July 10, 2007 Cruise Aboard the Dawn Princess
Written: Jul 24 '07 (Updated Jul 24 '07)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nicely appointed smaller ship; very clean and awesome staff
Cons: Food quality below par, lack of activities, this is NOT an Inside Passage Cruise!
The Bottom Line: Good service and nice ship does not make up for the fact that this Alaska cruise does not sail along the Inside Passage.
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| Suzi's Full Review: Dawn Princess |
Dawn Princess Cruise Review
July 10-20, 2007
Cruise Overview
My husband and I cruised to Alaska aboard the Dawn Princess on July 10, 2007 – our second cruise to Alaska. Our ten-day voyage departed round trip from San Francisco and included stops in Sitka, Skagway and Juneau in Alaska, Victoria in British Columbia, Canada. This particular voyage did not cruise the Inside Passage; when we were sailing, it was almost always in open ocean. I am with the understanding that this itinerary from San Francisco never includes the inside passage – a must for people cruising to Alaska for the first time in my opinion! We didn’t realize this when we booked the cruise but thought I should mention it as it would have been helpful to know this prior to booking this cruise. Princess said that all cruises to Alaska include the inside passage – whoever it was I spoke to obviously didn’t know the Dawn Princess sails in open ocean exclusively!
The ship is beautiful and in good repair for the most part, though many of the staterooms and public areas are showing some signs of wear and tear. Ours in particular had new bedding but dirty and stained carpeting. Many of the lounges we visited had torn upholstery fabric. The good news is the cruise line is continuing to make repairs – on day 8 the circular carpeting on Deck 5 near the Purser’s Office was replaced. The ship was kept very clean and tidy.
Crew and staff were all pleasant and very accommodating. Our room steward in particular was awesome. Overall food quality was a little below what we were used to getting on Princess, however the food in the dining room was better than the buffet and I for one had no trouble finding something I liked at dinner. The buffet was quite disappointing most of the time, but we utilized it most mornings for breakfast and once or twice for lunch.
We booked two shore excursions through Princess, which I will cover a little later. We had no billing issues and virtually no complaints regarding our cabin or service – from embarkation to debarkation everything went smoothly and like clock work. Still, I would not do this particular cruise to Alaska again – I will elaborate more, however, I found there was nothing much to do on sea days, and at night. We also very much missed seeing all the awesome scenery and wildlife you get on the inside passage. I have to be honest; this was probably the first vacation I have ever been on where I can honestly say I was well rested afterwards. I am sure you have all been on some vacations where afterwards you felt you needed time off to recover! Not this time! The full review follows; if at anytime you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to email me at suzi95628@yahoo.com.
About Us
My husband and I cruise one or two times a year. We are in our early 40’s and reside in Northern California. We are an active couple and enjoy sports and the outdoors – we have no kids. We are socially active at home and tend to plan vacations that include family and friends. More often than not, that will include land based dive trips to the Caribbean or Hawaii.
We booked this cruise aboard the Dawn Princess mainly because it was very convenient; San Francisco is only a three-hour drive for us! Unfortunately, we reserved this cruise late last spring, and I for one didn’t have time to research all aspects of this cruise. Although we had an enjoyable and relaxing cruise, I don’t think I would have booked this trip had I known what I know now. I read a few cruise reviews, consulted with my TA and the cruise line, but none of them indicated that the Dawn would not be cruising along the Inside Passage! We love the outdoors and had hopes of cruising along the Inside Passage, where one often spots large groups of whales and interesting wildlife you can see on shore like Bears. A cruise along the inside passage has land on both sides of the ship – sometimes very close by! Those protected waters are home to numerous species of animals unique to the Inside Passage. The Dawn Princess cruises in open ocean.
About two weeks prior to our departure, we received a phone call from Princess (not our TA) that we have been bumped out of our cabin and rebooked into another. Our original room was handicap accessible and had been reassigned to another couple. We had a low end inside room and was not given information on the cabin we had been reassigned to, but was assured that it would be upgraded. In the process, our entire booking had been cancelled! For about a week, people my TA and I spoke with at Princess had no idea what had happened, but it was obvious we were not on the cruise manifest and that was going to be a problem!
