Dawn Princess

Pros: Everything's right there
Cons: Can get expensive

I finally went somewhere - that's right, this summer my husband booked us a 7 Day Cruise through Alaska. We booked through Yahoo Travel, and selected the Princess Cruise Line. For the time period we wanted, the ship that was sailing was the Dawn...

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!

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 ...

Pros: unbelievable scenery and wildlife, quaint towns, good food (salmon and reindeer!), comedians
Cons: dance/music shows, lack of young people

I recently came back from a land/sea (cruisetour, as described by Princess) cruise from Alaska with my parents, brother and fiancé. This was a 11 day trip with some fantastic scenery. We spent 3 days staying at Princess Lodges in the interior of Alaska, ...

Pros: - Service - Entertainment - Value
Cons: - Pool Deck - Stateroom beds - Food

My wife and I sailed on the Dawn Princess February 18-28. This was our third Princess and eleventh cruise overall. Keep in mind when you read this--I think all cruises are great and they sure beat a day at the office. But sometimes it's good to have a ...

Pros: Alaska is beautiful and the scenery and wildlife was amazing.
Cons: Dawn Princess is an old ship - like an old Holiday Inn.

My girlfriend and I sailed on the Dawn Princess, round-trip from Seattle on an Alaskan cruise on May 13, 2006. We have cruised on other ships before and decided to give Princess a try for our Alaskan cruise. Here is a list of our issues: The ...

Pros: Beautiful ship, convenience of cruising, great foods, charming ports of call
Cons: Hectic embarkation

My husband and I took the Dawn Princess out of San Diego December, 2007.  We're experienced cruisers and it is one of our favorite vacations - no matter what the destination.Departure port:  San Diego - we came in three days ...

Pros: Food Nice ship lots to do
Cons: smell on our floor lack of people our age

We just got back from a 10 Day cruise to Alaska. We had a wonderful time. This was our 3rd cruise and out first time to Alaska. My husband and I are in our late 20's and traveled with his family and a group of other friends and their family for a ...

Pros: Excellent service, nice number of amenities
Cons: Sea sickness

My first (and only other cruise) was was back in the mid-1980's when I took a Carnival cruise to the Caribbean. I was so un-impressed with the whole experience that I never even considered taking another cruise again. However, when my family and...

Pros: Christmas break is the best to bring kids along
Cons: If there aren't kids your age on the ship, it can be a long week

I am a four time veteran teenager on Princess Cruises. Compared to other lines (Carnival and Disney's Big Red Boat) Princess is the most luxurious and in my opinion the most fun. I have been on the Dawn Princess in Alaska, and in the Caribbean the Star...

Pros: Great price for what you get, friendly staff, fantastic desserts, hypnotist show hilarious
Cons: Travel arrangements (crazy flight schedule),average age of passengers quite a bit older than we were led to believe, a few extra hidden charges (uncorking fee, ice cream)

We just returned from our honeymoon cruise aboard the Dawn Princess.

Let me start by saying that overall, we had a very nice time, but there were a few bumps in the road that could have been handled a bit better by the cruise line and/or...

Pros: Beautiful public areas, good ports of call
Cons: tiny staterooms, below average food

I have just returned home from a mediocre cruise on the Dawn Princess that sailed the Southern Caribbean from 12/9/00 - 12/116/00.
Although the public areas on the Dawn are really magnificent, the living areas (staterooms) are tiny! I had a cabin...

Pros: The Ship & its Company, the food, the excursions, the verandah stateroom
Cons: talent, Pursers Office crew quite unprofessional with cruisers

As well advertised in our local Sunday newspaper, Princess Cruises was offering a 2 for 1 cruise special. Cruise Alaska on its extended last run of 2000 September 18 - 25th. The balcony we wanted was within our means, the near 90 degree heat &...

Pros: beautiful scenery, good food, luxurious ship, plenty to do for everyone
Cons: pricey

First of all, allow me to be blunt in saying that epinions needs to get their facts straight. The Dawn Princess sails from Seward, Alaska and Vancouver throughout the month of August. With that aside, allow me to review our seven day cruise through the...

