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L. Karim

Age: 27
Occupation:
Number of Cruises: 1
Cruise Line: NCL
Ship: Dawn
Sailing Date: September 19th, 2004
Itinerary: Bahamas

I would like to start off by warning everyone not to cruise during the month of September as the weather can change at ANY given minute. My husband, father and 6 other friends went on this cruise, and I have mixed emotions when it comes to it.

First things first, let me explain a bit about myself and family. We are all of Arab decent and are Muslims. With all the women wearing the traditional Islamic head scarf (of our own choice not someone else's I might add).

My husband, father and I shared the pent house suite on the 11th floor. Let me tell you that that's the ONLY way to cruise! It was absolutely amazing. The room was massive, and let's just say if i had to stay in my room, the bathroom would have been FINE BY ME. The pent house suite consisted of 2 rooms each with its own full bathroom integrated into one "apartment" for lack of a better word. My father took the smaller room which was the size of a regular stateroom and had everything in that room. He didn't need to use our room for anything. Now, the bigger room which hubby and I took, well...it was gorgeous. We had a dining room, living room and a balcony, then you opened the sliding doors to our bedroom which was attached to the bathroom. The bathroom had his and hers sinks, a jacuzzi with shower nozzle and it had a big picture window over looking the ocean. We also had our own 18" flat 2" thick TV hanging over the jacuzzi. Yes, we used it a lot! The shower stall literally had 4 shower nozzles, you can comfortable fit two people in there to shower, with space between each other. With all 4 nozzles, it was a great massage. The bed was oh so comfy. The service we received was exceptional, whether we were in the room, or at one of the restaurants.

Our fave restaurant was Salsa, Mexican cuisine. The food was yummy! We didn't try any of the restaurants that had a cover charge, trust me, you didn't need to. However, some looked really interesting. Instead, we ate at the other places and the buffet and still had a great eating experience. Some of the people we were with didn't eat non-halal or non-kosher things so they found some difficulty with finding vegetarian dishes, but as for myself, my husband and father, we ate everything.

Again, the service was excellent. All the staff and waiters and managers were very excited to meet with us and ask us about our background. Staff didn't hesitate to express there curiosity and we in turn welcomed the questions and were eager to answer them. It was really nice not to be judged simply on our appearance and traditional look.

I must say though, some of the passengers were not as open and friendly as the staff. Too bad.

Now, for our stops:

Port Canaveral: Very close to Orlando...we went to Epcot, weather was nice. Cool and breezy and partly cloudy. Epcot was a little boring, not much to do. Next time, going to Walt Disney World instead.

Miami: Went to South beach, again transportation was easy and convenient to go to south beach. As soon as we got to the beach, it POURED. Literally we had buckets of rain coming down on us. We stayed under some cafe's umbrellas most of the time. When it cleared up, we walked around and took a bus all over the major sites for only 25 cents (and it had AC!). Tried the beach again, and 5 minutes into it it started to rain again. So we only glimpsed the beach there. Then we went to the mall, and it was nice...nothing to really write about. It was an outdoor mall.

Great Stirrup Cay 1st try: Couldn't go there due to rough winds and seas that had come up due to hurricane Jeanne heading that way. So, the captain skipped it and said we would come back to it.

Nassau: Quaint area. Atlantis was beautiful, we took a private taxi and visited for a short while. then the driver dropped us off at a beach suggested to me by reception on the cruise. WARNING TO ALL: if reception tells you to go to cabbage beach, just know that you are going to one of the roughest areas for seas. Expect really high waves! Go to Cable beach instead so you can snorkel and actually enjoy the waters. Anyway, the weather could not have been better. Nothing but clear skies and sunshine. We had fun at the beach with the waves spitting us out and then sucking us back in. Which was dangerous since there was no lifegaurd on duty. My hubby unfortunately was tossed out so hard he went ear first into my leg and popped a blood vessel. It wasn't much fun for him after.

Thankfully the ship doctor was amazing and took good care of him. Note: get travel insurance, we were glad we did!

Great Stirrup Cay 2nd try: We didn't even attempt it. Upon returning to the ship from Nassau the captain informed us that the private island was far too dangerous to attempt to dock due to the coming hurricane making the seas too rough.(we thought to ourselves, really how bad can it be? we were soon going to find out) So, the captain docked in Nassau for the whole night until morning. That was great, but unfortunately, there was nothing to do out there unless you like clubbing and drinking. Since we did neither...we were bored. Downtown Nassau shuts everything at 8pm.

The next day we set sail and were pratically escaping the hurricane, but we were caught in it. For 24hrs straight we were hitting seas with 30ft waves and believe you me, even a huge liner like that was being rocked like crazy. That was the first and only day i was sick. It seemed everyone was sick. There were baggies everywhere in case people got sick and nauseous. It was insane! At one point maybe at 1am, the ship felt as thought it slammed into a mountain, but it was only a wave. When the staff starts to look worried, then you start thinking. The Galleria store at the front or back of the ship had there items flying off shelves. If you are prone to getting sea sick, DO NOT sit in the Venetian restaurant. That is located at the back and rocks worse than a roller coaster ride at Six flags!

Some poor woman was thrown from her own bed and sprained her ankle badly. I don't think anyone got a good night's sleep that night. There were even some people sleeping on the window seats or outside due to them feeling sick being indoors. Hubby and I and 3 of our friends felt brave and attempted to go outside onto the deck. It took me, and 3 other guys to even attempt to get the door open it was so windy, and once outside, the waves were tremendous. I have never seen anything like that before. It was surreal, almost right out of a movie. We all ran in after we each got our share of fresh air.

The day after, we escaped and the seas calmed to the point where we didn't feel a thing.

However, there was a layer of salt on everything outside.

I felt we spent too many days at sea, and 7 days is way too long to be on a ship. It was my first cruise so i guess i had high hopes. Also, i just wish there was more to do on the ship. Things got repetitive and boring. The shows were ok. Bollywood was a MUST see and it was great. Unfortunately it was on the night the ship was rocking so you can tell that the performers were a little nervous, and one girl actually did fall. I had to give it to them though, they were still amazing. I hear that Royal Carribean has a lot of physical activities on their ships and i'll most likely do one with them that's 4 or 5 days. All in all, it was a great experience with the people and staff of the ship. The ship was VERY clean and neat at all times. Again, i cannot say it enough, the staff was absolutely charming. How do they stand working on a ship for 10 months and still be pleasant? I'll never know, but they were.

Well, that's my story...and i'm sticking to it. Next time i'll make sure it's not hurricane season...and a shorter trip would be ideal.

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