My wife and I embarked on a 4 day cruise out of Tampa on Brilliance of the seas to celebrate her birthday. I have been on two other cruises (with Princess) but had never tried Royal Carribean. I was sadly disappointed with not only what was on the ship but what was not on the ship. We noticed a very unpleasant odor coming from our bathroom and the balcony area. So bad that we couldn't even have our slider open without it coming into the cabin.Thinking it might go away we arose on day two to find the odor was overbearing. I spoke to guest services and they sent a "plumber" to the cabin. He proceeded to pour a bucket of soapy water down a drain on our balcony and deemed the problem fixed. Two hours later the smell had not been fixed. Again spoke to guest services and asked for another cabin. They did give us another cabin but when asked what they would do to compensate us for the problem we were promised a letter entitling us to 15% off our next trip. Needless to say the letter never arrived.

The food while plentiful was not particularly tasty. At one dinner I had a lamb shank that if I closed my eyes could have passed for beef pot roast. At the specialty restauraunt (Chops) which is a $35 per person extra charge we were served instant potatoes. Really....Your going to charge me $70 per couple then give me instant potatoes? Isn't there a better way to save a buck? The steak was ok...not aged beef. No thats extra if you want that. The food in the dining room was all right but you can tell some cost cutting has been done. Again instant potato was used. The italian restaurant was very good I might say. What this boat does not have....Food for families around the pool area. Nowhere could you find (like other ships I've been on) burgers, dogs and fries cooked to order and available to eat in the sun next to the pool. No ice cream shop. No specialty pizza. Good luck finding anything other than room service after 11pm for eats. I mentioned my displeasure with the man who runs all food onboard the ship and he pretty much brushed my comments aside without even an apology. The entertainment was all right. Nothing to write home about. Sorry Royal Carribean you failed this test. We shall not be back.