LAFFNVEGAS Live from the Dawn/1st Caribbean of the Season

[clean1owner]

I got my photos uploaded to my computer tonight but this is just a small sampling of some of the pictures.

 

http://s75.beta.photobucket.com/user/laffnvegas/library/NCL%20Dawn%20Nov%2011%20thru%2018th%202012%20West%20Caribbean

 

 

 

Nice pics!

 

One question. Where were you at when you took the pictures with the monkey?

[LAFFNVEGAS]

Nice pics!

 

One question. Where were you at when you took the pictures with the monkey?

That was in Roatan at Maya Key which is an NCL Shore Excursion. They did not charge extra to have the little animal encounter ;)

[clean1owner]

Thanks for the info. We are traveling with our daughter and one of her friends. They would love an animal encounter like that!

[exide99]

am thinking about crusing the dawn in 2013, looking forward to your reviews, live 70 miles from tampa.

[iluvdoxies]

(Sorry could not get on the internet last night)

 

Good Evening from the Beautiful Norwegian Dawn.

 

What a great first day for our third cruise with Norwegian. I know I have been filling you in along the way but will give you a brief run down from when we left Tampa. NCL Suite Life definitely knows how to pamper you.

 

Sail away was a quiet one just Colleen came to our cabin because Bob and Kathy were unpacking. We had the chance to unpack earlier. My luggage came first and I was unpacked before Life Boat Drill and when we got back Tom's had arrived and he unpacked.

 

As many of you know our Concierge is Virginia and our Butler is Gary who is great as well as Virginia. We dined tonight in the Venetian because it was Lobster Night. I did have the Lobster with Red Snapper which was actually very good. I also had the Mushroom Soup and of course the Key Lime Pie which was excellent. Tom had the Braised Loin of Beef and also had our server bring him a Lobster Tail but he had the Cheesecake.

 

After dinner we hit the shops, with being a Latitudes Member we had the extra 10% off so Tom and I both bought NCL Golf Shirts, I was surprised they actually had Ladies and one that should fit. Tom's says NCL Dawn mine is just Cruising the Caribbean then the NCL Logo After spending time and checking out everything possible in the shops we went to the show at 9pm. Tonight show was a little bit of everything from the NCL Dawn Production Cast, to Jose and Patti who perform daily in the Atrium to Charles Peachock who is a Comedian and Juggler that was a finalist on America's Got Talent in 2010. Our CD is Candy and the Assistant CD is Johnny ( message to Joleen at work No I have not talked to him yet but I will) The show was good and in the beginning they showed this little NCL film of Crew Members but in the start of the film it is the NCL Commercial and of course I know that well with the Let Go.... :-) I hear it often on any given work day. After the show we all decided we were all a bit exhausted and decided to call it a night. I always like to come back to the room and write my report then do some reading. Both Tom and I love to read and enjoy our nooks.

 

Now I must state a few differences from for those frequent Holland America Cruisers that Tom and I noticed as well as Kathy and Bob. First in the Dining Room, there were far more servers than HAL has. It was shocking how many were there, the other thing in the main dining room it is not nearly as crowded as HAL lots of room between tables and chairs with plenty of walking room between. The other thing was the NCL Production cast. Oh My... HAL has brought it down to just 4 dancers and singers and NCL had 14 on stage and tonight might not have been all of them. Of course there are so many that work under the Cruise Director. There are just so many more crew on board compared to HAL.

 

This afternoon Gary our Butler brought us Chocolate Covered Strawberries and we told him we loved those, so what was in our cabin this evening when we returned a plate of Chocolate Covered Strawberries then there was a bottle of Prosecco not sure who that came from. Now the only thing that might be missing and the only reason I say might is I am guessing they are still provided is the Robes. I remember they were in the closet on the Pearl and we do not have any but if I remember right they were very heavy and warm robes so maybe too warm for the Caribbean.

