Just Back From Brilliance of the Seas .... Awesome Cruise !!!!

Hi all :) .... just got back from PanamaCruise aboard the Brilliance of the Seas .... and by far this was our BEST Cruise yet !!!!!!! .... the Brilliance is a wonderful ship and the Crew were absolutely wonderful .... and the Food was just as good !!!! .... I'll try to answer any questions anyone might have ..... would I cruise this Ship again ????? YOU BET !!!!!!!! :D

Have a Good Day

BrianB

So good to hear Brian! We are taking her April 8th, and documents have gone out and many of us have already received them! Usual RCCL efficiency.

What excursions did you take (with RCCL or on your own) and your opinions on same would be helpful for those undecided.

Thanks!

Ruthie

Brian - We were on Brilliance - got off when you got on - and you are right - She is awesome!! That was by far the best vacation we have ever had! The crew is wonderful and the food was great! We had not one complaint - but when you are cruising - you should'nt complain:D it beats being at home!

We will be sailing her again next April to the Panama Canal too. We are really excited:)

Glad you had great time!

Dawn

How were the shows??

I am not sure if they will be the same as the Mediterranean shows, but at least I can try and ask...

Hi clivenruth we did the Let's go Latin Show in Aruba and thought it was quite Good .... the only downfall was you had to find your own way to the Theater and if your handicapped that presented a problem as you would have to arrange your own Taxi. ... we also did the Tortguero Canal Tour on Cost Rica and that was really Awesome .... would recomend that to anyone !!! and to top it off we did the StingRay tour ... if you get the chance and don't mind being the water with stingrays do this tour !!!!

Hi AlbertaGirl and thanx for your well wishes :)

Hi Florida_cruisers the Singers and Dancers were good.... but we enjoyed John Davidson !!! he was awesome and the Comedian was really good as well ... what I liked about this Cruise it wasn't always Singers and Dancers .... there was a good mix of Entertainment :D

Hope this helps :)

Have a Good Day

BrianB

Brian,

We are on the Brilliance on March 18th on a 10 day Panama Canal Cruise.

Did you take the same one? We are leaving from Miami and returning to Miami which was particularly appealing. We don't go all the way thru the canal but at least we don't have to book one flight on the east coast and another on the west coast.

How was the food & entertainment? Do you know what night is Steak night.

We hadn't been impressed with the Ranch steak RCL served last year and thought we could book Chops that night.

Thanks for any feedback.

Dallas

Glad to hear you enjoyed your cruise. We did that itinerary last February and had a great time. Really enjoyed sailing into Gatun Lake through the locks. It was even more interesting than we expected.

We'll be sailing Brilliance in June so we're happy to hear the ship is still in good shape. Do you recall who the cruise director was?

Thanks!

Will be sailing on the 11 day Ultimate Caribbean. Any advice re food venues or special activities on the Brilliance? This is my first RCCL cruise (previous Carnival cruiser). Also, any feedback on shore excursions on St. Lucia or Antigua? Bon voyage to all!:)

We did the Pirate ship excursion in St. Lucia. It was a great time, especially if you like rum punch! Our other exciting adventure was the excursion to St. John's Trunk Bay. We did both thru RCL and didn't mind the extra cost as opposed to doing it on your own. Everything is convenient and organized and no chance of being left behind. Plus we got double points on our RCL VISA. Save your shopping for St. Marteen - so many, many stores!

thank you for this thread. we do the same cruise apr 8th. i would like to ask you how brilliance looked? i know after our cruise she goes into drydock. so im wondering if she is showing any wear & tear. please continue to post info about your cruise. welcome home.....sorry it had to end.:)

dean & alice

Albertagirl, When next April are you going back on the Brilliance? We're sailing her on 04/17/06 :D Can't wait.

