Brilliance of the Seas July 29 - August 10

[markeb]

A mini review of Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland!

 

I have more pics than I know what to do with, and with my travel plans, it may be weeks before I get them all imported, optimized, cropped, and organized! More to follow on that!

 

This was truly a "cruise of a lifetime" for my wife and I. I am in what is known as "transition" after a 27 year career in the US Army, and will be unlikely to have the kind of time we had this summer for some time!

 

We began with a precruise visit to London, including side trips to Greenwich and Salisbury, including Stonehenge. Then we were off to Harwich.

 

This was our second cruise on a Radiance class ship, and the first on a "post renovation" Radiance class. Brilliance is a beautiful ship, and just the right size for this cruise (actually, the bigger ships couldn't make some of the ports). As I say, once I develop photos, I'll talk more about the cruise itself, but let me comment on the cruise overall.

 

Our cruise director was Steve Davis. Because of the size of Brilliance, you saw him quite a bit, and we actually ran into him a couple of times in port. Very energetic, and his work to put together "Thriller" was amazing! Two thumbs up.

 

The itinerary was amazing. Three ports of call in Norway, including a stop in Gerainger at the end of the fjord. AMAZING! A stop in the Faroe Islands, where we frankly didn't do much, but still had a great time. And a day and a half in Reykjavik, where we took the Golden Circle tour, spent time in town, and came away seriously thinking this is a place we'd like to visit on its own!

 

This was our first cruise as diamond members, and every diamond concierge we meet in the future will be judged against Derick, who was simply amazing!

 

We had the opportunity on this cruise to dine at the Chef's Table. This is a "tasting menu" with fixed courses and wine accompaniments. We've eaten at some very high end restaurants on land, but the Chef's Table was very nice.

 

I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect cruise, and this one had it's challenges. I don't know that any were really "problems".

 

First, the cruise spends a lot of time in the North Sea. The North Sea has a reputation for a reason, and she had a bit of an attitude on this cruise. The net result kept everyone inside for almost the entire cruise, and most of one day the outside doors were closed for safety. The Centrum concept is very nice, but it results in Brilliance having less interior space than the larger ships with a promenade. It was hard to find an inside spot to have a seat and relax outside of our cabin. We don't normally bounce from activity to activity, but there seemed to be fewer, at least that interested us, on this cruise.

 

I hesitate to mention it, but it was so obvious it's hard not to. There really were not many smokers on Brilliance, and those that were smoking were universally considerate. We only saw a couple of folks smoking just inside the casino, for instance. Which tells me that what we observed is an engineering problem! In spite of the limited number of smokers in the casino, the Centrum reeked of "old smoke" for most of the cruise. We walked through the casino several times, and sat in the Pub just forward of it, without any issue whatsoever, but the Centrum just seems built to pull out months or years of smoke residue that I could not in the least attribute to any smokers onboard, who again were few in number and generally very considerate of others. Very strange.

 

We're home again, doing laundry, and I have at least 3 memory cards to go through for pics! A wonderful time and a unique cruise! Highly recommended!

[2catfamily]

A mini review of Norway, the Faroe Islands, and Iceland!

 

I have more pics than I know what to do with, and with my travel plans, it may be weeks before I get them all imported, optimized, cropped, and organized! More to follow on that!

 

This was truly a "cruise of a lifetime" for my wife and I. I am in what is known as "transition" after a 27 year career in the US Army, and will be unlikely to have the kind of time we had this summer for some time!

 

We began with a precruise visit to London, including side trips to Greenwich and Salisbury, including Stonehenge. Then we were off to Harwich.

 

This was our second cruise on a Radiance class ship, and the first on a "post renovation" Radiance class. Brilliance is a beautiful ship, and just the right size for this cruise (actually, the bigger ships couldn't make some of the ports). As I say, once I develop photos, I'll talk more about the cruise itself, but let me comment on the cruise overall.

 

Our cruise director was Steve Davis. Because of the size of Brilliance, you saw him quite a bit, and we actually ran into him a couple of times in port. Very energetic, and his work to put together "Thriller" was amazing! Two thumbs up.

 

The itinerary was amazing. Three ports of call in Norway, including a stop in Gerainger at the end of the fjord. AMAZING! A stop in the Faroe Islands, where we frankly didn't do much, but still had a great time. And a day and a half in Reykjavik, where we took the Golden Circle tour, spent time in town, and came away seriously thinking this is a place we'd like to visit on its own!

 

This was our first cruise as diamond members, and every diamond concierge we meet in the future will be judged against Derick, who was simply amazing!

