Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I have been on more than 20 cruises (much of them on Royal Caribbean).  

Passenger service; cabin service; and food service were all as expected (quite good).

I will be cruising again on Royal Caribbean.

The boarding experience at the port of Harwich, England was incredible. From the time we entered the terminal until we boarded the beautiful Brillance of the Sea it was evident that professionals were in charge of the procedure. The time on board the ship, the excursions, and the service could not have been handled any better.  Every part of the adventure was delightful.

Overall, this cruise was great - great ports, great tour guides, great ship and mostly good staff.

After speaking with a friend that had just come off a Celebrity Cruise with mostly the same itinerary we were a little skeptical about some of the same ports, but much to our delight they were all quite good.

The Brilliance of the Seas is a really nice ship, but is getting a little tired and is in need of some cosmetic upgrades.  The service is mostly very good and we only ran into a very few staff that wished they were somewhere else. 

As a Crown and Anchor Platinum member the only problem I had was that some of the shipboard credits I was due were not applied to our account and when I went to speak with the shipboard ambassador he pretty much blew me off saying there was nothing he could do about it.  A couple of days later I spoke with him and he said he sent an email to the office and would let me know.  After not hearing from him I went to see him again and he said he had heard from them and they had no record of any request for shipboard credit.  When I asked him to see the email, he could not find it.  It is my opinion that he never sent an email and never received a reply, but provided an easy way out for himself rather than assist a repeat cruiser.

Thee only other complaint (and it is a minor one) is that Royal Caribbean needs to work on mastering the details as it was only little things that would have made our cruise perfect.

Other than that it was a great cruise and the friends that traveled with us also enjoyed it.

Our travel agent Joan Cohen, was outstanding - very knowledgeable and experienced and we will definitely will use her services again for our next cruise!  

I'm in the 3rd level (Emerald) of Royal's loyalty program(Crown & Anchor) but I felt like Royal Caribbean was "nickle & dimming" me throughout the cruise. Very expensive alcoholic beverages--fees for soft drinks & "real" orange juice. Very expensive wifi connections vs free at McDonalds. Fee to visit ship's kitchen. $35/person to dine in specialty restaurants."Terrible" payouts on slots in casino.

We booked a Jr. Suite and paid $5,600.00 for this suite. There was no amenities whatsoever included. Not even water, we had to pay $7.08 per bottle of water. They nickel and dime you for every little thing. The food was just ok, but same food every day. The food served at the fine dining restaurant was the same as the food served in the casual restaurant. It was always a struggle to find a place to sit. The staff was more scared of losing their jobs than been friendly. They looked tired and overworked. We booked the shore excursions with RC and they were a rip off. I would definitely not select them for future cruises. All their activities were geared for the 70+ years old only.

Rating on a downward trend, Windjammer standards falling, difficulty in finding table for a group of six.   Best value dining experience Minstrel restaurant.

Everything about the trip was great.  The staff went out of their way to insure I had the correct food at each meal due to my several allergies.  Our room was small but comfortable, the service perfect, the lectures informative and interesting, especially, Alan Fisher.  We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and met some interesting people.

I found many of the small things missing from this cruise..things that make it special...

No toiletries in bath, 3 not 4 course meals, windjammer not opened all day had to go to very small café with no where to sit, no chocolate on pillow, public restrooms often dirty and sometimes not functioning, no one cleaning the public areas , not wiping down handrails to keep disease down and there was a breakout of bronchitis on ship, foods usually included on dinner menu now had to be purchase separately, like lobster, and shrimp cocktail only offered one nite, and constantly pushing the other eating venue you had to pay for even coming to our dinner table soliciting them.  It just seems like the many things that were "included" where now extra and every where you turned it was an additional charge.  I truly believe people would rather pay more and have these things included... it now longer feels "all-inclusive" .  You have to pay extra to have the same experience.  Rather pay it up front...

I would say this wasn't the best cruise I have been on. The food was ok ( I did like the roast beef sandwich and was happy they substituted lobster for the shrimp on the last formal night), staff helpful but miscommunication on last day regarding disembark process for excursion. I felt the availability of activities onboard ship was lacking especially since we were at sea for so long. The movie theater was too small and broke down the last day at sea. They should have used the larger theater to show movies since it was bigger and warmer than the outside screen.

Overall good cruise although it didn't reach the excellence of previous sailings on Royal Caribbean.  WIFi  overpriced and based on opinions of others not worthwhile.  Onboard spending account not updated upon boarding the ship and not resolved until last days at sea.  All inquiries took 36 hrs or more before receiving reply.  Communication within the company very poor.  Food  service excellent as usual as well attendant services.  Entertainment onboard outstanding! .

We hit a little rough weather and something was loose out side our cabin. We advised the ship and they said it was not a problem. Well it was a problem for several passengers that had two nights with out sleep. Entertainment was bush league , cobbled together because they had to have something . The buffet  was boring, and I just cannot get past the specialty restaurants being able to charge us $70 bucks for what we used to get as usual meals. Shore excursions were OK. However, look at the math. It costs each passenger about $100 each for a 4hr tour. with 40 passengers that is a $1000 per hour.

