Brilliance of the Seas - March 20th 2014 - a review

[nolesrule]

A little background...

 

We booked this cruise on Brilliance of the Seas back in September, and it was myself, my wife, 2 daughters (7 and 4) and my mother in law. The cruise was a thank you to my mother law for helping with our kids so many times over the course if the last several years. It was her first Royal Caribbean cruise, the fifth for my wife and I, and the second for our kids.

 

Since it was the five of us, I had looked into booking 2 cabins near eachother, but couldn't find anything we were happy with, so I ended up calling C&A and booking 9656, a two bedroom suite located on the aft in the starboard corner.

 

The cruise itself was a 4 night run out of Tampa to Cozumel and back. Pretty straight forward, other than the fact that there was a 2 hour time difference bewteen Florida and Cozumel due to the US being on daylight saving time and Mexico still being on standard time. But I'll get into that a bit more later.

 

We really didn't take a ton of pictures, other than the cabin which I will be posting here, so if you want to see what Brilliance looks like, see DarthGrady's review from his December sailing.

 

So, here we go...

[nolesrule]

Day 1 - Boarding Day

 

We live in Clearwater, so no traveling for us. We slept in an hour, waited for my mother in law to get to our house, loaded up the car and headed out to the port around 9am. For some reason there was very little traffic on I-275 for a Thursday morning rush hour and we managed to get to the port at 9:35.

 

The porters took our luggage, and I decided to valet the car. Unfortunately, disembarkation from the previous cruise was still going on, and the valets were still in return mode, so I had to track down a valet to take our car and get it parked. The valet cost for the cruise was $80. I know, a bit expensive, but it was worth it because the parking garage is a bit of a walk.

 

After getting rid of the car, we took the escalator upstairs and went through security, which was quick because we had arrived early. Check-in hadn't opened yet, so we sat down in the waiting area for about 5 or 10 minutes until check-in opened up. Check-in was smooth, and because we were staying in a suite, we sat down in the "private waiting area for suite guests and Diamond Plus/Pinnacle C&A members.

 

Boarding started later than usual, a bit after 11am. My girls were getting restless because they wanted to get on the ship so badly and it was so close, just outside the window of our waiting area. I bought the Royal Replenish package for myself in the terminal while we were waiting. My soda cup is stll wrapped in plastic.

 

Since we were in the first boarding group, we got on the ship before our kids could get their muster wrist bands. Everyone was hungry, so we went straight up to the Windjammer for lunch. For those keeping score, there was no honey stung chicken.

 

During lunch, an announcement was made that cabins would not be available until 1:30. Seems everything was running a bit late this morning. So we killed time by going up to Adventure Ocean for the open house, and then going aft to look at Adventure Beach (the kiddie pool and water slide) and the minigolf course.

 

Finally, we went to our cabin.

[nolesrule]

And now, the obligatory cabin pics...

 

Suite 9656 Door

 

 

 

Entry hallway

 

Living room area from the entry hallway

 

Living room area from the balcony doors

[nolesrule]

Obligatory cabin pics - part 2

 

 

small bedroom

 

 

standard bathroom off the living room area

 

 

master bedroom

 

More master bedroom

 

 

Master bathroom

[nolesrule]

Obligatory balcony pics

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[nolesrule]

Day 1 continued...

 

Muster was at 3:15pm. Our girls got their muster wristbands at that time. Afterwards, we got them signed up for Adventure ocean, got dressed for dinner, and then met up at the Sky Bar with members of our Cruise Critic roll call. It was great finally putting faces to screen names. Our cruise director's parents were part of our roll call, so he joined us up there for sailaway.

 

Afterwards, we headed over to the Concierge Lounge for cocktail hour, which we did every evening. We called it the "Princess Room" so that our girls would be on their best behavior while in there, and for the most part they were good. While we had our grown up drinks, the girls had their first shirley temple. We also made them hot chocolate using the milk foam dispenser from the specialty coffee machine. Our time in the CL was more or less the same every evening, socializing with members of our roll call and other cruise passengers, while enjoying our cocktails and some snacks.

