Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

ALL of the staff was amazing. They were friendly and SO interactive and sociable. The overall activities were phenomenal. This was our first cruise and we truly enjoyed every minute of it. There were so many seminars and we loved just being at Sea and seeing the sunrise and the sunset and the stars! Our stateroom attendant Nantu was so kind and helpful and accommodating. I loved his happy go lucky attitude. He always made me smile at every encounter. Our activities director Hello Clo was SO much fun. She had me laughing every time she was on stage I was laughing. We loved the comedian's and performers. The entertainment was a great balance. They played movies on the pool deck as well as in the theater. I've traveled all over the world and have never done a cruise. We have already booked our second cruise. Royal Caribbean was a A + company and did a wonderful job at entertaining and hosting us! 

The entire cruise met and exceeded my expectations. The only item I would like was the chairs on the balcony did not recline like the chairs on carnival balcony.

As a first time cruiser, I would say this was a great experience. The ship was well kept along with our stateroom being cleaned twice a day. The selection of food in the main breakfast/lunch area was good. The quality of free beverages could have been better (juices, lemonade). I would suggest purchasing a beverage package and be intentional about your daily consumption to get your money's worth. I purchased the base package because I am not a drinker. It was sufficient (soft drinks, specialty coffee, non-alcoholic beverages from the bar, etc.). Dinner in the main dining room was good. The overall quality of the food was great. Service was pretty slow on the first night. However, conversation with the people at your table helped to serve as a distraction. The shows were okay. The 70's party was great! The only issue I had was the smoke coming from the casino area, at times, it was overpowering and it traveled to the public areas above and below. Although, you pay daily gratuity for the entire trip. It is a strong expectation to use the envelopes at the end of the trip to tip directly.  If you desire, you can opt out of paying the daily gratuity rate at the service desk and tip your service workers directly. There is a downside to this approach. The wait staff in the main dining area (breakfast/lunch) are excluded unless you tip them the day before you depart. Overall, I would definitely booked again with Royal Caribbean.

The Ship itself was beautiful. The Atrium was stunning. We were in Cabin 7086, which was a good location, but we had neighbors from HELL on both sides. On the left, the people were up at 4:45am the first night, dragging balcony furniture around and talking very loud. I complained at the desk, and the girl told me to call the desk if it happened again. They continued to talk very loud, but kept the furniture dragging to a minimum.  On the other side, the people were dropping wine glasses and there was a mess everywhere. Broken glass and wine for the poor cabin stewardess to clean up.  The cabins were small, and the balconies were very small, only room for a table and 2 straight chairs. It was suppose to be non smoking in common areas of the ship, but we experienced smoke everywhere.  The rooms and balconies were suppose to be smoke free, not so, We constantly smelled smoke when we were on our balcony, but didn't know where it was coming from. If we we have known where it was coming from, we would have reported it. In the swimming pool area the smoke was so thick you could barely go from one side to the other.  It seemed everyone was smoking there, and it was awful. It was also the same in the Casino. After we got home from the cruise I called the Crown and Anchor Society so see just what the rules were, and was told that the pool area and the casino are smoking areas, but public areas of the ship are non smoking.  What does that mean? Wouldn't you think the pool area and the casino are PUBLIC AREAS?  We have been on Celebrity many times also, and they are non smoking ships, they DO enforce their rules. We had an excellent cabin stewardess. Her name was Desiree Samuel and she  was so accomodating.  She took very good care of us. We have 2 more cruises scheduled with Royal Caribbean, one in February on the Explorer of the Seas, and another in January 2016, on the Vision of the Seas.If we had known the "Real Smoking Policy" before we booked, we wouldn't have booked the next 2 cruises.

We had horrible air connections to Boston and missed out first night of cruising.  We had to meet ship at Portland Maine next morning.  Royal Carribean staff went far beyond expectations to help us get onboard, retrieve our luggage and start enjoying the trip. All of the staff are truly happy and friendly, and I didn't see any negative behavior.  They really enjoy doing there jobs. 

We bought this cruise for my sister and her husband for their 50th wedding anniversary.  We paid a premium to be on deck 10, balcony cabins---#1088 & 1090.  Turns out they were directly underneath the galley on deck 11 for the cafeteria.  24/7 rolling of heavy carts, banging and thumping.  The customer service said they had one extra cabin to move one couple---no way one of us were going to move and leave the other behind.  It was miserable.  These cabins should have an alert on your web site and on the Royal Caribbean web site.  We booked a year in advance, so there would have been no problem. 

