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

[ace1zoe2]

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.

 

I think the illuminated pics at night are my favorite pictures of the entire cruise!

[ace1zoe2]

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

 

Thank you so much! It's hard to tell if folks are reading ghe review but I'm only on day 4 of 16 days total. I have lots more pictures to post!

[ace1zoe2]

We finally slept a little later this morning, probably waking up around 7:30 and not crawling out of bed for another 30 minutes or so. We headed to the windjammer for breakfast and could immediately tell that there are lots more folks onboard, not an empty seat for two anywhere. We stood around about 10-15 waiting on someone to finish then finally grabbed a dirty table, of course a crew member came by right away to wipe it down. Hubby snagged it while I went to make a plate. I just grabbed a croissant, 1/2 a grapefruit and a spoon of Mexican scrambled eggs. Next I held down the fort while hubby got a bowl of oatmeal & a couple of slices of toast along with OJ (the free kind ;). I made a hot tea in a stainless steel travel mug that I had brought along so that I could take it onshore with us after breakfast.

 

We left the ship around 9:45 and headed back to upper town. This time we just walked up instead of taking the Funiculaire. It was a nice walk that got our hearts pumping. We took a couple of short breaks on the way. Our first stop of the day was at Boutique de Noel the Christmas store that I was able to find on line last night... I was in Christmas heaven!

 

 

 

 

I spent a good 20 or so minutes ogling all the beautiful ornaments trying to decide which one to pick for my "Quebec City" ornament. Finally I chose a hand blown glass Kurt Adler cityscapes ornament of QC. $29.99 turned into right at $35 with all the local taxes. Across the park on the other side of the street was another Christmas store that said liquidation 50% off! So I had to take a look there too. The folks were very nice but the ornaments were all $70-$130 at regular price... Too rich for my blood!

 

At the city hall they were set up for fall or Halloween festivities which featured a witches & wine theme. It was really cute and we took some photos there.

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

 

 

We headed on up the hill and came back down st Geneviere which features some of the oldest Victorian homes in QC. Then come down to lower-town where we caught a couple of pictures of the ship. When we left out this morning there was a second ship in port, the Regency ?.. It made the RC BOTS look like Oasis, it was so tiny.

 

Some pictures of the architecture

 

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

Some of the churches:

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the ship

[ace1zoe2]

Some of the beautiful architecture

 

 

 

 

 

This picture I just took because it was funny! The dog in the guys jacket & both are wearing sun glasses!

 

[ace1zoe2]

This was one of my favorite areas:

 

 

 

That is a mural which is all painted on one flat building. It was amazing!

 

 

 

That's hubby in the red jacket

 

 

This ornamental fence is in the same area as the mural. The fence is flat but due to the way it is made with perspective it looks like it goes into a tunnel

 

 

 

This area is right next to the mural

[ace1zoe2]

We returned to the ship around noon and went back to the Windjammer. This time we choose to sit outside in the enclosed area which featured large oversized wicker couches & chairs with thick cushions and large tables. There was lots of room out there and since it was enclosed it wasn't too cold. Hubby had another burger with a few fries and some fresh fruit for dessert. I just had a salad and a ham & cheese sandwich that I made on a 4" square of frococia bread. There wasn't much that appealed to me today but the WJ isn't my food venue of choice anyway.

 

After lunch we headed back to the room to hang out until muster. Hubby spent some time watching tv (Mission Impossible, if my memory serves) then had a short nap. I sat out on the balcony with m kindle and finished off Stephanie Plum book 13 and started 14.

 

At 4pm we reported to muster on the 5th deck port side. Most folks showed up on time, but of course there are always the stragglers that decide to come 15 minutes late. A short time later we were released to go on our way. We decided to take in sail away from our balcony... Which is where I am now... Waiting for our delayed sail away.

 

Set sail time was scheduled for 4:30 but after muster the captain announced that we would be about 30 minutes late leaving port as they were still loading provisions (after being in port two days) and he didn't want us going hungry. We will head up the St Lawrence River and out to sea.

 

Once we're on our way it will only be a short time until dinner at 5:30. Tonight is another casual night which we will enjoy! Think we may head down to the headliner show again tonight.

