This was our 4th cruise on the Dawn with same itinerary. The Port of New Orleans is efficient and embarkation has always been a comfortable experience for us. This March 6th 2016 cruise, we were in an aft penthouse on the starboard side and had as recently as December been in the same cabin, therefore there was an opportunity to compare our experiences on the Dawn 3 months earlier. The food on the Dawn, in the Venetian, Cagney's, LaCucina and LeBistro in December was very good in December, but we thought it had even improved somewhat since then. We are still disappointed that LaCucina has eliminated the flavor infused olive oils.

The Dawn is going into Dry Dock but she was well maintained, and kept clean in public areas. The staff is still as amazing, friendly, courteous, helpful, fun to be around as they have been each time we have cruised on the Dawn. The entertainment was fabulous! A well accomplished pianist, Ariel Jacobe, performed in Gatsby's, the Atrium and even had a show in the Theater Saturday. His music was mostly of the Sinatra era, but he sang Elton John, Paul McCartney, Billy Joel, Streisand, etc. He was personable, friendly and truly a wonder to hear and watch. His show in the Theater was only about 30 minutes and he sang a medley of Sinatra hits with the ship's orchestra accompanying him and they were awesome too. There was a band named New Season from South Africa who were wonderful and very talented. The entertainers on this ship were very friendly and loved their audience, which was large! There was other excellent talent on board but these were our favorites and we followed them in our Freestyle Daily so we were sure not to miss a performance.

Lots and lots of good things about this ship. College students were on spring break and proved to be very polite and well behaved in sharp contrast to our experience with high school aged spring breakers. Now the not so good, which may seem small but we have had suites a number of times and knew what we could expect for the difference in price. The difference we saw with regard to staff was that in the past, we met our Butler the first day soon after reaching our suite, the Concierge checked in on us daily, often at Cagney's during breakfast or lunch, and sometimes more than once a day. We saw our Concierge in Cagney's on Friday of our cruise and were not even asked if there was anything we needed, wanted, etc. Just chit chat about Costa Maya. In the past we didn't have any battles over balcony lounge chair cushions like with did with our Cabin Steward this time. If you pay for a suite and are accustomed to certain attention, it can be quite disappointing when that level of service is not met, which is the only issue we had with the entire cruise. It did not by any means ruin our cruise, we had a blast and have two future cruises booked on the Dawn, but it was in such contrast that it was shocking to say the least. Read more