Live From the Dawn...

[Deb&GarySD]

Yes, Cruiserforlife, we are still following your cruise reports. It sounds like you're having a wonderful time. We're just chillin' in lots of Lake Michigan's lake effect snow awaiting our turn. Glad to hear you can enjoy your room now that the noise is gone. We will let them know right away if we hear it. I am also a big sorbet fan, so after reading your reviews, I'll be trying it every chance I get!

[cruiserforlife]

CFL,

I'm enjoying the daily logs of the cruise - especially the menu reports. I'm going to be totally bummed :( if tonight's (Acapulco) menu features my Princess favorite Rack of Lamb. We've had dinner reservations at El Olvido since July for our January 30 port call. Guess I'll have to flirt with a Head Waiter and have them prepare the lamb for me another night :D , or maybe I can get leftovers in Horizon Court in the wee hours? :p

 

Enjoy your day in Acapulco.

Chris

 

No sign of rack of lamb tonight chris,leg of lamb last night in International,deer (that's how they have it worded) is on the menu tonight...

 

CFL

[cruzinchris]

No sign of rack of lamb tonight chris,leg of lamb last night in International,deer (that's how they have it worded) is on the menu tonight... CFL

 

Deer? I don't do deer but DH might enjoy it; think I'll forego the "Rudolf" :D . By hook or by crook, I will find a way to satisfy my craving for that incredible Princess Rack of Lamb! ;) Leg of lamb is nice, too.

Chris

[calikak]

Thanks for taking the time to post! I hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise!

[ccrain]

Anchored off Zitwatasomething or another. Only a short day so we won't be going ashore. We probably could have had we planned better, but most of the ship is not getting off, so there is no waiting for tenders. Unfortunately, we didn't get up in time to catch the early tenders and once we realized how light the load was, it was too late to change plans with a 1300 last tender return.

 

Last night was the Princess menu. Judy had the spaghetti, I had the swordfish. Both were very good. We ate lightly so we could have our favorite dessert - vanilla ice cream with a shot of Bailey's. Amazingly enough, both the waiter and assistant waiter had never heard of this before. Maybe we'll start a trend.

 

Since we didn't leave Acapulco until 10pm, no real big entertainment, but Judy and I did waste 2.25 hours of our life watching Pirates of the Caribbean, Dead Man's Chest. Especially with that kind of a non-ending. We should have went dancing instead.

 

The sailaway from Acapulco was very nice with a slight breeze and cooler temperatures. Met up with CFL, we seem to be running into each other a lot, and got the premier sailaway spot on the rear of the ship to see the lights of Acapulco as we sailed out.

 

Tonight is Italian night, but we tried our reservation at 8:15 and our favorite lady was all booked up. Oh well, back to the cattle line tonight. Eggplant parmegan, mmmmm can't wait.

 

Later...

[cruzinchris]

Ccrain,

Did the ship actually leave Acapulco at 10PM? Our January 25 itinerary shows arrival 8AM, departure 11PM.

 

Thanks for mentioning the menus for each night. I printed copies of menus for the Dawn that I found on CruiseClues for a 10-night voyage. I guess there'll be at least one menu that I can't see beforehand :D ! So, far, the entrees that have been reported here are similar to those on the menus that I'm referencing. DH and I want to eat in LaScala a couple of times and would do so when the dining room menu isn't particularly appealing.

 

We're not planning to disembark at Ixtapa or Mazatlan.

 

Thanks again for your continued daily reports. I'll be sailing on the Dawn in just 49 days!

Chris

[cruiserforlife]

Nice weather today,still hot and humid but no where as hot as it was yesterday.I'm telling you,if you weren't sipping an ice cold drink,you were sweating.:eek:

We did set sail at right around 10:30-11PM last night.

 

I had both the chicken and the spicy shrimp last night and they were both excellent.No desserts last night but they did have a souffle to offer.

 

Just had a drink with Charles & Judy,they have informed me Neil our CD has arranged a CC party...he'll fill everyone in on the details as we learn more.

 

Off to the pool and the sweet music....

