Brilliance of the Seas - What do you love about her?

[luvseaair]

Just wanted to start a topic about this beautiful ship. We went on our first cruise on her in August and fell in love with her and cruising. Just thought she deserved her own thread :)

 

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[steeragelady]

I will be making my first cruise on the Brilliance in May. Maybe your thread got lost because the posting was in the a.m. in the States. Since the majority of my cruising has been on Cunard and HAL I am curious about your experience. We did a family holiday cruise years ago on RCL. Hope other experienced Brilliance cruisers respond.

[pinkrosesdeb]

Lots of glass and sea views which are really nice compared to Oasis and Allure which have much more inside views. Totally different experience. We really enjoyed Brilliance to the Panama Canal. Am ready to try her again since her drydock. We will be onboard again in April '14. Really can't wait.

[Chuggiebug]

We too cruised her to the Panama Canal. I think that the Radiance class is our favorite. We will be on the Brilliance again the first part of next year. Love the glass

[pstone1]

Aside from the Brilliance being a beautiful ship, without a doubt Capt. Stig is one of our favorite Captains!

[Tatka]

I already posted in different thread

 

Ocean views... You can see ocean from other ships too of course, but here views are everywhere. Even from elevators.

 

 

 

Covered pool. Very convenient in rainy/cold weather

 

 

Overall it is a beautiful ship with nice service, good food.

[audome78]

Outdoor seating at the Windjammer

[pinkrosesdeb]

Both our Jewel and Brilliances cruises were totally relaxing and wonderful. The ships are obviously smaller and we didn't feel the need to run from thing to thing to get our moneys worth. We had lots to do, made wonderful friends and came home stress free without feeling like we needed a vacation from our vacation. And, for us, the huge plus is being able to sail out of Tampa which is 45 mins away. We look forward to see and use all the new enhancements to Brilliance next year, we can't wait.

[Clarea]

Outdoor seating at the Windjammer

Loved this on Serenade and Radiance. :)

[Eileen G]

We love the Radiance class ships. We have been on the Radiance, Serenade and Jewel twice a piece but have not yet been on the Brilliance. We will be sailing on her in November and can't wait. I just wish RCCL would have more 7 days out of Tampa. We're on the only one this season.

[AHB626]

We are going on the Brilliance of the Seas for the third time, but the first time since it has be refurbished. We spent ten days on the Brilliance for a holiday sailing through the Panama Canal and a two week sailing over the summer in the Mediterranean. The ship was beautiful and very accommodating then, and we are looking forward to the newly renovated version next month. We will be going on a one week specialty cruise out of Tampa that was chartered by a travel agency in Santa Rosa, California. We are diamond members and have been on many Royal Caribbean cruises in the past. This is our first experience booking a chartered cruise, and it has not been a pleasant one! We have never had a problem with Royal Caribbean, as they always honor a drop in the price or they add an amenity if they can't. We realize that Royal Caribbean is not involved with the booking of this cruise and we don't blame them for the trouble that we've experienced with this travel agency. We overpaid for this cruise and were not properly accommodated when the price dropped in half. We were told that we could possibly get a cabin with a balcony, if we called back a month before the cruise departs. I did call, as the cruise leaves November 9th, and I was told that there were no balcony cabins available. Of course, I went online and there were several balcony cabins available. When I offered to pay the difference between what I paid and the current price listed online for the balcony cabin, they pulled a bait & switch. Now the balcony cabins were available, but it was going to cost more than the price listed online. I know that Royal Caribbean would never pull a stunt like that, but, again, this is not their fault. I've learned a hard lesson about booking a cruise through a travel agency that was unknown to me. I'm still hoping that my husband and I will enjoy this cruise and we are looking forward to returning to the Brilliance of the Seas. I do have a bitter taste in my mouth about booking a charter, and will never do so again!

[Meaglesjb]

DH and I spent our honeymoon in Brilliance. Don't know if it was the itinerary (12 night med vs our 'usual' Caribbean trips), the accommodations (GS) or the ship itself... But I remember her fondly!

 

 

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[Coochuck]

Just got off the Brilliance on Sunday....ship is in fantastic shape and the crew is 2nd to none....a great choice!

[luvseaair]

Great reading your thoughts.

 

AHB626 - wishing you a great holiday, sorry to hear you've suffered such rotten treatment from your TA. Might be worth sending an email to Royal Caribbean to tell them about it, I know you didn't book through them, however I'm sure they'd be diappointed to hear that a TA is treating a valued customer of their's in that way. They might be able to apply some leverage. It's worth a go. Good luck.

