Live (at the time) Review 12 night Canada/New England on Brilliance 10/22/12-11/3/12

[JAMESCC]

Our honeymoon was on Explorer to Canada/NE and it was the greatest trip we have ever been on. It was our honeymoon so we splurged for a "Grand suite", for us that's splurging, others might not. Room was INCREDIBLE, spoiled we are now. It was in early October and its just more our style. I love Bermuda, I love beautiful islands but this was our style. I like historic, old places and this really was right there. The beautiful town of Freeport, Maine made me want to move there, YES it was that good. Portland, Maine was awesome too, visited an old historic house, it was so cool. All the ports were awesome. Bar Harbor we learned how the lobster industry works, and how serious lobsterman truly are in their work. That was eye opening, and just so interesting. And then Canada was also incredible. It was just a great trip, hope to do it again in the near future.

Edited January 19, 2013 by JAMESCC

[ace1zoe2]

It was just a great trip, hope to do it again in the near future.

 

I couldn't agree more! We ended up missing Bar Harbor because of Hurricane Sandy so I would love to do a Canada/New England from Boston next time.

 

Glad to see people are actually reading my review... I was beginning to wonder

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

The next several posts will be pictures from onboard Brilliance right after we boarded. You can tell since most do not have any passengers in the pictures. Some areas I can recall the names of & some I cannot. There will also be others as the week goes by (which most definitely have people in them!)

 

First stop was the Windjammer but I didn't take any photos there. Next stop was our cabin 9256 which is a corner aft D2 if I remember correctly. The room is basically the same size as other D2 but you get an oversized balcony to go with it.

 

 

 

 

 

And since a lot of folks ask about the size of the safe I took this picture. I had no problem fitting my iPad (slightly tilted or the door won't close), my kindle, both of our cell phones, my full size wallet, hubby's wallet, a full size DSLR camera body with lens and we had room to spare.

 

Edited January 19, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

The first table for two on the left was ours. We were on the upper floor right next to a window & we really enjoyed the location.

 

 

The dining room:

 

 

In the Schooner Bar:

 

 

Seating areas on the way to Schooner Bar, Portifino's, Choppe's and the Colony Cluc:

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

The Colony Club where C&A, Welcome Back, Upper Tier Party, Halloween Party as well as much more was held:

 

 

 

 

Exiting the clubs:

 

 

The self-leveling pool table, which by the way was quiet fun to play on:

 

[ace1zoe2]

A few shots of the casino:

 

 

 

Right past the casino is the

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

The game room is set up very nicely for cards, dominoes or they even have an area stocked with all sorts of family board games:

 

 

 

I really enjoyed the Brilliance, however I did miss the promenade & shops. This is shopping & photo area onboard BOTS:

 

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

 

Looking up into the Centrum:

 

 

 

Looking down in to the Centrum from above:

 

 

 

I believe this is the Seaview Cafe's outdoor seating but I am not positive... I had great intentions of eating here but forgot all about it. I'm sure if this is not correct someone will let me know

 

 

 

The sports deck:

 

Edited January 19, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Part of the kids swimming area... Not sure it got much use with the temps outside & only 9 kiddos on board:

 

 

 

 

The rock climbing wall:

 

 

A portion of the mini golf course:

 

 

 

The outdoor pool & Sky Bar:

 

[lah66]

Awesome review, Cindy...so much detail will certainly help others plan their trips! This is the kind of review that I love! The architecture is just amazing...you are selling this itinerary!! Your pictures are so beautiful...Love seeing pictures of the Brilliance...I think we will miss the Promenade too.

 

To answer your question, we are doing the St Thomas, St Lucia, St Croix, Antigua and Guadeloupe itinerary in March. We have a total of 5 days

pre and postcruise to explore. We will probably take Brooke to the exact places we went on our own last year...OSJ, the forts, Luquillo Beach, Barrachinas, the Biobay and El Yunque. We fell in love with San Juan last year!

 

Thank you for taking your precious time to do this review...I cannot imagine how much time it takes...there are so many Caribbean reviews...great to have an East Coast and Canada review!

