We are first time cruisers in our late 30s. We selected the Dawn Princess primarily for the long port stay in Cabo, over the Golden Princess which has a shorter day. We were on an anniversary trip and traveling without our children.
We found embarkation to be smooth and easy. We arrived at the port by shuttle from a long term parking lot by 11:30, and embarked on ship by 12:15. We headed to our room which was neat and had more room than I anticipated.
Stateroom: We had a BD balcony room. The balcony was small but sufficient for the both of us, with nice chairs and a small table. I particularly enjoyed that it was covered, which made sitting out there while at sea nice. Plenty of storage in the stateroom. I had requested the bed be made as a queen, an eggcrate for the mattress, and extra feather pillows via the Princess Personalizer or by fax. I was pleased to see that all those requests had been taken care of. We met our room steward, Rod, who was friendly and very efficient. We could not have been more pleased with the quality of the service he provided. After walking around a bit, we headed up to the buffet for lunch. The muster drill later in the afternoon was also very smooth and orderly. Princess holds it indoors, and we didn't have to put on the life vests until the very end. We found it a very comfortable process.