The weekend before we embarked, we were notified that we would be in room C218 and extended $250pp shipboard credit. Everything worked out; we received a large outside stateroom with a huge window, shipboard credit and were quite relieved we were back on the cruise line manifest!
Embarkation
We drove from Sacramento and parked at an off-site airport parking facility near SFO (for $6 per day) and utilized the free roundtrip cruise line transfers provided with our cruise documents. As was noted in our booking summary, a Princess agent was in the baggage claim area at the airport. We waited for about 20 minutes before a bus was ready to take us to the pier. The first bus to the port departed at 10:30am and we were in the check-in line by 11am. Despite rumors of heavy traffic and road closures due to the All Star Game, we made it into to San Francisco with no problems. Every aspect of the embarkation process (including our bus transfers) went smoothly.
We arrived at Pier 35 in San Francisco around 11:00am. The lines to check-in were minimal and we waited only another 15 minutes before we got to board the ship. As we are Platinum members, there was a special waiting area at the terminal that maybe had 20 people waiting when we arrived. I believe we were among the first groups of passengers to board the ship. We dropped off our bags in our cabin, which was not yet ready, met our cabin steward and proceeded to walk around the ship. Around noon, we went up to the buffet to eat lunch.
Our Stateroom
We were assigned cabin C218, a larger outside stateroom towards the front of the ship. Next to us were all balcony staterooms, but ours had a huge picture window. I peeked inside the cabin next to ours with the balcony; it was identical in size and configuration to ours, only without the balcony.
We had a queen size bed (two smaller twins pushed together) with no gap between the beds. Our room steward informed us that the beds were new, pillow top mattresses. We had four down pillows per our request and a nice summer down duvet. It was similar to the one we have on our bed – thinner thickness for the summer. We had a large lighted mirrored vanity with 6 drawers and a small chair. Opposite the vanity, there was shelving and a very small refrigerator; on the top shelf there was a small TV and more counter space. There were two nightstands on either end of the bed with one tiny drawer each. By the window, there was a comfy chair and a small table.
We had very little closet space, no where nearly as much as we had on the Diamond Princess in February. The closet is divided into three parts; a regular high bar closet, one with a two bars for shirts and pants and one with shelves. They were very narrow and with no where to put your shoes as the floor space is minimal, our shoes just piled up one on top of another. The two shelves were always a mess, but thankfully we could close the doors!
The bathroom was a decent size with lots of storage. The water pressure and shower head were excellent, so no complaints. Yes, the bathroom is rather small, but really no smaller than what you typically see on other ships.
After unpacking, we placed our suitcases under the bed. All our souvenirs and things we didn’t use regularly went into a suitcase under the bed. Although the room was large by Dawn Princess standards I am told, the storage was minimal. As we packed things like jeans, sweaters and jackets, you can imagine how stuffed full our closets and drawers were. We managed just fine. I have to say, I tried to really cut down the on the number of clothes and pack only what I think I would need. When I did my post cruise inventory, I found I wore everything but one dress! My husband on the other hand really over packed!
Helpful Stateroom Suggestions
All in all, we were very pleased with our stateroom. It is absolutely true that there are only two outlets in the room to plug things into, so our power strip really came in handy. Here are a few more suggestions:
· It helps to have a pre-written note with any special requests you may have – many room stewards do not have a good command of the English language, but can read or get some to help them read a note. Mine was typed and placed into an envelope we gave to our room steward in person, who did speak English quite well. My requests included clean wine glasses every evening, ice in a large bucket for our beer, wine or champagne, four bath towels and extra toiletries. We also wanted clean pool towels daily for when we used the Jacuzzi.
· Remember, the room steward will not always clear away dirty dishes, especially with food on them. It is seldom mentioned, but you should place any unwanted food items and dirty dishes out side your room next to the door on the floor. There was a room service area on our deck (I believe every deck had one) and all items placed outside disappeared in a matter of minutes.
· You can order cans of soda, beer, and things like gin and tonic for your cabin by calling room service. We had no trouble brining three bottle of wine onto the ship in our checked bags and one bottle of vodka. The fridge in your cabin is unstocked, so it comes in very handy. If you pack along a sports bottle, you can fill it in the morning with cranberry juice and keep it in the fridge for later. They will charge you for OJ, tomato or cranberry juice if you order it later in the day. But it’s all free in the morning. This is a great tip for people with young kids too!