 

We went to dinner in the MDR. Our waiters really took care of us, including the head waiter. They helped us out with the girls, even cutting their entrees into bite-sized pieces. My mother in law was able to preorder food for the next night to accomodate her low sodium diet. Every night was the same, and this was by far the best MDR service we've had on a Royal Caribbean cruise since the first one we took in 2005.

 

After dinner, we dropped the kids at Adventure Ocean for the evening session, and headed back to the CL to grab one last drink before cocktail hour ended. Then we bid good night to my mother in law, and went to down to Vintages, where the bartender was our CL bartender from our last cruise on Brilliance in December. He even remembered us. After enjoying the music for awhile and chatting with other passengers, we picked up the kids and went back to our stateroom to get some sleep.

 

We turned back the clock one hour, as we had clock adjustments every night on the cruise. Cozumel had a 2 hour time difference because they were on standard time still. So the first 2 nights, we set the clocks back 1 hour each night. Then on the return from Cozumel, we set the clocks forward one hour each night. It was the first time I'd experienced having to change the clock that frequently, and it really was quite strange.

 

Up next, Day 2....as soon as I get a chance to write it.

[nolesrule]

Day 2 - Sea Day

 

After getting up, my wife and mother in law had breakfast in Chops, while I took the kiddos to Windjammer. We all went our separate ways for the morning. The kids wen to Adventure Ocean (AO), which they loved. I can't remember where my wife and mother in law went off to. I think they spent some time in the sun. Meanwhile I booked a cruise for March 2015 (5 nights, Brilliance to Key West and Cozumel)and then headed over to the Centrum to watch the sushi demonstration. Not the first time I've watched it, but it's always entertaining.

 

Afterwards, we attended the suite reception in the CL, where bloody marys were both strong and spicy. We met the captain, hotel manager and a few other senior staff. It lasted about 30 minutes, but it was enjoyable. Then we picked up the kids, and had lunch in the Windjammer. The ladies then took the kids to Adventure Beach (kiddie pool), while I crashed on a lounger on the balcony and took a nap for about an hour. The sound of the ship wake was so relaxing.

 

When they came back, we shipped the kids off to AO, and the adults enjoyed a bottle of moscato on our balcony. The rest of our evening was like Day 1, with the CL cocktail hour, MDR formal night, more AO for the kids, and wine from Vintages.

 

The late night AO session (after 10pm, $7/hour per kid) had an ice cream making party, so the kids stayed up extra late. My wife got tired and went to bed, so I stayed up until the ice cream was ready. Then I put the kids to bed, rolled back the clock an hour (again) and passed out.

 

Up next... port day in Cozumel

[MandyMooToo]

Subscribed :)

[nolesrule]

Day 3 - Cozumel

 

Day 3 put is in Cozumel. The kids are to young to appreciate an excursion to Tulum, and we've lived all our lives within 10 miles of a beach, so we didn't go to the beach. We pretty much got off the ship to say we were in Mexico. Brilliance shared International Pier with Liberty of the Seas. Also in port were Carnival Triumph and Ruby Princess.

 

We took a cab to the far end of downtown and walked for an hour or so past the shops. We bought some rum cakes just because, and then grabbed a taxi back to International Pier. Walking back through the shops at the pier, we bought a couple of overpriced hats for the kids, but we did haggle the price down a bit. Then we went back on to a quiet port-day ship and had lunch.

 

The afternoon saw us have a bottle of bordeaux on our balcony, while the kids were at AO yet again. We watched Liberty sail away, before we set off 30 minutes later. Then we cleaned up for the evening, which was more or less the same as all of our evenings, except...

 

While my mother in law took the kids to the MDR, the wife and I stayed an extra hour at the CL and then had dinner at Izumi. On our last cruise, we did the sushi making class, so we knew we would enjoy their offerings. We shared an order of edamame and had miso soup which was incredible. For beverages, we each enjoyed our own kettle of loose leaf green tea. We then split one roll of sushi and enjoyed sharing the chicken and beef skewer hot rock. The fried rice also had miso in it. Best fried rice I've ever tasted. For dessert, we had the sampler, which consisted of strawberry ice cream, a mini flan, green tea mousse and some fruit. Total bill for the two of us was $45 and we both felt it was worth the price.

