Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The cruise was most enjoyable.  It was very organized, the staff were extremely friendly, helpful and always smiling.  Everything was top notch from food to drink to assistance to entertainment to attentiveness.  It was a mat pleasant experience!

Excellent ship, service and food.  The staff was wonderful.  The only negative is.....some sort of food besides room service should be provided 24/7.  Our room was always cleaned and taken care of.  The wait staff in the dining rooms were the best.  The one bartender that stood out and remember my name and what my wife and I drank from the first time was "Johnny Chicago"  he was the best.  I will be cruising with Royal Caribbean again in the future.

Overall We had a nice time with the exception of the issue with our room. When we booked with cruises only we specifically were told this room had no obstruction only to find out when we got to the room that the balcony was sitting right on top of the lifeboats.  Even though we could look out to the ocean we could not look down. Very disappointing. We called cruises only and were told that the documentation they looked at showed the room as non obstructed but when we spoke to guest services we were told the room had the partial obstruction. So here we were in the middle of a discrepancy and shouldn't be. The guy in guest services said he had no other rooms but did get us a free meal at chops grille which we appreciated.  Just having our vacation start out like that was a disappointment.

We went with our family on the Brilliance of the Seas to Grand Cayman and Cozumel.  We had a wonderful time and the ship was clean and the staff was friendly.  The food was good and we enjoyed the relaxation available on the ship.  

Excellent cruise.   Beautiful ship with great fitness/spa facility.   Wonderful variety of cuisine.  Friendly, attentive and helpful staff.   Enjoyable entertainment.  Pleasant, diverse fellow travelers. Lots of fun - would highly recommend. 

Not a bad cruise. The first night everything closed by 9:00, including the restaurants and buffet.  No music.  Second night there was more to do.  Buffet still closed at 9:00.  Roomservice took 1.5 hours to get delivered.  Cozumel was nice.  Next two nights were a repeat of the first.  We had a good time but have had better cruises.  

Celebrated birthday and enjoyed myself... the ship was great the food was very inviting. I enjoyed the destination of Cozumel. In a nutshell it was great.

I would love to do again.

This is a cruise you should consider at if you are a 1st time cruiser and want to check out cruising, or if you are looking for a quick getaway.  It offers relaxation if that is your interest or you can partake in the many shipboard activities, as well as the land excursions.  This ship is a very good size and easy to find your way around.  It offers all the amenities of the much larger ships without some of the hassles.  I would highly recommend it.

The ship is immaculate as well as beautiful.  We booked a small suite which was grand--plenty of room with a sensational view.  Our suite attendant was unobtrusive and available when needed-- he neglected to provide us with a customs form for disembarkation which caused confusion at the port.  Daily and nightly entertainment was a highlight.

This was out seventh cruise, first with Royal Carribean.  The Brilliance of the seas is a nice ship. The crew was friendly, the service good. The food was typical cruise fare. The welcome on board stage show was boring. The headliner Earl Turner was very good. Cozumel is nice. I will not be going back there. 

My biggest gripe with Royal Carribean is that constantly try to sell you something. Photos, drinks, tours of the galley it just goes on and on. 

!st time cruisers were surprised at smooth sailing, exceptionally great food, and over all cleanliness as well as helpful crew. Will be working this week at booking next crew..

My husband works almost non stop 6 days per week so this cruise was just the thing for him to relax and not worry about work. We went with another couple so the four of us had a great time visiting and relaxing by the pool and bars on ship. We had a lot to do on the ship so at each port we just toured by foot then back on ship to continue with the on board entertainment. I line dance so it was great to take lessons on the ship. We had a great time. Thank you!

Had a great time!  The only negative was the weather in Cozumel, it rained so hard all excursions were cancelled.  The drink card is a must do!  Enjoyed the balcony room very much and will have a balcony for my next cruise.

Unfortunately my expectations were greater than my experience. I have traveled on Royal Caribbean about ten times and have boasted about the cruise line to family and friends when comparing the service to Carnival. To my disappointment, I feel embarrassed that I have held the cruise line in such high regard. 

To begin, what happened to the full six course meals or even the 24 hour soft serve ice cream? As you know, the dining experience is one of the parts of a cruise that is discussed by patrons in great detail. This one was so bad the first few days that I kept the following log documenting our experience:

Day 1

Dinner:

Service was slow. Turkey was cold. "Warm" apple strudel was cold. Never received the Diet Coke ordered. Cappuccino received thirty minutes after finishing dessert; only waited to get my card back. Cancelled it. 

Went to discuss with Customer Service. They were nice, write down all info and apologized and said they will make a note to seat us somewhere else the next night. 

Bought internet service. Had intermittent service entire evening. 

Day 2 

Internet service not working. Went to the Customer Service desk again and they said they were working on it but it was down. This was the afternoon. When asked if I could get a refund for the day the man said no and immediately showed us a pamphlet which stated that there were no refunds if service is down. Left desk but needed to go back about an hour later. While waiting in line the guy at the desk was trying to sell internet service to another couple. I interjected and asked if the service is working. He said no...he was trying to sell a service that he knew was not working to the couple. The couple did not buy it and thanked us for our honesty. About an hour later internet was working again intermittently. 

