Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Fantastic cruise and itinery. Ship is older and smaller than what I have been on previously but did not affect our experience. Would love to do it all again.

My favorite part of the cruise was sharing time with new friends I met on the ship...sharing stories after the excursions. I loved seeing the new ports of call like Slip and Kotor.

I had an absolute amazing time. The staff was excellent, food was great and the ship overall was awesome. The staff and crew went above and beyond to make you feel at home away from home.

The varied activities for each member of the family was excellent.  Dining experience was also wonderful.  There were other pre-teens and teens our family members were able to socialize with.  We had very good experiences in all of the restaurants and enjoyed the napkin folding class.  The trivia quizzes were the best and the entire family participated.  Great time was had by all.

The Brilliance of the Seas is a great ship with an awesome crew.  The evening shows were excellent.  The selection of food was excellent.  The ports were fantastic.  We will definitely be looking into another European adventure!  Thank you. 

everything was perfect.  We could not have asked for a better trip.  Thank you!! The cabin person and wait staff were perfect, could not ask for anything more.  To also point out Josh and Johan who did the activities were so great, we made sure we did not miss anything they were facilitating.  Can't wait for the next cruise. 

This was a 12 night cruise from Barcelona - we had our port stop at Turkey replaced with Crete (which I could have done without). Some of the ports were amazing (Santorini, Cince de Terre) and others were not so great ( Malta, Crete, Cannes ) so I felt like it was a mixed bag.

Onboard, the wifi was a constant problem (we actually had it refunded because of the constant problems ) and we bought a pass to the Thermal Spa which was broken 2 out of 2 times that I tried to use it. They ended up refunding that and as a gesture of goodwill, offered me a Razul (sp?) treatment free of charge and when I came to do that, that room was broken as well. My general feeling is that since the ship is older it is falling apart a bit.

We had a wonderful waiter (Amane) and assistant waiter (Aji) and enjoyed the wonderful service they provided! The onboard activities were severely lacking. We did a cruise w/ RC last year that was MUCH better. Basically there was only trivia and lots of seminars to sell you things. That's it. Also the TV had about three channels, one was to sell you things, another on the where you were and the last channel was in the wrong language. Very lacking.

The food was OK, not great but ok.

 I love the layout of the ship. It is set up perfectly. I love that they out of the spa and the location of the thermal room and steam rooms. I love the atrium, I think it's beautiful. However the whole ship needs a complete overhaul. The carpeting needs replaced all the banisters are worn, and The bathrooms on the entire ship me to be redone. They all have a horrible smell. I felt the food was adequate but not superior. They don't offer lobster anymore as part of their menu, you must now pay extra for it. I thought the food quality has gone downhill from when I've taken this Cruise before. I thought the itinerary was perfect and the way they scheduled it was perfect. I thought the staff was quite friendly and unhelpful. No one went out of their way to make us feel welcome or comfortable or like we were even on vacation. I may have to look into taking a different cruise line in the future, Which is too bad because royal Caribbean used to be my favorite 

The itinerary was great, but most of the staff were terrible. There were exactly 4 great staff members but the rest could not resolve problems THEY created and did not care. (Act silly, they somehow would blame you for their mistakes). I've sailed 3 times on RC, and 6-7 total cruises. This by far was the worst. Also, the ship is old and tired. 

I would regimen this itinerary, just use a different cruise line. 

We had a great time!  The ship was nice, the staff were great.  The dining room food was disappointing, if you've ever been on other cruises.  But, overall everything was good.  There was no special food for formal nights.  I've heard the Europeon cruises don't offer the same quality of food. Also, we had asked for a table for 2 by ourselves since we were on our honeymoon.  They didn't do that, so we had to ask and the next night they had placed a small table between 2 big tables, so closely that everytime the server tried to get through, he knocked our table.   They seemed to also be understaffed in the Windjammer Café.  Tables would stay dirty for a long time while people were trying to find a place to sit.  I booked 2 excursions with the ship and 5 with another company.  The other company was cheaper and had smaller groups and were actually better excursions.

The food, staff and ship were all wonderful.  A couple of exceptions but that is expected.  Had so much fun.  Ease off and on ship was amazing. Friendly staff made it a pleasure.  They are very experienced and well rehearsed.  I'll be back! 

Good ship.  Great staff.  Many of the passengers on board were loyal cruisers with the Brilliance.

I always enjoy transatlantic cruises with RCCL.

This cruise was a great way to get to Barcelona to meet up with the Ovation.

We were pleasantly replied with our first RC cruise and our first transatlantic cruise.  The food and overall service was good but not great.  We did enjoy very much our three dinners in the specialty dining rooms.  

