Dawn Princess FINAL CRUISE

Dawn Princess Cruise Review to South Pacific

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 32

Overall rating:

2 out of 5
Dawn Princess

12 Night Treasures Of Asia (Fremantle To Singapore)

Sail date: May 14, 2017

Ship: Dawn Princess

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: D742

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We booked this cruise because it was convenient and leaving from Fremantle and also had heard wonderful things about the Princess Line.  It was the Dawn's last cruise before being sold to P & O.  The ship is very old and from the beginning a lot of floors had blocked toilets.  Ours blocked 5 times during the 12 days.  One couple didn't have a toilet for 6 days and had to use a public toilet on another floor!  Dining areas were extremely hot and the air conditioning did not cope with the heat.  The second day into the cruise, they started running out of drinks.  No Stout, Johnny Walker and Red wine became limited to only $80 - $120 per bottle.  Cheap wines sold out early in the cruise.  Some food items also ran out and not replenished.  Prunes and breakfast fruit in particular.  Prunes ran out on the 3rd day much to the dismay of the many elderly cruisers.  The shops were closed for stocktaking after 6 days - never to reopen, so buying anything like Panadol or eye drops etc was non existent after that.  Clothing was just what was left over and very poor choice of models and sizes.  The Casino also closed before the end of the cruise, even though we were not in port.  This was so that the machines could be overhauled before the handover to P & O.  So too bad if you enjoyed the Casinos.  Entertainment during the day was also of a poor standard and many of the activities wound down after a few days including the Bingo!  Many cruisers were loyal customers that wanted to do one more cruise on the DAWN - a favourite amongst many Princess Cruisers.  We were all charged a normal rate to cruise on this last cruise and yet Princess just ran a very poor ship!!  Staff were wonderful and the evening shows were very good.  The cruise director was apologetic about the poor standard of the cruise and said "Please don't shoot the messenger".  All staff were making the best of a bad situation, having to often apologise for the lack of drinks, food or facilities.  Very disappointed with Princess.  They let down their loyal Cruisers well and truly.  

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5
Ran out of food items and also drinks.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
Very limited and not terribly interesting. Bean Bag tossing is something for children! Bingo was only for the first few days as was the Horse Racing! Casino closed early for maintenance.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Exceptional except for Ivor Richards - comedian, who scored a number of Boos!

Children's Programs

3 out of 5
Didn't use this.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Wonderful staff that were under pressure.

Ship Quality

1 out of 5
Old worn out ship. Toilets constantly not working. Lucky there was no outbreak of Gastro, considering a lot of cruisers, including us, had to use the public toilets often.Our room was kept spotless by Marlon. Very good staff.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
We booked at the last minute and took this cabin. We usually travel with Holland America and take a balcony. This cabin was extremely small! Would prefer a window at least in future.

Ship tip

This cruise was very poor. I believe that Princess cruises are usually very good. I do feel though that Princess let down their loyal customers. They were more interested in handing over to P&O than considering the quality of this cruise that they sold at normal costs. Very disappointed.

Ports of call

Fremantle (Perth), Australia

5 out of 5

Benoa, Bali, Indonesia

5 out of 5

Port Klang (Kuala Lumpur), Malaysia

5 out of 5

Penang (Pulau Pinang), Malaysia

3 out of 5

Langkawi (Pulau Langkawi), Malaysia

1 out of 5

Phuket, Thailand

5 out of 5

Singapore

5 out of 5
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3 Comments

Beefy45    7 years ago

these things happen I am sad to say when the ship has been retired or sold. We had done 6 cruises on Dawn Princess and never once had to complain about a single thing. Surely people have to realise that this sort of thing would happen, but in saying that they should have provided good cruise for the journey. Was there any indication of depleted crew numbers

Holiday2018    7 years ago

I loved the Dawn and am looking forward to the first cruise as Pacific Explorer on 22 nd it should all be brand new 🤗

JusMe    7 years ago

When a ship is going from one cruise line to another the ships go down hill until the new line revamps the ships.   I was on Song Of America after RCI had sold it and leased it back for a couple months until the new ship took over.

 

I will say the Dawn was a beautiful ship in her day,  I was on her when she was new.

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