Stinger-PR's DAWN of an era: A NCL Dawn review (Thanksgiving week 2018)

[meatball_nyc]

Great pics. Thank you. 

Good info on restaurants for dinner. 

Your pics of Old San Juan remind me of our first cruise aboard the Carnival Legend. 2006. What a Great cruise. My son sitting on the cannonballs in the Old Fort. 

Looking forward to more. 

[SenatorsFan]

I really like seeing pictures of all the ships lit up at night. They're so pretty.

Heather

[mdod]

Is it possible to get dropped off near the pier in SJ and walk the rest of the way to avoid sitting in traffic?  We only have carryon but from your description it sounds like there aren't any sidewalks.

[maja651]

On 12/28/2018 at 11:39 AM, Stinger-pr said:

This is a font test. (CC on Windows)

 

This is a test! (C+P from Google Drive, rich text)

 

This is a test! (Plain text c+p from G drive, plain text)

 

Do any of those work for those that can't read the previous posts??

 

I MUCH prefer the non-script, normal bold black text. I am loving your review but the script blue font is hard to read.

[maja651]

On 12/28/2018 at 2:39 PM, Stinger-pr said:

Are the fonts any better??

 

Or is it the color that's throwing everything out of whack?? 

 

I'd rather know before continuing so that everyone can enjoy it the same way.

 

 

This is much better! Thank you! For the record, I’m reading this on an iPad Pro, so it appears that is why it changed to script for me as well.  

 

Btw,  I love your reviews! Thank you for taking the time to write one! 😉 also we will be on the Dawn out of San Juan in March, so I’m so excited to read this!

[maja651]

I always thought that the first night was prime rib night in the main dining rooms, but I see based on your pictures, it was not on this cruise.  Do you recall if they ever had a prime rib night in the main dining rooms?

[Cafedumonde]

Great review thank you

[Stinger-pr]

On 12/29/2018 at 9:36 PM, Jonslola said:

Enjoying your review! My first cruise was on the Dawn and I still love her!

I'm glad you're enjoying the review. Dawn was a different experience for us but it ended up being a great one and we hope to sail on her again somewhere along the way.

[Stinger-pr]

On 12/29/2018 at 9:48 PM, hladygirl said:

We were on the Dawn 10/26/18-11/9/18. What a great cruise. Will miss this ship out of Boston. How many passengers are aboard your cruise. It looks like a ghost town.

That northern itinerary out of Boston sounded like a great trip. Do you have any idea if she'll return to Boston once her winter season in PR is done?

 

I'm not sure if we sailed anywhere close to full. You'll see on the sea day pics coming up that she seemed empty but there were a lot of people around. For some odd reason, you'd notice indoors at night and at the ports but other than that, it sure seemed quiet. I've been reading reviews and looking at pictures here of sail away parties and I've never seen one so dull and with such low attendance than the one we had.

Edited December 31, 2018 by Stinger-pr

[Stinger-pr]

On 12/29/2018 at 10:26 PM, meatball_nyc said:

Great pics. Thank you. 

Good info on restaurants for dinner. 

Your pics of Old San Juan remind me of our first cruise aboard the Carnival Legend. 2006. What a Great cruise. My son sitting on the cannonballs in the Old Fort. 

Looking forward to more. 

I'll be posting some of the menus from other venues soon but for some it'll just be the menus since I didn't eat at all the restaurants. I have a pic or two of my DD through different years sitting on those cannonballs as well!

 

Thank you for reading!

[Stinger-pr]

17 hours ago, mdod said:

Is it possible to get dropped off near the pier in SJ and walk the rest of the way to avoid sitting in traffic?  We only have carryon but from your description it sounds like there aren't any sidewalks.

Well, it is possible but really, why would you? At least your stuck in traffic in AC which beats walking on the pavement on a hot morning and arriving at the ship all sweaty...haha. But, no. There are no sidewalks along the pier access road.

[Stinger-pr]

5 hours ago, maja651 said:

I always thought that the first night was prime rib night in the main dining rooms, but I see based on your pictures, it was not on this cruise.  Do you recall if they ever had a prime rib night in the main dining rooms?

