Embarkation...We arrived at the port relatively early as we live only an hour away, arriving at 11 am the slowest part was parking, it took 25 minutes to get into the garage and the fees for parking are outrageous at 20.00 per day. DW and friends waited for me to park so we could enter through security together, walked right up to the counter and had our sign and sail card within minutes then upstairs to a large room to wait, after a few minutes they started the boarding process and inside of 20 minutes we were receiving our champagne and heading for our rooms. Rooms........... Rooms were ready early as there was no cruise prior to our sailing due to the unfortunate electrical problem from the now infamous black Friday breakdown, rooms were clean but it seemed that things were not quite up to the Dawn's usual standards. Very little ice in bucket, Ice in wine bucket nearly melted, no room stewards to be found, finally after a few hours we called room service for ice,Life boat drill the usual deal but they seemed to move it along nicely. Luggage, one piece arrived very early and we had it put away before the life boat drill, the other 2 pieces arriving after sail away Sail Away.........We went on deck to Bimini bar and grill for sail away, met a few CCer's for a cocktail. We were the last of 4 ships to leave port then back to the cabin to put away luggage, DW say's she is not on vacation till luggage is unpacked and stowed away Exploring the ship.. Basically wondered the ship from stem to stern and top to bottom, happened upon Jose from Jose and Patti and chatted for a little while as he was setting up his sound system ( first day back on the Dawn), requested a song for our friends celebrating their 35th anniversary and he was more than happy to dedicate to them. Later that evening he waited for my cue and sang Unchained Melody for them as they danced she cried. Perfect!!! First sea day spent relaxing and pigging out, Had a wonderful turnout with our Meet and Greet, of 104 persons registered 86 made it to meet the officers. then later went to listen to all the wonderful entertainment, we were torn the whole cruise between listening to Jose and Patti, Bernie Martini, and Tim Dion who had a fantastic voice and played acoustical guitar, so many great performers it pretty much kept us out of the casino Samana, cant offer any insight here as we stayed on the boat and relaxed on the relatively empty ship, dined at Cagney's for lunch and got hooked on the crab cakes again. had the sliders and they were tasty but a bit too much bread, Cagney fries and the Banana creme pie were delicious. Tortola....Ok off the ship today, Caught a cab to Brewers bay, what a beautiful beach much like Megan's bay in St Thomas, Great snorkeling from the beach and a snack bar with frozen drinks, beer and more, Met another man snorkeling who gave me dog biscuits to crumble underwater and attract fish. Later on board we had dinner at Impressions which was perfect, then on to the entertainment, first a stop to see Jose and Patti, stopped by to hear Bernie Martini's tribute to Sinatra, then on to the Liars Club game show, not to be missed, a physical spin on a couples game show. Heading back to the room we spent a while listening to Bernie.

Antigua...... Another do nothing day, just got off the ship and did some shopping, then to Cagney's for lunch with friends and dinner at Salsa's Margaritas were small so DW drank them all LOL...Same bar hopping for entertainment.

St Lucia..... Chartered a private catamaran tour with Serenity, only 20 people and the cost was only 55.00 per person, sailed along the coast to the Piton's then back to a nice beach for snorkel swimming and lunch, then a tour of Marigold bay and back to the ship, Being a macho guy i said I did not need sunscreen,, BIG MISTAKE!!! got fried, our room steward call me tomato man,,,Dinner an Cagneys then off to Second City, not really our taste as you really need to be a Saturday Night Live fan to enjoy their humor, left the show early, went to casino for a while then off to listen to Jose an Patti, Read more