My View: The Blonde, The Bullethead, and The Brilliant Ship (Semi-live B2B)

[APDMOM]

Solarium Views (Night and Day):

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Views of the Sports Court:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Second Sea Day Lunch (MDR):

The char grilled chicken was the best!

 

Barramundi was good too:

 

Fish enchiladas were a bit dry and with very little flavor...not a repeater.

[APDMOM]

A few more ship “shop” views before I close out this sea day:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[perfect match]

Glad this review isn't about to come to an end. I'm really looking forward to the photos you will get this AM sailing under the bridge! No pressure though!  😁

[dpostman]

Thank you very much for taking the time to post so many great pics of Brilliance.  This ship gets little attention on CC and we are doing a 12 day Baltic this summer on Brilliance, so it is nice to see a recent review.  I know some of the food menu options and activities will be different but the pics are a great reference.

 

Just a quick question, Other than Windjammer, what other included breakfast and lunch options are there?  On our last Anthem cruise, we only ate at Windjammer once, because there are several other great options that were quieter and more to our liking.

 

Thanks in Advance

dp

[LBumb]

Great photos

[nivek82]

Enjoy your turn day. 

[NemoCrownie]

On 3/17/2019 at 8:56 AM, APDMOM said:

Back on the ship, we found this critter waiting for us.  We give our room steward off at night, as we do not need turn down service.  So, he surprised us with a daytime towel animal. 

 

We are in one of the extended balconies by the midship elevators.  Unfortunately, there are no loungers, which defeats our purpose for booking this cabin.  The location is great if you stay up late, but the noise from the atrium is very loud.  They don’t settle down until after 11:30, and then there are people walking past our cabin talking loudly.  So, I do not recommend this location if you like to turn in early.  However, it is fun to be able to walk out to the atrium overlook and observe all the fun activities.

Darn the luck! You are in our favorite Radiance class cabin and we always had 2 loungers, 2 chairs and usually 2 tables (a small, low table and a regular table). I would be so disappointed!! It has been 3 years since we have sailed on a Radiance class ship (the Jewel) so maybe that has changed but still disappointing.

[APDMOM]

 

1 hour ago, dpostman said:

Thank you very much for taking the time to post so many great pics of Brilliance.  This ship gets little attention on CC and we are doing a 12 day Baltic this summer on Brilliance, so it is nice to see a recent review.  I know some of the food menu options and activities will be different but the pics are a great reference.

 

Just a quick question, Other than Windjammer, what other included breakfast and lunch options are there?  On our last Anthem cruise, we only ate at Windjammer once, because there are several other great options that were quieter and more to our liking.

 

Thanks in Advance

dp

Hello, dp!

Thank you for following along!  There are a few other options for breakfast and lunch if you want to avoid the Windjammer.  On sea days, you have free options for breakfast at Park Café (small selection of breakfast panini, fruit, yogurt, pastries).  You can also have a buffet or sit down option in the main dining room, which is typically much more quiet than the Windjammer.   For lunch on sea days, there are options to eat in Chops Grille or Izumi, for a fee.  Your free lunch options include the main dining room and Park Café (small selection).

 

Café Latte-tudes is open from 6:30 a.m. until 11 p.m.  They have a limited selection of snacks, pastries, and desserts.  It is kind of like the promenade café on other ships, just on a MUCH smaller scale. 🙂 I hope these answers help you plan.  I will take the time this week to take pictures of the different options in the free venues.  Enjoy planning your cruise!

[APDMOM]

2 minutes ago, NemoCrownie said:

Darn the luck! You are in our favorite Radiance class cabin and we always had 2 loungers, 2 chairs and usually 2 tables (a small, low table and a regular table). I would be so disappointed!! It has been 3 years since we have sailed on a Radiance class ship (the Jewel) so maybe that has changed but still disappointing.

I am considering asking if we could get a lounger.  I will even settle for a semi-broken one.  😁 I just don’t want to create more work for our steward.  Of course, if they allow me to have one, I will tip nicely. 

 

We saw Serenade in port in November and got a good look at their large balconies.  They did not have loungers either.  So, I was kind of prepared for the disappointment.  Hopefully, we can get one this week.

[dpostman]

13 minutes ago, APDMOM said:

 

Hello, dp!

Thank you for following along!  There are a few other options for breakfast and lunch if you want to avoid the Windjammer.  On sea days, you have free options for breakfast at Park Café (small selection of breakfast panini, fruit, yogurt, pastries).  You can also have a buffet or sit down option in the main dining room, which is typically much more quiet than the Windjammer.   For lunch on sea days, there are options to eat in Chops Grille or Izumi, for a fee.  Your free lunch options include the main dining room and Park Café (small selection).

