Brilliance of the Seas Reviews

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The Brilliance of the Seas is an older ship but is well maintained. There are plenty of public areas so that the ship does not seem crowded (other than the Windjammer Cafe - more on that later). Compared to my most recent Cunard cruise, I can say that RCCL is much more casual. There were 2 formal nights but cocktail dresses or pants with sparkly tops were the preferred attire for women, rather than long formal gowns. Otherwise dress on the ship was very casual, jeans are fine. The food in the main dining room is good - not great. Some meals were better than others. Our assigned dining room wait staff at dinner were quite excellent, but when seated elsewhere at breakfast or lunch, service could vary. The worst dining experience was at the Windjammer Cafe on deck 11. In poor weather when everyone wants to eat inside, there aren't enough tables/chairs and the room layout can make it quite crowded. There were constant announcements for people to kindly eat and move on so as to make room for other people to eat. Not a relaxing experience! Hopefully you can get an extremely good cabin rate, as it will be the only bargain of the cruise. Expect to pay a lot of extra fees for sodas, specialty coffees, fresh squeezed juice, of course cocktails and wine. Spa services are not cheap but are quite good - note that gratuities are automatically added on to all services in the spa as well as the dining room. Someone at our table purchased a cookbook (only available through the dining room wait staff) and had 15% gratuity tacked on. Some activities will cost extra too. There is Internet and WiFi available if you want to pay a high price for it. The Port Destination lecture was laughable - very little port information and mostly a sales pitch on the shore excursions offered by the ship. In fact, the constant sales pitches for various things got quite irritating by week's end. Other than that, the ship's crew and service staff provided excellent service, and there are enough activities during the day to keep everyone happy. The cruise was a good way to see the fjords; the Geiranger was especially gorgeous.

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My 23 year old and daughter and I enjoyed our cruise on the Brilliance. Embarking in Civitavecchia was easy. We took the train from Rome and upon arriving walked the very short distance to the port entry where the free shuttle bus (marked Brilliance of the Seas) picked us up and dropped us off at the terminal. We got through the line in about 5 minutes as it was already 2:30 pm and most people had long since boarded. There were cool drinks and cookies at the terminal for us, nice touch. The Brilliance is a lovely ship. Having only sailed Freedom and Voyager class ships (and loved them both), I was wondering if I'd like the smaller Brilliance. No worries! I thought I'd miss the grand promenade but I didn't. The parties held in the Centrum were every bit as much fun and as lively as what we enjoyed on our other RCI cruises. The Quest was just as hilarious in the smaller Colony Club. We liked our cabin. If you look up our cabin, you will see that it does indeed have an obstruction from the window washing equipment. However, you don't even notice it after a day or two. We certainly appreciated the oversize balcony! Our cabin was in fine shape and our steward, Reynaldo, took excellent care of us. This was our first experience with a cloth shower curtain but it turned out not to be an issue. I prefer a glass enclosure but I can't say that I was ever "attacked" by the curtain... Our closet and drawer storage was more than adequate and there were plenty of hangers. We had late dining at a table for 10. We hit a home run in that we ended up with the most fabulous dining companions ever! I usually cruise with my husband and in-laws so this was the first time I'd ever been on a table with people I hadn't met before. It turned out to be a joy. All of us became fast friends and I don't think I will ever go back to my previous dining arrangement. We had so much fun at dinner comparing notes on what we'd all done during the day, talking about the next day's excursions, etc. We were very fortunate with our waiters, too. Anthony and Rustam were personable and competent. By day 3 I