It was really overcast with strong winds and rain when we pulled into port, so we had to ditch our original plans to take the ferry to St. John and snorkel at Trunk Bay.  We waited a few hours for the weather to clear, but by the time it started to we wouldn't have had any time on the beach (30 minutes) if we took the ferry over and still made the ship's sailing.  Sooo...we just took a taxi to Coki Beach and went snorkeling.  

We had to tender in here, which is the first time I haven't been docked in St. Thomas.  Pretty neat though...we pulled into the harbor and dropped anchor.  They used their larger rescue vessels (lifeboats) to tender passengers to the far side of the harbor (not the shopping mall), but we just walked across the street and got a fantastic taxi driver.  He wasn't concerned about getting a full load, and drove us thru the mountains rather than around the island, to avoid most of the traffic.  Really neat experience, although some of the sights were depressing  there is so much trash and broken down housing, overgrown yards, etc.

Coki Beach is very small, though it stretches out for a good distance.  The folks selling drinks, necklaces, etc. were VERY annoying, and really hampered our ability to just lay in the sun.  We had some good snorkeling though, since the sun had finally come out by then.  Hint: snorkel over by the rocks closer to Coral World  there are SO many fish of all kinds there, just under the surface!  

The drive back to the tender point took forever, almost 1.5 hours, since the driver took a "short cut" thru a housing project, and we were running into rush hour traffic.  He drove to the main cruise port to drop off some other passengers, then pawned us off on his friend, another cabdriver, to drive us the last mile to the tender point.  Really strange, and we cut it closer than we wanted getting back to the ship.  We were apparently on the next-to-last tender back to the ship.

St. Thomas

What a beautiful port! We agreed that this port is SO much cleaner and nicer than St. Thomas, and I really want to go back sometime to explore some more. We signed up for the Virgin Gorda Highlights tour, which we could have done ourselves for half the price. The taxi took us from the dock to the ferry port, which is really a quick 5 minute walk, then we boarded a ferry next to Speedy's Ferry, which actually left the dock before ours did. In Virgin Gorda, a taxi took us the short trip to the Baths. Tip: do this excursion yourself walk to the Speedy's dock, pay $30 for the roundtrip ferry, and Speedy's offers nonstop transportation to and from the Baths. We paid $70 per person for exactly the same thing... 
The Baths are truly incredible, an experience not to be missed! I wish someone would have told us how rough the waves are there, which makes snorkeling close to impossible, even swimming was very difficult for most people there. We would have left our snorkel gear behind and had less to drag along with us. 
You can say on the first beach or take the trail thru the rocks/caves to the second beach, which requires walking thru tidepools, climbing over rocks (some have ladders, some you scramble over), sliding down the other side of rocks, walking sideways, crawling thru openings just big enough for your body, and generally getting very wet and sandy by the time you come out on the other side. Tip: wear clothes you don't mind getting wet and sandy, and most importantly, wear water shoes or walking sandals. Flip flops just don't do it here, unless you are going to remove them and go barefoot. 
We ended up finding our own way thru the caves to the second beach, since the guide was lagging far behind with the huge group of people. This is why I said you can/should do this yourself, so you can experience it at your own pace, not with the huddled masses. 
Bottom line: the Baths are gorgeous, don't miss this experience!! 


Tortola

We signed up for the Everglades tour, since our flight was out of MIA at 4PM. It started out fine, but the bus driver missed the turnoff for the road to the Everglades. He got off the highway, made a big looping U-turn, then got back on the highway...going the same way we'd been going! He got off further down the road, and we all helped him find the correct way to to. All told, he set us back around 30 minutes, after we left the port 20 minutes late, waiting for two participants who never showed up. Then the bus driver tailgated a car most of the way to the Everglades, hit his brakes too hard, and too suddenly, and generally made us all very nervous! 
We got to the Everglades Safari and boarded our airboat for the trip into the Everglades. Really neat experience, and we got to see two alligators sunning on the grass. When we got back we took in the alligator show, and after the show I got to hold Snappy (for a $3 donation), the adorable baby alligator. We then did the self-guided walk to view all sorts of alligators and caymans (caymen?) at their nature preserve. 
The bus driver then dropped us off at the airport (after almost sideswiping a motorcyclist as we pulled out of the parking lot) - we were all very happy to get off that bus! But all in all a very nice tour, and a much better way to spend the time waiting for your flight. 


Miami

The balcony was very nice  I love the glass wall, which allows you to sit back and watch the ocean without straining to see over the railing.  The chairs were really nice, too - blue reclining chairs, so you could sunbathe from your balcony.  The furniture layout was really tight, and we had to squeeze past each other many times over the cruise.  But there was more than enough storage space for everything, and it never felt cluttered.  The bathroom was really room, and I loved the shower  best one I've ever had.  Nice sliding doors and a removable spray nozzle  just like home!  Our cabin steward was Indra, and he was really good  we gave him an extra tip for his efforts.

) Anyways, after waiting 20 minutes with NO ONE in our row getting one more bit of food, and not seeing our server at all, my boyfriend finally got up to tell the Maitre 'D.Venetian opened at noon, so we had a really nice sit-down lunch for our first meal on board.

Norwegian Dawn Review

Slightly Underwhelmed

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Mid-Ship Balcony

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