Short review of Brilliance of the Seas

[live2vayk]

Hello fellow cruisers! I wrote a long winded review of my cruise already, but thought I would just post some comments about it here too.

 

I was in a group of 10 woman who left behind husbands/kids to go have a girls only cruise to celebrate a member of the groups 50th bday. This was my first time sailing out of Tampa. I loved the area, and everything was fine but honestly I may not sail out of Tampa again unless the deal is good. I was very nervous about fog issues. We didn't have any, but it was overcast and foggy on the way out and we didn't sail away on time. Now I have no idea if that was fog related or not, but I did wonder! We were about 45 minutes late sailing out. No big deal, other than that I fretted the cruise might be cancelled.

 

We stayed the night prior to sailing at the Country Inn and Suites on Benjamin Road. Clean and comfy with a free airport shuttle, free breakfast, and they arranged our transfer to the cruise port which was very handy. With tip it was about $10.00 each for that transport. There were two bummers with the hotel, it really wasn't close to much you could walk to, and the hot tub was COLD. ;( BUT, the front desk staff was top notch, and they gave us cookies. All good.

 

We were at the port at around 11, pretty much walked right onto the ship. Hit the bar a bit, then grabbed lunch at the WJ, and by 1 PM our balcony cabins were ready. That was all as smooth as could be.

 

I loved Brilliance. I have been on Serenade in the past, very similar. I was on Oasis last October. Mind you that is a beautiful ship, but I think I prefer the smaller ships. Brilliance was in good repair and clean. The staff was great.

 

Weather was a bit of a bummer, but we had enough activities on the ship to keep busy. The super bowl was on. Nothing I care about but the ship did a good job around the super bowl and it could be watched in several locations. Many in my group did watch. I did not.

 

Our one stop for this short voyage was Cozumel. We went to Playa Mia for the day. Rest rooms were very clean (important detail for me!) and the food was good. I have been to nicer places in Cozumel, but this one was fine.

 

So a few hits/misses: I had booked Anytime Dining. Well, for a party of 10 you have very limited options apparently. I had pre booked a 7 pm seating, but when I went to check on it, I was told we couldn't have that time, because of the size of our party we had to do early or late. Well OK, had I known that I would have just done trad dining. Not a huge deal, but annoying. If you can't accommodate large groups in MTD, then don't offer it to large groups.

 

I also found it annoying/odd that the first day we were hounded to make reservations at the fee restaurants. This was new to me, I have been asked in the past, but usually just once, and in a non sales pitch way. This time my group was all asked multiple times to book at the fee places in an aggressive sales sort of way. Not sure what is up with that, but I didn't like it. I hope that doesn't become the norm on RCI.

 

We had some rough seas, nothing horrible, but the ship really creaked at night I assume from movement. Nothing ear plugs couldn't handle. Our room location was on deck 8 mid ship. Loved it.

 

Leaving the ship was fast and easy. We had pre arranged Super Shuttle to take us to the airport. We were off so fast we had to wait a bit for the shuttle but that was fine.

 

All things considered, we had a GREAT time, and I certainly would recommend Brilliance of the Seas!

 

I am happy to elaborate if there are any questions!

[Keith1010]

Thanks for your review and glad you had a great time.

 

Keith

[mark290]

Thanks for the review. Where is the long winded version posted?

[Clarea]

Appreciate the report, thanks.

[Susie51]

Thank you for info about large group dining. We're your reservations linked?

[live2vayk]

Thanks for the review. Where is the long winded version posted?

 

LOL! I got a bit long winded on this one too didn't I! Believe it or not, I wrote a longer one for the actual review section of cruise critic. I don't think it has been posted yet, I just wrote it yesterday.

[live2vayk]

Thank you for info about large group dining. We're your reservations linked?

 

Hello! Yes, I had linked all the cabins together on all reservations at the time of booking. That was not an issue. He flat out said they just can't (won't?) accommodate a party of 10 in MTD during peak times. My issue wasn't that they couldn't, my issue was that I would have liked to have known that about MTD before hand to make a better choice. Not a big deal, but good to know for future travels.

Edited February 12, 2016 by live2vayk

[KirkNC]

Thanks for the report.

[mark290]

LOL! I got a bit long winded on this one too didn't I! Believe it or not, I wrote a longer one for the actual review section of cruise critic. I don't think it has been posted yet, I just wrote it yesterday.

 

The longer the better. I'll keep an eye out for it. Thanks

[jaminvermont]

Hello fellow Vermonter :)

Thanks for the review. it's always fun to read them!

[cruisingsince94]

Thanks for posting. Will look for the extended version when posted. We are on Brilliance in just under a month for our 22nd anniversary.

[molly361]

We were on the same cruise. It was not fog that delayed our departure. It was some boat traffic that caused the delay. The captain made an announcement.

[live2vayk]

We were on the same cruise. It was not fog that delayed our departure. It was some boat traffic that caused the delay. The captain made an announcement.

 

Good to know! I couldn't hear the announcements in my cabin, so I missed that one. Thanks for letting me know, I was curious!

[love2shell]

Thanks for your post! Quick question - did you use the cinema, and if so, was it difficult to get a seat?

[live2vayk]

Hello fellow Vermonter :)

Thanks for the review. it's always fun to read them!

 

Hello! I am glad you enjoyed reading it, I also enjoy reading reviews. It is always interesting to me to find out what other folks enjoyed, or didn't enjoy, on their journey.

