This was our first family cruise and we had a blast. I was a little nervous choosing the EPIC due to recent negative reviews but we really enjoyed our cruise and had no complaints. Embarkation was smooth, and even though the line was long when we arrived to port around 11:15 it really didnt take all that long until we boarded the ship. Disembarkation took a little longer than I anticipated and we chose to carry our bags off. We went to the Western Caribbean and enjoyed all our port stops. It was windy the day we went to Great Stirrup Cay and tendering took long but I was happy to get on the island and we kept busy playing ping pong until our tender was called. We really enjoyed the food - we ate first night in Manhattan, 3 nights in Taste, one night at the buffet. We ate at O'Sheehans for lunch twice although the service was awful the 2nd day. We had breakfast every morning at the buffet and we always found something everyone in our family liked. We saw Burn the Floor, did the Cirque dinner one night and watched the Beatles band in the theatre one night as well - we enjoyed all 3 of these shows. We were in a family mini suite with our two teens and I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of storage in our room. While some people complain about the split bathroom etc, that configuration actually worked in our favor. Someone could get ready behind the curtain, someone could brush teeth or put contacts in while someone else was showering etc. We can't wait to cruise again.