A HAL cruiser takes a ride on Dawn Princess

[pudgy]

Do you think cruise staff go on cruises for holidays?

[JotWorld]

Thanks so much for all your very well thought out comments & comparisons!:) (On the very detailed HAL thread & here.)

We will be spending 143 Days on the former R3, Pacific Princess in the next 365 Days, & I hope it still is close to your #1 rating for Rennaisance "R" ships of the past.:eek:

Thanks again for all your efforts!;)

Jot

[sunviking82]

Thanks for the review. Having sailed the Dawn during her ingural (sp?) season and the Sun and Dawn again in the past few years, their design is beginning to show their age.

 

I agree with the Pizziaria being transformed into Sabitinni's and maybe remove the underutilized disco with a Sterling Steakhouse. I would love to see Princess transform the Sun class ships to be bring in some of the features found on their Grand and Island class ships. If you like the size of the Dawn, but looking for some of the large ship features I recommend either the Island or Coral Princess. A wonderful design that provides a midsized ship feel with all (and I mean ALL) the features found on the Grand class ships.

 

Glad to see another Princess passenger who enjoyed their trip and will return. Welcome!

[dforeigner]

Thanks for the comparison type review. I am debating whether to use HAL or Princess for an Alaska tour/cruise type trip.

[jlp20]

On our Dawn trip last November, the inside joke before we left was how many were going to die from old age. 11 day round trip to Mexico from San Francisco.

 

Only two died on the ship itself, the third was removed from the ship with a heart attack in PV., so even if they died it was on shore.

[dakrewser]

Thanks for the review. Having sailed the Dawn during her ingural (sp?) season and the Sun and Dawn again in the past few years, their design is beginning to show their age.

 

I agree with the Pizziaria being transformed into Sabitinni's and maybe remove the underutilized disco with a Sterling Steakhouse. I would love to see Princess transform the Sun class ships to be bring in some of the features found on their Grand and Island class ships. If you like the size of the Dawn, but looking for some of the large ship features I recommend either the Island or Coral Princess. A wonderful design that provides a midsized ship feel with all (and I mean ALL) the features found on the Grand class ships.

 

Glad to see another Princess passenger who enjoyed their trip and will return. Welcome!

 

Actually we found the ship to be a good size - if there were a couple hundred fewer passengers :rolleyes:

 

But I do like your ideas about the pizzeria and Jammers space - both of which always seemed underutilized...

[debr]

Has anyone used Seven Corners travel insurance? It is on the list at "insuremytrip" and is reasonably priced. It is with Nationwide and has an A+ rating. If anyone has had any experience with this specific insurance I would love to hear from you.

 

Thank you

 

Debr

[JohnQ]

We have cruised on Statendam-Alaska, Summit-Alaska, Dawn Princess-Mex Riv, and Pride-Mex Riv. We thought the Dawn stood up very well compared to the others. Individual cruises and ships can vary from trip to trip, but we thought the Dawn and Statendam were very good. Inside and outside cabins on Dawn were much smaller than all the others which was not good. The service on HAL and Dawn were what made the cruise feel special. We were surprised at the Pride and how much we liked it---it wasn't the party central we expected. The Dawn's buffet area was the worst designed of all of them with several bottlenecks that caused backups.

 

The Summit was a bit of a disappointment. We spent more for that cruise, and while nothing about the ship, food, cabin was bad, the interaction with the officers, and the service did not match any of the others. Now the fact that we had mechanical problems on the Summit probably contributed to the fact that we never saw any officers out and about around the ship, no captain announcments all week and just lack of info about port times being shared with passengers. The decor seemed very bland and subdued, which I know many people prefer. Just nothing special to look at.

[dakrewser]

The Summit was a bit of a disappointment. We spent more for that cruise, and while nothing about the ship, food, cabin was bad, the interaction with the officers, and the service did not match any of the others. Now the fact that we had mechanical problems on the Summit probably contributed to the fact that we never saw any officers out and about around the ship, no captain announcments all week and just lack of info about port times being shared with passengers. The decor seemed very bland and subdued, which I know many people prefer. Just nothing special to look at.

 

That's the way we felt about the Infinity, too.

 

One surprise on the Dawn Princess (for a HAL cruiser) was never seeing a ship's officer in the dining room. On HAL ships, the executive officers eat with the passengers every night - not only at a "Captain's table" but throughout the dining room, wherever there might be an empty seat. Not only do you get to learn more about that ship, that line and cruising in general in an informal setting but they also get the kind of feedback that no survey card can ever hope to capture...

[TrojanJulez]

One surprise on the Dawn Princess (for a HAL cruiser) was never seeing a ship's officer in the dining room. On HAL ships, the executive officers eat with the passengers every night - not only at a "Captain's table" but throughout the dining room, wherever there might be an empty seat. Not only do you get to learn more about that ship, that line and cruising in general in an informal setting but they also get the kind of feedback that no survey card can ever hope to capture...

Wow, it would be very cool if they did this on Princess!

 

Thank you for the comparison - it is nice for us relatively new cruisers to learn this info! :)

[cruisemom42]

Thanks for the review. Having sailed the Dawn during her ingural (sp?) season and the Sun and Dawn again in the past few years, their design is beginning to show their age.

 

I agree with the Pizziaria being transformed into Sabitinni's and maybe remove the underutilized disco with a Sterling Steakhouse.

 

 

Please, please don't take the pizzeria away to make room for an "upcharge." Was it really underutilized? It always seemed packed on our Alaska cruise on Sea Princess a few years ago. The stuff they make onboard the Grand class ships is so variable -- good sometimes, really bad others. I would hate to see this institution go away!

 

(From a cruiser who fondly remembers the pizzerias on the Sitmar ships...)

[stanford's girl]

What a great review and comparision Dave!!:D

I like how you were totally fair about the 3 ships. :cool:

[dakrewser]

What a great review and comparision Dave!!:D

 

I like how you were totally fair about the 3 ships. :cool:

 

Fair, maybe. Objective? Could be. I think I'd rather it were simply labeled one man's opinion with no particular corporate ax to grind...:rolleyes:

 

cruisemom42: I wouldn't suggest removing La Scala - but, perhaps, moving it to the aft end of Horizon Court, where Sterling Steakhouse is now - and with outdoor seating!

[pavmar]

That's the way we felt about the Infinity, too.

 

One surprise on the Dawn Princess (for a HAL cruiser) was never seeing a ship's officer in the dining room. On HAL ships, the executive officers eat with the passengers every night - not only at a "Captain's table" but throughout the dining room, wherever there might be an empty seat. Not only do you get to learn more about that ship, that line and cruising in general in an informal setting but they also get the kind of feedback that no survey card can ever hope to capture...

 

The captain on our cruise (Dawn 2/16) Tony Draper, did indeed eat among the passengers. I saw him in the buffet area a couple of times. Other executive officers were also seen in the some of other restaurants as well. I saw them out and about more when the ship was docked for the day.