NCL Dawn 3/12-3/19 Review- Dolphins, Zipline, Villas...oh my!

[ottoflash]

The one I am referring to is right in the center of Atruim. Might be called Java but it served many drinks. They made good Miami Vice's and Mudslides and saw many people getting mixed drinks there. DH got his DosXX there.

 

Thanks, Kristi. I love Miami Vices and Mudslides....I'm sure I'll have my fair share!

[Kristi Barber]

Ziplines-We were glad to have Tex staff perks. He walked us up to the zip equipment area past a line of college kids waiting to zip and got us fitted and on our way. we walked up several stairs and a swinging bridge to the first zip deck and met Brandon our zip guide, along with 3 others that would be assisting on the zips. DH and I had never zipped so Brandon explained some do's and don'ts and I was relieved to hear that you don't have to stop yourself that the guides take care of all of that for you that you basically only have to lift up legs when coming into decks.

DH and I volunteered our son to lead first since we were both nervous. LOL

 

 

[Kristi Barber]

First zip I was scared and hung on for dear life. Then, by zip 3, Brandon helped me go UPSIDE DOWN! Did 360 spins, tandem with son, and attempted "super man" but didn't work for me. Guides would help you and I think there were a total of 11 ziplines you do. It was so fun and surprisingly easy. There is video of our zips in the youtube link I posted previous.

 

[Kristi Barber]

Tex was waiting for us to finish zipping and then introduced us to a guide for monkeys. I can't remember his name. DH didn't want any monkeys on him so he stayed outside of cage. Son and I played with and held monkeys, birds, and a SLOTH!

 

[Kristi Barber]

After zip, Tex took us to Rum Cake Factory for free samples and warned us they were expensive. We tried all varieties (6) adn decided on Coconut Rum Cake to purchase a small one for $6. Small meaning the size of a donut. Yes.. they were expensive. Good but not gold.

 

[Kristi Barber]

Headed for beach. Tex said we would want to be at West Bay area to snorkel. Most places he said tried to charge a resort fee but that if we just walked through and put towels on sand and not on a chair we wouldn't be asked to pay a fee. He needed to drop us off and told us how to go through a place called Paradise Beach Resort and get to beach. He would wait in the parking lot where he dropped us off since walking in with him would make them want to charge us knowing we weren't staying at the resort. Inside perk...yeah!

 

We followed Tex instructions and easily made way to beach. Put our towel down and saw a few others doing the same. Nobody ever questioned us about not having pass. Beach was nice, white, and water was great. Waiter approached us and we ordered drinks. $2 buck beer and $4 mixed drinks.

Son and I got snorkel ready and headed out in water. Water was a little choppy and we didn't have fins. After only a few minutes out we were approached by a guy in a kayak and he asked if we wanted to be paddled around out further to the edge of reef area to see much more. We asked him how much, he said tips only. SOLD!

We held on to a rope behind kayak and just floated as he pulled us out pretty far and then pulled us all around reef area. It was fantastic. Water was actually more clear here than Cozumel and we saw alot more fish. If we ever get back to Honduras THIS will be our snuba and scuba location for sure.

Kayak guy paddled us for about 30 minutes all around. I felt bad the water was choppy and he was working hard paddling both of us but we were glad he was taking us all around. We got more great pictures and video. It is also included in my youtube link video.

I tipped kayak guy and we grabbed another drink while we packed up and washed off. We were approached a few times by vendors but it wasn't bad. Son got hair braided in a few strands for $5. Then we headed back to find Tex since it was about 30 minutes til we needed to be back on ship and we still needed cigars.

Tex was actually waiting on us by the entrance to Paradise Resort and off we went to a local cigar shop. Tex said cigars in the port shops were not very good quality and you pay cheap for bad quality there. He took us to a cigar shop near the port but not inside the port. We grabbed a few hand-rolled honduran cigars of a couple of varieties and then time to go. Tex dropped us at port entrance and we tipped him and thanked him and gave him the gift for his kids. He was very appreciative and told us to please come back again. Wished us a blessed life and off we went to get back on ship. Exhausted but had an amazing day!

