FloatingFour

Like the OP, our first RCL cruise was on the BOTS out of Ravenna but on July 3.  We are new to cruising having only been on CCL 4 times, 2 before and 2 after the shutdown.  We spent the week wondering if the differences we saw were CCL v RCCL, Mediterranean v Caribbean or Dream Class v Radiance Class. Here are some of our thoughts to piggy back on this thread. 

Appearance:  We really liked the look of the Brilliance.  She is much prettier than the Dream class ships we have sailed.  She did not look like she was ten years older while walking around the ship.

Communication:  I wish RCCL advertised the shuttle from Ravenna to the port.  I had seen several mentions of one online but nothing from RCCL.  Opted not to show up at the train station “hoping” it would be running.  Instead, my hotel had a driver’s contact and set up transportation for us.  (I have his business card if anyone is interested.)
Early in the week, RCCL asked passengers for their departure transportation plans.  This included a shuttle FROM the port to the train station.  I paid for this transfer as soon as I saw it.  Mid-week, RCCL notified the passengers of a newly scheduled rail strike on our debarkation day for the Ravenna area. Our train trip to Venice would not be available to us due to the strike.  RCCL offered several new transportation options to both Bologna and Venice.  We ended up on a bus to the Venice transportation hub (Tronchetto).

Embarkation/Debarkation:  I agree this was very smooth.  We arrived early due to our ride to the port and having purchased the KEY program.  We were one of the first people on board.  Even with all the various departure transportation options, debarkation seems to move smoothly.  We did leave our luggage the night before (11PM v Midnight on CCL).  We did not see the crowds of people with suitcases filling all the common areas like we have seen on CCL, either.

Casino:  CCL casinos are always busy and smokey.  We hardly saw anyone in it on the Brilliance.  This may be the location.  We didn’t need to go through it to get anywhere we wanted to be.  On the Dream class ships, it is hard to avoid being between the Atrium and Ocean Plaza.

Food:  Overall, we did not like the food\food options\service on the BOTS.  The MDR waitstaff was not very good.  The assistants were better than the head waiters.  The abilities of the baristas working the coffee bar varied from day to day.  We had no consistency in the Frappuccino’s we ordered.  Need an expresso or americano?   No problem.  Anything else?  Good luck getting a drinkable drink.  We aren’t drinkers so we don’t challenge bartenders with off menu drinks.  But when a non-alcoholic drink is listed on the bar menu, I expect the bartender to know what it is and how to make it.  The one alcoholic drink I ordered, Bahama Mama from the pool bar, had to go through two bartenders to know what should be in the drink.
We did like the selection of MDR menu items available everyday if the rotating menu did not have anything we wanted to eat.  We missed the variety of food options available on the Dream ships.  The limited selections in the Café Latte-Tudes or Park Café were not worth eating.  We like being able to grab a Guy’s and fries after returning from an excursion or some pizza or a grilled sandwich after the late show.  Nothing like this on the BOTS. 
One good thing…mounds of crispy bacon in the breakfast buffet every morning!!! (And for my DW, Nutella and Croissants.)

Entertainment:  We saw the same Playlist Productions from July 2018 to March of 2022.  We were ready for something new.  We enjoyed the shows we could see, especially the live band accompanying the singers.  We were not able to see all that we wanted to because of RCCL’s timing.  CCL is good to have 2 shows at night for people at either dining time.  Only one showtime on the Brilliance made it difficult to get through dinner at a normal dinner time AND catch the show.  
We also felt there were not as many activities throughout the day.  Or at least not as many that we were interested in.
We also did not know the cruise director when we first saw him.  We are used to having the CD visible all over the ship and announcing activities and events.  All we saw him do was start the ‘parties’ and introduce the evening show.  Anyone could do these jobs so what is special about the RCCL CD’s?

Crew:  We did notice a lower level of competency in this ships crew as mentioned before under food.  We did not see this in the two CCL trips post-covid.  Another thing we noticed was missing was the post-covid cleaning we saw everywhere on the CCL ships.  You could not go 5 minutes without someone coming by wiping down the high touch areas.  We saw drink glasses left all over the BOTS that we never saw on our 2 post-covid CCL trips.  Our cabin steward was excellent and we had missed having both morning and evening room refreshs. 

