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Just Off The Brilliance....Very Disappointed

GTO-Girl

By GTO-Girl,
in Royal Caribbean International

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Ocean Boy

Ocean Boy

Posted
Posted
I've read a lot of your posts and find you are a reasonable person grounded in reality. Thanks for sharing.

 

I agree so I have little doubt what she is posting is fact.

 

Bob....I really felt there is a management issue. The whole ship felt very disorganized...

That can definitely affect a sailing and that is why people with distant future cruises aboard the ship should relax. The first time that we sailed on Oasis I sighted multiple issues that I thought were the result of poor management. The next time that we were on the ship it was like night and day. None of the issues from the first sailing we did still existed. So I figure either management got its act together or there was enough turn over in managers to make a difference.

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molsonschooner

molsonschooner

Posted
Posted
Our stateroom was kept clean and in good order, so the fact the steward was invisible was okay with me. I still left her an extra tip at the end of the cruise.

 

Getting someone in trouble over some tongs is just not something I would ever do. Everything else requested she did take care of.

 

It was just the first time where a steward did not at least introduce themselves and speak in the hallway, which I found unusual.

We were on Harmony in late August. I never met our cabin steward although DW did. She did a good job, just a little odd that I never got to talk to her.

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teacherman

teacherman

Posted
Posted

We never really had much conversation with our waiters and cabin steward on our recent Freedom TA, but that is okay with me. They are there to do a job, and I think that they are getting more to do all the time, just as many workers in the US are. When I was under a lot of stress at my job, I did not want to have to deal with customers who just wanted to "chat". Food is one of the major reasons people go on a cruise. On our TA, we eventually gave up on the dining room and ate most dinners in the Windjammer, which we were pleased with. We still had a great cruise, and are scheduled on the Brilliance for the April TA. Hopefully, we will also enjoy that.

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Margy23

Margy23

Posted
Posted
We've had several cruises on Brilliance, including a TA, and the service was excellent. I can only guess that there were some serious staffing issues, such as insufficient crewmembers, new crewmembers not well trained, etc. Sorry the experience was poor.

 

I agree. Brilliance is our favorite ship and we have cruised on her eight times.

 

I hope they resolve some of these issues by 3/17 when we start our first ever B2B2B. We're confident that we can have a good time despite problems, but after cruising since the 70's we're concerned we may be reaching the end of being mobile enough to make the most of the cruise experience in the face of obstacles.

 

My husband now has a scooter and we need an accessible cabin - fortunately we're in the same accessible cabin for all three legs of this cruise. We have seven cruises booked for next year (the others all on Oasis) - if we have to go out, we plan to go out with a bang. If we're still able, we'll book as many cruises as possible for 2019.

 

Margy

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barbeyg

barbeyg

Posted
Posted

I’m sorry you guys had issues with housekeeping and the MDR. We had a cabin steward once like that.

 

We were on same cruise as you, but had a different experience. Our cabin furnishings weren’t worn like yours. We only ate in the MDR two nights, but our choices those nights were better than on Freedom earlier this year (still loved sailing Freedom!). Our room steward was Vernon Friday, who was excellent. Wish everyone could have had someone like him taking care of them. [emoji846]

 

We ate at the specialty restaurants and Chef’s Table the other nights, opting for the Windjammer once. Windjammer was okay. Buffets aren’t our favorite. Giovanni’s and Chops were excellent, and Chef’s Table was wonderful! It was our first experience there, and we will do it again.

 

Sorry again about your experience. I hope you remarked on the survey about the ‘bait and switch’ excursion. Hoping your next cruise makes up for it. [emoji846]

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

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eaglesfaninfl

eaglesfaninfl

Posted
Posted

Just off the same(?) cruise...fortunately we did not experience the food problems mentioned above. Our dinners were all in the MDR and were uniformly delicious, properly prepared and served hot by two of the best servers we have encountered (Gabriel and Nitin in the MTD section). Had two glasses of wine each night and never experienced a delay. The appetizers (generally shrimp cocktail or escargots) were also delicious and properly prepared and served.

 

The crew had smiles on their faces and seemed genuinely pleased to be on board. We only spoke to the cabin attendant once, briefly, but I don't consider that a negative as the cabin was always ready for us.

 

Yes, the Lady B is aging (some rust spots on our balcony) but seems to be holding up well and our cabin showed none of the furniture deterioration mentioned above. We have sailed on Brilliance three or four times before and will again...UNLESS she continues to port at Terminal 6...and that disaster deserves its own thread

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island lady "Live from...." Rare

island lady

Posted
Posted

We are on board in just over a week. Have been on Brilliance in the past with no problems that I remember. Will be interesting to see if we notice the same thing as the OP.

