WE flew down the same day and the timing for everything was perfect. We were on board the Epic by 11:30. I know that people commented that no one greeted them, I found that not to be true all the crew was very friendly. WE boarded the ship through the casino and there was really no one to tell us where to go but having read the other CC reviews I knew that the first place I had to go was the spa to get a couples pass. MY girlfriend and I shared the pass ( our husbands were not interested), there was no problem at all. We also knew to go to taste for lunch. It was not crowded(mostly because everyone was told to go to the garden cafe) we all had a wonderful first lunch. Our rooms were ready by 2:00. The cabins were a little narrow (we had a family balcony with a connecting door to our friends cabin) but the 3 of us got along fine. At first I was a little upset because even through there is lots of storage...there really are no drawers to put things in. Taking the shoe bag would have been a good idea but I forgot ours. My friend bought hers and was able to put all her odds and ends in it. My bed was by the balcony and I really like that set up better...gives the appearance of more room. The steward was able to open the little door connecting our balconies. It was really nice to have the larger space. The entertainment on the Epic is the best I have ever seen. We usually don't go to all the shows but we did on this cruise and enjoyed everyone. I think having the reservations made it easier and we knew what we were going to do every day. The food was also very good we went to Cucinos and the Moderno for speciality restaurants. They were both very good and the staff was wonderful. We also did the Murder Mystery...lunch was so-so but the show was great. We also went to Cirque parts of the show was incredible the singing and acting I could have done with less of. The dinner there was good my only problem is that they squeeze people in like sardines...you share a table and one of the people at my table was facing the wrong way. This was premium sitting and this person had to have his back to the table to watch the show eating was very tricky. The Epic is a terrific ship but I must say there is a lot of walking..because there is no midship elevator we walked a great deal. To me this was a good thing I didn't end up gaining as much weight as I have on other cruises:). The teens I was with loved the slides and the climbing and repelling walls. The one thing I thought was a little much to charge for was the pool table but my group played anyway. The Captain changed our itinerary twice during the cruise. Changing the days we were going to different ports. I am sure there was a good reason but this was hard on me because I had planned all my own excursions. I must admit that I did have a bit of a hissy fit trying to figure out how to change our excursions. I didn't want to get Internet time too expensive and I really didn't need it for anything else. The Staff tried to help I wanted some free time in the Internet cafe but was told that was impossible was this was a concession. The ended up letting us use the ships computers and gave use an e-mail address so the excursion people could respond to us on the ship...Everything worked out well and I want to thank the staff for putting up with me. Our cruise went by much too fast but it was great and I would go on the Epic again any time!