Passengers:  Our fellow passengers were a calmer, quieter bunch than we have joined sailing out of Galveston on CCL.  We also didn’t spend very much time on the pool deck this trip so we may have self-quarantined ourselves from the crazies.  Maybe it is a smaller ship.  Maybe it is the European clientele.  Maybe it is the port heavy itinerary.  The overall vibe was calmer that any of our CCL trips.

This may seem like a lot of negativity but we are not given up on RCCL.  We are looking at catching the Adventure of the Seas out of Galveston sometime next year.  That way we can have a similar itinerary, clientele, ship size we are familiar with to better compare the two cruise lines. 

Hello, we are on the Brilliance July 3-10 cruise.  We will be taking the train to Venice after the cruise.  My questions are 

• Did you purchase the Port to Ravenna train station transfer ahead of time of did you just show up to catch the shuttle?
• When did you get off the ship?
• When did you arrive at the Ravenna train station?

Thanks for the info.

We are set to embark on a cruise this Saturday.  My wife has had a lingering cough for a couple weeks.  She had two negative COVID test at the onset of her illness and a third negative test today.  When completing our online Health Assessment, she said yes to having a cough because it has lingered for a while and she would probably cough during check-in.  This triggered Carnival's red flags and now she has to be seen by their medical staff at the port.  Has anyone been through this extra portside screening?  Does anyone know what additional documentation she will need?  She has not been seen by a doctor in the past two weeks because it is a simple NON-COVID cough.  Thanks.

My offer is for a $350 credit for spending at least $1000.  I'll take whatever they give me.

I've been doing mock bookings for our 9/23 Breeze trip for a while, trying to gage occupancy based on available rooms.  I saw the prices drop over the weekend.  We had one of the "Interior with Picture Window" rooms at the bow of the Lido deck.  I had already purchased the Bottomless Bubbles since we don't drink very much.  I called Carnival and I was able to move to a Balcony, two doors down the hall + Cheers for an additional $60.24.  My savings are the $300 difference between BB and Cheers.  The Balcony room is a bonus.    

FYI - We booked our Race through Carnival for a stop on July 27. Whatever the issue was in June is no longer a problem.

DD1 Review of Club O2

I’m in high school and this was my first cruise, but personally, I wasn’t a fan of the Club O2. There wasn't much to do but sit around while music was playing. Most of their activities seemed like they were intended for middle school kids rather than older teens. In my free time, I hung out with a few other teens who I met the first night, They didn’t go back to the club either. I really enjoyed the library because I could play games, such as monopoly and clue. I also enjoyed getting to choose what I wanted when I wanted, rather than being stuck on a set schedule with the Club O2. Lastly, no one decide to participate in the club theme nights while I was on board. I think it was good for meeting people to hang with the first night but otherwise, I’d recommend doing your own thing.

Jamaica

At our first stop, those passengers with Carnival Excursions met in the Crimson Dining Room at 8AM to be sent on to the gangway by the excursion. We got up early to have breakfast of burritos or buffet up on the Lido before waiting to go ashore. Be sure to bring your patience. We waited in the Crimson for about 30 minutes before they started sending groups off the ship. We waited for the group to form up to get on the bus. We waited for ‘those people’ who did not show up at the designated place at the designated time to finally show up. Then it was off to the River.

The bus ride was enjoyable. Our guide was enthusiastic and informative. We got to see both the Urban and Rural Jamaica on the way. Everything from gated communities to half completed houses among scrap material shacks. We stopped somewhere for people to purchase water shoes, grab a snack, restroom break and get a souvenir or two.

We arrived at the Falls at the same time as a rain shower. Oh, well, we are going to get wet anyway. Our bus load of people worked our way through the grounds to where we pick up a guide for the Falls. We were split up into groups of 20-25 people with the guide and a photographer then headed to the beach.

Now, 30+ years ago when my parents were here, they went up the falls with one or two other couples. The train of 20+ people we were in started up with about 4-5 other groups at the same time. Other than the crazy amount of people, we had a blast. Once you start up the Falls,you stop noticing the crowds and enjoy the experience with your family. If you want a CD of the pictures/video taken on your climb, it is $40.