[sassy12]

We'll be on the Brilliance October 6th and are really looking forward to it. We did the Canada/New England cruise out of New York in September 2002 on the Carnival Triumph and missed Halifax. We rode out Hurricane Gustaf east of Sydney, Nova Scotia with 28 hours of rocking and rolling. Hope we'll be lucky and avoid any hurricanes this year.

 

I'm loving your pictorial review but cannot wait to see reviews after she comes out of dry dock.

 

Good job.

[tigger-ttfn]

I believe the outdoor seating is for the winjammer. seaview is alot smaller and near kids pool.

[luvscruising2007]

I believe the outdoor seating is for the winjammer. seaview is alot smaller and near kids pool.

 

Yes, I agree. The outdoor seating area on Radiance class is our favorite place to enjoy our meal.

I am really enjoying this review. We are thinking about booking a NE/Canada cruise and this review is getting me really encouraged. Thank you for sharing.

[The Big Booper]

So far we are enjoying your review. We were on this trip with you and were booked to stay on the ship for the next leg to San Juan but had to cancel that leg due to Sandy knocking a 100 foot tree onto our house. We also stayed at the Marriott for two days.

 

I haven't had the chance to organize our 1000+ pictures since all of our time since we got off has been involved in salvaging stuff from our house before and during the total rebuild plus getting ready for tax season.

[JAMESCC]

I couldn't agree more! We ended up missing Bar Harbor because of Hurricane Sandy so I would love to do a Canada/New England from Boston next time.

 

Glad to see people are actually reading my review... I was beginning to wonder

 

 

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You have done a wonderful job on your review, incredible pictures. Canada/NE is amazing. Pulling into Portland Maine it was kinda cool, overcast, and you enter this inlet that looks just like postcard, with this beautiful lighthouse. It was really something.

[ace1zoe2]

After lunch we headed up to the 9th deck and waited in the library for around 20 minutes then at 1pm we moved to the area to go to the rooms. A crew member came out & said it would be about 5 minutes late before the rooms would be open so we enjoyed the time talking to a couple from Calgary. Sure enough just minutes later and we were headed a back as far down the hall as you can go....

 

That's hubby all the way at the end of the hallway:

 

 

 

 

All the way to the corner aft cabin 9256... We were so happy to have lucked into getting this cabin just 7 months out from the cruise... Someone had booked it when the cruise opened but ended up having to cancel so it worked out great for us! We were in our room by 1:10 and by 1:30 our luggage had already been delivered. I unpacked, hung all the clothes & stored the luggage under the bed within about 20 minutes... Now it's home sweet home for the next 11 nights... So much better than living out of the suitcase like we've done the last 3 nights. Our cabin attendant stopped by right away to introduce himself, his name was Deguesh from India but told us to just call him "Duke, you know, like John Wayne". He was very nice and went out of his was to try to please us. He dropped off the robes for our use onboard and asked for any special requests. We told him we are pretty easy to please and probably the only thing extra we would like is some ice in the evening when we are back in the cabin. He said he we would make sure that we had ice twice a day.

 

Also for those who have been asking about the size of the safe... It is larger than any we've had previously. I could easily fit my iPad, kindle, cell phone, wallet & my point & shoot camera as well as my large Canon 7D body & lense! The room was a D2 but was larger than the D2 corner aft we had on Voyager. The closet was split in the middle by a floor to ceiling shelf (we only used 2 of the 5 or so shelves available) and the counter area had a floor to ceiling wrap around shelf at the end which gave us an additional 5 shelves which were all empty also! The sofa was a 3 seater (possibly a sofa bed?) instead of the usual love seat. There was a full curtain that could be pulled from either side to meet n the middle and separate the bed from the sitting area if needed. The balcony was great, much larger than a normal balcony and it had 2 newer mesh loungers and 2 round teak tables. The bathroom was the normal teeny size and only featured a shower curtain & not the slide around doors that we've had on other cruises... But it will work out fine.

