Just off Brilliance!

[Lonzay]

We were on your cruise also ! The weather was great huh ? We took a chance and did an 11 am flight. We carried luggage off at 8 am.

 

Loved the cruise. I am not a complainer but that bed was hard ! LOL Hub did not mind it .

 

We were in an aft room. Long walk but was worth it. Room 8670.

 

We did MTD 3 nights. Don't like how they pressure you to make reservations. What's the purpose if you can't go when you want to ? LOL

 

Oh yeah we did the ultimate drink package. Loved the convenience.

We have that cabin on deck 9 reserved. Could you look down at the water? Was the noise level Ok. And one last ?, do you get any breeze in the back on the balcony, we are concerned it might be to still and hot. Thanks for sharing

[Beth_55]

Yes you can look down at the water. It was very quiet back there. I did not notice any breeze . I am sure there is less wind back there. We had 2 lounge chairs , a small chair and a small table.

 

As I walked down the hallway I counted my steps and it was 142 ! LOL But it was worth it and the exercise was good for us !

[jules815]

Jules, I see you mentioned Charmaine in the CL. Do you know if Andrew Finegold was the Diamond Concierge? He told me a year ago he was switching to Brilliance and the latest I could read was he was onboard in August but no one seems to know now. I'll be onboard in September. Can go to either lounge, but find Andrew much warmer and welcoming than Charmaine. Really hoping he's on board the Brilliance permanently

 

I'm sorry, not able to go into the Diamond Lounge yet. This was our first time in the cl, so I can't compare any other concierges to Charmaine. She was friendly and attentive. I did end up using her to make our specialty dinner reservations, and we were invited to do a bridge and galley tour. Mickey the bartender in the CL was wonderful. There were lots of D+'s in the CL and enjoyed chatting with them every evening. I can see how people tend to sit in the same spot each night; my daughter and I ended up sitting at the same table for two near the window in the bar area and chatting with the same group of people.

 

If you have an opportunity to do Chef's Table, it's was a wonderful experience. Ivan was very accommodating. We were hesitant to book as there were scallops on the menu, and I really don't like them (although, I bet they were great!), but the day we booked, he let us choose a substitute from either the Chop's or Giovanni's menu (I had him choose for us). When they were serving that course, it was presented on the same type of plate, and no attention was drawn to the fact that we were eating something different. :)

 

(just realized I put too much info into what was a reply! Sorry!)

 

This was our first time doing MTD, and we only ate in the mdr twice over the 5 days, but those days the service was good (much better than our mdr service on our last FOS cruise) and I thought the food was good as well.

Edited January 24, 2015 by jules815

[Trekker954]

Oursburn - if you get the chance can you ask Anis the whereabout for Andrew?

 

Jules - you sound like my daughter who is my cruisemate and I. Our table in the CL (Serenade & Radiance - sister ships) is also the bar table for two by the window. We'd often chat with those sitting right at the bar. We rarely eat in the MDR. It just takes too long and my daughter is picky. We do love the Italian specialty.

[jules815]

Glad to hear you had a good cruise. Thanks for getting that picture information for me, it really helped me figure out which painting was the right one. Can't wait to see DW's expression when it arrives:)

 

Happy to help out!

[CRUISEMAMI]

Oursburn - if you get the chance can you ask Anis the whereabout for Andrew?

 

 

 

Jules - you sound like my daughter who is my cruisemate and I. Our table in the CL (Serenade & Radiance - sister ships) is also the bar table for two by the window. We'd often chat with those sitting right at the bar. We rarely eat in the MDR. It just takes too long and my daughter is picky. We do love the Italian specialty.

 

 

According to the Concierge list, Andrew is now on Quantum!!!

 

 

 

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Franca

[Trekker954]

According to the Concierge list, Andrew is now on Quantum!!!

 

 

 

HAVE A GREAT DAY!

Franca

 

Wow, didn't know that. And Mario is in the CL. My two favorites. Guess I'll have to plan a trip onboard the Quantum.

 

:)

[LEMJMcC]

We were on the same cruise, if it was the one that left Tampa on 17-Jan. We were in 1538, Arianna was our maid and she was wonderful! We paid gratuity upfront, but I also left some cash on the bed each afternoon - whether or not this made a difference in the level of service we received I'll never know. But we did receive a bottle of champagne from Arianna on the fourth night and she kept our cabin immaculate!

