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Herb Dolphins

Age: 73
Occupation: Retired Fire Officer
Number of Cruises: 23
Cruise Line: Norwegian Cruise Lines
Ship: Norwegian Dawn
Sailing Date: November 28th, 2004
Itinerary: Southern Caribbean

Boarding in New York was a little chaotic until they admitted us to the pier embarkation area at 1PM when it went rather smoothly. After going to our Decl 11 mini-suite, we enjoyed an excellent lunch in the Venetian Dining Room avoiding crowds at the buffet. We promptly made reservations that evening for 6:30 at our favorite Dawn dining venue, the Salsa restaurant overlooking the Atrium. We enjoyed an excellent dinner there while listening to the fine music of musicians we have enjoyed on previous Dawn cruises- Vladimir at the the grand piano in the base of the Atrium and our favorite quartet Anna Y Los Vientos performing just above the Java Cafe. They recognized us immediately and played and sung many of our favorites. It was a delightful welcome aboard return to the Dawn. After attending the Welcome Aboard Show in the Stardust Theatre hosted by a fine Cruise Director Paul Baya, we went to the Gatsby's lounge to enjoy another familiar performer- pianist-vocalist extraordinaire Pamala Stanley who we feel is the most talented single entertainer we have ever seen on a cruise ship. She packed Gatsby's nightly, playing and singing endless requests and dazzling her audience with her virtuosity. As we retired to our cabin that night, we agreed it was great to be back on the Dawn.

DINING: We had breakfast almost every morning in the Venetian Restaurant where the service and food were excellent. We alternated lunch between the Venetian and the Garden Cafe buffet. We enjoyed dinner in the Impressions restaurant, ably served by Simona and Ramona from Romania. We had dinner twice in the Italian Restaurant Trattoria ably served by Felix and Tanya. We also dined three times at Salsa, we love the music and ambience, including our final evening. The food in all the restaurants was very good especially the lobster and rack of lamb in Impressions, the Fruit de Mare & pasta in Trottaria and Shrimp frajita in Salsas. No complaints at all regarding the food we had in any of the restaurants we tried.

ENTERTAINMENT: We thought the musicians on this ship were outstanding. Besides the aforementioned, the Norwegian Dawn Showband was first rate, often providing great dance music in the Spinnaker Lounge. Their big band night was extremely popular with Pamala Stanley providing vocal renditions of familiar standards. While the production shows in the Stardust theatre were very good with a talented and energetic cast, they were also very familiar as we had seen the same shows the previous winter. I would hope that Dawn would try to introduce at least one new production every year to satisfy her many repeat cruisers. Among the other performers appearing in the Stardust theatre, tenor Chris Riggins stood out. Overall, the entertainment was very good.

PORTS: Do to mechanical problems, the Captain was required to alter our itinerary. We had to skip our first stop in St. Thomas for an alternate stay in St. Croix. We did have a full day in St. Thomas later in the cruise instead of the scheduled Grenada which was still suffering from hurricane damage. A previous final port of Totola, BVI which had been deleted was restored. Under the circumstances, we thought the Captain handled these changes very well and most passengers were pleased with the altered itinerary. We booked snorleling excursions in Barbados, St. Thomas and Tortola which were all good. An excursion to a beach in Dominica to the Castaway Hotel was not as promised and when I complained, the excursion desk granted us a 50% rebate on that tour which I thought was reasonable. We went to several beaches on our own and we were blessed with excellent weather on all the islands we visited.

FITNESS PROGRAM: My wife really enjoyed the many fitness classes provided in a private studio in the fitness center which were ably conducted by Candi and Erin with skill and dedication. We would have liked to use the indoor lap pool before breakfast but it was locked until 8AM. It was hard to use later in the day when it became crowded. They should open it earlier and I so requested.

STAFF: We thought the crew was excellent including our cabin stewards Terrance and Shari and our nightly waiter in the Java Cafe Julian. We had no complaints with any of the staff as they were uniformly courteous and helpful.

SUMMARY: An excellent cruise on a fine ship with an outstanding staff. We would not hesitate to recommend Norwegian Dawn and we look forward to sailing on her again in the future.

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