· There was an excellent brand new hair dryer in our cabin. Shampoo and conditioner are provided. It may say Lotus Spa, but it’s not the stuff they use on the ship in the salon. It’s no different than other hotel quality shampoos – fine for some, but too drying for me. If you are used to salon quality shampoos like Paul Mitchell, you should pack your own.
Public Areas of the Ship
As a whole, the ship has been lovingly take care of by crew. It is clean and tidy, though many public areas of the ship are showing wear and tear. You can see this in the stained carpeting in places (which I observed is being replaced) and among the upholstered furniture. We heard from a crew member that the Dawn Princess is scheduled to leave Princess in two years – whether this is true or not, that’s what one bartender told us. The Dawn is 10 years old, yet still seems to be in good repair. The interior is very similar to other Princess ships. As I have only been on larger, newer ships in the Princess fleet, it was interesting to note how similar in design the Grand Atrium Plaza was to the Diamond Princess, for example.
There are two main show rooms – the Princess Theater at the front of the ship and the Vista Lounge at the back. There is one large bar called the Wheelhouse Bar with a dance floor and numerous other lounges here and there.
The Purser’s Desk is located on Deck Five and unlike other ships, I never once observed long lines. I had won the alcohol raffle in the gift shop the first day of the cruise and wanted to check if my purchase had been refunded. The person I dealt with was pleasant and very professional. This may not have been the case had I gone there to discuss a problem, but the few instances I popped in to check on my billing statement were all pleasant.
As a former teacher, it was interesting to note the lack of children’s facilities aboard the Dawn Princess. I happened upon a large group of elementary aged kids and their kid’s program instructors completing an art project on the stairs! I had to ask what they were doing and was told by staff they have a very small space devoted to the kid’s program – another age group was using the room. They said they had 350 kids on the ship during our voyage. Kids were everywhere (running in the halls, in the bars, everywhere on the ship supervised and unsupervised – something you simply do not notice on larger ships even during holidays! I will say the staff did an awesome job with the younger children. There was excellent youth security and seldom did I notice any unruly behavior, but the kids were simply more noticeable out and about then what we usually see on larger, better-equipped ships.
The dining rooms were a bit dated with very low ceilings, and uninspired décor. The buffet area had the best views on the ship. With it remaining light well into the night in Alaska, it might be worth requesting a window table in the dining room at dinner. Everyone we ran into at dinner dressed very nicely. This cruise was far dressier at dinner than any of our previous Princess cruises, but the fact that we had late traditional dining may have had something to do with it. It had a much older passenger base, but a good mix of ages including kids. I was told this is because it was a 10 night voyage.
The dress code with the exception of two formal nights, was resort casual. Men generally wore nice khakis and polo shirts or Tommy Bahama style shirts to dinner while the ladies wore nice pants or skirts with fashionable tops or dresses. To my surprise, we never saw people dressing down into jeans or shorts in the formal dining room. On our last Alaska cruise, people dressed far more casually but please note that we opted for Anytime Dining then.
Dining & Cuisine
Somewhat disappointing, we had a feeling the food wouldn’t be up to past Princess Standards simply based on recent input at Cruise Critic and other cruise message boards on the internet. I am not sure this is a Dawn Princess issue or a recent fleet wide problem. We sailed on the Diamond Princess this past February and the food quality was 100% better. I still managed to find things I liked in the formal dining room; not so much so in the buffet. Although we did eat breakfast and lunch in the Horizon Court buffet occasionally, the selection and food quality just were not nearly as good as what we experienced in the dining room. That being said, the one plus I found in the buffet was the made-to-order eggs and omelets station in the morning. The eggs I had in the dining room for breakfast, including Eggs Benedict, were over-done on more than one occasion.
