Dawn 4/27/08 Our Last Cruise on Princess...

[ccrain]

...as Platinum...we are now ELITE! (Gotcha)

 

This was a superb cruise and brought together the four most important elements we like in a cruise:

 

Interaction with Princess Personnel

 

Great Food

 

Great Service

 

A LOT of FUN

 

This was our third cruise on the Dawn, the first being in 2005, and we’ve always been impressed by her staff.

 

Since this was probably the last time the Dawn will ever do the Mexican Riviera, we’ll just concentrate on those aspects that might help the Alaska Dawn cruisers this year.

 

Princess People:

 

Sr Asst CD Jen, who started us on our ballroom dancing hobby on the Dawn a little over two years ago, has really changed from her spilling the drink of the day a couple of years ago on the morning show and playing the “dumb blonde” to Neal Chandler. (The dumb blonde roll on this cruise went to Gavin Chandler – and yes I told him that during our cruise critic “gossip” exchange session between shows.) She’s still teaching ballroom the way we like it taught, simple and fun. A delight to sit and talk to and have a drink with.

 

Genardo, our dinner waiter in Anytime Dining, whom we met on the Dawn in 2005, remembered us and Judy’s allergy to Mayo, made dining an absolute pleasure. His diligent scanning of the menu and checking each ingredient, bringing special non-mayo contaminated dressings or sauces to our table, remembering each and every preference and of course his “sound effects” as he brandishes the dish, drink, sauce or pepper mill were to die for.

 

Princie, one of the drink waiters in the wheelhouse, whom we met on the Island in 2006 in Alaska. He made sure we had superb service from everyone in the Wheelhouse Bar, from keeping our water glasses full at all times, to sneaking honey roasted peanuts from Crooners for us, he made the Wheelhouse our most favorite hangout of the cruise. He’s a recent father, with a 1 and a ½ month old back home.

 

Luigi, the maître de, we know from both previous Dawn cruises is the consummate professional maître de. Formal and proper, almost stiff, until you see the little smile every now and then, as he quickly assumes the proper role. During Chef’s table he opened up a lot and is very personable, but totally dedicated to his people and his job. He’s very proud of his people and rightfully so. Service was second to none in the dining room and in the horizon court.

 

Marlon our room steward was probably the most perfect room steward we have ever had. We requested an eggcrate mattress, two patters, extra towels and robes on day 1 and never had to look back or ask anything again. I swear we’d walk down the hallway to breakfast, forget something, go back and find the room cleaned in the intervening 2 minutes with Marlon nowhere in sight. Oh and BTW, the Sun Class BB category balcony bathrooms are larger than the BB category bathrooms on the Coral and Island! You can’t simply soap the walls and spin!

 

Executive Chef Thomas Ulrich was an absolute pleasure to meet and talk to. We actually met him on Day One in the Horizon Court. He is the first executive chef we have ever seen in the Horizon Court, not once, but almost every day on multiple occasions – even checking out the grill on occasion. He seemed quite surprised that we knew of him, from Cruise Critic of course, and of his recent appointment to the Dawn. The food in the dining room and the HC, while not perfect, was a top notch. Even the lunch buffet food, my least favorite, had some extremely tasty dishes.

 

Great Food

 

Chef’s table is NOT TO BE MISSED. For $150 we got a 7 course meal, personally escorted tours of the galley, all the premium wine (3 types) you can drink, all you can eat, a photo of you and Chef Ulrich, a rose and an autographed copy of the Princess cookbook – plus the envious stares of all the other passengers in the dining room! That’s at least $100 worth of goodies to go with your fantastic meal, plus dinner conversation with the Executive Chef himself – a real treat!

 

Great Service

 

Even service in the HC was much improved. Drink carts were plentiful with coffee, OJ, milk and tea. Responses to requests were quick, efficient and courteous.

 

Bar Service is where we really noticed the difference, even on the open decks. Our requests for water and “free” sodas were promptly filled with no hesitation.

 

Lots of FUN!

 

This was our dance cruise. We danced before dinner, after dinner, after shows. We line, ballroom, Latin and discoed the entire cruise. We simply had a blast!

 

The Negatives

 

Sure there were a few.

 

The number one negative was the music. The Wheelhouse duo band (“Lucky Duo”) was very good for a large variety of dance music. The Sea Monkeys, on the other hand, were not. On the Island in February a Salsa band was trying to do classic ballroom with little success. On this cruise the Sea Monkeys were a rock and roll band trying to do classical ballroom with equally little success. The only way, the only way, I could dance to their music was if the drummer was keeping up the beat. I certainly couldn’t dance to the vocals.

 

Drink Prices – Drink prices have skyrocketed. In February a Long Island Iced Tea, small being the only size available, was $4.95. Its now $5.75. I didn’t know it contained fuel oil as well! All drink prices seem to have increased by 15-20% since February.

[pwandersen]

You can always fly up here to take the Dawn to Alaska this summer or fall. I'm looking forward to tomorrow. After reading your post, first thing will be to check the size of the shower!

[dforeigner]

Thank you for taking time to write a review. Regarding the increase in prices. Everything has gone up in prices. The fact that Princess had to return some fuel surcharges means that the cost was probably added elsewhere. The food and beverage department is probably the one that took the hit.

[want2cruiseagain]

We so enjoyed our cruise on the Dawn and are thinking of "catching" up with her in Alaska before she goes to the South Pacific until 2010!!!

 

Loved this ship and all her glory!!!! Wish there were more like her.

[kobecat]

We so enjoyed our cruise on the Dawn and are thinking of "catching" up with her in Alaska before she goes to the South Pacific until 2010!!!

 

Loved this ship and all her glory!!!! Wish there were more like her.

 

I just love reading these reviews - we are on the Dawn repositioning bringing her down under on 24 September - can't wait.

 

Cheers

 

Beryl

[cruiseryyc]

Dawn is my favorite ship and I have fond memories of being on her maiden voyage. Going to miss her.