chris_kelowna

Hi everyone,

Here is a copy of the review I posted on the Cruise Critic review site. I wanted to add here - not on the review page - that I was a little disappointed not to meet our friend Bob 'clarea' on the cruise. The cruise director Clo asked him to identify himself at the M & M but either he was not there or declined to identify himself. Too bad Bob - we would have liked to meet you, you are a bit of a star!! Here is the review:

We booked this Transatlantic cruise while on the Allure Transatlantic last year. In Barcelona we stayed at the Ciutat del Prat hotel. Very convenient as they pick you up from the airport, provide a lovely breakfast, and take you to the cruise ship.

We enjoyed the Brilliance much more than the Allure. The size of the ship means you can walk from end to end in just a few minutes – very good for the less mobile among us. Ports of call were departure port Barcelona, Malaga, Gibraltar, and San Juan with the cruise ending in Tampa. We did not take any RC excursions but did take the RCI shuttle in Malaga. We did a private tour in Gibraltar – almost a waste as the day was incredibly foggy, no sights to be seen! The port in San Juan is easy walking distance to the Old Town. Very charming. There were lots of taxi’s offering inexpensive tours to the city.

We had early seating in the dining room and were seated at a table for 10. We had 7 lovely table mates. We ate every third dinner in the Windjammer so experienced it for dinner as well as breakfasts and lunches. Our waiter was Delano and we found him excellent – a real professional. So friendly and he remembered all of our preferences. The dining room was ridiculously crowded, with extra tables added on the second night. The food on board did not live up to our expectations. There was always something to choose for dinner, nothing special except for the garlic prawns. Food in the Windjammer at lunch was adequate but very similar from day to day. There was always a stew of some sort, sometimes called Boeuf Bourgignon, sometimes Lancashire Hotpot, but always stew. There was Indian at lunch every day and they really nailed that. Dinner in the Windjammer was good with Mongolian Hot Pot which had the best beef on the ship.

We had a balcony on the hump and except that it had a somewhat obstructed view – that was not identified – it was excellent. The balcony was at least twice the depth of normal balconies. We were in 7108 which was the first in the corridor beside the elevator. There was no noise from the elevators at all and some from the Centrum at night but it was over before 11. The close proximity to the elevator meant it was just a four flight elevator ride to the WJ, very convenient for getting breakfast to take to the balcony. Only eggs available from room service are scrambled. Our steward was Diego and he was excellent.

Entertainment was okay – the Cruise Director Clo was spectacular. Too bad they couldn’t clone her! We enjoyed the singer Daniel Bouchet and the Las Vegas Tenors. There were three women playing a piano and two violins in the Centrum – they were excellent. The only problem we had with the Centrum entertainment was it was so LOUD! Not sure why it has to be so loud but there you go…

We did watch a couple of movies in the small cinema. It’s well attended and in an amphitheater setting. No heads blocking the view. It’s not very big though and if you really want to see the movie, you may have to get there at least 30 minutes before the show.

There were two sets of lectures, an excellent speaker - Jim Parker, an ex CIA agent and storyteller extraordinare. So very interesting and entertaining. Other speaker shall remain nameless - he was not a good speaker at all. Too bad because he was speaking about upcoming ports and it could have been great.

Disappointingly there were no morning aerobics in the pool. I’ve enjoyed that on other ships, especially when there are many sea days. The pool is heated, salt water and wonderful.

I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Do you mind me asking what about the hump cabin you didn't like? I have one for an upcoming cruise..

Skyhawk, we just came off a transatlantic on Brilliance and had a hump balcony on the 7th floor, 7108 to be exact. Yes, there was noise from the Centrum but it was always over before 11 at night. The noise was quite muted with the door shut. There was no noise at all from anywhere else and the nice big balcony made up for the noise in our opinion. Also, the very close proximity to the elevator was brilliant.

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Thank you everyone! We are in Canada so I expect we'll have no problem.

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We have booked and paid the full deposit for a cruise on the Vision of the Seas next Fall. We are a long way away from final payment date. I should be able to cancel and get our deposit back in full, right? Does it take long to get your money back?

We have paid a deposit on a RCCL Canada/New England cruise to take place next Fall. We're thinking of driving instead and I'm very interested in a Celebrity cruise to Antarctica. I know I can cancel the cruise as it's not even close to final date, but because there's an association between the companies, can I just change my reservation to Celebrity??

Netflix is 1000% better than whatever TV is offered on the ship!

In the end, we didn't watch any TV at all!

We did bring an over the door hangar and we do not have way too much stuff! We got ours at the dollar store and it's served us well for a couple of cruises now. When you figure toiletries for two people, a shaver, hairbrush and comb, prescription meds, OTC decongestants etc, the little medicine cabinet gets really crowded really fast. Also, the battery tea lights are proving very handy in the bathroom and even in the cabin.