You have to run the gauntlet of vendors to get back to the bus. The key word being RUN. Do not pass go, do not collect $200, do not answer anyone’s question. I made the mistake of thinking a vendor was being friendly by asking my name as I was walking by. Next thing I knew, he was presenting me with a personalized carving. Ended up with true Jamaican trinkets for all of us.

Lunch was next. It consisted of Jerk Chicken, rice and beans at an ocean front hotel in Ocho Rios. Not much to say about it.

The ride back to the port was another adventure in aggressive driving. We were setting close to the front, so we got a good view of the craziness on the roads. We made it back right at 4:30, but there was a line to get back on the ship so being that close to the return time was not a problem.

Back on board, we rushed to get ready for dinner. We did not do anything after dinner since we were to have an earlier start to our day in Grand Cayman. We wandered through the shops and looked for our pictures before heading to bed.

Next Stop, Grand Cayman

Excursions!

We opted to pre-book our excursions through Carnival for several reasons:

• We have never traveled out side of the country and did not know what to expect
  
• I like to have as much of our vacation "pre-paid" as possible
  
• We did not want to worry about the possibility of returning to the ship late
  
• We are able to plan all three shore days at once, making sure we get to do the things we want
  

Our choices:

For Montego Bay, we chose the Ocho Rios & Dunns River Falls with Lunch excursion. My parents climbed the falls 30+ years ago and though it would be fun to follow in their footsteps from their first cruise.

While in Grand Cayman,we chose the Dolphin Swim & Turtle Center excursion. The DDs have wanted to swim with a dolphin since they were little.

And, in Cozumel, we chose to compete in the Amazing Cozumel Race to do something out of the ordinary.

Up Next, Jamaica

DD2 Review of the Circle C

As a new cruiser, I had nothing to expect. On the first night I went to the club just to see if I would like it and want to come back. I sat down and within about 5 minutes, I started talking to people and meet a group of 5-8 people to hang out with. The club director was very energetic and just wanted to make this fun for us.

When you walk in, there is a big dance floor, nice seating all around, a little bar (not available to get drinks), and in the back there are computers to have some tournaments with friends.

Throughout the week, the club was around the ship doing fun activities such as a movie afternoon, karaoke, golf tournament, and wiiU tournaments! During the day the club was just open for people to stop by and have “U-Choose” time. I personally used this time to dance on the dance floor and run around the ship with my friends. My favorite thing to do was ride the Glass Elevators. The club was open every night from 8:30-1:00 am. On the Sea Days, the club was also open throughout the morning for a nice place for 12-14 year old’s to hangout.

I must apologize for going a week since the last post. Instead of reviewing our last cruise, I've been work out how to get back on the ship! DW and I will be back on the Dream in September, 2019, sailing out of Galveston.

Now back to our regularly scheduled program....

@BENHANDEL

I will have the DD's write posts about their experiences with the two clubs so stay tuned.

Life At Sea

DW, who was in bed earlier the night before, had the idea to go see the sunrise over the water. Only problem was we did not look to see when the sun would rise (it is listed in the Fun Times). DW and I got up at 6, threw on our swimsuits and headed up to the Lido deck. We arrived about 30 minutes after the posted sunrise time for Monday. Not only did we miss the sunrise, it was cloudy with a slight drizzle. We headed back down to our cabin to shower before breakfast.

We headed back to the Lido about an hour later for breakfast burritos at the Blue Iguana Cantina. I though it was OK but the DW loaded hers with the pico de gallo and other vegetables and really enjoyed it. She ended up eating a burrito for breakfast most days. After eating, the sun started to come out so we went back down to get back in our suits and back up to stake our claim to some deck chairs.

If you haven't been keeping count, that is 3 trips up 10 decks and 2 trips down in about two hours. To justify to ourselves how much we think we will eat during the week, we usually took the elevator up and walked the stairs down. And if we were going less than 5 decks, we walked up too.

