Just got off Brilliance today

[lovesthebeach2]

We love Brilliance and decided to take a shortie cruise since it’s moving away from Florida going to Australia. We did this during Spring Break 😳

However, all the guests, younger, older and in between had a great time and were all well behaved. Everyone looked like they had a great time.

 

The crew was fantastic as it seems they always are on Brilliance. The ship was always being cleaned, which we haven’t seen much on other ships recently, the MDR food tasted good and was cooked at the proper temperature, and the entertainment was good as well. We never sat at a messy table in any area as we had seen recently on another ship, which wasn’t easy because it was very crowded and had many children and lots of college age guests. 
 

If I had to say one thing negative, it’s that although the WJ food was ok, Royals decision to make repetitive, inexpensive foods that are swimming in brown or reddish liquid, where you don’t even know what it is, and it’s served every day with a small addition or subtraction of one ingredient so they can put a different sign up, it makes them look like a cheap cruise line. This is on all the recent ships we’ve been on, not just Brilliance. Many walk around with an empty plate looking for something to eat and that includes the ships white shirt crew that I saw every day.

 

On the positive side, we had more than 2 butters at dinner without needing to request it, and they had ice tea!  Funny how such small things can make ones cruise more enjoyable 😉

 

 

.

[DarthGrady]

Very much agree about the underwhelming WJ food, I ate there once on Harmony back in January and never went back. It might just be me getting jaded, but the quality does seem to have slipped. 

[Tlbecker1]

2 hours ago, DarthGrady said:

Very much agree about the underwhelming WJ food, I ate there once on Harmony back in January and never went back. It might just be me getting jaded, but the quality does seem to have slipped. 

It really depends on the ship.  We have enjoyed it recently on Navigator, Anthem, Quantum and Odyssey.

[cruisecop2006]

I 1000% agree. The food on Royal has gotten terrible. Same food everyday in the WJ and the new menus in the main dining room are terrible as well. I honestly thing the food and choices are now better on Carnival and I thought I would never sat this.

[kruzerci]

Totally agree. The food has gotten pretty pathetic. Glad you enjoyed!

[PhillyFan33579]

Keeping in mind that food is very subjective, I have been on 5 RCI cruises this year (number 6 starts tomorrow) and the food was good to very good in the WJ and MDR and outstanding in every speciality restaurant we ate at, with the exception of Mason Jar, which was not very good. I don’t discount the opinions of people who didn’t enjoy the food during the cruise, but if everyone felt food on RCI was not good, they would not be sailing most cruises with close to or over 100% capacity.  

[sunnysideup]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise on Brilliance. I have a question about embarkation at port of Tampa. We have 12:30 arrival time and would like to meet friends before boarding. Do you think that we could check in earlier and wait/ watch for them in the terminal or will we be in a queue outside the terminal?  I am not sure when they will be arriving to the port. We will be arriving early and parking at the port. 
Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. 

[JamesEM]

I'm disappointed to hear about the Windjammer, since I travel solo and eat a lot of my meal there. 

[lovesthebeach2]

8 hours ago, sunnysideup said:

Glad you enjoyed your cruise on Brilliance. I have a question about embarkation at port of Tampa. We have 12:30 arrival time and would like to meet friends before boarding. Do you think that we could check in earlier and wait/ watch for them in the terminal or will we be in a queue outside the terminal?  I am not sure when they will be arriving to the port. We will be arriving early and parking at the port. 
Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. 

In our case we had an 11am time, so we got to the port a bit before that and they had everyone check in and we all just sat and waited until we were able to board the ship. The suites, Pins and Keys went first, then everyone else. No one rushed or pushed. 

[lovesthebeach2]

5 hours ago, JamesEM said:

I'm disappointed to hear about the Windjammer, since I travel solo and eat a lot of my meal there. 

We didn’t starve, believe me.  But It’s noticeable they served many foods, that based on the sign were small chunks of some kind of meat (beef, chicken and once lamb)  in red or brown saucy liquid, so much so that there was mostly liquid. Always had rice next to them for all the sauce. Always had mashed potatoes. One cooked vegetable each day.

There were always burgers, hot dogs and pizza available, as well as macaroni and cheese which I have never had on a ship, but did this time because it’s all that looked good to me and was good.

 

A few days they had chicken that was legs and thighs that were cut up into large pieces, and some kind of grilled fish mostly every day. They didn’t say what kind of fish. 
 

the salads were good, and one day for lunch that had the pasta station and one day the Asian station.

 

you won’t starve, it’s just not like it used to be. It’s more like cafeteria food now.

 

I really didn’t want this thread to be about food, but about the ship and the experience. 

[Lady Hudson]

My opinion only — I am betting that many who are cruising now booked long before any notice of menu changes.  We’ll see how it goes in the future.  Our last sailing was in March and I will just say that we were very disappointed in the MDR menus.  Katherine 

[Engineroom Snipe]

29 minutes ago, Lady Hudson said:

My opinion only — I am betting that many who are cruising now booked long before any notice of menu changes.  

 

Interesting opinion: I booked all three of my cruises this year before any notice of menu and cabin service changes.

 

I have booked one cruise in November 2024 for our anniversary because I got a very good balcony deal through my TA.

 

My booking any more cruises for 2024 will depend on my experiences this year.

 

My Oasis MDR meals in 'September were disappointing, I am hoping it was a one off.

 

The Windjammer food was very acceptable at that time.

 

I am trying to tamp down my expectations and keep an open mind. 

