Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

My husband and I had never cruised on a ship of this size before, but were very pleasantly surprised. In general ALL the staff onboard were always happy to greet you wherever you were on the ship and our cabin was looked after by a very willing, helpful, polite Franky from Goa - nothing was too much trouble for him.  The food was very good served by very friendly waiters/waitresses and we were always accommodated wherever we wanted to sit in the dining room. Most people made an effort to dress smartly each evening which was a pleasure to see and because it was mid-December the ship was discretely but nicely decorated for Christmas. The organisation for embarking and dis-embarking was very well co-ordinated with little waiting time, so overall an experience that we would repeat again with the same cruiseline.

The entire cruise was excellent.  The balcony stateroom was clean and the appointments impeccable.  The room attendant could not do enough for us.  The food was delicious and plentiful.  Our waiter was top-notch and professional.  The entertainment was first class.  For the price, one could not go wrong.  A very pleasant experience overall and that opinion was shared by our friends on the voyage.  This was our our third cruise with Royal Carribean.  We will ceratainly do it again.

This was our 2nd honeymoon and our 3rd cruise .Brilliance of the Seas and her staff put Carnival to shame .Food was excellent especially Chops Grill and Giovani's shows were great and Pedro ( the Guitar Master ) was excellent .We both enjoyed our cruise immensly and are looking forward to our next one .

D&K

Holiday Fl.

Good: Cabin and cabin attendant were very nice.  Ship was beautiful.  Has self leveling pool tables.

Bad:  Food was not very good.  Pretty tastless with little or no seasonings.  Most food items you could tell had been under the heat lamps way too long and food was dried out.  Buffett was pretty good but just your run of the mill buffet lines.  If you want room service at a particular hour order it for at least an hour before because it will take that long to arrive.  Clo and Susan need to get reall jobs.  All they seem interested in doing in posing for the camera and telling you all whats going on which they have to keep repeating as there was very little going on.  A mediocre mother planning a childrens birthday party has more imagination than Susan the activities director.  The one show we did want to see was cancelled due to rought weather.  Huh??  We are at sea folks, if you can't perform in bad weather on a ship then go find a stage that doesn't shift a bit!!  So instead lets throw a talentless comedian up on the stage and call it a day.  Want to sing karaoke?  Me too, except after the first 4 singer the equipment failed.  Note:  check out your equipment before you leave port so that you can have anythig repaired while you are docked.  Oh that's right, your greed (Royal Caribbean) doesn't allow ships in port except to discharge and board passengers.  We left at 9"30 and there were people already qued up to board for the next departure on the same day.  The merciless hawking of items for sale is shamful!!  You have it at full price (LOL) the first day, then you miraculously manage to reduce the price by 75 % on day 3 and guess what??  You still probably made 100% profit!!  If this is cruising I'd rather rent a house by the sea and enjoy not being bothered by Clo and Susan!!

We had a great time on this cruise, except for some of the snooty guests we encountered.  Most of the guests were older Florida residents who were part of the crown and anchor society.  Now don't get me wrong, we are also members of the crown and anchor, but we don't flaunt it in front of everyone else.  One couple was asked what they get for being "pinnacle", and she just looked at the other people and said "we get anything we want, anything."

No  Photo, but very disappointed in the stop at Cozemel Mexico.There was a very long walk from the ship to the port, and there was no shuttle

to carry the passengers to the shoppng malls,also regarding the long walk to the malls ,there wasn't one bench along the way to stop to rest.

This cruise was made up of mostly senior and disabled passengers. Many started the walk but was unable to continue and returned to the ship.

We, personally will never book another cruise that includes Cozemel as a port of call.Your comments would be appreciated.

The entire trip was just average.  The ship had just recently come out of dry dock so we were expecting to be especially "wowed".  That didn't happen.  Although the Centruim was beautiful with the lighting, the rest of the ship was "as expected", meaning it was nothing special.  The rooms (at least ours) had not been redone or updated.  That was a bit of a let down.  The couch was visibly worn and no longer comfortable sitting.  The carpet was in good condition, but the drapes were also worn and wouldn't close completely.  The ship was in good condition throughout, just not updated as we expected.  Perhaps we shouldn't have been anticipating a re-do after dry dock.  A big complaint we had was the casino.  The filtration system is basically non-existent and the smoke was so bad inside, it was difficult to breath.  We could also smell the smoke out to the elevators on floors 4 through 9.  Our other disappointment was the food in the main diningroom.  After three bad beef dishes, by the fifth day out, the waiters were suggesting no one order any beef.  They had just changed vendors of their beef and we were told they had gotten a "bad batch".  So any type of steak was off limits.  If you are a fish eater, this was the cruise for you. Not being able to eat fish, I found it difficult to make selections since each night there were five choices, two fish, one beef, one chicken and one vegatarian.  The chicken was very good, but 8 or 9 nights of chicken was a bit much.  We heard numerous complaints about the choices of the food and quality.  We chose to dine in the Windjamer 5 of the nights due to the dining room dificulties.  All in all - any cruise is a good one, but this was probably our least favorite "on board" experience of our cruising.  We did enjoy the ports, the staff on the ship was great and there was more than enough to keep everyone happy with things to do.

This cruise was excellent in every way.  The ship was beautifully kept up, the entertainment was very good (with the guest performers very entertaining), the service all over the ship was excellent and the food was good.  If I had any suggestion, it would be this - don't bother to ask the guests before boarding how small or large a table they would like to dine with each night because it just wastes everyone's time.  We signed up for a table of eight, and were put at a table for two.  The same thing happened on the last two cruises.

