Dawn Review 7/22 - 7/29

[Dwilli]

My husband and I went on the NCL Dawn for the third summer in a row. We were excited about the new things we would see after the ship being in dry dock for a month. We were in a suite so we had priority embarkation. We got to Black Falcon Pier at 10:45 and we were onboard and having lunch in Moderno at 12! We had an aft penthouse suite which was very nice. There was new carpeting and furniture but not new lounge chairs or cushions on the balcony. The room is great with lots of room and storage space and at certain times you can smell the bread baking in the bakery when you are on the balcony!

We ate in LaCucina, LeBistro, Cagneys, Teppanyaki, Aqua, O'Sheehans, and the Garden Cafe. We were disappointed in LaCucina's new location and atmosphere. It was too bright and didn't feel cozy like the other location it was in last year. The food was ok but we wished after that we had tried the new Los Lobos instead. We heard really good things from other cruisers that did try it. We had the best steak at LeBistro and had an awesome waiter. He took the time to talk to us and let us get to know him a little. Cagneys was good but seemed a little rushed. Maybe it was our server, but that's how we felt. Teppanyaki now has four tables (there were only two last year) and was very noisy with four chefs doing their thing at the same time. Our chef was great and kept us laughing the whole time. The food (filet and chicken) was good but VERY salty. Aqua was just ok. We were seated between two other tables and it was very hard to have a conversation with people right beside you. If you can, get a table in the middle if you want to be able to talk to the people you are eating with. O'Sheehan's was a great addition to the Dawn. We had dinner there one night and the food was ok, kind of the same as Blue Lagoon. We also had lunch one day and the cheeseburgers were great! We seemed to end up there at different times of the day for drinks and chicken wings or nachos. The bartenders there were a lot of fun and will make anything you ask. If they don't know how, tell them the ingredients and they will make it for you. Best drinks on the ship in my opinion and we never had to wait in line to get them! The Garden Buffet was usually very crowded, especially at breakfast. We went there twice for breakfast and had a hard time finding seats both times. The food was great though! It was much better than last year. There was a lot of variety and everything I ate either for dinner or breakfast was delicious. We usually ate in Moderno for breakfast because we had that as a suite perk. The breakfasts there were the best! My husband usually got filet and eggs. I got different things each day but the eggs benedict was my favorite! They have a buffet where you can get all different breads, rolls, muffins, yogurts, oatmeal, and fresh fruit. The blueberry muffins were amazing! We had lunch on the pool deck a few times. Topsiders is now a bar and a grille. They had burgers and hot dogs, etc. My husband's favorite was chicken legs and potato salad. He had that for lunch every sea day.

We only saw two shows - Band On The Run and Second City. The shows are the same as previous years so we didn't feel the need to see them again. Second City had some new material and they were pretty funny. Most people go to watch Elements which is a great show but we had seen it twice before so we skipped it. Some of the shows in Bliss were good. We watched karaoke a few times there. The servers in Bliss were great and so were the drinks.

We were going to go to the casino but when we got there, it was way too smoky for me. Smoking is limited to the casino and the port side of the outside decks. Both of those places were disgusting to me. They smelled so bad, I'm not sure how even the smokers could stand it. Having a non-smoking ship would be great for me (sorry to the smokers!).

Service on the ship was good. The room stewards work tirelessly every single day. They would always say hello and ask how our day was going. I don't know how they do it! Our butler, Jane was great. She did everything we asked and then some. Everyone seemed happy to be working on the Dawn. We didn't come across anyone that didn't seem to love their job. That is a little different from last year.

