Review & Pic's Dawn Princess 11-9/11-20 Mexico - Cruise Line Fans: Cruise Forum, Reviews and Chat From Real Cruisers

Catman · 11-22-2006, 10:05 PM

Dawn Cruise Notes & Pic's Nov 9-20...If you're interested
Dawn Princess November 9 through 20, 2006 round trip San Francisco-Mexico.

This was my third cruise with Princess, Star and Sapphire. We have sailed Celebrity three times and NCL once.

Passenger capacity on Dawn is listed at 1,950, we arrived at pier 35 close to 1 PM and it looked like 1,900 others did too. Folks who arrived around 11 AM were checked in and on the ship in about 10 minutes. It was 2 hours for me I was onboard around 3, found my cabin, D310 an inside on deck 8 near mid ship. This was my first cruise without Wanda and first inside, which was fine. There was plenty of room, more than enough storage and closet space. It has been noted many times to try and get a cabin on a deck with cabins above and below. This was a guaranty booking, I was OK but a short distance aft the deck was vibrating with the sound from the Wheelhouse bar, below. I spoke to some folks who were over the bar and they REALLY heard everything until late.

Muster drill was at 3:15; we were scheduled out at 4. Around 4:20 Captain William Kent informed us there was a problem with a "check engine light" and we would be off as soon as it was rectified, which it was about 5:15. We were under the Golden Gate close to 6 and on our way.

Dawn was built in 1997 so now is 9 year old. If someone told me she was a year I would have no reason to think otherwise. The ONLY area I saw anything resembling age was a little of the water lines at the 2 main pools and a bit of the grout lines. The ship is beautiful. Everything in the cabin sparkled. Since our last cruise with Princess was in 04 and that was Sapphire I have no idea when the bedding was upgraded on Dawn? Pillows were soft feather types; sheets nice cotton and lovely comforters on the beds were terrific when the temperature in the cabin was "meat locker," which was between 2 and 5 every afternoon.

What follows is obviously subjective; my opinions and observations of this one cruise. I thought the quality of food in the buffet rivaled any served in the dining room. A sample of one evening, shrimp in a light scampi sauce, crab cakes and beef tenderloin so tender you actually could cut it with a fork. Each night a couple of the items on the main menu were also served in the buffet. I met friends in the main dining room one evening, ate by myself another. Took advantage of the evening buffet several times. I ordered from room service a few times, both from the r.s. menu and on formal night from the main dining room menu. As has been mentioned many times, when ordering from room service be sure to ask for everything you may want, like mayo, salt, mustard etc. or cream for your coffee. It may also be a good idea to tell the QUANTITY as they insisted on sending huge quantities of everything, I got 15 packets of salt one evening.

I think the desserts on Princess ships are the best I’ve had, anywhere. I was unable to walk anywhere near them without stopping and was afraid I may eat so many I would be unable to walk, period.

An interesting note; I took a pedometer and measuered the distance walked excluding any morning type excercise (in other words just around the ship) Average distance was 4.3 miles per day. (means more desserts)

I didn’t eat in La Scala pizzeria it was just aft of my cabin, I walked through it many times and it was always pretty crowded. It looked and smelled great and I was told it was. I also passed on Sterling Steak House mainly because I didn't want to waste part of a 23 oz. porterhouse!

The entertainment was varied, plentiful and mostly enjoyable. Each evening offered many different things to do or watch. I was especially impressed with the free in room entertainment. There were four different relatively new movies shown each day. Also many documentaries, popular TV shows as well as live sports. Sunday had two football games and MNF on ESPN. I should also mention the early shows in the Princess Theater were all SRO. I went to one 30 minutes early and it was already packed. There was no problem with late shows.

Something that was offered, a virtual bridge tour. Two bridge officers using computer generated slides and graphics did a 45-minute presentation in the Princess Theater. They explained the functions of the different computers and officers of the bridge, how the ship operates, and various electrical and mechanical procedures. There was a question and answer period as well. They said this was done because of the many inquiries about bridge tours. Some of this went over my head but the majority of the info was fascinating. I wish I’d taken notes as I THINK they said the ship gets 9 feet per gallon of diesel fuel?

