Thanks for the review! Maybe the wind will treat you better next time!:)

[samfiremedic]

Hey, we just booked 12500 on the Dawn, I read your review and would love pictures, especially of the second bedroom. Thanks so much

[NH Cruisers]

You did a great job reviewing. I will be doing the 8/24/12 sailing Dawn to Bermuda. Will be first time on a NCL ship. Looking forward to it. I love trying the different cruise lines and seeing who does what better in a particular area. Thanks again for your time writing your review.

 

Jon

[xenite2525]

LaCal: They had poker tournaments every sea day.

 

firemedic: I (hopefully) have 3 pics attached. The master bedroom, the living area and the third bedroom.

[PathfinderEss]

Nice review, thanks for posting it.

[redhead621]

Thanks for taking the time to write a review. Well done!

I will be leaving on the Dawn on 5/4. Any chance that you used the WiFi at the Dockyard? If so, how did you find the speed?

[MySobriquet]

Thanks for this - it was very helpful! If you have any of the menus, I'd love to see them if there's been any updates. Thanks again! :D

[ricruise]

Thanks for the review.

 

Did they have a weekly spa pass and did you happen to notice the cost and what it included?

 

Any tips on which slots were hot in the casino?

 

Going in a few weeks and cant wait!

[xenite2525]

Redhead: The wifi was very, very slow. I could get it, but very slow with my iphone.

MySo: I don't have any pics of the menus. I will tell you that they no longer have the crab legs in Cagneys. That was the only difference I noticed from my previous cruise on the Dawn.

Ri: I did not notice the spa pass cost, I had purchased it the last cruise and me and my DH only used it a couple of times. With the DOS we had the great whirlpool tub and used that quite often instead. Now about the slots, my hot machine was the $1 Wheel of Fortune at the end of line of lots nearest the restrooms. I picked up over $500 in the machine and didn't put in more than 50. Honestly, that was the only one hitting for me.

[redhead621]

Thanks for the info on the WiFi.

[dutchess43]

Great review thanks for posting.

[tenderroast]

We've booked 12500 for 7/2013. This will be our first cruise on NCL, and the last time I cruised was 1995!

 

I've read quite a bit about the perks that come with suites. Can you elaborate a little more on what the concierge and butler can actually do for you, that isn't in the brochure? Specifically, can they get you better seats at shows? Into the extra cost restaurants without a long wait? How about reserving deck chairs by the pool (I've heard it's almost impossible to get chairs by the pool)? It's also advertised that your keycard indicates that you're in a suite. Does this give you preferential treatment throughout the boat? Are all staff members supposed to treat you differently if they know you're in a suite? I guess my point is, what's really the perk of having a keycard that says "Hey, I'm in a suite!"? :)

 

Any other tips to take full advantage of the perks afforded to staying in a suite?

[tenderroast]

No additional tips on the suite perks? :(