Dinner was by far the best; lunch was somewhat disappointing, but not at all appealing in the buffet, so we made a point to eat in the dining room or at La Scala Pizzeria as much as possible. The menu was varied and like I said, I always found something I liked. Steaks were consistently good and made to order, while other specialties found in Feb aboard the Diamond last Feb were not present. I had a few fish selections and they were all good, but nothing stuck out as being exceptional. The lobster was good, but they are small Caribbean lobster tails, so even I had seconds. The crab legs on average were kind of small albeit tasty. Salads were ho-hum, and deserts were nothing to write home about. The fresh out of the oven soufflés were excellent, but not much else was of any interest to me. Aboard the Diamond, I couldn’t get enough of their deserts! The menu this time around was very different; the fact that we were on a 10 night itinerary might have had something to do with it – not sure.
We made reservations to eat at the Sterling Steakhouse the night following the first formal night. Although the food quality was much better, the ambiance was very lacking. Sterling’s is located in back of the Horizon Court at dinner time. It is sectioned off and offers a limited, albeit nice view off the bow of the ship. But it is doesn’t even come close to those alternative restaurants on other ships. Both food quality and service were much deserving of the $15pp cover charge. Tipping is not necessary, though appreciated. We left $8 tip at our table for two.
We ate several times at La Scala, the pizza restaurant located on Deck 8. The pizza is made to order, and I thought it was excellent. But it’s made the way they did so in an old fashioned Pizzeria before the advent of Pizza Hut, so many people may not like it. It’s a very simple thin crust pizza – not at all what you see today in most pizza places. They were open for lunch and dinner and quite popular with the kids – so much so it became the teen hang-out for much of the voyage!
Helpful Dining Suggestions
· You are welcome to bring in a glass of wine to dinner or a cocktail; I asked and was told this was perfectly acceptable – you can pour it in your cabin, purchase it in one of the bars or get a glass at the Captains Party or Repeaters Party at formal night. As we brought three bottle of wine with us, we would always take a glass to dinner, as did others at our table.
· Special requests are fine, but do so with the Head Waiter a day or two in advance.
· Make sure if you want seconds on lobster or crab legs you let your waiter know when he takes your order. He may automatically bring more, but our waiter told us they have recently been asked to not bring extra unless requested. He still did, though, and none went to waste.
· French Night is (day 6), Crab night is (day 7) the day before the last formal night and Lobster Night is (day 8); if you do plan to go to Sterling’s, I would be inclined to say any other night would be fine – like I said the menu was somewhat uninspired. We went the day after formal night; many others went on the last night.
· You will find the daily menus posted outside the restaurants – we didn’t have any problems making a reservation to go to Sterling’s the day before. You can also ask the Head Waiter to bring to you a copy of the menus for the week – that way you can see what night is best for you. The Head Waiter at Sterling’s said the only reservation that’s hard to come by is 6pm mid-cruise. It’s wide open early and late in the voyage.
Entertainment
There were a variety of shows every night – an early and a later performance including comedy acts, magicians and jugglers and music. There were also musical production shows. We went to most, though left a few early. None was as impressive as what we see on Royal Caribbean – no well-recognized performers.
There were a couple of bands, a disco and a dace floor with a band. Most of the music was from the 50’s and 60’s – not our preference. The Casino at night was pretty busy – we went a couple of times. We also went to a few late night movies. But more often than not, we walked around the ship for about an hour after dinner if we didn’t go to a show and were in bed by 11pm. That was just fine with me! There were a couple of nights early in the cruise we thought we would go to the Disco, but it had mostly a handful of older teens sitting around, so we left. Maybe it came to life later – we’ll never know!
Days At Sea
There was a Princess Patter that listed all the activities for the day in your mailbox (outside your stateroom) the night before. The first day at sea had many activities and we both went around the ship eager to participate in ballroom dancing, see a martini demo or watch a movie. But as the days progressed, there was less and less to do! There were standard things like bingo, the casino was open, and occasionally, a matinee or an art auction. We knew to not expect much, so we brought some books and cards. We slept in and went to bed before 11pm most nights.
Because we were anxious to take in all the beautiful scenery, the Inside Passage had to offer, we figured we would be spending a lot of time out on deck. What a disappointment it was to hear Dean Paige, the Naturalist on the ship state that this would not be a cruise along the Inside Passage! We did spend some time out of the deck with our binoculars, but there wasn’t much to see! My husband kept track of all the wild life he saw and it was minimal compared to our last Alaska voyage in 2002.
