Brilliance- any recent cruisers?

[jargey3000]

We're  considering the 5 day cruise on Brilliance in November. just wondering if anyone's been on her recently, and can offer any comments on the general condition of the ship ( she' s apparently one of RCI's oldest), the food, any other aspects etc.?

Theres not a lot of current comments in the review sites...

[cruisegirl1]

We took the Brilliance in April and were pleased. Sailing again in two weeks and expect a nice cruise. It is important to remember that the ship does not have some of the activity/entertainment options of a larger/newer ship. 

 

M

[jargey3000]

thanks. yes, i understand.

Because its older, I'm more concerned about the general condition / cleanliness of the cabins....and the buffet  & main dining room(s) etc. ...

Edited October 20, 2018 by jargey3000

[GEORGIEGIRL]

We just sailed a few weeks ago on a 5 day/4 night cruise to Cozumel (September 27 - October 01). She seemed in pretty good

condition (for her age) Needs a little paint touch-up outside on the waterline. The rest of the ship seamed clean and organized,We ate in the main diningroom the first and the last night's and ate in the windjammer cafe the other 2 night's. (the first night in the dining room the hot food was lukewarm - cool temperature. We had to send it back at least 2 times. Our waitress and assistant waitress were awesome and went out of there way to rectify the problem. In fact we were so impressed with their service (both in the diningroom and the windjammer)

that we decided to go back on the last night (main diningroom) to thank them for fixing a problem that was clearly out of their hands (they had several tables of people that had to send food back for temperature problems). I will say that once food was served hot it was very good. All in all it was a nice, relaxing getaway (Oh yeah, i almost forgot. We were celebrating our 21st. wedding anniversary, so we just wanted to chill out and relax). Go ahead and have fun.

[lv2cruisgrl]

We just got off today and had a good time.  Food, service, entertainment was all good. Ship is clean and in pretty good shape but could use some new furnishings.  We had nothing bad to say about it.  I did write a review.  Just don't  book a room near the entrances to the Centrum, very loud all the time.  We did a Guarantee room and wont again, they gave us a balcony room that we would never tell anyone to take.  Rm 7596, balcony is tiny and its on deck 7 right across from the access of Centrum.  Loud music and entertainment all the time.

[retired dude]

we sail on this ship very soon  and I was kindly asking if there is a live band onboard that plays dance music in the evenings. By dance music, hope that means music from 1970 to the present. We have been blessed with some great bands on both rccl and celebrity over the years and hope to find that little perk on this trip. I also ask if the diamond lounge on this ship is nice and is it overly crowded in the evenings. thanks so much for any help......

[lv2cruisgrl]

6 hours ago, retired dude said:

we sail on this ship very soon  and I was kindly asking if there is a live band onboard that plays dance music in the evenings. By dance music, hope that means music from 1970 to the present. We have been blessed with some great bands on both rccl and celebrity over the years and hope to find that little perk on this trip. I also ask if the diamond lounge on this ship is nice and is it overly crowded in the evenings. thanks so much for any help......

Yes they had music in the evening and it was a mix of 60 and 70's. Diamond lounge was fine not crowded because they utilize a portion of the crown lounge for it. 

[lv2cruisgrl]

On 10/20/2018 at 10:04 AM, jargey3000 said:

thanks. yes, i understand.

Because its older, I'm more concerned about the general condition / cleanliness of the cabins....and the buffet  & main dining room(s) etc. ...

Ship was clean, buffet was good, main dining was fine also. Room was very clean the only downside is the smoke from the casino filters into the centrum. 

[retired dude]

thanks so much for the reply from our florida neighbors......We only chose this cruise because we now have a home in clearwater and it is so convenient to sail out of tampa. I appreciate your comments on the brilliance especially with you with being diamond plus members....We too have sailed rccl and celebrity many times, and I was very hesitant to book the brilliance because of all of the negative comments about the quality of food in the mdr. When we starting cruising in the 80's the mdr food on both lines was outstanding and it seems that they goal of the cruise line owners is to convince the cruiser that they need to dine in the premium upscale dining that they offer for a extra fee. We have tried many of these dining options over the years, but for this short 5 day cruise and an introduction to tampa cruises, we were hoping that the mdr dining would be edible....We also thank you for the info on the music on this ship. We still like to hear some music after dinner and I know that the shows on this ship are not the same quality that we experienced on the equinox and eclipse, so we were hoping that a lounge with some nice music would suffice. thanks so much for your input, it is greatly appreciated......