 

This was our first cruise; I was told by many that fantastic food would be virtually available round-the-clock. While I did not go hungry by any means, I found that this was not the case. There was no midnight dessert buffet, there were no food carts set up anywhere, and there was no place to get a real milkshake - the coffee bar offered milkshakes but they were made with ice! Room service was available but the menu was very limited - I could not order just anything off the menus from either the Minstrel Dining Room (MDR) or the Windjammer Café (WC) - room service had its own menu, which I thought was very limited and a bit disappointing.

 

The quality of the food was good, not great. My dad contends that the food he had on Carnival was better. The MDR food was very good, I thought. Our waitress was topnotch. I would compare the food at Windjammer to that found in a decent Golden Corral. There was another very small café inside the Solarium which did offer sandwiches, small salads, pizza, and desserts throughout the night. Its food was decent and it offered some variety from one night to another.

 

Knowing what I do now, I would have changed just two things about our cruise: 1) I would NOT have purchased the Royal Replenish drink package for $20/person/day - we did NOT come close to getting our money's worth out of this. The fresh-squeezed orange juice was only available at breakfast and you had to wait in line to get it - unless you ate in the MDR, then the waiter would fetch one glass at a time. Overall, the drink package was not worth it, unless you are a heavy soft drink drinker, which we are not. 2) I would have gotten the same room type (a junior suite), but on a lower deck for two reasons: there was some noise coming from deck 11 - I think it was people moving chairs and table around in the WC; and out on the balcony, the view of the sky was blocked by the above deck. I would strongly recommend spending a little extra (for it was $250) to upsize from the standard balcony stateroom to the junior suite. My folks had the standard and I was amazed at how much more room we had - it really made the cruise much nicer.

 

I would cruise Royal Caribbean again, and I would cruise the Brilliance again without any real reservations. I think I would like to try a larger ship and perhaps another cruise line just for comparison.

 

Overall, we had a tremendous time and we are very thankful to God for allowing us this wonderful opportunity to enjoy His creation while relaxing in very great comfort and luxury. I never really knew what deep blue sea was until we were out in the middle of the Gulf of Mexico. Just amazingly beautiful; we cannot wait to take our second cruise!

[bluegirlum]

I think that most cruises have (unfortunately) done away with the midnight buffet. The only cruise I know of that has one is the Majesty when it leaves Nassau at midnight. I think it all just depends on the ship...A ship with a Ben & Jerry's or Johnny Rockets would offer milkshakes. Oasis or another large ship might offer more late night food options (I usually go to bed early, so I don't know. :o ).

 

Glad you had a nice cruise overall. I will be on Brilliance in 32 days and can't wait!

[paleskin]

Just got back from my 3rd year in a row of Carnivals Paradise. We loved the smaller ship, the shows with live orchestra, comedy, and rock band. Weve always been dissapointed they did away with the poolside raggae band years ago and now we hear there are no more orchestra bands anymore and they are using "playlist" shows which has NO live band ! I'm ready for a change and I am hoping the Brilliance(which is the same capacity ship and the Tampa port we love) has a live rock band, a pool band and live orchestra for shows. PLEASE let me know as we cruise not only for the warm winter sun, but we love music! Good music!

[kc320]

Brilliance had a pool band in Dec....playing times were pretty limited though...

[Vyhanek]

I'm wondering about your comment about your daughter being questioned. What do you mean by that?

 

I ask because I am cruising with my daughter in a few weeks. She's a teenager. Will I have trouble bringing her into the concierge lounge? This will be a problem I hadn't thought about and will be an issue since it's just her and I cruising. I've only enjoyed the suite life on NCL and they don't have age restrictions in the Haven areas.

[yippyskippy]

So glad to hear you had a great time and that the cruise ship was so good - I've been reading lots of complaints - even from the people who were on the same cruise which seems so odd.

How was the weather on that trip? We are going in June out of Harwich for 12 days going to St. Pete.

TIA!

[yippyskippy]

I was on Brilliance in August of 2012 for a 7 day Norwegian Fiord cruise. The cruise was fantastic! I think Brilliance is my favorite ship! Everyone was so helpful and courteous. Since this was my retirement trip we went with a Junior Suite and weren't disappointed. As far as cruising is concerned I think you can't beat the Radiance Class!

 

Elvis

 

Forgive me for re-posting, but I just realized that I didn't do the quote thing, so I couldn't get the message to Elvis... new to CC boards.

 

Elvis -

So glad to hear you had a great time and that the cruise ship was so good - I've been reading lots of complaints - even from the people who were on the same cruise which seems so odd.

How was the weather on that trip? We are going in June out of Harwich for 12 days going to St. Pete.

TIA!

[jules815]

I'm wondering about your comment about your daughter being questioned. What do you mean by that?

