first let me just say this is a personal opinion of the epic cruise.
we booked through virgin cruises which was a mistake poor interaction from them led to us getting our cruise/flight tickets 2 days before departure,after a long drive we stayed at the turret hotel in horley for the night and left the car there for the week, if anyone wants a place to stay before flying out of gatwick this is it, £75 for b and b and car parking for the week flights were with easyjet and they were great,transfer by virgin [well we will not say no more].
boarding the epic was painless and quick with boarding at 2pm we went straight to our cabin a inside backing on to the singles rooms on deck 11, no problems were found the room was spotlessly clean and smelt fresh, having eventually finding the plug sockets and looking around,our cases had arrived 30 mins after boarding excellent work by the stewards.