Live from Dawn 9/03

Cosmopolitan · September 9, 2006

Thanks Shoreguy! I should have just went to you for the answer.

Here's one for you. On our last cruise Anshuman told us we could request which butler we wanted. Do you believe that to be true? Do you think having the OS buys us some clout? :confused: We'd like to have Anshuman again.

di

Diane,

Can you also find out who the butler is on Deck 10 if you have time?

I'll be very happy with Anshuman on your recommendation if he is on 10:)

Thanks.

lastingtouch · September 9, 2006

Diane,
Can you also find out who the butler is on Deck 10 if you have time?

I'll be very happy with Anshuman on your recommendation if he is on 10:)

Thanks.

Monty (Baitman19) will be doing "Live from the Dawn" while we're on the ship so we'll find out and let you know. When are you going?

Cosmopolitan · September 9, 2006

Monty (Baitman19) will be doing "Live from the Dawn" while we're on the ship so we'll find out and let you know. When are you going?

I'm going 9/16 with 3 of my sisters...this is a first for them.

I can't wait for you guys to go:) So exciting!

I did Canada/New England on an 11 day, on the Jewel...it was WONDERFUL.

amy417 · September 9, 2006

Hi Guys!!!

Man I got homesick for NCL Dawn and started cruising the threads. Hi Jackie, Hi Baitman, Hi Diane, Hi Cosmo, Hi Shoreguy!!!!

Great to see you all are holding up the Owner's suite tradition. We were the rookies last November that beat the odds and got a sweet upgrade to 9506. Now it's all I can think about. What ever happened to Denny. I know he left a while after us for the birth of his child and came back. Is he gone again. Nice to know Claudio is still there.

Saving our pennies for another Dawn experience soon. Nice to talk with you guys again.

amy417 · September 9, 2006

OOPS double post

powersl · September 9, 2006

thank you for the live and really looking forward to the pictures and reviews. Also looking forward to Monty's live reviews too. We leave on the 23rd and are just so excited. Can't wait to hear from all of you.

Please post pictures too thanks.

Checking to see what kind of clothes to pack?

NJBear · September 9, 2006

We were in Bar Harbor on Wednesday and watched as the DAWN broke through the fog at about 1p.m--beautiful ship, although it was a bit sad to see that the names of the artists/painters are now removed from the side of the ship. We are on vacation in Maine and ran into quite a few dawn passengers walking around the town. One woman was very upset over missing martha's vineyard and the terrible weather they had on day 1..we gave her a pep talk :D and she went back onboard hoping to wash the first day out of her grumpy head and enjoy the rest of the cruise :-)..When the fog lifted in Bar Harbour they had a wonderful day weatherwise.

It sure was nice to see the DAWN in the harbor---now I want to go again:D

unclepaulie · September 9, 2006

Saving our pennies for another Dawn experience soon.

Hey there, Amy! You could always join Paul & Barb for W. Carib in December! ;)

amy417 · September 9, 2006

Paulie Baby Wie Gehts!

unclepaulie · September 9, 2006

Paulie Baby Wie Gehts!

Es geht mir uns gut!

11 days...nice Christmas present....come on now....that Owner's suite is waiting for ya! ;)

marilynd · September 9, 2006

Thanks JPRCruising for posting such great info on the Dawn and New England/Canada. My two daughters and I are on the same sailing on the Dawn on Oct. 7. Sorry about your missing Matha's Vineyard, hope the weather is good for us.

Thanks for the info on Halifax. My daughters are meeting friends for the day so I am on my own. Looks like there is a lot so see so my day by myself will be full of places to visit.

Isn't the Owner's Suite wonderful. I haven't been in one on the Dawn but twice on the Star. So spoiled now. We are in the AB Penthouse on this cruise because the space of the AB is better for the three of us. I am really going to have Owner's Suite envy.

angeljt · September 10, 2006

Thanks Jackie! I can't wait to be a member of the 9506 club. Monty' will be doing his "Live from the Dawn". Sometimes it's too much information! :rolleyes: (at my expense!) Stay tuned!

