Brilliance Cruise to Scandinavia and Russia, planning, cruising and LOT of photos

[setsail]

Great job:)

[Kevin's girl]

Ok, here are the answers to questions I wanted to know about the cabin before we got there

How much overhang coverage will the balcony have in case the weather is bad?

 

How deep is the wrap around part of the balcony? Can I really go in there to see up the port side?

 

What is the coffee/tea set up? Is it the same as the set up in the Grand Suite last year? (Why, yes it is)

 

How much room is in the walk in closet?

looking straight in the closet door

 

to the right

 

To the left

[Kevin's girl]

Thanks, Setsail.

Edited September 6, 2014 by Kevin's girl

[aussielozzie18]

Loving this review! Thanks for sharing photos and details of your pre-cruise stay in London. Brought back wonderful memories.

 

p.s I am not experiencing any problems viewing your fab photos.

[schagpal]

Thanks for the review...loving it.

We are booked for the same cruise next August and looking forward to posts about cruise itself. Really enjoyed the London posts as they brought back memories of our past visit.

[30scruiser]

Wow! If you haven't already you should definitely report that driver whether it was sleepiness or some neurological issue, either way he shouldn't be driving. So glad you made it to the ship safely.

[Kevin's girl]

Loving this review! Thanks for sharing photos and details of your pre-cruise stay in London. Brought back wonderful memories.

 

p.s I am not experiencing any problems viewing your fab photos.

 

Thanks for the review...loving it.

We are booked for the same cruise next August and looking forward to posts about cruise itself. Really enjoyed the London posts as they brought back memories of our past visit.

I'm so glad you are enjoying the review. I would love to get it finished by this weekend. Work has been a killer the past two weeks. I had a lot of payback for taking off three whole weeks.

[Kevin's girl]

Wow! If you haven't already you should definitely report that driver whether it was sleepiness or some neurological issue, either way he shouldn't be driving. So glad you made it to the ship safely.

BA transfers actually emailed me a questionnaire following each transfer and I did let them know that it was a rather scary trip.

[Kevin's girl]

Once we checked out the cabin, we headed to check out the ship and get some lunch. Being up on deck 10, it was easy to head first to the Park Café for our first Kimmelweck sandwich. There was plenty of meat and sauces to top the sandwich. It was very tasty.

 

 

As I mentioned above, this was our second cruise on the Brilliance so we took a limited number of ship photos throughout the cruise. In the interest of keeping things in the review organized I am going to post all of the ship pics now.

 

The Promenade Deck 5, Starboard side is for smokers, while the Port side, bow with the helipad and stern are for everyone.

 

 

 

Looking down from deck 10 to the R Bar in the Centrum

 

The new big screen tv. We never saw anyone actually watching it, and during the periods between movies they played tropical video that just didn’t seem to go with our cruise.

 

We were playing around in the Schooner Bar. On the Brilliance you will find the entrances to the specialty dining venues Chop’s, Giovanni’s Table and Chef’s Table are inside the Schooner Bar. If you walk all the way to the back of the ship, through the Schooner Bar you will run into the Safari Lounge.

[Kevin's girl]

Just a few more ship pics

 

The pool deck and Pool Bar

 

A bit of art at the top of the glass elevators. Deck 13

 

Rita’s Cantina

 

The outside dining area of the Windjammer Cafe

[Kevin's girl]

This seems to be a good time to talk about the packages we bought and used during the cruise. Pre cruise I purchased two drink packages one Premium and one Replenish package. We never received a single bit of attitude from any bar. We were reminded when I ordered a glass of wine that I would need to be charged, I just smiled and said I know it isn’t part of my package. The pricing worked out great. My DH enjoyed his refreshments without me walking around him preaching travel budget while I had all of the coffee, tea bottled water I could possibly drink. The packages were definitely the way to go for us. Now the other package we ended up with was the Specialty Dining package. Now we didn’t exactly sign up for this, it was just kind of implied and then applied for us. We were met in the main dining room by one of the servers who asked up about our plan to dine in the Specialty dining venues, he scribbled out detail about some special starting that day only (right), and we put the scribbles in DH’s pocket and went on about our walk. We did want to make a reservation for Chop’s and while in there we met Gary the Sommelier. He asked us about the special that we had on the scribbled paper and about Chef’s Table. We made a reservation for both Chop’s and Chef’s table. Later we added Izumi and another Chef’s Table date. All were amazing (later on that) and the prices for each were dropped and even our Diamond discounts were applied without us asking or having to say a word.