 

CFL

[ccrain]

Ccrain,

Did the ship actually leave Acapulco at 10PM? Our January 25 itinerary shows arrival 8AM, departure 11PM.

 

Thanks for mentioning the menus for each night. I printed copies of menus for the Dawn that I found on CruiseClues for a 10-night voyage. I guess there'll be at least one menu that I can't see beforehand :D ! So, far, the entrees that have been reported here are similar to those on the menus that I'm referencing. DH and I want to eat in LaScala a couple of times and would do so when the dining room menu isn't particularly appealing.

 

We're not planning to disembark at Ixtapa or Mazatlan.

 

Thanks again for your continued daily reports. I'll be sailing on the Dawn in just 49 days!

Chris

 

Yep, left very late. A long day, I suspect for those people who want to eat ashore. It was quiet in the dining room for sure.

 

The menu structure is pretty standard, not many changes over the years. A few items here and then that are pretty tasty.

 

Tonight is Italian night - our favorite. Then its country western hoe down night with lots of line dancing. Busy, busy night. We will have dinner early, then the Comedy act (Steve Smith), then country western night in the wheelhouse and country line dancing in jammers. We'll see how long we can stand the smoke.

 

We did have a chance to chat with Neil for a bit. Wonderful CD, nice guy. We sat in on the Entertainment Tonight taping and our applause got into the broadcast.

 

Tomorrow is PV with nothing planned. We've seen the WalMart up close, getting to it is such a challenge on foot - hey its a walmart. So we'll enjoy the solitude of the ship once again. This is one very relaxing cruise and a real blast.

 

Later...

[regnig]

Anchored off Zitwatasomething or another.

...

 

LOL

 

Actually when we stopped there several years ago it was one of our favorites. At that time it was just a sleepy fishing village and the people, with perhaps the exception of a few young boys selling their "sisters", were very non-pushy and pleasant.

[SueCruz]

In the lounge/theatre and in the room?

[Cruisin Sal]

We are on Caribe deck. When we first sailed from SF we had a grinding noise in our cabin, day and night. We had that fixed. On arrival in Zihuatanejo we were awakened at 6am as they lowered the tender below us. After we sailed the grinding noise began again, so off to the pursers office to have it stopped. I guess we will have to do the same thing after we leave Cabo. If you are on this deck, be warned.

I don't like to make negative comments, but I am really mad at the policy of the laundermats. They are closed more than they are open (they say cleaning, but every day?) The time is also incorrect ( 7am when it opens at 8am) As there are only 2 washers and dryers on each deck it is difficult to get in unless you want to spend your time there and wait. We are Elite and have most of our laundry done free but I like to do some things myself. Other than that we can't complain.

 

Sally

[ccrain]

Now last night was what I've been waiting for since June. While we did not get our requested table calling in, we asked for it at the desk and got it anyway. So Italian night, fantastic wait staff, bottle of wine...

 

Eggplant parmegian, two orders (I skipped lunch - good thing). This was about as good as eggplant parmegian gets. Skipped the soup, salad was standard with the sun dried tomato vinagarette, with mayo of course. Judy had the fettucine and the minestrone, both excellent. We did have a bottle of chianti with dinner as well that was partly courtesy of our TA and very good. Judy has the tiger prawns over rice and I had the pork tenderloin. Both excellent as well.

 

But the highlight of the meal was the pasta cooked by the head waiter. Oh, now that was good. I had two plates instead of soup and Judy had the pasta instead of dessert. It was that good.

 

My dessert was the multi flavored ice cream cake, with the two gellatos on the side. Much smoother and creamier than regular ice cream. Judy had more pasta.

 

After dinner we went to Steve Smith's show. Very funny stand up. Talked a lot about the cruise and events on the cruise.

 

We hotfooted it to the wheelhouse where country western night was taking place. Line dancing, cotton eyed joe, texas two step, tennessee waltz, bang bang contest, lots of fun. After that we went down to jammer's where the smokers were few, so we were able to stay until the line dancing was over - first time ever on a sun class ship.

 

In summary, one of those absolutely perfectly enjoyable evening on board.