 

We had the opportunity on this cruise to dine at the Chef's Table. This is a "tasting menu" with fixed courses and wine accompaniments. We've eaten at some very high end restaurants on land, but the Chef's Table was very nice.

 

I don't think there's such a thing as a perfect cruise, and this one had it's challenges. I don't know that any were really "problems".

 

First, the cruise spends a lot of time in the North Sea. The North Sea has a reputation for a reason, and she had a bit of an attitude on this cruise. The net result kept everyone inside for almost the entire cruise, and most of one day the outside doors were closed for safety. The Centrum concept is very nice, but it results in Brilliance having less interior space than the larger ships with a promenade. It was hard to find an inside spot to have a seat and relax outside of our cabin. We don't normally bounce from activity to activity, but there seemed to be fewer, at least that interested us, on this cruise.

 

I hesitate to mention it, but it was so obvious it's hard not to. There really were not many smokers on Brilliance, and those that were smoking were universally considerate. We only saw a couple of folks smoking just inside the casino, for instance. Which tells me that what we observed is an engineering problem! In spite of the limited number of smokers in the casino, the Centrum reeked of "old smoke" for most of the cruise. We walked through the casino several times, and sat in the Pub just forward of it, without any issue whatsoever, but the Centrum just seems built to pull out months or years of smoke residue that I could not in the least attribute to any smokers onboard, who again were few in number and generally very considerate of others. Very strange.

 

We're home again, doing laundry, and I have at least 3 memory cards to go through for pics! A wonderful time and a unique cruise! Highly recommended!

 

Very nice review. Thank you

[Polomom]

Can't wait for pictures! We sail next month!

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

Thanks for the review so far! Excited to hear more about the Brilliance as I will be sailing her to Italy next summer!

[ckfred]

We were on the Brilliance, and we had some experiences that we never had before on 5 prior cruises with RC.

 

First, there were 3 "Alpha, Alpha, Alpha" alerts, which I believe is a medical emergency. One was in the Windjammer while we were having lunch. A lot of crew members came running in, some carrying what appeared to be medical equipment and supply bags.

 

Second, about 2 and half hours after departing Reykjavik, the Icelandic Coast Guard had to evacuate a passenger via helicopter. What got to be an issue was the fact that so many people were on the forward portions of open decks, trying to watch, and crew members were, shall we say, rather brusque in trying to clear those areas.

 

In my opinion, if the crew didn't want large crowds trying to watch, the captain should not have announced that a helicopter was arriving on scene. I had been watching a Thriller rehearsal, when the announcement was made. It was surprising how many people went tearing out of the Centrum for a view.

 

Last, I heard from another passenger, who attended the captain's forum, that 5 passengers were left behind in Iceland. I watched one passenger board a few minutes before the aft gangway was removed, and he got a round of applause from people watching for "runners" from the starboard balconies.

 

Overall, I thought it was a great cruise, but the North Sea was rough. During the last formal night, my wife and I second-guesses ourselves about eating in the MDR, rather than having a quick meal in the Windjammer.

 

My only real complaint was the excursion we had in Geirengar. We were supposed to hike a total of 5 miles over "uneven" terrain to a waterfall. It turns out that uneven terrain meant dirt trails with rocks, more than a kilometer of rough stone steps, and a lot of spots where, in a U.S. national park, there would have been railings. Many of my fellow passengers were complaining that the description of the excursion could have been more accurate as to the difficult terrain. The tour guide, who works as a ski instructor in Italy during the winter, seemed perplexed by the fact that so many people thought the hike was a bit of the rough side.

[markeb]

We were on the Brilliance, and we had some experiences that we never had before on 5 prior cruises with RC.

 

First, there were 3 "Alpha, Alpha, Alpha" alerts, which I believe is a medical emergency. One was in the Windjammer while we were having lunch. A lot of crew members came running in, some carrying what appeared to be medical equipment and supply bags.

 

Second, about 2 and half hours after departing Reykjavik, the Icelandic Coast Guard had to evacuate a passenger via helicopter. What got to be an issue was the fact that so many people were on the forward portions of open decks, trying to watch, and crew members were, shall we say, rather brusque in trying to clear those areas.

 

In my opinion, if the crew didn't want large crowds trying to watch, the captain should not have announced that a helicopter was arriving on scene. I had been watching a Thriller rehearsal, when the announcement was made. It was surprising how many people went tearing out of the Centrum for a view.

 

Last, I heard from another passenger, who attended the captain's forum, that 5 passengers were left behind in Iceland. I watched one passenger board a few minutes before the aft gangway was removed, and he got a round of applause from people watching for "runners" from the starboard balconies.