 

After we got the kids and the mother in law in bed, we went to the late night adult comedy show. The entertainer was Rick Corso. He was ok, but not great, and it took awhile for him to warm the audience up. Since were going to lose an hour overnight heading back, we decided to crash.

 

The only photo I took off the ship in Cozumel...my favorite soft drink on the planet

 

 

Liberty of the Seas bulbous bow underwater

 

 

Liberty of the Seas sailing away

 

 

Coming up next... the final sea day

[nolesrule]

Day 4 - Sea Day

 

Our final day on Brilliance of the Seas. We all had breakfast in Chops, which to my 4 year old's delight we found out the special was chocolate chip pancakes. I had eggs benedict, but had them make it with smoked slamon rather than canadian bacon, which happens to be one of my favorite dishes at a local breakfast joint.

 

After breakfast, we played a round of mini golf and we once again lost the kids at AO. My wife and mother in law got spa day passes and spent the morning in the spa. I spent my morning wandering the ship, looking at the artwork on display in the Colony Club and watching the cupcake demonstration in the Centrum.

 

I attended the Captain's Corner in the theater, which was a presentation about the ship that was hosted by the Cruise Director Steve Davis. The speakers were Captain Stig Nilsen, Chief Engineer Ivo Marenic, and Hotel Director Dean Bailey. Because of all the time I've spent on Cruise Critic, I learned absolutely nothing new :D, other than that the captain likes to restore and live on old boats when he's not captaining. Thinking about it now, I wish I had asked the reasoning behind having a time change every night of the cruise.

 

We met up again in our suite around noon, and that's when reality set in. The disembarkation luggage tags were wating for us. Those tags are just so depressing. We had to get away from them, so we had lunch, then we all slathered on the sunscreen and headed up to Adventure Beach. My 7 year old kept begging me to take her on the water slide (like everyone in my family, she's short, and needs an adult to go with her).

 

The kids really enjoyed going to Adventure beach daily. I took my daughter on the slide twice, and got stuck both times. I don't know why. My wife didn't get stuck. I guess I didn't grease myself up enough. :-)

 

After about an hour at the kiddie pool, we got cleaned up, sent the kids back to AO, and my wife and mother in law went back to the spa to enjoy the rest of their spa day.

 

I packed.

 

Then it was time for our final go-round of the evening routine. After dinner, we finished packing and went back to the CL and had a couple more drinks and chatted with the cruise friends we'd made over the course of our vacation, exchanging email addresses and saying farewells. Once the girls were in bed, we went over to the photo gallery and bought a few photos that actually came out nice. Apparently the Adventure ocean staff had brought the kids down to the Centrum for photos on one of the nights, and there was a really cute one of our four year old we just could not pass up.

 

By that point, it was late, and we were going to lose another hour overnight, so we went to bed.

 

Coming up next... Debarkation and final thoughts

[purplethorn]

yay! thanks for your review .. we are looking for the same thing -either booking two rooms or a Royal family suite but on the Liberty

[nolesrule]

Disembarkation

 

Seeing as how I had gotten the Royal Replenish package, I drank a lot of Pellegrino. As a result, I tended to wake up in the middle of the night On our final night I woke up around 3:45am.

 

Don't worry, I'm actually going somewhere with this.

 

After taking care of my business, I decided to take a quick look outside to see if I could figure out exactly where we were. I could see the lines of red and green lights, but no land, so I knew we had entered the channel at the mouth of Tampa Bay. This was our third time taking a cruise out of Tampa, and I was always dissapointed waking up and already being almost at the port.

 

So I decided to stay up.

 

It was still pitch black outside, other than the channel markers, but slowly I started to see lights from the coast. A few minutes later, a pilot boat started trailing us, and we passed by the lighthouse at Egmont Key. Then as we began passing Fort Desoto on the southern tip of Pinellas County, the pilot boat pulled along side and dropped off the pilot, and then fell back to trailing us. Not too long after that, we passed a freighter heading out into the gulf and the pilot boat left us to go meet them.