[Kristi Barber]

[Kristi Barber]

Day 4 Daily

 

 

 

[Kristi Barber]

We cleaned up headed to the Venetian for supper. Two of us had the steak it was good but again we were spoiled earlier in the week By Cagney's. Son had a shrimp dish he said it was good as well. Service was a little slow but we were so tired we didn't really care. Went down to Gatsby's to listen to the Eagles tribute it was very good. Then we all headed to bed even our son! LOL Harvest Caye tomorrow!!!

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

Harvest Caye Day 5:

Woke up and headed to breakfast. Again went to O'She so we could get a booth window seat and watch us port in. By the time we got to breakfast we noticed we had turned around and were backing in. Island looked gorgeous.

 

 

 

HC was explained earlier in the week as NOT being NCL PRIVATE island. The way I understand it, it was partially funded by NCL in it's development as a new destination port with the agreement/contract that at least for the time being, NCL and it's sister ships would be solely porting at HC and you would be able to use your OBC cards for any purchases. I gathered that at some point it would open up to others???

Earlier in the week I had went to the CruiseNext office and filled out the paperwork to purchase our 2 CruiseNext certificate knowing I would be using some OBC at this port. We purchased 2 certificates for $500 ($250 each cruise). We already have Bliss to Alaska booked in 2018 and knew I would be using one for that and then we know we are taking our oldest son, his wife, and our grandbaby in a couple of years on a cruise when our grandbaby is about 5. The certificates are good for 4 years. The best part is that you get an automatic $250 OBC credited to your OBC account the day after you purchase them to use on THIS current cruise. SO it is like getting a Buy 1 certificate get one free deal. You can purchase up to 4 a cruise. It was great for us because again, we absolutely knew we already would use one on pre-booked Bliss Alaska and had 4 years to decide when/where we would go for the other one. The first day I had put down $200 each cash on the OBC ($600 total) so I went and added another $250 to cover the certificate cost. Knowing they would take out the $500 but then pop back on a $250 credit the following day bringing us back to the $600 (minus a few charges: for cigarettes, (we grabbed a carton for $34 on the first day to have for the week for son and self) , tax on drinks the first day while in US waters, and iConceirge)

 

Earlier I had said that we had foregone the "suite" this trip and used the savings for our excursions. HC was one of those places we used a lot of our saved money. HC was actually the only place we used NCL to book our excursions since you have to here. Our splurge for the trip was a private VILLA!

We loaded up backpacks, leaving towels and water because they were provided in villas, and headed off boat about 8:45.

Golf carts were running to take people down pier to entrance. It was not really that far (1/3 mile I think) but we grabbed a cart. Photo ops at entrance. Check-in area for villas was right by entrance. Checked in and assigned #10. Got our bands that provided entrance into private villa beach area and villas and our driver was waiting. PERK of Villa is a driver all day to take you anywhere in HC you want to go and back and forth.

Driver pointed out features of HC as we rode to Villa. Waiting at our villa was the butler and concierge. They showed us around and the butler went to get our drinks.

Villa came with several bottles of water, fruit plate, FAST FREE WIFI, sound bar speakers for hooking in music off phone, refrig, private bathroom/shower, and air conditioning along with ample assortments of chairs, loungers, etc...

It was stunning!

My son ordered up a crown and COKE (not PEPSI- he was happy) with NO ICE. Then asked the butler to bring a few cups of just ice with it. DH and I split a bucket of Corona and settled into a lounger to wait for it to arrive.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

More HC

 

 

[Kristi Barber]

Really enjoying your detailed review. I especially like your food pictures and letting us know your opinions of what you ordered. :)

 

 

Thanks... unfortunately my remembering to take the food pictures got less and less as the week went on.... sorry...

[Kristi Barber]

Our plans for the day included a electric boat ride for DH and myself, son would parasail, and we would just hang out at Villa and snorkel and relax.