 

Overall, I thought it was a great cruise, but the North Sea was rough. During the last formal night, my wife and I second-guesses ourselves about eating in the MDR, rather than having a quick meal in the Windjammer.

 

My only real complaint was the excursion we had in Geirengar. We were supposed to hike a total of 5 miles over "uneven" terrain to a waterfall. It turns out that uneven terrain meant dirt trails with rocks, more than a kilometer of rough stone steps, and a lot of spots where, in a U.S. national park, there would have been railings. Many of my fellow passengers were complaining that the description of the excursion could have been more accurate as to the difficult terrain. The tour guide, who works as a ski instructor in Italy during the winter, seemed perplexed by the fact that so many people thought the hike was a bit of the rough side.

 

I think there were actually 4 "Alpha, alpha, alpha" calls.

 

I also heard there were 5 left behind in Iceland. We watched two come back on the HOHO about 45 minutes late; they weren't capable of moving very fast up the gangway. Rumor was (presumably from the same captain's forum) was that the late arrivals were greeted with a significant charge for being late. I have no way of confirming or denying that, of course.

 

We saw the helicopter flying away from our (rarely used) balcony. I don't know what you do in that situation; if you don't announce it and a helicopter suddenly shows up, it's going to be bad. I'd probably have been beyond brusque in clearing the area. There are few things more dangerous at sea than trying to hover over the moving deck of a moving ship while lifting a basket off the helipad.

[cruisin0504]

Looking forward to your photos - we have never been on RCL and are looking forward to our first time in 10/2016

[ckfred]

 

We saw the helicopter flying away from our (rarely used) balcony. I don't know what you do in that situation; if you don't announce it and a helicopter suddenly shows up, it's going to be bad. I'd probably have been beyond brusque in clearing the area. There are few things more dangerous at sea than trying to hover over the moving deck of a moving ship while lifting a basket off the helipad.

 

I got the feeling the crew didn't expect the forward sections of Decks 11, 12, and 13 to become SRO within a matter of a few minutes. By the same token, when crew members kept saying, "We want you to move for your safety," the looks back were that of, "Huh?" It was sunny, little wind, and fairly calm seas. If the evacuation had taken place the next day with high winds, showers, and high seas, people would have been more understanding of the crew trying to clear the decks.

 

That said, it seems to me that the crew should have roped off the forward areas of the decks, then the captain could have announced the arrival of the helicopter. So, when the swarm of passengers with cameras arrived, there would have been no access.

[hotinphoenix]

On this cruise as well. While the itinerary was amazing we were less than impressed with the Brilliance and some of it's crew, namely guest services and the loyalty ambassador.

 

I have video of the helicopter as it was circling the ship after it dropped the medic and stretcher. You can clearly see a crew member in the helicopter sitting on the side of the open door with legs dangling and waving to passengers watching from their balconies. I was so incredibly impressed with their ability to get so close to the ship and load the ill passenger all while the ship continued to move.

 

We did the Path of the Trolls and Golden Circle tours. Looking toward to seeing your pictures!!

[markeb]

One of the beauties and curses of digital photography is you can literally end up with hundreds of photos. Lightroom is telling me I've tagged 877 pictures with "Brilliance", which includes pre- and post- cruise photos. I skimmed through for 33 to show family on a trip that starts tomorrow (so much for recovery), and figured I'd start with those.

 

As a little background, this was a partially intentionally, partially unintentionally long trip. I have just begun what's known as "transition" into "retirement" after 27 years of active service in the Army. So, for the first time in 27 years, and the last time for probably the next 10, we had a whole lot of accumulated vacation time. Additionally, we were flying and mostly staying on miles and points, and United had supersaver BusinessFirst fares for redemption if we went early and stayed an extra day. We did both!

 

We left Washington on July 21st and arrived early in the morning on the 22nd. One of the unexpected bennies of flying up front was the use of arrivals lounge at Heathrow, and a shower! We hopped the Heathrow Express to Paddington and a cab to our hotel, the Marriott Park Lane, a recently renovated hotel across from Hyde Park and Marble Arch. This wasn't our first trip to London, so we did some potentially unusual things that we hadn't done in the past.

 

Our first full day in London was beautiful and sunny, and we caught the City Cruise from Westminster Pier to Greenwich.

 

On the Thames

 

 

The Prime Meridian itself

 

 

The second day it rained. We spent the day in the Imperial War Museum, which has been recently refurbished and is an incredible museum. 2015 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I, and a good portion of the museum is devoted to a conflict largely forgotten in the United States, but still remembered in the UK.

