We were on the April 4-9, 2010 Dawn sailing, and this is our experience. We had a great vacation and loved the ship in general. We're a family of 4 with two teenagers. As some background, we have cruised with Disney once and everything else with NCL.

Embarkation: Very easy, but we've never had a problem. We drove to the port in Miami this time and got there around 12:00. Traffic was very congested but there were several ships going out that day. There was almost no line to get through Security and no line at check in. That would have been around 12:30 or maybe 12:45. It was a long walk to the ship in this terminal.

Cabins: Okay, this was the biggest surprise of the cruise for us. We had cruise points that were set to expire if we didn't book a cruise by Jan. 30, so we booked the cheapest inside cabins available and spent very little money out of pocket. I booked K gty and we got KK (I think that's the level) on deck 8. We've found a whole new way to cruise. I had always worried that I would feel claustrophobic with no natural light but the cabins were great. They were roomy and had plenty of storage, and a good size bathroom. Of course, we've cruised the Majesty a few times, so anything other than those bathrooms is heaven. I had no idea. This is great information in a slow economy. My one note is that I missed being able to tell if it was daylight in the mornings. My rule is if it's dark, go back to sleep. If it's light, get up. I got over it, though. Read more