Basman

My family has been flying them for years. They are fine, but will nickel and dime you. One other thing, I think their baggage weight is 40lbs not 50lbs which is standard.

I live in Vegas and my stepsons live is Bismarck. Even though they nickel and dime you, they still are significantly cheaper than the other airlines that provide service between our cities.

When I fly them, I am careful to deny paying to select a seat, to board early, etc. they also charge if you take a roller board in the cabin too. Their baggage fees also cost more at the airport than at time of booking.

Don't worry, they'll get you to your destination safely. So far the landings match the takeoffs. One other thing, they're upgrading their planes.

Bottom line, I wouldn't hesitate to fly them. However I'd prefer SWA but they don't service Bismarck.

Bob :cool:

Take a look at this post. Go to # 12 and Gambee talks about how to get to the two main viewing areas.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1737751

You'll probably get caught up in his review and spend the rest of the day reading it. Gambee is the best reviewer on these boards, by far. Enjoy!!!

I got off the Brilliance in April and saw the changes that were made. Before that I sailed the Radiance twice, once in 2001 and again in 2004. At that time I thought the Radiance was one of the most beautiful ships I'd ever seen. I'd looked forward to sailing on the Brilliance.

Unfortunately I was disappointed with what I found on the Brilliance after the changes. In short, they've taken the things that gave the Radiance class ships their distinctive image. Likewise, they are trying to awkwardly incorporate things that have been successful on later class ships.

The biggest thing that I felt was the heart of the Radiance ships was the illuminated glass staircase. That was gone to enlarge the bar. Along with that, they are trying to make the centrum into the promenade. They removed the artwork and have tried to incorporate a high wire act. That retrofit also caused the Next Cruise area to be closed to the passengers.

If you call up the deck plans for the Brilliance and the Jewel and go through it deck by deck, you'll see where more cabins were added to some public areas. There are also some new dining venues added.

Those are my thoughts about what I saw. If you are going on the Jewel, I'd enjoy the current layout before the refurbishment. It will be a loss once it is modified.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong.

We are scheduled for the Brilliance in April. One thing I believe it is missing, or has been removed, is the illuminated lighted staircase in the atrium between decks 4 and 5. It was there on the Radiance and don't know about the other ships in that class.

While it is in no way a deal breaker, I was looking forward to having a family portrait on it. If someone can confirm this, please let me know, did the Brilliance ever have one? and if it was removed, Why?? I am sure there will be more than enough other places for family portraits.

Loopner,

Thank you very much for taking the time to upload these Cruise Compasses. They came out very well and are extremely helpful, plus I don't have to turn my neck to the side or rotate my laptop into a Portrait mode.

I am going to be sending this link to my BILs/SIL sin Orlando and Germany too. It will help them very much to get oriented with the ship and what to expect.

BTW my B/SIL (Orlando) just got his room upgraded from an inside to a balcony for $40, and this is their second cruise. Just wanted to mention when Royal does things that pleasantly surprise their guests. Too many times we hear about when people are disappointed and it creates doubts about the line. So thanks to them for that!!!

Thanks again Loopner, we will be pouring over your Compasses.

Thanks for the link. I did see these. It appeared the 4 day Compasses are a little hard to come by. It was one of the things I was going to post when we get back.

I've noticed with PhotoBucket, you can click on the link which will take you to all the pictures that someone has. Is there a way to keep people from seeing pictures you haven't posted?

Also is there a way to make the pictures posted smaller in display size?. I tried reducing the resolution, but the photos were the same size.

Once again I appreciate the How-To information and taking the time to post the photo. I signed up for a PhotoBucket account and want try a couple of test pictures.

I reduced the resolution to 50% and 25% to see which has acceptable resolution. Here is the 25%:

and the next at 50%:

Looks like 25% is acceptable for the boards plus it is about ~90% smaller than the original.

Pennielz thanks for the suggestion about Channelside. I'll be surveying both spots the evening before. If possible, I'll probably bounce between the two. Hopefully I'll start the cruise with a WOW worthy picture of the Brilliance.

Thanks Again

Ahecht, that looks like a fantastic location. Not being familiar, its hard to see the staircase you pointed out, but once you know where to look, its there. Also its easier to see in the Birdseye view, I've only been looking straight down.

Question for you, How did you embed the picture in Cruise Critic? Thanks again, hope I get a great photo of the Brilliance coming in.

Wanted to thank everyone for their inputs. I agree the Skyway Bridge would be a fantastic shot. Today is the first time the Brilliance came into port and it passed under the bridge around 3:45 local time. I am assuming the ship isn't illuminated coming in, if it is let me know. I looked at the angles and I would have to go to the southern fishing pier to get the best shot.

H18furball, great video of the Vision of the Seas. I really like that spot but today the Brilliance passed there around 5:30 am. On the April 16th Sunrise will be at 7:04 am with Twilight around 6:12. Once again it would need to be illuminated for a great shot.

I am thinking of just shooting it from the South Beneficial Drive bridge as she is in the Ybor turn-around basin. The sun will be coming up directly behind the ship though it will still be twilight. Otherwise, the mall that Jticarruthers mentioned will probably be the best spot.

