Just back from the Dawn - any questions?

[Mathteach]

Does the Dawn have a children's pool that babies (with diapers) are allowed in?

 

I hope this doesn't open a can of worms....no need for a lot of discussion, it's just a simple question!! :D

I did not see a childrens pool. We only used the hot tub on the back of the ship. :) At the start of the cruise we had it to ourself as everyone looked at us like we were nuts, as it was cold on the deck. After a while a few brave souls tried it, but since there are 3 hot tubs back there, it never was a problem.:D

 

I did not see any kids in the pool at all. But I did not go by the main pool very often. Also, while I did see children on the cruise, I did not see any babies.

 

The 'splash pool' on deck 15 was closed off. You could see it (no water) but you could not get to it. Do not know why.:confused:

[Mathteach]

Mathteach - We were on the NCL Spirit on July 4th (at sea) and saw the Dawn Princess headed the opposite way. We have a nice picture of the Dawn at sea. If you would like, we can email it to you.

Yes! That would be nice. You can email me at my work address

 

mmolle@metro.mccneb.edu

Thanks again!

[esmiralda]

Hi, Mathteach. I will be going on a land/sea tour on the Dawn leaving NYC on 8/5. Have requested a room at Denali in Building 7. I am so looking forward to this trip. Spent a long time planning it.

 

 

I chose personal dining. How did you choose? Were there long lines waiting for dinner? My husband will not be happy with that. Oh, well.

 

Thanks in advance for all the good info. This is my first cruise and I really appreciate it.

 

Esmiralda

[Mathteach]

We chose PC as we wanted to be able to eat when we wanted to. Most nights we made reservations in the morning. Then you do not have to wait at all. You just go to the front of line and say 'I have a reservation' and they seat you right away. But you have to do this by 5:30 - or so the Patter says. One day we called just before 5 and they said they were not taking anymore reservations. :( On a night we did not have reservations there was a long line. We had to wait maybe 5 - 10 minutes.

 

Also, the first formal night we wanted to eat at 6 and they said they did not have any for that time. (I wanted a table for 2 as it was our Anniversary:D ) After trying to find out what times she had, she said a time that was latter than what we wanted and I asked for something earlier than that and she said 5:45! Which is the same as 6 pm to me as they hold your reservation for 15 minutes!

 

Everytime we asked for a table for 2 we got one - They always had our name off to the side with a 2 by it - but the last night, the May-tra-d (I don't know how to spell it) started to put us at a big table and when we said we had a reservation for table for 2 he said the only way we could get one was by talking to him:confused: He did give us a table for 2 that night - so I am not sure what was going on there.

 

Of the 7 nights we had 3 nights with GREAT waiters, 3 nights with OK waiters and one night (the first night) with a not so good waiter. We did not realize the difference until we had the really good ones! What we should have done is told the first good one that we wanted to have him everynight and seen if that was possible. Most nights we ate about the same time but a few we ate late.

 

Why are you asking for building 7 at Denali? Did they say they would give it to you? They are very unorganized when it comes to room assignments. See my land review on the Alaska board.:(

[cactusrose]

You are absolutely right. I am confused. I'm so sorry for giving bad information on this tread:eek: . I guess I'm following too many threads on this board now. I'll butt out before I add more confusion.

 

Thank you for being so nice about it.

[christicruiser]

Hi Mathteach -

 

Could you give me a run down on the overall condition of the Dawn? Is she being kept up very well? I believe she was refurbished a few years back.

 

My FI and I are sailing the Dawn on 12/3 to the Caribbean - too good of a deal to pass up!

 

Thanks in advance for your help!

 

christicruiser

[crusdiva]

christicruiser,

 

My DH and I were onboard the Dawn in October (our third time sailing on her) and she remains in fantastic condition. Her public areas are beautiful and well kept - the decor is very sedate and classy. I've responded to a few threads regarding her in recent days and I always say that I'd sail her again in a heartbeat.

I'll be happy to answer and specific questions you may have.

 

Sharon

[christicruiser]

My FI and I have sailed on Dawn's sister ship Ocean Princess. I believe Ocean has now been turned over to P & O. That was our first cruise together and we just loved that ship.

 

I'm sure the Dawn will be special to us as well.

 

Thanks for the update!!

 

christicruiser

[Mathteach]

Hi Mathteach -

 

Could you give me a run down on the overall condition of the Dawn? Is she being kept up very well? I believe she was refurbished a few years back.

 

 

christicruiser

I thought the ship was in GREAT condition!! My only complaint is that they took part of the railing off of a back deck, not a problem with that, but they decieded to work on it before 8am on the only day we could sleep in!:mad:

 

I was awaken by a loud banging that did not stop for over an hour!:mad:

 

This had happened one other morining but at that time I thought it was coming from another cabin, as it was not as loud or as long. I could not figure out what and why they were banging :p until I went on deck and saw that they had taken off part of the railing.

[esmiralda]

Mathteach:

 

Thanks for the PC dining info.:) I'll be sure to make reservations before 5:30.

 

I was trying to get Building 7 at Denali because I was informed somewhere on these boards that there had been a fire there a while back and Building 7 was the newest building and that the others damaged by fire were merely restored and not torn down and rebuilt. They didn't promise anything, but said they would try to accommodate me.

 

About the wine you brought on board, did you carry it on in open view? I thought alcohol was a no-no. I'm a vodka fan myself. I was thinking of sending myself a gift bottle from the Princess gift list.;)

 

Esmiralda

[Mathteach]

No we did not openly carry it on board. We packed it in the luggage that went straight to the ship. However, I am sure that you can bring wine on board from what I have read on these boards. I am not sure about the 'hard stuff'.

 

Also the sooner you make the reservations the better.;)

[esmiralda]

Mathteach:

 

I understand the coffee is not great on the Dawn. I am considering bringing my little four cupper with the heavy-duty Starbucks, because without a good cup of coffe i the morning, I'm useless.

 

Should I BMOC - Bring my own coffee? ;)

[Mathteach]

I am not a big coffee drinker so I can not answer that question. It was very strong. I had to put in a couple of creams. I would guess that if coffee is important to you and you have the room in your luggage, go ahead and bring it. :D

[cbgenrich]

I have posted about this very specific Aloha deck question elsewhere (here) and maybe you could check that out for me.

 

Here I've attached another diagram which shows your cabin (A626) and our potential upgrade cabin (A738).

 

What we want to know is can you go down that hallway and onto that deck shown? Is there a doorway there?

 

All other doorways appear to be shown with the doorway symbol on the deck plans, but not this. Could it be a true dead end?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Mathteach]

Cbgenrich - yes, out of our cabin we turned right and then walked down the hall to get to the deck on the back. :) It is very nice there. Not a lot of people hang out there. Also, you could then go up one deck (from the back) and get to the hot tubs!

 

Hope this answers your question.

[cbgenrich]

Mathteach,

 

That's a great answer, and a huge help in making us comfortable with this change.

 

Mahalo, CB