Just returned from a week long Caribbean cruise aboard the NCL EPIC. As a 153,000 ton Mega-ship, this is one huge vessel. My husband and I have both cruised several times and were a little uncertain of getting on a ship with 4,200 other passengers but also excited about the amount of entertainment and restaurant options. With our 5 --year-old son and Paul's parents in-tow, we headed to Miami.
Embarkation -- We arrived around noon with hopes of hoping on the ship quickly. Our luggage was handled very quickly and easily. Checking-in was also a quick, painless process. After being sent upstairs to the "holding area", you were assigned a group card. They called the groups quite quickly even though we were a bit irritated at being Group 9 which seemed like it would be quite a wait. Within 15 minutes we were on board. Without key cards in hand, we were in our rooms within minutes.
Staterooms -- We had a Balcony Stateroom (14037). This was a fully covered balcony with 2 chairs with recline ability and a small table. The balcony door is a reasonably heavy sliding door which will stay open on its own. It has good locking capabilities for kids if safety is a concern. The room is configured quite nicely with plenty of storage options. Our room has even less storage than most as it had a connecting door with another room, and with 3 of us, we still had plenty of storage for clothing and shoes. The bed was quite comfortable and I thought the quality of the linens was fabulous. We did not use the pull-out couch/bed to sit on very much, although I did sleep on it one night quite happily. It was more of a "table" for our stuff. It is a tight room in terms of walking around one another, etc. but we managed just fine.
14037- Nice Privacy....close proximity to the main staircase which leads to the pool deck/garden cafe. Only takes about 2 minutes to get from room to upstairs area. Kids Recess area is 30 seconds down the hall. I highly recommend this room or a nearby room to anyone with kids.
Room was quiet and we had no issues!