Circumnavigation around Australia 18th November 2009

This review will be written from the eyes of a newbie so it will have no comparison with other lines, ships or distant destinations that the more seasoned review could bring. We decided to do this cruise to gauge our interest, tolerance & liking in cruising, as our plan is to eventually cruise to Japan for the cherry blossom season. We were looking at the cruise experience rather than shore tours and consequently we did not book any shore tour and used the public transport system in the major cities to sightsee when we did venture ashore.

The cruise departing on 18th November was to circumnavigate around Australia in 28 days. From Melbourne to Melbourne, because we embarked in Adelaide on 20th November we arrived on board in an easy and quick fashion being only about 200 passengers embarked in Adelaide. We were all guided by staff effectively and efficiently through the terminal & ship. Our first impression was awesome at the size of the Dawn Princess although we had done a lot of research on the ship and the cruise we were not surprised at what we saw. It met all our expectations. We found our cabin easily due to the hours of checking out the ship-we knew her deck plan reasonably well. We arrived at the terminal at 1pm and was in the Horizon buffet eating lunch before 2pm after finding our room and freshening up. Read more