Just got off Dawn Princess

[Heinekenguy]

Just finished a cruise to the Western Caribbean ... Princess Cays, St. Thomas, St. Maarten (RAIN, ugh), Jamaica (what a dump), Grand Caymen (turtle farm and swim with the Stingrays, AWESOME), Cozumel (Cancelled, what a bunch of SHIOT !) Anyway, I wish I would have know about this board BEFORE we went. Wife and I were celebrating our 10 year anniversary and had a blast, but we really didn't hang with anyone. Spent most of our time bumming around and checking out the Art Auctions, eating, some sun, hot tub, eating, Princess Idol (wifey sang, what a voice, but she didn't win) ... beads around the Oasis Bar ??? interesting !!

[Onebusyman]

Sorry we missed you too. We had a great group of folks along for the cruise. After the meet and great we only really saw Pormond and her wonderful family, and of course our across the way neighbors, Carlos and Jennifer.

Yes the missed port was nothing but a SNAFU of epic proportions. The only decent thing was when the ship helped to marry the couple who were planning to get married on shore. That was nice of Princess to pull that off.

[Heinekenguy]

LOL, yeah, I was wondering ... did the Captain come out and marry them ? I thought I heard that he has the power to do such things ...

[Onebusyman]

I believe they used the ships pastor? But I could be wrong?

It was definitely not the Master.

 

Have you seen or heard anything more about our missed port?

[calikak]

How does the ship look? We'll be on the Dawn on the 14th, can't wait! Any particularly good bartenders/waiters/food in the dining room/cabin stewards?

[Dreamer333]

Which post in Jamaica are you referring to? I'm curious, what kind of problems did you have there?

[Onebusyman]

Our first time aboard the Dawn, 10th crusie overall. The ship was in great shape, very clean, neat and tidy.

There were no docks open for us in Cozumel, so they tried to tender in. What a joke. The water was so calm we could have walked to the shore. But the Capt. said the currents were very dangerious and we ended up having to skip the port. 2000 plus very pisse_ off cruisers. This was our last port.

Have a great time.

[tbag124]

Our first time aboard the Dawn, 10th crusie overall. The ship was in great shape, very clean, neat and tidy.

There were no docks open for us in Cozumel, so they tried to tender in. What a joke. The water was so calm we could have walked to the shore. But the Capt. said the currents were very dangerious and we ended up having to skip the port. 2000 plus very pisse_ off cruisers. This was our last port.

Have a great time.

 

That's a shame. You would think all of these types of "technical" issues would be ironed out WAAAAY ahead of time....How could there just not be room for your ship?! How long ago was the itinerary made, you know??! I think that's ridiculous. Very poor planning, that righfully angered a lot of people.

[crusdiva]

That's a shame. You would think all of these types of "technical" issues would be ironed out WAAAAY ahead of time....How could there just not be room for your ship?! How long ago was the itinerary made, you know??! I think that's ridiculous. Very poor planning, that righfully angered a lot of people.

 

It's not usual to tender rather than dock - though the Cozumel situation seems to be a new wrinkle in cruising the Western Caribbean. The problem occurs when the port - this case Cozumel overbooks it's berths. I think I remember hearing that Cozumel had 11 ships in port not too long ago - that's just crazy and makes everything more difficult. But even in a situation like this when you have to tender everything depends on the seas and whether it safe to do so.

DH and I cruised Hawaii to Tahiti a few years ago and missed Kauai, Maui and Christmas Island. In Kauai (where we were supposed to dock) the harbormaster closed the port due to unsafe conditions and the same thing happened at Maui (a tender port). Not going to Christmas Island was the Captain's decision. Though we were VERY disappointed we realized that's just how it goes sometimes.

I think ports like Cozumel and St. Thomas find cruiseship passengers so essential to their economy that they'll accept any number of ships regardless of where they'll be able to accommodate them.

Just my thoughts;)

[Big Ed]

Calikak,

We were on the Dawn 4/19/05 and the ship looks great,very clean and well maintained.Our favorate bar was the Patisserie bar,good coffee & bloody marys in the morning, and Gina & Allen the bartenders in the afternoon and evening are very enteraining. Edger, in the Oasis bar, was alot of fun too.

Ed

[Perky1]

Wheelhouse bartenders were our favorite. Especially Al (Bar Supervisor) and Animal. They were great. It's always been a great spot to a night cap.