My review: Brilliance of the Seas 12.17-12.21

[silentbob007]

Hi everyone ... I'm sitting in FLL and figured that I might as well make use of the free wireless internet and start working on my review of this special, 4-day cruise of Brilliance of the Seas.

A little about me ....

I'm a 27 year old graduate student on winter break. I was traveling with my mother. We booked this cruise at the end of October because of the attractive pricing. It was my fifth cruise on Royal Carribean and my mother's sixth, so we shared Platinum C&A ammenities.

12.15.07

Our cruise didn't leave until Monday, we were flying out Sunday, and yet ... I was still in the grip of panic as a winter storm hit Indiana on Saturday afternoon. In order to preempt any delays, we headed down to Indianapolis to spend the night on Saturday. I had a bid of $37 accepted on Priceline for the Hyatt Place at the Indy airport, and it turned out to be a very nice establishment except for the fact that there was very little surrounding the hotel. Snow blew in through the night ....

12.16.07

Even though our flight wasn't until 12:30 (Southwest, through TPA to FLL), I woke up at 4:00 AM to blowing snow and slushy roads. I called Southwest, who assured me their flights were still on time for Sunday. I changed my reservation to the first flight out (scared about the blowing snow) and we ended up on a 7:00 AM flight out of IND through MCO. Our flight was delayed because of a broken part and two de-icings, but an hour late, we took off with a massive complement of 36 passengers on board (evidently the rest couldn't make it to the airport). We landed at MCO about the time our connection was to take off, but w scooted to the gate (of course, about as far away as possible in the same terminal), and by 11:00 AM, we were in FLL.

I had won a $53 bid on Priceline for the Sheraton FLL airport. Once our bags were collected, I went to the courtesy phones and called for pickup. We were picked up about 15 minutes later. The lobby was a mess, full of passengers waiting to be picked up for their cruises, but we were immediately allowed to check in and were given a room with two queens on the ninth floor next to the ice machine. The room was adequate, clean, and we didn't even hear the ice machine. Once again, there wasn't a lot around the hotel to walk to, so I paid for internet to kill time and to order Domino's (which was delivered to the room).

More to come (including talk about the actual cruise ) ....

[silentbob007]

12.17.07

The big day finally arrived and I was still jubilant about having made it to FLL in one piece. We grabbed the airport shuttle back to FLL in order to catch our GO shuttle to the Port of Miami. The airport shuttle left on every hour and half hour, so we left at 10:00 and were waiting for the GO shuttle by 10:15. One thing I'd like to note here ... I had made a reservation online with my credit card for the GO shared ride shuttle, but when I checked in at the airport, I was told that they didn't take reservations, especially for shared ride. This also meant that we still had to pay cash for our ride (I will have to check for a charge later). We had to wait about 30 minutes for the shuttle and we picked up a few more people, but in th end, we arrived at the Port of Miami at around 11:15. The Brilliance definitely aged the rest of the ships docked around her: the Majesty OTS, Imagination, and Fascination.

When we stepped off the shuttle, the a porter appeared to take our bags, then we headed into the terminal. We proceeded up an escalator to find a large group of people standing in front of security. It turns out that there were delays because the Coast Guard was performing a full inspection, which makes sense because this was the day the Brilliance returned from Europe. We waited in a large, huddled line for about 20 minutes until security was opened and people were ushered away from the escalators. Security moved fairly quickly, and once past that, we headed into the room with all of the counters for check-in. We proceeded to Platinum and Diamond check-in, and after about a 5 minute wait, we were being helepd by and agent.

After being checked in, we moved into the holding area as the ship was not ready to board. We were handed an orange Priority ticket and told that the ship would not be be boarding until 12:15 or so. At around 12:20, we were told that we could proceed up the escalator to the ship and about half of the room stood up as most of the early arrivals were Priority boards. We made it up the escalator and were then stopped as small group of 10 were being allowed onto the boarding platform for their security photos and to board the ship. In the hallway while we were waiting, ship photographers were trying to take boarding pictures while everyone was standing in line in the middle of their backdrops. The line just kept moving as most people seemed uninterested in having their pictures taken.

At around 12:35, we stepped aboard the Brilliance, and let me say, she is a very pretty ship. The centrum reminded me a lot of vision-class ships with a lot of wood, glass, and brass. The solarium struck me as the most beautiful place I've ever seen on a ship. The Colony Club (aft lounge) was equally impressive, though the dining room and theater were nice but seemed fairly "cruise standard."