 

We don't eat in the MDR much anyway, as we do specialty restaurants a few nights and many nights will just eat late in the WJ due to too much chatting in the CL. ;)

 

Finding the MDR to be too brightly lit and way too noisy on most ships lately.

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MAJ

MAJ

Posted
Posted
You are scaring me, since I last went on the Radiance was 16 years ago, and we are doing it next summer.... The Brilliance is newer.... Yikes.

 

JC

I'm confident they will get it organised again : Brilliance is my favourite ship have sailed on her so many times , first was 2002 Harwich- Boston , they held a 10th birthday party for her on our Norway cruise 2012 with a huge cake & champagne in the centrum great fun ( and tears)

 

She was still good last year on our crossing to Tampa . I do hope you have a great cruise on her next summer , it would be sad if Royal lets Brilliance standards slip

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davekathy

davekathy

Posted
Posted (edited)
I seem to remember that the "rules sheet" they used to provide for the Diamond drinks excluded some venues, including dining venues. Has this changed?

 

On our 2016 fall Explorer cruise we were able to get wine in the MDR (MTD) each evening using our drink vouchers (sea pass card). On our 2017 B2B Jewel cruise we were able to get wine each evening with our drink vouchers (sea pass card) on the first leg but not the second leg. :confused: Different head waiter, waiter and assistant waiter from the first leg. On the first leg there was also bar staff member taking our orders and bringing us our wine. No bar staff member on the second leg. At least that has been our most recent experiences.

Edited by davekathy
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ECCruise

ECCruise

Posted
Posted
There is no escape from crowds in lounges on TAs.

 

Just don't go before first dinner seating.

 

JC

 

They solved that on the Jewel TA.

Concierge club for suites and Pinnacles only.

Diamond and Diamond + had access to both the Diamond Lounge and a special private lounge in Safari, rather than Vortex, which some would say better food than in the Concierge lounge. Some drinks (wine/beer) pre-poured there to facilitate service.

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Mikew0805

Mikew0805

Posted
Posted
Thank you for the information about Brilliance. We are excited to see the ship decorated for Christmas. Would you happen to have any/all of your daily Compass to share? Thank you!

 

OP yes thank you for the information. I still have a while until Brilliance, but would love to see the Compasses, if you have them.

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lovesthebeach2

lovesthebeach2

Posted
Posted

I was on the same cruise and was there for Thanksgiving. We have cruised Brilliance three times with two more upcoming cruises, one being a 12 night. I was also very disappointed in the cruise.

 

Our room steward had just come back from his time off and just couldn’t get back in the groove. He did finally bring us ice....with tongs.... but NEVER vacuumed our room once. It wasnt even done before we got on the ship! In fact, I never saw a vacuum anywhere on the ship until the last day by our room steward!! Usually he didn’t do our room for the evening until 930 or later. I finally saw him the last day with the vacuum and asked him to do our room, he said he would, but didn’t.

 

We were on MTD and the first night never saw our waiter. They moved us for the rest of the cruise and he was good, but he had so many tables he zoomed around and we felt very rushed. It seems they didn’t have enough waiters to go around. We felt so bad for him.

 

We found in the Diamond Lounge that if we wanted a drink we had to go get it ourself at the bar, there weren’t enough waiters and they were not pleasant except for one, but I agree that Raphael was good.

 

The walk off disembark was chaos and I’ve never experienced anything so disorganized. I think some of these issues were due to this being the first cruise after the TA from Europe, so I’ll make a note to never book a cruise after that again.

 

We have loved this ship in the past, but not this time. It seriously needs the dry dock updating it will get in the spring.

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vickiw0318

vickiw0318

Posted
Posted

Crazy question here. It used to be that the Radiance and Brilliance had shower curtains and the Serenade and Jewel (the later additions) had shower doors. Does one still need to bring clothes pins to keep the curtains from getting "too intimate" or do these ships now have shower doors?

 

Sure hope the issues are fixed way before I cruise next September.

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Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Crazy question here. It used to be that the Radiance and Brilliance had shower curtains and the Serenade and Jewel (the later additions) had shower doors. Does one still need to bring clothes pins to keep the curtains from getting "too intimate" or do these ships now have shower doors?

 

Sure hope the issues are fixed way before I cruise next September.

Radiance and Brilliance still have shower curtains.

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