 

And then, we went under the Skyway Bridge. It was about 4:20am. It was such a beautiful sight. I felt like I was out there all by myself going under the bridge. I just wish I'd had a camera capable of capturing everything I saw in the darkness, as describing it just doesn't do it justice.

 

Then it started to rain, so I went back to bed for a couple of hours. We got up, had our final breakfast in the Windjammer and returned to the room to gather our carry-on luggage. We went up to the CL to await our departure. The concierge escorted us down to the gangway where our Seapass cards were deactivated. We proceeded through customs and immigration, got our car back from the valet and drove home, about 45 minutes in miserable weather.

 

Final thoughts

 

For my wife and I, this was our second time on Brilliance of the Seas and our first time repeating on a cruise ship. Even though there were only a couple people on staff that we remembered from the first trip just 4 months ago, it was really nice to be familiar with the ship from the first moment we stepped onboard. We really love this ship, and will be sailing on her again a year from now.

 

Everyone on staff was very friendly, we did not see any fake smiles. Our waiters were jovial, and our assistant waiter loved to joke around. I've never seen a head waiter do as much on a cruise as he did for us on our nights in the MDR.

 

The CL concierge Anis Tebbeb was very friendly and always made sure he came around to talk to his guests every evening. The bartneder was quick and a very good mixologist, and the CL bar server was always friendly and helpful. They all took very good care of us, and never made a face when my kids got cracker crumbs on the chairs.

 

Our suite attendant always managed to make up and turn down our room when we were out. We never saw him inside except on the first day when he introduce himself, on formal night when he delivered our pressed clothing. He kep our ice bucket full, he brought us a wine bucket and three glasses, and kept us stocked with clean glasses every morning and evening.

 

The Adventure Ocean staff took wonderful care of our two girls. they just loved the program and the activities were age appropriate. The staff was friendly, and their pickup/drop-off protocols are very stringent, which is a good thing.

 

What more can I say? The service was fabulous, the food was very good, Izumi was fantastic, the weather was great (except Tampa disembarkation) and Brilliance of the Seas was gorgeous.

 

And now we wait 138 days until our next cruise, where we will be doing a 7 night Eastern Itinerary on Freedom of the Seas, where we will be sailing for the first time as Platinum in C&A.

[Plantcitycruise]

Thank you for the review. We are going on Brilliance in a couple weeks with a 9 year old. It sounds like your kids enjoyed the kids area, which is good to hear since we would like some adult time. Sometimes our daughter loves going and other times its like pulling teeth to get her to go.

 

We have been to Cozumel a bunch of times and find that we are in the same boat as you. Our daughter is too young to appreciate anything historic and we live close to the beach too so not point going there. We usually just enjoy going into downtown and having lunch and walking around.

 

The sushi place sounds great and it's nice to hear that you felt the price was worth it. I will put that on our to do list...which now has one item...which is about the max we allow on vacation, so our to do list is full now.

 

You mentioned booking another cruise for next year on the ship. What is the benefit to that? Do you get any pricing guarantee? I know on Carnival if you book way in advance and the price ever goes lower they will credit the difference to OBC. I know we booked this one about a month ago and I logged on yesterday and the price is $200 less than we paid for similar room and I was told that they don't adjust...which means from now on I won't look after I pay so I don't bum myself out.

 

Thanks again. Great review.

[purplethorn]

Thanks again!

 

You mention the kids are too young for Tulum excursion? why is that? is it because its tendered?

Have you sailed to Lebadee (sp) would you say that is appropriate for small children?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[nolesrule]

Thank you for the review. We are going on Brilliance in a couple weeks with a 9 year old. It sounds like your kids enjoyed the kids area, which is good to hear since we would like some adult time. Sometimes our daughter loves going and other times its like pulling teeth to get her to go.

 

We have been to Cozumel a bunch of times and find that we are in the same boat as you. Our daughter is too young to appreciate anything historic and we live close to the beach too so not point going there. We usually just enjoy going into downtown and having lunch and walking around.

 

The sushi place sounds great and it's nice to hear that you felt the price was worth it. I will put that on our to do list...which now has one item...which is about the max we allow on vacation, so our to do list is full now.