We did not like the forced tips---regardless of service---why try.  We did not like having to buy every bottle of water we drank---$70---could not bring it with us.  The

My wife Anne loves Lighthouses and had always wanted to visit the Peggy"s Cove Lighthouse. Also to visit Boston. This cruse started in Boston and returned to Boston. We flew into Boston with out time to tour the city, but had to go directly to the cruse ship. Getting on board was an easy task because the check in lines were well handled. We visited Portland, Bar Harbor (BA HA BAA), St. John, and then Halifax. We took a tour bus out to Peggy"s cove to see the lighthouse and take lots of photos. On our return to Boston we had time to tour the city before our flight left for home. The ship was great, well kept, people friendly and always willing to help you with any problem you may have. Anne and I had a great trip and are now looking to book another trip to the next item on the bucket list. I think Alaska.  bye

I really enjoyed this cruise seeing country that I haven't seen before.  I always enjoy sailing on Royal Caribbean ships and Brilliance of the Seas was no different.  The crew is fantastic from the room steward to the Captain.  We had the best waiter, John.  His main objective was to please us in every way and he did. We enjoyed the delicious food whether in the Main Dining room or the Windjammer.  The Head Waiter was very friendly and helpful.  The assistant waiter was friendly and attentive.  Our room steward was there to serve us in any way he could.  The shows were entertaining, but did not care for the men stripping. I really liked the music in the lobby and also the big band music in the Colony Club. Jeff, the juggler was very good indeed.  The staff on the Brilliance of the Seas was very friendly.

Everything was ok but perhaps my expectations were to high--this was cruise number eleven for us and each of the past cruises we would go again but not this one.  The ship and crew were excellent services were very good although the on-board activities seemed a little limited.  The ports were less than exciting In Portland RCI had bought all of the hop on hop off tickets for the day and they were sold out if that is as good as it gets makes you wonder.  We love cruising and already have two trips booked for 2015.  Bottom line if you haven't been go if you have there are so many other options.

David

cruised out of Boston, 9/28 to 10/5.  Check in went well.  Room was ready when they said it would be.

Food was great; as was service in the dining room.  Entertainment above average, except for one show.

Excursions went well.

I signed up for a wifi plan.  In the middle of the voyage they changed plans without telling anyone.  Led to frustrations trying to sign on.  Finally called and was told about the cancellation and need to sign on for a new plan.  Tried to find out how tips were distributed...they flatly refused to disclose it; even tho it was readily published in the past.  Couldn't get a forecast for Boston the day before were returned......it would have made packing and planning easier.  Bottom line.....we'll do RCL again

Over all the cruise was a lot of fun.  The ports were very interesting and our favorite port was Bar Harbor MA as that is where we saw the most change to fall colors.  At all the ports we did "The Best.." excursions which for the most part were very informative and interesting.  We really enjoyed visiting the Titanic cemetery in Halifax and our tour guide was exceptional as well as our tour guide in St. John's NB.  The buses in Canada were clean and comfortable.  Wish I could say the same for our tour guides & buses in Bar Harbor and Portland MA.  Also, in Bar Harbor the information for the tour indicated we would go to Cadillac Mountain -- it was very disappointing when the tour guide informed us that that was not included in the tour -- even tho the description in the excursion book from the ship says it is -- so be warned!

The worst part of the whole cruise was the day we checked in at the Boston Harbor.  It was noisy and you felt like you were being herded like a bunch of cattle.  Nothing impressive about the process, accommodations, or personnel!! -- very uninviting way to begin your cruise vacation.

The ship was very pretty, our state room was very nice and the crew were very helpful.  Some of the shows were good -- others not so good.  The food was not exceptional and seemed pretty repetitive.

We had never cruised on Royal Caribbean before and will consider them the next time we are looking at taking a cruise. 

Weather was great for the whole cruise.  Our formal dining(table 455) room waiter and asst. waiter were EXCEPTIONAL and the food more then met our expectations. The shows were professional and our cruise director was first class.

My impression is this is a cruise for the elderly and not for the younger generation based on the attendance of the 2,099 passengers.  All in all it was a good cruise and it should be noted that in the ports visited it was not necessary to book excursions on the ship. I found that I could accomplish all that I wanted using the services on the piers.  Note: we were a little early for the turn of the leaves. Should have waited for about another 2 weeks.

