Patrick,
You are cruising on my 46th wedding anniversary so of cours you will have a wonderful time, not to mention you and my better half (at least he thinks he is) have the same wonderful name as does my brother. Now for some answers to your questions: I am not certain which ship Skybird cruised but her/his reviews have all been pretty negative; this being the nicest I think. My guess is they did not cruise the Dawn, nor the Sky, Sun or Star. All these ships were designed for freestyle with very good service. Do try to plan meals starting about 6:30 or after 8pm. As in any local restaurant, you hit that 7pm time frame and it can be a bit hectic. Dress for the kids, there are 2 dress up optional nights, not one. You will see almost everything. I would guess, if your daughter is like many young ladies she will want to dress and your son may not. The adults will be dressed in almost everything, but very few in tuxes. My DH wore nice dress slacks and a dress shirt. He was dressed like most of the men and I wore a nice sun dress, a little dressiere than other nights. Lots of the gals wore cocktail dresses, with few in formals. The under teen age boys were wearing docker type pants and polo or sport shirts mostly. Hope this helps a little.
NMNita