Short Brilliance Review 10/1-10/6

My husband and I got off the Brilliance the morning so I thought I'd share some thoughts. We live just outside of Tampa, but rarely ever cruise out of the port here. We found a good price on a hump balcony and figured we'd go for it! I didn't save any compasses, but I can try and answer any other questions you may have.

Embarkation/Disembarkation: we both had some work to wrap up Monday morning before boarding, but we requested our Uber around 11 and were in the solarium with drinks less than an hour later. The staff at the port was super friendly. Disembarkation went smoothly too. We always do self assist and left our cabin around 7:30. Per the paperwork, we should have been allowed off the ship approximately 7:45, but when we were waiting for our elevator we heard the announcement that we were cleared. We didn't stop walking from the time we stepped off the elevator on deck 4 until we climbed into our Uber home. About 45 minutes from leaving our cabin, we had already picked up our dog from boarding and had laundry going.

Cabin: we were in cabin 7092, a hump cabin on the port side. The large balcony was a bonus for us, but I didn't realize that we wouldn't have a straight view down to the water as the lifeboats were under us. Another thing we hadn't taken into account was that being the second door down the hall we heard a lot of noise from the centrum each night. Both of those things could have easily been found out by doing more research, and neither were deal breakers, just some observations. When we came back to the cabin after our day in Cozumel our attendant had changed out the door cards for "do not disturb" and "please make up room" to a new double sided magnet.

Food/drink: we had the deluxe package, but did notice a coffee card being advertised. The first two days onboard we didn't see any bar service out by the pool, but the last few days they were prominent on the pool decks, with service consistently in hot tubs too. We purchased a 3-night dining package and used it to dine once at Chops and twice at Giovanni's. We had a much better experience at both restaurants than we had on the Independence back in March. The food and service were both great. The vegetable ravioli at Giovanni's was especially delicious. We ate breakfast once in the dining room and it was just alright. Dinner in the windjammer has gotten better over the years, and breakfast/lunch there was to be expected. The Indian butter chicken was a standout. We did lunch in Izumi the last sea day and it was great as well.

Grand Cayman: we grabbed a $5/each cab to 7 mile beach. We walked about 5 minutes away from the drop off at the public beach and enjoyed the serenity of the beautiful blue water. We had lunch at Calico Jack's which was not so good and overpriced for what it was, but the view was great.

Cozumel: we aren't ones to do several beach days in a row (read: we burn easily, haha) so we stayed onboard until lunch time then grabbed a $4/each cab to Crazy King Burrito. We found this place earlier this year on Yelp, and it is delicious. It's just a short walk past the Centro shops and downtown area, so after eating we meandered a bit before heading back to the ship. We were in port with 4 other ships and enjoyed watching some of the runners make their way back to their respective ships.

Misc: we hadn't sailed on a ship this small in awhile, but went in with realistic expectations and had a great time. There were a few things I missed from other classes, but all the windows and views of the ocean made up for it. The ship is in great shape and while our next few cruises are already booked, we wouldn't count her out for another quick trip. There was a large variety of movies being shown in the cinema and poolside. Sailing under the skyway bridge is a very unique and scary thing. We made sure to be up on deck 12 and there was a huge crowd. The casino always seemed smoky, despite half of it being non-smoking.

Thanks for taking us along on your cruise.

Thanks for your review, we sail on her over Halloween!

Thanks for posting your review! I also enjoyed the cruise very much!

Theron

Thanks for the review.

Since you didn't have an excursion in GC, what time were you able to make it onto the tenders to shore by?

Thank you for the review....we sail on Brilliance Oct 11

We got off the ship easily around 10 in Grand Cayman. I'm not sure how early we would have been able to after the excursions.

Thanks for the review.

 

Since you didn't have an excursion in GC, what time were you able to make it onto the tenders to shore by?

I got off the ship about 9:30, and it wasn't very crowded. Right after I got there, they made an announcement and people started showing up. They did not implement a ticket scheme, so that tells me that they probably don't expect long delays normally.

Theron

Thank you for your review, we sail October 18th.:D:D

Thank for your review, we sail February 18th.

We sail on the Brilliance on November 8. Nice to hear that you had a good cruise. I hope ours goes good too. We're just going to Cozumel and having been there 3 times, I think we'll just stay on ship.

Karen

My husband and I got off the Brilliance the morning so I thought I'd share some thoughts.

Thanks, I did Jewel on a similar cruise years ago, I'd happily do Brilliance from here someday. Thanks for taking the time to relate your experience.

We sail on the Brilliance on November 8. Nice to hear that you had a good cruise. I hope ours goes good too. We're just going to Cozumel and having been there 3 times, I think we'll just stay on ship.

 

Karen

I thought the same, but the OP's burrito place sounds interesting.

Thank for your review, we sail February 18th.

Us too!

We are going on the Brilliance November 26. We bought the BOGO dining package. Is Izumi a Japanese steakhouse or a sushi Bar? My fiancé doesn't do any kind of sushi. We will be doing Chops the 1st night.

We are going on the Brilliance November 26. We bought the BOGO dining package. Is Izumi a Japanese steakhouse or a sushi Bar? My fiancé doesn't do any kind of sushi. We will be doing Chops the 1st night.

There is no hibachi in Izumi on Brilliance, but they still have the hot rock.

Thanks for the review, just booked her for December.  Glad to hear Brilliance is in great shape, my favorite class ship but its been quite a while since our cruise on her.

We are still looking forward to our Baltic Seas cruise next August on Brilliance.  So I'm grateful for any info I can catch about her.  Thanks.

On 10/9/2018 at 1:18 AM, fla gang said:

We are going on the Brilliance November 26. We bought the BOGO dining package. Is Izumi a Japanese steakhouse or a sushi Bar? My fiancé doesn't do any kind of sushi. We will be doing Chops the 1st night.

As Bob said they have Hot Rock.  My husband does not eat seafood of any kind, and he is perfectly content with the Beef Tenderloin Hot Rock and/or Tonkotsu Ramen.  He also like the Chicken Kara-age.

OP, Glad you enjoyed your cruise.  We love Brilliance!  We've done Spring Break on her the last two years, but are having to cancel our sailing for next year because they changed our dates.  Doing Navigator instead.  We will miss the views.

On October 9, 2018 at 1:18 AM, fla gang said:

We are going on the Brilliance November 26. We bought the BOGO dining package. Is Izumi a Japanese steakhouse or a sushi Bar? My fiancé doesn't do any kind of sushi. We will be doing Chops the 1st night.

Like Bob and cruisinfromtampa clarified, they do the hot rock, but not during lunch. I also don't eat sushi, but my chicken yaki udon was delicious! 

I'm glad a lot of people enjoyed my feedback on the ship. I know she just came back from overseas so I wanted to help give a perspective now that's she's back here in Tampa.

On ‎10‎/‎6‎/‎2018 at 5:27 PM, hogwildcruzers said:

Thanks for your review, we sail on her over Halloween!

I will be on her as well that sailing!!  First time on RCI!

On 10/18/2018 at 10:58 AM, soapbxking said:

I will be on her as well that sailing!!  First time on RCI!

Bring a costume, lots of fun!

Thanks for the review! We're thinking of booking a 5 day for April 2019 and eagerly waiting for the 2020 Europe release to book the 12 day Amsterdam Baltic in May 2020.

My DH really prefers the big ships because of the amazing entertainment choices. I like that there is a Central Park Café--love their salad and panini choices! It's been several years, but when we sailed Serenade, I thought she was a beautiful ship.

Thanks,

Barb