This was our third cruise and our second on DAWN.  When we cruised on DAWN last year from NYC through Canada and New England we had a balcony cabin and frankly have gotten spoiled.  Balconies are great and we've gotten to really like the wall to wall and floor to ceiling window they provide.  Of course having a place to sit and watch the world go by isn't to shabby either. 

We've met a lot of wonderful people on these cruises but usually it's in passing.  This time, however, we met a couple from Rochester NY and really hit it off.  Their objective for "port days" was different from ours so we agreed to do our own thing but get together for dinner on "sea days" to exchange stories about what we did.  We truly enjoyed their company. 

Sailing out of New York harbor was really special this time around.  DAWN has been sailing from New York for eight years but will be returning to Boston in the spring.  This was her final departure from New York so passing by the Statue of Liberty was done with much fanfare.

This was an absolutely wonderful cruise for us.  In 12 days we stopped in 5 ports which meant we had lots of sea days mixed in.  We enjoy sea days because the pace is much more relaxed.  The weather and sea conditions don’t get any better.  In fact, Roatan Honduras was hit by a hurricane 4 days after we left the area, whew!  In addition, passengers were predominantly adults with 46 different nationalities represented.  We were told that around 800 of the 2200 passengers were non-US citizens with the largest group being from Germany.

In the interest of saving space, we only took our point and shoot cameras with us.  The only accessories were polarized filters and spare batteries.  We still took 750 images and offer a few here.  Clicking on any of these images will take you to a larger view on our flickr site.  Additional information about the image can be found there....

The Ship

Everything about these ships is amazing!  The views from decks and windows, the artwork, the decor, and the people who make it all happen...

Our first port was Samana in the Dominican Republic.  You know that things are "rustic" when the cruise line has no shopping venues to suggest.  Word on the ship was to make your way to one of several beaches.  We didn't want to spend the day on a beach so we found an excursion titled "Waterfall Hike".  This excursion was rated an activity level 3 and said to expect to get dirty.  Traveling to/from the trailhead was an eye opener in itself and I managed to capture some images that will remind me of how lucky we are to live here in the USA.  At the trailhead, we were encouraged to leave our sneakers behind and wear boots which everyone did.  Conditions were HOT and MUGGY and the trail was narrow, steep, rocky, and covered in ankle deep mud.  It most definitely was a challenge!  We gave the excursion a 5 star rating because we SURVIVED in spite of being the oldest people on the trail.  We wore bathing suits with plans to swim at the waterfall but we decided not to go in even though some of the others did.  Kathy told her guide that she liked horses and ended up making the return trip on horseback.

Curacao, Netherlands Antilles:

These tired old bones really appreciated the day at sea following the hike in Samana before arriving at the next port which was Curacao in the Netherlands Antilles.  Curacao was described as looking like a city from the Netherlands with a Caribbean flare.  Very colorful so our goal was to simply walk around with our cameras and take some pictures.

Aruba, Netherlands Antilles:

The third port of call was Oranjestad Aruba which is also part of the Netherlands Antilles.  For this stop we had made arrangements to go on a sailing/snorkeling excursion aboard the “Mi Dushi”, a Swedish vessel built in 1925.  Our day aboard involved making three stops to snorkel one of which was in 65 feet of water over a sunken ship.  The trip to/from the marina was aboard an old school bus and we partied all the way.

Roatan, Honduras:

Another port of call was Roatan in Honduras which we were told is as “rustic” as Samana but we found it to be a couple steps better.  It turns out that the west end of the island is very nice because of the beaches and resorts frequented by tourists.  The east end is where the locals live which was much more of interest to us.  We decided to forgo a cruise ship excursion and just see what was available on shore.  In the end we took a 2-1/2 hour taxi tour of the east end which took us to an iguana park and for a ride through town.  The Norwegian’s new ship EPIC was in port so we got a look at it.

Cozumel, Mexico: 

The final port was Cozumel Mexico which turned out to be totally different than what we expected.  As first time visitors we ended up doing the usual which was walk along the main road which was lined with shops.  Every shop, including the better ones, had people outside hawking what they had to sell which drove us nuts.  Kathy did buy a ring and a couple ceramic cats for her collection.  I bought a t-shirt and a couple golf shirts.  Next time we’ll get away from the stores and see the rest of the island.