took to asking Anthony what his recommendation was for the best choice of entree and he never failed me. We all ate well during our cruise. Was it 4 star dining? No, it was not, but it was very good and nicely presented and delivered. I thought all the beef entrees were particularly notable--cooked exactly to my specifications (rare, which is hard to do as chefs always assume that you really don't mean it, and overcook the meat). The ship facilities were wonderful. We loved the salt water heated pool in the Solarium and the poolside bar was pretty good, too. Nice atmosphere there. Loved the spa (book yourself a relaxing facial; you won't regret it~). Loved the Seaview Cafe and wished it were open more hours. The staff is really nice and the outdoor dining is a real treat. We appreciated the pool tables and chess tables we found in the Colony Club. The piano player in the Schooner Bar did a great job and worked well with her audience. We danced the night away in the disco up on the top deck. The DJ will take your requests and the dance floor was almost always full of people having a good time. Now to one area where the Brilliance fell short. When we were on the Independence, we went to some really interesting lecture series on the sea days. No such offerings on this cruise, which disappointed us. Why no enrichment lectures?? On the Indy these lectures were packed so there is definitely an appreciation for them! Also, the production shows were miserable. The Royal Caribbean dancers and singers on the Brilliance operate at a amateurish high school level. I had given my daughter a glowing report of all the great shows we'd seen on our previous RCI cruises and she was looking forward to seeing some fabulous entertainment on her first cruise. I was embarrassed by the pitiful efforts we were subjected to. The Brilliance needs to step it up a notch. Make that many notches... I have mentioned that I took my 23 year old daughter on this cruise. She was worried that she would not meet any people her age and that she wouldn't have as much fun on a cruise as her father and I do. Not true! On the 3rd night she met a bunch of young adults during the open air pool deck dance party and after that she was all set. She made plenty of friends and now she, like her father and me, is hooked on cruising! She finally "gets it." So in summary, we had a great time. The staff on the Brilliance is friendly, professional, and competent. They made sure that we had a relaxing cruise. High marks there. We ate in the MDR, Windjammer, and SeaView Cafe and were pleased with it all. We liked the amenities and found that smaller ships are every bit as nice as bigger ships. If it weren't for the entertainment offerings which we found lacking, we'd give our cruise top stars all around.

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Ok, Just returned from the Brilliance of the Seas repositioning cruise, from Rome to Amsterdam, the stops on the cruise were Gibraltar, La Corunna, Le Havre, Dover and then Amsterdam. Overall, it was an 'OK' cruise, but unfortunately, some of things about the ship need improving, and soon! We booked this cruise a few months ago because of the price, we just wanted a cheap cruise and this fitted the bill, OK the ports aren't exotic, but they were fine, nothing wrong with any of the ports, all served a purpose. Booked Monarch flights from London Luton to Rome FCO airport, it was slightly delayed, but wasn't a problem, flights was fine for a budget airline, perfect, stayed at the Holiday Inn near the airport and again it was fine, done the job we wanted it to, taxi transfer on the morning of boarding. Boarding the ship was a breeze as normal with RCI, from arriving at the port to be on the ship was around 20 mins, enjoyed a lunch in the Windjammer and then the Rome sun for the afternoon, made our way to room and it was lovely, it had the window cleaning gantry partially obstructing our balcony but it didn't bother us. First night on board we went for main dinner to find our table, waiters etc first night dinner was OK but was slow, but we put that down to being first night etc went to main dinner for the following 3 nights, but found the dinner to be cold on most nights, and extremely slow, despite our comments to the head waiter etc nothing really changed, they said that the ship is renowned