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Mexican Riviera  -  2005

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Date:                                   September 21st, 2005
Length of Cruise:               7 Days
Ship:                                    Dawn Princess
Cruise Line (Princess #):  Princess Cruises (#4)
Embarkation:                      San Francisco, CA
Ports of Call:                        Santa Catalina Island, Puerto Vallarta,
                                               Mazatlan, Cabo San Lucas, San Diego
Final Destination:                San Francisco, CA
Cruise Mates:                       Ed & Andi Myers
Total Days With Princess: 28
Total Days At Sea: 32
 

 

We decided to reach out a little and try a little longer duration cruise, and it happens that Princess is now running a few cruises out of San Francisco. This is good because we don't have the time, trouble, and expense of a flight to the port. Just a ride into San Francisco. Ed and Andi Myers, Rosalee's niece and her husband were cruise mates in 2000 when we went to Alaska, and they were interested in doing this cruise as well.
 

This website was not available to us when this cruise was done so this is being written at a later date using notes and the wealth of images that we have taken. I have found some notes of a 'daily log' nature that Rosalee jotted down, so I will include them as we go. They will be enclosed in ...

 ...Blue Dialogue Boxes, such as this

Wednesday, Day 1, Sept. 21   --  Left Pleasanton 11:00 a.m. Tony was our driver. It only took about 50 minutes to get to the dock in San Francisco. The Dawn (our ship) was supposed to dock in San Francisco at 6:00 a.m. ... they didn't dock until 11:00 a.m. Embarking was very slow. Ed and Andi arrived about 25 to 30 minutes after we did and we saw them boarding before they even called our number. We had a very late lunch in the Horizon Court. On deck to go under the Golden Gate Bridge. Ed was communicating with his daughter-in-law. She was on Baker Beach. She took and e-mailed pictures of our ship going out under the Bridge. We had dinner with E.&A. and an elderly couple from England.

Show was in Princess Theater - "Welcome Aboard". Ken, Rosalee and Andi each lost $20 in Casino - took about 10 minutes.

A glance up at our ship's masthead showed our American flag, as expected, but since the ship is not registered in the US, the primary flag was the red one. The ship is of Bermudan registry, but I'm puzzled... I thought the Bermuda flag was a red field with the British Union Jack in the corner and a medallion/herald in the center of the right half. This has nothing at all there. Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than me can clear that up for me? The other flag is the familiar Sea Witch which is the Princess Cruise Line's 'mascot' and Logo. Either way, what with a few other signal flags, they all looked mighty impressive up there flying proudly in the breeze. Sail Away should be around 1600 hours, but with the late arrival this morning we may be a little later departing through the 'Gate'.

It is delightfully clear and sunny during 'sail away', and that is not at all the norm. We are, after all in San Francisco. And it is late afternoon. We are blessed indeed. If you don't recognize this view of it, you are looking at the San Francisco Golden Gate Bridge... as well as Fort Point.

During the early days of San Francisco, when wind-driven sailing ships often came into the huge San Francisco Bay, there was concern that pirates and ships from war-inclined countries might come into the bay and wreak havoc, so they built the massive brick structure you see here. It looks small, but it is a large, three-story tall open-topped fort with three levels of gun turrets. The land it sits on is the narrowest part of the gate or opening to the bay. The building became known as Fort Point. There was never an angry shot fired from this monument which is open to tours today. Behind the fort and all up over the hill is the area known as The Presidio which was for a long time military. To the right of the fort are Marshall Beach and then Baker Beach. We were outside the bay when this photo was taken. You can see that the Golden Gate Bridge, which was built in the thirties, was designed to 'step over' the fort to preserve it. You can see the two suspension cables coming in at an angle from the left to the right at the top of the large columns and continuing on down into that large block of concrete at the right of the image. That is a solid, monstrous block of concrete making the anchor point of those two cables. They suspend more than,  feet of bridge that carries six lanes of traffic and are built strong enough to hold a second layer of traffic should they ever decide to add it. In case you wondered... the color of the paint is specially formulated and is named "Golden Gate Orange", and is sand-blasted off, re-primed, and re-applied every year. When they get to the other end (it takes all year), they come back and start it all over again. They are always paint the old girl. Neither the North Tower or the South Tower are in this photo... they are to the left.