Pros: THE FOOD! The staff, the free cocktail parties
Cons: Islands of Trinidad, Barbados - stinky & dirty with hawkers swooning over you.

Oh what a wonderful S Caribbean cruise the Dawn Princess presented. We left 11/18 on American Airlines to San Jan via Miami. Embarkation was under 6 minutes including walking aboard. Luggage arrived in an hour. We were on Riviera deck #349....

Pros: Felt like I was part of an elite group of people
Cons: Cost of the cruise

We left San Francisco on Sunday morning using American Airlines - we arrived in San Juan, PR approx 8:30. We boarded a bus that was provided by Princess Cruises. We sat on the bus for only about five minutes before we were shuttled off to the ship.
...

Pros: Affordable balcony rooms, doesn't feel crowded ever
Cons: 2000 people getting on tenders to go ashore in Grenada

In April of this past year, my boyfriend and I embarked on the Dawn Princess from San Juan. We went to St. Thomas, Grenada, Caracas, Aruba, and Dominica. The decision to go on Princess was made because of some good reviews we had read about the food and...

Pros: Great for families, couples or elderly.
Cons: Silly thing - shouldn't have to pay for sodas.

My family and I just returned from our 2nd Princess Cruise. This one was aboard the fabulous Dawn Princess. We left from Puerto Rico and went to Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St. Maarten, and St. Thomas.

We arrived on the Dawn Princess at...

Pros: Mostly Beautiful Ports, beautiful ship, relaxing, wonderful to see different parts of the world but then get back on the ship and go somewhere else
Cons: entertainment was poor, some (not all) of the crew left something to be desired, and the cruise line was very disorganized

I just got back last Sunday (2/27/00) from my trip on the Dawn Princess with my family. I have to say it was great as a first cruise experience. Most of the things on the ship I enjoyed. But, there was a lot I didn't.

Start off with the bags....

Pros: Friendly staff, nice ship
Cons: Poor food, limited venue hours

I went on the Dawn Princess' Southern Caribbean trip in January 2000 with my friend and my mother, and overall was somewhat disappointed. While my friend and I had never been on a cruise, my mother has been on multiple cruises and cruise lines over the...

Pros: Good Service, Good Food
Cons: Ship rolls around a little to much for some people.

My husband and I, just returned from a cruise on the Dawn Princess.

We flew into San Juan, Puerto Rico, on Friday, December 3, 1999. We had decided to spend two days in San Juan, before we boarded ship on Sunday, December 5, 1999.

...

Pros: Very High Class, good food
Cons: not a lot of kids, too much seafood and steak

I'm not a rookie when it comes to cruises. I have been on both the Big Red Boat and Carnival. But what I was new at was Princess and our beautiful Destination Alaska.
I loved this vacation. I got to see one of the most beautiful places in the...

Pros: Fantastic environment, food, service, itinerary
Cons: Seating for large people, narrow beds

Recently (October 1999) I cruised on the Dawn Princess through the Panama Canal (16 days). As a large person, I found a unique situation aboard. Often times, I found only chairs with arms, which I could not fit into. So the question was, where do I...

Pros: food, ports of call, courteous staff
Cons: food selection

Our cruise was unique in that we travelled with a lot of family and friends--three extended families! The best part about doing this kind of vacation on a large cruise ship versus a hotel or resort is that it's easy to meet with people AND it's easy to...

Pros: Clean, stocked with amenities, excellent staff, great service
Cons: Not as "multi-generational" friendly as other ships, limited food choices late at night

By today's standards, the Dawn Princess is considered mid-sized relative to other cruise ships, but don't let its size fool you. When it launched in 1997, it was one of the largest at the time. It offers amenities that you'd find in a luxury hotel: pools ...

Pros: Great food,awesome excursions,very relaxing 5 star treatment!!
Cons: None, As long as you exercise self control on your spending.

This was our first vacation and my first cruise, We chose the Dawn Princess to go to Alaska, Northbound from Vancouver to Whittier, From Aug22nd through 28th, to escape from the AZ summer heat. We booked through a local travel agency, Cruise-N-Leisure ...

