Brilliance of the Seas March 12-17 The GOOD BAD AND UGLY!

[Tljcruiser]

I am going to attempt to do a review of our recent Brilliance cruise. Please keep in mind that this is my opinion only and others may have had different experiences on the same cruise!!

 

Traveling party consisted of me (single mom 40 something) my mom (Grammy) and my daughter (awesome 8 year old). We are all seasoned cruisers and to date have never been on a bad vacation!

 

We began on what we thought was a high note receiving an unexpected call from TA the Friday prior to our Monday departure offering a free upgrade from our family ocean view cabin to a balcony cabin. I declined the offer as we typically travelin balcony cabins but it is usually my parents in a cabin and my daughter and I in a cabin. My dad passed away last summer so this time the 3 of us were staying in the same cabin. With 3 people we wanted the extra space the family ocean view allowed. Apparently RCCL really needed the larger cabin (it sleeps 6) so they offered a sizable credit back on my card in addition to the “upgrade” of the balcony cabin. I should have known at that point that they had oversold and we were infor an interesting trip! This leads to the ugly……..

 

 

 

We were cruising with a LARGE number of college spring breakers. We have cruised over spring break for years and have never had this issue. Typically though we do 7 nights so maybe that is the difference. They were enjoying their trip which was no problem for us however the crowds were overwhelming and the language that you could not help but to hear was the ugly part of my review. We could get no where near the pool due to the crowds and the Windjammer was a mad house. I have read numerous times in reviews that people have had issues finding seating in the Windjammer but other than maybe having to wait in line afew minutes on Oasis or Allure we have never not been able to find a place to sit until this trip. It was difficult to say the least. Again this did not ruin our trip but was challenging. The constant use of f bombs and just loudness of the kids was more disturbing. I am a middle school counselor by profession and I felt like I was at school with 1200 7th graders only they were 21 and drunk. :o

 

 

The BAD: Our cabin“upgrade” was more of a downgrade than upgrade. While we did have the balcony which was nice, we had the worst cabin experience that we have had in the 30 years we have been cruising. When we arrived the toilet would not flush and the safe did not work. The toilet was fixed quickly, but we had the same issue multiple times throughout the trip, and no we were not flushing anything that we had not consumed downit! We had to have it worked on a few more times during the week. The safe took a little longer to get fixed and one of us had to remain in the cabin until they arrived as they will not work on the safe without someone being there even though we had nothing in it at this point. This wasn’t a huge deal but we had other things when we first arrived that we would rather being doing other than hanging out in the cabin waiting on repairs. Once it was fixed though it was fixed and we had no other issues with it. The main issue with the cabin was the cleanliness, or lack there of. We have never had a dirty cabin on any cruise on any line. They are typically well maintained and clean. We are not clean freaks and never ask for anything from our steward other than robes. We are pretty low maintenance. We did request that a child size life jacket be left in the cabin. Our attendant told us that the child vests were “much too small for your daughter the adult would be better” my mom informed her that my daughter weighed 53 pounds so she was concerned that the adult jacket would be too large but again she stated the only smaller jackets that were available were for very small children. This seems alarming to me as we later figured out that the adult jackets are for weights above 70 pounds. We never did receive the appropriate jacket for my child’s weight.

 

 

The state of our cabin was not in any way up to RCCL standards. I will not bore you with all the details but a few examples: trash on the balcony left by previous cruisers,balcony glass was almost opaque it was so dirty, full length mirror was spotted and dirty, fridge had what appeared to be coke spilt in it, the area around the balcony door smelled like urine, carpet in that same area was stained, both bedside tables had liquid spilled on them that had been left and dried. The phone was actually stuck to the table since the spill had not been cleaned up. There was a sea pass card and a receipt from Playa Mia from the previous occupant in the floor. I have no idea how they got off the ship without the card but it was still in our cabin. We had no C&A amenities nor tour tickets left in the cabin which was probably due to the last minute cabin reassignments o no big deal, but it was days and multiple inquires later before we ever received the waters and C&A letter detailing which coupons were on the cards. My daughter never did receive the youth letter and we never received the top tier event notification. Again these things are not a huge deal however the attitude received by our stateroom attendant was a big deal. We called and politely asked her to clean the room again and pointed out the issues. We did this directly with her so as not to get her in trouble At this point she stated there had been a lot of kids on the ship the week before and they made big messes and she cleaned the best she could. She never offered to re-clean the room. She continued to make excuses and state why she couldn’t clean and actually started getting argumentative and raised her voice. She also told me that I would need to go to guest services to get my tour tickets after having told me earlier in the afternoon that she would get them and leave them in our cabin. I reminded her that I had already been to guest services to ask about the tickets and was told by them and by her that she would get them. She stated that she would not be getting them. At one point during this exchange she stated “if you had wanted a better room you should have booked a suite” We at no time mentioned wanting a better room just a clean one! She also spoke negatively about RoyalCaribbean and mentioned several times that she was over worked and did not have time to do everything. Long story short I walked down to guest services and spoke with a rep at the desk. By the time I got back to the cabin a floor supervisor was there apologizing and inspecting the cabin. She told us she would supervise the cleaning the following day which she apparently did because the cabin was cleaned to our expectations by the time we returned from our Key West Shore excursion. The supervisor also brought my tour tickets to us within 10 minutes that evening. Enough with the bad and ugly on to the good!!