Looking at my pictures, the only days I don't have a picture of the MDR menus are the 5th and 7th night and, at least for the rest of the nights I can say that it was never on the menu. However, we ate once at Cagney's and they had prime rib so it might be a case that it might be a steak house-only item.

[Stinger-pr]

1 hour ago, Cafedumonde said:

Great review thank you

Thank you for reading!

[Stinger-pr]

I'm working on finishing up the next day to post it but it's been a busy weekend. But it's coming!

[hladygirl]

12 hours ago, Stinger-pr said:

That northern itinerary out of Boston sounded like a great trip. Do you have any idea if she'll return to Boston once her winter season in PR is done?

 

I'm not sure if we sailed anywhere close to full. You'll see on the sea day pics coming up that she seemed empty but there were a lot of people around. For some odd reason, you'd notice indoors at night and at the ports but other than that, it sure seemed quiet. I've been reading reviews and looking at pictures here of sail away parties and I've never seen one so dull and with such low attendance than the one we had.

The Gem is replacing the Dawn in Boston. She will be doing the same Caribbean cruise next October. We are hoping to be on it.

[bluehawks47]

Thank you very much for your great review.  We will be on the Dawn in March and we can't wait!!

[jjlen11]

Excellent review!! Thanks! I am sailing on the Dawn April 7 out of Miami...…..feeling good about the decision.  My only thought was their is no roll call...??? So, I am hoping its a lightly crowded cruise or is it a Spring Break trip and will be raucous? Either way Im going and excited after reading your review.  I sailed on the Bliss Sept 30 out of Vancouver on a 5 day repositioning cruise and the Freestyle Daily was in my opinion limited versus what I saw on your postings!!! Seems like more to do!

[mdod]

On 12/31/2018 at 6:42 AM, Stinger-pr said:

Well, it is possible but really, why would you? At least your stuck in traffic in AC which beats walking on the pavement on a hot morning and arriving at the ship all sweaty...haha. But, no. There are no sidewalks along the pier access road.

 

LOL... it's good exercise and we just can't stand sitting in traffic. I was actually considering walking from our hotel, El Canario by the Lagoon.  Google Maps said it was 2.4 mi, which is not bad, but it doesn't look like it would be pedestrian friendly.  Since the ship doesn't sail until 9, we will probably be boarding later in the afternoon so, hopefully, traffic won't be too bad. 

 

Do you know how ship time compared to local time?  We're booking our own excursions and there's always concern about conflicts between the 2.

 

Thanks for the review!

 

[dltvermont]

Great start. Looking forward to the rest! The Dawn was our first ship/cruise back in 2014. Our favorite itinerary has been the Fascination out of SJ. Ive been eyeing this cruise so will be great to see what you have to say about it all. When it is just my wife and I we prefer NCL. For cost savings when we have had the whole family we have used Carnival.

[VtMac]

3 hours ago, dltvermont said:

Great start. Looking forward to the rest! The Dawn was our first ship/cruise back in 2014. Our favorite itinerary has been the Fascination out of SJ. Ive been eyeing this cruise so will be great to see what you have to say about it all. When it is just my wife and I we prefer NCL. For cost savings when we have had the whole family we have used Carnival.

Where in the Green Mtn State?

[bjcruiser]

So excited about this review!!!! We sail in a year out of Tampa.

[tpnebraska]

We sail in less than 45 days....  I have been so excited about your review as it is the only one so far regarding this itinerary.  Can't wait to see the rest 🙂

[dltvermont]

14 hours ago, VtMac said:

Where in the Green Mtn State?

 

North Central, Elmore....you?

[VtMac]

2 hours ago, dltvermont said:

 

North Central, Elmore....you?

Southwest of you, a little town called Chittenden.  Just north of Rutland.  I am a mere 10 days from heading out of this pseudo frozen mud season

 

[dltvermont]

28 minutes ago, VtMac said:

Southwest of you, a little town called Chittenden.  Just north of Rutland.  I am a mere 10 days from heading out of this pseudo frozen mud season

 

I envy you! I need to get away from this snow and cold. You are on this same itinerary?? Should be a blast.