Day 2  --  We had lunch with a couple from Sacramento CA . Docked in Catalina at  1:00 p.m. Tender service very slow. They used the tenders from Catalina. We queued up in the Wheel House Lounge and waited forever. Our number was White (last color called) seven. We finally gave up and decided to have a pizza. Andi and Ed hadn't eaten lunch. As soon as our order was in they called our tender number for Catalina but we were able to cancel the pizza order. Didn't get to Catalina until 3:00. Ken called Grandma and we all had hot fudge sundaes. Talked to the officer from the Sherriff's office. He lives on the island and was very interesting to talk to. Andi and I did a little shopping and we decided to head back to the tenders. We discovered a Cold Stone Creamery  - after we had eaten our sundaes. Had dinner with E&A, and a couple from Livermore, CA. He was a banker and she worked for Sandia Labs, and they are practically back yard neighbors with E&A. Also a couple from Gilroy, CA. He was 73 and a pharmacist for Kaiser-Permanente. We had a juggler in the Vista Lounge after dinner.

 

The only town on Santa Catalina Island is Avalon, and it is not allowed to be any larger than one square mile in area. The buildings you see above are outside that area so not sure how much more it will grow. It is all condominiums. The main bay and town are to the left in this image.

I have always had a bit of interest in that home in the center of the image. This is located at the southern side of Avalon. It is all wood and was built  back early in the beginning of the twentieth century. The story goes that the man carried every board of that house up a little trail he had constructed for that purpose.

Santa Catalina Island has an intriguing history with William Wrigley, of baseball team and Wrigley Field and chewing gum fame playing a large part of it. He owned the whole island, buying it early in the century and it is now 'owned' by a consortium dedicated to its preservation. It was a playground for the rich and famous from about the twenties, and used for filming several movies. It is after all only... "Twenty Six Miles Across The Sea... Santa Catalina Is The Place For Me." This was the first place we visited on our very first cruise.

Avalon Bay... where boats are anchored to moorings and cables laid out into the water, and you shuttle yourself to shore with small skiffs or rowboats that you carry on your boat. Of course, we anchor in the channel beyond the bay. If you can look far enough past the big white boat you should be able to see Newport Beach or Huntington Beach or Long Beach California.

 

 

 

 

We are headed up Crescent Avenue with the pier just behind us. It is an interesting town. It is geared mostly to the tourist, of course. Things for sale in the stores are things that attract the person wishing to 'take something home' or 'get something for the kids'. And of course, there are some nice jewelry stores along here as well.

The town... actually the whole island had a proud and varied history. We do find people that have grown up here. There is such good weather here (same as Los Angeles) that they have visitors for most of the year, so they have a very long 'season'.

There is some ranching that is done, and even a rodeo up on top of the island, on the way to the airport. A small business plane would be about their max up there.

On the north side of Avalon is a large building that is the Casino. It is not nor was it ever a gamboling facility. casino is the term for a circular theater. On the lower portion (below the balconies) is one large circular theater with a domed ceiling. It is for stage shows and movies. It has a large pipe organ that still plays and was used to provide the music in the movies before they had 'talkies'. The upper section with the columnaded walkway surrounding it is a huge round dance floor. The ceramic tiles you see on the street fixtures are from the large tile industry that used to flourish in the area, and the tiles can be seen everywhere.

This is a quiet, peaceful side street. There is little traffic from cars, and a bit more scooters, golf carts, and similar transportation devices. Most streets are treated as mall walkways most of the time.

A lot of the historical past is seen in the character of the architecture and the signage. It is a Sea Town. A very masculine and quaint area. This sign suggests that in that a pretty woman always draws males in advertising (since the 1880's at least) and the mermaid version of a woman always has lured the sailors since sailors in Assyria, ca. 1000 BC. They are seen throughout the city.

