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After planning for 2 years (since our last cruise with Princess) we were somewhat disappointed with Royal Caribbean. Upon boarding we noticed a pungent smell (we were in an aft port side balcony) from the elevators which got stronger as we got closer to our room almost to the back of the ship. Not until the fourth day when a maintenance guy was sent up to check things out id it begin to get a little better. He explained to us in broken English that the smell was the "burning shit" (not my words - his words) and that it wasn't likely to go away. He explained that the ship actually burned the sewage and that that was the odor we were smelling. He did explain that he was checking all the vents on our floor to make sure they were closed and that so far he had found none that were open. We didn't understand this because its hard to understand why vents from the "sewage incinerator would ever lead to passenger areas. I think he didn't know the English word for sewage! It was actually terribly funny in spite of the fact that my wife was getting sick from the smell which came right into our cabin. Finally, the odor was taken care of by the fifth day. RC did offer to move us on the fifth day to a cabin that had become available on another floor but by that time the odor was gone. They also gave us a letter offering us 15% off of our next cruise within one year which is really no consolation to us as we really have no desire to go with RC any time soon.
All that said, there were many things about the cruise that we really enjoyed and appreciated. The dinning room staff was absolutely the best. The service could not have been better. Our waiter, Bien, was extremely attentive and very personable. We with with a group of four other friends and even though we had reserved with "my time" dining, we made it a point to get reservations with Bien at the same table every night. The food was very good but not excellent. The buffet food was fairly good but also not excellent.
The Liberty is an amazing ship! The promenade was a great deal of fun and the fitness center was better than most I've been to on land - the equipment was very new and high tech. Even though our waiter was excellent, our room steward was even better. She paid perfect attention to every detail and we tipped accordingly. I spent some time on the basketball court (no I was not one of those in bare feet and a speedo!!) and it was a nice amenity even though the court sloped from center court to the baskets.
The entertainers were all very skilled. The comedian the first night was top notch and the Scintas were amazing. The Scintas have performed in Vegas for years but current preparations for a TV show allowed them the opportunity to travel a little and we were glad. They put on a great show. The ice skating show was very very good.
Some of the shows, while the entertainers were very skilled, were just not that interesting or entertaining.
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