Ncl Dawn...family Friendly???

[MILEMRKR63]

HI All

 

Anyone sail the NCL Dawn and can tell me about how family friendly the boat is? Do they have FOD meetings? How was the health club? Do they have a sauna/steam facility?

 

Am sailnig 12/8 for 11 nighjts from NYC to the Western Carribean. Wonder how the fellow passengers will be...

 

Thanks in advance.

[Mrmacman]

Sailed on the Dawn this past New Years for a 10 day trip. My partner and I really enjoyed it. We never had any problems or issues as a gay couple. The thing I like best is the Freestyle dinning. We never had to be concerned about who we would be seated with and if we would be comfortable. We ate most evenings at a table for 2, and never had a problem.

 

We did meet up with 3 other gay couples on board, and had a great time at some meals with them. I would estimate we "spotted" about 2 or 3 dozen family members onboard. It is NOT Atlantis or RSVP...and that may be a good or a bad thing to some.

 

There was a FOD social every one of the 10 nights in the Star Bar. We went to a few, but by that time we had met up with a group of people and were already enjoying ourselves. The Cruise Director has changed, so I don't know if they will still do FOD every day.

 

The people we met were great. We had a wonderful time and are probably booking again for this coming January. Will be happy to answer any other questions....

 

 

oh yeah, you asked about the Spa. Pretty nice. Small sauna and steam room (men and woman have their own!). Plunge pool in the mens area. regular stall showers...and then this open shower area with about 4 shower heads...and no walls. Very curious that it was designed that way, but not bad for the visuals. You will definately meet people in the steam. Have a great time

[LVMediaboy]

Atlantis used the Dawn shortly after it was christened. Amazing ship and the staff was exceptionally receptive to a ship full of us.

[TheNightDawg]

I saled the DAWN a few years back and they did offer a few FOD get-togethers during that 7-day cruise. She holds a lot of passengers and we had quite a good turnout at those FOD events! Personally, I didn't care for the Cruz Dir we had aboard that sailing, (one of those never-made-it-entertainers who gets his ego stroked by being CD!)...but I have had some great NCL Cruz Dirs (many of the male ones were family themselves!) and most are very good about scheduling FOD gathering. Once, on the smaller NCL SEA, I left the CD a note on first day requesting an FOD get-together. That wonderful Cruz Dir (Keith?) phoned me in my cabin directly, apologized that since that cruise had a VERY large Texas group aboard traveling together, they had pre-booked most of the public rooms pre-dinner (the usual FOD time). But he told me that if I met other gay & lesbian travelers aboard the sailing and we decided when & where we wanted to get together, he would be happy to send us several appetizer trays to our gathering...just to let him know!

 

The DAWN is a beautiful ship, but DAMN THAT B*TCH IS BIG! If you see someone interesting that you want to speak to, don't say to yourself "Hmmm, I will talk to him next time I see him around." Chances are you may never see him around again! I was in one of those wonderful back-of-boat balcony suite cabins and it seemed like it took forever to walk to other end of the ship! Moral of the story....if someone catches yout eye, make your introductions then!

[Rotterdam]

My partner & I sailed on this past New Years cruise on the Dawn - 10 day Eastern Carib. The ease of sailing out of NYC was the deciding factor. The ship is quite big & has various venues for dining & entertainment. It was not to our taste overall - like a big floating mall. The outdoor pool area was a mess - too crowded.

 

The spa was nice - the plunge pools(especially the very cold one) were nice & the steam & sauna sit about 5or 6 comfortably. There is also a small indoor pool & hot tub in the area - great for the 4 days sailing in & out of the carib / sea days.

 

As stated before there were several FODs onboard & there was a posted OD meet in teh Star Bar each nite. - We do our own thing & dined alone. The best restaurant IMO was teh one staffed by all women - can't recall teh name - but ask for it. The food was basically the same all over but the service in that particular restaurant was great(better than the bistro & on par with the steak house onboard next to the Star Bar).

 

What salvaged our trip was the balcony stateroom. We spent many hours out on the balcony.

 

As for the dining I would strongly reccomend making reservations as early as possible.....we also did not like freestyle. Even the Bistro was a bit of a zoo.