The cruise industry is about to gouge it self right out of business . Not sure I'm willing to pay $300-400 a day for this kind of service. Bring back the old days when we were appreciated not taken advantage of.

I noticed that the majority of the passengers were seniors. In talking to them they felt the same way. It is not only this Cruise Line  , it is all of them. My wife and I will have to look at other travel alternatives. To be able to afford the rising cost of cruising we would expect more for our dollar.

We just felt taken advantaged of and didn't like it at all.

The ship was well appointed, spotless and beautifully decorated.  Unfortunately the main evening musical entertainment was usually held in the Centrum which was not big enough for all those who wanted to join in.  We never managed to find a seat there.  The Colony Club would have been more suitable.  There wasnt much musical entertainment throughout the day, especially for dancing.  Although poolside was not available the afternoon entertainment usually held there was not replaced elsewhere.

I was on this ship in January and I had no problem with booking on the Brilliance again. But this was my first time to take a cruise like this. Seven days on the ocean is just too long for me. So if I were to do a repositioning cruise again I would not want to spend as much time on the crossing without stops. My overall experience was a pleasant one. The service I received from most of the staff was great. The lovely lady that took care of my room gave me excellent service. My facial and massage was most enjoyable. And I just loved listing Manda singing and playing  the piano and in the Schooner Lounge. I took the time and spent the $$ to take a tour of the Brilliance and that was an awesome experience. The ports I visited were  interesting and an introduction to coming back and spending more time, and I might do that. The only negative I had was with My Time Dining. My friends and I took the time to make reservations, but they were not honored on time. And we had to stand in line along with those who did not make reservations. I did make that comment on the questioner and it was corrected a day or so before the cruise ended when they finally had two lines one for those who had taken the time to make the renovations, and one for those who did not. So hopefully this situation will be handseled on all of the Royal Caribbean Ships.

Enjoyed ports and was glad we stopped in Norfolk instead of Boston.

The port in Norfolk was excellent for first time visitors as you could walk to museums.

Being a full ship it was hard to find seats for movies and shows unless you went one hour ahead of schedule.

Needed more activities geared to adults.  Rock climbing and outdoor movies in a storm just does not work!

Time changes made at 11am messes up the daily schedule.  I suggested 2am time change which was later used on the cruise.

Dinning and room attendants were great.  Customer Service left a lot of room for improvement. They just pass you on to another, to another with no results which upset me to no end.

You had a wide choice of dinning venues.

Getting on and off the ship went smoothly.

The ports were great.  We enjoyed the cruise director and staff.  The food in the dining room was OK and needs improvement.  The entertainment and orchestra were great. Needed more activities such as lectures and entertainment during the sea days.  Ship needs an area where can get a complimentary coffee and snack on a deck other than the pool deck.

A great short cruise filled with people who just wanted to have a good time. We usually take longer cruises and will again in the future. This cruise was so good it seemed to be over before we got started. Good food, a good crew, would have liked to take it on it's reposition trip.

Main dining room 6 PM dinner was excellent as well as the wait staff. Room steward was very good also. The activities as well as the buffet food were mediocre. Seems that Royal Caribbean is like the Carnival cruises out of Tampa as they are not real exiting and the on board activities are fair. Cost more than Carnival and there is not any significant difference. The wow factor I was expecting for the price difference was not there.

Lots to do.  Very clean.  Food could have been better.  Shows were great.  Entertainment was good.  Ports were good..  Rooms were quiet.  I would definitely do another cruise.  Probably not this cruise ship but another Royal Caribbean ship.

We booked thru .  Made last min upgrade changes to reservation of which were not received by RC employees thus we got held up 40 mins in port.  - what a mess.

then we booked a island excursion of which NOT 1 RC employee was familiar with & gave our entire group the run-around.  Come to find out, the RC employees were from a different ship - no one from our ship was available &/or knew where we were to go!  We ended up loosing 1 hour and 20 mins OFF our excursion.  RC gave us a $40. refund is all.  The jet boat ride & the private island was magnificent!  This was our 2nd cruise w/RC...the 1st one "Majesty of the Seas" was way better - better organization better communication from RC staff.   Having 2 different confirmation numbers was VERY confusing & frustrating when checking into port.

"Hello Clo" was probably the best cruise director I've encountered! Hilarious and extremely quick witted. The evening headliners were fabulous...Karen Grainger was amazing and Vox Audio fantastic. Both shows were very original. The excursion Salsa, Salsa, Margarita was one of the best organized and most fun excursions I've experienced. Food and service were good, overall.

On the down side, the ship was having problems throughout with the plumbing!. Our toilet worked sporadically throughout the cruise. Not good!!! My other complaint is that "guests" reserved rows of pool chairs, which remained empty for hours! Staff did not enforce their "no reserving" rule. In fairness, though, this seems to be a problem on all cruise ships.