 

This morning is PV. Nothing planned except chilling out until the fiesta deck party tonight and a mexican buffet at 1130. Its going to be a another late night.

 

We did get a call back from the tour desk. Water temps in Cabo are 70-75. A little chilly for snorkeling, so we will forgo the snorkeling and enjoy the ship.

[ccrain]

In the lounge/theatre and in the room?

 

Theatre movies in the Princess theatre include Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Cars, The Da Vinci code, Prarie Home Companion.

 

Movies on the tube are basically a lot, but they show 3-6 per day and change every day. You have to look at the card in your stateroom. TNT also shows a lot of movies as well.

[ccrain]

For everyone curious about the Sun class, here's a few words about it. (We've been on all 4 suns and twice on the Dawn now.) The main amenities I miss are the covered pool with the current machine and a third lounge like the Explorer's lounge on the Grand and Coral class.

 

Yes, the balcony rooms are the smallest in the fleet, and the balconies are small as well, but except for the hole in the side of the ship (Caribe deck has smaller openings than Aloha and Baja) and a few QUAD cabins, THEY ARE PRETTY MUCH IDENTICAL. Thus you don't have the extensive and exhaustive research because of variability. They are all fully enclosed, so no looking at Tom O's excellent website on the Coral to see whether or not the balcony is covered, uncovered or half covered. You can book a BF GTY and get upgraded to a BA and really only get a different deck closer to the elevator.

 

For an 11 day cruise, we did not fill up all the spaces in the storage area and probably could easily fit in a couple of extra days. It is a little tight, but not too bad.

 

The Sun class is very easy to navigate. There's really only one hidden relatively unused deck aft on Aloha. The nooks and crannies are pretty obvious, but everything is on the Promenade deck (theatre, Vista lounge, jammers, atrium) with other venues easily accessible from the promenade and the exterior deck wraps completely around the ship, and is the widest in the fleet. I still haven't figured out where all the people go. There are over 3000 on this ship (crew and passengers) and while there are crowds at certain places and certain times, for the most part the ship is very comfortable.

 

The Sun class has the little pizza place at the top of the atrium on deck 8. La Scala's on the Dawn, Verdi's on the Sun, it is a very good place to have a perfectly cooked fresh pizza at no additional charge.

 

For those of you hesitant to book the Sun's because of their class age, keep in mind they were the largest cruise ship of their time. They have been exceptionally maintained. They will have fewer amenities than the Grands and the Corals, but they will have less crowding as well.

 

The Coral class remains our favorite because of those extra amenities, but the sun class is a close second for us. Not only that, but it can go through the Panama canal.

[ccrain]

Last night Judy and I had to stand in the pond scum line - those without reservations in PC dining. (Here on the Dawn, they let the people who have reservations go in first. Then they allow the standard PC dining people go in.)This amounts to a 5-10 minute before you can actually shove food down your mouth, since of course, its been at least an hour since your last meal.

 

This delay brought out the mob mentality in some of the people behind us. You'd have thought these people were being denied their last meal. "That's not fair...I'm going to talk to the Matre' De'...All those people can't have reservations...We couldn't make reservations because we were golfing..."

 

There was this little old lady that, on several occasions, was visibly impatient with Judy and I. We arrived a bit early and was at the front of the line. We refused to block the door and had backed off to avoid the swing and clear the area. This lady noticed the additional 18" of space between us and the door and was tempted, on a couple of occassions, to attempt to go around us. Needless to stay, as she looked up the 24" to my disapproving stare, she thought the better of it.

 

This was not the first time we overheard the hostile remarks from the non-reservation line. One lady was heard to note that she had made reservations on this cruise over 6 months ago, and now she had to stand in line to eat.

 

Ok folks, lets look at this more closely. It is a physical impossiblity to feed 1900+ people simultaneously. Someone will have to wait...always. Verbally berating these poor waiters and assistant waiters is not only uncalled for, its probably a waste of oxygen since they probably don't understand, or care to, a word you're saying. An finally, you are only making a fool out of yourself and you are not impressing anyone in the general area.

