Loved the Baltic!

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Northern Europe

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Reviews: 2
Helpful Votes: 65

Overall rating:

4.5 out of 5
Verified Review
Brilliance of the Seas

12 Night Baltic (Amsterdam Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 31, 2019

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin number: 8122

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 5 years ago

Review summary

Nice ship although dated. Really enjoyed the itinerary although some ports were far from town and shuttle buses were expensive! Service was good all over the ship. BORING menu in the main dining room after the 1st few days. Very repetitive. Nothing special for formal nights. Would recommend happy hours and a dedicated water bottle filling station! TOO many emails prior to the cruise and TOO much paper during the cruise. Account information should be available on stateroom t.v.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
VERY smooth

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
MAIN DINING: Minstrel - Reservations for “My Time” dining defeats the purpose. Staff was very courteous. BORING menu after the 1st few days. Very repetitive. Nothing special for formal nights CASUAL DINING: Windjammer - Nice selection, good service Park Café in the Solarium was very nice! NEED a dedicated water bottle filling station

Onboard Activities

4 out of 5
Dislike extra charges for activities, many of which were unrealistically priced (ship tour, beer/wine tasting, etc.) Line dancing was good although nothing new Although guest lecture material was good, the presenter was monotone and boring Ran out of champagne at Captain’s welcome

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Singers/dancers were consistently WONDERFUL!! Russian entertainers and Tango performers were AMAZING! Bowjangles was weird

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Suzette, Siwon and Ayu were standouts in the Main Dining Room Room Steward, Rodil Vega, was VERY attentive with a pleasant personality!

Ship Quality

4 out of 5
Ship was dated but nice.

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
Small room, bathroom and balcony. Disgusting smell in room. Carpet cleaned on day 4

Ship tip

Very nice itinerary

Ports of call

Amsterdam, Netherlands

5 out of 5
Spent several days there. Toured on our own (city, canals and country)

Stockholm, Sweden

5 out of 5
Didn't feel as if we saw much of Stockholm. Compared with other city tours, this one was expensive and disappointing. Bus didn’t even slow for pictures

Tallinn, Estonia

5 out of 5
Our favorite! Toured on our own

St. Petersburg, Russian Federation

5 out of 5
So much to see! Vadin and Irina were very knowledgeable and personable!!

Helsinki, Finland

5 out of 5
Enjoyed the town. Good tour, but REALLY ENJOYED visiting the farmhouse family

Skagen, Denmark

5 out of 5
Enjoyed the town. Tour good.

Copenhagen, Denmark

5 out of 5
Enjoyed the town. Tour good.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Relatively easy
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3 Comments

wgammon1    4 years ago

Glad you had a good cruise. Thanks for the great review.

Fiesta83    4 years ago

Thanks for the positive feedback

katj    5 years ago

Agreed, I really wish they would revamp My Time Dining to a first come first serve platform instead of the bastardized version of Traditional Dining which it currently reflects.

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