Balcony-less Family Suite on the Dawn

[FitchburgWIFamily]

On a few posts, people mention that one of the ways they make up for not having a balcony in the family suites on deck 12 is to go up to deck 13 and use the outdoor seating there. Is the only outdoor seating available the pool side loungers that everyone claims at 5:00am and holds with their NCL issued towels for the entire day? Or are there some areas of seating (doesn't have to even be loungers) that is "reserved" for suite guests?

[biker@sea]

On a few posts, people mention that one of the ways they make up for not having a balcony in the family suites on deck 12 is to go up to deck 13 and use the outdoor seating there. Is the only outdoor seating available the pool side loungers that everyone claims at 5:00am and holds with their NCL issued towels for the entire day? Or are there some areas of seating (doesn't have to even be loungers) that is "reserved" for suite guests?

 

Deck 13 is the Quiet zone with plenty of loungers . The forward hot tub there is my favorite one .

[Da-Painter]

There is outdoor seating all around the ship, but nothing reserved for suites.

That's the down side to these suites, no balcony. The price is low because no balcony. They are nice, they may be ideal if you have little ones you do not want to lose over the side, (or big ones too). But DW and I would not book one.

[Demonyte]

To me the lack of balcony is far less important than the price-value ratio one gets with SJ suites - I'd book one (again -- have cruised in one on Star) in a heartbeat, in my opinion they are the best kept secret on NCL ships and am happy that some people think like previous poster does so the prices stay low.

 

If one is not fixed on getting a lounger right by the pool, I'm sure that loungers can be found in other places even if chair hogs are running wild.

 

We just disembarked from Dawn's 12-day reposition cruise and from what I could see, there was pretty much always at least some loungers available either on the "steps" between the Bimini Bar on deck 14 and pool on deck 12, or on the sides on deck 13.

[Godiva830]

I was on the Dawn 3 weeks ago in an SJ suite. I never had problems finding a lounger. There was always loungers available in the quiet zone at the front of the ship. If your set on being by the pool it was a little harder on sea days finding one by the pool.

[welove2cruise232]

We sailed in one of these suites on the Dawn repo cruise last fall. LOVED the suite and didn't really miss the balcony (and I'm a smoker!) because the pool deck was "right out the door" and the weather was perfect, so we spent a lot of time on the pool deck. I would sail in one of these suites again in a heartbeat!

[meglet]

Hi OP

 

It all depends on what you want from your cruise. If you're energized and stoked by lots of people and laughter and music, you'll be fine without a balcony. I'm presuming you have kids and they'll want to be with all the other kids in the pool area. I've cruised on Dawn twice at the end of July and it is PACKED. One day we found loungers on 13 forward - the quiet area. People must have found out about it because when we tried it on the way back from Bermuda, there were no seats there and we ended up moving loungers to the helipad area. The only day we found loungers on the stadium levels near the pool was Sunday when we got to Bermuda.

 

If you would like peace and quiet and your own little sanctuary, then, at least on the summer Bermuda cruises, I think a balcony is a necessity.