Lunch fine dining:

Waited for Diet Coke. Waited for dessert. The staff were more worried about cleaning tables than service. No one knew the desserts when asked; they had to go figure it out by asking others. As I got up to look at the salad bar the waiter said "Hey man" thinking I was leaving table, which I found offensive and inappropriate in a fine dining setting. 

Dinner:

We were sat with the same staff as the first night. Again, an evening of waiting on them: Waited with finished, empty dinner plates for twenty to thirty minutes before asked about dessert. Was going to order cappuccino but was too disappointed by the time it took them to take the dessert order. 

Day 3

Started journal 

Breakfast in cabin: 

Order missing two granola, one OJ, one banana.

Toast was burnt on one side. 

The only OJ was watery and tasted as if they poured without shaking container. 

Woman on excursion said we need to take a taxi back to from the city after the excursion.  I raised my hand to clarify and she again said we need to take a taxi back to the boat after the excursion. Then a passenger came to me and explained we need to take a ferry, not a taxi. 

Dinner:

Service was slow. Turkey was cold. "Warm" apple strudel was cold. Never received the Diet Coke ordered. Cappuccino received thirty minutes after finishing dessert; only waited to get my card back. Cancelled it. 

Went to discuss with Customer Service. They were nice, write down all info and apologized and said they will make a note to seat us somewhere else the next night. 

Bought internet service. Had intermittent service entire evening. 

Day 2 

Internet service not working. Went to the Customer Service desk again and they said they were working on it but it was down. This was the afternoon. When asked if I could get a refund for the day the man said no and immediately showed us a pamphlet which stated that there were no refunds if service is down. Left desk but needed to go back about an hour later. While waiting in line the guy at the desk was trying to sell internet service to another couple. I interjected and asked if the service is working. He said no...he was trying to sell a service that he knew was not working to the couple. The couple did not buy it and thanked us for our honesty. About an hour later internet was working again intermittently. 

Lunch fine dining:

Waited for Diet Coke. Waited for dessert. The staff were more worried about cleaning tables than service. No one knew the desserts when asked; they had to go figure it out by asking others. As I got up to look at the salad bar the waiter said "Hey man" thinking I was leaving table, which I found offensive and inappropriate in a fine dining setting. 

Dinner:

We were sat with the same staff as the first night. Again, an evening of waiting on them: Waited with finished, empty dinner plates for twenty to thirty minutes before asked about dessert. Was going to order cappuccino but was too disappointed by the time it took them to take the dessert order. 

Day 3

Started journal 

Breakfast in cabin: 

Order missing two granola, one OJ, one banana.

Toast was burnt on one side. 

The only OJ was watery and tasted as if they poured without shaking container. 

Woman on excursion said we need to take a taxi back to from the city after the excursion.  I raised my hand to clarify and she again said we need to take a taxi back to the boat after the excursion. Then a passenger came to me and explained we need to take a ferry, not a taxi. 

This cruise was a very enjoyable one.  The ship was clean, the staff was very helpful and accommodating.  The food was good and the shows were first rate.

The entertainment director Clo and her assistant Alimo were great and knew how to take charge and make everyone feel comfortable and laugh.  Thomas the shopping expert did a great job. Our room steward and waiters were great. There was a lot to do to keep you busy.

We would seriously consider taking another cruise on Royal Caribbean again.

We would look to cruise on a larger ship with more than one outdoor pools.

The cruise was enjoyable, since it was relaxing.  However, the bed was uncomfortable and the pillows were extremely cheap and uncomfortable.  Also, it seemed as though the ship was understaffed.  The staff that we did encounter were pleasant and enjoyable to talk with.

We booked this cruise at the last minute to move us to diamond status.  Everything was great.  The staff was very friendly.   Plenty of things to do on the ship and off.  We ate at Giovanna'S twice because of the service and taste of the food. 

We had an amazing time ... The king size bed was a bit uncomfortable and the porthole was a lot smaller than in the picture but other than that it was beyond amazing.

As expected, service on RCCL Was great; however our expectations were vastly deflated with our cabin. The mattresses in room 7572 were absolutely HORRIBLE! Dilapidated and badly worn mattresses and pads made our sleep a awful. The cabin attendant and manager tried to fix it, but you can't fix a broken mattress. When they remodeled the ship, they needed to provide new mattresses as well. Poor showing relative to room accommodation. 5 nights of pain. 

*** EDITED 11/30/15 BY CRUISELINE.COM TO REMOVE OFFENSIVE VERBIAGE ***

Our first cruise experience went well. Cruise Director, Hello Clo, gave us something to look forward to each evening as she opened and closed the entertainment.  Her energetic humorous personality kept us all engaged in the entertainment whether it was her disappointment with our lack of enthusiasm on our first cruise night or hip 70s outfit for the 70s music themed night.

Waiter, Assistant waiter, and our stateroom attendant went above and beyond.  They worked to understand our dietary needs and made sure our son always had room temperature water while we were having dinner and attending a show our stateroom attendant was ensuring our cabin was clean, our bed was made, and there was a cute towel animal to greet us upon our return.  When wine glasses were needed he brought us glasses and we were able to enjoy our wine.

We look forward to booking another cruise in the next couple of years.