Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Reviews - Reviews

We actually cruised on June 21, but June was not an option on your pull down menu!

Our cabin steward Tyrone was wonderful, our dining room server, JunLee and his assistant were also extraordinary. We enjoyed Erol and Enzo as well. Very friendly and helpful staff. Food was REALLY great, Entertainment was mixed...some was mediocre, some was really enjoyable. It was on the whole a wonderful experience for my husband and I. The only negatives were that our room was very noisy due to kitchen/dining area overhead. Really loud thumps and banging, etc. They only quiet hours were from 11 or 12 at night until about 4:45 AM. So we didn't get a lot of sleep, which for old people is not so good. When we brought it to their attention, the only thing they were willing to do was offer us a discount on another cruise which has to be taken in this same calendar year, which is not doable for us. The other negative, was that there were no quiet spaces indoors for most of the time. Lots of loud music, game shows, etc going on in every space. Sometimes you just want a quiet place to ready or carry on a conversation without yelling. But, as I said, overall, things were pretty great..the ship and staff were awesome and it was trip of a lifetime for us.

Oh the Brilliance. We are still on board. This is my parent's twelfth Royal Caribbean cruise and sixth ship. There is nothing terrible about it, it just need isn't great and appears to be poorly managed. It has been a lot of little things. Some examples... I have a soda package, but have been told they don't need to see my sea pass, because I have the cup. Those cups have been used at least since October, because my mom has an identical one from October. Sea passes are also not checked in the diamond lounge. My parents were not invited to a top tier event. The top tier tour is on the last day of a 14 night cruise. The variety in the Windjammer hasn't been great, but some reason there is Indian food at every lunch and dinner. There was no Mexican food for Cinco de Mayo. We did the Sprinkle Time Cupcake Making, and our tickets were at a different time then we signed up for. It didn't matter because they didn't check them and even had some walk ins. The cupcake making was fun, but the room was dark and had a large amount of other activity going on. Overall, the trip has been good, but I doubt I would sail again on the Brilliance.

This was an incredible cruise with so many amazing stops. It is a very, very busy cruise because of all of the ports, so one has to be energetic to get through it. We were on information overload before it ended. All three stops in Denmark are very easy to do on your own as the towns are so close to the ship and very walkable. Skagen is an excellent place to rent a bike and is very flat. Helsinki and Stockholm are also places that would be easy on your own, although we did tours. I highly recommend no tour in Tallinn so that one has time to really take it in and enjoy. Splurge on St. Petersburg and Berlin - these are once in a lifetime places. Really amazing cruise that took us to so many places - loved it!

Was dismayed about only US news station on TV was Fox News a right wing propaganda machine. Didn’t enjoy constant barrage to buy extras like water to take ashore.

All in all this was a great cruise even with 15 to 20 foot waves. Never experienced any problems or discomfort.

Most of the entertainment was very enjoyable. We thought the food was much better than recent cruises. Every crew member did their best to make this a memorable cruise. The weather problems caused us to miss two ports, but the captain kept us informed of what was going on. We did one excursion to Blarney Castle and it was great. The Azores stop was not a good one because of the weather. Too much fog to enjoy the views. We were glad we didn't plan an excursion for this stop. We have been before so it wasn't important to us. We were disappointed to miss the Dublin port--not so much the Waterford one.

Did the crossing from Tampa to Amsterdam. Crew was great, we had wonderful service. Enjoyed the entertainment and specialty restaurants. Had no trouble ever getting drinks. Thanks Brilliance crew for a great cruise!! Hello to Dindo, Zoe, baby chicken, Tadium, Donna, Amit and we can’t forget Patrick, our suite attendant!! See y’all again soon! Chris & Lisa

I am not described as "single" anymore. Now I call myself a "solo traveler" thanks to Royal Caribbean. Boarded the ship alone, and left with many new found shipmates that became friends.

