Norwegian Dawn 7 days or Explorer of the Seas 5 days

We were going to take this year off from cruising, but now are
considering the 2 ships above to Bermuda. Our only window of opportunity
is the last week in August. I got price quotes from our travel agent and
the difference is less than $10.

Dawn--- advantages--- one extra day in Bermuda + one extra sea day for
basically the same price. Freestyle, so we don't have to pack formal
clothes. We've been to that port and can take a bus to NYC (from
upstate) and then go to the port so I don't need to drive in NY City or
pay exorbitant parking fees.

Explorer of the Seas---advantages--- shorter (my wife would prefer a
short cruise and would get back in time to go to her school early to get
her art room back together after everything was moved out for new
floors). My wife is an ice skater and they have an ice skating rink.
Although, I can easily do without formal, she does have 2 dresses that
she made for last year's Baltic cruise. I think we prefer Royal
Caribbean to Norwegian.

Explorer --- disadvantages--- We don't really know how to get to the
port, or more importantly if we can get there from upstate without me
having to drive. I'm not sure that we would not find this ship too big.

Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome.

I've been on both... I think Explorer is a LOT more ship. Yes it's bigger,
but mostly wider, not much longer. Only the newer Liberty and Freedom seem
"too long" to the point that there was too much walking on the ship. So I
don't consider Explorer too big.

Both ships do rather well out in the ocean from a stability standpoint.

Since I'm diamond level with RCI, I get a card for the concierge lounge that
includes free happy hour... so for me that's a deciding factor.

An extra day in Bermuda is nice though. Though neither gets you into
Hamilton or St. Georges...

Pretty much a toss up.

--Tom


"Jeff Gersten" <JeffGersten@> wrote in message
news:27870-48890707-639@storefull-3251.bay....
> We were going to take this year off from cruising, but now are
> considering the 2 ships above to Bermuda. Our only window of opportunity
> is the last week in August. I got price quotes from our travel agent and
> the difference is less than $10.
>
> Dawn--- advantages--- one extra day in Bermuda + one extra sea day for
> basically the same price. Freestyle, so we don't have to pack formal
> clothes. We've been to that port and can take a bus to NYC (from
> upstate) and then go to the port so I don't need to drive in NY City or
> pay exorbitant parking fees.
>
> Explorer of the Seas---advantages--- shorter (my wife would prefer a
> short cruise and would get back in time to go to her school early to get
> her art room back together after everything was moved out for new
> floors). My wife is an ice skater and they have an ice skating rink.
> Although, I can easily do without formal, she does have 2 dresses that
> she made for last year's Baltic cruise. I think we prefer Royal
> Caribbean to Norwegian.
>
> Explorer --- disadvantages--- We don't really know how to get to the
> port, or more importantly if we can get there from upstate without me
> having to drive. I'm not sure that we would not find this ship too big.
>
> Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome.
>

I haven't cruise on RCCL yet, but this is my gut feeling. I had 2
cruises on NCL - the first one was on the Dawn, and it was great. The
2nd one was on the Gem, and it was not so great - I'm now planning on
my next cruise being the Explorer. I would go on NCL if the price,
timing and itinerary were right, but it would not at this moment in
time be my first choice.

HOWEVER.....

2 extra days vacation? No brainer in my opinion, although by the time
you finish with NCL's nickel and diming it may end up costing extra
anyway.

If **I** were doing it, I would prefer Dawn because I like smaller
ships, I like Bermuda and I like NCL better than RCI.

However if I were YOU, I would take the one my wife preferred unless
the trip to the port was an unacceptable hassle.

I've been on both to Bermuda and enjoyed both.

Although I love the Explorer and found the Dawn lacking in activities
and food quality and more, the extra 2 days made that trip preferable.

So you need to decide what's more important: ship or length of cruise.



Paul






In article <48894138$0$20929$607ed4bc@cv.net>,
"Tom K" <tkanitra@> wrote:

> I've been on both... I think Explorer is a LOT more ship. Yes it's bigger,
> but mostly wider, not much longer. Only the newer Liberty and Freedom seem
> "too long" to the point that there was too much walking on the ship. So I
> don't consider Explorer too big.
>
> Both ships do rather well out in the ocean from a stability standpoint.
>
> Since I'm diamond level with RCI, I get a card for the concierge lounge that
> includes free happy hour... so for me that's a deciding factor.
>
> An extra day in Bermuda is nice though. Though neither gets you into
> Hamilton or St. Georges...
>
> Pretty much a toss up.
>
> --Tom
>
>
> "Jeff Gersten" <JeffGersten@> wrote in message
> news:27870-48890707-639@storefull-3251.bay....
> > We were going to take this year off from cruising, but now are
> > considering the 2 ships above to Bermuda. Our only window of opportunity
> > is the last week in August. I got price quotes from our travel agent and
> > the difference is less than $10.
> >
> > Dawn--- advantages--- one extra day in Bermuda + one extra sea day for
> > basically the same price. Freestyle, so we don't have to pack formal
> > clothes. We've been to that port and can take a bus to NYC (from
> > upstate) and then go to the port so I don't need to drive in NY City or
> > pay exorbitant parking fees.
> >
> > Explorer of the Seas---advantages--- shorter (my wife would prefer a
> > short cruise and would get back in time to go to her school early to get
> > her art room back together after everything was moved out for new
> > floors). My wife is an ice skater and they have an ice skating rink.
> > Although, I can easily do without formal, she does have 2 dresses that
> > she made for last year's Baltic cruise. I think we prefer Royal
> > Caribbean to Norwegian.
> >
> > Explorer --- disadvantages--- We don't really know how to get to the
> > port, or more importantly if we can get there from upstate without me
> > having to drive. I'm not sure that we would not find this ship too big.
> >
> > Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome.
> >

extra day in bermuda, no dress up, easier port, i'd go for the dawn. we
were on her in feb and all is very well
sheree

