My wife and I were on the Dawn's June 26th cruise out of N.Y.C. This cruise was a present from our two boys for our 35th anniversary. ON this cruise there were highs, lows, and one very big disappointment. As first time cruisers the Dawn is a beautiful ship, a floating painting. Not one square inch of space is wasted. The food is very very good, the presentation and service is excellent, my wife and I did not have one bad meal the whole trip. One area we had trouble with was that the ship was swarming with children as many as one thousand, from newborns to rap style teens This caused a problem in the dining room as some small children just could't stay in their seats and roamed around and played, fought and cried.I blame the parents not the children. Hint: think twice before taking more than one excursion in a day, the buses often don't leave on time or the tour runs late. This happened to us in Miami and we never got to see South Beach because of a massive tieup on the bridge into the city. We ended up walking to Bayside Market Place. Hint: Bring insect repellent with you when and if you go on the private Island it was the only place I got bit. On this cruise we never got to Nassau a really big disappointment due to engine trouble which affected our speed on the way home. I would have gladly given up one other stop to see the Atlantis Hotel. The news set off a big a do in the main lobby of the boat between the poor ships officer who had to face some very upset passengers. Going home we were down to thirteen knots at times. The staff was just great, very friendly, always willing to help with a problem, and Colin the cruise director was something else so funny. AS new cruisers we didn't have a high standard but the dawn has more pluses than minuses. Maybe we would think twice about going when school is out,but all in all we has a wonderful time.