Bermuda is beautiful and the people are very friendly and willing to help if you are lost! We took the ferry to St. Georges and walked to Tobacco Bay. We were disappointed when we got there because the whole beach was covered with canopied chairs that you rent. We were just stopping there for a little while and didn't want to get chairs but there was no place to put our things while we swam so we rented a chair for $15. The next day we took the bus to Warwick Bay and took the path to Horseshoe Bay. We stopped at all the different coves along the way. It was the most beautiful walk we've ever taken. Warwick Bay Beach is as beautiful as Horseshoe Bay Beach but there was nobody there which was great! There are also no facilities there. I highly recommend taking the walk from Warwick Bay to Horseshoe Bay. If you take the bus, tell the driver you want to get off at Warwick Bay and he or she will tell you when you get there. Horseshoe Bay has a little restaurant there so you can get food and drinks. They also have facilities with showers, changing rooms and bathrooms. We changed before walking up the steep hill to the bus stop. We also shopped in the Dockyard. There are some shops and the Clocktower Mall. If you like fudge, go to the mall to Bermuda Fudge Company in the mall! They give free samples of really good fudge! While we were in the Dockyard, we went to the Frog and Onion. It was in an old stone building that used to be part of the fort. Food was good (we only had appetizers and drinks) but a little on the expensive side. We also went to the glassblowing place and the Bermuda Rum Cake store. Banana rum cake is delicious!

We had a great time on this cruise. Probably the most amazing thing we saw on this trip were the dolphins and whales on the last sea day. They were right next to the ship and were absolutely beautiful. There are a few things that bothered us a little - people saving chairs on the pool deck and not showing up for hours while there were other people walking around without any where to sit, people smoking on the non-smoking side of the ship, older teens misbehaving, etc. We didn't let these things get to us though. Would I do this cruise again - absolutely!

If you have any questions, let me know :)

[TheDougOut]

Nice review!

 

LaCucina - is that where LeBistro used to be? What was your impression of the new location for LeBistro? Did the layout up at Cagneys/Moderno/Sugarcane seem to work well?

 

Edit: also, your mention of limited seating at GC. Did the introduction of the the cantina within the Garden Cafe footprint reduce seating by a considerable amount? Or not much of an impact?

Edited August 1, 2016 by TheDougOut

[Dwilli]

LaCucina is where LeBistro used to be but they did it all over. For me, it was just too bright and didn't feel like an Italian restaurant should. LeBistro is where LaCucina used to be which is a bigger space and the atmosphere there is nice, like it was before the changes. Cagneys is still the same. Moderno and Sugarcane are actually in the same room where the Star Bar was before. It's kind of a weird set up but it was good for breakfast. I'm not sure how it works for dinner though.

The addition of Los Lobos definitely took away some of the seating for Garden Cafe. There are doors that separate the two. Maybe they should consider opening the doors in the morning so people can sit there. Seating wasn't too bad at other times, just breakfast seemed to have an issue.

[HeyWeAreCruisin]

Hello. My family and I were also on that same cruise. As I was reading your review I noticed how spot on it was. My husband has the complaint about the chair hogs. We couldnt find a spot for breakfast to sit down. We ended up bringing it back to our suite (by then it was cold). We also went to karaoke a lot. In fact our 14 year old was up singing every time we went. We will always remember the singers of "oh danny boy" and "when Irish eyes are smiling". Those 2 men were a staple at karaoke.

Great cruise...in fact we are rebooking for next summer :D

[Clarea]

Appreciate the feedback.

[Marine Mom]

Thank you! I am getting excited for our cruise in 4 days on the Dawn. I have not been on the Dawn yet so all new to us.

[HeyWeAreCruisin]

Thank you! I am getting excited for our cruise in 4 days on the Dawn. I have not been on the Dawn yet so all new to us.

 

Piece of advice: if there are any activities at night in the Bliss lounge that you want to see, go early. The Bliss lounge fills up, there is not a seat to be found.

[Marine Mom]

Piece of advice: if there are any activities at night in the Bliss lounge that you want to see, go early. The Bliss lounge fills up, there is not a seat to be found.

 

Noted, thanks for the advice. Reminds me of the Spinnaker Lounge on the Dawn, same thing.

[Freespir8]

Noted, thanks for the advice. Reminds me of the Spinnaker Lounge on the Dawn, same thing.