A serene look back at Avalon from our ship, just before we weighed anchor and headed on a southern course toward Mexico.


 

Day 3, Fri., At Sea  -- One hour time change last night (ahead). Had late breakfast in Horizon Court. Sat with a couple from San Jose, CA. They had owned a furniture store in Campbell for years. Sat on Riviera (swimming pool) Deck for awhile and listened to a band called "Rhapsody". First formal night and pictures. Also had picture with E&A.  Had dinner with a couple from Lincoln CA and Grass Valley CA. The lady from Grass Valley knew the Ribbles (mom's sister's family) from Washington, CA and knew that the son Ken Ribble worked for the county. Princess Theater for "Curtain Up". Then to Vista Lounge for a comedian. While waiting for show to start a dance band played for half an hour. A really cute elderly cute couple danced a couple dances. They could dance better than walk.

As is the fashion, when we found our stateroom (B531 on Baja (deck 11), Starboard (Right) side) and got moved in, our room steward made himself known to us right away. His name and phone number was posted on our writing desk and we constantly see him in the hallways. He actually works for the "hotel" staff, as opposed to the "ship" staff. The staff do not cross between that line so far as we can tell. You don't really feel the presence of two separate companies but that is the way the ship functions. He told us that his name was "Wee", but it was spelled a little differently than that. He was very nice and quite responsive to us. We always treat our room stewards like friends, because if you want or need something, THEY are the real power. Like nurses and secretaries and maintenance staff. Rosalee mentioned that she was disappointed on our previous cruise because some nights we did not get our chocolate on our pillow. Well, Wee more than made it up. He did these towel creations on the beds which we would find when we returned from dinner. This was our first formal dining night. We had to take a picture, of course.
 


 

Day 4, Sat., At Sea  --  Lost another hour last night. Ate another late breakfast. Sat on Riviera Deck to listen to Rhapsody again. Sat in the sun too long. Read and nodded off. Checked out the photos. Had a late lunch with E&A. Dinner with couple from Petaluma and Victoria. Ken went to Crew Talent Show in Vista Lounge. I got things ready for excursion tomorrow.

 


 

Day 5, Sun., Puerto Vallarta  --  Early breakfast in Horizon Court. In line for Mexican Fiesta Excursion at Tequila Hacienda. Learned how tequila was made... and tasted it. Yuk! Had lunch - fajitas. Stopped in town to visit church. Tour guide Mario/Driver Cornello. Did a little shopping in the 'Flea Market' near the dock.

I'm sorry if this sounds negative, but we have gone on multiple excursions or visitations in Mexico that were set up for "El Touristas", and while it is interesting to visit places different from what we are used to seeing, I'm a bit discouraged that they make a "show" but don't really show you where it is done. They don't say it is so but they tend to show how it is done in a primitive fashion, without saying it is such. When they said they were going to show us how they make tequila... and then show us a couple of vats and equipment for crushing the cactus, they have not been used in many decades. Then they show us new, modern, labeled, cased bottles for tasting and purchase. Any experience is interesting but it is a bit disappointing.
 

They were looking for 'volunteers' to make tortillas and we volunteered Andi. :-) She did pretty well. She held her own for a Gringa. LOL. I looked around for Ed and I caught him just as he was coming out of some kind of gyration or other. Perhaps he sampled too many different types of tequila? Or did he just get a glimpse of the dancing girls that were coming up?

And here came the dancing girls... and boys. They did a nice job of showing a couple of traditional dances. Their gowns were very gorgeous. Things are looking up. I'd better check back with Ed to see how he is doing. LOL.

We had an opportunity to step inside a local church. They definitely do a beautiful job of building churches. Of course, some they have been working on for centuries, they are that old, but they certainly cherish them and their church is very important to them.  