We started out with a pair of chairs by the main Lido pool until the DDs managed to make their way up. They preferred the Sunset pool so we packed up and moved back there, too. We quickly came to realize we liked the quieter deck and looking out at the water instead of all the people walking by. We also had easy access to the Sunset bar next to the Pizza and one of the 'free' beverage stations by Tandoor. When the occasional rain shower crossed the deck, we could escape to cover without fighting a crowd.

When another light rain started to fall about 12:30 we decided to find lunch and see what we could do indoors. Where do you go to have lunch on Monday if you do not eat there on Sunday? Guy's Burger Joint, of course!!! No need to debate what constitutes the perfect burger. Sometimes you just want a soft bun, juicy patty and cheese that oozes out the sides. My burger all but melted in my mouth. It was so good I had to get a second just to confirm how good it was.

After cleaning up, we wandered around and ended up in the Ocean Plaza for the One Hit Wonder Trivia. I don't think we knew half of the songs. Afterwards we stopped in the Cherry on Top candy store to get treats for our girls. We were going to drop them off in their cabin as a surprise but ran into both of them before we got there. Not only did they spoil the surprise, they had already made a trip in there for some candy.

We changed for Dinner, elegant night, gathered the girls and headed to another good meal. I will share our dinners and menus in a separate post later.

After dinner we changed again before arriving late to the 80's to the Max show. When the show ended, we headed up to the Lido to catch the end of the Dive-In Movie: The Greatest Showman. We ended our day singing with the movie under blankets and the stars.

Day Two was pretty much a repeat of the first day, minus the rain. We got up about 7 and headed up to the Sunset deck to find our home for the next 5-6 hours. DW had her burrito while the DDs and I opted for the Sea Day Brunch. I was not impressed with the Steak and Eggs I ordered. I guess I prefer the way I grill my own steak. The DD's took off on their own agendas while I return the the DW for several hours of doing absolutely nothing.

When lunch time rolled around, we opted for the tacos from the Blue Iguana. I tried them all but liked the fish taco the best. I wend back for a couple more, because I could.

Clue: The Murder Mystery started today so this was our 'indoor' activity. After the story and character introductions ended, we stayed in the Encore Theater for the afternoon Bingo. I would like to say we won enough to cover our on board expenses for the week but we were not so lucky. We did not come close to winning any of the there rounds but we still had fun playing.

Our night consisted of Dinner, the PG comedy routine of Spike Davis and then the Motor City show.

Tomorrow was Jamaica so we decided to skip the night's Lido deck party and turn in at a normal hour.

Up next...Excursions!

@pamici

I will try to get the Fun Times up loaded eventually and if the DDs have them, copies of the O2 and Circle C schedules as well.

@ jasong38501

You are correct in that we did not have a long wait at all. I did not know how long it would take to get from the garage to the port so I planned on getting to the garage an hour prior to our noon boarding time. We happened to arrive at the garage without any other cruisers right behind us so we had to wait for the shuttle to fill up. The ride over takes less than 10 minutes and we entered the building before noon and walked on board before 12:30.

I may be wrong but I think the 'time' is for when you are allowed into the building to start the check-in process. There was no line when we arrived so we were directed to go on in. Be sure and have your boarding passes and Passports\IDs in hand and not in you bags or a folder. I carried on a camera bag, the DW had a tote bag and the DDs had small backpacks. Our light load allowed us to pass by the family with a wagon full of 12 packs and other similarly weighted down groups.

Embarkation Day

We did not sign up for FTTF and ended up with a Noon embarkation time. This gave us plenty of time to get on board without waiting too long to get to our rooms.

Since we had our Beignets the night before, we went to District: Donuts, Sliders, Brew for breakfast. It is hard to beat a large cream filled donut. We shared the Cookies and Cream, some kind of Margarita Lime and an Coffee cream donut.

We chose to park at the Fulton Place Parking garage. Wanting to go see the ship, we decided to go to the port and drop off our luggage first. This was easy. I pulled up to where I was directed, grabbed a porter and loaded him up. We got a quick look at our home for the next 7 days then drove to the garage. Our longest wait of the day occurred here. We arrived at the garage about 11 AM and had to wait about 30 minutes for the shuttle to fill up. Back at the port, we pretty much walked straight through the whole process. We sat down and waited about 10 minutes until our group was called to go aboard.