 

I ask because I am cruising with my daughter in a few weeks. She's a teenager. Will I have trouble bringing her into the concierge lounge? This will be a problem I hadn't thought about and will be an issue since it's just her and I cruising. I've only enjoyed the suite life on NCL and they don't have age restrictions in the Haven areas.

 

Your daughter is absolutely allowed in the concierge lounge.

 

The man questioning my daughter first asked her what her C&A level was. (she had no idea it was printed right on the card!) When she told him she wasn't sure, he asked her how many points she had. Her reply was something like "I have no idea, my mom takes care of all of our cruises." He may have been just trying to make conversation, because it seems like everyone was talking about their cruise experiences. We were sitting at a table for two, and I had turned my chair to talk to the group sitting next to us, so I heard a little of what he was asking her. I think this may have been the evening I got tired of waiting for her to get ready, so I went up the the lounge by myself and she joined me a little later.

 

Don't let it worry you. We had such a lovely time in the concierge lounge. Met very nice people who were welcoming and asked us to sit with them every evening. I really enjoyed talking with everyone about their cruises, and they encouraged me to look into doing a repo or TA with my husband, and now we're thinking about doing that in 2016. :)

Edited February 5, 2015 by jules815

[SpainAlien]

So glad to hear you had a great time and that the cruise ship was so good - I've been reading lots of complaints - even from the people who were on the same cruise which seems so odd.

How was the weather on that trip? We are going in June out of Harwich for 12 days going to St. Pete.

TIA!

 

Hi YippySkippy,

 

I am also sailing on Brilliance in June from Harwich but I am going 23rd June, I imagine you are going on 11th June. I would recommend that you join the Roll Call for your cruise as other people who are on your sailing will share what they have found out so far. You can also sign up with RCL for the Meet & Mingle.

 

Roll call 11th June: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2006283&page=5

 

Roll call 23rd June: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2054744&page=2

 

RCL Meet & Mingle registration: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ccEntry.do

 

I hope that helps :)

 

Gail

[bluegirlum]

Forgive me if I missed the answer, but did anyone say which night formal night is?

[jules815]

Forgive me if I missed the answer, but did anyone say which night formal night is?

 

Formal night was on our first sea day, so day 3.

[bluegirlum]

Formal night was on our first sea day, so day 3.

 

Great. Thanks!

[SpainAlien]

Hi Jules815,

 

I wonder if you could answer another question for me? The new Royal Caribbean website is now showing the aerial show over the Centrum as "Price: Not included in cost of cruise". Was it at extra cost when you were onboard? If yes, how much was it?

 

I notice that the website is showing a lot of the activities that I would have thought were included in the fare as being "Price: Not included in cost of cruise" such as dance classes, scrapbooking, napkin folding, etc., again did you notice whether these were at extra cost on your cruise?

 

I am rather hoping that these are just a mistake on the new website as we have 4 days at sea and I really don't know what we will do if everything is at extra cost.

 

Many thanks

 

Gail x

[Missus Makkem]

Think that the not included in the price of your cruise fare is indeed a misprint.

Never known them to charge for any of the things mentioned.

Indeed they would have a problem with the Ariel shows as the Centrum is open at each floor and has a bank of elevators running up and down.

[Colorado Babe]

We sailed on the Brillance in Oct 14 and was so impressed with the food and staff. Our best cruise experience thus far!

[GTO-Girl]

Glad to hear all these good reviews!

 

After our cancelled "fog" cruise we are looking forward to trying again next momth.....:D

[Elvis1209]

Forgive me for re-posting, but I just realized that I didn't do the quote thing, so I couldn't get the message to Elvis... new to CC boards.

 

Elvis -

So glad to hear you had a great time and that the cruise ship was so good - I've been reading lots of complaints - even from the people who were on the same cruise which seems so odd.

How was the weather on that trip? We are going in June out of Harwich for 12 days going to St. Pete.

TIA!

 

Sorry I haven't answered this sooner. You're going to have a great time! The ship is just fantastic! The food was great! It was back before the new smoking regulations went into effect so there was a dedicated cigar lounge in the Hollywood Odyssey bar, so I could have my nightly cigar and cognac. The cruise itself was great! Never before had I seen such beautiful scenery! Unfortunately I came down with a mild case of noro and was out of action for 24 hours. I don't usually like to retrace my steps, but I would take this cruise again without hesitation! We left out of Copenhagen. My wife's family is from there so it was nice to tour the city. My family is from Norway so it was like me discovering my roots!

Have a great time! I'm jealous!

 

Elvis

[RJLEXUS2011]

I was on that cruise also, fabulous!!!