About 9:50 we called for the golf cart driver to take DH and I to the electric boat area for our reservation. DH and I did the electric boats up and down the cove area and watched those on the ziplines and ropes course. Had several people in kayaks and paddle boards comment how they SHOULD have gotten an electric boat. HAHA You get the boat for an hour but DH and I decided after 2 trips around the cove we had seen all we could and headed back to shore.

Son stayed and snorkel in the area by our Villa. Lots of nice large shells and starfish. He brought up a couple for pictures and then promptly returned them to their home. :) The water at the beach was nice and the beach was white and yes, man-made shell beach but not really an issue with or without shoes. There are buoys that mark off the snorkeling area by the villas but really you needed to go out past the buoys to get to the reef areas to see anything. Son went out about 10-15 feet past buoys and I think after about 15-20 minutes the lifeguard whistled and motioned for him to come back a bit.

Walked a short walk over to a golf cart area and they radioed for a villa cart to come get us to take back to Villa. Back at Villa our butler promptly showed up to check in on us and see if our son was ready for another drink. He was... (BTW: Drinks were $9 for frozen/specialties, $4 beers, $6 for mixed). Not cheap but you CAN technically go back and forth to ship and get yours free with UBD on ship and they allow you do carry it off/just finish before getting back on!

We decided to also order a little food to split from Land Sharks menu even though we could have technically taken golf cart back to ship and eaten there for free. We ordered Nachos($10 good for pretty big portion), Mushroom/Swiss burger with fries ($12 and was great). Didn't get a picture of menu but there are several in the CC boards from previous cruisers.

As were eating the wind was picking up and a storm was coming in. We were watching the parasails all morning and then.... DOWN went a parasail WAY out in ocean. Not sure if the driver was dipping them like they sometimes do and just didn't pull up fast enough or if the wind was a factor. Those poor people were "shark-bait" for over 20 minutes before they finally got them back up and back to shore. Son said, "Oh-HECK NO..." So I called for the cart to take me to excursion area to CANCEL our 1:30 reservation.

They told me that I needed to go back to excursions desk on ship. So I hopped on a cart to take me back to ship. I had my thermal cup with me so I downed my beverage and went back on ship. Went to atrium area and excursions desk was closed. Guest services said that I needed to just go to the parasail area on HC. Well...heck...

So having my thermal with me I stopped at the atrium(Java) bar and ordered up an extra strong coconut malibu mudslide and dumped in my cup. Then on way down to exit ship again stopped at Casino bar and got 2 more to dump in cup.... with cup full of mudslide I headed back to HC.

Parasail excursions was right by the entrance so I headed there. At this point it was about noon.

Parasail said I needed a 24 hour notice. I explained to them that we SAW the parasail go down a little earlier and with the wind/storm coming in we did not want to go up. She went to I guess confirm that one went down and came back and told me she would refund my money to my OBC account. WHEW...

Walked back a short distance to the villa check in and grabbed a cart back to Villa. Pool area was popping but not overly crowded. Ziplines seemed popular and were going all day. Plenty of beach chairs, umbrellas, loungers.

Storm rolling in and it started to rain. This was when we were so glad to have the Villa as well. Just went inside and listened to music and relaxed and finished up our drinks. Took time to catch up on social media with the fast wifi also. Rain shower passed and about an hour before we needed to be back on ship it was just cloudy and spotty showers. We sat out on the deck in loungers and our butler came by for one last check on us. We requested our check and she took our NCL card to settle up with our OBC. We left a small tip for the conceirge (didn't really use them), tipped the butler/waiter, and golf cart driver.

Started to rain again so we called for cart and packed up. Sad to leave our relaxing villa. Golf cart showed up with plastic zippered rain cover and took us back to pier. Rain started to let up to a slight sprinkle just in time and we quickly got in line to get back on ship. Most people had abandon HC when the first rain band came through so the line to get back on was very short now and quick.

Up to room to shower and get plan for rest of day set up....