Diane & Monty,

Hope you had a great sailaway and are enjoying the Suite Life again. I believe I remember some of that info from your last cruise. :D

Enjoy!!! We'll be waiting for your reports......

Jackie

angeljt · September 10, 2006

Hi Guys!!!
Man I got homesick for NCL Dawn and started cruising the threads. Hi Jackie, Hi Baitman, Hi Diane, Hi Cosmo, Hi Shoreguy!!!!

Great to see you all are holding up the Owner's suite tradition. We were the rookies last November that beat the odds and got a sweet upgrade to 9506. Now it's all I can think about. What ever happened to Denny. I know he left a while after us for the birth of his child and came back. Is he gone again. Nice to know Claudio is still there.

Saving our pennies for another Dawn experience soon. Nice to talk with you guys again.

Hi Amy,

I was wondering where you were since I hadn't seen you for a while. Hope all is well and we're all able to stay in our little club. We're thinking about the Dawn in November this year. I see you have the Brilliance booked. Hope you love that cruise too.

Jackie

JPCruising · September 10, 2006

Well it is back to realty today as the butler did not call us with breakfast this morning. This cruise was in celebration of our 25th wedding anniversary and I had decided since we never had a honeymoon that I wanted to do something special and booked the Owner's Suite 10506. What a great experience that was and I hope someday to be able to do it again. We really enjoyed the room and all the special things that come with an OS. Now that I am back I thought I would share some random thoughts on the cruise.

Claudio the concierge was/is excellent. He went out of his way to make this a special cruise for us and we appreciated all that he did, both small & large. Before getting off the ship yesterday we stayed in our room until 9:30, I called Claudio to let him know that we were ready to get off, he told us things were crazy and to wait 20 mins. and he would call us. Twenty minutes later we walked off the forward gang way and Claudio met us with our luggage and a porter which we chose to use. We walked straight out of the pier to our prearranged town car which was waiting right by the exit, another 20 mins. later we were at Newark airport, you got to love it.:D

Yesterday morning we got up early at 6:00 am to watch our sail into the harbor. The moon was mostly full, the sky hazy, as we silently cruise by the Statue of Liberty. At 7:00 our butler, Lucky, set up breakfast on the side balcony and we enjoyed the cool air and views across the harbor as we enjoyed that final breakfast. Our butler did an okay job but lacked any personality, he never made conversation or inquired about anything. He only did things when asked but nothing more. We had hoped for more having read of others experiences, but life is still good when with a phone call meals are delivered and setup for you.:)

The weather on this trip started out poorly thanks to Ernesto which had threatened us in FL before we left home and then followed us on this trip, but after the first day and half improved mostly for the remainder of the trip. We really were disappointed to have missed Martha's Vineyard but watching the waves crash into the shore line we understood. Being in an OS made a big difference that day and we enjoyed the extra time in the room and exploring the ship.

We found the food to be quite good although we never ate at the buffets or Blue Lagoon. We had breakfast in our room every morning except for one which we ate at the Venetian which we really enjoyed. The waitresses that we had in the Venetian on the 3 times we ate there were excellent. I always have noted how friendly the crews are on NCL compared to other lines I have sailed on. I enjoy talking with crew members and inquiring about their days and making sure to thank them for all they do for us.

The only real negative of the cruise was the poor service we received in Cagney's where we had a great meal but no service from our waiter. As a result of the lack of service we were not charged for the meal, but would have rather had good service and paid.