 

 

 

The GOOD: We received excellent service in the dining room from Leo and Olex. We had my time dining but booked the sametime same table for the entire week. We had a table close to the window and were able to see us going under the skyway bridge leaving Tampa.My daughter enjoyed that view!

Overall I thought the food was good. We had lunch the 1st day in the Windjammer. The welcome aboard sheet cake was excellent. I am usually not a sheet cake fan but it was very tasty and looked nice too. The first night dinner had a decent horseradish salmon, my mom had prime rib and said it was good. The chocolate hazelnut cake was good. I was not a fan of the new menus. I miss the cold soups, different salads and the dessert options seemed fewer.

 

Our second morning included breakfast in the packed Windjammer. They did have an abundant amount of smoked salmon and bagels on the buffet so I was happy about that, butthe bran muffins and chocolate muffins they used to serve were no longer there. We were disappointed with those omissions. We took the Key West Trolley Tour and went to the rum distillery, Hemingway house and lunch at the Kermit Key lime shop. The disembarkation took forever and was very unorganized. The last time we were there we were docked downtown and just walked off. This time we were at the navy yard and by the time we stood in line to get off, stood in line to get on a trolley to get tot own, and stood in a LONG line to get on the trolley to get back on the ship there was not a lot of time left for exploring Key West. It was okay for us as we have been there multiple times but if it had been a first visit I would have been disappointed with the amount of time actually spent in port. For dinner this evening I had French onion soup and lasagna which I enjoyed, but the seafood cake as an appetizer was not at all appetizing. I think they forgot to add the seafood to the cake! It was like eating a pile of fried corn meal kind of like a hush puppy only not as good. The crème brulee has seen better days as well. This evening we saw a juggler which my daughter enjoyed.

 

Third day started with light breakfast in the Windjammer, it was still a crowded madhouse. We had lunch in the dining room. The tutti salad bar was good, but I like to have fruit in my salad so it would be great if they would ad some fruit options. I also had a sundried tomato wrap which was very good. The peach crumble was terrible. My mom had carrot cake which she said was good. My daughter played some in the kid pool in the back and went down the water slide a gazillion times. Like I mentioned earlier we could not get anywhere near the main pool. The chairhogs were not present at the kid pool and we found no problem getting chairs close to the pool. For dinner I had escargot which was good, duck which was okay but a little greasy and the chocolate cake that is on the menu every night. If you want chocolate skip this and get the brownie from the kids menu. The cake had no taste. The Las Vegas tenors were the night’s performers, they were talented just not really our cup of tea. We finally received our C&A amenities tonight! Yay we have bottles of water.

 

The next day we were at Cozumel. Breakfast was less crowded and debarkation much better, probably because we were up and out earlier. We spent the day at Paradise Beach club, we have been there before and always enjoy it. The taxi dispatcher tried to talk us out of going there saying it would be the most crowded place. We held firm and enjoyed our day. It was not overly crowded at all. Dinner tonight included a delicious crab cake appetizer I wish I had just ordered a few and made that my dinner! I had the ahi tuna as an entrée which was okay. My mom had the pork and said it was fine. There was a magician for the night’s show Bill Cook. He was great and my daughter loved the show.He was very personable. The top tier event was held this evening. Typical event.

 

The last sea day included a family comedy show in the afternoon it was fine but we all liked the magician better. My daughter actually said she thought the magician was funnier than the comedian and he is only “half a comedian” The last dinner included a good coconut shrimp, a good tomato goat cheese tart and good turkey. The accompaniments served with the turkey were not at all good. I am not quite sure what they think sweet potatoes are but they are not what was served and referred to as sweet potatoes… at least not in the south! The apple stuffing was not edible. Mom had the lamb and said it was good. My daughter had spaghetti from the kids menu most nights and it was very good spaghetti! The last show was a combo musicians, dancers and singers from the ship. It was very good.

 

 

Debarkation was very smooth and we were off and through customs very quickly. Our only hiccup here was the lovely older gentleman who shoved in line in front of me separating me from both my child and the the porter with all our luggage. When I tapped his shoulder and stated “Excuse me I am with them” pointing to my kid and my bags he called me a fing idiot and told me go on. I am not sure if he is always such a peach or if he just had a really bad cruise J All in all was good trip, as I stated earlier have never really had a bad one. I was not at work and it was warm and pretty so what is there to complain about! :')

[L1211]

Thank you for your review! Very enjoyable. So sorry about your room attendant. No one should have to argue over wanting a clean room!!!

[DfDinLA]

Good cruise review. I think you dealt with cabin situation quite well. For me, an argumentative cabin steward is over the line. Her comment about booking a suite would have been too much for me and I would have been making a cabin steward gratuity reduction.

[Tljcruiser]

Thank you for your review! Very enjoyable. So sorry about your room attendant. No one should have to argue over wanting a clean room!!!

