This was my fourteenth cruise, but my first on one of those mega ships. It was also my LAST cruise on a mega ship. Unfortunately, it looks like these giant 4,000/5,000+ passenger ships are the wave of the future. Cruise ships, in general, are crowded, But on the Epic I found that trying to squeeze so many people on board resulted in waiting and waiting and waiting. Waiting ten minutes for an elevator only to find that when one got there it was full to capacity. The reason for this is because there were the same number of elevators on this ship as they have on a 2,500 capacity shop. Even on the smaller shops I've found they have "extra" elevators to help with the flow of traffic, like glass elevators where you can look out over the atrium.

Also, waiting for a table at the buffet. I'm guessing that's because the buffet is where the best food on the ship was being served. The food in the dinning rooms was, at best, mediocre. Some meals were almost disappointing. This was my first cruise with the "dine around" option. Every other ship I've been on I was assigned a specific time and table to be at every night, where you have the same wait staff every night. I always sat at a large table where I got to meet other people and interact with them. With that type of dinning arrangement, by day three the wait staff knew what you liked and didn't. And while I liked the flexibility of the "dine around" style and not always having to watch the clock every night, it felt like going to a restaurant where the wait staff knew their were not going to be repeat customers.

Our balcony cabin #8031 on deck eight was so small it was actually a joke. All we could do was laugh about it because we were stuck there for ten days. There is no bathroom. There is a toilet "pod" and a shower "pod". The sink is outside of these pods with a one-watt LED light overhead. Good luck trying to put on make up or see to shave. Also, the sink is not a bowl, but rather flat on the bottom like a casserole dish. The water from the faucet flows right into the drain, so the sink doesn't get rinsed unless you do it yourself manually. Storage is another joke. Not bad for one person, but if two people want to share this cabin you're going to have to use all the hidden cubbyholes. And I do mean hidden. If you pull the back of the sofa away from the wall there's storage behind there. If you're over 6'4" there is storage up on the ceiling. And if you have a lot of socks there is plenty of room for them in the drawer, but don't think there's room in there for a tee shirt because the drawers are only six inches deep, as is most of the counter. With fourteen inches between the foot of the beds and the counter, a lot of stuff gets knocked on the floor. Read more