 

Café Latte-tudes is open from 6:30 a.m. until 11 p.m.  They have a limited selection of snacks, pastries, and desserts.  It is kind of like the promenade café on other ships, just on a MUCH smaller scale. 🙂 I hope these answers help you plan.  I will take the time this week to take pictures of the different options in the free venues.  Enjoy planning your cruise!

 

Thank you for your detailed response.  That is all good to hear.  I assume that the Park Café is where I can find the Kummelweck sandwich right? 😉 

 

Café Latte-tudes is that the earliest opening spot for specialty coffee?  If so, there will probably be several mornings that I'll have to wait until 6:30 to head out for coffee.  Or I'll be aimlessly roaming around the ship like "Walkers" in TWD until 6:30. 🙂

 

Dennis

Edited March 18, 2019 by dpostman

[dpostman]

Oups. Duplicate

Edited March 18, 2019 by dpostman

[APDMOM]

Closing out Day 1 of our first leg:

I totally forgot to take a picture of the dinner menu.  It was the one with lentil soup, coconut shrimp, turkey, and pavlova.  I will try to catch a picture this week.  🙂

 

Saint Patrick’s Day:

 

Throughout the day, they had St Patty’s day activities.  From green desserts to green decorations, it was a fun day!  Here are some pictures of the festivities:

 

 

[APDMOM]

7 minutes ago, dpostman said:

 

Thank you for your detailed response.  That is all good to hear.  I assume that the Park Café is where I can find the Kummelweck sandwich right? 😉 

 

Café Latte-tudes is that the earliest opening spot for specialty coffee?  If so, there will probably be several mornings that I'll have to wait until 6:30 to head out for coffee.  Or I'll be aimlessly roaming around the ship like "Walkers" in TWD until 6:30. 🙂

 

Dennis

Yes, unfortunately that is the only place.  I will see if they are open earlier on other days. 

 

You can get standard coffee outside the Windjammer, 24 hours per day.  I will post a picture of that area later today, as it was hard to find the first morning. 🙂

[APDMOM]

My View: End of Day 4 - Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

 

[APDMOM]

My View: Day 5, aka Day 1 of our second leg (Tampa)

[APDMOM]

I decided not to set a timer to get up for the bridge so that my family could sleep.  Thankfully, I woke up just in time!  The helipad and deck 11/12 forward by the jogging track were closed.   So, I had to do the best with ship turns to get some shots.  The aft dining area of the Windjammer was also a good spot for the wake view of the bridge:

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Those poor, poor people disembarking! 😔😉

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

Our Turn Over Experience:

We enjoyed a leisurely breakfast in the main diningroom.  We picked up our new seapass cards at guest services around 8:45, then waited in Café Latte-Tudes while the last of the guests were being called and escourted off the ship.  They had to call about 8 of them by name... seems like they were trying to stow away 😂 (Just kidding!  Don’t spread that as a rumor).

 

We met about 9:20 in the conference room, walked off the ship, got our passports checked in the terminal (just in a hallway, not at the customs counters), and waited about 5 minutes to board again.  Easy Peasy!  It was such fun to walk back on as the 3rd, 4th, and 5th guests of this sailing!

 

 

 

[Stevie17]

Thank you so much for such a detailed and great review! We board Brilliance on Saturday, and we cannot wait. 🙂

[APDMOM]

Upon return to the ship, we enjoyed some quiet time in the diamond lounge before lunch.  Here are some pictures of the diamond lounge, along with their breakfast offerings.  These were taken earlier this week.  They do not offer the continental breakfast on the last morning.  

 

 

 

 

LOVE that Cappuccino machine!  Someone was fixing it when we got there this morning.

 

 

The diamond lounge was never crowded this week.

 

 

 

[APDMOM]

24 minutes ago, Stevie17 said:

Thank you so much for such a detailed and great review! We board Brilliance on Saturday, and we cannot wait. 🙂

 

Glad you enjoy it!  Let me know if you have specific questions that may help with your planning!  Happy for you that your cruise is almost here... of course, I hope this week goes by slowly for us, and quickly for you. 😁 Our quirky math minded son will now say, “Mom, that is like hoping a number can be rational and irrational at the same time!”

[thegraminator]

Your review  is so helpful  and your  pictures  are brilliant !   Thank  you  for  taking  the  time  to  share  this  with  us .    It's  been  a  few years  since  we have sailed  with RCI  but we are back !   I  am  looking  forward  to  the  rest  of  your  review . 

[APDMOM]

After lunch, we finally got to enjoy the minigolf.  We figured this would be our only chance to have a relatively quiet and wind free time up there.  If you know us, you know that we do minigolf Mr Bean Style... So, a hole-in-two is a picture moment! 😁