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

Daily 5

 

 

 

 

[Kristi Barber]

Showered and got ready. Headed up to pool area for a bit. Stopping at Wine bar for a glass. I decided that it would be wine night instead of my usual blended drinks. Many selections, most included in the UBD. They had an iPad that you could browse to select type and descriptions. Bar tender was very helpful also and let me sample a small bit of a couple of them before deciding on a Moscato. DH stopped at atrium bar for a DosXX.

Pool was over-taken with college group and bar was hopping. Windy so we headed to Casino and son went to find his new 20 something friends. We had seen several people playing this carnival type quarter slide game so we thought to try it for fun. Basically you drop in a quarter and try to get some to fall off ledge and push more over ledge. Various "bundles" of cash lying on top of quarter piles and a "bottle of champagne" chip thrown in every now and then in the pile. We put in $10 and had fun trying to get piles to move. Working on the far left and right sides, rather than middle, seemed most successful and we "risk" our bonus several times and won 25-50 more quarters. There was a paperclip bundle with a $5 and other bills almost ready to fall so I put in another $5 to get more quarters. Awe... success...the $5 bundle fell as well as a landslide of quarters and a bottle chip. The $5 bundle was a total of $8. But wait... the $10 bundle was also about to fall...I continued to work strategically on it until success again. $10 bundle was $13 rolled up. After having won back my original money and a bottle chip (you cash it in at the casino bar for NCL's not so good sparkling wine/champagne), we headed to dinner at Aqua.

Aqua's menu was identical to Venetian but Aqua is casual attire where you have to at least not have a tank top on at Venetian. Service was faster at Aqua it seemed also. We both had salad and french onion soup and it was great. We both also ordered steak again (we love our steaks!) and it was great also. Dessert was I think a key-lime tart for me and vanilla brulee for DH. They were okay. (seemed flavorless a bit).

We stopped and listen at overlook to Atrium piano tribute to Elton John and Billy Joel. It was a nice view from the overlook between the elevators. went and sat in O'She for a bit and listened to music and grabbed drinks from that bar. Then headed back to casino for a bit to see if the machines were seeming to be hitting/bonuses. They didn't seem to be and blackjack tables were full but seemed people doing well at those. So... we scanned the quarter slide machine for the perfect ones about to fall of course and put in our $13 we had won earlier. Played for about an hour and collected 2 more bottle chips and 2 more bundles of the $8 clipped bills.

Headed for room about 11..

Blind elephant

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[JillL]

Loving your review so far! We were on the Dawn in January, and I really like the ship.

[Kristi Barber]

Loving your review so far! We were on the Dawn in January, and I really like the ship.

Thanks. I didn't take a bunch of Dawn ship pictures because I didn't see any shots that TheDougOUT or Mitsygirl had not posted. There reviews of the ship after dry dock and shots were fantastic.

 

We thought she was beautiful and only a few issues getting the location down of a few places really easy to navigate through. Entertainment and gift shops in front/ recreation and restaurants in back... follow the fish to front....

A few elevators did not allow access to all floors but we picked up on those after a couple of days and rarely got lost. LOL

[Kristi Barber]

Day 6: Costa Maya and MAYA CHAN DAY!!! WOOHOO!!!

We woke up a little late and were already ported in. Noticed the storm had followed us to Costa as the sky was a little dark. Sure hoping it cleared off for our last port day! Water was very clear and the blues and turquoise colors were so beautiful. We could see many large fish and maybe they was even a pod of 5 nurse sharks in the area around the ship from our balcony. We couldn't be certain but sure looked like nurse sharks from our balcony. :o

 

 

Quickly packed backpacks for the day and headed to buffet for a quick bite. Then down to 4 to get off. Quick and easy.

In my opinion this pier walk was farther than HC but they did have ONE shuttle running, however only ONE and it was really slow moving so we elected to suck it up and just walk it.

Many shops in the pier area and tribal folks and some acrobats. They even had a pool if you wanted to just stay in the port area.

Once off the ship I realized that I had left the directions to finding the check-in area for Maya Chan in the room... darn! I had glanced over them and knew it was a little tricky and that they were not in the actual port area and to be warned that locals sometimes tried to get you to pay them to take you. So we just followed the crowd...

