Brilliance of the Seas- not wowed!

[tsconley19]

The good:

The main dining room food was very good. Escargot every night. The wait staff I had was friendly and service was quick (MTD)

Lunch at the MDR was also very good. Had the made to order salads each day.

Chop Grill was also excellent.

The bad:

The Windjammer food was mediocre at best. I normally don't expect too much from the buffet, but it was really tasteless, especially the breakfast. Gave up and ate at the MDR

 

Big mistake upgrading from a D2 balcony on deck 9 to a JS on deck 10. It was hard to pass up the upgrade for $68 that included $300 in OBC, however....

Our cabin 1592 was located starboard side aft. Directly across from a service stairwell that was very loud until 2:00-3:00 am every morning. Carts rolling like clockwork every 15-20 minutes. We were also located under the Windjammer that was also very noisy from staff cleaning at night. Lots of loud banging on the steel deck.

The cabin bed was the hardest mattress I've ever slept on. I requested a foam pad, but was given an extra mattress cover. No help at all, worst sleep on a ship to date.

The main pool deck is also very small. Hard to get a chair or lounge. This is do to the Solarium and kid pools taking space.

Overall, it was a nice getaway, but would probably avoid any cabins on deck 10, and be prepared for the possibility of a rock hard mattress.

Time to upgrade The bedding Royal!

Tom

[leinhto]

Thanks for update. Lesson learned get balcony cabin on deck 8 or 9.

[jules815]

Sure am glad I'll be on deck 10 next month. (1564) :o

[Karma5]

I find nothing wrong with the mattress……it is a nice ship………….so be it…...

[tsconley19]

did you sleep on the OPs bed?

 

Sure am glad I'll be on deck 10 next month. (1564) :o

 

Of course, I can only tell you of my cabin and experiences onboard. Don't let this review deter from your expectations. I hope your cruise will be more enjoyable.

Tom

[ksuds]

We just got off the Brilliance today. Had 2 cabins, both beds were terrible. I could feel the springs or frame. We did get an egg crate and it helped a lot!

 

 

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[sippican]

Thank you for sharing your impressions.It's always so interesting how different one experience can be from another.

We love the Radiance class ships and Brillinace was our first in that class. We loved it so much we went on to book Jewel and Serenade. We are very pleased they allot space to the solariums as they are one of our favorite features. If you think the main pool is small on the Brilliance - try Disney's top-rated Fantasy - woefully inadequate for the numbers onboard. I have yet to sail on a ship where the chairs near the pools were easy to claim, unless it was a port day, poor weather, or a mostly adult cruise, but that's pretty much expected. At least we saw aome attempts at curbing the chair hogging on Royal. Other lines just seem to turn their backs.

I agree the beds are sooooo hard (on every RCI cruise we've been on), and the buffets are, well .... buffets. Have not found one that was better than mediocre other than our river cruise. Sorry your cabin location was a disappointment. As a general rule, we only book cabins on decks that have cabins above and below; never, ever on the deck below the buffet, pools or sports decks, or above the nightclubs or bars, and away from elevators and stairways.(In fact, direct aft is our choice.) I also scour the web for cabin reviews.

Hope your next cruise is more enjoyable.

[cb at sea]

I don't know why anyone eats breakfast in the buffet... the DR is the bomb!

[Podie]

I was very pleasantly surprised by my Brilliance cruise last month and will be going again next month. To me, the Solarium is a high point and this one also has a good Park Cafe. For those of us who can't be in the sun, it's a Godsend.

[Big_G]

Also just got off Brilliance today and our bed was fine. Haven't been on this ship since 2005 and I have to say DW and I were both wowed. General condition of the ship, our cabin attendant, and waiters were all great. I'm usually a Chops critic but we gave it whirl on a travel agent voucher and it was the best experience we've had. Giovanni's was even better. The old sports bar is now a comfortable pub which televised New England's unmerciful pounding of Miami. ;) The only drawbacks to this cruise were it was only four nights and I did miss the Royal Promenade a little...just a little. :)

[seaofwonder]

We also thought mattresses were horrible (very hard).

 

Fellow cruisers from the diamond lounge were on deck 10 and had issues with the windjammer noises. They complained and received an extremely generous future cruise discount.

 

 

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[twills63]

We got off the Windjammer yesterday. It was our first cruise so we didn't know what to expect. We loved, loved it! We loved our bed and slept well after the first night when we asked for a fan and our steward found one for us. We were on deck nine room 9016. We heard very little noise. The WJ staff and MDR staff went above and beyond to accommodate my gluten free diet. We definitely want to go again.

[ksuds]

I don't know why anyone eats breakfast in the buffet... the DR is the bomb!

 

We ate breakfast each morning in Chops. The menu was a little more limited than other ships that do Chops. I only say limited because they have no pancakes. The pancakes they make during Chops breakfast on other ships are amazing. Some other Chops also do a steak.

 

The first morning there was 4 of us and all 4 meals came out ice cold. No complaints about the other days except day three I wanted my Special K. When I poured the milk, there were chunks of stale milk. I pointed it out to the server and showed him the expiration date. He argued with me on what the date was. It took several of us to tell him he had his dates are wrong. All their milk is just sitting out with very little ice to keep it cold. I decided not to have anything with milk the rest of the trip.