 

As I told the Matre' De as we approached his station - A table for two please and if not available a table for four, first available, but please, not with the couple behind us...

[regnig]

This delay brought out the mob mentality in some of the people behind us. You'd have thought these people were being denied their last meal. "That's not fair...I'm going to talk to the Matre' De'...All those people can't have reservations...We couldn't make reservations because we were golfing..."

..............................

As I told the Matre' De as we approached his station - A table for two please and if not available a table for four, first available, but please, not with the couple behind us...

 

I feel your pain! :eek:

[cruiserforlife]

I hear you Charles on the complainers...they seem to be everywhere at times.

 

I for the life of me cannot understand where these people's manners are sometimes...does setting foot on a cruiseship automatically give you the right to berate the staff?I try not to get caught up in the drama since I am after all...on vacation...but it still never ceases to amaze me.

 

I have also witnessed where the "new" smart casual dress code to some people means t-shirts and jeans.Now I ask you...how hard is it to put on a collared shirt and a pair of pants...other than jeans...for dinner?Is that really asking too much?I personally feel Princess should enforce the dining room dress code.Ok...off the soap box for now.

 

Took the $3/pp cab ride over to the boardwalk in PV and although we were approached by many to buy little trinkets or timeshares,it was still a very pleasant experience which I am glad we did.

 

Cruising Sal is right about the noises since we are on the same deck as her.Hopefully Princess will get it right...finally.

 

Have run into several of our CC members onboard which is always nice...almost like cruising with friends & family.

 

Talk to everyone later,

 

CFL

[Carol C]

CFL is that what most of the men are wearing on smart casual night, I hope to hear that most are wearing slacks and a polo style shirt? Or are they going dress shirts, jacket? Thanks for the help. Packing RIGHT NOW!

 

Carol

[ccrain]

CFL is that what most of the men are wearing on smart casual night, I hope to hear that most are wearing slacks and a polo style shirt? Or are they going dress shirts, jacket? Thanks for the help. Packing RIGHT NOW!

 

Carol

 

Carol,

 

There are over 400 golfers on this cruise,as witnessed by the parade coming back to the ship into Acapulco...a hilarious procession of husbands and wives with their golf bags of all shaps and sizes, in all manner of carrying...some husands carrying their wive's bag, some wives carrying their husbands, some manly men carrying both and then the various couples who were arguing over how to carry and where to carry.

 

Looked like a Benny Hill skit.

 

That said, the most prevalent evening casual attire is slacks and golf shirts.

 

Lots of slacks and polo shirts, some slacks and collared shirts, a scattering of suits and ties or just shirts and ties + slacks of course - Judy is looking over my shoulder correcting my points as I type.

 

They are not allowing seating by people with shorts. Period. Haven't seen anyone with tanks in the dining room, but have not seen anyone rejected with a tank on, whereas we've seen several short wearers sent back to their cabin.

 

The bottom line? Anything with cloth to the feet and a collar around the neck should be just fine. The variety is so large, only the occasional nudists stand out...just kidding.

[cruzinchris]

Ccrain and CFL,

I am enjoying both of your daily reports from the Dawn. I am beginning to get a very good feel for the ship and its clientele. Really looking forward to our first cruise on a "sun" class ship - this will be our 7th with Princess but we've only been on "grand" class vessels to date.

 

Thanks for the heads up about the "pond scum" :eek: line for anytime dining. We won't mind a short wait for our table for two; we'll just head to the nearest lounge for a glass of wine :) .

 

You've already answered one of the questions I was going to ask. I wondered if there was some type of Mexican-themed late night party (like island night on Caribbean voyages). The "Fiesta" sounds like great fun, and we'll look forward to it after our cooking class excursion in PV. Please let us know if you hear any reports about this Princess tour.

 

We'll be on Caribe deck and hope we're not bothered by the noise from tenders being lowered. Well, DH probably wouldn't be bothered by it :rolleyes: but I might be.

 

Thanks, again, for taking the time to share your cruise experience with others here at CC. Enjoy your evening!

Chris

[Bonnie-Jean]

Thanks for your many posts...................you two are the greatest

 

How is the library? Mainly the selection of books? New titles?