 

We got to the main dining room about 5:35 and our waiter was waiting at the door to show us to our table. Our assistant waiter, Emre, was right there bringing us waiter and taking bread & drink orders. Both waiters called us by name tonight without ever asking what they were... How do they do that ;-). Service tonight was 100% better than last night. We had our drinks, bread and appetizers within 10-15 minutes. Our entrees arrived just as we were finishing up the starters. As soon as the plates were cleared they were asking for dessert orders.

 

For starters tonight hubby had white bean soup which was a tomato based soup which he said tasted good. I had the scallop & mussel gratin which had 5 tiny scallops & small pieces of mussel in a garlic butter sauce... It was very good just not much of it. I also ordered a second appetizer of fresh mozzarella salad which was two pieces of mozzarella served over arugula with a fresh tomato salsa on top, also very good. For entrees, hubby chose the chicken breast which came with mashed potato, a slice of grilled zucchini and what looked like grilled endive. He said the chicken was flavorful and moist but he left most of the veggies.

 

 

I chose the ravioli which was five large round cheese filled pasta which had crab meat, mushrooms and a cream sauce with shaved parm on top and was served over sauted spinach. This was the first time I had tried this dish and I enjoyed it very much, even though I could not eat 3 of the pastas...

 

 

Guess I should have only had one appetizer! I skipped dessert and opted for a cup of hot tea instead while hubby had the low fat apple tart with vanilla ice cream. He said the dessert was a little bland but wasn't sure if that was due to him feeling a little under the weather or just the seasoning.

 

 

During dessert our head waiter Ricardo came by to introduce himself and ask if there was anything he could do to make our dining experience better. He apologized for the slow service last night saying that so many people showed up late and threw off timing for both dinners. He assured us that it was a first night thing and that all future meals should go like tonight's service did... Glad to hear it!

 

During dinner we finally set sail about 5:45.

 

After dinner we took a quick stroll thru the shops which had just opened and hubby picked up some NyQuil to see if he could finally get a goods night's sleep. We decided to skip the show ( the "dynamic instrumentalist Antonio Salci) and just head back to the room and take it easy. We've gone pretty much non stop since we left last Friday morning and it now Tuesday evening of day 5 our our planned 16 days.

 

It is 395 nautical miles to Gaspe, which is our nest port of call. Tomorrow is a sea day and captain announced that we are expecting winds of 35 knots with temps of 42-46 degrees F.

 

The wind outside is howling but the ride seems smooth even at the very back of the ship. I'm looking forward to the rocking motion lulling me to sleep tonight.

 

Tomorrow is going to be a knock around day. The only real things we have planned are the Meet & Mingle at 11am which is scheduled in the Stargazer Bar. Then at 1:30 around 30 people on our roll all have signed up for a slot pull in the casino. Each person is playing $15 at $3 per pull. All the monies stay in the slot until the final pull and any winnings will be split amongst those playing. Probably not much, if anything, will be won but it will be fun to meet some of the people we've been conversing with over the last 6 months or so.

 

Tomorrow night is the first of three scheduled formal nights. We have reservations for 6pm at Portofino's and I'm looking forward to the filet mignon... If I don't change my mind ;-)

 

 

I can't remember if I already posted this picture or not. But this is my Quebec ornament featuring the cityscape including the huge hotel

 

 

This is a close up picture of the hotel... It is amazing how big it is in person.

 

Edited January 22, 2013 by ace1zoe2

[ace1zoe2]

Here are more pictures of the Brilliance I missed posting earlier.

 

 

The arcade:

 

 

 

The fitness center:

 

 

[ace1zoe2]

One of my favorite places on the ship to relax, read or sit in the hot tub. I loved the Solarium decor or theme the best of any ship we've been on to date:

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were here several times and there was never anyone with us. There was no stand set up for towel checkout either.

[ace1zoe2]

More shots of the Solarium:

 

 

 

 

The hot tub:

 

 

The shower:

 

 

[Clarea]

Here are more pictures of the Brilliance I missed posting earlier.

 

 

 

Interesting the sign does not welcome suite guests. Do you recall if suite guests had a different lounge?