 

One last thing about Day 1 – Boarding Day. My DH is a smoker (if this is a true problem for any readers please keep it to yourself or stop reading now. I want this review to be fun and free from smoking discussions). My DH kept his little habit to the areas allowed by Royal and I will say that because of the new smoking rule we met some of the nicest people and had joinded in some of the best conversations throughout the cruise. Bravo for our little part of Deck 5!

 

As the weather changed and it got cold and windy, we remembered that the chairs could be moved and we got ourselves a little place to our selves. DH puffed away and I cuddled up with my coffee.

 

Day 2 – a Sea Day

Today was our Meet and Mingle. We had a very nice group and enjoyed meeting each other and discussing plans for the cruise. There was a raffle and baskets and a bottle of bubbly were won.

 

 

 

I got very lucky and won a basket. Here is what was inside

There was also a coupon for 25 minutes of Internet time.

Now, just a word about the internet while on this cruise. It rarely worked. I mean nearly never worked. This is one cruise where I would not recommend buying a package. They even print daily in the Compass that connection will be bad and may not be possible most days. We rarely used our wireless devices while on the ship. So happy I bought an International data plan as we used free hot spots or the 3g service in ports.

[Kevin's girl]

The second day of our cruise was our 33 wedding anniversary. I seem to remember just before we left someone had asked a question about the romance packages you can purchase from RCI. I did purchase a package through the cruise line before leaving. It definitely didn’t go off without a few BIG hiccups. First of which was that I ordered the sparkling wine for sail away, and stated the date of our anniversary (day 2 of the cruise) for breakfast in bed and desserts after formal dinner that night. When we arrived in our cabin the first day there was no sparkling wine. I thought maybe it was just early so I waited a bit. When later that day and close to sail away I asked our cabin steward about it. He said it was to be delivered the next day. I stated it said for sail away and seeing that day 2 is a sea day there will be no sail away. We went to Guest Services and asked about it and received a very rude response. He stated if I could not show a receipt there was no proof of the purchase. Now I have made other such purchases through RCI website and have always receive a detailed email receipt but on this occasion all I received was an email thanking me for my purchase, with no details of what that purchase was. He also said there was nothing he could do, and BTW we needed to speak to our waiter that night at dinner to set up the breakfast in bed and the rest of the package. No proof, no purchase yet he could see the details of the package. We were a bit disappointed but spoke to our waiter at dinner. Our waiter looked at us like we were crazy and said she had nothing to do with that sort of thing. At this time the wonderful Head Waiter Tony came along. He asked if he could help. We explained about the package. He said Guest Services should have given us the order form to complete and given us the coupon for silver frame and photo. He asked us to wait a few minutes and he came along with the special room service menu, the frame coupon and also said he took care of the champagne in the room. He was WONDERFUL!!

 

The morning of Day 2, we enjoyed our breakfast in bed and made it to the earlier mentioned Meet and Mingle.

 

Romance package bubbly was delivered after the Meet and Mingle

 

 

Dinner tonight was formal and our first Chef’s Table. What an experience, we enjoyed it so much that we signed up for another at the end of the cruise along with everyone else there that evening.

 

 

 

 

Just a bit of Chef’s Table food porn.

Edited September 13, 2014 by Kevin's girl

[Deb922]

So enjoying this review :)

[Kevin's girl]

So enjoying this review :)

I'm so glad you are enjoying it. I have had so many delays I was afraid no one was following along anymore.

There will be plenty more to come. Next is our first port. Copenhagen, Denmark, hang in there with me. It's just taking a bit longer than I expected :o

[crvng4mr]

We are still here! We look forward to your next post! ;)

[kftw]

Enjoying your review. I'm looking forward to your next installment.

[PathfinderEss]

Great review, thanks for posting your wonderful photo's.

[seaofwonder]

We were on this same cruise and booked BA Transfers. Our pick-up driver was really late, rude, and drove in an unsafe manner. I complained to the company and they did nothing. I would NOT recommend them in the future.

 

We also got cash before leaving...something I never do....and it was not necessary. Rubles aren't needed in Russia and ATMs are everywhere. In fact, in most countries I was scrambling to get rid of the currency and was unsuccessful in some places.

