This is our 9 cruises (3 Celebrity, 1 Carnival, 1 Princess, 4 NCL). So far the Dawn is the best ship comparing to the rest of NCL ships.
Embarkation was ok. There are some rude guides during our embarkation process. I guess this is New York after all. People are supposed to be hush-hush and pushy.
The ship is beautiful and the best layout we have ever seen. We dinned 2 times at Le Bistro (specialty restaurant) . Love it. The Cagney's steak house is good but not very exceptional. I expected it to be much better since the place has the highest cover charge (25 $/per person.) The food at the main dinning restaurants was very good. Impression restaurant was always crowded. Aqua restaurant's service was not so good due to lack of wait staff. The Venetian was our favorite (High ceiling, good taste decor, prompt and much more attentive service). Shows were excellent. However, due to NCL being stingy, they could have had the dance troop doing 3 shows instead of 2 during a 10 days cruise (They pay the dance company by shows). The buffet was good. Love the Blue Lagoon eatery (with 24 hour policy and very tasty buffalo wings as well as other food items).