[ace1zoe2]

The spa hair styling facility:

 

 

Well guess I should get back to work. I'm hoping to upload some more pictures to photobucket at lunch and hopefully get the first Sea Day and the first port stop posted tonight.

[ace1zoe2]

Interesting the sign does not welcome suite guests. Do you recall if suite guests had a different lounge?

 

I'm sorry, I don't recall for sure. I sort of remember there being a separate room that had the door closed & there was a key card lock & a sign on the wall... But that may have been our previous cruise.

 

Maybe someone who was onboard with us will remember.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[emilygrace]

The Brilliance does have a dedicated Concierge Lounge with key card access that is on deck 10. Your photo is of the "overflow" CL in the Hollywood Odyssey and is for D+ and Pinnacle members. Across from this is the Diamond Lounge, which is held in a section of the Viking Crown Lounge in the evenings. The suite guests can only use the regular Concierge Lounge, unless of course they are also upper level C&A members.

[ace1zoe2]

My final thought about Montreal & Quebec City is that I fell in love with both of them. They are both such European cities. I LOVED the architecture and character of the churches, buildings, etc. everyone was friendly.

 

I'm still in awe and amazed how it was even possible to build the churches and cathedrals hundreds of years ago without electricity, power tools, etc. seeing them brings back all the descriptions of the work portrayed in Pillars of the Earth... Which if you've never read, you should... Is a great book.

 

Both towns were clean and easily accessible by foot. Public transportation and taxis were readily available so there is no need for a rental car to see what you want to see. In fact the streets in QC are so narrow and parking so limited most travel books suggest not renting. I would love to go back to either of these ports on a weeklong land trip to see everything we missed and to tour some of the nearby areas.

 

I had originally planned to take the train from Montreal to QC but online it said they only allow carry on luggage & there is no storage for other luggage. So we opted to go with the bus which was just fine. We sat right up front with a big window and saw lots of scenery along the way. The free wifi was an added benefit.

 

Up next is our first sea day, meet & mingle, slot pull & dinner at Portofino's

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

The Brilliance does have a dedicated Concierge Lounge with key card access that is on deck 10. Your photo is of the "overflow" CL in the Hollywood Odyssey and is for D+ and Pinnacle members. Across from this is the Diamond Lounge, which is held in a section of the Viking Crown Lounge in the evenings. The suite guests can only use the regular Concierge Lounge, unless of course they are also upper level C&A members.

 

I knew someone would let us know... Some day I'll finally get to Diamond then I will now where the lounges are

 

 

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[ace1zoe2]

We both had a great sleep last night. Think the NyQuil really helped hubby sleep soundly. For the first night since we left I didn't wake up three times during the night with night sweats! Yay! We both slept in until about 7:45 then had showers and all the morning hair rituals, etc. we headed down to the main dining room for breakfast this morning arriving at 9am (they were open from 8-10) to a line of about 20 in front of us & within about 10 minutes another 30-40 behind us. It took 15 minutes just to be seated. Then at least 10 minutes before anyone acknowledged that we were there. We were set a table for 12, 6 were already seated as we arrived and 4 others came in with us. Everyone was friendly and we enjoyed casual conversation. Again, service was extremely slow. The assistant waiter arrived and poured coffee for the table. Myself & three others ordered hot tea which took at least 10 minutes to arrive... We still had not seen our waitress at this point. Finally after about 20-25 of being seated she showed up & apologized for the delay. The assistant took juice orders as she followed behind taking meal orders. There was a cold cereal bar with fresh fruit, pastries and breads available in the middle of the dining room. There was no bread/pastry service at the table. After orders were taken the waitress walked away with hubby still holding his menu and never being asked for his order. Several at our table had to call out to the waitress to come back. Delivery of the food was random & sparatic. Hubby got his oatmeal and was finished eating before my eggs Benedict ever arrived. When I was half thru eating he finally got his toast but had already finished the oatmeal which was only lukewarm to begin with. My eggs Benedict was delish. I was out of tea half way thru and literally had to flag down the assistant waiter to bring another hot water. We were never offered water so I had nothing to wash my food down for another 5-10 minutes while waiting. I had to leave my second eggs Benedict as it got too cold while waiting. I know this sounds like I'm doing a lot of complaining but so far this has really been the worst service in the dining venues that we have experienced... And we LOVE Royal Carribean and their product! We finally walked out of the dining room at 10:25 an hour and 25 minutes for breakfast... Glad it's a sea day.

