Brilliant Experience

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 74

Overall rating:

4.6 out of 5
Brilliance of the Seas

5 Night Western Caribbean (Tampa Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 26, 2018

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 3629

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

It was an enjoyable cruise, there were some ups and downs. The food of course, started tasting the same after the 3rd day. The ship was clean, no mechanical issues, great staff! Tampa embarkation went very well, no staggered boarding like we had on CCL, but we did get there at 10 and were taken right on board. This was very new to us and very enjoyable. Once on board, we hit the WindJammer, the pizza was definitely better than CCL, but there were only 2 choices of pizza. The rest of the Windjammer was nice, there was suckling pig along with your normal foods. The salad bar was good, but I liked the one on CCL Fantasy class ships better. The layout of the Windjammer was very nice with islands for different foods. We had an inside stateroom that was supposed to have a trundle bed for Kyle. We saw that there was pullman's in the room and waited for the trundle bed until after supper. We got back and a pullman was brought down from the ceiling. NO GO. Contacted Guest Services, but they said the trundle bed was against the safety rules. We advised that Kyle might fall from the bed and that was a safety issue. They offered to separate us into different rooms, still no go. We advised that we would just pull the mattress from the pullman and put it on the floor, again against the safety rules. We said we would work it out. Came back a bit later and a trundle bed was in the room. The MDR was nice, Miguel and Jose took very good care of us, we ate there 4 fo the 5 nights. The Windjammer had a great lady Lizzie taking care of everyone out there. Rockwall, Chris climbed the Easy and Medium levels. Mini Golf - we did not do. Casino- we went there one day, smoking is restricted to one area of it. You feed the machines with money, not like on CCL where you used your S&S card. There were VERY few kids or people our age on the ship, mostly an older, more laid back crowd. Kinda missed the hustle and bustle of the CCL ship. Key West and Cozumel were like Key West and Cozumel. Really enjoyed the SeaDays, even slept in a lounge chair. The Solarium was very nice, the sea water was different, this was the first time I have been in the pool on a ship. Very interesting with the extra buoyancy of the sea water. We had a great trip overall, even saying that, we will probably go back to CCL for our next cruise or try a NCL cruise. Brian

Embarkation

5 out of 5

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

4 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

4 out of 5

Ship tip

A great place to hide in plain sight - in the Centrum beside/behind the Coffee Shop

Ports of call

Tampa, Florida

5 out of 5

Key West, Florida

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

5 out of 5

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
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5 Comments

PeteCruise    5 years ago

Brian, glad you, Nicdn and AuntPinkie are still causing trouble. We have several Carnival Cruises booked. Fair winds and following seas! Pete R

nlcdn    5 years ago

Hiding in plain site- that is the way to go. Thanks for sharing.

shipmate13    5 years ago

Are you saying you like Carnival over Royal Caribbean? You will never hear that from me! Personal preference I guess. Never less glad most of your trip was pleasant. For me, I will NEVER be on Carnival again. Only reason I have been on them in past is because father in law paid for them. Grateful for that but do not like them at all.

CruiselineSarah    5 years ago

Try NCL! I loved my cruise on the Star.

AuntPinkie    5 years ago

Very nice review. I appreciate the comparisons with CCL since I know you have sailed with them so often in the past. Glad they got the sleeping situation worked out as promised.

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