Poor Experience

Item: Brilliance of the Seas
Rating: 2
Author: kiomara

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

kiomara

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 50

Overall rating:

2 out of 5

Verified Review

12 Night Scandinavia & Russia (Harwich Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 30, 2015

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 1544

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

We booked a Jr. Suite and paid $5,600.00 for this suite. There was no amenities whatsoever included. Not even water, we had to pay $7.08 per bottle of water. They nickel and dime you for every little thing. The food was just ok, but same food every day. The food served at the fine dining restaurant was the same as the food served in the casual restaurant. It was always a struggle to find a place to sit. The staff was more scared of losing their jobs than been friendly. They looked tired and overworked. We booked the shore excursions with RC and they were a rip off. I would definitely not select them for future cruises. All their activities were geared for the 70+ years old only.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Food was the same every day. Not enough hours of service for the main dining room. Not enough food at the cafe which was supposed to be 24hours but it wasn't.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Just geared for very old people.

Entertainment

3 out of 5

just ok.

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

The staff was a mixture. We had good service from the stateroom attendant and the formal dinning room staff. The rest of the staff was unfriendly and did not look happy.

Ship Quality

3 out of 5

The ship needs some TLC. The lounge chairs are very old and not inviting.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin side was ok. The bed was horrible. It was two twin beds put together and they would separate in the middle of the night. They had round corner at the end which made them shorter than the standard bed length. There were no any amenities included in the room when we were paying more than twice other passengers in the cruise but we did not receive any additional benefits than the cheapest cabin which some people paid $800.

Ports of call

Harwich (London), England

3 out of 5

Copenhagen, Denmark

3 out of 5

We did not have enough time to explore and the excursion was a rip off.

Thumbs Up 0

Tallinn, Estonia

5 out of 5

Visit to the organic farm.

Thumbs Up 0

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

3 out of 5

Helsinki, Finland

5 out of 5

The best excursion.

Thumbs Up 0

Stockholm, Sweden

3 out of 5

Skagen, Denmark

1 out of 5

This should not be a port of call.

Thumbs Up 1

3 Comments

glomarrone 9 years ago

Thanks for posting your first review here. Sorry that the cruise didn't meet your expectations. I hope that your next one is a better fit for you.

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batch123 9 years ago

We've been on 15 cruises. Did one with RCI on Brilliance back in April. Safe to say we will never do RCI again. Very slow bar service. Entertainment was pretty bad with not many choices. Their lipsyncing wasn't even close to being on cue. When we boarded they had violin players going in the atrium...boring is an understatement. Food was just as good as the other cruise line we have used, but much less variety.

Thumbs Up 1

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lkirrane 9 years ago

Sorry to hear you had a bad experience. We have never had that issue on royal and have been a guest on royal for over 10 cruises.

Thumbs Up 0

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Other reviews of this sailing

June not the ideal month (weather wise)

Disappointed

Excellent trip