Unlike the newer ships in Princess’ fleet, the Dawn Princess does not have any enclosed area suitable for viewing anyway. Although we loved being out on the deck on the Star Princess with our binoculars during our first cruise to Alaska, it was nice to go up the bar at the top deck and take in the view. About the only place there was a view protected from the elements aboard the Dawn was in the Horizon Buffet. Outside, there were many areas with obstructed views – it was obvious the Dawn wasn’t designed to cruise to Alaska!
There were too many days at sea for my taste, but as I stated earlier, I found I got more R&R this trip than most others. I didn’t research this cruise very well, but knew enough to keep our expectations low simply based on the input I had found on the web. That being said, it turned out to be a nice, relaxing trip. I can’t remember the last time I could sleep in until 10am two days in a row, take an afternoon nap and enjoy a cocktail while playing cards before dinner!
Helpful Sea Day Suggestions
· Relax and enjoy a good book. Don’t worry about the lack of activities.
· The internet worked very well – it was by the fastest we have had at sea!
· It helps to have a daily routine if you are like me and want to keep busy – not overly structured, but you can coordinate your own activities with a little thought. For example, we made a point of playing cards every night with cocktails before dinner. We spent time at the gym every am, and I went to the spa twice. We made a point to do some things together (like our daily walks around the deck) and things alone (like reading my book while my husband entertained his binoculars out on deck in vain). We did attend a couple of presentations by the Naturalist, but much of his lecture consisted of what we were NOT going to see, as the ship is not doing an Inside Passage! He was okay, very knowledgeable, but a little dry and humorless. And his glacier commentary (or lack there of) was down right disappointing.
Discover Port & Shopping Show and the Savvy Traveler
I attended a Discover Port & Shopping Show the first sea day, the day after embarkation. It was held in the Princess Theater at 10am and every Cruise Director on every Princess cruise I have ever been on makes a big deal about attending. They raffle off a lot of junk (well, maybe some of it is worth something) in hopes you will attend and purchase a Savvy Traveler (a coupon book) for about $20. I have attended one or two of these shows and personally find them a waste of time, as all they are is a sales presentation for the shops in the ports that pay a fee to Princess to push their merchandise. These are also the same shops that put adds and coupons into the Savvy Traveler. There is a Savvy Traveler for the Mexican Riviera, there is one for the Caribbean and there is one for Alaska.
It used to be that at these Shopping talks, Princess gave away free booklets that contained coupons for a pair of tanzanite earrings or a free tote bag along with a list of recommended merchants. Not so anymore - they want YOU to pay for this. And it was absolutely amazing to me to see so many people buy this coupon book.
First off, please note that I did not purchase this coupon book - my husband won it somewhere on the ship. I also did not attend the entire Shopping Show; rather I popped into the standing room only Princess Theater long enough to hear what the Savvy Traveler was all about.
The Savvy Traveler for Alaska is filled with hundreds of adds from the shops in port. The vast majority are jewelry stores that include numerous special offers and gift certificates. There are a few coupons where no purchase is necessary but most are associated with a purchase. I spoke to a very frustrated lady who spent the entire time in every port running around to every shop that had a free coupon. Her list of freebies included a tote bag, three fake Alaska coins, a couple of pairs of cheap earrings (they were not gold, but had "real" tanzanites) and two very bad watercolor prints. I asked her if she bought any jewelry and the answer was no.
The only way to make the Savvy Traveler pay for itself is if you purchase several pieces of expensive jewelry and use a $75-$200 off discount coupon. The Discover Shopping Host was somewhat misleading in saying the Savvy Traveler was a great deal; it's not. I redeemed a couple of coupons in Juneau while shopping for souvenirs, and got a tote bag and couple of loose stones. I walked into two high-end jewelry stores to ask about the free items (loose gems) and proceeded to get a sales pitch about diamond jewelry. After the first store, I could not get my husband to go into any with me!
If you plan to make any large jewelry purchases in Alaska, you may want to research pricing and see if buying a Savvy Traveler will pay off for you. I am certain there are people out there that feel the Savvy Traveler was a great deal - I am not one of them.