Kept walking and I saw an area with some open air shuttles. Went and ask if they took to Maya Chan... NO... keep walking out of port area. Kept walking, kept walking, and finally...saw the gates to get out of port area and a glimpse of some yellow taxi's. WHEW... it really was a long way through the port area.

Ask the first man by the taxi's about Maya Chan, he pointed to a hut about 1/2 block down and said go there to check-in. We did and after waiting about 5 minutes on a few others to arrive, the lady called for the taxi to Maya Chan and we were off.

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

On the way to Maya Chan we noticed it seemed to be very poor living and so much TRASH everywhere in Costa Maya. We saw very few places that we would have considered staying as far as accommodations but maybe it was just our route? Water beautiful, lots of seaweed all over the beaches we past however, and trash everywhere. The good sight was that the clouds were thinning and sun starting to come out. YEAH!

Really glad at this point to have discovered Maya Chan through CC. Maya Chan is privately run resort that is all inclusive (food, drinks, thatched covered huts with chairs, loungers and hammock, free use of all equipment-float chairs, kayaks, paddleboards), and the owners and staff are fantastic and go out of their way to make sure you are taken care of so much so as to paddle out to you in the water and bring you drink refills! They only take limited amount of people based on how many covered huts they have so you never have to worry about crowds. Just better book plenty ahead of time. It is Fantastic!!!

 

Road to Maya Chan is a little bumpy and took about maybe 20 minutes to get there. Once there it is its own little paradise. Meet at entrance and greeted as soon as you walk in with a quick tour of amenities, rum punch, and shown to your covered area for the day where fresh home-made chips, salsa, and guacamole are promptly delivered.

 

 

 

Introduced to your waiter and the massage lady(optional fee if interested). Many drink choices available and did I mention everything is free/included?!?! Waiter left to get DH a beer, son a jack/coke, and me a Maya Chan special. (It was basically like an OREO cookie shake but with rum and Kahlua I think in it... even had an actual cookie on top) OH MY... just found my drink of choice...wonder if the ship can pull this one off at request???

When the waiter returned, he saw I was adding my Oreo drink to my thermal and asked if I just wanted him to take it and fill it up. What? OH MY... I would love that! After snacking on the chips and guac, I grabbed a beach float chair and headed out.

Water was choppy with wind and seaweed on beach a little but there was a man racking it up as fast as he could and it was much less than the un-racked ones we had past on the way to Chan. One of the ONLY things I didn't like about Maya Chan area was that there were these huge chunks "rocks" of coral/shell that were randomly scattered under the water and water was not so clear in the shallow so as you walked from shallow to deeper you would step on them or stump your toe on them! OUCH!

I hung around in float chair for a while sipping on my thermal of oreo rum delight and then went back to our hut area. DH was asleep in chair! He claims he was only relaxing but he was asleep! LOL... Son was taking tequila shots with our waiter! They were challenging each other to NOT make any face after the shot. Wait... how long has this contest been going on? Oh dear.......

 

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

Sun was out and it was such a relaxing day once the wind calmed down. Absolutely serine!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

Maya Chan lunch time:

Home-made tortillas, charro beans, and beef, chicken, pork, or fresh grilled fish tacos with all the fixings. (All you could eat) The most wonderful meal of our port stops so far. Made fresh, right in front of you on the big flat grill and so good!

Did I mentioned the waiter had refilled my thermal cup with the oreo delight again! My son was "feeling" his tequila shooting contest of which I think he might have been the loser going up against a local! He plopped down on beach bed to recoup. I went and sat on the shore line to get some sun before we had to leave. They came around and ask what time we would like to return with the last taxi for Dawn being 2:30 and Getaway 3:30. We choose 1:30 knowing that we had some shopping to do in the pier port area even though we would have stayed DAYS here at Maya Chan it was so relaxing and they were suburb host.

