Good Cruise - First Time on Royal Caribbean
Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Transatlantic
Contributor Level:
Second Mate
Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 3
Helpful Votes: 112
15 Night Transatlantic Eastbound (Tampa To Amsterdam)
Sail date: May 04, 2019
Ship: Brilliance of the Seas
Cabin type: Oceanview
Cabin number: 3520
Traveled as: Couple
Reviewed: 5 years ago
Review summary
I will start off by saying we had a great time. We are Platinum on Carnival and this was the first time we cruised on on RC. There are things that Carnival does better and things that RC does better, but overall, I would sail on RC again. I want to try a bigger ship with more to do and more eating options. I do not want to limit my only experience with RC to an smaller, older ship.Embarkation
From what I was told, this trip had 600+ Diamond members. Since they get on the ship first, it was a lengthy embarkation for the rest, but the process as simple. The only complaint I would have is they have not speaker system in the Tampa terminal, so you never knew who they were letting on unless you were right next to the person trying to yell out the number.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
I know this is a matter of individual taste and everyone is different when it comes to it, but everyone in our party (4 of us) felt the same about the dining. I was a little disappointed in the food, especially the Main Dining Room. We are a family of foodies and after everyone was telling me how good the food was on RC, I was surprised at how average it was.
-Breakfast in the main dining was a big letdown, the menu had the same food as the buffet, which raises the questions, why even go to the MDR? Carnival has the Sea Day Brunch that blows RCs breakfast out of the water.
-Lunch in the MDR just OK. The 3-4 times we went for lunch, the limited choices were not very good. That being said, I did like the salad bar they set up. You went down the line, picked the type of greens, topping, etc. and they put it in a bowl, went back to table, chopped it and handed it back to you.
-Dinner in the MDR was just ok as well. They had a few items that were good, but getting towards the end, we went to the buffet. I will say, the French Onion soup and the Cheesecake are a couple of things that were excellent. The food in the MDR on Carnival is much better.
-I will have to say, the Wind Jammer Buffet for lunch and dinner is far superior to Carnivals Buffet. Carnival has RC beat for breakfast, but for lunch and dinner, the WJ is much better.
-My last complaint about the dining, was the My Time Dining, which I will not do again on RC. With Carnival, we can have My Time, go up, give them our room number and immediately be seated. With RC, we had to make a reservation if we did not want to wait 20 minutes to be seated, and there were never any reservations for the times we wanted, not matter when we tried to make them. Our only options were 5:15 and 8:00, nothing in between.
Onboard Activities
There were activities planned through out the day. Typical cruise activities like trivia, etc.
Entertainment
They did have some good shows. We really liked a 4 person group they brought on called Revoiced. No musical instruments, they had a beat-boxer that did the drums, symbols, etc. one of the guys had a voice so low, the bass shook the theaters and the speakers crackled. Another group called Our Lady Valentine was good, they did rock music covers (Bon Jovi, etc.). Considering the average age of the people on the cruise was 65+, there were a lot of older people walking out.
They do have a movie theater on the ship, so we were able to watch some newer movies like Aquaman, Creed II, The Mule, and Bohemian Rhapsody. There were a other movies that played, but these were the one ones we made it to.
Children's Programs
We did not have any kids with us.
Service and Staff
This is where Royal Caribbean shines. They do have better service than Carnival. Everyone, and I mean everyone we passed made it a point to say hello or good morning or they spoke to you, had conversations, always smiled and went out of their way to help.
Ship Quality
It was an older ship, but we liked the layout. They were always cleaning and for as old as the ship is, it was well maintained.
Cabin / Stateroom
The room was very small, especially the shower, which I barely had room to turn round. Forget about dropping something, there is no way to bend over and you can barely squat down. They did make use of some of the dead space by placing shelving and cabinets to store things. Our the room steward, Eldrige, we excellent. He was always friendly, greeted us by name, asked how we were doing and how our day was, and he seemed genuine, not just going through the motions. When you talked to him, his body language, smile, facial expressions, etc. said it all.
Ports of call
Beautiful island. We took a 4WD tour to the Sete Cidades and local town that was there. Our tour guide, Margarita (yes, like the drink) was great. Very knowledgeable and friendly.
Thumbs Up
1
Dunmore East (Waterford), Ireland
We did the Crystal and Castle tour. Tour was good, but seemed rushed. Our tour guide liked to sing and sang some songs on the way back.
Did the Best of Ireland tour. we had a little more free time on this one, visiting the Blarney Castle. Mary, our tour guide was knowledgeable and did a good job.
We did the Bruges Sightseeing and Free Time tour. Loved the architecture of the city, one of the most beautiful cites we have visited and it was very clean. I do not like dark chocolate, I think it is bitter, but I went into a chocolate shop called Pur Chocolate and was offered a 72% dark chocolate truffle. I declined considering to do not dark chocolate, especially considering it was 72%, but the guys insisted, so I tried it. I will have to say, it was one of the best chocolates I have ever eaten. Now I know why Belgium is known for their chocolates.
Loved Amsterdam. We stayed 2 nights after we disembarked. Went to the Anne Frank Museum and was amazed at the story and what they had to go through, actually seeing and being in the rooms where they had to hide for 2 years. We also went to Albert Cuyp Market and tried the Stroopwaffles and pickled herring. Both were amazing. Getting the stroopwaffle hot off the press with a slather of caramel in the center as life changing. My wife would not try the herring, but it was also excellent. Not at all fishy as you would expect, very clean tasting, covered with chopped onions and served with a pickle. One thing to note, if you and to see the Anne Frank Museum, buy you tickets online. They go on sale 2 months before they day you want to go. If you wait, you will most likely not get in. Also, although you do not need a 2 month window like you do for the Anne Frank, you will need to buy your ticket to Van Gogh or Rijksmuseum museums, which we found out the hard way. We were able to visit Rembrandt's house museum, which is different that the Rijksmuseum. It is the house where Rembrandt lived for 20 years painting, teaching and dealing in art. We did not have to pre-purchase tickets for the house, we were able to just walk in a visit.
Disembarkation
Fairly straight forward and easy.
3 Comments
katj 5 years ago
I like your objective review and comparison. Carnival's Sea Day Brunch is the best. Guys and Blue Iguana make up for the difference in the buffet offerings. I love Royal but wish they would perk up the complimentary dining options. I'll soon be Diamond Plus on RCL, and I'm working towards Platinum on Carnival.