I had previously cruised on the Norwegian Sea in the 90's and the RCL Voyager soon after it was introduced in the early 2000's, so I was aware of the challenges posed by a ship the size of the Epic. So even though it was marginally larger than Voyager, all the previous comments about the ship's layout proved very true. On arrival at the port of Miami, I was awed by the height of the boat - and rightfully so, as a total of 19 decks are in play onboard (though passengers use only 5-19). Boarding was terrific compared to past experiences, but I was puzzled that there wasn't an awesome "grand entry" or 15 story chandalier....just a bank of elevators, which took me to my cabin easily. I found the studio experience to be very good, though the throne-room was a tad cramped. I was also in the dark for about 3 minutes trying to figure out where the light switch was, as nobody had mentioned that the lights only work when you put the room key in a slot by the door. Once I figured that out, the lighting didn't seem quite bright enough for wide-awake stuff other than by the sink. The odd backlighting was fine, I guess, while puttering around, but not bright enough for reading. As there was really no place to sit in the room other than on the bed, the reading could be moved to the studio lounge about 50 feet away (through a couple of doors) where the lighting was more useable and the seating more agreeable. Incidentally, several events posted on the ship's scheduling screens and on the daily paper referred to a place called "The Living Room", which I learned, was the Studio Lounge. But when asking crew members where the 'living room' was, nobody had a clue, and this boat has been cruising for almost 2 years!

After getting the lay of the land onboard, I couldn't understand what the engineers were thinking when they put the two banks of elevators about 750 feet apart, at the front and rear of the ship, so that sore feet were guaranteed. And, of course, I always found myself at the exact wrong end of the boat for whatever event I was attending. It took me 2:15 from my cabin to the rear elevators at a decent walk, and that's a long way, for sure. I was about 50 feet forward of the front elevators, but to get to the spa, the Manhatten, Moderno or Cagney's restaurants or the rear 'adult' section of the ship,foot power was the only way to do it. And a shore visit caused a foot condition that made the walks most uncomfortable. More on that later.

I was terrifically impressed by the studio's bed (exceptionally comfortable) and the shower, and yes, you couldn't do anything at the small sink without getting water all over the floor, but the steward always was invisibly leaving new towels and bathmats, so for me, the wet floor was of no consequence. Another mystery was the TV in the room which had 4 cable news shows and a sports channel. The news shows were always commentators, never news people, and to find out what was happening in the world, you had to watch the scroll at the bottom. I wasn't in the room that frequently, but a better selection of news programming would be an improvement. Read more