This cruise was to celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary. We chose the Epic because of its itinerary, the coolness of exploring a new ship, and the entertainment (hubby's always wanted to see Blue Man Group). We were overall very pleased with the experience.

We had some trouble getting to Barcelona due to flight cancellations and delays, but once we finally arrived, it was easy to get a taxi to the port, and embarkation was fairly quick.

ROOM: We got a mini-suite, which I understand is a good deal bigger than a balcony. Although a lot of people apparently don't like the bathroom set-up, we liked it a lot. Absolutely loved the shower; it was definitely the best shower of any ship I've been on. The bed was very comfortable, and there was a ton of storage, some of which we didn't even find until the last day of the cruise! The balcony was standard, nothing special. Our room attendants did a great job. We had a little miscommunication regarding stocking the minibar, though. We said we just wanted it stocked each day with regular and bubbly water, and they delivered at least 9 very large bottles of each and stuck it on a shelf above the couch (and billed us for it!). Near the end of the week when we had only consumed a fraction of the water, I asked our room attendant to take away the rest and credit us for what we didn't use. She got very grumpy about that and said, "But that's what you asked for!" She had been very pleasant the rest of the week, but not after that. Read more