The odd part about boarding was that there didn't seem to be any food available. People were being turned away from the Windjammer and other establishments, such as the SeaView Cafe were also closed. This was a might perplexing, especially given my rumbling stomach. Luckily, 1:00 rolled around quickly and we proceeded to our stateroom: 7540, a balcony on the front section of the ship.

This was my first balcony on Royal Caribbean, and I must say, I enjoyed it immensely. The room seemed cruise-spacious, of course meaning that it was nice, had plenty of storage space, but would be tiny for any other sort of accommodations. The balcony seemed bigger than normal, as it extended perhaps two feet past the divider, allowing room for a full size lounger, two chairs, and a table. The down-side of this, of course, is that the balconies were not too private (at least on this level and part of ship) as you could not only see into other balconies, but you also stuck out below the balconies on the higher decks.

After dropping bags and making a few phone calls, we headed out once more on a quest for food. It was about 1:45 at this point and the Windjammer was finally open. The place was chaotic, however. I have seen this type of layout, with individual stations, before and worked with much more success. In this instance, however, it was a mess. There are multiple stations with salad stuff, entrees, etc., but there is no indication of where the "line" for each station starts, so when it was busy (as it was on this occasion), there were people everywhere, coming at food and stations from every direction. Once food was collected, however, seating became a problem. By this time, a lot of hungry people had accumlated, and just about every table in the place was either accounted for or had been saved. We luckily were able to grab a sandwich outside aft, but there was a lot of milling about by people on hunt for our entire lunch. The bussers were also a little behind, with most people choosing to clear out the trash on tables themselves so that they could have a place to sit.

The rest of the day passed without much incident. The muster drill was at 4:15 and had its usual complement of people blowing on their whistles and thinking it the height of hilarity. We were on the way about 5:30. The
Welcome Aboard show was held in between the two dinner seatings and was, as you can suspect, packed with everyone on the ship trying to get a space. The cruise director was Abe, and he seemed likable enough though I didn't really see him around the ship. Dinner was pleasant, and our waitresses were fantastic.

At 11, it was time to call it a night and prepare for the sea day tomorrow ....

[BillOh]

Looking forward to the rest. We got about 5 inches of snow out of that storm. Good reading.

[Merion_Mom]

Excellent narrative style!

MORE!

[Conanc]

Great review. Can't wait for the rest. We are on the Brilliance in January!!!

Nancy

[PSCruiser]

Very interesting so far - we were on the TA preceeding yours, and your comments about the Windjammer are right on.
We were in 7520, just down the hall. Did you have Harold? He was great.

[SomeBeach]

Bob,
A crew member mentioned on our last night that they suspected the inspection would take a long time with the ship having just returned from Europe.
I was up on the WJ deck (about 9 a.m.) waiting to leave the ship. Crew were still mopping the floors after breakfast, which was stopped at 8, tho I'm sure some were still finishing up. A guess would be that it was the last place inspected so no food preparation could be started for your lunch.

Enjoying your review.

[SherriZ366]

Printing out your review to read. We had looked into that cruise -- wanted to sail on Brilliance to make it 4 out 4 for Radiance Class. Prices were good and we had a good Diamond C&A coupon. We were a little worried about driving back from Miami during the holiday period and ended up do a short cruise on Enchantment on Nov. 1.

Saw the ship in port today on a Crystal ship website.

[Gangway Style]

Just want to ask, Silent Bob, was Brilliance in Key West Thursday, Dec 20? Actually I need to rephrase that. I KNOW Brilliance was in Key West this week. Just want to say I waved to you guys as you sailed past Fort Zacahary Taylor State Park at sunset. We got a great photo of Brilliance with the fiery sun juts in front of your ship and you were in silhouette.

I hope you enjoyed your visit to Key West and you were so lucky to have wonderful, cool weather.

[Gangway Style]

I goofed. We actually saw Brilliance in Key West on Wednesday the 19th. It was Majesty of the Seas we saw on Thursday there. Brilliance was in port with C.Columbus (Hapag Lloyd.)

I liked the Brilliance much better. The folks on C.Columbus had to climb very steep stairs to board or leave the ship. I don't know how handicapped folks could do it. Someone told us most of the passengers were German, Dutch and and Northern Eurpoean.

We will be sailing on Brilliance in January on a cruise to the Panama Canal.

[Fury1995]

Originally Posted by HeavySurf

I goofed. We actually saw Brilliance in Key West on Wednesday the 19th. It was Majesty of the Seas we saw on Thursday there. Brilliance was in port with C.Columbus (Hapag Lloyd.)

I liked the Brilliance much better. The folks on C.Columbus had to climb very steep stairs to board or leave the ship. I don't know how handicapped folks could do it. Someone told us most of the passengers were German, Dutch and and Northern Eurpoean.