After cruising on another line we had very high expectations about our trip, however, we were relatively disappointed in the service and the available activities. The service staff was not responsive and were not very friendly.  There were not a lot of activities offered on this particular ship and they may be due to its size but your only options were essentially, BINGO, Line Dancing, Trivia and drinking.

I was not impressed with the rooms at all, we had a balcony room which was very small considering the amount we paid for it.  The staff was begging us to fill out the customer survey and to give them good ratings so that they would be able to keep their jobs.  The survey is only available electronically so if you don't have an email address you don't get to complete the survey.

The food was only adequate and often times unavailable.

Loved the ports!  We found that it was much cheaper to book shore excursions once you got off the boat, there are always tours available once you get on shore. 

As always our cabin was nice with a good size balcony (7092) and the employees do make our stay the most pleasant. Always a smile. In terms of the cruise stops, there were ok and we did think that our stay in Iceland was not long enough (one full day and the next day we had to be on ship by 12:30pm), we could have used one more full day there. And we did hear several guests expressing the same sentiment.

The cruise started out a little rough in that they had very long lines at boarding.  It seems that passengers on the previous cruise booked London excursions and they returned to the ship as a good number of us new ones were boarding.  They had two security checks for the returning passengers and only one for the new passengers.  Since there were more new the returning passengers it created a massive back up.

I do have to recommend the ships customer service once boarded.  They excelled in my opinion.  My brother lost his luggage in New York and the ship (through no fault of their own) went out of the way to help him.  They gave him clothes as well as a voucher for free laundry service.  They kept on top of the airline for the recovery which occured on the fourth day in Stockholm.

I had a good experience as well.  I injured my ankle while on the equipment in the gym, at first there was no problem until later in the day when it began to swell.  I visited the ship's doctor and was given a cane and ankle brace which helped a lot.  They did not charge me.

The ship, " Brilliance of The Seas" was everything promised in all reviews.  

Food exceptional with all countries represented in menu.  Staff, the finest.  Entertainment, entertaining.

Activities, you couldn't  keep up.  Something for everyone.   The Tours were the best.  

We were late boarding due to spraying whole ship for a virus.  All during the cruise, we were very much aware of the attention to cleanliness.  

This was my seventeenth cruise with Royal Caribbean, and total of 25 cruises counting all our other cruises.

We are loyal to Royal Caribbean, for it is the tops in cruise lines as far as we are concerned.  

Great cruise...Sad when it ended and now we are planning our next one. 

Have been on the one to Alaska, and if you haven't taken it, you are really missing out on a great trip.

We really enjoyed Brilliance of the Seas.  She was a smaller ship than Liberty of the Seas that we took last year to Spain, however, we did not miss any of Liberty's features (maybe the flowrider, but that's all).  Entertainment was first rate, and we enjoyed all the food at both the dining room and Windjammer buffet.  The ship's  captain was excellent and went 150 nautical miles out of his way to avoid a storm that would have caused more turbulence.  The customer's comfort always came first.  We enjoyed the lectures on board the ship by Professor of Humanities Emeritus, Glen Dolberg, and attended every one he gave.  We played miniature golf, shuffle board, pool, and ping pong.  We enjoyed taking daily photography classes and using the up to date exercise equipment in the ship's large gym in the front of the ship.  The view looking out at the ocean while exercising was great.  I occasionally spotted flying fish as I gazed out our balcony window.  I can't wait for our next cruise on Royal Caribbean.  I want to become a Diamond!!  

The whole cruise was wonderfully relaxing. Customer service is absolutely the best with the exception of one experience. One of the service people at the excursion desk did not know her job and directed me to meet the group on our excursion at the theater. Turns out our group was not included in the other excursions and we were supposed to meet at the end of the dock with the tour guide a full hour later than the service person said. She was the only black spot on a wonderful cruise though and I will definitely do this again.

Geat shows and excellent food.  Clean ship. We had an enjoyable time.  We were celebrating a birthday and the dining staff made a special effort to make it fun.  Our weather was exceptional with a very smooth ride. We would definitely  do it again!

We traveled with neighbors and had a wonderful time. Met every night for My Time Dining and our servers were terrific. Nice balcony room at a great sale price. Would definitely do it again.