We had a quite an enjoyable cruise overall, our spa balcony suite was lovely and the food was fairly good. Would I go on the Epic again? I would certainly think twice. For us, the embarkation process took around two hours for no apparent reason. The queue just did not move and queuing it seems was a daily ritual on the Epic.

The Garden Café was just horrendous, never anywhere to sit, we would walk round and round and round it was hopeless. The ship could not cater for the huge volume of guests. Tempers were frayed, arguments ensued - just chaos. We didn't fare much better of an evening, twice we managed to book a table but other than that, the wait was anything from 20 - 45 minutes. Fortunately I had booked the shows on line before the cruise but heaven help those who don't. Once they are booked there are stand-by seats only available and yes, the queue for standby seats is extremely lengthy. If you do succeed it is standing room only.

Having said all of the above there are a couple of points to mention. We didn't have particularly good weather which meant it was not always possible to dine outside - had this been the case this would have solved some of the Garden Café seating problem. I did meet a gentleman who had sailed on the Epic in November on a Western Med cruise who told me the ship was very quiet and he had encountered no such problems at that time. Read more