"Jeff Gersten" <JeffGersten@> wrote in message
news:27870-48890707-639@storefull-3251.bay....
> We were going to take this year off from cruising, but now are
> considering the 2 ships above to Bermuda. Our only window of opportunity
> is the last week in August. I got price quotes from our travel agent and
> the difference is less than $10.
>
> Dawn--- advantages--- one extra day in Bermuda + one extra sea day for
> basically the same price. Freestyle, so we don't have to pack formal
> clothes. We've been to that port and can take a bus to NYC (from
> upstate) and then go to the port so I don't need to drive in NY City or
> pay exorbitant parking fees.
>
> Explorer of the Seas---advantages--- shorter (my wife would prefer a
> short cruise and would get back in time to go to her school early to get
> her art room back together after everything was moved out for new
> floors). My wife is an ice skater and they have an ice skating rink.
> Although, I can easily do without formal, she does have 2 dresses that
> she made for last year's Baltic cruise. I think we prefer Royal
> Caribbean to Norwegian.
>
> Explorer --- disadvantages--- We don't really know how to get to the
> port, or more importantly if we can get there from upstate without me
> having to drive. I'm not sure that we would not find this ship too big.
>
> Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome.
>

One advantage of sailing with NCL is that they go out of the Manhattan
cruise terminal, so you
get a terrific view of NYC and the harbor coming and going. On RCCL they go
down the back
channel from Bayonne and enter near the VN Bridge, so instead of sailing
right by the
Statue of Liberty, all you see is a tiny speck on the horizon.

I did find the boarding and deboarding process in Bayonne to be very
tedious.

On NCL it is "dress up if you want to night" and some do, so the wife can
wear her fancies
if she wants.

Explorer is really too big. The only public venue that ever seemed not
crowded was the
cigar bar. It was always so busy and noisy on that ship and very hard to
find a quiet spot.
The main atrium/concourse is like NYC Times Square much of the time.

The Bayonne Cruise Port is not hard to get to. It is convenient to Newark
Airport, to which one can
take a train, a bus, or a plane. $20 taxi ride from there.

I really think I would avoid the last week in August on the Explorer. It
will be full and there will be
many families with many kids. Same on NCL, perhaps, but with a managable
number of fellow
passengers.






















"Jeff Gersten" <JeffGersten@> wrote in message
news:27870-48890707-639@storefull-3251.bay....
> We were going to take this year off from cruising, but now are
> considering the 2 ships above to Bermuda. Our only window of opportunity
> is the last week in August. I got price quotes from our travel agent and
> the difference is less than $10.
>
> Dawn--- advantages--- one extra day in Bermuda + one extra sea day for
> basically the same price. Freestyle, so we don't have to pack formal
> clothes. We've been to that port and can take a bus to NYC (from
> upstate) and then go to the port so I don't need to drive in NY City or
> pay exorbitant parking fees.
>
> Explorer of the Seas---advantages--- shorter (my wife would prefer a
> short cruise and would get back in time to go to her school early to get
> her art room back together after everything was moved out for new
> floors). My wife is an ice skater and they have an ice skating rink.
> Although, I can easily do without formal, she does have 2 dresses that
> she made for last year's Baltic cruise. I think we prefer Royal
> Caribbean to Norwegian.
>
> Explorer --- disadvantages--- We don't really know how to get to the
> port, or more importantly if we can get there from upstate without me
> having to drive. I'm not sure that we would not find this ship too big.
>
> Any comments or suggestions would be more than welcome.
>

We took the Carnival Victory cruise to Canada in 03 and just took our
second Carnival cruise this month on the Inspiration. Both were fun and
relaxing. Carnival puts out a terrific product. The Victory is a
terrific ship and the Canada itinerary is a nice one. Plus the food on
Carnival beats both RCL (not by much, but does beat them) and NCL (hands
down-- NCL's food is not very good).

Enjoy your cruise.

Paul

In article <20179-488B7B5F-251@storefull-3253.bay.>,
JeffGersten@ (Jeff Gersten) wrote:

> gmbeasley@ (Rosalie B.)wrote:
>
> >However if I were YOU, I would take the one
> >my wife preferred unless the trip to the port
> >was an unacceptable hassle.
>
> Great piece of advice. My wife thought the 7 day cruise was longer than
> she wanted and did not get back on time for her to go to school before
> it opened and move boxes back to her room. Although the ice skating
> tempted her, she just thought that paying the same for 5 days as 7 was
> not what she wanted us to do.
>
> Meanwhile, I had told the travel agent a time frame and a home port
> leaving us Bermuda or Canada as destinations. He found the 2 Bermuda
> cruises and said Princess went to Canada in our time frame, but was sold
> out. But, we found a Carnival cruise on the Victory for 5 days leaving
> 8/23. Actually, she had found it previously, but I was not sure I wanted
> to try Carnival. But, since it seems to be what she wants, I'll do my
> best to enjoy it. I know some hate Carnival, while others really love
> it.
>
>

Hi, Jeff,

I am reminded what a smart guy you are. Sometimes, making your
partner happy is all that really matters. ;)

We were slow to try Carnival, too, but had a rave experience the first
time out, a "good value" experience the second. The high points on
both were the food (quality and variety) and the late-night
entertainment options. It's still not a favorite line for us, but I'm
sure we'll cruise with Carnival again when the timing, itinerary and
price is right.

Speaking of itinerary, a late summer Canadian cruise sounds like an
interesting change from "the usual" Carib or Bermuda.

Now that the decision's made, enjoy the planning and anticipation!

Diana Ball
Austin, TX