Great Cruise

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Panama Canal, Central America

Cruises: 4-6 cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 4

Overall rating:

3.8 out of 5
Verified Review
Brilliance of the Seas

14 Night Panama Canal - Eastbound (Los Angeles To New Orleans)

Sail date: September 28, 2024

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin number: 4029

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 30 days ago

Review summary

Other than the water issue, the cruise was an excellent cruise. Although we did not make the stop in Huatulco Mexico I cannot give much information on that port but am looking forward to going there some day.

Embarkation

5 out of 5
Boarding was simple and fun

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5
The Main Dining room was excellent as was the Windjammer Cafe. My only complaint was the food selection and taste did not even come close to the daily pairing (ie. Mexican, Caribbean, etc). An enchilada did not look like or taste like an enchilada.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5
N/A (no rating)

Entertainment

5 out of 5
Did mostly Theater Seminars about upcoming ports of call, entertainment throughout the ship and the shows at the theater as well. The performances were excellent.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
The Windjammer Cafe waiter was excellent, sat at the same table every morning and was greeted with a smile everyday. The Main Dining waitstaff was excellent.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5
The cabin was as expected. Aside from the issue of the toilet not flushing and looked like it hadn't been cleaned the first day we arrived. It took them most of the day to get the issued resolved. On the 3rd day we noticed we had no cold water, only hot, normally that would not be an issue except it's hard to wash your hands, face or even shower with scolding hot water all day. We had them make a lavatory fix to the shower but it did not change anything, we were then told it was a chiller problem and it was being worked on. Throughout the entire cruise the issue NEVER got resolved.

Ports of call

San Pedro (Los Angeles), California

2 out of 5
No excursions, just boarded the ship here.

Cabo San Lucas, Mexico

5 out of 5
No excursions here but did walk the town and do some shopping.

Huatulco, Mexico

1 out of 5
Port of call was eliminated due to tropical depression prohibiting us from making this stop.

Puntarenas, Costa Rica

5 out of 5
This port was excellent. Yes we did an excursion consisting of city tour, rainforest tour including walking suspended bridges (3), stopping for some refreshments and finally stopping for some shopping.

Panama Canal Transit

5 out of 5
A very informative transit through the canal, what a marvel it is. Takes about 8 hrs to traverse the entire canal.

Cartagena, Colombia

5 out of 5
A city tour excursion with a crocodile and bird watching trip along a river.

New Orleans, Louisiana

2 out of 5
Only visited this port to disembark, no excursion.

Disembarkation

5 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 4

7 Comments

Ladyjunecliff     19 days ago

Thanks for your review. We loved the Panama Canal cruise too! Glad you enjoyed your cruise in spite of a tropical depression out there. Amazing!

RP82     28 days ago

I'm glad you enjoyed your cruise. Thank you for your review.

Cruisers4Lyfe     29 days ago

Thanks for sharing

Gwbigdog     29 days ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise

javawoody     30 days ago

Thanks for sharing

cruising2004     30 days ago

Glad you had a nice cruise. Sorry to hear about the bathroom situation.

HeavySeas     30 days ago

Thanks for sharing your cruise experience and glad you enjoyed your cruise

Other reviews of this sailing