 

You mentioned booking another cruise for next year on the ship. What is the benefit to that? Do you get any pricing guarantee? I know on Carnival if you book way in advance and the price ever goes lower they will credit the difference to OBC. I know we booked this one about a month ago and I logged on yesterday and the price is $200 less than we paid for similar room and I was told that they don't adjust...which means from now on I won't look after I pay so I don't bum myself out.

 

Thanks again. Great review.

 

 

Thanks for the compliments. You're going to love the ship.

 

When you book onboard, you get a reduced deposit of $100 pp (or $200 pp for a suite). You also get an OBC of anywhere from $25 to $400 depending on the length of the cruise you book and whether you book an inside, outside, balcony or suite.

 

As for price reductions, you can get any price reduction up to the final payment date, but you have to call Royal (or your TA when booking through a TA). After final payment, you can only upgrade to a higher category, but they will not give you money back.

[nolesrule]

Thanks again!

 

You mention the kids are too young for Tulum excursion? why is that? is it because its tendered?

Have you sailed to Lebadee (sp) would you say that is appropriate for small children?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

We haven't been to Labadee. We have taken the kids to Coco Cay on Enchantment, which is the private island in the Bahamas. Adventure Ocean had activities for the kids there, and there is plenty to do. Labadee's probably about the same, but with more activities.

 

As for Tulum, it's just that the trip time there and back is long. I think I've read it's about 2 hours each way. And at 7 and 4, they are too young to appreciate the historical significance of the ruins.

[DarthGrady]

Thanks for posting the suite pics, that looks like an awesome room.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[silentbob007]

Thanks fir the review. Did you like the Replenish package? I'm thinking about it for my upcoming cruise on Brilliance.

[nolesrule]

Thanks fir the review. Did you like the Replenish package? I'm thinking about it for my upcoming cruise on Brilliance.

 

I am a big fan of the Royal Replenish package.

 

I drink some soda with lunch, bottles of cold Pelligrino throughout the day and at dinner. I got several virgin frozen cocktails. I got cappuccino with dessert. I would have gotten specialty coffees other times as well, but I had access to the self-serve machine in the CL.

 

Most importantly, the fresh squeezed orange juice. I had 2-3 glasses every morning. Being a Floridian, I don't touch the free OJ.

[willing292]

Would you happen to remember if the bartender in the CL was named Michael? He was on the Brilliance a few years ago and was incredible! I'd sail on the BotS just to meet up with him again.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

[L-in-CLT]

Thanks so much for the review! We board Brilliance on Saturday so this was a nice excitement builder :)

Cheers!

L

[DarthGrady]

Would you happen to remember if the bartender in the CL was named Michael? He was on the Brilliance a few years ago and was incredible! I'd sail on the BotS just to meet up with him again.

 

 

Shirley, Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

 

Sorry to hijack, but I noticed you mentioned Michael. I remember him, he was a great guy. He was the bartender in the old Hollywood Odyssey on Jewel a couple of years ago. I was up there almost every night enjoying a cigar.

 

Unfortunately I haven't seen Michael around for a couple of years now. Adrian was our bartender in the CL this past weekend and he was excellent!

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[nolesrule]

Adrian was our bartender in the CL this past weekend and he was excellent!

 

Yeah, I don't think I've seen so many people fawn over a specific mixed drink like the ladies did with his passion fruit martinis.

 

And you could barely taste the Diet Coke in my Rum & Diet Cokes, which is partially responsible for some of my hazy memories.:D

[DarthGrady]

Yeah, I don't think I've seen so many people fawn over a specific mixed drink like the ladies did with his passion fruit martinis.

 

And you could barely taste the Diet Coke in my Rum & Diet Cokes, which is partially responsible for some of my hazy memories.:D

 

Dude, I could barely SEE the diet coke. It was literally just a few drops. :D

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[nivek82]

Great review. We were onboard 2 weeks before you and again in 3 weeks. If it makes you feel better I also got stuck on the slide with my 3yo. At the time I thought it would be a bad place to spend the rest of the cruise and I swear the water was running off the sides behind me.

 

Do you remember the hours of the CL?