 

At 2pm we left the ship to do some more exploring while it wasn't raining. We walked down lower town stopping for lots of pictures. Then we took the Funiculaire to upper town for $2 per person. Entrance at lower town is in the Maison Louis Jolliet which was built in 1683.

 

Going up:

 

 

Coming down:

 

 

 

Upper town entrance located on the Terrasse Dufferin:

 

 

It was a quick ride but something fun to do as we had never ridden one before. We went up to the Hotel Fronternat and marveled at its beauty. It is said to be the most photographed hotel in the world:

 

[ace1zoe2]

Awesome review, Cindy...so much detail will certainly help others plan their trips! This is the kind of review that I love! The architecture is just amazing...you are selling this itinerary!! Your pictures are so beautiful...Love seeing pictures of the Brilliance...I think we will miss the Promenade too.

 

To answer your question, we are doing the St Thomas, St Lucia, St Croix, Antigua and Guadeloupe itinerary in March. We have a total of 5 days

pre and postcruise to explore. We will probably take Brooke to the exact places we went on our own last year...OSJ, the forts, Luquillo Beach, Barrachinas, the Biobay and El Yunque. We fell in love with San Juan last year!

 

Thank you for taking your precious time to do this review...I cannot imagine how much time it takes...there are so many Caribbean reviews...great to have an East Coast and Canada review!

 

Laurie, You will love this itinerary! St Lucia was our favorite. We had a few different ports (Barbados, St Lucia, St Martin, St Croix, Antigua, San Juan). We also did the bio bay & El Yunque. The second trip we did St Thomas, St Kitts, Aruba & Curaçao. Would love to go back & do the other stops. The Southern Caribbean is so much nicer than either the eastern or western itineraries in my opinion.

 

And your right, it takes a lot longer to do a review with pics than I suspected. I had my 7 mo old grandson all weekend, then Sat & Sun my 1 & 4 year old granddaughters came as well as 2 daughters & a son in law. Plus my son & daughter in law got back from their honeymoon cruise on Sunday! I needed today just to rest!

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

We'll be on the Brilliance October 6th and are really looking forward to it. We did the Canada/New England cruise out of New York in September 2002 on the Carnival Triumph and missed Halifax. We rode out Hurricane Gustaf east of Sydney, Nova Scotia with 28 hours of rocking and rolling. Hope we'll be lucky and avoid any hurricanes this year.

 

I'm loving your pictorial review but cannot wait to see reviews after she comes out of dry dock.

 

Good job.

 

Thank you! I'm glad we didn't have the bad seas with Hurricane Sandy. Luckily we stayed put an extra day to stay out of the way.

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

Thanks for the great review. I can't wait to read more.

 

Thanks for the kind words & encouragement. I hope to get lots more pictures posted soon.

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

I believe the outdoor seating is for the winjammer. seaview is alot smaller and near kids pool.

 

I knew someone would know for sure. Thanks for the info.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

So far we are enjoying your review. We were on this trip with you and were booked to stay on the ship for the next leg to San Juan but had to cancel that leg due to Sandy knocking a 100 foot tree onto our house. We also stayed at the Marriott for two days.

 

I haven't had the chance to organize our 1000+ pictures since all of our time since we got off has been involved in salvaging stuff from our house before and during the total rebuild plus getting ready for tax season.

 

I remember someone talking about the tree falling on your house & you were having to get off early.

 

I'm sure you've been mighty busy with the house repairs. I cannot even imagine what that must have been like to come home to. Glad that you weren't there inside when it happened.

 

Were y'all on the roll call or at the meet & mingle? Trying to put a face with the screen name. Hope to meet you on board sometime.

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

While we were there we popped in the hotel Starbucks and grabbed a hot tea & hot chocolate to warm up a bit. It wasn't overly cold as we both had on jeans, layered shirts and hubby wore a light rain jacket. Next we went to the Citadel and the Fort and looked all over uptown.