[monctonguy]

Also just got off Brilliance today and our bed was fine. Haven't been on this ship since 2005 and I have to say DW and I were both wowed. General condition of the ship, our cabin attendant, and waiters were all great. I'm usually a Chops critic but we gave it whirl on a travel agent voucher and it was the best experience we've had. Giovanni's was even better. The old sports bar is now a comfortable pub which televised New England's unmerciful pounding of Miami. ;) The only drawbacks to this cruise were it was only four nights and I did miss the Royal Promenade a little...just a little. :)

 

Everything sounds great...can't wait. Sports bar is gonna be a nice touch for sure....now i am thinking 4 nites is going to be too short as well!

[papaflamingo]

The good:

The main dining room food was very good. Escargot every night. The wait staff I had was friendly and service was quick (MTD)

Lunch at the MDR was also very good. Had the made to order salads each day.

Chop Grill was also excellent.

The bad:

The Windjammer food was mediocre at best. I normally don't expect too much from the buffet, but it was really tasteless, especially the breakfast. Gave up and ate at the MDR

 

Big mistake upgrading from a D2 balcony on deck 9 to a JS on deck 10. It was hard to pass up the upgrade for $68 that included $300 in OBC, however....

Our cabin 1592 was located starboard side aft. Directly across from a service stairwell that was very loud until 2:00-3:00 am every morning. Carts rolling like clockwork every 15-20 minutes. We were also located under the Windjammer that was also very noisy from staff cleaning at night. Lots of loud banging on the steel deck.

The cabin bed was the hardest mattress I've ever slept on. I requested a foam pad, but was given an extra mattress cover. No help at all, worst sleep on a ship to date.

The main pool deck is also very small. Hard to get a chair or lounge. This is do to the Solarium and kid pools taking space.

Overall, it was a nice getaway, but would probably avoid any cabins on deck 10, and be prepared for the possibility of a rock hard mattress.

Time to upgrade The bedding Royal!

Tom

 

We are usually able to get a mattress topper from the cabin steward. May be they were out of them.

One of the "odd" things about Royal Caribbean (actually probably all cruise ships) is that they tend to put their suites on the highest cabin deck which is right below the pool deck. They always have the opportunity for noise issues. We were on Legend last year in a JS right below the solarium. Not much of a problem except that the Park Cafe is there and they walk around with a push cart to collect dishes. It's a tile deck and as the cart ran over the tiles you could hear the "clomp, clomp" of the wheels. But not too big a deal.

On other ships when under the pool deck you can hear the moving of chairs while the crew cleans at night.

I always look at the location and try to find the "least noisy" area. I avoid what appears to be "empty spaces" as that is often the crew storage and entry areas in the hallway so you can get a noise factor. I also look at what part of the pool area we are under and try to find what I believe to be the least likely place for movement of furniture.

But it always struck me as odd that the most expensive cabins are in areas where noise is so likely. Oh well, I'd deal with it for an upgrade to a JS for $68 and $300 OBC! That's why I wear earplugs. :)

[BarbJ52]

I find nothing wrong with the mattress……it is a nice ship………….so be it…...

did you sleep on the OPs bed?

 

Exactly! We were on Brilliance for a 4-day cruise last month. DH complained every night, even after getting some assistance from our wonderful cabin steward. My side seemed fine and, after listening to him complain for 3 nights, I agreed to switch sides for the last night. OMG!!!!! That side was unbelievably hard. I barely slept and was incredibly uncomfortable all night. So, unless you walked in their shoes (slept in the same bed) .......

 

We were on Vision last week ... and both sides were very hard, but made somewhat better by the addition of a couple of comforters under the sheet. Our cabin steward stated that they no longer had egg crates. Neither of us slept well for the entire cruise.

 

We loved both cruises. There were many, many positives, but uncomfortable beds are a deal-breaker for us. When I'm on vacation, I don't want to go to bed EVERY night wishing I was home in my own bed.

[George C]

Thanks for the review, I think the Windjammer food needs to be improved on all ships, Celebrity does a much better job there. I think the newer larger ships have more of a wow factor

[DavyJoneses]

did you sleep on the ops bed?

 

lol

[Justmekaren918]

For me I did MDR and room service on Vision and found that the eggs are made in big batches and I usually ended up with the dried wall edge eggs, but going to WJ I could get fresher and non dried eggs[emoji3]. I found that the pastry seemed more fresh and pancakes warm[emoji41]. Pastry through RS just was bad and dried.

[amster65]

Everything sounds great...can't wait. Sports bar is gonna be a nice touch for sure....now i am thinking 4 nites is going to be too short as well!

 

Your right, a 4 nite cruise is not quite a cruise, more of boat ride.:D

[rkd1]

Amazing that the wait staff will argue about bad milk. Bad milk is bad.

[critterchick]

Thanks for update. Lesson learned get balcony cabin on deck 8 or 9.

 

That's not necessarily true (and if you want a JS or higher, you have very limited options). The aft cabins do suffer from being under the Windjammer, but the cabins midship do not, at least not in my experience.:)

[rkak]

Just back Mon from the 4 night cruise. 2 years ago we were in a deck 10 aft room and occasionally in the am heard some noise from the Windjammer. Never kept us up. The long walk did me in due to back issues. So, this time we were on deck 9 in a hump room very close to the elevators. No noise. We loved the hard bed and both slept like babies!

 

Loved the cruise, the food in the MDR, breakfast in the Windjammer. I guess we're not so hard to please. If they have Escargot I'm happy.:)

[budmeister]

We were on the Brilliance this past Jan, and are booked again for Jan. 2016. We eat almost all meals in the MDR, get toppers on the bed, love the Solarium, and always book a room with rooms above and below us. Just wanted to balance things out to help not scare others that may be booked. I think this might be my favorite ship, and we have been on most. The music was the best of any cruise we have ever been on. :o