[Sunny AZ Girl]

We were on the recent TA and the 5 night Caribbean following (21 nights total).  While both cruises were excellent and would do either again, we felt that the ship is showing her age and could us a good refurbishment in places.  Specifically, quite a few failed window lights (foggy windows).  My husband has been in the window glass business for most of his career, so he focuses on these things.  It could use some more paint in places.  On the plus side, the carpet was all replaced in the recent drydock and the furnishings seemed to be good, especially in public places.  I don't believe the cabins were refurbished, but our OV cabin on the TA was in excellent shape.  However, our balcony cabin on the 5 night was pretty rough.  The balcony was rusty in places and the bathroom had a lot of wear showing. 

 

Our main complaint on the TA was the ongoing construction on Deck 6 directly below our cabin (7000)  It sounded like a jackhammer going off from 8 AM until evening and nauseating paint fumes driving us out of the cabin during the day.  After several days of complaints our entire row of cabins had a meeting with the guest services manager and they agreed to stop construction on sea days and only do this in port (this was a TA, so lots of sea days!).  We were also all comped 50% of our cruise price.  I would think this work would be done by now.  Apparently they were remodeling the crews gym.  Also, the crew uses the gym 24 hours a day, so some of us were awakened by loud music and slamming doors at 2AM.  This was also put to a stop by management.  

 

The ship was very clean all over on both cruises.  No complaints at all about general maintenance.  Cleaning going on all the time.  We were happy with the food.  Good to excellent.  The Park Cafe in the Solarium was our favorite lunch place.  The crew is one of the best and will bend over to please.  

 

Overall, nothing on the ship really would cause us to not sail her again for the right itinerary.  The 5 night is a nice break and very enoyable for a short cruise.  They try to offer all of the activities of a 7 night, compressed into 5.   As mentioned above you don't have all of the bells and whistles of the newer and larger ships on the Radiance Class, but they make up for it in the excellent service and the more intimate feel of the ship.

[Yorkvillain]

14 minutes ago, Sunny AZ Girl said:

The crew is one of the best and will bend over to please.  

 

😳😳😳

[rt1092]

We recently sailed on her and were very happy with the cruise. The only problem was the bed was super low and hard to get up from. Hoping that was room specific. As we just booked one on her for April 6, 2019

[Lovetotraveltami]

We are on the April 6, 2019 sailing also.

[lv2cruisgrl]

20 hours ago, retired dude said:

thanks so much for the reply from our florida neighbors......We only chose this cruise because we now have a home in clearwater and it is so convenient to sail out of tampa. I appreciate your comments on the brilliance especially with you with being diamond plus members....We too have sailed rccl and celebrity many times, and I was very hesitant to book the brilliance because of all of the negative comments about the quality of food in the mdr. When we starting cruising in the 80's the mdr food on both lines was outstanding and it seems that they goal of the cruise line owners is to convince the cruiser that they need to dine in the premium upscale dining that they offer for a extra fee. We have tried many of these dining options over the years, but for this short 5 day cruise and an introduction to tampa cruises, we were hoping that the mdr dining would be edible....We also thank you for the info on the music on this ship. We still like to hear some music after dinner and I know that the shows on this ship are not the same quality that we experienced on the equinox and eclipse, so we were hoping that a lounge with some nice music would suffice. thanks so much for your input, it is greatly appreciated......

I don't think you will be disappointed. Even the shows were decent!

[retired dude]

thanks so much for the reply. I got a kick out of seeing that you guys were originally from Rochester. My mom's roommate in college was from a small town in that area called canisteo(hope I spelled it right) and we spent many great days at finger lakes racetrack on our visits to see her friends…. .A beautiful area!!!!!!!!thanks again......

[cruisinfromtampa]

We have sailed on Brilliance 3 times, most recently March of this year, and were booked for a fourth but had to cancel.  She is our favorite ship.  We love the layout, size, the view.  We've had zero complaints on any of our Brilliance trips.  The crew is great, the food has always been wonderful, in our experience, and we would not hesitate to book again.

[danv3]

Condition was great a couple of weeks ago. Radiance class is RCI’s best IMO. 

 

It also handled the 8-10 foot seas generated by the most recent hurricane pretty well. 🤢

[barb in ga]

Just booked the April 6th 5 night for DH and myself. I'm glad to read the positive comments.

We've never been on Brilliance, but we did sail Serenade a few years ago . I'm looking forward to another cruising experience.

 

Barb