Waiter brought us all another drink(without even prompting him too!) and let us know the taxi would arrive in 10 minutes for our 1:30 group. BOO...can't we just turn back time! Waiter found handed my son a tequila shot as we were leaving and told him "no face" ! Hey Juan Carlos...stop that... you don't have to babysit this "feeling real good" 20 something the rest of the afternoon! LOL

Maya Chan has a "LOVE BOX" for tips as you leave. They encourage you to not tip individuals but as a staff since there are so many behind the scene folks making your day so great. (cook, tortilla maker, beach raker, bar staff, etc...) So we left a nice tip in the LOVE box and knew one day WE WILL RETURN!

Back to port, shopped (found you could bargain a bit here even with stickered prices) but was more expensive than Cozumel and Honduras for "tourist" things like T-shirts and trinkets. Checked off the gifts for family and double checked to make sure we had gotten something at some port for those that we needed to buy a souvenir for and headed to the ship. We saw our friends Cary and Cynthia (we met at the Dolphin swim the first port and hung out a bit each port after that). They called us over to have a last drink before boarding ship. SON was really "feeling" his tequila and he sat down at their table and promptly spilled Cynthia's beer! WTG! We decided maybe getting him back to the ship was important so we headed back. Grabbed the SLOW shuttle down the pier. Line was pretty short to be close to leaving time and we got on quickly. NCL Getaway was beside us but they didn't leave until an hour after us. It was a big ship!

Got to room... son went face first into bed and well... I think he got back up about 3 hours later!!!

[Kristi Barber]

 

 

[Love2travel4]

Awesome review.....I board April 23! I can't wait.

[Kristi Barber]

Quick shower and put on our "green" for St. Patty's Day and headed to the pool area to enjoy music with flavors.

Forgot earlier to mention that we had had a time change notice again the night before and had moved back up an hour to original "New Orleans" time again.

 

We knew that we were definitely going to catch the ELEMENTS show at 9:00 and then go to the NCL White Out Party for a bit afterwards. ELEMENTS is the best show because it is a mix of all the shows during the week and is very good and popular! We knew that we would need to grab a seat about 30 minutes early to get a decent one.

After music at pool then we went to grab a quick supper at O'She. I had the wings again for app and a burger. It was good. DH had wings and corn beef sandwich that he had ordered previous in the week. It wasn't as good he said as the first time but I really think after the lunch at Maya Chan the expectations were too high. LOL

Back to the room to ditch the green and don the white. It was about 7:00 and son had not moved from the belly down flop the tequila had reduced him to. Umm... don't think he will make the Elements show and White Hot Party is yet to be determined. We put on our white out attire and headed to the casino to grab drinks and wait to get a seat for show.

I snagged a spot at black jack table. Knowing I had only about an hour to play, I was thrilled to have grabbed a seat and bought in with $60. DH lost $50 in slots pretty quickly and decided to just entertain himself at the silly quarter slide machine with $10 bucks til time for show. At about 8:30 we could see people starting to head to Stardust, but I was doing well at blackjack so DH agreed to go get us seats and I would finish a few more hands. I cashed in at 8:50 with $165. WOOHOO...almost back even for the week between the win on slots earlier in the week and up a little on blackjack.

Stardust was crowded and I think by 9:00 showtime every seat was filled. ELEMENTS WAS VERY GOOD and a great variety of the various acts of the week celebrating the 4 elements: Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water. They received a well deserved standing ovation. I would definitely recommend this show. After the show, Geo our cruise director (who was wonderful and funny), introduced the Captain and crew. Then representatives from all the various departments paraded in and joined them on the stage. Each member of the housekeeping staff was carrying a different towel animal and some were amazing. (Dragon, alligator, panda bear, and swan).

We appreciated all of them and they did a farewell number and we were all off to the pool deck for the NCL White Hot Party.

Edited March 25, 2017 by Kristi Barber

[Kristi Barber]

Even though it was windy we hung out with the party crowd at White Hot pool party until about 11:30 and then DH and I called it a night.

Went to room and son had made it from our bed to his...guessing White Hot is a no go for him!

We didn't have a towel animal because we never changed the room tag to turn down room since son was sleeping.

Sat on balcony for a bit and then turned in for the night.