 

I think Bliss is the new name for what used to be the Spinnaker. :)

[cricket200]

Great review - thanks!

counting down the days :)

[lisakoivu]

My husband and I went on the NCL Dawn for the third summer in a row. We were excited about the new things we would see after the ship being in dry dock for a month. We were in a suite so we had priority embarkation. We got to Black Falcon Pier at 10:45 and we were onboard and having lunch in Moderno at 12! We had an aft penthouse suite which was very nice. There was new carpeting and furniture but not new lounge chairs or cushions on the balcony. The room is great with lots of room and storage space and at certain times you can smell the bread baking in the bakery when you are on the balcony!

 

We ate in LaCucina, LeBistro, Cagneys, Teppanyaki, Aqua, O'Sheehans, and the Garden Cafe. We were disappointed in LaCucina's new location and atmosphere. It was too bright and didn't feel cozy like the other location it was in last year. The food was ok but we wished after that we had tried the new Los Lobos instead. We heard really good things from other cruisers that did try it. We had the best steak at LeBistro and had an awesome waiter. He took the time to talk to us and let us get to know him a little.

 

Cagneys was good but seemed a little rushed. Maybe it was our server, but that's how we felt. Teppanyaki now has four tables (there were only two last year) and was very noisy with four chefs doing their thing at the same time. Our chef was great and kept us laughing the whole time. The food (filet and chicken) was good but VERY salty.

 

Aqua was just ok. We were seated between two other tables and it was very hard to have a conversation with people right beside you. If you can, get a table in the middle if you want to be able to talk to the people you are eating with.

 

O'Sheehan's was a great addition to the Dawn. We had dinner there one night and the food was ok, kind of the same as Blue Lagoon. We also had lunch one day and the cheeseburgers were great! We seemed to end up there at different times of the day for drinks and chicken wings or nachos. The bartenders there were a lot of fun and will make anything you ask. If they don't know how, tell them the ingredients and they will make it for you. Best drinks on the ship in my opinion and we never had to wait in line to get them!

 

The Garden Buffet was usually very crowded, especially at breakfast. We went there twice for breakfast and had a hard time finding seats both times. The food was great though! It was much better than last year. There was a lot of variety and everything I ate either for dinner or breakfast was delicious. We usually ate in Moderno for breakfast because we had that as a suite perk. The breakfasts there were the best! My husband usually got filet and eggs. I got different things each day but the eggs benedict was my favorite! They have a buffet where you can get all different breads, rolls, muffins, yogurts, oatmeal, and fresh fruit. The blueberry muffins were amazing!

 

We had lunch on the pool deck a few times. Topsiders is now a bar and a grille. They had burgers and hot dogs, etc. My husband's favorite was chicken legs and potato salad. He had that for lunch every sea day.

 

We only saw two shows - Band On The Run and Second City. The shows are the same as previous years so we didn't feel the need to see them again. Second City had some new material and they were pretty funny. Most people go to watch Elements which is a great show but we had seen it twice before so we skipped it. Some of the shows in Bliss were good. We watched karaoke a few times there. The servers in Bliss were great and so were the drinks.

 

We were going to go to the casino but when we got there, it was way too smoky for me. Smoking is limited to the casino and the port side of the outside decks. Both of those places were disgusting to me. They smelled so bad, I'm not sure how even the smokers could stand it. Having a non-smoking ship would be great for me (sorry to the smokers!).

 

Service on the ship was good. The room stewards work tirelessly every single day. They would always say hello and ask how our day was going. I don't know how they do it! Our butler, Jane was great. She did everything we asked and then some. Everyone seemed happy to be working on the Dawn. We didn't come across anyone that didn't seem to love their job. That is a little different from last year.

 

Bermuda is beautiful and the people are very friendly and willing to help if you are lost! We took the ferry to St. Georges and walked to Tobacco Bay. We were disappointed when we got there because the whole beach was covered with canopied chairs that you rent. We were just stopping there for a little while and didn't want to get chairs but there was no place to put our things while we swam so we rented a chair for $15.