 

Tatka - thankyou for posting the wonderful elevator photos. As well as being in obvious awe of the stunning views, I remember wondering how they managed to keep the steel(?) so sparkling.

 

We loved the bar in the colony club right at the back of the ship. Incredible view.

 

Remember being startled by the lifesize sculpture of the teenage boy with his feet dangling over the edge at the top of the elevator shaft first time I saw him. Loved all the art work.

 

The food in Giovannis was fantasic, worth every penny or should I say cent of the $20 surchage.

 

Couldn't fault the crew, everybody so friendly.

 

We also loved the outdoor seating area in the Windjammer. Wish we were there right now. :)

 

 

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[w8ng 2 cruise]

Brilliance is such a visually beautiful ship, where views of the ocean abound.

Her crew outstanding! ...... Captain Stig is tops in my book. ;)

[jcool]

I love their pool table to speed some time you would think I am a good pool player but I am not.

[StingrayBob]

32 day till I sail on the Brilliance of the Sea. Can't wait she looks like a beautiful ship.

[jamer]

32 days. Last sail was on AOS in July 2013. Had great time. But sailing out of Tampa living 1 hour north..yes. Would like to know more about ship since refurb. Cruising for us is relaxation. 32 days:p

[Beachin2]

The thing I love the most is we will be boarding her in 5 days for a 20 night B2B :D.

 

Brilliance is the only Radiance class ship we have yet to sail, and we fully intend to love her as much as we love her sisters.

 

Boarding any of the 4 ships in the class has always felt to us like we were coming home.

[tiessa]

I sailed the Brilliance in February. She's a beautiful ship with lots of glass and views of the ocean. I liked the outside eating area also.

 

My only complaint was they had the worst coffee I have ever had. it was undrinkable. Even the employees were at Latitudes buying coffee. We really missed the Promenade Café!

[Tatka]

Hmmm we noticed that coffee was better than on Princess, NCL, MSC. It actually smelled anf tasted like a coffee, even though it was from coffee machine.

[referee]

WE are Diamond members. Our last 5 cruises have been on The Jewel, our favorite, including her repositioning to San Juan. We're taking The Brilliance to Russia, & The Baltics this coming June . Just to check her out, we're doing a 4 nite cruise on her out of Tampa this December. Hopefully, we will not be disappointed I gather the two ships are similar. Fran

[CruisinNole]

We are going on the Brilliance of the Seas for the third time, but the first time since it has be refurbished. We spent ten days on the Brilliance for a holiday sailing through the Panama Canal and a two week sailing over the summer in the Mediterranean. The ship was beautiful and very accommodating then, and we are looking forward to the newly renovated version next month. We will be going on a one week specialty cruise out of Tampa that was chartered by a travel agency in Santa Rosa, California. We are diamond members and have been on many Royal Caribbean cruises in the past. This is our first experience booking a chartered cruise, and it has not been a pleasant one! We have never had a problem with Royal Caribbean, as they always honor a drop in the price or they add an amenity if they can't. We realize that Royal Caribbean is not involved with the booking of this cruise and we don't blame them for the trouble that we've experienced with this travel agency. We overpaid for this cruise and were not properly accommodated when the price dropped in half. We were told that we could possibly get a cabin with a balcony, if we called back a month before the cruise departs. I did call, as the cruise leaves November 9th, and I was told that there were no balcony cabins available. Of course, I went online and there were several balcony cabins available. When I offered to pay the difference between what I paid and the current price listed online for the balcony cabin, they pulled a bait & switch. Now the balcony cabins were available, but it was going to cost more than the price listed online. I know that Royal Caribbean would never pull a stunt like that, but, again, this is not their fault. I've learned a hard lesson about booking a cruise through a travel agency that was unknown to me. I'm still hoping that my husband and I will enjoy this cruise and we are looking forward to returning to the Brilliance of the Seas. I do have a bitter taste in my mouth about booking a charter, and will never do so again!

 

We're also on this cruise and booked when the fares were quite high. We've decided to "live and learn" and probably will never book a charter again, at least through this company. We did not book directly from the sponsoring travel agency but through an online travel agency that we've used many times. We were able to get an OBC and a spa and specialty dining voucher which makes up a little for the $600pp more that we're paying versus if we'd waited to book later. We didn't even try to get the lower fare because we knew it would be a waste of time. We're looking forward to the cruise since we'll be on the Brilliance over Christmas as well. Did you sign up for the Meet and Mingle?