eaglesfaninfl

The suite perks start at the level above Jr. suites

Generally, room stewards leave an envelope(s) in your room a night or two before you disembark. Envelopes are also available at Guest Services, which I use for MDR, if appropriate. Waitstaff in bars who perform exceptional service, I just give them cash when they deliver the drinks.

Hi, Myself and husband will be going on the same cruise on 24th February. On return we have a flight booked from MIAMI to New Orleans departing a 12.15. Could anyone who has already been on this cruise advise what time they arrived back at Fort Lauderdale, what time they started disembarking and how long did it take to get through customs. Also how easy is it to book Uber from this Port? Many thanks in advance.

Nice to correspond with someone on the same cruise as my wife and I. Cannot help you with Uber or Lyft as we will be driving to/from the port but maybe we will meet up onboard and enjoy a drink together!

Enjoy your cruise.

On all past cruises with the premium package I was able to order Kim Crawford Sauvignon Blanc. Somewhere on here I thought I saw a photo with a price of $16 for it now. We'll see when I'm on Brilliance in a few weeks.

We were on Brilliance over Thanksgiving and Kim C. was $9 per glass. If RCL has increased the price 78%, that is OUTRAGEOUS!! Price-gouging doesn't begin to describe that! Misprint,maybe? Please??

Great letter...and an appropriate RCL reply to satisfy a long-time cruiser. Most, if not all, of the shops on board are not operated by RCL but by third party outside contractors. Caveat emptor!

thanks for the quick reply! Is there a discount if we purchase drinks packages before boarding?

Many cruises offer 20-30% discounts through the RCL website but on board the pakages will be full price

Thank you Michael. This is one addiction I feel will be difficult to break. :)

Thoroughly enjoyed your review and look forward to watching the documentary. Your detailed descriptions of the excursions are very helpful since my wife and I will be celebrating our anniversary (a few more years than you, I am happy to report!) on the same ship and itinerary in February 2017. We love the Radiance class ships and have sailed on Brilliance three times out of Tampa

We were on BOTS for Thanksgiving on deck 9, had no bathroom problems nor heard of any. Ditto for the public restrooms throughout the ship.

However there were 5-600 mostly unruly and unsupervised bratlings running all over so it is possible that an irate cruiser flushed one or two!

Lol !!

It is no trouble to change or cancel MTD reservations any day either thru a phone call or stopping by. A lot of people just "show up " at MTD and have to wait for a table so your canceling/changing will be appreciated by them and the staff.

Good luck. I went in on the first day it was available to reserve MTD on upcoming Freedom cruise in Nov and there was a block of no available times after 5:45 and before 7:30 everyday. I've read they block it off for walk ups. Not sure though. I'm planning to see about moving to 6:30 once I get on the ship.

 

 

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That is exactly what we ran into when we tried to book MTD for our Feb. 2016 cruise on Freedom. Just book a 7:30 time and change to the time you want at the hostess desk on embarkation day! Worked fine for us.

We do MTD on every cruise (taken five on three different classes of ships, with three more in the pipeline) and have never had a problem. We reserve our preferred times online before the cruise based on ship's itinerary and, if we want to make a change, we stop by the hostess desk or call and have never had a problem. In fact, most of the ships have a "reservation" line for people like us and a "wait" line for those who just walk up. Really no different from restaurants on land who accept reservations and try to also accommodate walk-in business

You will enjoy RCCL. Our preference is Radiance class, large enough to be fun and intimate enough to be comfortable. Also, the design allows water views from almost every interior point on the ship, including the elevators! We have sailed on Brilliance twice and have a third one scheduled for this November. We have also sailed on Vision class (Vision and Grandeur) and Freedom. All have something going for them and all were very enjoyable cruises.

You probably already know this but picking cruise times when schools are in session will minimize the number of children on board. But even when we cruised to Bermuda this past August, the amount of children was not a problem. RCCL has pretty good children's programs from toddler to 18, so the kids are occupied. We also do MyTime Dining around 7-7:30 but RCCL has a program that feeds the children fast and gets them to the play groups so the parents (and those around them!) can enjoy dinner leisurely and quietly.

You know damn well that is false as such things are a firing offense.

 

 

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If that is true, and I have not seen any other postings that posit this for additional crew gratuities, then what happens to the cash that is placed in the end of cruise envelope and given to the cabin attendant, waitstaff, etc?

Being from Fargo, I'm expecting to see our Carson Wentz and the Philadelphia Eagles there! :)

 

I'll be on Liberty on Superbowl Sunday.

Hope you are right, Mellowjourney! Enjoy your cruise!!

Hi Pink--Welcome to the wonderful world of cruising! It seems to me over the last few cruises we have booked, the excursions shown in the RCL cruise planner are quite limited (maybe 4 or 6 per port).Whereas when you get on board, there are significantly more excursions available through guest services. Why all are not shown on the website, I do not know but that was our experience just last month in Bermuda. In actuality, many additional excursions are also available when you get off the ship, just be sure these non-RCL excursions are not so long that you cannot get back on board on time. If an RCL excursion is late for any reason, they will hold the ship until you return.

Does the Brilliance have the new freestyle soda machines yet? The last time we sailed on her we couldn't find any. Thanks!

VACruise--Yes we sail this Saturday, driving down from NJ with two granddaughters. Happy sailing!!

Enjoying your review so far. We sail on Lady G next week to Bermuda, glad to hear you had such a fine time and enjoyed our East Coast hospitality!

Hi BoxerLover, my wife and I were on the same cruise that you were on and had pretty much the same experience. Was concerned about the beds beforehand but the foam pad covering the mattress was fine.

You didn't mention the two Broadway musical reviews but we saw them and they both were excellent productions. The first comedians (Seymour and Anthony were their names, I believe) were very good but I was disappointed in the illusionist and the second comedian.

The ice show was also spectacular even in a small rink where the skaters are unable to get to the speed to which they are accustomed.

Small glitches/annoyances occurred but were generally taken care of quickly.

Embarkation was incredibly quick, probably less than 20 minutes from terminal entrance to walking on board!

Still prefer Radiance class but Freedom was a nice voyage.

It wasn't any better to watch the flightless Birds here in FL! At least you had a beautiful ship to enjoy afterwards! Really enjoyed your reports on Freedom...we will sail on her in late February to St. Maarten and St. Thomas.

When I was on Brilliance last year, all national games (4PM Sunday; and Sunday, Monday and Thursday night games) were also available on the TV in your room.

Thanks for posting this blog, we are on FOTS next February. First time on this particular ship, so we are trying to get as much info beforehand as we can.

Looking forward to your next installment, we are taking the same cruise next February. We live in the Tampa Bay area so our previous cruises have been out of Tampa. Glad to hear the new cruise terminal is living up to expectations and the FOTS sounds like a fine ship!

Just cruised on BOTS the last week in April, did not see any long faces on the crew. In fact, they all seemed to go out of their way to greet us throughout the ship! The one negative that we experienced was the MyTime dining room. The previous cruise, over Christmas 2013, there was plenty of room in the MTDR, this cruise it seemed that many more tables had been squeezed in and people were sitting on top of each other. If it is because more people now opt for MTD, more space needs to be provided; maybe by converting part of the main dining room to MTD?