for slow food from the galley and it wont ever change! So after 4 nights we gave up and used the Sea View Cafe and the Windjammer. The bars etc on the ship are lovely, all were in good condition, all had pleasant and friendly staff and I took a fancy to the sports bar, enjoyed the live sports with a relaxed drink and being able to enjoy a smoke in there as well made it a perfect venue for myself. The facilities on the ship were excellent, nice pool, nice cent-rum, nice solarium, nice kids pool and slide etc all as we would expect from RC to be honest. We didn't go to the theatre every night, but the shows we saw were very good. Enjoyed the gyro-pool tables, although they could do with some new sets of balls ad they are old and getting knackered! The guest services team on the desk were hit and miss, the big American black guy was great, funny and you could see he enjoyed his job, also Julie from the UK, been on her ships a few times and she is lovely, and really helpful. The Captain and his staff could be seen around the ship on lots of occasions which I always feel is reassuring, always polite and always saying Hello, his talk on navigation was very interesting. Windjammer, as usual good selection of food at all times, tasty and hot, good staff in there as well. Sea View Cafe, this was a wonderful venue, loved the Pizzas and sandwiches, no doubt this will be changed to a premium dining venue during the refurb next year which will be a shame. Room service, breakfast always good and usually on time, but the other stuff at other times was hit and miss. Kids facilities, my youngest is 7 and enjoyed her times in the club, didn't go to every session, but usually around one session per day, they were good with her and she enjoyed herself, my boy is 14 and there weren't many teenagers on board but he met up with a couple of kids his age and they went to the events that were listed for teens, some ran, some didn't, but at that age they were just as happy playing football, basketball, swimming, Windjammer etc and they enjoyed themselves. Good mix of passenger nationalities, lots of US, and plenty of Europeans, oriental and a good amount of Aussies, many of whom seemed to be doing back to back from the previous cruise from Dubai, most of the other passengers all seemed friendly as usual, although did have one run in with some inconsiderate American passengers, but that was unusual as 99% of all other passengers were great and friendly. Cabin, was nice and spacious, and the balcony was nice, but you can see in places its getting to the point where it needs a makeover, the attendant was good, there when you needed him but equally faded into the distance when not needed, the balcony was shabby at best, furniture was old and tired, much of the metal work around the balcony was rusty, the bed unfortunately was extremely uncomfortable, every morning I was waking up with a terrible bad back, and it would take about an hour before that eased, I suspect some of that is me being used to my own bed, but its not something that I have encountered on RC cruises before so I suspect a mixture of the two really. Weather for this cruise was good in Rome and Gibraltar, La Corunna dull and overcast, Le Havre, overcast other days at sea were dull and overcast and a couple of times very misty meaning use of the fog horn every 5 Min's at times. Saw some whales around the ship on the day after Gibraltar and some dolphins when in the English Channel, they were special moments you realize what wondeful cratures they really are. Originally we were going to Amsterdam and we had flights booked etc, but my wife is an ill woman and she decided we should get of in Dover and get a taxi back to our car as she wasn't really well enough to stand around Airports etc for the flight the following day, so we informed RC that we wanted to do that and they were very helpful and made the disembarking process very smooth and quick, so top marks there! Overall, we enjoyed the cruise, but they really need to tighten up in the MDR it let the rest of the cruise down, would I cruise Brilliance again, probably yes as we liked the ship and once she has been refurbed next year I am sure she will be even better than she is now! Overall marks out of ten for the complete holiday, around 7/10 would of been better if the MDR experience was better.