Can someone from Tampa answer if I can easily make it to Cruise View Drive? It looks like it is a gated community, but I'd probably be walking. It looks like the other side of the channel would be the best spot to shoot it from, the sun angle would be behind me and Tampa would be in the background. Just don't know if there are any unobstructed views, it looks very industrial and that access to the waterfront is limited.

Thanks again.

Going on the 16 April 4 night cruise to Cozumel. Will be spending the night downtown and was wondering where the best place is to take pictures of the Brilliance coming into Tampa.

At this point it, I do not have a rental car and will have to walk. However, if there is somewhere that is spectacular to go to, I'd be willing to get a rental car to get there.

Thank you in advance.

We just booked this cruise earlier this week and are excited to go. There are going to be a total of 6 of us going, 3 couples. There will be me and my girlfriend, my US BIL/SIL and German BIL/SIL. We are celebrating Paul and Rowena coming to the States from Germany. Originally we were looking to take the Enchantment out of Port Canaveral, but I told them I wanted to see if there was a Radiance class ship going out of Tampa. Fortunately there was and am looking forward to it.

I am currently an Emerald Status and need 4 points to make Diamond. This is something I wanted to achieve before taking the Oasis or Allure next. Probably wouldn't have mattered that much, but at least I'll achieve that now. When we were looking at the Enchantment, I was leaning towards the 4 day cruise, but since it wasn't over the weekend, it was taking up more of everyone's vacation time. Since I didn't want to be one point short, I was going to book a junior suite to get double points, but I digress.

Since there are 3 couples, we were going to book the rooms right next to each other. While trying to watch our budget, we were going to book inside cabins. However, this will be my girlfriend's first cruise and I wanted to make it special for her, I upgraded to a balcony cabin. After jumping around a bit, I saw 9654 was open and after researching it, got it tonight. Needless to say we are all over the ship, one cabin is on deck 4 and the other deck 7 forward. Looks like we will be doing some walking and climbing.

Wanted to ask if anyone has Cruise Compasses from any recent 4 day Brilliance cruise to Cozumel? Likewise while I'm on the ship, what would you like me to check out? I'll try to post while on board, can't say I'll be as thorough as Gambee but will see what I can do.

Getting a little late, let me know what you'd like to know more of while on the Brilliance.

Thanks you for the additional information. I am amazed at how much detailed information people have and how accessible it is - all you have to do is ask. This is a great resource.

Just wanted to give everyone an update of what happened. When I booked, the RCI rep told me they could call the US number, but they would need to have a US address to book. While it could be done that way, it created more confusion and they spent several hours trying to make their reservation with no success.

They went through the German RCI on Monday and made their reservation effortlessly. One other thing, they gave them my reservation number and all of our dining reservations have been coordinated.

Thanks again

Thank you for your feedback. I talked to RCI and they confirmed what DavidsMum said. Appreciate the clarification about the dinning reservations needing to be resolve on board.

They did tell me that I could make the reservations through the US site on their behalf pending I paid for it in dollars, used a US/Canadian address, they had valid passports w/ 6 months before expiration and we took care of any visa requirements.

Thanks again to all for your inputs,

Bob

Wanted to see if anyone could help me with this problem? My sister-in-law and her husband, who are German citizen, are trying to book a cruise on the brilliance of the seas in April. We were told that they couldn't book through the US Royal Caribbean site and they've been having problems trying to book over the Internet via the German site.

My questions are:

1-do they have to book through the German Royal Caribbean site?

2-Will they be able to access our reservation number to coordinate the dinner reservations through the German site?

3-and is there anything else we need to be aware of when trying to coordinate a cruise with non-US citizens?

The other details are, it's 16 April sailing and the only port is Cozumel if that makes a difference.

We appreciate any feedback you can give us so we can hopefully make the reservations.

Thanks, Bob

...Daniel Tosh, "Sometimes you have to plow a four to appreciate an eight."

I think the Breeze makes the most sense if you have the time to take the longer cruise.

Enjoy

I too hope te the OP continues on with hs review. However with this being his first post and a 2/13 join date, it sounds more like a venting session about RCI. To the OP, please understand the community has seen people use the forum to vent on RCI for there very first post, only to fade away into CC limbo. So keep a stiff upper lip and post away, you'll never see these people on the boards anyway. Just keep in mind, they can see through a poster's BS.

As to the point that a cruise line must or should disclose which groups are cruising, it really falls to you and your due diligence before booking. Most cruises have some sort of group on them and you'd never know it cause they blend right in. However, there can be groups that make there presence know and can set a tone for the cruise. Two such groups, on different cruises, were the Red Hat Ladies and another was a group of children with Downs Syndrome children. One group was a little stuffy the other would always bring a smile to your face.

One time a coworker's son made a reservation for a cruise and caught wind there was a large reservation for Atlantis. He thought that was different that the hotel in the Bahamas would rent out so many rooms for there staff for a single cruise, it was about 75% of the Voyager. I did a little checking and came to find out it was a gay cruise. This was around the time of the infamous Bear cruise. Needless to say he cancelled and got his money back.

Since then I always check the roll calls and google the ship name and date of sailing to see if there are any large groups that may alter the cruise. Be fore warned that RCI will do whatever it takes to sell every last cabin regardless of how they do it.