Dawn Princess for honeymoon?

[jess98ac]

I'm getting married in September and we're considering the 10 day Mexican itinerary out of San Francisco on the Dawn for our honeymoon. We've done Eastern and Western Caribbean on Carnival before...any comparisons? Will we be "too young" for Princess? Since we haven't sailed Princess before we're not sure what to expect. We'll be 29 and 30 at the time.

Thanks!!

 

Jess

[Coral]

I am 34 and have been sailing Princess for 6 years - I don't think you are "too young" for Princess.

 

I have done a 10 day out of LA to Mexico and though I am glad I did it, the Mexican Riveria does not compare to the Caribbean and I probably would not go again. If I was to choose a honeymoon spot - having been there, this would not be my choice.

 

The Dawn Princess is a great ship.

[jess98ac]

Coral,

 

Thanks! We love the Caribbean, but since it's September we figured it would be best to avoid it. The way this hurricane season was down there, I don't want to chance it!!

 

Jess

[kkorman]

I'm 29 and have been on 10 Princess cruises and they are always the first I look at. I love the Dawn as well.

 

Mexican Riviera is very different than the Caribbean, but very good as well.

[Coral]

Coral,

 

Thanks! We love the Caribbean, but since it's September we figured it would be best to avoid it. The way this hurricane season was down there, I don't want to chance it!!

 

Jess

 

You are right - I didn't think of hurricane season. I would probably avoid the Caribbean also because it is your honeymoon. If it was just a vacation - you could chance it.

 

I did enjoy Mexico. I just am not anxious to go back - if that makes any sense.

[sue d. miller]

Honey, any ship is good for a honeymoon!!! ;)

[brillohead]

We just got off the Dawn, 10-day Caribbean (last one before dry dock). We are 35yo and met several couples younger (and several couples older!), a few of whom were on their honeymoons.

 

I guess that in almost any "category" to be judged (food, staterooms, entertainment, amenities, etc.), the cruise will be what you make of it. If you're looking for hundreds of boozing "night-lifers" dancing and drinking themselves into oblivion into the wee hours of the morn, you're going to be disappointed. If you're looking for lots of interesting, pleasant people from a variety of cultures and ages that you can converse with, you'll not be disappointed.

 

I think you'll have less "young families" on a 10-day cruise at that time, simply because taking kids out of school for two weeks -- particularly right at the beginning of the school year -- isn't something most parents are willing to do. (There were only 20 kids ages 3-12 on our ship, for example, and I only saw one child under the age of 3. Our 4yo son LOVED the intimacy of the Fun Zone with the small group of kids in there.) Also, the 10-day cruises probably have less 30-somethings simply b/c it also entails using up almost two full weeks of vacation time, which may be most/all that some people have available to them each year earlier in their careers, compared to retirees or those with 20-30 years of seniority built up.

 

That said, we did have some boozing 20-somethings on our ship (one friend we met checked his tab at the purser's desk on Day Four and found it to be almost $1400 already.... and his wife was pregnant and only drinking sodas with the drink card, so that was basically 100% his bar tab for four days!!!!) And of course we also had some boozing 60-somethings on board -- the liquor was flowing well regardless of your age! (I personally can recommend the Blue Margarita.)

 

I would hazard a guess that the "typical" passenger on our 10-day cruise was in their 50's and 60's, but we never felt out of place or like we were the "only ones under 50". We had 2,200 passengers on our ship -- we had ALL ages represented! :)

 

I think my 4yo son summed it up quite well. About Day Six or Day Seven, he was sitting in a hot tub on the Riviera Deck with my husband, and he said, "Daddy.... can we live on the cruise ship FOREVER????"

 

I couldn't have said it better myself.:D

[srpilo]

Brillohead...

 

 

I'm new to Princess, and I noticed that you sailed on Horizon last year... In your opinion which ship did you prefer (Dawn or Horizon) and if you don't mind answering ..Why?

 

 

Thanks for your input

 

Srpilo

[kodiac]

We were Honeymooner's on the Dawn with brillohead :)

 

It was great. Honestly, it does not matter what kind of crowd it is because you will be on your HONEYMOON.

 

We missed plenty of shows, but it was worth it.

 

Have fun!

[brillohead]

We were Honeymooner's on the Dawn with brillohead :)

 

It was great. Honestly, it does not matter what kind of crowd it is because you will be on your HONEYMOON.

