Problems create disappoinment
Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western
5 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)
Sail date: January 30, 2016
Ship: Brilliance of the Seas
Cabin type: Balcony
Cabin number: 8652
Traveled as: Singles/Friends
Reviewed: 8 years ago
Review summary
This was a girl's cruise with a group of friends that was booked last summer. First, I will say that the ship itself was fine and I loved the atrium area which was lovely.
The trouble actually started with our booking through . We booked in mid-August when was offering a deal that included a $100 OBC and a $150 Excursion credit for our balcony staterooms. Somehow, my friends were given their proper credits but I only received the $150 excursion credit although the bookings were done on the same day for the exact same cabins which were just a few doors apart. I spend hours on the cruise ship trying to get this fixed to no avail.
As far as the ship crew went, I think that this must be one of their less experienced crews and that they need to be a bit better trained with respect to customer service. The only exception being the folks who staffed guest services although they could never solve the issues. My belief is that this is probably the less experienced crew as this ship is one of the smaller, older ships out of Tampa and expect RCI is smart enough to use the best crew on the new mega ships leaving from the east coast (Oasis/Allure/Quantuum).
Although booking about six months in advance, we could only get My Time Dining. Surprisingly, this ship on has ONE dining room! We could not get seated the first night until 8:30PM and when trying to get an advanced reservation the next night for either a party of 8 or 2 tables for 4 (even tried any other combination) we were told that 8PM would be the earliest. Same for any other night as RCI had allowed some people with My Time Dining to book online in advance of the cruise. Our party of 8 booked this cruise using 3 different "vendors" (one being directly with RCI) and none of us were advised we could pre-book our dining times. The fact that other people were able to do this meant that there really wasn't available openings prior to 8PM for anyone else. The maitre'd was extremely rude and refused to help. We did engage Zeynel with My Time Dining who was able to get us a table for 8 at 7:15PM every night starting on the 3rd night.
Our cabin steward was somewhat efficient although he didn't speak English & we had a hard time communicating. You have to request ice on this ship and it took several attempts before we were able to get ice in our cabin. Our friends with the same steward asked for wine glasses on several occasions and never got them.
The food was fair at best.
This experience will send me back to my preferred cruise line (Princess) and will gladly drive to another port to get a better ship.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
Entertainment
Service and Staff
Ship Quality
Cabin / Stateroom
Ship tip
Apparently people with My Time Dining can book a time PRIOR to boarding the ship. If you want to eat at a decent hour you NEED to do this!
Ports of call
13 Comments
randy110 8 years ago
noname111 8 years ago
All kidding aside, isn't it an older crowd departing out of Tampa compared to say Ft Lauderdale or Miami??
LOL. Seriously, I agree w/BD. The general demographic for FL tends toward older so that has some impact on cruise demographics as well. But keep this in mind too... longer cruises (over 10 days) tend to attract older cruisers because time off work or scheduling around school-aged kiddo class time isn't an issue. You are likely better off with a 7 day cruise to help offset that.
Look to see if there are any theme cruises you might be interested in. That definitely affects the demographic mix. Rock n Roll legends cruises attract people who are contemporaries of when a particular band was popular. There is a website for this type of search but I cannot vouch for its accuracy. You might find something that you are a fan of and chances are it will attract the type of people you enjoy hanging with.
Happy sails (and thank you for having a good sense of humor)
BDRebel 8 years ago
I've got no facts to back me up on this, but it seems that Tampa would have an older demographic that Ft L or Miami, due to the local populations.
But I wouldn't let that dissuade me from cruising from Tampa;
Tampa is closer for me than Ft L or Miami.
Old people can generally out-party the youngsters -- they are just more refined doing it!
noname111 8 years ago
Departing from Tampa is the ship full of old people? Is there much of a nightlife after the shows? Pictures? Thanks
LOL... yes. The cruise lines send all their "old people" passengers to Tampa for boarding. The pictures are really depressing so no one takes any, plus those "old people" don't know how to use cameras anyway so all you get are fingers obstructing the shots.
As for nightlife... Do you really gotta ask about that seeing as all the "old people" get on in Tampa?
mattward 8 years ago
LindaLea 8 years ago
CrusinTim 8 years ago
Your review is a bit confusing. In one part, you state "Somehow, my friends were given their proper credits but I only received the $150 excursion credit although the bookings were done on the same day for the exact same cabins which were just a few doors apart.". Then, you state "Our party of 8 booked this cruise using 3 different "vendors" (one being directly with RCI)". Being that you booked through 3 different agents/companies, it is possible that the one you booked through didn't offer the $100 OBC as some agencies offer private credits as part of their selling that the cruise line may not offer. In such, that may be why you didn't get the OBC...your agent didn't offer it and the other 2 "vendors" did. Also, booking dining times is offered to ALL passengers as part of the online check-in process at the RCCL site. I cruised with RCCL twice (and once on the Brilliance) and always came across the option to choose my time for each meal & day in the MDR when doing my online check-in. If you were told you would get the OBC, and you have it as part of your contract emailed to you from the agent and/or RCCL, you can always dispute it.