 

The next day we took the bus to Warwick Bay and took the path to Horseshoe Bay. We stopped at all the different coves along the way. It was the most beautiful walk we've ever taken. Warwick Bay Beach is as beautiful as Horseshoe Bay Beach but there was nobody there which was great! There are also no facilities there. I highly recommend taking the walk from Warwick Bay to Horseshoe Bay. If you take the bus, tell the driver you want to get off at Warwick Bay and he or she will tell you when you get there. Horseshoe Bay has a little restaurant there so you can get food and drinks. They also have facilities with showers, changing rooms and bathrooms. We changed before walking up the steep hill to the bus stop.

 

We also shopped in the Dockyard. There are some shops and the Clocktower Mall. If you like fudge, go to the mall to Bermuda Fudge Company in the mall! They give free samples of really good fudge!

 

While we were in the Dockyard, we went to the Frog and Onion. It was in an old stone building that used to be part of the fort. Food was good (we only had appetizers and drinks) but a little on the expensive side. We also went to the glassblowing place and the Bermuda Rum Cake store. Banana rum cake is delicious!

 

We had a great time on this cruise. Probably the most amazing thing we saw on this trip were the dolphins and whales on the last sea day. They were right next to the ship and were absolutely beautiful. There are a few things that bothered us a little - people saving chairs on the pool deck and not showing up for hours while there were other people walking around without any where to sit, people smoking on the non-smoking side of the ship, older teens misbehaving, etc. We didn't let these things get to us though. Would I do this cruise again - absolutely!

 

If you have any questions, let me know

[cincicruisers]

Thanks for sharing your review with us.

[MyTimetoShine]

Just curious how long it took you to walk from Warwick to Horseshoe - roughly. And if it was a relatively easy walk. I rolled my ankle/foot and did some damage to ligaments and tendons and am in a walking boot. Doc said I should be fine for my October cruise, but just curious about the path. Thank you for the great review.

[Dwilli]

It's about .6 miles but took a while because we explored every cove! If you just stay on the path, it's an easy walk. The harder part is walking down to the different coves. That's soft sand up and down small hills. If your ankle is strong enough by then, definitely do it! It was amazing!

[MyTimetoShine]

Thank you for the reply. I hope to be all healed by then, so I can enjoy this beautiful walk :)

[sadiecat]

My husband and I went on the NCL Dawn for the third summer in a row. We were excited about the new things we would see after the ship being in dry dock for a month. We were in a suite so we had priority embarkation. We got to Black Falcon Pier at 10:45 and we were onboard and having lunch in Moderno at 12! We had an aft penthouse suite which was very nice. There was new carpeting and furniture but not new lounge chairs or cushions on the balcony. The room is great with lots of room and storage space and at certain times you can smell the bread baking in the bakery when you are on the balcony!

 

We ate in LaCucina, LeBistro, Cagneys, Teppanyaki, Aqua, O'Sheehans, and the Garden Cafe. We were disappointed in LaCucina's new location and atmosphere. It was too bright and didn't feel cozy like the other location it was in last year. The food was ok but we wished after that we had tried the new Los Lobos instead. We heard really good things from other cruisers that did try it. We had the best steak at LeBistro and had an awesome waiter. He took the time to talk to us and let us get to know him a little.

 

Cagneys was good but seemed a little rushed. Maybe it was our server, but that's how we felt. Teppanyaki now has four tables (there were only two last year) and was very noisy with four chefs doing their thing at the same time. Our chef was great and kept us laughing the whole time. The food (filet and chicken) was good but VERY salty.

 

Aqua was just ok. We were seated between two other tables and it was very hard to have a conversation with people right beside you. If you can, get a table in the middle if you want to be able to talk to the people you are eating with.