Pros: Well organized. Great staff. Activities for every taste. Lots of things to see.
Cons: Long lines in Horizon court. Some dining room staff too obviously fishing for tips.

Trip booked through Travelocity - a lot cheaper than Princess direct. Had we known that we could have booked through United and gotten the miles we would have done that. We went on the Dawn Princess from Vancouver to Whittier (Anchorage) May 24th ...

Pros: Clean ship. Refrigerators in room that were not locked.
Cons: Cold food. Sparse activities. Condescending crew.

Cruised to Alaska on May 19, 2003.
Day one:
Buffet food was cold. Safety drill was conducted by female cruise director whom was condescending in speech and tone of voice.
Day two and three were at sea:
Lack of activities. In order...

Pros: Great Shore excursions. Beautiful Alaskan Scenery.
Cons: Food. Entertainment. Service. Smell. The boat itself.

BUYER BEWARE! What a disaster! This was my family's first cruise, and we have all decided that maybe cruising isn't for us. We came to this decision because: a) the food was awful, b) the ride was horribly choppy and bumpy, c) the entertainment was ...

Pros: clean, GREAT ports of call, generally good service
Cons: personal choice cruising option. Have to leave from Puerto Rico. slow embarkation.

I have sailed with Princess twice, once on the Dawn and most recently on the Star (to Mexico). I enjoyed all the ports in the Southern Caribbean except Caracas, Venezuela. Caracas was the low point but even that wasn't bad because we took the excursion...

Pros: Crude entertainment, not too much to do on board during "At Sea" days
Cons: You really can't go wrong with any cruise, can you?

Dec 2000 was the 3rd cruise for my wife and I. We took the extreme southern carribean cruise which included Trinidad, Barbados, St John, and others.

You really can't go too wrong with a cruise on a "name brand" line, and although there were...

Pros: Nice staff.
Cons: Fraught with hawking; few quiet spots; run-down feel.

This is a review of the Dawn Princess from the point of view of a mother of a 2-year-old, first-time cruise passenger, and professor. This ship is really not recommended for parents of young children - or people with particular aesthetic expectations. ...

Pros: Beautiful, fun ship
Cons: None

We sailed on the Dawn last April in the Southern Carribean itinerary. We visited Barbados, St. Lucia, St. Kitts, St, Maarten and St Thomas.

We've been on 5 cruises, including the Crown Princess, and I must say that the ship, its crew, the...

Pros: Excellent service
Cons: Dominant older age groups

There is no better time to cruise the Inside Passage to Anchorage, and no better cruise line! We sailed northward at the end of May, and the weather was 50-60 degrees nearly every day (quite warm for glacier country). The Princess team did not let my...

Pros: Great Security, Great Staff,Great Ports
Cons: 10 Days are Better than 7, but still not enough

Every port we went to our ship was the only one to put a security tender boat into the water to patrol around our ship & several large keep back 50 meters banners off the ships side, it made us feel very secure. All our trips on this ship have been...

Pros: The price was an excellent deal for a 7 day Alaskan Cruise !
Cons: Seemed they were trying to get every dollar out for even non alcoholic drinks

This was our 4th cruise , the best location and also the best value to date! The ports of call were fantastic and priced fairly .

The new way they take gratuities (automatic) to your bill has pro's and con's . I feel this could reward sub...

Pros: Scenery, service, & entertainment as well as food quality and presentation
Cons: Princess excursions are a bit pricey, but very enjoyable. The art auctions are annoying.

Sorry you had a bad experience aboard the Dawn Princess but we had the opposite opinion. We sailed Alaska's Inside Passage 7 years ago on the Dawn with our family of four. The children were age 10 and 11. We all had a wonderful time. This past summer ...

Pros: Giving great apologies & gifts
Cons: not doing so when incidents happened

Princess Cruiselines is a class act. I sent the previous review to them & in 2 weeks we received a long letter thanking us for various compliments regarding their ports chosen as well as staff.

