We boarded the ship in Miami, spending the night before at one of my favorite downtown hotels, The Doubletree. We got to the port a bit before 12. We drove right up to the luggage porters and left them our suitcases, and went off and parked the car.
Then we started the embarkation process. I felt this process took entirely took too long and had too many stops. Perhaps the main problem was that it appeared that most people had all arrived at the same time, but really I think the process itself has wasted.
Finally we got through all the wickets and it was time to board the ship! The Dawn was the nicest NCL ship I've been on. I was on the Norway and the Star prior. I was surprised to learn it was one of NCL's oldest and smallest ships now (they've got so many upgrades planned we won't recognize the line in a year or so).
Great balcony cabin nice bathroom, loved sleeping with the balcony door open listening to the water.