Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Traditionally (on our many cruises) we look forward to having food better than at home - not so this cruise - the food was well below that of other cruises. The orange juice was so watered that it was nasty - you could (PURCHASE) fresh squeezed - something unheard of in past cruises. The staff was super - some more so than others. My bed had a broken spring that once scratched - I was careful to attempt to avoid - but this poor equipment wasn't on other cruises. They rather promise luggage delivery within a two hour frame - my daughter was very worried - she waited over four hours - all things that are negative to a relaxing vacation.

This was my first time on Royal Caribbean everyone told me that this was the best cruise line. My thoughts were different. After having been on Celebrity I found this very different. The service was wonderful, but the food was not very good and the rooms were too small. I think that more activities could have been suggested.

I just returned home today from a 12 day vacation with my family. The first 7 days was spent upon the Royal Caribbean, Brilliance of the Seas cruise ship line. Being that I have traveled on royal caribbean in the past, I thought this trip to be no less of enjoyable than the first time traveling on the cruise line. The disappointments of my cruise was first with the vouchers that was offered via cruise line.com. When I went to take the excursions that consisted of kayaking, snorkling and hiking. I was disappointed to learn that had to provide my own transporation to the excursion site to the location and back. That was a whopping $60.00 right off the top. That extra $60.00 was a disappointment from the $70.00 free excurstion coupon that was given to when booking my reservations. Not to mention that when I found out that the same excursion was offered on the ship for a lessor price. Also, I received an $100.00 cash back from cruiseline.com when booking my trip that was supposed to used on the ship but I later learned from royal caribbean that they do not redeem any other offers or promotions besides their own. Royal Caribbean has alot of beautiful ships and their port of calls are very nice as well. I will travel again on Royal Caribbean but I will also ask questions of cruiseline.com to make sure that I can use their product and services.

Good food, fast service in restaurant,

Can't say enough about the great staff on the ship! The ship itself was an older one and had some quirks that needed updating. There were some people who came down with norovirus and the staff really worked hard to clean surfaces but they had the old slot machines that gave coins instead of tickets, YUK!!

The ship was very nice, the centrum should not be the area for on board activities, it is to small.

The smaller ship allowed one to get to know more of the passengers. Cruise director was a real comedian& showman. Staff ALWAYS accomodating...i gave 2 surprise parties @dinner & Evan, in My Time dining helped me pull BOTH off w/ out a hitch! Waitstaff friendly...thnks Evo & Ravindev! Food glorious...Islands visited out of this world & Fodor's Caribbean helped plan every visit 2 perfection! Gustav in Customer Relations & his hats were a sight 2 behold, but his personality & advice..perfecto! The staff everywhere called u by name & the smiles never left their faces. Bcuz ship left from PR, the passengers arrived from all over the world & i just loved the atmosphere! I absolutely loved this trip...memories of a lifetime!!!!

The ship is a little dated, but well kept. I understand it is going into dry dock soon for repairs.

The cabins seemed smaller than the same cabin class i had on other ships

Very nice atrium area and other very nice areas of ship. Room was very adequate for a ship and well maintained

The ship was clean, and fared well on the open waterways1

Overall, the Brilliance was great. There are some maintenance problems with a ship that has been in continuous service for a long time but nothing that interfered with life on board. Signage could be improved so passengers know which decks have passage all the way through and where to find some of the basic public areas.

My family and I truly enjoyed all aspects of this cruise

The atmosphere on the Brilliance of the seas was the same as most other cruise ships we have been on. The staff were friendly and helpful and the staterooms, dining areas and other public areas were adequate.

Seven night Norwegian Fjords cruise is a very beautiful and relaxing cruise. For people cannot walk too much, the cruise ship takes you through the natural beauty and strength of Geiranger Fjord, and Sognefjord. For active people, it is too much fan to hike, and kayak.

Ship was in good shape even though it's scheduled for drydock. Simon was the best as our room steward. Beckey and Nunni spoiled us in the suite lounge

An older ship, but nicely maintained. The ship has plenty of public spaces and never seemed crowded (other than the queue waiting for the dining room doors to open each evening). There was always a show in the theater each evening - worth the visit. There were activities during the day but most of the "lectures" were barely disguised sales pitches for either shore excursions or other products offered by the ship (spa, salon). Do you really need an acupuncturist on board a cruise ship? Teeth whitening services?? Really?? Biggest complaint is the never-ending sales pitches. RCCL cabin rates are often a great deal. I would suspect they barely make a profit on the rooms alone. But most things are "extra cost" and that is where RCCL makes their money. Average wines at overly-inflated prices. Specialty coffees, sodas, fresh juices - all extra. Use of the gym is free, but yoga or pilates or other "specialty" classes - extra. Shore excursions are quite expensive for what you get - but sometimes it is the only option to see things. In the fjord towns, sometimes just walking around the town is all you really need to do. Onboard ship activities were mostly free but some had fees attached. I did splurge on an expensive spa treatement - the Thai Poultice Massage, and it was really quite wonderful. Also - gratuities are automatically added to all services - in the spa and in the dining room. So tack on 15% when calculating the costs of spa services, bar, coffee shop and dining room (even purchasing the ship's cookbook, which you can only get from your wait staff, came with an additional 15% tacked on). Would I cruise RCCL again? Maybe. I'd have to get a much better deal on my stateroom so as to make up for all the additional costs that occur during the cruise.

Ok, I have been on better and I have been on worse.

We've only had experience with the Freedom and Voyager class ships so we were unsure what we'd think of the smaller Brilliance. We need not have worried! She's a lovely ship with many unique features such as the covered Solarium salt water pool, which allowed us to swim in comfort despite the chilly weather. The main dining room is not as spectacular but that is more than compensated by the professionalism of the wait staff and the excellence of the food. We had some great dinners, particularly all the steak dishes. The quality of the beef is outstanding and was always cooked to perfection. Much appreciated! We enjoyed the outdoor dining at the back of the Windjammer Cafe. The music in the lounges (particularly the Centrum) was excellent and it was a pleasure to see so many people dancing every night. The production shows, however, were only of a high school level but this was our only disappointment on a fabulous cruise on the Brilliance.

The ship was nice. It was a large ship and did not seem too overcrowded. The elevators were delayed at times but nothing too drastic or inconvenient. The ship is an older model, but the maintainers do an excellent job keeping it clean and updated. Some of the trim and finishing was starting to show age though.