My wife and I took a family cruise with my family on the June 17th cruise of the Dawn. Having cruised with Royal Caribbean before we were excited to see how traditional cruising would match up with freestyle cruising. Here are our experiences....
Getting on the ship in New York was very easy, quick and not a problem at all. We took a bus service to the dock, we were immediately greeted by someone who took our luggage and told us it would be in out room by 7:00 or so. We walked in waited in in line for about 5 minutes, checked in got our sea passes and were on the boat in no time at all.
As for the ship, I have to say it first impression it was nicer, bigger and laid out must better than the Royal Caribbean ship we took, which was the Serenade of the Seas.