They were thankful that we pointed out areas...

Pros: Ship, crew, Alaska, cruise
Cons: Love Boat film crew on board

Since the Dawn Princess we have cruised several times. Nothing has matched trip, with the exception of the Love Boat film crew and stars, since. Blocked rest rooms, held elevators (??Stars will hold an elevator for 30 minutes}, constant radio chatter by...

Pros: great staff, great fun, wonderful places to see
Cons: small room

In December of 1998 I went on a Princess Cruise with my family. We visited a different place each day with a full day on the ship on Christmas day. We visited such places as St. Thomas, Dominica, Grenada, Venezuela, and Aruba. All of the places were...

Pros: Personal Choice Cruising.
Cons: None.

We recently took a cruise-tour of Alaska and Canada, abourd Princess' beautiful Dawn Princess. The marveluos vessel is much bigger than the 600 passenger Orient Lines' Marco Polo that I traveled on twice. It holds 3000 people. (2000 passengers and 1000...

Pros: Personal Choice Cruising.
Cons: None.

We recently took a cruise-tour of Alaska and Canada, aboard Princess' beautiful Dawn Princess. The marvelous vessel is much bigger than the 600 passenger Orient Lines' Marco Polo that I traveled on twice. It holds 3000 people. (2000 passengers and 1000...

Pros: Wonderful cruise - watched for good "deal" and all went so well.
Cons: At this time, there really are no "cons"...it's a great ship!

May, 2006, we cruised the Inside Passage on the Dawn. We felt the food the best of any cruises we'd done. Oct.,2007,we did same ship on Mexican Riviera. Everything was just fabulous! Our cabin steward was thorough, prompt, and actually took the time to be friendly and "know" us. We had a fantastic dining room waiter--opps! waitress....She was from the Ukraine and wonderful. The service was just out-of-this world. We asked if the chef was the same as our cruise from May,2006. He was. I really feel it must be his standards that keep the food what it is. Perhaps we've cruised enough that the evening entertainment sort of "pales".....they try, but we both get tired of the constant high-energy singing, dancing, jokes that hinge on the "edge"....but you don't have to stay there. And we didn't always. We went with good friends which makes a cruise so much more enjoyable--but I was sorry to hear that this ship will be transferred to Austrailia and that portion of the globe in another year. We really enjoy cruising with Princess--and this was our 3rd time on the Dawn.

Pros: Kids center so there is lots of new friends.
Cons: Dinner lines were long if you did not reserve.

This Cruise was one of the best family vacations. My family went this last Christmas and I was very excited to see that they put up all of the fun holiday decorations. They really took the extra time with the special holiday season. Another thing we loved was the food! The food was terrific and the workers (waiters/waitresses, cooks, cleaning, etc.) were all very friendly and helpful. The one thing that really sticks out to me is how the cooks and waiters were very helpful with a food allergy my family has. They were more than willing to double check ingredients despite how many other people they were helping. Family anytime dinning was the best way to go, because rounding up all of the family for a specific time was very hard. I would also do a few formal nights!The lines to get off the boat in the different ports were very long so I would recommend either waking up really early or sleeping in to miss the boarding and un-boarding lines. Over all this was a really great family oriented cruise and I would recommend it to anyone.

Pros: The crew was excellent. Very customer friendly.
Cons: Quantity of the food in the dining room was smaller than other cruise lines.

This is my 5th cruise but my first time w/Princess Cruise Lines. It was average and met my expectation. Smooth embarkation & disembarkation process. Surprisingly, eventhough the cruise was completely booked, the ship was not crowded. There were very few wait times in line, etc. The entertainment however was definitely below average. Their singers and dancers and their shows overall were not entertaining. However the other entertainers such as the illusionist, comedian, juggler were fun to watch. The cruise director was not very involved and had a dry sense of humor. Other than that the quality of the food was good, staterooms average, and personnel were very customer friendly. Overall, I'd recommend this particular cruise for first timers. There are definitely other cruise lines that I would recommend for those who are experienced cruisers.