We're live on Brilliance TA - 4/29

[drarill]

Hi Garry:

Glad you are enjoying your cruise. We will be on the Brilliance in four weeks. My first cruise was a transatlantic when I was two years old (37 years ago), and my parents had good stories about it.

Garry, I dont know if I'm asking too much, but is there any way for you to find out about the dining times? We asked for main dining and have already our documents, whats funny is that the documents say that our dining time is 7:30, and I'm happy about it. The problem is that everyone from our roll call is getting the same time(including people that asked for the 6:30 for medical reasons), I emailed RCCL months ago and I just got a response saying that there are going to be four dining times, it doesn't make any sense that noone is getting the 6:30. Any help will be appreciated.

Take care, and have fun, and thanks for your review.

Lydia

 

.

[gkm]

Hi Wallie, how are you?

 

Lydia, we'll ask Lucille about the seatings tonight and if she doesn't know, we'll corner the head waiter. I'll let you know.

 

CruiserTK, I don't think anyone can be bored on this ship. There's so much to do that sometimes we have conflicts because we want to do two things that are going on at the same time. At other times, it's just fun to relax and enjoy the sound of the sea and the breeze and a good book. You'll have a wonderful time. The sea days are my favorite (even if the weather is bad!).

 

mek, I'll ask my financial genius (Bob) about the euros. He'll answer you later.

 

Time to get dressed for the last formal night. I'll talk with you later.:D

 

Garry

[egdr22]

It's so much fun reading about your cruise. I have one more food question, if you don't mind. I have read that on some RCI ships it's possible to order room service off the dinner menu as long as it's during dinner time. Do you know if this is possible on the Brilliance?? We will have a couple of really long excursion days and would love to enjoy the dining room meal on our balcony on these days. Thanks in advance!

[DMPalmieri]

Garry

 

A few years ago we were on the brillance and our cabin steward was Troy from Trinada(spelling ?) he was wonderful, we had asked on one of the other cruises we just did and they told us they thought he was still on the brilliance. If you could please ask and find out if he will still be there in Aug. I would greatly appreciate. Thank you and hope you continue to enjoy your cruise. Donna

[sue.young]

Hi to All the Brillance Cruisers,

 

Thanks for paving the way for us, we have had perfect weather until today, rain and high seas, but gives us chance to catch up on our naps.

 

Your friends on the Jewel TA

[gkm]

lindanick, Bob and I were out and about this morning and I took a picture of your cabin for you. It's the middle one and as you can see the veranda is a nice size (larger than your neighbors). It appears that the window washer might obstruct your forward view, but your side view is fine. I was able to peak in the door this morning while Jorge was cleaning, and the cabin is a nice size. I think you'll be happy with it.

 

 

egdr22, yes, you can order off of the dinner menu.

 

DMPalmieri, I'll ask Jorge if he knows him. I'll get back to you.

 

We had a lovely morning in Lisbon and I was up at 5:00 to watch us come up the River Tagus. It was really lovely with all of the lights up and down the river. We will be departing at 3:00 this afternoon and will be on our way to Malaga. I think an afternoon nap is waiting for me.;)

 

Garry

[lindanick]

You are a doll. I am going to print the picture and put it on my computor. Now all my fears of this cabin are gone. Thank you, Thank you!!!

[Sparkle 123]

Thanks Garry for taking the time to write your posts on the Brilliance. I have really enjoyed reading them. Have you been in Portofinos this cruise? We went when we were on the Jewel last year and the desserts were to die for!

 

LIZBUG

We will be on the Brilliance on 15th May too! I bet you are so excited for your first cruise and in a suite too, you will be so spoilt! We are flying into Barcelona from Heathrow on BA on Sunday morning. Which flight will you be on? Feel free to E mail me if you want to know anything else.

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise Garry, can't wait to be sitting on our balcony next Sunday!

