Dawn New England Cruise

[nderoche]

Just got back from our first cruise on Dawn. Leaving out of New York was a bit of a hassel but not as bad as I thought. We arrived at the ship at about 11 am and were on board by 12. Very helpful people and lots of them available to help. When we got on board we went to our cabin (11052), we didn't wait for someone to show us because we did our home work and knew right where it was. We did kind of break the rules as the signs on the hallway doors said our rooms would not be ready until 2. All the doors were open and we could see the difference between the suites and the mini suites. We met our Cabin Steward Eduardo and he was terrific for all the cruise. He called us by name every time we saw him. We gave him a tip before and after the cruise, like many people have suggested on this site, and it pays off. Our room was very clean and the turn down service was an added delight.

We tried the pay for use restuarants and enjoyed them but found the same menu items at the free places, so maybe next time we will spend more time looking at menus and saving our money for shopping. Cagney's Steakhouse was the best one we tried. Great relaxing piano music while you dined and wonderful food. I must say though the Bamboo and all you can eat Shushi for 10 bucks is a bargin and we got our moneys worth!! The bars are nice and we tried many of them but found the price a bit steep. We got a bar setup for our room and I found this to be delightful; sitting on our balcony having a drink and talking with our neighbors about the day. The bar setup is difficult to get and there is not much information on it from NCL. We wrote to the name of the ship plus ncl.com (dawn@ncl.com) and Yulexi Perez, the ship co-

ordinator for the Dawn, wrote us right back, she is wonderfully helpful.

We were disappointed that we could not get off the ship at Martha's Vineyard due to weather but all the other Ports were wonderful. Our favorite was Bar Harbor and Newport a close second. We chose to rent a car in Bar Harbor and see the sights. We had to take a cab to the Airport to get the car but we were able to cover all of Mt. Dessert Island and had lunch at Southwest Harbor; great clam chowder!! Don't miss the drive along Seargent Drive, see all the mansions, maybe even Martha Stewart's, and see the only true fjord in North America. Very beautiful. We saw nearly all of the island and not just the park and Bar Harbor. Highly recommended. If you don't see the summit of Cadillac Mountain, you've missed the best sight of the entire cruise.

Lessons learned. We will never book another cruise without a balcony. We had a mini-suite and felt it was well worth the money. We will always get the bar setup (there was all kinds of alcohol in the fridge but we didn't want to pay the price). We will always read as many reviews as possible because we learned so much from doing so. Shore excursions were kind of hit or miss. The descriptions all sound wonderful, but in fact, some were not that great. In Newport, Beechwood Estate (the Astor mansion) is wonderful. Actors dressed up as real people from the past who escorted you through the mansion was fun and informative too. Not to be missed. We also went to a wonderful Irish pub named Celtica near the Newport Yacht Club that was lots of fun with great and friendly people.

We are retired and plan to do this a lot so getting as much knowledge before you go is important. We enjoyed this cruise so well that we booked another one in March from New Orleans to the Western Carribean onboard and saved some money. We were greatly impressed with NCL after experiencing other cruise lines.

[CTBob]

Thanks for the informative review of your cruise. We are booked in a mini-suite on the Dawn for the December 7th sailing. I was thinking about the bar setup, so thanks for that bit of info. How did you like being on deck 11? I am somewhat concerned that it's a long way to the restaurants and some of the other public areas. In Newport at the Beechwood we attended a Christmas showing where we were treated as friends and family members returning home for the holidays. They served us cider and snacks and we even danced with the actors and they always stayed in character, it was delightful. We were recently in Bar Harbor for a wedding and loved it too.

 

Bob

[roxette]

Good review, thanks for sharing your experience.

I have a question for you, which is a bit OT, did you get a confirmation mail for the bar set up? I haven't recieved one yet. Do they send one at all?

 

Thanks.

[HappyHounds]

We just returned from our first cruise, also on the Dawn. We left 9/23, and returned 9/30. We had one day of rough seas, but the rest were not too bad.

 

We were in Room 11022, and really enjoyed it. Like you, we were hooked on the balcony. We had breakfast out there every morning, and spent quite a bit of time out there in the evenings, and on our "at sea" day.

 

We were somewhat disappointed at the shore excursions....there was so little time in some locations (1 hr in Peggy's Cove, 15 minutes on Cadillac Mt).

 

Most of our meals were at the up-charge restaurants. We thought Cagney's and Le Bistro were the best.

 

All in all, we had a great time, and are looking forward to our next cruise....we are thinking Alaska.

[Dolphins]

Our daughter and her husband just returned from the same cruise. It was their first cruise and they are now hooked on NCL. They just loved the Dawn, a ship we recommended to them. We look forward to boarding the Dawn again in January for our 5th winter getaway on this beautiful ship. We will miss the DAwn when she leaves New York.

[nderoche]

Hello, We liked Deck 11. We were under the reading room so it was very quiet. The Garden buffet is up one deck on 12 so it's very close. We like to walk so found deck 11 great. You will learn which elevators to choose by the activity going on. When it's in the bow we walked to the back.

Have fun!!

[nderoche]

Roxette: We did not get a confirmation as we did the bar setup at the last moment. We did ask if our credit card worked. They wrote back and said everything was ordered.