Asking for advice about the Norwegian Dawn!

[Jcdcruise]

We are going on a southern Caribbean cruise the first week of March on the dawn! We were wondering if anyone else has done this cruise and if they have any tips or advice that they could give us. Also, what type of crowd should we expect on this cruise?

 

This is our first cruise so any information you tell us we will value!

 

Thank you!

[newmexicoNita]

6 hours ago, Jcdcruise said:

We are going on a southern Caribbean cruise the first week of March on the dawn! We were wondering if anyone else has done this cruise and if they have any tips or advice that they could give us. Also, what type of crowd should we expect on this cruise?

 

This is our first cruise so any information you tell us we will value!

 

Thank you!

Well here is my opinion of what you are going to find on your first cruise on the Dawn nor do we know your age. First and this is the big negative: the first of March, if this is a 7 day cruise, may be filled with college kids: that is not going to give you a great feeling about cruising. If it is a 10 day cruise like we are taking you will have a wonderful time We have sailed the Dawn before and are doing her again out of San Juan in Feb. 

 

Positives: nice people; good age mixture; mostly over 50 though

wonderful and friendly service; maybe the friendliest we have ever encountered.

clean ship and though she is a smaller one for someone who has never sailed before you will not find her small at all, plus for some smaller is better

The entertainment is outstanding. Spend a few hours or a couple of drinks at Gatsby's and listen the piano player or whoever is entertaining. I also think Patti and Jose will still be on the ship. They are to die for. They are funny and have great talent. 

Make sure you experience at least one meal in a specialty dining room.

Our "go to" place for a decent lunch and even breakfast a few times is O'Sheehan's. Good quick pub type food. and rarely over crowded. 

 

Negatives: very few:

Deck 8 is a maze and hard to find your way from point A to point B. You have to go down to go up and visa versa. The layout just isn't the best. 

Although we always eat one meal in the Asian restaurant (no cost dinging place) the food isn't great. 

Like most ships, the casino is tight but we have just learned to got there once in awhile for an hour or so and don't worry about money we may lose. Once in awhile you come out a winner.

 

Hope this helps. Be sure to do tours and i would recommend for new cruisers you book via the ship. After you have cruise experience then book private tours is wonderful and cheaper.   

[Oakman58]

The Dawn has been refurbished since we last cruised on her so this tip might be outdated.  On the decks with cabins the carpet has fish images and the fish always swim toward the front of the ship.

[roger001]

The Dawn is a beautiful ship with a wonderful crew.  And just the right size for us.  We think the free Asian restaurant is a nice place to eat.  And directly below it is Gatsby's Bar which we enjoyed.  We like Cagneys as a specialty restaurant.  Yes, the fish still swim forward, except for an occasional red one that is going the wrong way.   We were last in an SF suite.  I noticed that all but one electrical outlet had been changed to the European style plugs.  Don't know if that is in all the cabins now or not.  However, you might want to take along one or two electrical converter plugs that change European back to US type plugs.  They are cheap off Amazon.  Our butler said he always has several.   And I usually have a one into three plug also.  

[coin ops]

2 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

The Dawn has been refurbished since we last cruised on her so this tip might be outdated.  On the decks with cabins the carpet has fish images and the fish always swim toward the front of the ship.

Except for the renegade red ones that always swim aft!

[rtkenmore]

Dawn is a great ship. We are going our second time in January. Los Lobos was great food our first time and we ended up eating there twice.

 

we didn’t find any issues with plugs as they were all American in our room and not sure about the deck 8 maze...  8 is essentially all cabins except for O Sheehans.

 

You’ll enjoy the cruise!

[don't-use-real-name]

The reason for the zig and zag passageway on deck 8 is the life boats placement.

Deck 8 has the Obstructed View cabins

Click on Deck 8 on this LINK to see how this happens:

 

https://www.cruisedeckplans.com/DP/deckplans/Norwegian-Dawn

 

Decks 9 & 10 run unobstructed almost the full length of the ship

Deck 11 has a midship obstruction at the Atrium elevators this because the cabins on deck 11 are larger in

space mostly mini-suites and the 10 2BR suites 

[Nola26]

My last two NCL cruises have been on the Dawn: Christmas 2016 inside cabin and Thanksgiving 2017 (S. Caribbean) in a balcony, both mid-ship and I like the Dawn.

