While the ship was relatively nice (I've been on better), I wasn't wowed by anything on board. It had decent amenities, but it was near impossible to find anywhere to sit. Seating was more difficult outside because on the entire port side of the ship, they allow smoking. That's on deck 7, outside (so if you want to take a nice evening walk, for one half of the walk, you're walking through cigarette smoke). If you want to sit out by the pool, you better sit starboard or smell the smoke. You can even smell the smoke in some of the stairwells, and even the the Garden Cafe if things blow just right, which is disgusting. You can smoke in the casino, which has no doors, so the smoke comes out of there into the rest of the ship. Frankly, as soon as you got on the ship, mid-ship where Le Bistro is, you could smell the smoke. Just gross. So, if you're a non-smoker on the Dawn, good luck getting away from it. We also had an issue with our balcony neighbors smoking on their balcony. It took two days for Guest Services to remedy the issue, and ultimately took the head of Housekeeping catching them for something to be said about it. It's a safety hazard and should been dealt with immediately!

The smoking issue aside, the rest of the cruise was okay. The food was decent, the service was good, and the entertainment was great. Cagney's was the best - 20 oz. Porterhouse was to die for. My wife and I went there for an anniversary dinner and the staff sang us a song and gave us an anniversary cake. Very unexpected, but very nice.

We really enjoyed the music of Manila Soul, the ship band. They were fantastic. They had a large repertoire, and they played every day! Read more