 

Bundle up this weekend! Sub zero temps have arrived to our neck of the woods!

[live2vayk]

Thanks for your post! Quick question - did you use the cinema, and if so, was it difficult to get a seat?

 

We did not use the cinema, but I did pop my head in once on the way by and noticed there were seats to be had at that point in time....

[Clarea]

Thanks for your post! Quick question - did you use the cinema, and if so, was it difficult to get a seat?

We looked into the cinema a couple of times on our December cruise, and it was never more than half full.

[molly361]

Thanks for your post! Quick question - did you use the cinema, and if so, was it difficult to get a seat?

 

Depends on the weather- it was a crappy sea day on the way back and I went down at 12:35 for the 1pm show and it was FULL- First time I have seen that when trying to get a seat fairly early. I was very surprised. Forgot the movie name. Some spy movie

[Clarea]

Depends on the weather- it was a crappy sea day on the way back and I went down at 12:35 for the 1pm show and it was FULL- First time I have seen that when trying to get a seat fairly early. I was very surprised. Forgot the movie name. Some spy movie

Spectre?

[molly361]

Spectre?

 

Not sure but I don't think so

[Sir_Randy]

Boarding March 7th, excited! Did they offer daily drink (adult) specials (discounted prices)? I heard their drink prices have gotten stupid expensive, and trying to decide if a drink package would be best? Thanks for the review!

[live2vayk]

Boarding March 7th, excited! Did they offer daily drink (adult) specials (discounted prices)? I heard their drink prices have gotten stupid expensive, and trying to decide if a drink package would be best? Thanks for the review!

 

AHHH!! Drink prices/packages! I forgot to mention those!! So I found the drink prices to be high on cocktails, not bad for beer/wine. I did not do a drink package. I can not for the life of me figure out how people can handle the calories alone from drinking enough everyday to break even on buying a drink package, so I just can't do it. I typically drink more on vacation, but I max out at about three drinks a day.

 

For the beverages I did buy: I got an amaretto sour one night, that was $13.68. I think that was my most expensive drink. I had a few other cocktails, they mostly were around $12.00. I bought a bottle of wine one day, $43.00 that I shared with my group. Glasses of wine were anywhere from $7.00 on up. I also had brought on two bottles of wine, so that is another reason a drink package didn't make sense for me.... buckets of beer were $37.00 for 6 (pretty sure it had 6 in it). My friend drank bud light, not sure if they prices are different for different kinds. What I found very odd about the buckets of beer is each bar seemed to have their own price. One bar charged $41.00 for the same bucket of beer! Another charged us somewhere in between those two prices. That was a little weird. There were margarita specials in Rita's Cantina, but I didn't see many other drink specials other than that. But they did offer a "one day beverage package" purchase on our last sea day. A few members of our group bought it, but they all found that they likely only broke even.

 

I often see a lot of folks justify the drink package by saying "I don't want to have to worry about my bar bill, I want to just have it all included". Well fiscally for me that makes zero sense. I am not going to pay more than I will use only for the ease of not having to deal with a bar bill at the end. For me, I would have to drink 5 adult beverages to about break even, over that to see a return on my investment. I simply can't drink that much and fit back into my pants at the end of the cruise!! :)

[Sir_Randy]

Thank you live2vayk!

[Sir_Randy]

AHHH!! Drink prices/packages! I forgot to mention those!! So I found the drink prices to be high on cocktails, not bad for beer/wine. I did not do a drink package. I can not for the life of me figure out how people can handle the calories alone from drinking enough everyday to break even on buying a drink package, so I just can't do it. I typically drink more on vacation, but I max out at about three drinks a day.

 

For the beverages I did buy: I got an amaretto sour one night, that was $13.68. I think that was my most expensive drink. I had a few other cocktails, they mostly were around $12.00. I bought a bottle of wine one day, $43.00 that I shared with my group. Glasses of wine were anywhere from $7.00 on up. I also had brought on two bottles of wine, so that is another reason a drink package didn't make sense for me.... buckets of beer were $37.00 for 6 (pretty sure it had 6 in it). My friend drank bud light, not sure if they prices are different for different kinds. What I found very odd about the buckets of beer is each bar seemed to have their own price. One bar charged $41.00 for the same bucket of beer! Another charged us somewhere in between those two prices. That was a little weird. There were margarita specials in Rita's Cantina, but I didn't see many other drink specials other than that. But they did offer a "one day beverage package" purchase on our last sea day. A few members of our group bought it, but they all found that they likely only broke even.

 

I often see a lot of folks justify the drink package by saying "I don't want to have to worry about my bar bill, I want to just have it all included". Well fiscally for me that makes zero sense. I am not going to pay more than I will use only for the ease of not having to deal with a bar bill at the end. For me, I would have to drink 5 adult beverages to about break even, over that to see a return on my investment. I simply can't drink that much and fit back into my pants at the end of the cruise!! :)

Thank you live2vayk! I would be interested in that last day drinks package if you would have more info on that? I would not mind having 1 day at sea where I did not have to worry about how many Mai Tai I had to pay for.

[molly361]

Thank you live2vayk! I would be interested in that last day drinks package if you would have more info on that? I would not mind having 1 day at sea where I did not have to worry about how many Mai Tai I had to pay for.

 

They offered a one day drink package on the last day. The cost was $55 I believe, not sure if that included the tip or not as we did not purchase it