 

The Cruise Critic Meet & Mingle was next at 11am on deck 13 in the Stargazers Lounge. I believe there were around 125 folks signed up for the event & would dare to guess at least 75 or more showed up. The entire lounge was full. The event was hosted by the Cruise Director and Activity Director, Cuddy, who was very outgoing. Everyone received the same blue notepad/name holder and two raffle tickets upon entering.

 

(Posting this pic for the benefit of folks who have never been to a M&M before:

 

 

It's a nice gesture but we have 4 already. I think it would be wonderful if they would give out luggage tag holders since RC is no longer going to provide the tags by mail. The staff made the rounds and passed out pineapple/orange and cranberry juice and there was a station of canapes set up to which you could help yourself. We had some juice but skipped the food since we had just left breakfast.

 

This was by far the funnest M&M that we've been to. We played "people" bingo by table group. They gave us a sheet and you went around to find people who matched your squares with things such as oldest in their family, has brown eyes, only works part time, is on honeymoon, first cruise, more than five cruises, etc. on the back of the paper you were supposed to get as many screen names of cruise critic folks as you could. The ladies of our table group, Cheryl (cruise addict 2), Joni (czechboy?) and myself ran around the room like crazy finding matches for the bingo card & collecting screen names. We completed our bingo card in the 15 minute time period and collected 26 screen name s which I thought for sure would put us in the winners club. There were 3 groups who completed the bingo card... Guess what we won? A lot of new friends! The most screen names collected... 47... We weren't even close.... I think they had played this game before and knew where the prizes came in... Not sure that their group even participated in the bingo portion... I will definitely remember that for next time!

 

Their table of 3 won the grand prize package to be shared among their group. It included an all access tour pass valued at $150' a Rasul Spa treatment for two valued at $150, $50 credit towards an excursion if their choice, Bingo game passes, 2 watches, and more! It was a fabulous prize. Following that they did door prize drawings by pulling numbered tickets and handed out at least 10 RC beach bags, tote bags and travel bags all which included Internet minutes, bingo passes, key chains, postcards and various RC fluff... I would have been happy to have won any of it... But unfortunately today was not my lucky day :-(

[emilygrace]

That "people bingo" was really fun and a real ice breaker! I met quite a few people doing it and it was nice to have familiar faces throughout our cruise. I thought Cuddy was a hoot and Paul was a good CD, and this is from someone who never pays attention to the CD. I enjoyed their Morning Show on the cabin TV, and this is something I have never watched before our Brilliance cruise.

 

I love your photos....you took a lot of the same shots that I did. I guess we have similar interests in architecture and views.

[tutuwahineLV]

Great review so far, please don't stop now. ;) We are doing a similar itinerary on NCL in September, Bos-Quebe-Bos. I'm so very much looking forward to your impressions and pics of the rest of the ports.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

[critterchick]

The Brilliance does have a dedicated Concierge Lounge with key card access that is on deck 10. Your photo is of the "overflow" CL in the Hollywood Odyssey and is for D+ and Pinnacle members. Across from this is the Diamond Lounge, which is held in a section of the Viking Crown Lounge in the evenings. The suite guests can only use the regular Concierge Lounge, unless of course they are also upper level C&A members.

 

The Hollywood Odyssey overflow CL is also open to suite guests; it's only the Diamond Event (or Diamond Lounge on ships that have one) that are restricted to D/D+/PC.

Edited January 23, 2013 by critterchick

[ace1zoe2]

Great review so far, please don't stop now. ;) We are doing a similar itinerary on NCL in September, Bos-Quebe-Bos. I'm so very much looking forward to your impressions and pics of the rest of the ports.

 

Thanks for taking the time to share with us.

