We left home (7 adults with luggage in a minivan) at 7:30 a.m. and arrived at the NYC port around 11 a.m. We actually had a pleasant trip up with the "kids" playing verbal car games. Our group of seven was DH and I with our 4 sons and a fiancEe.Embarkation: The new setup makes parking and handing off the luggage much easier. You simply drive up to the roof, pay the $210.00 for the week, have the vehicle sniffed by the dope dogs and then pull over to the designated area to unload the checked luggage. We then parked and proceeded to the elevators to go check in. Five of us had balconies and headed for that line, two had an OV and they were not permitted to go with us but got checked in within 15 minutes anyway. By 11:30 we were all on board with our first glasses of the bubbly.Day 1 -First we headed for our staterooms to see if we could drop off our carry ons. Those of us in the balcony staterooms were successful.....we told our room steward we were just going to stash our stuff in the closet and then get out of his way. Matt and Erin in the OV were told their hallway was closed so they bought theirs with them. We headed to the Venetian Dining Room for lunch. Everyone ordered different items and no one was disappointed. Our service was good and the food was tasty. Around 2 p.m. it was announced that all staterooms were ready so we headed to them to take photos and check out our "stern balconies". We had the only two balconies at the stern on Deck 10 and requested that the doorway between them remain open. This made it much easier to get the kids moving in the morning, plus was nice for all 7 of us to enjoy the balconies together. Later as the luggage showed up, we unpacked and then got ready for the Muster Drill and our informal meet and greet at the Bimini Bar. Many on our rollcall showed up and it was nice to finally put faces to names. It began to rain as we left NYC so at least we picked a good place to meet since it is covered for the most part. After about an hour we headed down to change for dinner. We again went to the Venetian and enjoyed Prime Rib and the Surf and Turf. Later we went to see Jose and Patti in the Spinnaker Lounge. DO NOT MISS JOSE AND PATTI! They even remembered us from last October. I can't imagine how they can with so many passing through the Dawn each year but they do. They perform music from the 30's up to the present. The 60's show was especially good. They were in Dazzles Lounge last year but they are so popular they now command the Spinnaker Lounge.Day 2 - Meet and Greet at 10:30 a.m. in the Star Bar. We had several officers come and introduce themselves. (At least 8-10 or more). We signed up for the dinner with an officer while at the M&G. We had a great time meeting the officers, John Ibrahim the CD and all our CC friends. We expected about 64 people and at least 40-50 showed up. Near the end of the M&G, we were invited to meet back at the Star Bar to take a tour of the Garden Villa. All I can say is WOW! I doubt I would ever see the rest of the ship if that was my home for the week. Thanks Barb, Carolyn and Betsy! We left our stateroom around 6pm for dinner and "Band on the Run". Both were great. Around 10:30 we went back to the stateroom only to find out we were now "VIP's" with an invitation to the VIP party that had happened 3 hours earlier. I called Ashuman (sp) the next morning to let him know we never received the invitation until after the party and ask him if being a "VIP" meant we could have breakfast and lunch in Cagney's. He said "no, that is only for the suite guests." I was disappointed but before I could even explain it to my DH, Ashuman called back to say we could eat at Cagney's that morning since he got permission for us. We left immediately and loved the Crab Eggs Benedict. When we were checking in at Cagney's they did have our name printed at the end of their list of VIP's but since we were told we weren't allowed to eat there we only tried the second to last day and had no problem. So I really do not know if we could have eaten there all week or not.This is getting way to long so I will try to be more concise by not detailing each day.We arrived in Bermuda before 8 am Wednesday morning and docked port side to the pier at Heritage Wharf. We ate breakfast and then headed to the Sea Glass Beach near the Royal Naval Cemetery. We filled up our Ziploc's and headed back for lunch before our scheduled Jessie James Snorkel cruise at 1pm. If you want to snorkel, this is the best snorkel cruise around. We did it last year and again this trip. Fourteen of us from the rollcall did it with 3 others. We snorkeled at three different locations (including over the Constitution, Montana and the Coral Sea Gardens) I can't wait to get the underwater photos developed. We had great weather and great fun!Thursday we took the ferry to Hamilton for some shopping, and then bussed to the Old Swizzle Inn for lunch and some rum swizzles. Later we finished the bus trip to St Georges. We explored there, got on the free internet at the Post Office and then headed back to the Dockyard on the ferry. While we were on the ferry a man came up to the second deck to see if anyone was from the Caribbean Princess was onboard since she was still short 9 people. Evidently 5 of the 9 were downstairs on the ferry, as they ran the whole way back to their ship and did make it before it left. From our aft balcony we watched as another couple half walked, half ran back from the ferry/bus area about 5:10 pm. (They were supposed to depart at 5pm.) They did not make it on time. Another couple arrived by taxi a few minutes later to watch their ship leave without them. We watched for another 30 minutes but none of the 4 ever came back out of the terminal. We heard their next port was St. Thomas. All I can say is I hope they had their passports with them and not locked in the safe on its way to St Thomas. We enjoyed dinner with three other couples and the Hotel Director that night. Hugo is very interesting and he even offered to introduce our music major son to Larry, the Band Master. They had a nice long conversation (about 45 minutes) so who knows. Maybe someday soon Steve may be working onboard the Dawn. He gets his degree this December.Friday we headed to Horseshoe Bay Beach on the express bus. We spent a few hours there....it's still beautiful and the water was great. The water was slightly cooler than in October but still easy to get used to. Later DH, DSS and I headed to Gibbs Lighthouse while the rest took the bus back to Hamilton for more shopping. We got back to the ship at 3 and the kids showed up around 4. (We knew they were taking the 2:30 pm ferry back and then shopping at the Dockyard.) No one was taking any chances after watching 4 miss their ship the day before. DH and I headed to the Garden Cafe for cheese, fruit and bread for our sail-away party on our balconies. The kids hit the Blue Lagoon for wings and chicken strips to round out the menu. If we had to leave Bermuda, at least we could enjoy a little party while we did it!Saturday we had 7-10 foot waves for a few hours and Erin and Matt were feeling it. The rest of us were fine. Now we had to do the dreaded repack to go home. Boo, hiss! In consideration of the sicko's, we went to the Aqua for dinner that night (mid-ship). It was our second visit to the Aqua and we even got the same table as before. Service was on time and the food was hot. No complaints for any of the main venues. If fact, the only time we had to wait longer than 5 minutes for a table was at LeBistro (2 couples with separate reservations). We each waited 30 minutes past our reservation time of 8:30 to get seated. Unfortunately for Matt and Erin, they were seated next to a very rowdy, drunk family which put a damper on their engagement dinner. We ate anywhere between 6 and 8 in the MDR's and even with a group of 7 never waited more than 5 minutes to be seated. I'm not sure why they were so backed up at LeBistro considering reservations were made.All in all, aside from the late invite to the VIP party and the wait at LeBistro we had nothing to complain about. Everyone had a great time. We had great room stewards (towel animals every night except the first and last), great waiters. We loved the new menus. We had a fantastic time!