Dawn Review - 4/27/08 to Bermuda

[Bronx Blondie's Hubby]

My wife and I were on the 4/27/08 sailing.

 

This was our first cruise since 2002 and our first w/NCL.

 

We loved it.

 

To embark, we waited on a line. Big deal! We were so excited to get away, that this only added to the excitement.

 

We were greeted w/champagne and someone escorted us to our cabin. That was nice!

 

We ate lunch and then went out on deck as the ship departed. We took pictures, stretched our legs and had martinis (Lyn a Cosmo, mine up, vodka, no vermouth - vodka shaken; lol). We saw the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and stared at the underneath of the Verrazanno Bridge.

 

We relaxed. We slept. No work stress, no pressure; no phone calls, no emails; our 3 sons existed for the week without us.

 

We saw shows; some we liked, some we didn't. But we had fun!

 

Some of our meals were superb, some were good, some stunk:). We remembered what we didn't like and didn't order it again. We found better food the next time (we remember things like that;))

 

We hung out at the bars; we enjoyed Stacy McAdams at Gatsby's. We wandered the ship and met new friends. We went to the martini tasting. Now that was fun also!

 

We wandered Bermuda for 3 days. We shopped, we ate, we took pictures, we explored. My wife loved the pastel colored homes and was impressed w/the Island. And again, we had fun!

 

Was everthing exactly to our liking? Of course not. But we adapted and we adjusted. We did those things we liked and didn't do the things we didn't. We ate what we liked and if we had something we didn't, so be it. We reordered.

 

The crew were generally friendly and nice. Were there some sour pusses? Of course. We found the nice waiters/waitresses and asked for them when we went back to those restaurants. We went back to the bars where the bartenders were friendly and nice. And one thing I learned, boy do they all work hard. We tried to be generous when we could.

 

Our room was neat and clean. It was cleaned every day, and to tell you the truth, I really don't remember how how many or what type of towel animals we got. As long as they weren't rats or roaches:p.

 

Bottom line; A vacation is what you make it! And we (along w/NCL's help) made it a vacation to remember.

 

Steve & Lynda

[watchdiva]

I'll cruise with you two anytime:D - what a great attitude and a great review.

[Hunter2]

Nicely stated. I agree on the cruise being what you make of it, you will never love everything and just remember you on vacation to have fun and relax. Enjoy!

[brokenarrowhd]

You stated a few times you had fun. When it comes right down to it that's what a vacation should be. Great attitude!

[gja360]

A vacation is what you make of it! Glad to hear you had a great time!!

 

I am looking forward to my first NCL cruise in a few weeks!!! :D

[Bronx Blondie's Hubby]

Lyn and I were very thankful that we were able to take a vacation like this.

 

We know that there are a great many people (especially now) that cannot take a vacation like this.

 

We are both hard working adults w/3 sons that we have either put through or are now putting them though college.

 

Before we went, I read all the Dawn reviews. I read all the negatives and all the positives.

 

I noted what pissed people off and tried to recognize (at least from my perspective) what were valid complaints and what were persnickity and nit picking.

 

We took all the useful comments and we devised a gameplan for our cruise.

 

And boy, did that gameplan deliver.

 

Steve

[herb]

Glad to hear you had such a good time. Reading reviews such as yours makes us more and more confident that we made a good choice for our upcoming cruise :D

[Bronx Blondie's Hubby]

Glad to hear you had such a good time. Reading reviews such as yours makes us more and more confident that we made a good choice for our upcoming cruise :D

 

Herb,

 

IMHO, you have made a wise choice.

 

In ship this big, w/what?, 1,500 + guests, there will be a wide swing in tastes & expectations.

 

For food, some will expect a gastromical experience; Tony caliber shows, & Grammy award winning vocals. We soon learned where (& how) to eat; what shows we knew would entertain us; and after a few martini's all the singers sounded like Sinatra:D .

 

The ship is clean, well appointed, colorful, and nice to look at.

 

Once Lyn & I went to the movie on the ship. We are not bingo type people, so we did not partake. We walked the decks, we read; we drank before 5PM (lol).

 

The key to enjoying this experience is to look at all the choices and find the things that you enjoy doing; and sometimes the best things to do aren't even on the Freestyle Daily Bulletin;)

 

Steve

[Terrafreaky]

:) Great review! That sounds much like my plan for our upcoming cruise.

[Carnac767]

Great review--my kind of cruisers. Thanks for taking the time.

[Sailaway Girl]

We were on that cruise with you and agree with you 100%. We too had fun, ate drank, slept, read, toured and enjoyed. A vacation is what you make it and we made it great for each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for the great review.