 

Thank you so much for reading along. Hopefully my review can help you with your planning. I'm hoping to post more tonight.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

[ace1zoe2]

After the M&M we went down to deck 12 and waited about 10 minutes to see the Loyalty Ambassador. While waiting we ran into David & Sharon (wants2cruisetheworld) who we have scheduled a private tour in Saint John with later in the week. We spent our time waiting getting to know them... We are all from the great state of Texas and only live about 100 miles from each other.... What a small world. Our time with the LA was short and sweet as we just stopped in to purchase 2 Future Cruise Certificates and we were on our way in less than 10 minutes.

 

Down one more deck and we made a quick stop in the WJ for lunch. Lots of seats available today. I just had a quick salad and slice of Maghareta pizza and hubby had salad, baked chicken and some fresh fruit. Now we're heading down to the casino to join in the Roll Call's $15pp slot pull.... Will we come back rich? Tune in later to find out.

 

Well, we're not millionaires! There were a total of 40 people signed up for the slot pull. 28 showed up who paid $15 each for 5 pulls on the Wheel of Fortune slot machine. Each person fed their $15 in and pushed the button with Jean, our organizer, starting us off.

 

 

 

 

Dianna was right up front cheering everyone one on throughout the entire time. Our pull started at 1:30 and we we're finished about 2:10 including the payout. Elise was the first to get 3 bars, followed by Steve & Mike, Wade hit the Wheel of Fortune and spun to add $50 (it could have been as much as $1000 or as little as nothing) to our prize. After all was said and done we paid in $420 as a group and cashed out $229.

 

 

We headed next door to the sports bar where each participant received $8 in coins... So it cost us about $7 each for 30 minutes worth of fun.

 

Our part of the pay out:

 

I just wanted to say thanks again to Jean for organizing the slot pull. This was the first time we have participated in one and it was a lot of fun and a chance to hang out with people for our Roll Call.

[ace1zoe2]

Hubby & I stopped by Lattitudes where I got a Tazo Awake brewed tea for $2.04 including the 15% gratuity and had a snack of lemon poppy seed bread which was very moist and delicious. Hubby decided to have a hot chocolate which was Ghiradelli made with steamed milk and was $3.05 with gratuity. Next we headed to the theater at 2:30 for a guest destination lecture covering Perce Rock and Halifax and Peggy's Cove. The speaker was a professor from Atlanta and he was very informative although a bit boring in his speaking style.

 

Following the lecture we walked thru the shops and did a little window shopping but didn't make any purchases. Now for a little down time (we're so exhausted from all the walking & eating & sitting that we've done today...not).

 

I counted the steps from the beginning of our hall to our aft corner cabin and it was 145 steps. We've done really well and have only taken the stairs except one time since we've been on board.

 

At 4pm they are having bingo for a chance to win an upgrade to an Owners Suite on deck 10 for the rest of the cruise. I'm more than happy with my corner aft that I hand picked and therefore I'm saving my $$$.

 

Tonight is formal night and we are going to Portofino's in smart casual dress. Skipping pictures... Been there, done that. The captain's welcome aboard reception is tonight from 7-8 with pix available until 7:30. We have dinner at 5:45 so I plan to stop by for a glass of wine after dinner. Tonight's showtime is the RC Singers and Dancers production show which we will probably skip to take in a little time in the smoke-free casino! The casino has posted that it will be smoke free during all formal nights.

 

I was able to catch the sun set before leaving for dinner

 

 

 

 

 

 

Headed to Portofino's about 5:45 for dinner and were the first customers of the night. We had a lovely waitress named Nesha who was very outgoing and friendly. She offered to take a picture of us first thing when she noticed I had brought my camera.

 

[ace1zoe2]

The assistant waiter was very good but I forgot his name. He brought us out a bread basket that featured four types of bread as well as a flat crisp Indian bread.

 

 

He also made us each a plate of olive oil & balsamic vinegar for dipping and brought a dish with 3 dips and a roasted garlic bulb.

 

 

I ordered a glass of red wine for dinner and we ordered our starters... Risotto & prawns for me and minestrone soup for hubby.

 

 

Both were very tasty. For dinner I went with the filet, medium & it was perfectly cooked. It was served with broccoli rabe, mashed potatoes and carrots. Hubby had a huge T-Bone steak, also medium served with mashed potato and green beans. Neither of us were able to finish even half of our meals.