 

 

 

 

In many towns, there are very few homes, but there is a huge church. Usually only one church, so all work on it alone, and they lavish the details on their church rather than their homes. They certainly cannot be faulted for that. With an engineering background I cannot help but be amazed at the stability and longevity of these stone structures. They never heard of reinforcing steel that we use today. And the stones are obviously all hand made... no two are the same size or shape, and many have pulled away from their neighboring stones, yet it still stands. Just amazing.

So ok... excursions of the tourist type are not set up to educate... they are set up for you to experience two things... maybe three. First, you experience the surroundings. You get away from the ship. You are still in "tourist town" but you see things on the way there and back. You get to see more of the  real culture. That is good. Second, you get to see real people in the area... the ones that are 'behind the scenes' at the locations where you go. The people cooking the food and serving it and seating you and may be working on something that needs repair. That is also good. And thirdly, you get a change to meet and know more of the people that are riding on the Big White Boat with you. There is something about people that are on cruises... the majority of them are really good people. Perhaps it may be the cruise company we have chosen. Princess is not the cheaper cruises so we get people that are more concerned about quality than just getting drunk on board and have fun. And it is not the more expensive ones where people may be less inclined to open up and speak about themselves... people that have attained their status in business or society due to their privacy. We definitely are enjoying our Princess cruises. And I did enjoy this excursion, mostly because of E&A being with us and good people around us.
 

We had a chance to walk down through one of the towns along the sea wall and we found this church. It was a bit unique. Notice that the steeple top is made of wrought iron, which is plentiful in Mexico and used everywhere, but different for a church. Inside the alter was very ornate. They all seem to have either some gold gilding or paint... not sure which it is. It would stand to reason as people have always held gold to the highest standard and offered their best to their Gods. The front entrance was very fine. Pictured below, you can see that each piece of the delicate creation is attached to some other part so it is held in place. I do not recall if I could see glass filling this opening or not, but I cannot imagine it being totally open. High above the alter you can see a small sample of the stained glass that they have used. It was all beautiful.

This is the 'flea market' where we did a little bit of shopping. Lots of colors. Someone was off to the left playing a marimba and selling his CDs.

We are in Mazatlan where we have another excursion planned. It is an 8-hour excursion on a bus into the Sierra Madre Mountains. We will visit two small towns. They put us onto a beautiful, very comfortable touring bus, and it was a very nice ride. On the way we had to stop to see how they make adobe bricks. The bus pulls over, we walk to the river bank, a guy picks up some mud... nice mud though... and he lays down a wood frame that has five square spaces inside. He fills them full of mud, scrapes them off smooth, lifts the frame, and ... bada bang... five adobe bricks. LOL. He explains that they dry in the sun several days, then get stacked into a dome with a wood fire under the dome and they are 'fired' and ready to use. OK...

We travel half an hour and pull over at a building along the main road where they have a bunch of woodworking machines. These machines have not turned over in decades. The motor belts would fly apart if they were turned. Some motors are not even hooked to electricity. We are told they make the furniture there that they have for sale. LOL. Sorry. Not on these machines. Not even on these TYPE of machines. It was fun seeing the old machines, and wondering how well they could ever have done the work. Maybe that is why much of the foreign articles that come home with tourists are so crudely made?

 

We have pulled into our first small town. The City of Concordia. I am impressed. What a beautiful little city. What a CLEAN city. Everything looked like a magazine spread. And the best part? almost nothing for sale to tourists. Some a little later in the plaza in front of the church. I was thrilled. This was by far the best thing that we saw on this whole trip.

I have no idea of what this building was designed to do or what it is currently used for, but the brickwork is gorgeous. Sadly some of it is starting to pull apart, but perhaps that is part of its beauty? There is something about an old relic that shows beauty from long ago that has passed it by.
 

We again boarded the bus and traveled a little further into a place where the bus barely would fit on the road. It was the town of Copala, an even smaller town than the last one. And I think that it was even cleaner, and even less 'tourist'. It was beautiful!

