This is only our second cruise, first was on the Pearl back in 2007. We had a 1 week opportunity to vacation without our teenager so thought we would give it a whirl.
Did quite a bit of research on the EPIC, read the PROS/CONS and found that most were valid in their own way. Was the casino smokey, yes it was but was not overwhelming and it really didn't bother me at all. Was the lack of promenade deck missed, yes, I must admit, I did miss this as I enjoy jogging around the ship but lived without it just fine. Were the elevators busy, yes, they were, but I preferred to take the stairs as I found we could use the exercise. I really just needed the elevators when wearing heels or when carrying luggage during the walk-off disembarkation. The pools were busy as expected but we did manage a few trips down the slides.
Overall we found the food very good, enjoyed the Epic Club dining, as well as the Courtyard, with the open air ocean view. We especially enjoyed our dinner at le Bistro, probably one of our favourites. We never waited for dinner in any of the restaurants but did not attend dinner in the main dining room.
Quiet location except we noticed that someone with very heavy footsteps above at about 5:00-6:00 a.m.