Once aboard, we wandered around the Atrium Lobby for a little while before heading to the Lido for lunch. Following the advice of others, we headed to the Sunset deck to avoid the crowds. DD1 and I checked out Tandoor while the DW and DD2 grabbed some pizza. Tandoor is not for everyone, but you are supposed to eat different foods. I enjoyed the Fish Tikka.

After lunch it was time to head down to our cabins. Yes, cabins: 1246 and 1250. We decided to get two interior rooms, adjacent but not connecting. This allowed our DDs a little more autonomy with their own room. We also did not have to worry about getting four people through the shower every day. We met our Stateroom Steward, Nengah, who was wonderful. We opted for both morning and evening service and so our room was always clean. In addition to keeping our room clean, he greeted us by name every time we saw him. The only thing missing was our luggage. Without the FTTF, it was nearly 5 PM before we saw our luggage. We did not need anything but it would be nice to have them in hand sooner.

After checking out our cabins, it was time for the Mandatory Safety Drill. Our muster station was the Crimson Forward Dining Room on the Atlantic (4th) deck. We got there at 3 so we were not 'those people' holding everyone up. Unfortunately, we were still there nearly an hour. Next time, showing up closer to 3:30 would be better. All we did was sit for those 30 minutes waiting for people to arrive.

We went back to our cabins for our luggage (not there yet), then headed up to the Lido for the Sail Away Party. DW and I shared a FunShip Special and watched some of the party activities. We soon realized the crowd and crazy is not our way to cruise, so we headed back to the Sunset deck to wait on the ship pulling away from the peer. We found some deck chairs on the Panorama deck (11) above the Pizza place to sit with our first of many Bottomless Bubble drinks. The DDs went exploring on their own until dinner.

We pulled away from the peer about 4:45. I had printed out two different "what to see while sailing down the Mississippi" posts found in the forums. DW went down to start getting ready for dinner while I looked for the landmarks until we reached Chalmette.

We usually eat dinner at 6 while at home, so we went with the early dining. We were assigned a booth in the Lower Scarlet Aft Dinning Room. The lower level dining room has two levels. We were at the back of the main floor, next to the stairs down to the window tables. We had a clear view out of the windows about 30 feet away from us over the heads of those sitting down below. Not only did we have one of the best views at dinner, we had the best wait team of Amin, Idewa and Lucky. Even though they had about 30 people to serve, they made us feel like we were the only people in the dining room. They truly added to our cruise experience.

After dinner, we stopped by the O2 and Circle C clubs to register our kids and get their activity schedules. DW and I sat in on the "60 Seconds or Less" show while the DDs got ready for their club welcome parties. After the show, we headed back to our spot on the Panorama deck to watch the ship sail down the river. DW headed back to the cabin about 10, and I headed to the bow on the Promenade deck to see us enter the gulf.

Up next...Life At Sea

As a rookie Cruiser, reading about everyone else's trips really helped enhance the fun of our vacation. So let me start by saying Thank You! Keep sharing your stories. One of the lessons learned is cruising is the ultimate "do it your way" vacation. This is how we went cruising ...

We are a family of 4 from north Texas: Me, DW, DD1 (16) , DD2 (13). We chose the Dream out of New Orleans so we could drive to New Orleans on Saturday to board the ship on Sunday. We picked the Jamaica\Grand Cayman\Cozumel itinerary because this week fit our schedule better and my parents visited these ports on the Mardi Gras on their first cruise 35+ years ago.

We left our house at 7 AM, stopped off at Buc-ee's and headed to New Orleans. We arrived at the city about 4 PM and stayed at the Le Richelieu in the French Quarter. We checked off two New Orleans highlights after we arrived. We strolled down Bourbon Street and ate Beignets at Cafe Du Monde. We circled back to the hotel for a good night sleep before the real fun starts.

We are cruising next month and I am so happy about the Baked Alaska!

We will be on the Dream the last week of July. I am sure I will be sent at some time to do some laundry. Could someone add where exactly the self laundry can be found? Thanks.