Move that car at the end of the street and you would think the automobile had not ever found this street yet. The buildings were obviously laid out before larger vehicles ever came here. Our bus was parked at the edge of town and we walked the entire town, which was not difficult at all. It was very small.

An intriguing image... "What's up that hill?" It looks well traveled. And in the other image... are the rocks in the middle of that road supposed to be the equivalent of the white line? LOL

A 'side' road. This is how 'deep' the city is. One street with side streets maybe one store or a second tiny one and you are out of town. I'm wondering if the richest man in town is the one that sells paint. I don't think I can explain any thoughts behind the color selections. They seem to be whatever they have enough of to cover the area, use it.
 

Talk about Two Worlds Colliding... that ancient road and brick buildings and that nice shiny new pickup truck... beautiful. The road behind the truck is the extension of the main road through town, and it goes up the hill to the town square and the church.

Same corner, same hill, same street... a guide for a small group that was visiting at the time.

 

And there is the church. We are officially in the Town Square, which is off to the left, with the requisite gazebo in the center. A place where the town leaders can stand and address everyone in town at one time. Maybe on the day everyone is there for church services too.

There were some vendors in this area. Stands to reason... this is the place that has the most people in it in the whole town.

I do not remember the age of this church, but the image below shows that the stones have stood long through time. It certainly would never pass earth quake standards in the San Francisco Bay Area cities. Come to think of it, Mexico has had some pretty serious earthquakes but still the church stands. Hmmmm. Maybe the bay area engineers should check out how these are built.

Notice on the top, to the right, there is a saint standing up there. Architecture in earlier centuries were big on gargoyles. They were designed to keep away evil spirits. I thought the churches were built to honor God, and He had no need for stone gargoyles to help keep the evil spirits away. Need to check into that.

In the image below, notice the saint that is sticking out at a 90 degree angle over the door and window. It is said he was placed there to... SPIT on the evil spirits that wish to enter through the front door.

The carving that looks like horseshoes... that's carved into solid stones. How long that must have taken them to carve every stone... even the plain ones so they were square and would fit into the building of the church.

 

Again, lots of gold on the alter piece. Surely that is painted. Otherwise this whole settlement could be living in Guadalajara in a town house and driving a new Benz. I'm sure that what we see on that wall is a type of a story. I'm sure each figure and each design had a reason to be there.

Mark 10:25   " It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God. " I have always had some difficulty 'accepting' verses from the Bible when I could not completely understand what it meant. I understood that the text in red meant that it was indeed difficult to get into Heaven, and being rich would certainly not do it for you. But putting a camel through the eye of a needle? I believe in miracles, but isn't that rather absurd? What bothers me mostly is that it is the type of thing that can cause a person to doubt the Word completely. I would much rather know that what the Good Book says is something that is more realistic.

The image on the right, above, is the large door on the side of this church. You can see the smaller door that is open.... what today we would call a 'man-door'. You can see clear through the church because there is another large door like it on the other side, and it is open also. The large door allows large animals through while pulling a cart, but when only a man needs to go through, the small door is opened to conserve the heat inside the church. My brother Cody informed me, upon seeing this image, that the small door was called... "The Eye Of The Needle". If a camel were to come through, it needed the large door to be open. It would be very difficult for a camel to pass through... the eye of the needle. Camels cannot crawl it appears.

So, getting back to the verse... we ASSUME the bible speaks of a steel or iron needle with a hole like we use today, but the Bible verse is referring to a door... something quite a bit larger than a needle eye. We read the Bible literally and to understand it we have to know the terms used when the Bible was translated into English... some four hundred years ago. You know... back when "Gay" meant being happy, and not what it has come to mean in the last forty years.
 

The city square and chapel are elevated, sort of the top of the hill. Looking south we can see the beautiful greenery that is indigenous to the area. Those are private homes back there. Talk about an idyllic location. What writer would not want to spend a couple of years here?