 

Saturday was mostly sunny, and we hopped the train for a short ride to Salisbury, early in the morning which was key! We bought two tickets on the HOHO bus, and were off to Stonehenge

 

 

We were also able to wander around Salisbury, a lovely town/village with what is arguably the oldest (Winchester argues with them) cathedral in England. It also houses one of four original copies of the Magna Carta, which makes it a very nice visit.

 

 

 

 

The next day it rained again, and we spent the day in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Monday, the sun came out and we walked the South Bank. And then it was Tuesday, and time to head for Harwich!

[markeb]

As I say, I appear to have 877 photos to process and organize. Sometime in the next 6 months, maybe I'll do a complete discussion by location. Also, I have yet to develop any shipboard photos; maybe next weekend!

 

We shared a van with four other people we'd met through our Roll Call. It was a pretty simple ride down, easy bag drop, easy check-in, and onto Brilliance!

 

Our first stop was Bergen, where I honestly wish we'd had a little more time. We did an overview tour, then spent the afternoon in town, going up the Funicular, and wandering through the shops and attractions, as well as sampling a very good local beer!

 

Up the Funicular

 

 

The view from the top

 

 

And back down, meeting the other train

 

 

And finally, some of the historical buildings

 

[markeb]

The next day, we were in Alesund for the day and well into the evening. We again did a half day tour that included their open air museum.

 

 

and spent the afternoon wandering around town

 

 

Alesund was a little odd in that we were in port until 11:00 p.m., but the shops all closed at 4:00. Like it or not, you're in Alesund for a long time because the cruise to Gerainger is not that long. Oh, well. We still enjoyed the visit.

[markeb]

This was one of the jewels of the entire cruise. And one that was ultimately hard to photograph. The town was fogged in/clouded in for much of the day. There was a bus to the top of the mountain where there are apparently amazing views of the fjord, but we wanted to wander the town and its surroundings and enjoyed that.

 

Waterfall in town

 

 

Brilliance in the fjord

 

 

By the end of the day, there were three other ships in town. We, however, were at the floating pier, so we could walk off the ship into town without a tender!

 

The Seven Sisters Waterfall on the sail out

 

 

Much more spectacular than the photograph!

 

and sunset as we reached open water

 

[markeb]

This was frankly an odd stop, and we had not done enough research. Klaksvik is the smallish town with the port and not a lot else. Most of the historical areas are elsewhere, we hadn't booked an excursion, and they were sold out. We enjoyed our time in town, but wonder if we wouldn't have enjoyed getting out of Klaksvik for the day.

 

It's a rugged, green, and wet area

 

 

and the town had a beautiful church built in the 1960's

 

 

From here, it was a bumpy day at sea to Reykjavik...

[markeb]

Iceland was the "crown jewel" of the cruise. We were in port for a day and a half, which gave us the opportunity to explore the city in the evening, and generally enjoy being there.

 

We did the Golden Circle tour through RCI. Some of our roll call mates did a private tour. They probably saw a little more, but you spend a lot of this day (it was 8-9 hours) driving.

 

The primary attractions on the Golden Circle are Geysir, the Gullfoss falls, and Thingvellir National Park, where the European and American continental plates meet (and drift apart).

 

Geysir

 

 

 

Gullfoss

 

 

and Thingvellir

 

[markeb]

You forget the 6 photo limit in the software!

 

One of the beauties of free time was the ability to walk through the downtown and to visit Hallgrímskirkja, a beautiful church with a magnificent organ.

 

 

 

and to walk along the waterfront.

 

This modern sculpture is supposed to invoke the Viking ships that first came to Iceland

 

 

From Reykjavik, after the theatrics of people rushing to, missing, and being evacuated from the ship, it was two days in a quite bumpy North Atlantic back to Harwich.

[ckfred]

One thing that kind of bugged me about the Brilliance was the artwork in the forward staircase. It was photos and images of ships of all kinds, from sailboats to large ocean liners.

 

Between Decks 4 and 5, there was a full-width depiction of the Titanic, along with smaller images, including a scene from the movie with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. There was also a scene of the ship, after it had started to sink.

 

To me, that's like showing an in-flight movie that has a plane crash. Airlines don't do that, since they don't want to remind passengers that planes do have accidents every now and then.

 

I once got some dirty looks on a flight, because I was reading a magazine with a cover story about the Air France jet that crashed into the Atlantic between Rio and Paris. It didn't help that the ride got bumpy because of thunderstorms across central Florida.

[cruisin0504]

We always find that odd as well - never been on Brilliance - but on many other ships there have been Titanic decorations, or music. Not exactly comforting!

[markeb]

Never noticed the Titanic art. There was interesting art around the ship, but missed that one!