This was my 35th cruise. I was curious about the Epic and I'm glad I booked this cruise. Having said that, I will not book the Epic again. I didn't think the ship was beautiful. It didn't have the wow factor. Except for the 3 deck crystal chandellier nothing caught my attention. I like when I'm cruising, to discover paintings and sculptures around the ship. The Epic had nothing to be discovered. I didn't find the ship to be well designed. The jogging deck is a joke. It's only half of a deck with no view. It's blocked by the lifeboats.
I always book the Courtyard Villa (if the ship has one)and I found out that the A3 on the Epic is smaller and narrower than on the Jewel Class. For example,there is no door separating the 2nd bedroom from the living room. That's a problem if you are not travelling with immediate family and want privacy in the living room. It wasn't our case.
I loved the Epic Club and the Epic Lounge. Excellent service and good food. I didn't realy use the courtyard pool and hot tubs because they were crowded and windy all the time. Lots of little kids. Another thing that I didn't like was the fact that there is no roof over the courtyard. So when it's windy or raining you can't use that area. The courtyard gym is very good. Much better than the ones on the Jewel class.
A lot of movement on Deck 17, even when the seas were calm.