Not sure about the Sun, but the Dawn has 13 restaurants:

(1) The Venetian--Main Dining Room No Cover Charge
Same menu as Impressions

(2) Impressions--Secondary Dining Room No Cover Charge
Same Menu as Venetian

(3) Aqua--Secondary Dining Room No Cover Charge
Modified Menu from Impressions and Venetian, often features
lighter cuisine and extra salads.

(4) Salsa--Tex-Mex Specialty Restaurant. No Cover Charge or
maybe a small one ($5??pp)

(5) Le Bistro--French Specialty Restaurant (NCL signature room)
Original paintings by Renior, Matisse, Van Gogh and Monet on the Dawn
are in this room. Nouvelle Cuisine--very fancy and tasty. Cover
charge is $15 or $20pp

(6) Cagney's--The on board Steakhouse--Fabulous food and well
worth the $20pp cover charge.

(7) Bamboo--On board Asian Restaurant--Excellent. Well worth
the $13 or $15pp cover charge.

(8) Teppannyaki--A separate room off Bamboo--Benny-Hana
style food preparation right in front of you. Lots of fun and
well worth the $15pp cover charge. Room is small and difficult
to get reservations for!!

(9) Sushi Bar--Also part of the Bamboo Asian Restaurant.
Excellent Sushi and all you can eat for $10pp cover charge.

(10) Trattoria--Italian Restaurant--part of the Garden Cafe
which is separated off by a curtain and lots of Italian flags.
No cover charge and a wonderful selection of pasta and
various sauces.

(11) The Garden Cafe (Lido) The main Lido cafeteria.
Features a separate area for children and their own
mini-buffet too. No cover charge

(12) Blue Lagoon The 24 hour short order cafe. Good
French Fries and great tomato soup!! No cover charge

(13) Bimini Grill Part of the Lido area serving Burgers and
Hot Dogs with French Fries and Salads all day--does not
operate at night.

The Main Dining Rooms (Venetian, Impressions and Aqua) changed their
menus last year. Very nice selection of foods with more emphasis on
healthy eating. Avoid the Fish dishes (frozen).

We love Cagneys and the Asian Restaurants--well worth the cover
charge. Try to get into Teppanyaki if you can--it's fun!! Trattoria is
good too.

Reservations are recommended for all of the restaurants, and
absolutely essential for the Speciality Restaurants. There are three
ways to do this:
(1) Stand in Line to make reservations--No fun, and the lines are
usually horrendous every single day, especially at the beginning of
the cruise. Odd that most people do not think to use their on board
phone in the cabin or the good services of the Conceirge!!
(2) Call from the comfort of your cabin in the mornings to make
reservations for the evening. The number on the Dawn is 9930.
(3) If you can plan your dining choices and times in advance, make a
list of what you want--reservation name, cabin number, dining room
choice and time that you want. Give it to the Guest Relations
officers in an envelope labeled for the Concierge right at the start
of the voyage. You will get a list back from the Concierge of your
reservations, all pre-booked for you for the whole voyage. This is
what we do--in fact, we usually make our choices well before the trip
and e-mail our list to the Concierge!! Never fails--and we have
learned that this is the BEST way to ensure that we get what we want,
especially for popular restaurants like Teppanyaki and Cagney's!!

How is this "Freestyle Cruising"? Well, even for popular restaurants
at home, you have to make reservations, right? And, you still have the
freedom to eat when you like and where you like--it only requires a
little advance planning--just like making your selections for Shore
Excursions!!. You do not have to watch your watch and show up at the
DR at just the right moment or they will slam the door in your face
and tell you no service!! Worst case scenario, there is always the
Lido and Blue Lagoon--often the last resort for people who cannot make
up their minds, or who erroneously interpret "Freestyle" as "spur of
the moment"!!

Basis for information: 3 previous cruises on the Dawn and 4 on the
Spirit. We ADORE freestyle and will probably not go back to anything
less in the future!! VBG Current bookings are for the Gem at
Christmas time and back-to-backs on the Spirit for next summer.

Bestest,

PegNDerek in NYC


On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:56:18 -0700, J wrote:

We'll be sailing the NCL Dawn and Sun soon and were curious if anyone
knows which restaurants on the ship do and do not have the extra
surcharge. There used to be a page on their website (so I've been
told) that outlined this. Anyone know of such a page or if they have
recently traveled on either of these two ships?

Thanks!!