 

It was a great cruise! We slept through the meet & mingle, but met some wonderful people in the diamond lounge.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[clochette]

what a great review so far. Thank you so much for taking the time to write it

[Kevin's girl]

I have been feeling so guilty for not having time to write, that I have not even been able to look at this site. Thanks everyone for hanging in with me. On to Denmark!

 

Day 3, Denmark:

We arrived in Denmark on a Saturday. This meant that public bus that usually served our port was not running. We knew that many say the old town was a walk able distance, but after the ever growing distance between the London Eye and Tower of London walk a couple of days earlier we decided to take the shuttle. The cost was $8.00/person round trip and could be paid at the shuttle in cash or billed to your Sea Pass card. We chose to bill to the Sea Pass card. Armed with our with our Copenhagen map from the Compass we were off. The shuttle which runs every 20-30 minutes drops you off on St James St, right next to St James church. (BTW, not marked on RCI’s map, so please remember to locate it on the map and circle it for later). The first thing we notice when getting off the bus is that most streets names are not on the map. So DH and I are standing on the corner looking at the map, turning it this was and that, and pointing where we think things are. Next up comes two lovely couples from our shuttle asking if we have figured anything out. Laughing we all put our suggestions together and set off for the Strøget. I was really excited to see this area after watching Samantha Brown and Rick Steves here. It was still very early in the morning, and many places were either not open yet or just opening. It was really a great time to be in the area, kind of a Hollywood moment in my eyes. There were people with small hand carts bringing in produce and restaurateurs setting up outside dining areas with folded blankets on each chair to ward off the chill while eating. It was just so pretty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For anyone not familiar with the Strøget, it is Copenhagen’s pedestrian shopping zone. There are shops for all budgets and loads of restaurants.

[cruzinlady1947]

Really enjoying this review. Places I probably will never get to visit.

 

Are there no cars allowed in that shopping area, or is it just too early. Looks like a dream shopping and eating plaza.

 

Thanks for letting us enjoy your vacation through amazing pictures and thorough commentary.

 

 

Gwen :)

Edited September 17, 2014 by cruzinlady1947

[crvng4mr]

Thank you for telling us what it is called! I was there and had no clue what it was called because I did no research on Copenhagen except Tivoli. Excellent! Hanging on your every word.

[Kevin's girl]

Really enjoying this review. Places I probably will never get to visit.

 

Are there no cars allowed in that shopping area, or is it just too early. Looks like a dream shopping and eating plaza.

 

Thanks for letting us enjoy your vacation through amazing pictures and thorough commentary.

 

 

Gwen :)

Thanks Gwen,

Never say never, this was a dream vacation for us. We never expected to be able to see these places. I booked the cruise 1 1/2 years before the sail date and just paid into it as time went by. With a cruise anyplace is possible :)

[Kevin's girl]

Thank you for telling us what it is called! I was there and had no clue what it was called because I did no research on Copenhagen except Tivoli. Excellent! Hanging on your every word.

Having so much time to plan, I researched the trip to death. My poor husband kept saying another travel book or video?? Really? It turned out to have been a nice thing but I suppose it was a bit much :o

[Kevin's girl]

 

 

Coming to the end of the Strøget, I wanted to head to Nyhavn. We parted ways from the other couples and invested in a “better” map. We ended up sitting at a pretty point with a fountain which we needed to find on the map and debated which way to go next. It’s not that we are directionally challenged; it’s just that the names of the streets are so long and difficult re find on the map. And that’s the story I’m sticking to. Copenhagen is a bueatiful place to stroll the streets. We never felt unsafe wandering anywhere we went.

 

Last of the Strøget.

 

Here comes Nyhavn! This is the part Copenhagen you see in all the photos, the part with all of the colorful buildings and boats. I had planned to do a canal tour from here, but there was one thin we needed to do first. It was getting to be lunch time, and according to Samantha Brown (again) you need to try a hotdog from one of the hotdog stands along the inlet here. So, who am I to argue with Samantha Brown? We found a hotdog stand and shared a dog and chips. The choices were huge. We decided to try a simple dog with “everything”. Being used to a Chicago style hotdog we had high hopes and no fears of what everything would be, and we were not disappointed. There was even a cucumber slice. It was very yummy.

Now all we had to do was walk across the street to see about our boat tour.

 

The price was 75 DKK or $13.05 US per person for an hour long tour. It was a very enjoyable was to see the city.

 

 

Once loaded into our boat we watched the ballet our captain had to perform through the other tour boats coming and going.