A Rose ...and a Rose... you say? Not quite. The one on the right is a lovely example of Hawai'i's State Flower. It is also very popular in middle and southern California. That is an Hibiscus... granted it is a different variety than we are more used to. But the Hibiscus came from Mexico originally. The one on the left? That is a lovely example of another type of Rose. :-)

 

 

 

The tiles above are place together into these sets and painted with a nice scene, then glazed and fired and set into walls, seats, floors, tables, etc., as a mural. They are gorgeous, with bright colors. Even the tiles on the floor are hand-painted ceramic tiles.

Those murals are all individual tiles (20m 24, or 36 tiles) and are individually set into the mortar. I wonder if anyone puts them down 'out of order' so they are jumbled up and when you see it you will sit and in your mind 'move' them like pieces of a jig-saw puzzle.

 

 

Looking at the street, and the retaining wall, you can see that the natural materials of the area... rocks... are used extensively in construction. From the looks of that mining ore cart, as well as the one earlier with the town's name on it, there must be some local mining work going on. Most likely that was in the old days but it may still be in operation.

 

We are back from the trip into the mountains. It was a lovely trip. We got a chance to meet more people that are our 'neighbors'. One thing about cruising out of San Francisco, there are so few ships that leave from there, people in the area are quick to sign on, because there is not air travel to a remote sea port. Consequently, you have a high incidence of 'locals' on the cruise with you. Nearly each evening at dinner, someone will know someone we know.

We noticed these gentlemen carrying their ...um ...weapons when we got off the ship. They are smiling at least. LOL. Are they to protect us or protect the city FROM us? LOL

From our balcony on the ship we can see two large churches within blocks of each other. We can see that the townspeople pour much money and time into their churches. Sometimes we wonder if they are competing, or what drives some of their decisions when erecting these monuments.

 

It is known as El Faro de Mazatla'n. It is a radio tower and a beacon. Looking with Google Maps you can see that to access it you drive part way up after entering a locked gate, then you get out and walk up a stepped sidewalk, with more than 400 steps to the building. I like the strata that makes up the mountain. A very obvious example of 'faulting' or 'folding' in the geology book.

 

We are anchored in Bahia San Lucas, the large bay that fronts Cabo San Lucas. They are lowering one of our life boats to be used as a ship-to-shore tender. They usually use about four of them.

This allows one to see how these large life boats are launched. The boats are stored on those beams jutting out from the boat. Those are referred to as Davits. The boat is hung from the davits by 'wire falls'... we would call them cables.

The cables hook rings on the top of the boats and lift them to the level of deck 8, and then the davits slide into the ship, bringing the boat into the ship. During an emergency, the davits push outward as you see them pictured here, and the boats are lowered to the next deck (deck 7, or Promenade Deck) where passengers are able to step into the boats. You are assigned a 'muster' station somewhere on deck 7 when you board, and during an emergency, you are to grab your life vest from your cabin and move swiftly to your muster station where they take roll to know everyone is accounted for. From there they move to the life boats. When filled, the boats are lowered to the water.

When we left this anchorage later that evening, a wind had picked up and our ship was swinging around her anchor chain. The Captain was in a hurry to move on but they were having trouble snagging the ring on the top of the life boat. We lost half an hour trying to retrieve our life boat. As soon as the small boat's keel broke water, we were under way.

We have an excursion scheduled to visit a plant nursery, a glass-blowing plant, and some shopping.

 

 

 One thing that I have noticed when we travel most places, there are various sizes of sculpture work available to purchase. Two very popular subjects offered are naked ladies and small naked boys. I suspect the ladies are intended to attract male buyers and the small boys are to attract ladies and mothers. And the small boys either have cherub wings or they are peeing in the wind... a common subject in garden fountains.

These sculptures were found in the sales area of the company that makes glass objects. They made a lot of glass spheres, and seem to intend them as decorator items rather than floats in fish nets.

I want to report that there were several workers that were actually building more of the glass items that were on sale in the display area. That made me feel much better. And it was a joy to stand and watch them. Exciting, actually. To see them handle a mass of molten glass and being about to mold it and form it as meticulously as they did was both educational and fun as well.

