Embarkation went quickly, we were at the port early 10:30 and went thru security, to check in, and then to the holding area. The whole process took only about 15 minutes. There were photo opportunities in the holding area and coolers with water. Once we started boarding at about noon, things were very organized by groups - base upon arrival time - and getting on the ship went quickly. We had signed up for a soda package and went to the area to get our stickers and insulated cups then up to the pool deck. A short time later our room was ready and we were able to explore the room. We are a family of 4 in a balacony room and the storage was very adequate. I suggest you bring extra hangers to use drawer space only for those things you can't hang up. We had sufficient storage for all 4 of us with this arrangement. I also packed some clothespins for hanging wet swimsuits in the shower. They dry so much quicker this way. When the pullman bed is down it is a tight squeeze to get to the balcony and/or open the closet doors but was manageable. The room is starting to show some wear with the carpet and toilet doors. The room is conveniently located not far from the elevators and only 2 decks down from the pool and garden cafe making it easy to be able to skip the elevators. The toilet had an occasional sewage odor that was solved by flushing the toilet repeatedly 2-3 times in a row when noting a smell. This area of the ship was quiet at night for great sleeping no noise heard from surrounding rooms unless you are on the balcony. We had neighbors 2 doors away that were a bit obnoxious with yelling at their kids. Note to check for school breaks when picking your cruise dates as evidently the east coast had a break during this time and the number of kids was pretty high. We enjoy children but when parents don't supervise or decide to yell and swear at their kids on the balcony it ruins an afternoon of balcony relaxation. Obviously this is not a ship issue but a passenger issue. Parents who have had too much to drink and then think their young children will behave unsupervised running around the pool deck, pushing all the elevator buttons, etc. was a pain. We waited to enjoy the pool until our first port day as it was crazy tight on the pool deck with all the over tired kids. The same issues were prevalent in the garden cafe with numerous unsupervised young children and trying to find a place to sit was not an easy task. We tried using non-peak times to make the dining adventure more pleasant or brought food back to our room. The shows were awesome we really enjoyed the 3 that we did - the Blue Man Group, Comedy, and Legends. We love this ship - this trip was our second on the Epic. Our issues on the cruise were related to timing of the cruise and parents struggling to manage over-tired cranky kids or just letting their children run wild with little regard for other guests on the ship.