We will be sailing on Brilliance in January on a cruise to the Panama Canal.

Hey were you watching us as we left? Someone was playing the Titantic theme from the dock really loud and I was the guy doing the "king of the world" on the front of the ship as we left.

[silentbob007]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I'm now stuck to a dial-up connection, so it is taking me a little more time to access the internet.


SomeBeach ... that was my assumption too about the Windjammer being closed. I had figured that there would be a few issues with being on this first cruise (perhaps why it was a short one) back in the US.

PSCruiser ... our room steward was Rowena. She was excellent, though.

HeavySurf ... Yes, it was Wednesday. I always enjoy stopping in Key West and the weather was quite nice. My balcony faced the port and I was laughing when the cafe played My Heart Will Go On, as Fury1995 mentioned.l

[silentbob007]

12.18 - At Sea

Tuesday was meant to be a day of leisurely relaxation. It was the only sea day, and as we had a day and a half to travel from Miami to Key West, the ship was moving quite leisurely, as well.

We had meant to start the day with breakfast on the balcony and walk-a-mile at 9 AM, but the night before we had received an invitation to the Diamond/Platinum brunch that started at 9. We decided that this would be worth going to, so at 9, we headed to the Colony Club at the back of the ship. What we found was a small line leading up to a small, two sided breakfast buffet that ran perpendicular up to the stage. The food consisted of typical lunch fare, such as bread items, pancakes, breakfast meats, ready-made omelettes, and a few chicken and beef offerings. Once seated, there were waiters to bring around drinks including coffee, tea, champagne, mimosas, and bloody marys. The food was nothing special, and the small tables in the Colony Club pretty much meant that people sat in their own groups without too much extra chit-chat. I heard that the drinks were fairly strong, but it was a tad too early in the day for me to start drinking. I had thought that here might be a welcome from a staff member or the loyalty ambassador, but no one showed ... it just seemed to be a chow and drink session.

We left the brunch and I signed up for an appointment with the loyalty ambassador, who's desk is in the Crown and Anchor Lounge on deck 12, above the centrum. I was worried about limited spaces for such a short cruise, though I was able to grab the last spot of the day at 4:30.

We spent the rest of the day wandering about the ship and reading on our balcony. The deck was fairly full, as would be expected, but the chair-savers didn't seem to be out in full force early and there were plenty of chairs to be had on the upper decks or in the front of the ship. Lunch was offered in both the Windjammer and dining room, and the dining room had the same standard menu with posted specials that I have seen for the last year or so on RCCL. The dining room did also offer made-to-order pasta, as well, though I guess there was enough of a backlog that, while it could be ordered either by the passenger or waiter, it would be made and delivered to the table later.

On deck, the typical games were held, including the sexy-legs competition and the belly-flop competition. The stores also had their 50% off logo-wear sale on deck 11, and there quite a few offerings I had never seen in this sale before. The Solarium was quite full, mostly of older Florida residents it seemed ... my guess is that this was caused by the cooler weather (low 70s) outside. I was a bit surprised that they had two, two-hour "family swim" times in the Solarium ... so from 12-2 and 4-6, kids were allowed to swim in the Solarium pool, regardless of the weather (I've only seen this before as an option during inclement weather). Also, just a note, the internet connection on the ship went down for a few hours in the afternoon.

At 4:30, I went to talk with the loyalty ambassador (Pablo) about a possible Hawaii cruise and a NextCruise. There were two people working in the C&A lounge, one working with a customer and the other (Pablo) seeming to work on some paperwork. I told him I was his appointment and he motioned me to sit away from him and wait until he finished. As we waited, he was interrupted twice by diamond-plus members, and he helped them verbally as we waited. About 15 minutes later, he remembered we were still waiting and motioned us over after first trying to pass us on to the other worker in the lounge (now free). I realize that Pablo was overworked and a little stressed, but I never go the sense that he wanted to be helping me and this didn't seem to be the right attitude for a frequent cruiser looking to give RCCL more money (or anyone else, for that matter).