 

We will be on the March 21st sailing and am curious as my DH expects me to pack light (funny) and reading is how I plan to relax...

 

Bonnie

[Nancyquilts]

This is a great ship and cruise. You all will love it.

The library has improved greatly since last spring - they've bought quite a few new books, and there is always something of interest to read (tho' mostly from authors I've never heard of).

We had the Mexican Folklorico show this afternoon - you know, the one which usually has cute Mexican children dancing to Mexican music and beautiful costumes on the adults? Well, this was quite weird. There were three men (fully dressed) and four women (who wore less than the ship's dancers). The first dance was a samba from Brazil, followed by something from Argentina, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, etc. As they all seemed to be the same, and as I only stayed through the first half hour, I never saw if there was anything from Mexico.

We like the cruise director, Neil, but some of the "entertainment" is not as good as we expect from Princess - I guess they are cutting costs. This is the 2nd night in the last three that there has been no new live entertainment - just repeats that were seen the night before, or movies. We have some good library books to read, tho'.

It's been quite warm (read hot) since the first two days. The pool is cool, and feels great - I guess the temperatures average out.

It looks like PV is building two new pier areas for ships so that no one will have to tender soon (no, we didin't, but have done so in the past). Nancy

[Cruisin Sal]

Yesterday was a crew drill. The tenders on our side were lowered so we had noise all day. After we sailed it took several phone calls before it was stopped. I expect the same today as we tender at Cabo San Lucas.

The Folkloric show had no dances from Mexico. Only scanty clad girls with long legs! The beef at dinner was to die for.

Sally

[sheila77]

CFL

Do you know if the Scrapbooking@Sea program is available on the Dawn? Just curious since I will be onboard April, 2007. Glad to hear you are enjoying your cruise.

[ccrain]

John and Raina (CFL) are off snorkeling in Cabo, so I'll do the morning update for both of us.

 

Last night was the candlelight menu, no new live shows and then the Mexican Fiesta Deck party. A couple of movies were playing in the Theatre.

 

The menu was pretty good, one of those Princess has created for longer cruises, not one of the standard 7-day menus. Judy had the Mahi-Mahi and I had the Chateau Bri-something french. Very tasty and perfectly cooked. One of the head waiters cooked cherried jubilee. Added to vanilla ice cream and it was a perfect meal.

 

Very good attendance at the deck party, lots of dancing, games (which to my horror I got roped into one), and Raina dancing on the stage. For the first time we actually had a line dancing class that taught us the party dances that we did last night. Finally we could look like we at least were trying rather than complete idiots.

 

On top of that, our ball room dance class concentrated on the Merengue, (We're still not comfortable with the salsa or the cha, cha, cha.) but we finaly got to use our lessons with a live band. Now that was fun.

 

The Mexican Buffet was a BIG disappointment, unless we missed something. Two items, chicken fajitas and bean quesidillas, plus chips, salsa and guacomole do not make a Mexican Buffet. They hardly even make a meal. We missed this last year and they made such a big deal out of it we thought it would be something to not miss. Oh well, we won't get our hopes up next time.

 

A couple of comparison points - the cruise critic group on the April 05 Sun cruise got Smilin_Bob elected Mr. Sun Princess - alas, our candidate, CFL, went to bed early so there was no opportunity for a repeat here. The congo line on the Sun was hundreds of people, barely had a couple of dozen on this cruise. Maybe its the Caribbean rum that makes the difference.

 

Its sunny, clear and beautiful here in Cabo. We're the first ship in and are anchored pretty close to the point. We can hear the sea lions barking. There are using ship and shore tenders here. First color was called about 9:15.

 

We plan to enjoy the ship, do some swimming and hot tubbing, and just relax. Can't believe how fast this cruise is going.

 

Oh BTW, we did the CFL thing and slipped our cabin steward Jack a $20 on the first day. Ever since we have had impeccable service. Any request instantly filled, as soon as the blue sign goes up on our door, he cleans our room. Simply one of the best we've ever had.

 

Will post later....