Will we like Royal Caribbean as much as P&O?

[Essexlass2]

Hi, I wonder if you kind folk can help us please. We've seen a cruise that we quite fancy and wonder whether we will like Royal Caribbean, almost always having sailed with P&O previously. Can anyone give us their views please? Also does Brilliance of the Seas have freedom dining or are there only set dining times and, if so, what are those times?

 

Any advice, tips or guidance you can give us will be much appreciated. :)

[Clarea]

Hi, I wonder if you kind folk can help us please. We've seen a cruise that we quite fancy and wonder whether we will like Royal Caribbean, almost always having sailed with P&O previously. Can anyone give us their views please? Also does Brilliance of the Seas have freedom dining or are there only set dining times and, if so, what are those times?

 

Any advice, tips or guidance you can give us will be much appreciated. :)

Brilliance has both traditional dining (two seatings), and My Time Dining (MTD) where you can set you own dining time. The timing of traditional seating depends on itinerary.

Edited December 29, 2013 by clarea

[Desert Cruizers]

Hello & Welcome to CC, your going on a Radiance Class with the Brilliance and first of all that class of ship offers gorgeous views with all the glass in the lounges, Centrum. They don't have the Royal promenade such as the Voyager and Freedom Class but we find them very easy to navigate and the Radiance Class is our favorite. At 962 feet and 90,000 tons she is in no way a small ship. They do have MTD dining so your able to go in when you wish or you can make reservations for a particular time and ask for the same waiters if you like. Your buffet area is called the Windjammer. Have a wonderful cruise

[DragonOfTheSeas]

I am not sure if anyone can answer this question for you. P & O is a very "British" cruise line. The food and activities will be more familiar to you.

 

But, Brilliance is a beautiful ship. We sailed her sister ship --the Radiance and loved it.

 

I noticed that some of P & O ships are adults only. This will be a change for you. You will find at least a few children onboard almost any cruise. There were a few on our Transatlantic in October--but, not many.

 

Yes, there is My Time Dining or regular dinner seating [6pm and 8:30 pm]

[besberry]

I've sailed both, and I have to say I prefer RCI to P&O. Food and entertainment is better and the ships seem to be kept in better repair. P&O have the edge on alcohol prices though, by a long way. Never been on the Briliance, but I did the Baltic on her sister ship (Jewel), last year and loved both the ship and the itinerary.

[Mybelle2]

We always cruised with P&O and loved the cruises, but the last one on the Oriana was a disappointment. We decided to take the children in August and compared a like for like cruise between P&O & RCI for the pretty much the same itinerary and dates and RCI were a lot cheaper and for a much better cabin.

 

I always said I wouldn't go with RCI, because I was under the mistaken impression they were more "party ships", I was so wrong.There were so many plus points (cost being the obvious one), that we decided to bite the bullet and book the RCI one.

 

Our cruise on Adventure of the Seas was excellent. The service in most cases was better than P&O. The food was on a par in the Main Dining room and the Windjammer was far better, with more choice. Even though there were lots of kids onboard because it was the holidays it didn't feel over-run with kids.

 

Oh, and their check in and leaving the ship put P&O's esp on Ventura to shame. We were on a similar size ship to Ventura and it was impeccably organised and we were on and off so quickly.

 

Drinks prices were quite a bit more than P&O, but we still saved far more - even adding these into the equation.

 

I would recommend you definitely go for it. I've been told by my in-laws who always go RCI that Brilliance is their favourite ship.

 

One tip, if you drink lots of coke, lemonade etc make sure you prepay those. If you drink a lot of alcohol then pre-pay that or if you just like mostly wine with your meals then pre-pay the wine package over the alcohol one. The wine was very good on the wine package and saved a fair bit of money.

 

If you go Mytime dining you will have to pre-pay your tips, but to be honest the service was so good, we didn't mind.

 

We were so impressed we put down a deposit for a future cruise with RCI - something we've never done with P&O.

Edited December 29, 2013 by Mybelle2

[Essexlass2]

Thank you all so much, comments very much appreciated especially those by Mybelle2 which kind of answers all the niggling little doubts that we have had. Everyone has just about made up our minds for us! :D