One afternoon I was in the buffet. A nice selection of cookies, cakes, and sandwiches were displayed. I watched as a man next to me reached out, lifted the top layer of bread off a sandwich, inspected the contents and I guess decided it was not to his liking so then replaced the bread and walked away! I wanted to scream at and/or smack him but decided not to create a scene. I picked up the TONGS and moved his finger contaminated food out of the display, put it in a napkin and tossed it. I enjoy the buffet. I try not to think of what may have been touched or hacked on. Does anyone have any idea just what the HELL is wrong with people that do these sort of things?

And now a word from our sponsor. You can buy a coffee card for $27.40 (or was it 27.60?) which entitles you to 15 specialty coffee drinks. There are several priced at 2 dollars so a card will save you a few bucks. I bought one as it made it easier, not having to deal with the receipts etc. I didn’t mind the charge for a Latte’ as it takes some time to make but there is now a charge of one dollar for any regular brewed coffee ordered at a bar. I thought the coffee in the buffet was really awful. Maybe my imagination but I thought room service coffee was better?

For those that want to "keep in touch" aboard ship you can rent walkie-talkies for a nominal charge. There is a "for fee" ice cream place near the main pool. They sell soft ice cream for a buck and a half, milk shakes and sundaes priced to three-fifty.

Every afternoon from 3 to 4 or 5? There is an ice cream bar set up in the Horizon Court. Three assorted flavors and lots of toppings, free.

Something new? Dawn now has a newly trained air brush tattoo artist, Bree. You can have a tattoo "painted" on. They last around a week and cost between $7.95 and $19.95 depending on size, all black "ink." You can add various colors for $2.00 each.

There are also "gimmicky" drink glasses and various containers for sale.
I mention just some of the items for sale on the ship, there are more. These "extras" don't bother me as no one is hounding me to buy anything and there are lots of folks who enjoy the "fun things." I think the basic cruise experience provided is well worth the price and if these extra things help keep the base price down, that's fine with me.

While I realize we never know who may be reading these and I take the chance of upsetting someone, so be it. There was a couple on board who on night one were dressed in semi matching western outfits, black with matching cowboy hats. The man had a string tie and leather jacket as well as the hat. For the next eleven days and nights I saw this man who was without the jacket but NEVER without the hat. There is a sign outside the main dining rooms, please, no shorts t-shirts or hats. I am guessing he took off the hat for dinner. I did walk by one of the hot tubs around 11 one night and saw the couple, honest..........he was wearing the hat! I did not look real close as I was afraid that may have been ALL he was wearing.

I know I’ve forgotten things and will be happy to answer any questions. After two years it was a pleasure to sail again with Princess. It was a wonderful cruise, Chuck

I just loaded many pictures of the ship, cabin, ports etc.......NO PEOPLE.

And a little hint about debarkation, If you can do the self help (taking your own luggage off) you can get off as the first group called.

Cruise Princess · 11-22-2006, 10:31 PM

Cool! Thanks for the review! The Dawn is one of Favorite ships.

jp20 · 11-24-2006, 01:46 AM

Thank you for the review!! I've been on Star and the Sapphire but not Dawn. You had me drooling with the desserts, I remember how good they are. We are going on the Caribbean Princess in April 2008 and it seems so far away. Thank you again.

stanford's girl · 12-13-2006, 10:44 PM

Thanks for sharing your cruise with us.

We are looking at this ship for next year and you put all my worries to rest about how old the ship is.

How was the weather? Being in the fall, I was wondering if it was coolish.

localady · 12-14-2006, 12:49 AM

Thanks for sharing your review!!

Looking forward to sharing your May 07 adventure!

MD11F · 12-14-2006, 01:57 AM

Thanks for taking the time to write this review. I've only been on one Princess cruise, which was three weeks ago on the new Crown Princess. I see the Sun(1995) and sometimes the Dawn(1997) in Port Everglades, FL. They are sister ships, as is the Sea Princess(1998).

Catman · 12-14-2006, 03:25 PM

Hi, enjoyed the pictures of the Crown etc. .......I love the design of the aft on these ships.

stanford's girl.................we were in warm weather by the second day and stayed that way until the day before returning. This was my third cruise down there and all have been pretty much the same no matter what time of year.