Brilliance of the Seas Review May 7-14

[chiguy67]

We had a great time on our 7 night Alaska cruise on the Brilliance. This cruise left from Vancouver and went to Sitka, Juneau, Skagway & Haines and Tracy Arms Fiord. 

 We planned on flying in a couple days earlier but due to my work we flew into Seattle the day before and did some sightseeing and then took the Flixbus to Vancouver to meet ours friends who were joining us on this cruise. Flying into Seattle is much cheaper from the US and the Flixbus was actually not bad, clean and we had a great driver and crossing the border only took about 15 minutes.

 

Embarkation

We met our friends and stayed in the Delta Hotel just a few blocks from the port at Canada Place, which was really nice. We took an UberXL to the port and dropped us off at  the entrance to the port. Now this part was so confusing. No one know anything, where to drop off luggage (which is on the lower lever we found out latter) and we were told to stand in one line. We asked a few people working and they told us the same, one line for all cruise lines. That was not true, look for the blue Royal Caribbean flags and go to those doors. The "line" we were in was for Holland America, so look for the RC flags and go there.

 

We went through security, and US Customs and were on the ship in about 30 minutes. The port is confusing and there are not a lot of signs and everyone is confused so be prepared.

 

After boarding we went to Chops for lunch and the food and service was terrific. White we waited for our cabins to open up we had a drink at Schooners.

 

The Ship

The Brilliance looks good for being over 20 years old and it's been awhile since we were on the smaller ship. We enjoyed it and found it was more relaxing than the larger ships since we didn't have to make reservations etc. for entertainment and shows. The pools are heated so there were quite a few people use the outdoor pools and the Solarium was busy. 

 

Cabin

We booked an ocean view guarantee cabin and were in #3128. It was clean and fit our needs, we usually get a balcony but we don't spend too much time in our cabin. We wondered if it was cold and rainy how much time we would use the balcony. Luckily, we had great weather at all ports, Tracy Arms we did have rain and some fog but it was still spectacular. The location of this cabin was good, close to the MDR, Centrum etc.

 

Food & Beverage

We normally get the UDP but our friends didn't want to purchase it so we ate in the MDR with them. Despite all the negative comments about the new menu and food, we found the food to be really good. IT was cooked properly, was hot and our service was fantastic. Shane and Ahmet gave us exceptional service and we were usually done with dinner within an hour.

 

A couple sea day lunches we ate at Giovanni's and Izumi, both were great. and the food excellent.

 

I ate breakfast in the MDR almost every day and the food was good. I have never had to wait to be seated for breakfast in the MDR, but there was usually a line which moved quickly. The staff told me that breakfast and lunch in the MDR has been busy every since the first Alaskan sailing.

 

The drinks were good as well, we found the bartenders in the Schooner's Bar to be the best and it was always busy.

 

The pizza at the Park Cafe inside the Solarium was good and usually had a slice or two late at night, but they do close at 12;30am.

 

Entertainment

The shows were good, we saw the headliner and ventriloquist and comedian. They were all good as well as the production shows. They did have the Quest but only about 40 people showed up, it was still fun but there needed to be more people.

 

Ports of Call

We didn't book any excursions since we were not sure how the weather would be so we kind of winged it and we had so much fun but our friends book excursions. On day 2 we sailed through the Inside Passage, make sure you get up early around 6AM because by the time I went on deck at 9AM it was far in the distance. No one told us that, but we were about to see it on our way back, usually around 4-5pm on the last sea day.

 

In Sitka we took the shuttle bus downtown and looked around and took a lot of pictures. You can get a sunburn in Alaska when it's in the 50's.

 

In Juneau we booked the Blue Bus to the Mendenhall Glacier and had a great time, it was sunny and warm. We walked to the waterfall, which was amazing, it is so much larger than what it looks like in the pictures. It's only about a 20 minute ride and we had a great guide on our bus. After we returned downtown we took the tram to the top of mountain which has great views. There are many trails you can go on but there was a lot of snow and mud. The temperature was about 66-68 degrees this day and sunny. We even saw someone swimming in the Mendenhall glace lake.

 

In Skagway we walked around downtown and took in the sites did a little shopping. I did talk to a tour operator about a helicopter tour of the glacier but the only seats left were an hour before we left so we didn't book it. It was a much better price for 2 hours at around $300pp. After Skagway we went to Haines, but we decided not to get off the ship. It's a short stop and felt we had seem everything we wanted to see.

 

The Tracy Arms Fiord was beautiful, this was the only day it rained. We could not get to the glacier due to ice fields but still it was wonderful to see. Make sure you get up early, 5-6AM.

 

The Only Complaint

The only complaint we had was the communication from the Cruise Director. We missed the Inside passage on day two because no one told us when the best time was to see it and we would be cruising it the entire day. Usually cruise directors have no bearing on our cruises but he never really told us what was going on or even about the Quest.

Edited May 22, 2023 by chiguy67
Added pics

[wheelchair mama]

Great pics.  Did you have to tender in Skagway?  I hope we are as lucky with the weather in a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[chiguy67]

30 minutes ago, wheelchair mama said:

Great pics.  Did you have to tender in Skagway?  I hope we are as lucky with the weather in a couple of weeks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No we didn’t tender. I might depend how many ships are there.

[wheelchair mama]

thank you.

 

[barbpol]

Thanks for the review. We'll be sailing on Brilliance July 16th

[dusty bottoms]

Nice pics.

 

I hope the weather holds out for next week.