My husband had never cruised before and embarked on this vacation with a negative mindset. After experiencing the better-than-expected food in the main dining room at breakfast and dinner, and the very professional entertainment (The Gift and You Will Rock Me were excellent), he is looking forward to our January 2019 cruise on the Allure of the Seas out of Miami. The Anthem is huge, but we still knew we were two of 4900 passengers most of the time. Elevator waits were not long, but the My Time Dining felt hectic each night. We usually waited 15 minutes to be seated, even though we had reservations and ate late (7:45 to 8:15). The pools were overrun with children and teenagers, and swimming laps was impossible. The Solarium is for over age 16 only, but the pools are not designed for swimming. Most of the time we noticed people drinking, standing cheek to jowl in all Solarium pools and hot tubs. The esplanade was clogged every night with tables set up to promote jewelry, watch, and purse sales. On the plus side, the crew seemed happy and very service-oriented. Both our servers and cabin attendant anticipated every need. Our cabin, a handicapped balcony, was spacious, beautifully decorated, and very well designed, with plenty of room for everything. We enjoyed the Old and New San Juan Royal excursion, the St. Maarten and Bermuda bus tours less so. I'd recommend beach or water excursions that avoid the more Irma-devastated parts of the islands. We really enjoyed listening to music in the various bar venues after dinner. Boleros especially had a fabulous Latin Quartet playing most nights, and Schooners had two of the brass players from the Royal orchestra playing jazz standards one night. Embarkation was fairly smooth, although my husband remarked that the waiting area (rows upon rows of closely packed plastic chairs) was reminiscent of Ellis island. Note that the parking garage at Cape Liberty does not open until 10 am. We checked in quickly and waited until 11 am to get on the ship. Our disembarkation number was dead last, so we had breakfast in the MDR at 7:30 and found a comfortable place to wait in the Via. At 10:15, they had called only about half the numbers (we are SUCH rule followers) but a crew member said we should prepare to disembark. They made a last call announcement just as we got in line. Apparently, half the passengers ignored their numbers and disembarked early. All in all, it was a relaxing vacation. I'd always book a balcony, though, in order to have some private space in the fresh air. And now that we are both retired, I look forward to cruising in May and October, when most kids are in school!