Since this was a 4-day cruise, I didn't want to pack formal wear or participate in formal night. Because of this, I made reservations for Chops as I hadn't yet eaten there. I found the experience a little underwhelming. First of all, the service was very good except for seating, which took about 5 minutes of standing at the entrance to the place before we were greeted and seated. I started out with a crab cake, onion soup, and caesar salad. The salad was pretty good, though it was served in stalks that I had to cut up (seemed odd, but that's probably just me). The crab cake and soup, though, were just OK. The crab cake was fried and tasted more like breading than any type of seafood. The onion soup tasted like beef broth and onions with almost no character at all. Both of these items were offered later in the week in the dining room, and the dining room versions were much better. I ordered the t-bone steak, and it was very good though short of fabulous. My mother ordered a fillet and it was extremely smooth and tender. The mud pie at the end of the dinner was also very good. In the end, however, I do not think I will be returning to Chops on a future cruise. On the line, I'd rate Portofino of higher quality, and it is cheaper (Chops is $25/pp while Portfofino is $20/pp). Just FYI and in my opinion, of all of the alternative restaurants I've eaten at, I'd still rate any of Carnival's supper clubs as being superior to anything RCCL offers (though the price $30/pp is also superior).

After dinner, we headed back to the room full of too much food and not in the mood to do too much else. We missed the production show, a swing dance show. A few other things to note ... others also did not seem to take the formal night seriously for such a short cruise. Also, after 5:30, the casino was supposed to be smoke-free on formal night, though I did see a few people who were lighting up (didn't notice if they were asked to stop).

[thepeacha]

Hi we were on the TA just before you- your report is terrific, thanks! Yes you are right about the inspections, and I am sure they were awful for the staff. Sorry you "starved" at embarcation, this is unusual.

Pablo the Loyalty Ambassador was SO sick on our cruise. It was a miracle he could even speak through his headcold, much less operate cheerfully. The ship was jammed with Plat., Dia., D+ members and they ran his feet off, it was a little much I tell you. I am so sorry he was not terrific with you, he was so classy with us...

We LOVED the no- smoking nights in the Casino, and I personally set the staff on some folks who insisted that it was OK to smoke on these nights. There was a hysterical 2c and 5c slot- Mr. Lucky's Takeout or something like that- we were rolling when we got to the Take Out Bonus Menu, it was so funny.

Keep writing you are bringing back such great memories for us!

[Fury1995]

Chris...... I was suprised by the late opening of the Windjammer too. The staff kept sending people up to Deck 11 and the whole area was starting to get really jammed with people now sitting on the floor like they were waiting to disembark. It was becoming difficult to step off the elevator.

I went down to Guest Services to ask why the Windjammer wasn't open yet and they said it was. Then they said it won't be open until 3PM??? Then they said try in an hour. It was almost 1PM by then. I told them they shoud start re-directing people to Deck 12 or the pool area to alleviate the crowding.

The other Windjammer issue I noticed was the consistent lack of napkins and silverware for the first two days. I had two meals there where I had to scavenge for silverware. All we had was a soup spoon, a dessert fork and no napkin for two entire meals even after looking multiple times in all of the baskets.

Room service was another issue. Ordered three times, never came twice. One in the afternoon and one at night.

Meals and service in the dining room and Chops made up for the Windjammer and room service "failings". Still one of my favorite cruises. Can't wait to be back on Brilliance again soon.

[silentbob007]

Originally Posted by thepeacha

Hi we were on the TA just before you- your report is terrific, thanks! Yes you are right about the inspections, and I am sure they were awful for the staff. Sorry you "starved" at embarcation, this is unusual.

Not really close to starving ... definitely not close to wasting away. However, it is something I heard people complaining about for the rest of the cruise. It seems perhaps some explanation of why things were behind would have helped (or maybe they could have held on boarding for a little bit).

Originally Posted by thepeacha

Pablo the Loyalty Ambassador was SO sick on our cruise. It was a miracle he could even speak through his headcold, much less operate cheerfully. The ship was jammed with Plat., Dia., D+ members and they ran his feet off, it was a little much I tell you. I am so sorry he was not terrific with you, he was so classy with us...

I figured that something had to be off, as I can't see how someone would hold a job such as loyalty ambassador without being at least a little personable.

Originally Posted by thepeacha

We LOVED the no- smoking nights in the Casino, and I personally set the staff on some folks who insisted that it was OK to smoke on these nights. There was a hysterical 2c and 5c slot- Mr. Lucky's Takeout or something like that- we were rolling when we got to the Take Out Bonus Menu, it was so funny.

Hey ... I actually won about $20 from two cent Mr. Lucky. Actually, there are two machines I always have to play a when I see ... Texas Tea and Mr. Lucky. I usually play long enough to hit a bonus game, then run away, especially if I'm ahead. I'm obviously a master gambler ....

