We chose this ship as it was leaving from scotland and was not a big ship. Embarkation was good and the safety drill well done though i was disturbed that wee were not made to wear and demonstrate our life jackets on other cruises this has not been the case. W were well aware of the ship and were pleasantly surprised at the general state of her. Food good. entertainment really excellent with an exceptional classical pianist and a great show team, The speaker doing port talks was quite abysmal. the first speaker at any event i have ever heard. the speaker on the russian area nd jewellery was knowledgeable enough but a hustler and really was only there to sell as much on board of the good he brought but we did learn a fair bit from him, The crew were really lovely hard working learnt our preferences very quickly. we could not fault them. now for the rub. One does not pay over 4k for a holiday and expect it to be anything other than a luxury holiday. I did not expect to have th very strong smell of sewage or effluent in our corridor around our cabin we could next leave or enter the area with out it hitting us. this is cabin 5105 and i would strongly recommend anyone avoid it. We reported it an at first the smell of a lot of air freshener seemed to be on top of the nasty pong then after the canon next door complained and e did again. a pumper came ands took a panel of the corridor an ugly sight. The smell continued till finally vy the 8th day it was gone. Not a word of apology or offer of change or even on board spend. not everyone can afford cruise after cruise,i felt cheated a little by this. Having said that we did grow to really like the ship.We would consider going on her again but never on this deck. Read Less