Tracy Arm
In one word: DISAPPOINTING! It was nice to see all the ice in the water in Tracy Arm – a few of them were still dark turquoise icebergs, but where was the GLACIER? With us not getting closer than a few miles to the South Sawyer Glacier, you were hard pressed to get a good view, and we were out on the bow of the ship the entire time!
We came within a 100 yards of a glacier in Glacier Bay; it’s impossible to get closer than a mile while on Tracy Arm. We had awesome scenery and tons of wildlife in both College Fjord and Glacier Bay. I will admit once we cruised into Tracy Arm, the scenery improved.
We got up really early and spent hours on the bow of the ship anticipating the Sawyer Glaciers. It was a beautiful trip through Tracy Arm and I am not sorry we saw it. But if you are planning a cruise to Alaska, and will probably not go again, I would encourage you to go on a cruise through the Inside Passage.
Ports of Call & Shore Excursions
As we had been to Alaska before, we did only two shore excursions: we booked the White Pass Railway tour in Skagway and the Mt. Roberts Tram in Juneau. Both were enjoyable.
Skagway
In Skagway, we had the only day of sun, so we appreciated the good weather while on the train. We departed a round 1pm - but sat in the train for nearly an hour. The ride up and down on the mountain was excellent and definitely worth the cost of the tour.
We walked around Skagway after the tour, purchasing the obligatory tee shirts. I have to say all the towns we visited in Alaska were a little disappointing. Mainly consisting of souvenir shops and jewelry stores, the tourist areas around the pier were somewhat boring. To get the most out of your visit, you have to venture beyond the shops.
Juneau
In Juneau, we rode the tram up to Mt. Roberts and spent the next four hours hiking. It was a wet day, but very enjoyable. We saw lots of snow, but virtually no wildlife. The hike was easy, so even young kids can easily do it, but it is uphill.
Sitka
We walked over to the National Park after walking around town for about an hour. There isn’t much to see and do in Sitka, though I know they have some interesting sites. You can get a map and tour guide, which we had, and as we walked through the town, made a few stops here and there. The national park, on the other hand, was beautiful. It’s an easy flat terrain hike that anyone can do.
Victoria
We walked into town, and took a tour of the Parliament building – I found it to be very interesting. The we walked over to the Empress Hotel, which we also explored on our own. It was raining quite hard and we had forgotten our umbrellas, so we didn’t do anything else. On our last visit, we went to Buchart Gardens – must see!
Please don't hesitate to ask questions if you have any about either tour.
Final Thoughts
Now that I have experienced a 10-night cruise to Alaska aboard the Dawn Princess, I have come to the following conclusion:
1. I prefer larger ships with more activities.
2. I prefer a more port intensive itinerary with fewer days at sea.
3. And if I ever got to Alaska again, it will be a cruise through the Inside Passage.
I don’t want you to think we had a bad time. We enjoyed the slower pace, the time to unwind and do nothing. It took us a few days to get into this mode – my life is so hectic, I had to relearn the art of relaxing!
No vacation is perfect, so I can accept this for what it was. I probably wouldn’t have booked this cruise knowing what I know now – that extra effort to fly into Vancouver or Seattle, in my opinion would have been worth it to see the Inside Passage again! But I don’t have regrets either.
If you have a cruise already booked on the Dawn Princess, I am sure you too will have a good time. Deep down inside I know I should have researched this voyage more carefully. But there is something to be said for new experiences. I have never taken a 10 day cruise, never spent so many days in open ocean, never experienced cold, overcast rainy days while on vacation. We spent most of our time indoors, dressed in long pants and pull-overs (a far cry from our Summers here sin Sacramento). We got to read and play cards in cozy rooms while watching the rain run down the windows.
We made the best of it, and so will you. The vast majority of people we ran into on the cruise loved all the aspects we initially disliked! Our feelings were in the minority, so please take what I say with a grain of salt. This type of cruise is not for everyone – I know it’s not the kind of voyage we want to do again. But that doesn’t mean we didn’t have a nice vacation.
Good luck!
Recommended:
No
Best Suited For: Seniors
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Epinions.com ID:
Suzi
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Location: California
Reviews written: 190
Trusted by: 147 members
About Me:
Suzi is an aspiring travel writer who enjoys scuba diving and volleyball.
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