Hi all ... yes we were on the 10 day Panama Cruise our stops included Aruba ... Panama Canal up to Gatun Lake .... Costa rica and Grand Cayman :) ... at our Table of 7 we felt the food was very good ! ... a lady friend from CC recomended we try Chops and we did and it was so good we decided to eat there a second time ... it was well worth the extra $20.00 per person .... I liked the mixture of entertainment they had ... it wasn't all just singing and dancing .... we had a comedian .... even John Davidson came on board for one night .... WoW he was really good ... even at 63 years old !!!!! .... and Steak night was the last night of our Cruise Sunday night and it was New York Strip and it was almost as good as Chops :)

The Cruise Director is new to Brilliance and goes by the name Dan Dan the Party Man .... Dan Whitney is his name ... we found him to be quite entertaining and most willing to meet people :)

As far as the ships appearance the only ewear I saw was on our Railing for our Balcony ... I imagine it would be quite hard for them to recoat these and expect them to be dry in a matter of hours .... other than that she is still quite a beauty !!!!!!!! .... like I said a very smooth ship and I would sail her again in a minute .... I even played a few games of pools and it was awesome to see the table self level .... but like I said the ship was smooth so the Pool Tables weren't over working to keep level :D

Hope this helps you all

Have a Good Day

BrianB

Brian B and all!

As you said, the Brilliance is just that, and more. For a ship that is almost three years old, she show little or no wear. The staff and crew were some of the best we have met on our RCCl cruises. The service was excellent. We have no complaints about the food and Chops was fantastic.

My wife and I were invited to dine with the Captain and it was a really nice experience. He is a very graacious and humorous individual. He takes great pride in his ship.

We were able to utilize the conceirge club and this is a great perk! Seattle's Best coffee around the clock and drinks and snacks in the evening. The conceirge, Chris Hau, is most hospitable. He began with RCCL seven years ago a a waiter and is training to be come a Loyalty Ambassador.

It was nice to meet you and all the others in the Meet & Mingle. I hope those on other cruises take advantage of this.

Should anyone have any questions about the ship or the ports, I will be most happy to reply.

Captain Ronn

Albertagirl,

My name is also Dawn from Alberta. We are sailing on the Brilliance this August to the Med. Can't wait. Glad you had a great time.

Dawn

we r going on Brillance Eastern Carribbean on March 28 with a group of 36 from Berwick, PA.. anyone else on this one? and any suggestions on tours? thank you..

We are also just back from the Brilliance. It was our best cruise yet. Largely due to Brian and all the other CC members.

Ship is beautiful and is constantly being wiped and polished. It is starting to show some wear and tear though. We noticed a few stains on the carpet and one glass door was missing in our bathroom. Didn't spoil our vacation though.

Panama Canal is awesome. We took the dome train down to Pacific Ocean and stopped at Miraflores Locks on the bus ride back.

Loved Costa Rica. Went on the Hacienda Experience. Long bus ride but well worth it. It was so cool up in the mountains.

Sting Ray City was great. We tried to do it on our last two times in Grand Cayman but it was canceled due to rough seas. Grand Cayman still is suffering from the effects of hurricaine Ivan last September. A lot of the hotels aren't even open yet and there is construction every where.

We had a great ti e and hope you do too.

Ann and Ed

Brian, who is currently the captain on the Brilliance? We are leaving on March 18 for the Panama cruise. It will be our very first cruise and we can't wait. This is the last of three trips my husband wanted to do for his 60th birthday. Thanks for all the great information. Anymore tips for a first time cruiser?

thank you for this thread. we do the same cruise apr 8th. i would like to ask you how brilliance looked? i know after our cruise she goes into drydock. so im wondering if she is showing any wear & tear. please continue to post info about your cruise. welcome home.....sorry it had to end.:)

 

dean & alice

when does the Brilliance go into dry dock?

Kirky - What a small world:D What part of Alberta are you from?