 

It was a first for us and hopefully the last!

[Tljcruiser]

Good cruise review. I think you dealt with cabin situation quite well. For me, an argumentative cabin steward is over the line. Her comment about booking a suite would have been too much for me and I would have been making a cabin steward gratuity reduction.

 

I seriously considered it but she did improve. We are probably too nice, and I really didn't want to stand in line at guest services AGAIN. I think the supervisor gave her an attitude adjustment. I hope she was just having a bad week, if that type of thing continues I don't think she will be working there much longer. I think at first we were just in shock I have seen many out of line passengers making demands and just being ugly to crew members but I have never seen a crew member being rude to guests! After the first day/night we did get ice left daily and 1 towel animal. I had told my daughter after that first night not to be expecting any towel friends this trip. :o

[cb at sea]

There is NO WAY I would have left a dirty cabin be.....SOMEONE would have cleaned its....even if it was myself...documented on video. Our safe on Brilliance had the same problem...and I spend about 1 hour waiting for someone to arrive to fix it. They should check these things periodically so paying guests are so inconvenienced. Frustrating!

[cruisinfromtampa]

We were on the same sailing and I cannot second the issues with the Spring Breakers enough! We were on Brilliance last year, same week, same itinerary, and did not have these issues. USF, FSU, and Hillsborough County were all on Spring Break the same week...I blame that perfect storm There were 6 of us sailing together, 5 teachers and an administrator. We were over the lot by Day 2! 3 of us also had at least one current or former student on the ship...

 

***A day on a cruise is better than a day at work, but some cruises are better than others.

 

We've booked a 9-night on Navigator for next year in the hopes that it will mean less college age kids, and more people our speed.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

We were on the same sailing and I cannot second the issues with the Spring Breakers enough! We were on Brilliance last year, same week, same itinerary, and did not have these issues. USF, FSU, and Hillsborough County were all on Spring Break the same week...I blame that perfect storm There were 6 of us sailing together, 5 teachers and an administrator. We were over the lot by Day 2! 3 of us also had at least one current or former student on the ship...

 

***A day on a cruise is better than a day at work, but some cruises are better than others.

 

We've booked a 9-night on Navigator for next year in the hopes that it will mean less college age kids, and more people our speed.

 

Somewhat OT, but related... It is the sheer fact that my principal said she loves to cruise NCL out of NYC because it's so convenient that is keeping me from EVER trying that. I don't care how big the ship is...it's not big enough for me to risk having to deal with my principal on my vacation!! Haha! More power to teachers who CAN vacation with their administrators. Not me...I need a break!

[cruisinfromtampa]

Somewhat OT, but related... It is the sheer fact that my principal said she loves to cruise NCL out of NYC because it's so convenient that is keeping me from EVER trying that. I don't care how big the ship is...it's not big enough for me to risk having to deal with my principal on my vacation!! Haha! More power to teachers who CAN vacation with their administrators. Not me...I need a break!

 

I should have been more specific...lol. I'm married to the administrator, so cruising with him is ok.

 

 

And no...we don't work at the same school because it's hard to cruise when you're in jail. :'):'):')

 

That said, my current admin team is amazing, and I would happily cruise with all of them! Two principals ago...again...hard to cruise when you're in jail.

[WrittenOnYourHeart]

I should have been more specific...lol. I'm married to the administrator, so cruising with him is ok.

 

 

And no...we don't work at the same school because it's hard to cruise when you're in jail. :'):'):')

 

That said, my current admin team is amazing, and I would happily cruise with all of them! Two principals ago...again...hard to cruise when you're in jail.

 

Ah, that would make a difference. :'):')

[Tljcruiser]

We are from East Tennessee and I can attest to the fact that the University of Tennessee was well represented also. Represented anyway maybe I should not say well. Loud, slurred renditions of Rocky top were heard more than once. It is always so awesome (NOT) to have students/former students sailing with you! We did a Disney cruise fall break and had 2 current students and 3 former sailing with us :eek:

[cruisinfromtampa]

We are from East Tennessee and I can attest to the fact that the University of Tennessee was well represented also. Represented anyway maybe I should not say well. Loud, slurred renditions of Rocky top were heard more than once. It is always so awesome (NOT) to have students/former students sailing with you! We did a Disney cruise fall break and had 2 current students and 3 former sailing with us :eek:

 

3 sailings on Brilliance...3 sailings with students. First time while holding a martini in the photo gallery. Second time minutes after boarding just after sitting down at the bar. This time on Duval Street with the big mug from Fat Tuesday's.

 

But I also ran into a student while biking around the top of the wall that circles Xi'an, China, so I'm predisposed.

[Tljcruiser]

3 sailings on Brilliance...3 sailings with students. First time while holding a martini in the photo gallery. Second time minutes after boarding just after sitting down at the bar. This time on Duval Street with the big mug from Fat Tuesday's.

 

But I also ran into a student while biking around the top of the wall that circles Xi'an, China, so I'm predisposed.

 

Kids seem to get around these days! Nothing like wearing a swim suit, holding a drink and bumping into a student!