We just returned from 7 days on the Dawn. There were 4 of us in a mini-suite, that is the way to go. You get a little extra space and having the balcony was wonderful. We enjoyed sitting on it at the end of the day before the ship left port. Our daughters are 12 and 8 and the both loved the kids crew, this particular week there were only 244 kids signed up compared to the 800 the week before. Our only complaint was that for our 12 year old they put the older kids with the younger kids because they did not have enough 9-12 year olds. They got stuck doing all the younger kid things. It still worked for her because she was able to meet several kids her age and they had fun hanging out together at the pool.
Our cabin steward Marlon was great, he was available when you needed something but not just hanging out bothering you.
We are not "foodies" by any stretch but we were very disappointed with the food, some days the best food was in the Garden Cafe or Blue Moon. On "Lobster Night" what a let down, my husband loves lobster and when he received his meal it consisted of a 1/2 over cooked lobster tail. We did eat at Cagney's, again we were somewhat disappointed, the food was good but we were not "Wowed" and not worth the cover charge. We did the soda cards for the kids and myself, they were worth it to us since we are not big drinkers, we also purchased a "Teen Passport" which is a coupon book for nonalcoholic beverages like smoothies. This was a very good deal since it had 20 coupons and cost $34.
the mini-suite was great.. plenty of storage.. would loose the dining table and add another dresser.