We are a family of 5 and first time cruisers with 3 boys 12, 16 & 19. We vacation at various resorts regularly but were always hesitant to cruise due to the perceived close quarters on a ship. Even though there were times when you had to deal with crowds, for the most part it wasn't an issue.
I'll start with restaurants. We ate at the Venetian twice, Bamboo, Cagney's, Aqua and Impressions twice. The restaurants are beautiful, the service staff was very pleasant and the food was fantastic at each and every restaurant. The service charge for the Bamboo, Cagney's and Impressions was well worth it. The major negative for the entire trip was the very difficult reservation process. Toward the end of the week you had to wake up at 6:45am and stand in line for 15 minutes to get a decent reservation at any of the restaurants. I'm an early riser so this didn't bother me, however many people on board hated this procedure. The Dawn must change this. The buffet was fine and was always good for a late night snack.
The entertainment was excellent and easily off-broadway or better caliber. The main theater seats about 1,000 and is also very beautiful. One tip is to seat yourself 20 - 30 minutes early. You can get 10th row center stage seats every time. Our Cruise Director Jimmy and his staff were very humorous and did a great job attempting to keep everyone entertained at all times. The late night entertainment was very good.