Port wise, we enjoyed the ports and I found the ship to be very prompt on their arrival times although that can't be said of US Immigration in Bar Harbor. In Halifax we arrived at 7:00 and thanks to Claudio I was off at 7:30 to meet a prearranged private tour guide who didn't show until 8:00 because the port people told him no one would be off before 8:00am:(

Had a great time there photographing Peggy's Cove and many small fishing villages. One problem at every port was there just was not enough time to do everything I would have liked to, we could have easily spent a week at each port :D

In Bar Harbor, I watched as we sailed into the port early in the morning. After anchoring the fog rolled in and you couldn't see anything. Immigration arrived late and then had another 30 min delay before they started processing everyone. According to the cruise director, Jimmy who was very frustrated, they were really scrutinizing everything and taking twice as long as normal. We did not have any pre-arranged tours and did not get on land until 10:45. We took a 2.5 hr Ollie Trolley tour on a school bus but due to the fog could not see many of the beauty views along the drive. Later in the afternoon the fog did lift and it turned out to be a beautiful day. We went back to the ship early at 2:30 and enjoyed lunch on the side balcony enjoying the fantastic view and cool breeze.

In Boston we did the ship arranged Duck Tour which I would not recommend. You end up spending most of your time on a motorcoach and a very brief time on a Duck. Would recommend arranging your own extended Duck tour directly with them. Also would recommend the trolley tours which allow you to get on and off as much as you want. We did walk the Freedom trail on our own and enjoyed the day until we caught a taxi for $12 back to the ship. We had the best weather in Boston that day and I over heard many of the locals commenting on how great the weather was.

In Newport we did the ship's Vanderbilt tour of the Marble house and the Breakers, definitely would recommend this tour, we enjoyed every minute of it. It is amazing that people in that day had such wealth to build these summer "homes". Again tendering was slow that day and there was a long line to return at 4:30 when we chose to return to the ship although the line did move fairly quick. The last tender back to the ship was suppose to be 5:30 but I know they were still running tenders at 6:00 and later. At 6:20 I had to leave the balconies where I was enjoying taking pictures and go in to get ready for dinner.

Overall, an excellent trip and one I will remember for a long long time. As a first time in an Owner's Suite, WOW what an experience. This was truly a special cruise for my wife and I and we really enjoyed it. Photography is my passion and I had plenty of subject matter to shoot and have over 3,000 photos to sort through and will post a view this week on my photo website at the link below.

angeljt · September 10, 2006

JPCruising,

Glad to hear you enjoyed our corner of the world. Sorry you missed MV since it is a beautiful island, but you can always return and spend more time there. Also happy you and your wife enjoyed the owner's suite. What a way to go, huh!!! I'll be looking forward to seeing your pics, so please let us know when you post them.

Welcome home....

Jackie

Smellytoes · September 10, 2006

JP: I'm also really glad you seemed to enjoy our little corner of the world. The day you were in Boston was indeed glorious as far as the weather went. My 17yo DS went to the movies this past weekend in downtown Boston (we live in Quincy which is just south of Boston, you can see the cruise ships from the top of my street) He and his friend jumped on a Duck tour outside the movie theatre. He came home and said "Mom, we went on this Duck Tour after the movie was over. It was better than some of the cruise tours we've been one" So maybe you are better off booking independently. (or not booking at all and just jumping on. lol)

powersl · September 11, 2006

AGain thanks for the review. We are scheduled for the duck tour. Now I'm rethinking it. Really looking forward to looking at your pictures. Our turn will be soon.

lil buddy · September 11, 2006

Reality bites.......we sure got used to the "suite life "( OS 9006 ) and had a great trip.

Most of what has been said here, I would agree with

Claudio is a gem but our butler Ramadhan was nothing to rave about.

My opinion of the " butler " service was a glorified waiter. We did use his services for breakfast several mornings but he did nothing more than the bare minimum of service, and without much personality.

The ports were great and we had a great lunch in every one of them, along with tours and shopping.

There definately was an older crowd on this cruise and the " sidewalks" got rolled up pretty early, nothing was ever crowded.

Meals in the Dining Room were not the greatest and most complaints we heard were about the food.

We ate in Impressions 2x, Cagneys, lLe Bistro, Teppanaki and Salsas twice. The food was very good in the speciality restaurants.

This was our 5th time on the Dawn and we have 2 more trips booked.

We are big fans of Freestyle and that makes up for any shortcomings.

All ships have their good and bad and my feeling is if the good outweighs the bad you have had a great trip.

To all of you going soon..have a ball, we sure did.

Barb

lil buddy · September 11, 2006