 

I do love this aft cabin location, it is so nice out there, then there is the gentle sway of an aft cabin, it will be great fo sleeping tonight. I think I have told you everything for the first day/night. We were Invited to go to the VIP Party tomorrow night but it is between 7 and 7:45 but we have dinner reservations in Le Bistro at 6:30, sadly I know there is no way we will be done in time to go to that. There is also the Latitudes Party at 1:00pm tomorrow. Otherwise tomorrow will be a lazy day, get up when our bodies say it is time, if we are early enough go up to Cagney's for Breakfast, then relax on the balcony reading, then head up to the Latitudes Party, then back to the cabin, who knows might even get in a nap before dinner.

 

Signing off from the Beautiful Freestylin Norwegian Dawn.

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Good Morning, Nothing like reading back report backwards, Last night I was not able to access the Internet so gave up and figured I would try it today. Oddly in the Free Style Daily if I bought the Internet package today I received extra minutes but not if I bought it yesterday.

 

We slept like babies being rocked to sleep last.

 

Just a few of my comments I am going to make are steered toward my Holland America Friends that are reading this that I am doing comparisons. Although right now the positives are mostly in favor of NCL.

 

One thing HAL and NCL have in common is using Elemis Bath products. HAL was smart when they placed the dispensers in the shower/bathtubs because they had both the Shower Gel, Shampoo and conditioner. NCL unfortunately only had the shampoo and shower gel. That is a positive for HAL, now one thing I have noticed since our last NCL cruise is a few of the bath products have changed. I use to absolutely love the hand soap that was kind of a blue green that had this amazing aroma to it. I was so disappointed when I found they did not have that. Now don't get me wrong the new creamy is nice with just a light scent but i miss the other. Also another difference is when we were last here the dispensers for the showers contained the Elemis Sharp Shower Gel. Now there is a small bottle of it in our bathroom maybe because we are in a Suite but not in the shower dispenser. Actually the Shower dispenser appears to be the same as in the hand soap dispenser at the sink. No complaints still far far better than anything that Princess and RCI supplies an actually better than HAL have the sink soap dispenser. These are simply all observations of differences from HAL and from 2 years ago.

 

Now this is a corny observation but I love those fish on the carpet on the Pearl :) I always knew if I was heading in the right direction ;)

 

This morning we slept in till about 10 after 9. Unfortunately just not enough time to be at Cagney's for breakfast by 9:30. As simply a suggestion 10 orn10:30 would be a much better time for Sea Days. But we did go to Blue Lagoon which is open for breakfast till 11. Now Blue Lagoon is something that beats all other cruise lines and makes NCL shine. While the breakfast menu is small, it is great. They bring around rolls danishes and croissants. And oh my they are so far above HAL's. Everyone always raves on the HAL board about the Chocolate Croissants on HAL, I have tried then at least 4 or 5 times and there was barely ever much chocolate and they were just OK, now NCL knows what a true Chocolate Croissant is. Not there is some real chocolate in theirs. I have not been to the Garden Cafe yet (Lido equal) so cannot truly compare but i do think HAL has far better selection when it comes to juices but in all honesty I think NCL Coffee is much better. Right now I am enjoying an espresso in our cabin as I write this. it has such a smooth flavor. I could be on a caffeine high all week.

 

We had shopped last night, but after I got back to the cabin and already for bed I thought I should have gone down and purchased the Lancome Mascara. Although I have to admit while the selection is far better than any HAL ship I have been on in and just this past May on the Zuiderdam HAL selections fro Frangrances and cosmetics have fallen badly. NCL still has a really good selection, as a matter of fact I would say excellent but sadly the prices are high. Actually the single tube of Lancome Mascara is identical to what I would pay at Macys. Granted no tax but still not a bargain, that is why I could kick myself for not having gone back down to purchase. When HAL did sell these items and they still do but very limited supply it would be about 15%to 20% off regular retail. The best prices I have seen has been in either St Maarten or Bonaire, with Bonaire being the lowest. So this is just a bit of info for the women ;)

 

Well I think I will stop writing for now.

 

Signing off from the Beautiful Free Stylin NCL Dawn.

 

hmm on the Epic, we had all kinds of Elemis products