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We are on Brilliance in cabin 7108 and Bob is right, there is a slightly obstructed view from that balcony. It is the lifeboat cover when looking straight down. The extra room on the balcony is great! The extended length means the sun does not shine directly into the cabin, which is nice.

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Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Deck 7

Stateroom # 7108

Stateroom category E1

Starboard or port Port

Quiet stateroom? - some noise from the Centrum as it is first cabin in the hall. Noise goes away after 10:45 and it's quiet after that. No noise at all from the elevators

Connecting? No

Balcony view: this is a big balcony being on the hump. The view below is obstructed due to the lifeboat covers. Great view straight out

Bed placement is by the window, makes the room feel spacious.

No specific problems, we would get this cabin again.

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We are on a transatlantic right now on Brilliance. Last evening we watched a TED talk streamed from our laptop to the stateroom TV. We connected to the HDMI port on the TV through a small cable we brought. I was also able to get Netflix set up and a show started. Not sure if I will be able to stream the whole thing, but I did get it in. The TED talk was about 20 minutes and there were no problems watching it.

Forgot to say, we tuned the TV to channel 3

We are on a transatlantic right now on Brilliance. Last evening we watched a TED talk streamed from our laptop to the stateroom TV. We connected to the HDMI port on the TV through a small cable we brought. I was also able to get Netflix set up and a show started. Not sure if I will be able to stream the whole thing, but I did get it in. The TED talk was about 20 minutes and there were no problems watching it.

We are on the Brilliance right now on a TA. We can play stuff from our laptop to the TV by plugging in the HDMI cable we brought with us to the TV and tuning the TV to channel 3. No problem at all save sometimes the sound, we need to unplug and start again. Not sure yet about streaming Netflix. Was successful once but just to try it out. Not sure yet if it will buffer properly for the length of a show. I'll let you know

Thanks for all the input folks! Queen of Oakville, our experience has been the same going into the USA, but not in Spain. In Spain no Netflix was allowed at all - well not ours anyway! That was on an extended trip a few years ago, maybe it's different now. We will try our laptop on the ship and bringing an HDMI cable just in case.

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If you're not going on one of the big oasis type ships, you might want to bring battery driven tea lights. They are a great nite lite in the bathroom. I bring a dollar store hamper to collect smalls that I can was by hand

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No, we're with Telus, Shaw didn't work very well for us. It's a good idea though and I'll check if Telus has something like that. Thanks!

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Thanks for the nice input everyone! You are right about the laptop, we can just try that and we don't have to worry about HDMI cables or anything else. I had not thought of that :o

We will give it a try!!

Is there an HDMI port on the TVs?? Why would I be kidding?

We are going on a TA on the Brilliance next week and I'd like to have access to Netflix. We have a Roku. Will we be able to hook it up and watch? At least some of the time?

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Thanks for your responses. I guess she is legit and I will give her a chance :)

Has this happened to you? I got an email from an RCI rep giving me her phone number and email address and telling me that she's been assigned to be my personal rep. Anything I'd like to do with RCI in future should go through her, including if I want to change our already booked cruise for next year. And if we wanted to change that reservation while on board another cruise, we should be sure to give her name add our agent. I did ask her if she could arrange for us to have a table close to a window on our upcoming Brilliance TA. No response at all. Do you know if this is legit? It looks good but do far she has not been particularly helpful. Does she get anything out of being our 'agent'??

14 days until our TA on Brilliance! Can't wait... seriously

MrsWaldo, we can get very good rates to CPT but from what I can tell, must book in January for travel in November of the same year. That's from Canada and only works right then. Your Christmas trip sounds wonderful! Healthy jealousy from this end!! Lol

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We went to Cape Town from Western Canada a few years ago, (2011) and found it wonderful! It was an extremely long flight for us with 9 hours to Heathrow, a six hour wait, and a 12 hour flight to CPT. We went in November which is their spring and certainly by then winter has set in for us! We were there for a month. We rented a holiday apartment in Fish Hoek for the month and did two lots of three days in Sea Point right in Cape Town. We did self cater with lots of meals out. We used public transportation including commuter trains and local buses. We did not use mini buses. We are fairly frugal travelers but I must say that some of the best meals out we've ever enjoyed were there and shockingly inexpensive. Including airfares, accommodations, and food this holiday was much less expensive than many others we've taken. I would give a lot to go back, I loved it there!

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Great video - thanks! In 2013 we did a cruise from Sydney, Aus to Perth. We tried bringing dvds and a remote on that cruise along with an HDMI cable but when we turned it on we could see whatever we were playing but there was a big splash screen superimposed over the movie and there was no way to get rid of it. That was on the Voyager of the Seas and as I said, in 2013. Wouldn't that happen now? Have they changed things? We will be in Brilliance of the Seas TA in October. Will that work? Thanks

This is a hot topic for many families and those who want to watch something from home in their stateroom.

 

I created a quick video for those who want to know how to do it, this trick has worked for me on multiple RCI ships and on celebrity and Norwegian as well.

 

Hope this helps! Feel free to share.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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