We had six people in our group, all but two had previous cruise experience. The Dawn Princess was a great ship. The people were friendly and helpful and the food was excellent. Jose was our waiter and Sherwin our ass't waiter and they were the best! Ana and Prince at the poolside bar were a pleasure too!!! and Kato (who seemed to work EVERYWHERE!) would make you laugh everyday!!!!
The entertainment at the poolside was good and the planned activities on the ship were fun. The barhopping card you can get was a fun thing too! You get a card from one of the bartenders and then you get it signed when you purchase a drink from the different bars on the ship. When you get your card all signed you turn it in for a T-shirt that says you survived the Bar hopping on the Princess!!! It was kind of a fun thing. the only problem was when we got our t-shirts, they only had one size. Some of us needed 1X or 2X and the biggest was a large which just didn't make it!!! so we got the shirts, but unfortunately we will probably never be able to wear them!!!
I have a couple of things I didn't particularly like about the ship - and being our first Princess cruise it could be standard on all Princess ships - but the buffet was a mess!!! Instead of one steady line of food, to keep people going in the same direction, there was food on two sides AND food in between. People were cutting back and forth which created nothing but chaos!! Also there were no trays for food, so carrying your food to the table was a little difficult at times. The beverages (coffee, juice,,,etc..) were right in the middle of all this mess which made coming back for a second cup of coffee or beverage almost impossible. They DID have people coming around in the eating area with beverage carts, but they were so few and far between they might as well been non-existent. But I have to say the food was good!