- Only cruise ship pool I've used, enjoyed it

- If you have kids/teens sign them up for the clubs, my teenage nephew loves the teen clubs

- O'Sheehan's is a great 24hr eatery and my favorite spot for breakfast and late night apple pie! I've also grabbed lunch here on a sea day, packed so I shared my table with an elderly woman sailing with family, but having lunch on her own, great conversation and meal

- Asian restaurant isn't high end, but it is a nice change from the Main Dining room and buffet

- Buffet one of the things NCL does really well

- Specialty restaurants on NCL: you can have good meal experiences without them. If you like Mexican food I would suggest trying Los Lobos: inexpensive, great reviews, not on all ships so take the opportunity to try this Specialty, I may next time.

- See the shows, play bingo at least once, take salsa classes, dance the night away, plenty of no cost activities onboard

- Casino wasn't the most  giving for me, but there were winners and I had fun when I played

 

I am a big fan of the NCL excursions. I  don't worry about safety or getting back to the ship in time, however if you're paying for 3+ people of course budget concerns are realistic. Here are the things I did on my SC trip, all NCL excursions using the ShoreX perk ($50/port towards an NCL excursion):

 

1. Martinique - bus trip that toured the island, tremendous; after the excursion I went back to ship for lunch then tooled around near the ship: bought items from vendors, went into the public library and used the free internet, took lots of photos

2. Barbadoes - Beach excursion (best beach I've ever been too), cleanup onboard, lunch, walked from terminal into town and back, photos, shopping (actually bought something in a dept store).

3. St Kitts - biking tour of the island that included a stop and dip at a beach, best excursion I've ever taken (athletic bike riding, so consider your fitness level); awesome way to see the island, learn about the history, politics, sugarcane business, etc.

4. St. Thomas - tour of the city, short 2hrs and included a shopping stop at a place that looked down on Megan's Bay; in the past we've also taken a taxi to the Marriott and enjoyed the beach there, back to ship for clean up and lunch then back out with tickets bought onboard for the Sky Ride (very inexpensive self guided family day).

5. Antigua - had a beach/lunch excursion, but I need more activity than that beach offered, so once I had a taxi called to bring me back to the ship; I had a great day in the shopping area near the ship; bought some customized earrings and necklace bead set from a vendor and some artwork from a vendor in the stall area. The stalls have the native vendors, the shops are primarily foreign owned. I wanted to spend my dollars with the natives, so I kept asking and was directed to the stalls, which

are still in the same shopping area, right behind the stores.

6. San Juan - used the NCL transfer on my return, fantastic tour post hurricane,  El Morro fort had just been reopened, did a little local shopping (only a few shops open). This was a humbling ride seeing the hurricane damage up close.

[newmexicoNita]

22 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

The Dawn has been refurbished since we last cruised on her so this tip might be outdated.  On the decks with cabins the carpet has fish images and the fish always swim toward the front of the ship.

I am pretty sure they still have that. I have always loved the carpet: it is cute and serves a good purpose. 

[don't-use-real-name]

21 minutes ago, newmexicoNita said:

I am pretty sure they still have that. I have always loved the carpet: it is cute and serves a good purpose. 

 

Beware the Red Herring swimming like Corrigan the wrong way !

[roger001]

10 hours ago, rtkenmore said:

Dawn is a great ship. We are going our second time in January. Los Lobos was great food our first time and we ended up eating there twice.

 

we didn’t find any issues with plugs as they were all American in our room and not sure about the deck 8 maze...  8 is essentially all cabins except for O Sheehans.

 

You’ll enjoy the cruise!

I don't know what's the deal with those European outlets in the SFs. There is one American in the cabin and one in the bathroom, and 5 European.  The butler said some guests have borrowed an extension cord from customer service so they could run the bathroom outlet into the main cabin.  

[Nola26]

54 minutes ago, roger001 said:

I don't know what's the deal with those European outlets in the SFs. There is one American in the cabin and one in the bathroom, and 5 European.  The butler said some guests have borrowed an extension cord from customer service so they could run the bathroom outlet into the main cabin.  

If you know this is the case just purchase a couple of converters to use in the room. I bought mine on Amazon for under $10 to use on my international business trips. I also used it on the Dawn last year. I have one that allow me to plug in up to two items.