 

O'Sheehan's was a great addition to the Dawn. We had dinner there one night and the food was ok, kind of the same as Blue Lagoon. We also had lunch one day and the cheeseburgers were great! We seemed to end up there at different times of the day for drinks and chicken wings or nachos. The bartenders there were a lot of fun and will make anything you ask. If they don't know how, tell them the ingredients and they will make it for you. Best drinks on the ship in my opinion and we never had to wait in line to get them!

 

The Garden Buffet was usually very crowded, especially at breakfast. We went there twice for breakfast and had a hard time finding seats both times. The food was great though! It was much better than last year. There was a lot of variety and everything I ate either for dinner or breakfast was delicious. We usually ate in Moderno for breakfast because we had that as a suite perk. The breakfasts there were the best! My husband usually got filet and eggs. I got different things each day but the eggs benedict was my favorite! They have a buffet where you can get all different breads, rolls, muffins, yogurts, oatmeal, and fresh fruit. The blueberry muffins were amazing!

 

We had lunch on the pool deck a few times. Topsiders is now a bar and a grille. They had burgers and hot dogs, etc. My husband's favorite was chicken legs and potato salad. He had that for lunch every sea day.

 

We only saw two shows - Band On The Run and Second City. The shows are the same as previous years so we didn't feel the need to see them again. Second City had some new material and they were pretty funny. Most people go to watch Elements which is a great show but we had seen it twice before so we skipped it. Some of the shows in Bliss were good. We watched karaoke a few times there. The servers in Bliss were great and so were the drinks.

 

We were going to go to the casino but when we got there, it was way too smoky for me. Smoking is limited to the casino and the port side of the outside decks. Both of those places were disgusting to me. They smelled so bad, I'm not sure how even the smokers could stand it. Having a non-smoking ship would be great for me (sorry to the smokers!).

 

Service on the ship was good. The room stewards work tirelessly every single day. They would always say hello and ask how our day was going. I don't know how they do it! Our butler, Jane was great. She did everything we asked and then some. Everyone seemed happy to be working on the Dawn. We didn't come across anyone that didn't seem to love their job. That is a little different from last year.

 

Bermuda is beautiful and the people are very friendly and willing to help if you are lost! We took the ferry to St. Georges and walked to Tobacco Bay. We were disappointed when we got there because the whole beach was covered with canopied chairs that you rent. We were just stopping there for a little while and didn't want to get chairs but there was no place to put our things while we swam so we rented a chair for $15.

 

The next day we took the bus to Warwick Bay and took the path to Horseshoe Bay. We stopped at all the different coves along the way. It was the most beautiful walk we've ever taken. Warwick Bay Beach is as beautiful as Horseshoe Bay Beach but there was nobody there which was great! There are also no facilities there. I highly recommend taking the walk from Warwick Bay to Horseshoe Bay. If you take the bus, tell the driver you want to get off at Warwick Bay and he or she will tell you when you get there. Horseshoe Bay has a little restaurant there so you can get food and drinks. They also have facilities with showers, changing rooms and bathrooms. We changed before walking up the steep hill to the bus stop.

 

We also shopped in the Dockyard. There are some shops and the Clocktower Mall. If you like fudge, go to the mall to Bermuda Fudge Company in the mall! They give free samples of really good fudge!

 

While we were in the Dockyard, we went to the Frog and Onion. It was in an old stone building that used to be part of the fort. Food was good (we only had appetizers and drinks) but a little on the expensive side. We also went to the glassblowing place and the Bermuda Rum Cake store. Banana rum cake is delicious!

 

We had a great time on this cruise. Probably the most amazing thing we saw on this trip were the dolphins and whales on the last sea day. They were right next to the ship and were absolutely beautiful. There are a few things that bothered us a little - people saving chairs on the pool deck and not showing up for hours while there were other people walking around without any where to sit, people smoking on the non-smoking side of the ship, older teens misbehaving, etc. We didn't let these things get to us though. Would I do this cruise again - absolutely!

 

If you have any questions, let me know

 

Thanks for breaking your information up in paragraphs.