My husband and 2 best friends took the NCL Dawn on Dec 7, 2006 out of New York. My DH and I have cruised on RCI prior to this cruise and friends have never cruised.

Embarkation: We arrived at the port at about 11:00 expecting to wait a while as you normally do when you show up early. When we got there when were checked in rather quickly and took a seat. Thankfully we got there early as the ship arrived late and passengers were still getting off at 12:00 (as they departed they told those of us who were waiting to go home the cruise was a waste of time, did not give us a warm fuzzy). At this time there were tons of people that had to wait in long lines with no access to seats as the room was over full. We boarded at about 1:30 rooms were ready at 2:30ish.

Room was really small compared to Voyager of the Seas but the shower was a bit larger. There was plenty of storage space for us. The muster drill went off rather quickly and was not to painful. Read more