[NJLVW]

On 12/1/2018 at 1:05 AM, Jcdcruise said:

We are going on a southern Caribbean cruise the first week of March on the dawn! We were wondering if anyone else has done this cruise and if they have any tips or advice that they could give us. Also, what type of crowd should we expect on this cruise?

 

This is our first cruise so any information you tell us we will value!

 

Thank you!

We love cruising. We have been on the Dawn 5 times with our next one coming up. We have not been on her since her last refurbishment. I know they have added Los Lobos which is a Mexican restaurant. I am excited to go there as well. 

 

I have found the very first week of March has been more quiet then the next few weeks. I think it can be hit or miss depending on school breaks. I think this week is probably going to be quieter. Because of the dates it falls on. Hopefully.

 

You should get active with your roll call as well. Some may want to plan things that may have an interest to you. 

 

On the ship there is so much to do. Be sure to go to the shows. Always enjoyable. They have many different types of game shows, events, lots of activities at the pool when it is a sea day, and there is a casino. Many different restaurants. They have the complimentary dining rooms as well as the specialty restaurants. I think everyone should experience the specialty dining at least once. If you get active on your roll call go to the Meet & Greet, NCL always puts out a nice little spread but most importantly you get to meet all those you have chatted with and you meet the head staff. They want to be sure you are enjoying your week as well. Go on some excursions. I do recommend the ships excursions especially if this is your first cruise. You will get to see many different things at each of the ports.  It depends on what you enjoy doing. There are always beach excursions as well as seeing the islands. 

 

Importantly go with an open mind. This is your vacation. Enjoy each and every moment. Have fun, get involved. This is your cruise vacation.Your vacation is what you make it. We have never had a bad cruise vacation. Sure things happen but they also happen in life. So enjoy each and every moment. Smile and have fun....

 

See you on board!!!

[Oakman58]

Late at night if you're on deck 9 or 10 keep an eye out for the female ghost that is said to haunt the Dawn.

[zqvol]

On 12/1/2018 at 1:05 AM, Jcdcruise said:

We are going on a southern Caribbean cruise the first week of March on the dawn! We were wondering if anyone else has done this cruise and if they have any tips or advice that they could give us. Also, what type of crowd should we expect on this cruise?

 

This is our first cruise so any information you tell us we will value!

 

Thank you!

 

That is the first week of the spring break season for colleges. Expect the ship to sail at over 100% capacity.

[pspercy]

Crepes in the buffet in the evenings 🙂

[Jcdcruise]

Thank you so much for all advice!! Does anyone know if I can uber into the Pan American pier from my Airnb? Also, has anyone done bidding for this ship? We booked an inside cabin and are hoping we can bid for a higher cabin.

[Nola26]

I bid from an inside to a Balcony last Thanksgiving, but each cruise is it's own opportunity, so bidding isn't a sure thing. You can watch prices to see if the upgrade cabin price difference falls into your budget range. Otherwise bid when you get the chance and be prepared to stay put or be surprised with the upgrade.

 

My winning bid was quickly accepted. However, my bid to go from inside to Oceanview on my upcoming Christmas cruise hasn't been accepted and may not be. I'm fine to stay with the inside, but was willing to move to an Oceanview since I've never had that type of cabin.

[Jcdcruise]

11 minutes ago, Nola26 said:

I bid from an inside to a Balcony last Thanksgiving, but each cruise is it's own opportunity, so bidding isn't a sure thing. You can watch prices to see if the upgrade cabin price difference falls into your budget range. Otherwise bid when you get the chance and be prepared to stay put or be surprised with the upgrade.

 

My winning bid was quickly accepted. However, my bid to go from inside to Oceanview on my upcoming Christmas cruise hasn't been accepted and may not be. I'm fine to stay with the inside, but was willing to move to an Oceanview since I've never had that type of cabin.

Would you be able to tell me the price range that the bidding was for the balcony room that they accepted ? Also, goodluck with your bid and I hope it all goes well!

[Nola26]

11 hours ago, Jcdcruise said:

Would you be able to tell me the price range that the bidding was for the balcony room that they accepted ? Also, goodluck with your bid and I hope it all goes well!

I bid minimum each time. Hard to justify spending more when I am solo and an inside works.