[gkm]

abbafan (I'm one too!). We are going to Portofina's tomorrow night with cruise critic friends. Do tell me which dessert is to "die for", and any other dish you recommend.

 

Garry

[Host Karen]

Garry, all the desserts at Portofino's were delicious. Suggest you and your friends order one of each and then share.

 

Karen

[lizbug]

Hi , yes we are both very excited about our first cruise, 8 nights with no children!

 

We are going from Heathrow to Barcelona, but on Saturday, staying one night in Barcelona before we board the ship.

 

I'm hoping there will be some ABBA tribute or something on one of the evenings, i'm sure you are too!

 

Liz

 

(your profile says you aren't accepting emails)

[gkm]

Hello everyone. This (again) has been an incredible day. We have had such a good time. Rather than take a ship's tour, we decided to take the "hop-on, hop-off" bus to see the city. It was a good decision. We got off at the Castillo de Gibralfaro (a fortress) and walked around. We also visited the Catedral Malaga among other stops which was beautiful. We found a wonderful little sidewalk restuarant near the cathedral and had a leisurely lunch of tapas and beer. It's been such fun! Of course, tonight is Portofino's.

 

Lydia, I just realized I never got back to you about the seatings for dinner on the Europe circuit. Lucillle checked and there are four seatings: 6:30, 7:00 for Main, and 8:30, 9:00 for Late. Lucille will be leaving the Brilliance in June to join the Enchantment which will be stretched to include a Chops. She will be one of the staff there. This is a loss for Brilliance (in my opinion). She's super! Here's her picture.

 

 

Let me know if I can answer any further questions, or if I've missed any. Tomorrow is our last sea day and then we'll be stopping in Nice before heading for Barcelona.

 

Oh, we have taken pictures of the new menus (which Lucille loaned us) but the file is too large to download before we get home. We'll share them with you after we get settled.

 

Garry

[egdr22]

Garry, Thanks so much for all the updates! I can't wait to see those new menus. Our documents say that our dinner seating for the May 29th Brilliance sailing is 7:30. Hmmm....now I'm confused. Should I just assume that it will be what the docs say? It's not a regular itinerary cruise, it's a Rome to Barcelona. I guess we'll see what happens! Thanks again!! Emilie

[Sparkle 123]

Garry

Hope i,m not to late to tell you to order the Tiramisu, its a work of art on a plate! although all the desserts are nice. Our waitress brought us 3 between 2 of us when we dined there!

Liz bug

I'm gonna check my profile but my email address is

Lisahubball1969@aol.com

 

Enjoy the rest of your cruise Garry!

[Aquarius2]

Garry, Thanks so much for all the updates! I can't wait to see those new menus. Our documents say that our dinner seating for the May 29th Brilliance sailing is 7:30. Hmmm....now I'm confused. Should I just assume that it will be what the docs say? It's not a regular itinerary cruise, it's a Rome to Barcelona. I guess we'll see what happens! Thanks again!! Emilie

 

@Emilie: We'll be on the Brilliance Short Cruise 12-15 May, have also only been

able to book early Seating and and the Docs show 7.30pm. Will try to find out for you and post after our return.

 

 

@abbafan: Will make sure we'll keep the Brilliance in good shape for your cruise...:D

 

Cheers,

Phil

[egdr22]

Thanks Phil! Looking forward to finding out about the dinner time and this new menu being offered! Thanks again! :) Emilie

[drarill]

Garry;

Thank you again, hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise.

Phil: Let us know about the dining times, everyone from our M&M that asked for early seating is getting the 7:30, that doesnt make any sense. Hope you also enjoy your cruise.

Lydia

[gkm]

Garry

Hope i,m not to late to tell you to order the Tiramisu, its a work of art on a plate! although all the desserts are nice.

