This was our first ever ocean cruise. We'd been talking about trying cruising for a few years but done nothing about it until a special birthday. We are normally independent travellers so we weren't sure that cruise life would be for us.
I did quite a lot of research beforehand. We were looking for somewhere warmer than the UK (not difficult!), not too expensive and with not too many rules. Western Caribbean seemed to have a good mixture of ports; we liked the idea of NCL's freestyle approach; and the Dawn was in our price range - we even upgraded at the last minute.
The Dawn is not a "smart" ship but it was clean and comfortable. For those who might get the reference it was more 1980s Manchester hotel than 21st century luxury. But we are happy with more modest styling and it's the other things that count. We had none of the problems with staff or logistics that other people report. We found all the staff (except our room steward) to be friendly and very helpful.
We really liked our cabin. I had originally booked a cabin with a porthole but no balcony. After talking to friends and weighing up the extra cost, we upgraded a couple of days before departure to a balcony cabin. It was definitely well worth it. Not just for the balcony which we loved, but also the extra space in the cabin.
On our travels we have often stayed in small rooms so we tailor our expectations to the circumstances. But this exceeded our expectations many times over. It was comfortable, plenty of space for us, well organised bathroom and closet space. We had to get the safe replaced on the first day but had no problems after that.
We took the $3 shuttle into Mahahual and took long walks along the beach to the lighthouse and back. Then lunch in a beach bar - relaxing and enjoyable. Mahahual is no longer the simple fishing village that some descriptions imply. It's very busy but very pleasant.