Just off Brilliance, short summary. Questions??

[Polomom]

Can anyone tell me if there are other places to eat lunch on boarding day on the Brilliance other than the Windjammer? Not interested in fighting the crowds.

[freedom 2015]

I believe you can eat in the Park Café, a small soup/sandwich/salad station with some deserts; cookies brownies (best salad you will find on the ship) It is located inside the solarium, limited menu but everything is delicious. Always my favorite snack spot! Maybe I'll see you there.

[ridgerunner51]

Yes, I can save them as PDF's

 

But once I get that done, is it different to post a pdf than a picture?? Right now I am clicking on the picture icon above where I type. It opens a box to copy the picture url. How do I do it with a pdf???

 

Won't have time to do this afternoon. Will have to wait till later tonight or tomorrow morning. But if you tell me how to do it, I will try

 

I am going to try uploading a PDF. If you look at the bottom of your screen, when you are writing a reply, you will see:

"Attach Files

Valid file extensions: bmp doc docx gif jpe jpeg jpg pdf png psd txt xls

Manage Attachments"

 

Click "Management Attachments"

From there, another screen will open that will allow you to pick a pdf file from your computer. Note the size restrictions for different file types.

 

Then click "upload" and you will see the attachment at the bottom of the screen where you are writing your reply.

 

I hope this works.

 

Hello waterbugohio! Just wondered if you were able experiment with the PDF scans.

 

Also, we have friends from Ohio that call themselves "water bugs" - Dave and Wendy.

[4 cruisers]

Just off the Brilliance yesterday morning.

 

 

 

Great cruise with 3 wonderful cruise girlfriends.

 

 

 

Summary:

 

 

 

Stayed precruise in Tampa at the Sailport Waterfront. Loved the hotel and got a great rate on a 2 BR condo for all 4 of us. Also allowed us to come back and use the pool and facilities post cruise, before our late flights home. Highly recommend this hotel.

 

 

 

Great sailaway despite rain in the afternoon and sailing out into a storm. Captain Stig got us going very quickly and despite the heavy rain for a little while, the sailing was very smooth and we were out of the bad weather within a couple hours.

 

 

 

MTD, despite a few problems with trying to get reservations when we wanted them, it ended very smoothly. My suggestion is to forego even trying to do reservations ahead of time and just standing in line every night. I normally don't like this but it worked the best for us.

 

 

 

Dress code: While what others are wearing don't impact my cruise vacation. Royal may as well just throw away the dress code. There is no enforcing of anything, not even on formal night. We ended up having a table near the entrance all but two nights. WOW is all I can say. Again, it doesn't effect my cruise experience at all. But how can people be so care free on how they look. Seriously we saw everything (even on formal night) Shorts were about at 50% on non formal night. Tshirts and ball caps were not rare. Men in flip flops all the time. Jeans have now become "dressy" in comparison to everything else we saw. However, the lady with the jeans on with more holes than jeans was quite the site. We also actually saw a lady that had what looked like house slippers on one night. Just sad that people no longer take any pride in how they look.

 

 

 

Ports:

 

Grand Caymen, went to the Royal Palms resort. Have been there before and very nice beach. However very crowded with several ships in port. Would still go back, but don't go there if you are going because of the free wifi that is advertised. Been there twice and both times the internet is almost non existent.

 

 

 

Cozumel: Once again we went to Paradise Beach and loved it. Beautiful pool and didn't get busy till later in the day and still not overly crowded. Take note that the cab drivers will try to convince you to go somewhere else. Don't listen. For the $3 entrance fee and the requirement to spend just $10, it is an awesome pool and great day. We don't drink alot so for us it was the way to go instead of the several "all inclusive" resorts.

 

 

 

Getting on the ship: AWESOME. We had a rental car that had to be returned at 9AM. Please consider Budget/Avis if in Tampa. We got a great rate for a 24 hour rental. Picked up at the airport and returned to the Embassy suites hotel downtown. The owner of this location personally drove the rental car and dropped us off at the port. Will rent from them and return to him again. He was a great guy. Sorry, I wish I remembered his name.

 

We got to the pier about 9:30. Went upstairs and filled out the health forms. Watched the staff set up and even have a meeting before opening the stations. Checked in very quickly and had a seat in the Diamond lounge (thanks to two diamond friends with us) We were first in line when they opened and would have been the very first on the ship, had we not stopped for photos. Instead we walked onboard and heard our first "ding" at 10:37!! The earliest we have ever been on a ship.

 

 

 

Getting off the ship was almost as easy: Out of the room at 8. Down to the dining room for breakfast, where we had a very leisurely (maybe a little slow) but we weren't' going anywhere. Finished after our time of 9:10, so we just took the elevator down and walked right off. Took just a few minutes to find our bags and had to wait only 2-3 people in line for customs. Off in a taxi and back to Sailport as easy as can be.

 

 

 

Entertainment was great as far as we were concerned.

 

 

 

Have the compass if anyone has any questions.

 

 

 

Will answer anything else if I can.

 

 

 

Second time out of Tampa and would highly recommend. Sailing under the sunshine bridge is awesome!!

 

 

Did you happen to notice if there is a Mahjong set on board? A dear friend is going next month and is wondering if she needs to bring one! Thanks!

[Polomom]

I believe you can eat in the Park Café, a small soup/sandwich/salad station with some deserts; cookies brownies (best salad you will find on the ship) It is located inside the solarium, limited menu but everything is delicious. Always my favorite snack spot! Maybe I'll see you there.

 

Thanks ! I think we might try that! One week from tomorrow!!!!! I have eaten there before, but never on embarkation day.

[6leafclover]

Hello,

This review is so helpful!! Thank you!! I have a family of 6 (my husband and I and 4 children ages 13 down to 6). I'm a little concerned about what to do at the Cozumel port. We do no go until November of 2016, but I am interested in how you knew about Paradise Island. Could you tell me more about that beach? Would my kids like it? Is it adults only? How did you get there?

Thanks much,

Julie

[DaBoilerz]

Thanks for the great review! Just booked a Two Bedroom Suite for a girlfriends' trip with the same itinerary in December!

 

Quick questions---did you notice if there were any 'suite'/gold card sitting areas around the pool anywhere?

Thanks!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Cabin? What type? Location? Pros and cons?

[KelJ]

We will be staying in one of those cabins where the library used to be in less than a week. It's supposed to have floor-to-ceiling windows.

 

The library on this class of ship has been greatly reduced. It's now a cabinet that holds a much smaller number of books. I think the puzzles and such are nearby. I can understand this. Many people travel with their e-readers now, and don't need to borrow books.

 

Do you have any pictures of your cabin? We are in 4588 next month.