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It should have been a beautiful cruise in the Mediterrean, we had the owner suite and expected a great time. However: - checking in in Rome was extremely disorganized, shuttle bus driver was not even helping people to load and unload their luggage in. the bus. - THEY KEPT OUR PASSPORTS. Is that legal? Only returned to us in Le Havre. - Satetroom's service was the worst ever, in the first day, the garbage was not collected, dirty dishes left in the balcony. After we complained, we got lots of apologies and an explanation that the room's stewart had just been moved to that area and was not used to the job! - no contact from the concierge, she didn't even bothered coming to introduce herself. When we call to ask for some hors d'oeve in the room, she said was not possible and called me "honey" - Poor shows, no comedians. - The food was the worst we ever had: no lobster or rack of lamb or even a decent steak dinner. Terrible desserts, no baked Alaska or even a decent cr??me brulee, just a cheap version of an orange cr??me watery and tasteless -. When we asked why, the waiter said that at this time of the year they could not get lobsters in the Mediterranean and that Baked Alaska had been banned everywhere because of safety, way too many cases of fires in ships ???? There was one dinner in which we had to wait 40 min for the main entree because they ran out of chicken, which by the way looked like a cheap version of a Shake and Bake - No support from the concierge what so ever. The lines we always busy and she would not return our calls - extremely poor choice of the room menu, and every order came with something wrong and several of them just didn't come. When we phoned comparing they had no record of the order at all. - as always extremely expensive Internet fees. And of course there is no warning when you are running out of time of the package you have purchased. A complete rip off, which is common practice in all other shipping lines we have been. - terrible service in the breakfast of the dining room. They just included a buffet in it to clearly minimize their work. It makes breakfast look messy and not organized. - all crew members started to work better towards the end of the cruise, 2 days to go, because of the final tipping

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April 2012 we went on an epic journey around the Middle East. And I must say it was fantastic.The transfers werefantastic all the way through. The Hotel we stayed in, The Sofitel on "The Walk" in Dubai, was absolutely wonderful. With a good helping of pampering for the guests, included. The hotel staff really looked after you; from when we arrived very early in the morning, the check-in was meant to be after 3 pm, but the room was ready within an hour of us sitting down with a drink in the hotel lobby, to receiving lovely chocolates on your pillow, the bed was turned back and slippers left by your bed every evening.Wow pampering at its best. We stayed there for 3 days and had a good look round Dubaifor the second time. The weather hot and of course the sun is nearly always shining. Day four we boarded a very tired looking ship, Brilliance of the Seas. Check-in was very efficient and our cabin and Steward great. The only down side was the horrific smell from the toilet area was worse than rotten eggs. Plus a toilet that wouldn't flush!!! As it turned out there was a major problem with the pipework on Deck 8 Fwd. that has to be repaired when the ship gets its timely refurb. soon I hope!! However, the cabin steward worked his little heart out to resolve and clean up the odour which he did in a matter of a few days. It didn't spoil our holiday we just had a good laugh about it. Entertainment was good. Special guests were great. But still had the same Broadway type shows as last time. Food good. Service good also. The trips round the middle east were long and tiring but worth doing especially the Rose Red City of Petra, Jordan. A 10 hour trip but Wow a fantastic place well worth the very long trek down through the narrow Siq (opening) to where the Treasury facade appeared like a giant standing right in front of you. And so many people walking up and down the Siq plus the pony and traps that didn't stop for anyone were busy taking people who didn't or couldn't walk down to the entrance!!! It was very rough surfaceto wlak over. However, Petra really is a special place and so glad we went to see it. Muscat was nice but not that much to see. Sharm El Sheik, was lovely mainly a hotel resort for sunseekers. Again not that much to see unless you want to do a back breaking sand dunes ride in a Jeep or a ride under water in a semi submersible. Fun nontheless. Safaga was more of an industrial port, a place to go if you want to visit King Tutankhamen's tomb and artefacts etc. Again a very long day trip but worth it. The Port of Alexandria, was next, (for 2 days) and is a must if you want to see the Pyramids but is a very very long day with the trips being well over 14 hours with lunch at a nice hotel, then a visit to the catacombs down many crooked steps and which are very claustrophobic. A trip to the Pyramids is one to do in your own time and with your own guide/driver and car. However, Alexandria isn't the cleanest and nicest of places. We were confronted with road works at the entrance of the Dock area with big holes in the middle of the road and scaffolding outside. The taxi drivers are rude and the vehicles they called taxis we would call old pick up trucks, that have seen better days. Air Con meant you had to wind down the window if the window winder still worked. Grest Fun!! Unleavened bread stacked at the road side next to bins full of rotting rubbish. Not good, but an experience all the same. The weather was good not too hot at this time of year. The transit through the Suez Canal was absolutely fabulous, another definite must see, especially during the daytime you saw so much more along the embankments. Finally disembarking in Rome. All in all a good Repo cruise and well worth doing.

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