I am 39 years old. This was me and my wife's 7th Cruise. First ever trip to Europe. We have sailed 4 times on Royal Caribbean and this was our 3rd on Carnival.
We stayed at the Ramada Hotel and it was reasonably well appointed for the price. The one thing we liked was the king size bed, which we discovered is a rarity in Europe. The TAXI situation is an issue in Dover. It is a small town that can't support many cabbies in the off season and so there is a noticeable shortage on embarkation day. Plan ahead and you'll be fine. We booked our taxi the day previous and only had to wait about an hour past our requested time. There is a cafe at the front of the hotel lobby which makes waiting for the taxi more pleasant.
Embarkation at the Dover Terminal was not the smoothest operation we've experienced, but certainly not the worst either. There were long lines but they had plenty of counter attendants and we were processed in under a half hour.
Quiet, convinient, great perks.