Our recent cruise on the Brilliance was everything that you could ask for and more....Cabin ( with a balcony) on Deck 7 had a wonderful location,convenient to everything... Love the size of the ship.... so easy to navigate.... Service was super .... all around.... Weather  was also great.... SUNNY.... just what we had hoped for.. Enjoyed every meal... Did one night  at Giovanni's Table, the Italian Restaurant and savored every bite. All of the personalized attention from the wait staff made the additioal $20 worth it. On our cruise, we had the added bonus of four priests who celebrated Mass daily. That was the frosting on teh cake.    

We had a wonderful time, enjoyed every minute of our cruise. i never knew there there were so many activies on the ship to take advantage of.

We were treated  so well.

Loved it!

This was our first trip East.  We visited ports Portland, Bar Harbor Maine, St. Johns

and Halifax.  All the people we talked agreeded you can skip St. Johns New Brunswick.  The other met our expections but would not say exceeded them.

I would recommed this trip.  You have to do excursions to really get the experience you can't just walk around the towns and visit shops.

We had just taken this cruise with family in mid June and decided to take it again to see the foliage.  Well, there were no leaves changed as it had been so warm, but the weather was just glorious (8/29-9/6).

The Brilliance of the Seas is a beautiful ship and Royal Caribbean is our favorite line as they seem to have the best ports to visit.  Exxcellent food and shows and service.  Very smooth sailing onn this ship.  We have been on 37 cruises, and plan on taking a trans Atlantic on this ship next year.

The only complaints were the cinema (on both ships) that were tiny and very uncomfortable, and no real designated library.  The library was in a hallway that was always in use for the photographer in the evenings.  We hunted out quiet places to read in empty lounges.  We did see a movie in the regular theater and that was very comfortable and fun to watch.  They have wonderful seating in the Windjammer Cafe, both inside and out and always enough seating for probably almost 750 ?guests.  And the Solarium has a great jacuzzi and heated pool area with lots of seating and a new cafe.  Looking forward to sailing with them again.

As always, had a great time on Royal Carib.  This was our 13th Royal Carib. Cruise. We prefer the Oasis and Allure but found the Brilliance to be quite nice.  Crew was very attentive, food great, entertainment excellant. Only down side was due to it's size it did not have the same premium food resturants as the larger ships. The ports of call very very interesting and the Boston Cruise Terminal was very customer friendly.

Ed & Maureen.

Loved the ports, scenery was breathtaking. 1st cruise for my friend..we will be back. Enertainment was great! The dining staff was fabulous. They went above and beyond every meal not only with their outstanding service but their charm and personality were great. Guest services could use some polishing. Many on the cruise felt like they were and "inconvenience" to some of the guest services employees.

service food accomodatios were all excelent I was a little disapointed in some of the shows (entertainment} Although I am handicapped the crew was very attentive and helpful to me. boarding and disembarking the ship was handeled in a very orerly and eficant manner. would have no trouble going with this ship again

There were some things on the ship that we didn't enjoy! l. We are not gamblers or drinkers other than diet coke and that was $2.50 2. The "My Time" was your time dining. We had to make reservations every day. We were told that many made reservations on line. This is not fair. That was never told to us! The food was good!

We had a great surprise on the Brilliance. IT was so good. We cruise quite a bit and have near the top tier rankings on 3/4 different cruise companies. The Brilliance was great….food, decor, helpful staff etc. The biggest let down was the 'library'. It was 1 bookcase on deck 5. I would cruise again in a heart beat.

I looked forward to taking this cruise as I loved the ports it would visit. I wasn't disappointed. The tour I took in Paris was long, but we saw lots of Paris from the bus. Also had time to walk about the Eiffel Tower & go into it if we choose. Cork was a quaint town & Dublin was busy, busy, but fun. Visited St. Patrick's Cathedral among other things. The Faroe Islands were interesting. I took the boat trip to view the Vestmanna Cliffs & enjoyed the boat ride as well as the Cliffs. I sat outside on the top of the boat & it was quite chilly, but survived. Wear warm clothing. Reykjavik was also interesting. I took the Panoramic tour all around. I think one can see more from a tour bus than trying to seek things out on your own. I found all things to be quite expensive from food to goods in all places. The Brilliance looks great since it has been refurbished, but I found the alcoholic beverages to be much too expensive. The food in the main dining room was a disappointment also. Not much variety & all the beef but the tenderloin was tough & unchewable. Our dining room waiters & room steward were great! All the help was great! I used the fitness center almost every day & it's quite nice. Lots of up-to-date equipment. Classes are also offered. All said it was a good trip. I would recommend this cruise.

Not our best cruise if I'm going to be honest. Our first day, first tour was a long one, so we requested room service for breakfast. The result was no room service, no breakfast, no explanation and no apology. We waited and waited and called and were lied to ("it's on the way right now sir!"). So, we went nearly 20 hours without food or water (7PM the previous night until 2PM the day of the tour). The second major problem involved a promised shipboard credit of $200 that never materialized, again no explanation, no apology. Yep, food and service was good in the dining room, cabin attendant did a good job, entertainment was so-so. We booked this particular ship for the itinerary. Probably our last cruise on Royal Caribbean.

The ship was beautiful, the entertainment was very good. The food was fair, the service in the restaurant and cabin was very good. I thought that RCL nit-picked and charged for everything possible. My biggest surprise was when I read about lessons on how to play "craps" in the casino for a charge of $1. The prices for liquor and specialty coffees was ridiculous, considering we were in a "tax-free" situation. The price for internet was obnoxious, I've been to many motels that give free internet access. I've also been on a few Viking cruises that offer 24 hour service for coffee, etc and free internet. I don't know if all the other cruise lines are in the same "boat" regarding charging for all the "extras". Also, I volunteered to "teach" a class regarding elastic band magic tricks. It was well attended and I enjoyed it very much. However, it would have been nice to have gotten a "thank you" from someone.