 

We missed plenty of shows, but it was worth it.

 

Have fun!

I can vouch for the fact that we didn't see this particular honeymooning couple very often! ;) :D Evidently they enjoyed themselves immensely....

(And the "Bride" and "Groom" baseball caps were too cute!)

[brillohead]

Brillohead...

 

I'm new to Princess, and I noticed that you sailed on Horizon last year... In your opinion which ship did you prefer (Dawn or Horizon) and if you don't mind answering ..Why?

 

Thanks for your input

 

Srpilo

Srpilo -- no contest, I prefer the Dawn Princess over the Horizon, but like I said in my earlier post, it all comes down to personal preferences. Some people prefer the smaller, more intimate cruise ships; I happen to be a social butterfly type of person who enjoys a variety of amenities.

 

Here are some comparisons:

 

1. Kids Club -- NO COMPARISON! (If you don't have kids, though, this wouldn't affect you -- one of those "personal choice" things.) The Horizon's kid program seems to be an afterthought -- they removed a wall between two inside cabins down in the bowels of the ship, and that's where they put the kid program. It's not even big enough for kids to be active in, and has nothing much besides "shelf toys" (puzzles, legos, coloring books, board games). Most of the time the Kid Club room was closed/locked and the staff had taken the kids up on deck to do their activities there.

 

On the Dawn Princess, the Fun Zone is up on the Riviera deck and one whole wall is windows. There's a splash pool you can take babies/toddlers to (the Fun Zone staff never takes kids swimming, you have to access the splash pool yourself.) They have a "castle" structure w/ a slide and a tunnel to crawl through and a ball pit w/ a basketball hoop in it, and a Little Tykes playhouse and a "theatre" area for screening movies/cartoons and 5-6 Nintendo stations and multiple tables for arts & crafts and board games and a separate Lego table, etc. There's an entirely separate room for the teens (with a "disco" area and couches for socializing and restaurant type booths/tables... although I know they are making renovations in dry dock, so I don't know what the Fast Lane will look like in two weeks), and also a small video game arcade (rather expensive -- up to $1.00 per game per player!).

 

2. Dress Code -- another personal preference thing.... the Dawn Princess is more relaxed on non-formal nights, having ONLY "smart casual" or "formal" as options; Horizon also had "informal" which is dressier than casual. I'm a "blue jeans and sneakers" kind of gal, so for me to wear slacks or Dockers is "dressed up" for me! Not having to wear a dress except on formal night was a huge benefit for me (and my husband loved wearing a polo/golf shirt to dinner). Only having two types of dress code made packing easier, also. (if you enjoy dressing up every night, this won't matter either way, as you can still dress up on the Dawn if you want, even on smart casual night)

 

3. Entertainment options -- the Dawn Princess has the Princess Theatre and also the Vista Show Lounge, and each venue had a show every night so you could choose between for "production shows" or "comic shows" or "singers", etc. Some nights we felt like a big singing/dancing production; other nights we just wanted a comic / ventriloquist / etc. (not important if you don't go to shows)

4. Anytime Dining and the Horizon Court Buffet -- not an option on Horizon. On formal nights that you didn't want to dress up for, the Horizon made you either order room service or else make reservations for the "alternate" restaurant, which still involved getting gussied up to "informal" dress code. On the Dawn Princess, with Anytime Dining you could eat at ANY time, not just the pre-set traditional dining time, and if you didn't want to get gussied up at all, you could go into Horizon Court and eat from the buffet while wearing your shorts and flip-flops -- no reservations required. (again, if you enjoy getting dressed up and eating a stuffy meal in a stuffy restaurant, this won't matter to you)

 

5. Pools/hot-tubs. Do the math -- the Horizon is barely even in the running! (again, if you don't like swimming or hot-tubbing, this isn't important)

 

6. Size -- once again, Horizon isn't even in the running. We couldn't believe that there were 2,200 people on board (just passengers -- add almost 1,000 more in crew!). Never had crowds or long lines anywhere!

 

Those are my big comparison points.... is there something specific that you'd like to know about? ( I have to get my kid ready for preschool, so I'm gonna finish this off for now.) I hope this is helpful!

[srpilo]

Brillohead...

 

Wow !!

Thanks for the input.. Its good to hear from someone who I have a common experience with on a another ship.

 

Thanks again

 

Srpilo