We embarked on a wet day at Barangaroo Wharf. Our check-in was speedy and efficient with no hassles. The porters were pleasant and co operative, lending us a stapler so we could attach our new self printed luggage tags. We were efficiently guided to our cabin and our luggage was delivered in good time. Our cabin was as expected and we made ourselves comfortable. As we have sailed on the Dawn princess previously so it took us no time to familiarise ourselves with the ship.

As I was the organiser of the Meet and Greet for the Cruise Critic group I was disappointed to find that no invitations had been sent to the members for the meet and greet and there was nothing in the Patter for the next day. Angus Wilkinson, the 1st Purser solved this problem admirably. Over the whole 104 day trip, Angus proved to be most helpful and a pleasure to know. We found the staff on the front desk to be willing to help and reliable in following up on any matter. A big thank you to them all.

We were very disappointed that one of the ships generators failed and so we had to miss ports or have them changed. I recognise we were give some compensation but I feel Princess could pay a lot more attention to the state of the ship both mechanically and in its' furniture and fittings. The Dawn Princess is not a young ship and I have accepted that the Australian/New Zealand market will not be provided with new ships. I think the loyalty this market has given to Princess(we were told at Captain's Circle drinks that there were more Elite on this ship than had ever been experienced on any ship previously) could be rewarded with at least reliable and well maintained ships. The mattress on my husband's bed was visibly sagging from day 1. Our room steward boosted it by placing old pillows under the sag but a new mattress was unavailable. After Dover the mattress was replaced by a "new" second hand mattress. We were amazed there were no spare mattresses available. The upholstery on the sofas in the Atrium was shabby and worn out in parts. The support in most of the sofas on both deck 7 and 5 in the Atrium was non-existent. I am fairly confident the American market would not be expected to tolerate nor would they accept a ship in such a dilapidated state. On the first leg of the cruise we had an excellent waiter in the Atrium on deck 7. Daniel, from Argentina, was an energetic, friendly and delightful waiter. Read more