They were using a lot of glass as 'art glass' windows in their building. Their use of bright colors was amazing. With the sun changing in angle and intensity through the day the colors were always changing.

I was also impressed with their brick work. They made very attractive building features.

 

 

Land's End. There is a way to walk to this outcropping of volcanic rock, but it is not easy. To the right of this archway is a reasonably large beach that has access to both the bay as well as the ocean, and there are usually people enjoying it. It is rather 'exclusive' however, so there is plenty of room for everyone interested in making the effort to get there.

 

 

 

We got an image of Wee, our Room Steward that did such a marvelous job for us. Above are two more of the 'arrangements' that he left for us when he turned down our beds during the evening dinner.

The one with the playing cards on it are a Royal Flush, the top hand in Draw Poker, with chocolate hearts on each card, and on the paper he wrote "For Mr. Smith Only"

On Princess Cruises they discourage personal tipping. In fact, you have a cruise card issued to you and it is used in lieu of cash while on the ship. All charges (items from the shops, alcohol and soft drinks, photos from the staff photographers, etc.) are posted to your account which is settled when you disembark. The company suggests a standard tipping which is applied to your account (unless you change it) but you can leave 'special' tips in envelopes with the staff person's name on the outside. General tips are shared equally and special tips are given directly to the intended recipient. Wee certainly earns extra.


 

I don't remember who took this image or where we were when they did. The one below I took as we were on deck during the Sail Away in San Francisco. That would be the suspension half of the Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge behind Ed.

Our Cruise Mates:   Andi & Ed Myers

~ Back Home Again ~

For Those Gear Heads Reading This Report

Dawn Princess is a twin-screw diesel-electric vessel designed for world-wide cruising. In addition to two main fixed-pitch propellers, she has two rudders, two bow thrusters, two stern thrusters and two stabilizing fins. The hull and superstructure are of welded steel construction.

Builders: Fincantieri Cantieri Navali Italiani Spa, Divisione Construzioni Mercantili, Trieste, Italy
New Building No.      5995
Maiden Voyage:        10th May 1997
Port of Registry:       Hamilton/Bermuda
Complement:             Passengers: 2,272    Crew: 992    Total: 3,194
Capacity:                    Light Ship: 31,745 tons    Displacement: 39,997 tons
Gross Tonnage:        77,441
Draught:                    26 feet (8.11 meters)
Length Overall:        857 feet (261 meters)
Breadth:                    105 feet (32.25 meters)
Air Draught:             166 feet (50.64 meters)
Main Propulsion Motors (2)

  • Shaft Power (per shaft):        18,774 HP (14,000 kW)

  • Voltage:                                    2,200 Volts AC

  • Speed:                                       145 RPM

  • Weight:                                     141 Tons (128 Tonnes)       

Engines (4)

  • Max. Cont. Rating:                   15,448 HP (11,520 kW)

  • Speed:                                        514 RPM

  • No. of Cylinders:                       16

  • Piston Weight:                           683 lbs (310 Kg)

  • Crankshaft Weight:                   15 tons

  • Displacement (cylinder):          4,294 cu in (70,370 ccm)

  • Displacement (engine):              68,707 cu in (1,125,920 ccm)
     

Boilers:

  • Dawn Princess has four exhaust-gas boilers and two oil-fired auxiliary boilers. The purpose for the exhaust gas boilers is to absorb the waste heat of the exhaust gasses created by the main engines. This improves the plant efficiency and reduces the fuel consumption. The two oil-fired boilers also provide additional steam. Steam is used in many areas around the ship - for heating and cooking in the galley, making hot water and air-conditioning (cold weather).

  • Fuel consumption: 2,023 lbs/hr (918 Kg/hr)

At full speed, Dawn Princess burns about 1,100 gallons an hour, or One Gallon every 68 feet.
Length of each Stabilizer Fin:            17' 8" (5.4  m)
Total electrical generating capacity on board:        44.5 MW (59,675 HP)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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