 

 

 

 

 

Beautiful fall foliage:

 

Took lots of pictures and walked lots of steps back down to lower town. It is amazing how much beauty, charm and history there is in such a compact area. I had seen pictures when I was planning but you just cannot comprehend the beauty until you see it in person. My goal for today was to find my "Quebec City" Christmas ornament but I didn't find anything unique, so now that's my new goal for tomorrow. We headed back to the ship around 4:45 as we have early dinner seating at 5:30. This gave us just enough time to swing by the room, drop off the backpack, coats & camera and head down for dinner.

 

 

View of lower town & upper town from our balcony:

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

Tonight was casual dress in the dining room. Most everyone was wearing blue or black jeans, slacks and nice shirts. I don't remember anyone being overly or underly dressed.... however how anyone else chooses to dress has never affected my enjoyment of my dinner :-). Our service in the dining room tonight was slow... Probably a good 10 minutes after we sat down before our assistant waiter, Esme from Turkey, came by. He was very pleasant but things were just slow. Another 10 minutes before we got water or bread. Finally our waiter came out, his name was Renault from India. He introduced hisself, handed out the menus and then went on to other tables to do the same, finally another 8-10 minutes before we finally got to order. As best we could tell it looked like they had our table for 2, a second table of 2 and a large table of 12. The menu on this ship is still the old menu for now but we haven't had it in 7 months so its all new to us again! Hubby ordered the Tortilla soup and I had the Vidalia onion tart (mighty tasty, I might add) for starters, oh and the savory bites (I love those little things!).

 

Onion Tart:

 

 

 

For our entrees I choice the prime rib medium rare and hubby had the broiled cod fish, which we both enjoyed.

 

 

 

For dessert hubby had sugar free chocolate ice cream and I ordered a cheese plate to go to enjoy later. One other thing I noticed that was different from all our other cruises was that the waiter didn't ask our names. Always in the past we've had phenomenal servers who always called you by name each night and tried to be so friendly and entertaining... I'm hoping these guys step it up in the next few nights. We could hear another server Joel singing Jo-el, Jo-el, Jo-el, Jo-el, you know just like the song Noel, he was very outgoing and entertaining all night keeping his table laughing out loud.

 

The first nights show was the welcome aboard show at 7:15 for both settings... I would say that the theater was 1/2 - 2/3 full at the absolute most. The RC Singers and dancers did a short production to "Come Sail Away With Me" which was average at best. Then the CD Paul gave his welcome aboard speech, already some folks were getting up leaving. Then the activity director, Cuddy, came out for a few minutes then they introduced the headliner for the night, Randy Cabral, Who's claim to fame was that he had been on Leno. He was fairly entertaining and did a juggling act, still people were leaving during the performance. We waited until it was over before we headed out to the windjammer to pick up a hot tea & flavored water to take back to the room. I spent some time out on the balcony enjoying the beauty of the illuminated city of Quebec.

 

 

 

 

Finally I enjoyed my cheese plate which feature bit sized pieces of muenster, Brie, cheddar, and 2 more white cheeses which I don't know the names of, but were quite good. There was also round water style crackers, dried apricots and fresh grapes... Definitely too much for one person to eat. Hubby watched a little tv and was soon off to sleep... So I decided to spend a little time journaling while things are fresh in my mind.

 

Most of the crew members that we talked to today are very happy about the ship moving from Europe and Dubai to San Juan. Most of them have never been to the Southern Caribbean ports. So after 6 or 7 years they are very excited about the change. We've been lucky enough to sail out of Puerto Rico a couple of time now on Adventure and Voyager and have visited 11 of the southern islands so they will have a treat ahead for them.

 

Guess that's about it for day one on the ship. Tomorrow will be day two in port at Quebec City. All aboard is at 3:30 with a 4:00 muster.... Will I find my Christmas ornament in this wonderful city? I'm sure hoping so!

[emilygrace]

We were on the Brilliance Oct. 1-12 and I have almost the exact same photo of lower and upper Quebec City, but mine was taken from outdoor seating area at the back of the Windjammer! Truly a spectacular scene, especially if you love architecture, as I do.

[Debinnova]

We are on Brilliance late in Sept. for a shorter New England cruise and your review is amazing. Love the pics and the detail. Thanks for taking the time to share!

 

Debbie