Overall just an average cruise experience. This is the third time we have been on Brilliance and came away a little disappointed. The ship is clean and the cabins are comfortable and clean. The entertainment was horrible. The food was just average. Chops was by far the best. And despite being told we would dock at the pier in Cozumel, we ended up tendering. When we asked ship personnel we were basically lied to as they kept claiming that there were too many ships in port yet we were the second ship to arrive and there was pier space available. Read below my tender comments on Cozumel.
Embarkation
4 out of 5
Being a platinum member, the embarkation was relatively quick.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
3 out of 5
Chops was fantastic and the food was excellent. Windjammer was basically average and we tended to avoid it for lunch and dinner. The food in the Solarium was much better for lunch. We were disappointed with the food and selections in the Main dinning room for the dinners. Service was mediocre as we were stuck in a corner next to the staircase and had a brand new assistant waiter who appeared to only be able to pour water.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Pool very crowded on sea days and lots of people hogging lounge chairs again. No enforcement from ship personnel.
Entertainment
1 out of 5
This was one of the worst entertainment venues I’ve ever experienced on a cruise ship. After a horrible comedian performance on the first night and then viewing a tribute Journey band the second night which was completely embarrassing, we decided to skip the rest of the performances.
Service and Staff
2 out of 5
As stated above, the service in MDR was lacking. Room steward was just okay as room was cleaned twice every day but she appeared to not know that we were in the late seating for dinner and would want to clean and make up our room while we were getting ready for the late seating. Most of the ship personnel appeared to be not very happy. Had a bad experience with one lady individual who couldn’t answer a basic question of how often the ship tenders operated to and from ship to shore. Her response was that wasn’t her job.
Ship Quality
4 out of 5
Despite the age of the ship it appeared to be very clean. Will note however that the hallway on deck 8 had a strong sewage smell for most of the 7 day cruise. Witnessed several workers doing work along the hallway guessing other passengers may have complained.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Room cabin was very clean and comfortable. Only complaint here was the shower appeared to be missing a part at the end of the shower head creating a very strong spray and wetting down the entire floor of the bathroom despite our efforts to keep it dry.
Ship tip
Definitely make a reservation at Chops. By far the best dinner we experienced on the cruise.
We went to see some Mayan ruins which was very interesting. Bus ride however was very long as it took over 2 hours one way. Been here before and really not much to do here other than your typical shops.
This stop by far was the worst. I have been to Cozumel over 15 times and love the island. However, we didn’t learn until the night before that the ship was not docking at the pier and we would be tendering. Whoever they hired to do the tendering should be fired. Tenders would not leave until it was full which held about 150 people so we ended up sitting on tenders for over an hour. The last tender we took was over 1-1/2 hours from shore back to the ship. I estimate that we lost over 3 hours of island time due to this fiasco. I must add that the safety of these tenders was highly questionable. No tie up to the ship with only 2 RCCL crew members holding a gangplank. Witnessed a lady almost going overboard as the tender operator could not keep the boat close to the ship as the gangplank kept bouncing and moving back and forth. I along with several other passengers filed a complaint at guest services. They didn’t seem to alarmed about the situation.
We did self assist and worked well. Only issue I have is that there were zero instructions on when and where the self assist guests could exit the ship.
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