We were surprised by the number of experienced cruisers, probably half had been on 20 plus cruises, some over 125.  We loved the trivia as there were 4-5 each day.  The entertainment was only so-so perhaps that was normal for a long trans-ocean cruise.

We were Pampered every day, usually in a special way.  Our bartender in the Diamond Lounge-Norman-was Fantastic.  Quick, efficient, accommodating, and most of all patient and SO personable.  We hope to see him on our next cruise.  The entire crew deserves praise.

I had always understood that Royal Caribbean cruises were a significant "step up" from Norwegian and Princess cruise lines, but we did not find this to be the case.

The Bad: the food. For 5 days the "vegetable of the day" on the dining room dinner choices was broccoli and carrots. Finally I complained and was given other vegetables upon request, but folks who did not do so continued to receive b and c. Pasta entrees were overwhelmingly disappointing: greasy, flavorless. Beef entrees were sometimes too tough or stringy to eat. There were no TV monitors on fitness equipment. Satellite TV service was lost for several days mid-cruise (this has never happened before on other trans-Atlantic cruises). The ship had no library. Daytime entertainment consisted of an awful lot of Trivia. Did not like ship design with atrium that extended all the way to the top of the ship.

The Good: the salad bar at the sit-down lunch venue. Breakfast at the sit-down venue. Lectures on port and regional history. Stretch classes in the gym. Ports of call: Gibralter and Malaga (Soain), Evening entertainment, except that music was too loud. Most of the music groups. 

The Best: a Catholic chaplain on board who said daily morning mass.

we had a positive cruise but negative response to the issue of obstructed balcony even thought  all three cabins paid for unobstructed balcony's. Room numbers are 8662 and 8162

Off to a rocky start, RCCL finally provided the level of service we have come to expect. Two of our three cabins were unacceptable at check-in.   Once corrected we had a fantastic cruise.  The hotel staff needs to copy the excellent example of the food services crew.  All dining was top quality 

Armand & Paula made the cruise seem shorter with their excellent morning lessons -- with playing in the afternoon. Older ship (but well kept up) with "only" 2,000+ passengers -- but wonderful staff & good food.

This cruise was a good cruise...some good..some bad..overall a good trip.  The boat is very clean and the room attendant was great. As is rarely typical, the room was always made quickly and anything we needed was taken care of.

Dining was good..not great.  We ate in the dining room every night.  Food was very good.  No complaints.  Wait staff was very good.  We ate in the specialty Italian restaurant for lunch.  The room was empty and it seems like a private lunch.  Food was excellent.  Would highly recommend paying the 15 fee.

We went to every show at night. Very good shows.  The ship doesn't have the huge theatre room like the new ship so they do well for the size of the room.m 

'the short trips have a wide clientele on board.  the pool area was filled with smokers and heavy drinking.  Probably normal for the 4 day short cruises.  Not a huge set back because we don't spend too much time lyin around pool area.

boarding the ship was almost too easy-a good thing. There were no lines when unloading our car and no lines checking in.  The ship was sold out which was even more crazy.  Well done.

The sad part about cruises nowadays is the added expenses.  Alcohol is out of control expensive. If you don't purchase drink package you pay by the drink...so either you drink everyday all day to make it worth while or drink a few an pay big.  Two pina coladas -25$

Also , the boat felt like a flea market on some nights. Every corner was a watch table, necklace table, or liquor table for sale.  I never saw anyone buying any of it so it makes you wonder what the benefit is.  Keep the sales to the shops area... 

We we normally sale Celebrity, which is an older and more laid back crowd.  We have sailed the Allure 7 night cruise which was great. In our opinion, Celebrity is for those who truly want a slower paced, relaxing week.  Royal Caribbean is similar with more family and related fun.  The shorter Royal trips are not much different than Carnival..

This was a good trip with a clean ship.  Would go again for what we were looking to do..quick getaway...

Embarkation was smooth. On the ship by 10am. We are diamond so that helps but we always get there way early. Balcony on 8th deck. Loved our room steward Gerald he was awesome. 

Ritas as cantina is a must. Worth the price for something different f than the buffet. Windjammer was good no complaints there. Chops is always a good choice service was great. Food was well worth the price.

Best part of the cruise was Vintages. Go see Herman. He gave us a private champagne tasting last night. 5 champagnes. 2 ports. 1 ice wine totaling retail value 1000.00. Talked for 2 hrs about family friends wine champagne anything and everything. And the sunsets there are to die for!!!  All in all probably the best cruise we have ever been on.