[silentbob007]

12.19 - Key West

This was my first time coming to Key West on Royal Caribbean, and I can say that the experience was much better than my times on Carnival, simply because of docking position. In the times I've visited with Carnival, we've always docked at the Navy pier and had to take shuttles from the pier to the downtown area and back. Needless to say, this was always a pain, especially in the summer when there were high temperatures, long lines, and very little shade. The Brilliance, however, docked at the Westin pier with immediate access to downtown and only a small walk to Duval Street ... much more convenient.

The ship docked early in the morning (around 7 AM, I think) and I woke up to watch the ship pull into port. We had decided that we would eat breakfast on the balcony this morning, but I had told my mom not to put the menu on the door (I didn't trust that the order would be received) in favor of ording over the television. At around 7:30, I placed an order on the TV for our breakfast for delivery between 8:30 and 9:00. By 9:30 we had not heard anything, figured the order for lost, and just went up to the Windjammer which was not too busy by this time in the morning.

After breakfast, I went down to the customer service desk to turn in our C&A coupons for internet access so I could check my grades. In the past, I've turned in two Gold coupons for $5 a piece and had them both applied to my account. This time I turned in a Gold and a Platinum ($7.50), but when I logged in, I was told I only had $10 credit. I'm not sure if this was a mistake, or if this was just the maximum that could be given per person, but either way, I would have liked for the desk person to have told me I would be losing out on $2.50 (not that it ended up mattering).

We had a very simple mission for Key West ... my mom wanted to go to the Fresh Produce store to buy some clothes. I wanted to buy a few fresh-rolled cigars. Both of those goals were accomplished fairly easily by walking down the street leading straight from the ship. A bit further down the road, I stopped at a Walgreens to buy some aspirin and bottled water at something well below ship price. On the way back, I stopped at a Blonde Giraffe store for a piece of chocolate covered key lime pie on a stick. I thought that the pie was fairly good, though not the best key lime pie I've ever had ... of course, I wouldn't expect anything on a stick to be "the best" of anything ....

I had thought about stopping at one of the bars (Sloppy Joe's, Captain Tony's, Irish Kevin's, etc), but to be honest, it was 11:30 and I just didn't feel like drinking. Instead, we headed back to the ship for a nice lunch uncrowded ship time. Quite a few people were late getting back to the ship, and to my surprise, they were unhurried even as gangplanks were being stowed. As we pulled out, one of the sidewalk cafes started playing "My Heart Will Go On," which I thought was pretty funny.

Dinner this night was very good, though I thought the selection for main courses was a little lacking with the chef's recommendation being a pork chop. The show was pre-dinner and featured El Goucho, the cruise ship staple. He put on a bit of a different show than I've seen from him before, however, as he did more musical numbers in a attempt to reach more of the non-English audience. This was also the night of the Quest ... which one of these days I will probably have to attend.

This night, we decided to put out the room service menu on our door for our breakfast-on-the-balcony quest. I went out on the balcony to smoke one of my cigars (it was very windy and none of my neighbors were on their balconies). Afterwards, I decided to hit the SeaView Cafe for a pizza and noticed that our menu had been taken, though there were others down the hallway still on the door. I found the menu that had been taken from our door in the nearby elevator lobby ... my mom had said she heard kids giggling outside our door, but didn't think anything of it.

[powelweb]

Hi silentbob007,
We were on this sailing with you. Overall, we had a great time, but I wanted to point out that there was no family swim time in the solarium.

I can confirm this as I brought my 4 year old to the solarium on the sea day, as it was a little too windy in adventure beach for my taste, and as soon as we were starting to wade in the pool, the deck patrol came over and told me there were no children allowed. He had the compass in his hand and knew it said family swim time, but he told me that was a misprint. so we left.

They continue to print the same misprint the rest of the cruise, but we never returned to the solarium with our DD again- i did get a nice soak in the hot tub one afternoon.

We did catch the swing production show, and I thought it was very well done.

I also loved that they had the ship's photographer roaming around on Cococay, as he took a great shot of our DD playing in the sand with our friend's DD.

Can't wait to read the rest of your review,
Wendy

[silentbob007]

Wendy, thanks for pointing out the reality of family swim time. I saw it in the compass and heard a few families mention it, but I did not ever go myself. I think this sums up one of the problems with this particular sailing ... what the compass said and what actually occurred were to completely different things at times. I don't know if it was crew switch over, itinerary switch over, or the fact that this cruise was a one-time deal ....

[FLACRUISER99]

Originally Posted by silentbob007

I had thought that here might be a welcome from a staff member or the loyalty ambassador, but no one showed ... it just seemed to be a chow and drink session.

Either you left early or arrived late because both Abe & Pablo gave a short speech. Even the Captain showed up and talked to a few tables but did not make a speech.