Quick review of TA on Brilliance of the Seas

[chris_kelowna]

Hi everyone,

Here is a copy of the review I posted on the Cruise Critic review site. I wanted to add here - not on the review page - that I was a little disappointed not to meet our friend Bob 'clarea' on the cruise. The cruise director Clo asked him to identify himself at the M & M but either he was not there or declined to identify himself. Too bad Bob - we would have liked to meet you, you are a bit of a star!! Here is the review:

 

We booked this Transatlantic cruise while on the Allure Transatlantic last year. In Barcelona we stayed at the Ciutat del Prat hotel. Very convenient as they pick you up from the airport, provide a lovely breakfast, and take you to the cruise ship.

 

We enjoyed the Brilliance much more than the Allure. The size of the ship means you can walk from end to end in just a few minutes – very good for the less mobile among us. Ports of call were departure port Barcelona, Malaga, Gibraltar, and San Juan with the cruise ending in Tampa. We did not take any RC excursions but did take the RCI shuttle in Malaga. We did a private tour in Gibraltar – almost a waste as the day was incredibly foggy, no sights to be seen! The port in San Juan is easy walking distance to the Old Town. Very charming. There were lots of taxi’s offering inexpensive tours to the city.

 

We had early seating in the dining room and were seated at a table for 10. We had 7 lovely table mates. We ate every third dinner in the Windjammer so experienced it for dinner as well as breakfasts and lunches. Our waiter was Delano and we found him excellent – a real professional. So friendly and he remembered all of our preferences. The dining room was ridiculously crowded, with extra tables added on the second night. The food on board did not live up to our expectations. There was always something to choose for dinner, nothing special except for the garlic prawns. Food in the Windjammer at lunch was adequate but very similar from day to day. There was always a stew of some sort, sometimes called Boeuf Bourgignon, sometimes Lancashire Hotpot, but always stew. There was Indian at lunch every day and they really nailed that. Dinner in the Windjammer was good with Mongolian Hot Pot which had the best beef on the ship.

 

We had a balcony on the hump and except that it had a somewhat obstructed view – that was not identified – it was excellent. The balcony was at least twice the depth of normal balconies. We were in 7108 which was the first in the corridor beside the elevator. There was no noise from the elevators at all and some from the Centrum at night but it was over before 11. The close proximity to the elevator meant it was just a four flight elevator ride to the WJ, very convenient for getting breakfast to take to the balcony. Only eggs available from room service are scrambled. Our steward was Diego and he was excellent.

 

Entertainment was okay – the Cruise Director Clo was spectacular. Too bad they couldn’t clone her! We enjoyed the singer Daniel Bouchet and the Las Vegas Tenors. There were three women playing a piano and two violins in the Centrum – they were excellent. The only problem we had with the Centrum entertainment was it was so LOUD! Not sure why it has to be so loud but there you go…

 

We did watch a couple of movies in the small cinema. It’s well attended and in an amphitheater setting. No heads blocking the view. It’s not very big though and if you really want to see the movie, you may have to get there at least 30 minutes before the show.

 

There were two sets of lectures, an excellent speaker - Jim Parker, an ex CIA agent and storyteller extraordinare. So very interesting and entertaining. Other speaker shall remain nameless - he was not a good speaker at all. Too bad because he was speaking about upcoming ports and it could have been great.

 

Disappointingly there were no morning aerobics in the pool. I’ve enjoyed that on other ships, especially when there are many sea days. The pool is heated, salt water and wonderful.

 

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

[Clarea]

Sorry we missed you Chris, we never got an invite to the M&M, and so totally forgot about it. I do agree that Clo was outstanding, she really added to our enjoyment of the cruise. We also thought some of the music in the Centrum was incredibly loud, but did not find that to be the case when Phoenix (the violin/piano ladies) was playing. Their performances were very enjoyable.

[John&LaLa]

What type of obstruction did you have?

 

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[chris_kelowna]

What type of obstruction did you have?

 

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It was not a very big obstruction. It was when looking straight down. We were immediately above the lifeboat covers that were at an angle where the hump is. So the obstruction was just when standing at the balcony railing and looking straight down - we couldn't see the sea right below. It was not a big deal, but it was also not mentioned anywhere. Except of course, robtulip showed me a picture on our roll call.

[easyboy]

Thanks for the review.

 

 

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[kernow]

Thanks for the review, we were also on the cruise with you.

 

We enjoyed the cruise very much and agree with a lot of your comments. We had a great table of 6 in the MDR on second seating and many of the tables around us were half empty, first seating must have been more popular. I thought the same as you about the food, nothing actually wrong with it but generally a bit flavourless and bland. We usually got something from Park cafe for lunch as the Windjammer was so repetitive. I did love the cakes from Cafe Latitude once I discovered them though.

 

Like you we thought Clo was the real gem of the cruise, I'm normally totally indifferent to the CD but she is exceptional, so friendly and genuine whenever you see her around. We did the walk a mile with her at 8 most mornings and couldn't believe that she is still going with so much enthusiasm at the evening entertainment. We thought the shows were some of the best we've seen on RCL, our favourites were Fourever, the four male singers.

 

We were lucky enough to meet Bob (and of course Lee) by chance and would like to say that he is just as nice a man in real life as he comes across on here.

 

Julie

[robtulipe]

What type of obstruction did you have?

 

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Cabin 7108 balcony is indicated by up arrow.

 

 

Very nice review Chris. :)

We very much enjoyed this cruise also. We did MTD and reserved the same table for 4, we were cruising with another couple, at the same time every night so had the same wait staff. Even the table for 2 beside ours had the same couple most nights except for a few nights they did a specialty restaurant. Food was to our liking and even the always available NY strip loin steak was excellent choice if nothing else on that evening's menu interested you. ;)

Edited November 11, 2016 by robtulipe

[irishgal432]

We are going to Barcelona next September a few days early , was your hotel convenient to the city?

[chris_kelowna]

It was convenient to the city as i believe there is a metro stop close by. We did not use it so I'm going off TripAdvisor reviews for that. It was not close to Las Ramblas or anything like that. We were not exploring the city so it worked for us, and actually a while bus load other people.

 

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