[latebuyer]

Can you recommend any favorite spots on the brilliance? I’ll be there on june alaska sailing. I’ll avoid windjammer over concerns about norovirus.

[lovesthebeach2]

18 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Can you recommend any favorite spots on the brilliance? I’ll be there on june alaska sailing. I’ll avoid windjammer over concerns about norovirus.

All the Radiance ships are mostly the same, only difference is Radiance and Jewel have a very pretty green glass staircase from Deck 5 to Deck 4 Centrum. 
 

Our two favorite places on the ship are the Centrum and Schooner Bar which has a wall of windows to see the ocean. There’s so much glass on this ship the views are fantastic. It should be beautiful in Alaska! Enjoy!

[CruiserMickey]

I, too, will be on Brilliance going to Alaska (in May). May I ask if you had a favourite bartender at the Schooner Bar? I am going to be on the hunt for a really great lemon drop martini.

[neverbeenhere]

Happy Hunting!!!

[lovesthebeach2]

56 minutes ago, CruiserMickey said:

I, too, will be on Brilliance going to Alaska (in May). May I ask if you had a favourite bartender at the Schooner Bar? I am going to be on the hunt for a really great lemon drop martini.

Not on this ship, but on Serenade the bartender was awesome!

the bartenders in the R bar made better drinks on this cruise.

[CruiserMickey]

1 hour ago, lovesthebeach2 said:

Not on this ship, but on Serenade the bartender was awesome!

the bartenders in the R bar made better drinks on this cruise.

Thanks for the info!

[Bateau_de_croisiere]

You didn't have a

On 3/23/2023 at 7:57 PM, lovesthebeach2 said:

We love Brilliance and decided to take a shortie cruise since it’s moving away from Florida going to Australia.

You didn't by chance have the $31 Cafe Select Coffee Card while onboard? Curious how Brilliance's Cafe Latte-Tudes treats large size beverages, whether it's one punch or two on the multi-punch card since it varies between ships.

Edited March 26, 2023 by Bateau_de_croisiere

[George C]

We did brilliance 7 years ago in Europe WJ was terrible then also , rarely eat in WJ , I believe most other cruise lines have a better buffet.

[lovesthebeach2]

10 hours ago, Bateau_de_croisiere said:

You didn't have a

You didn't by chance have the $31 Cafe Select Coffee Card while onboard? Curious how Brilliance's Cafe Latte-Tudes treats large size beverages, whether it's one punch or two on the multi-punch card since it varies between ships.

No, we get our morning coffee in the Diamond lounge. 

[Luke gs Daddy]

On 3/23/2023 at 10:13 PM, sunnysideup said:

Glad you enjoyed your cruise on Brilliance. I have a question about embarkation at port of Tampa. We have 12:30 arrival time and would like to meet friends before boarding. Do you think that we could check in earlier and wait/ watch for them in the terminal or will we be in a queue outside the terminal?  I am not sure when they will be arriving to the port. We will be arriving early and parking at the port. 
Thanks for any information you may be able to provide. 

We were on this trip as well and had a family in our group for later boarding. They walked right on with us and no one said a word, we had 11am slot and all our group was checked in by 10:30 and onboard by 11am. 

We had an early flight and it all worked out great.

Have fun.

 

[Luke gs Daddy]

On 3/23/2023 at 3:57 PM, lovesthebeach2 said:

We love Brilliance and decided to take a shortie cruise since it’s moving away from Florida going to Australia. We did this during Spring Break 😳

However, all the guests, younger, older and in between had a great time and were all well behaved. Everyone looked like they had a great time.

 

The crew was fantastic as it seems they always are on Brilliance. The ship was always being cleaned, which we haven’t seen much on other ships recently, the MDR food tasted good and was cooked at the proper temperature, and the entertainment was good as well. We never sat at a messy table in any area as we had seen recently on another ship, which wasn’t easy because it was very crowded and had many children and lots of college age guests. 
 

If I had to say one thing negative, it’s that although the WJ food was ok, Royals decision to make repetitive, inexpensive foods that are swimming in brown or reddish liquid, where you don’t even know what it is, and it’s served every day with a small addition or subtraction of one ingredient so they can put a different sign up, it makes them look like a cheap cruise line. This is on all the recent ships we’ve been on, not just Brilliance. Many walk around with an empty plate looking for something to eat and that includes the ships white shirt crew that I saw every day.

 

On the positive side, we had more than 2 butters at dinner without needing to request it, and they had ice tea!  Funny how such small things can make ones cruise more enjoyable 😉

 

 

.

We were on her this sailing too and had a great time. 

MDR food was very good and never had an issue with asking for two entrees and only ate in WJ when needed a snack during pool time.

Great vaction with 7 high school senior young men and their families.

 

[MCC retired]

12 hours ago, Bateau_de_croisiere said:

You didn't have a

You didn't by chance have the $31 Cafe Select Coffee Card while onboard? Curious how Brilliance's Cafe Latte-Tudes treats large size beverages, whether it's one punch or two on the multi-punch card since it varies between ships.

On our Dec 2022 cruise aboard the Brilliance, they stated   2 punches required evey time.

[sunnysideup]

28 minutes ago, Luke gs Daddy said:

We were on this trip as well and had a family in our group for later boarding. They walked right on with us and no one said a word, we had 11am slot and all our group was checked in by 10:30 and onboard by 11am. 

We had an early flight and it all worked out great.

Have fun.

 

Thanks for sharing. I think we will try to meet them at the port and see how it goes.