 

You're absolutely correct. The Tiramisu is to die for. I wanted to forget I'm a lady and lick the plate.:eek: We had a wonderful time and unlike Chops, the serving size didn't turn me off. When I saw the portions at Chops I wanted to immediately ask for a doggy bag. My DH liked the food better at Chops, and I must admit I'm not a pasta fan, but the shrimp was delicious.

 

Emille and Phil, I don't know the answer for your 7:30 seating. It does seem odd, but maybe it has something to do with it being a short cruise. Lucille only said that the European seatings were the times listed above. I doubt that she would have information about individual cruises.

 

Garry

[gkm]

Our last sea day (sigh)... I waked up to heavy fog this morning but decided to take my mile walk anyway. After Portofino's last night it was necessary. It was strange going out on deck and not being able to see the bow of the ship. As I walked on the starboard side the fog horn sounded. I almost jumped overboard!:eek: You can't imagine how loud it is when you're up on deck 12. It sounded about every 1-2 minutes. When I returned to my cabin I had to use the hair dryer to dry my hair. It was that damp!

 

The day did improve and we played carpet golf in 30 mph winds and then shuffleboard. It's a real hoot to try to putt with the wind pushing your ball in another direction.

 

You know your cruise is almost over when they have the jackpot bingo. We didn't win.:( Tomorrow is our last day and we will be in Nice. We will be on a nice excursion and then it'll be final packing time. Pooh! I've had such a good time on this ship.

 

If there are any other questions, you'd better get them to me. Time's running out. It's been fun!:D

 

Garry

[cruisingrightalong]

Laugh when I think of the fog horn! You should be on the RCCL commercial when the guy is trying to putt and the horn goes off!

 

Daughter went on a Canada/New England cruise and they had lots of fog and the horn went off all night. You could hear it in the "distance" in the rooms. Boy, the complaining that went on!!!! Guess they figured quiet was better than another ounce of safety!

 

Enjoy your last day! Always a bit sad when it is over....if you did this again would you sail from the US and tour as you did....or tour in Europe and sail back to the states?

 

Lou

[DMPalmieri]

Garry

 

Was wondering if you where able to find out about the room steward Troy. Also what time do they do the walk a mile. Thanks for all your information, enjoy what you have left.

[gkm]

....if you did this again would you sail from the US and tour as you did....or tour in Europe and sail back to the states?

Lou

 

Lou, the is our second TA and must admit I like going westbound better than eastbound. We did Rome to Baltimore last September and arrived in Rome a few days early. During the cruise we gained hours rather than lose them and those 25 hour days were nice!

 

DMPalmeiri, it's funny that when I want to ask my cabin steward something, he's invisible. The cabin is always clean, but he sneaks in and out when we are not around. I'll keep trying for you!

 

The walk-a-mile is at 9 am in the morning. I frankly avoid that time because my pace isn't the same as a lot of them, and it's too crowded. I find that at about 8:30 is a lovely time to walk.

 

Lucielle (our waitress) came to me last evening with a new REVISED DINING SCHEDULE. While the Brilliance is in Europe the schedule is as follows:

 

Deck 4: 7:00 and 9:30

Deck 5: 7:30 and 10:00

 

The late seating seems to me, to be awfully late! I'm sorry for the misinformation I posted earlier.

 

Garry

[cruisingrightalong]

Thanks for all the updates....if I remember your cabin steward is Jorge...remember we have had him and he is always invisible! Unless he wants something!

 

I have thought touring then sea daying would be the best way....so thought maybe the westbound was a tad better suited.

 

Thanks again!

 

Lou

[Host Karen]

Thanks for the dining update, Garry. Have a safe trip home.

 

Karen

[bob278]

gkm, (my DW) asked me to check on the exchange rate on board. Sorry it took me so long to do it.

 

They seem to be charging about $.10 over current rates. Of course that varies and it can depend on what they call current rates. If you are getting less than 70-80 euros, it isn't a big deal, but that is more than you would pay through an ATM ashore.

 

There isn't a separate bank, they use one end (right) of the Guest Relations Desk.