GranysT - That is the date we are sailing too - we have it tenatively booked - waiting for my sister and her husband to decide if they are coming with us or not. She really wants to go on the Hawaiian itinerary. We are really excited - we will go on either one - but we loved the Brilliance so much:)

This board is so neat - so glad I "stumbled" upon it while searching for info on our ports of call!!

Dawn

she goes into drydock after we return on apr 18th.

dean

Hi all :) .... just got back from PanamaCruise aboard the Brilliance of the Seas .... and by far this was our BEST Cruise yet !!!!!!! .... the Brilliance is a wonderful ship and the Crew were absolutely wonderful .... and the Food was just as good !!!! .... I'll try to answer any questions anyone might have ..... would I cruise this Ship again ????? YOU BET !!!!!!!! :D

 

Have a Good Day

BrianB

brian, please advise if you plan to post a review. thanks.

dean

I am from Edmonton. And you?

Dawn

I was on the Brilliance with Bryan, Ann and Ed. I played golf on Aruba with someone I met on here and Dylan, the golf and rock-climbing man from the ship. It was windy but we had a great time. We did the Panama City bus trip. Despite what I had read on here how terrible it is, I enjoyed seeing the city. They are renovating the old part of the city so that it will be similar to Old San Juan or New Orleans. They have a long way to go, but it will be something if they ever get it going. The old church with the altar of gold was beautiful. We walked through the old part of the city with our guide for about 50 minutes. There were people selling crafts and the beautiful molas as well as souvenirs, but they didn't hound us. We had a nice lunch at Cafe Cafe overlooking the Pacific and over to the Old Colonial City. It is about one hour and 15 minutes ride back to Cristobal. We didn't get back in time for our early 5:30 dinner, had to eat at the Windjammer. We took the Banana Train in Costa Rica. It was interesting and anyone who is a train nut would enjoy it. The bus ride to the train wasn't as long as the train ride which was 2 hours. I overheard some other lady say that she thought it was boring. We had been to San Jose on a previous cruise to the West Coast and enjoyed that but it is a long day going up there and back. The trip we wanted to take to the South Shore of Grand Cayman was cancelled, they still aren't up and running there yet. So we just walked out to the Wharf Restaurant which turned out to be closed for lunch on Sat. We ended up eating at Rackham's Pub which is behind the Stingray City Brewing Store. They had delicious conch chowder and conch fritters. We had a balcony cabin, on the bump, forward on deck 7, but other than for going through the canal, I wasn't out there much. We ate breakfast and lunch out on the back deck behind the Windjammer. There were so many things going on, I didn't even get into a bathing suit. I enjoyed the Shipshape activities, especially the walking and golf. The yoga teacher, Irena, was very nice and a good instructor, but I am used to senior yoga, so only went once. We didn't have enough people to have a class the first time I went down, I believe a minimum of 5 is required. There were quite afew line dance sessions but they didn't last more than 10 or 15 minutes. Some were at night, late night after I went to bed. The ship is beautiful and the staff and crew were very efficient and friendly. Any meal I don't have to cook is good to me, but my husband thought that we have had better food and that it was nothing special. Our waiter, busboy and captain were very professional. I would have to look up the name of the captain, I think his first name was Tom. We took the backstage tour and got to meet the singers and dancers. They are very enthusiastic and work very hard to put on a good show. I really enjoyed their entertainment. We really enjoyed Moses and his group in the Colony Club at night. Also the string duo and the trio in the Lobby Bar. It was really a great cruise; hope that those of you who are going have as good weather as we had, not much rain, lots of sun, warm and very calm seas.

Jo Ann (Platinum Level)

Hi all - I am on the Brilliance April 8th sailing and just have a quick question. If you decide to do an excursion in Panama do you get off the ship before or after you go through the locks? I have never done the canal before and would hate to miss it by ship but i wonder if I can do both!!

You go through the locks to Gatun Lake and then tender in to the dock to catch your tour. This is not the same dock where you get back on the ship at the end of the tour, that is at Cristobal which is on the Caribbean/Atlantic.