I have taken 8 cruises on the Brilliance over the last 5 years. When I stepped on the ship I was greeted by name by the young fellow who was welcoming passengers as they boarded. He had been the waiter at our table in November. Impressive. The meals were excellent this cruise. Our waiter was very informative and the assistant waiter was very entertaining. Everything about the ship was great. The ports were a disappointment because of the weather. It was so foggy in the Azores that we could not see beyond the edges of the road. So we missed the blue and green lakes in the same crater. There was a storm that created such high seas that we could not visit Waterford or Dublin. We were able to visit Cork, but the wind was brutal. The Brilliance is one of the older ships in the fleet, but it was very clean. There were a few rust spots, but it is headed to dry dock where it will be sandblasted and painted. I’m anxious to see the ship later in the summer.

we had a wonderful time and maybe take this cruise again

Could not have asked for a better cruise on the Brilliance, she is a beauty for sure! Great Captain, Abe our cruise director and his staff was amazing, our wait staff in the dining room Nitin and Jose were top notch as well. Highly recommend this ship, even with a 100% sold out spring break cruise we did not feel crowded.

it would have been nice if we were able to use the pool - crowded with kids and the whirlpools loaded with kids the entire time even up to midnight while we watched a movie

This was my first cruise! I did get sea sick because the wind was high a few times but that’s not the ships fault. It was so clean. The food was very good! The staff was so nice and friendly. Drinks were cold. They had lots of activities to keep us entertained. I didn’t do any excursions. I wish we would have been able to dock closer to Duval st in Key West... and I wish we would have had more time there in general. Cozumel wasn’t my favorite, but now I can say I saw it. I am really not sure how they could Tampa as a port stop but that’s ok. This was an amazing experience for my first cruise!

It was nice. Relaxing. Not as nice as a Disney cruise but we did enjoy the dinners more on Royal Caribbean than on Disney, but the lunches were more disappointing. Cabin was tired looking but bed was comfortable.

For what its worth, the ship is not too bad... just didn't have the typical Royal Caribbean experience I'm accustomed to. I'll chalk it up to the ship's age and a few bad apples within the staff. Management did make a decent attempt to correct several problems we encountered, and I respect that. I'm an RCI loyalist and I count this cruise as our relationship hitting a rough patch😉.

Brilliance, Brilliance, Brilliance... luckily I spent minimal on booking this because I had a certificate...I so desperately want to give this ship a great review but I can't. As you may have heard this vessel is past due for a refurb or dare I say decommission. Sailing on newer and larger ships may have spoiled me... but there were some blatant missteps by the crew on this trip. Not to go too deep into detail, but there was a leak from a utility space into my stateroom and our negative experience snowballed from there (each day something new went wrong 😕😒)... leading to us recieving a voucher for 20% off our next sailing directly from the ship's management. The ONLY reason there are stars associated with this review, is because the staff ultimately tried to right the many wrongs. Had this been my first cruise, I'd probably never sail again or at least not with RCI. But thankfully... IT WASN'T! So be warned!!! Unless you really like that "nostalgic" old ship feel... lol

Been on Brilliance three times, one of my favorite ships. Great crew, handled our infant well. Ship is due for dry dock soon and some areas needed maintenance but ship was clean and overall great. Food variety was better than average from all my previous cruises, windjammer staff was excellent compared to past cruises. They crammed a lot of activities on this cruise. Nursery was a nice touch to let the infant play during open hours. My only complaint is the singers, I felt they were awful. High school singers are better than that group. This is the first time Iv experienced it with RC. We love Brilliance, after sailing the Oasis, it was nice to have a smaller ship that allows you to be in touch with the ocean.

Was our 2nd cruise in my time dinning our waiters were Aaron and Cantano they went over and beyond expectations. The bar tenders by the pool were ok due to spring break crowd. As a whole it was very enjoyable,the staff were very helpful with any questions we had. The ports were great and plenty of time for our excursions and shopping.

Last week cruise on Brilliance was a little disappointing. I always sail RC and last time on brilliance 2 years ago. While the crew is awesome the food and entertainment is suffering. Please step it up RC. We were even approached at dinner in MD room from Izumi staff trying to get us to dine there the next night. Sorry to say dancing under stars was not on this sailing. Weather was great so dont think that was reason. Not a lot for 11 year old grandson but he made it work. Maybe after oasis its difficult to go back to smaller ship.