Rogueperson's **Live** Brilliance of the Seas 12/16/2021

[Rogueperson]

On the plane finally.  Here is the obligatory wing photo.

 

I missed this coming down because i was tired and pick the ONLY seat without a window.

 

Oh well.  Vacation is almost over

[Rogueperson]

Anyone familiar with my live threads will know that a day or two after the end of the trip, I post my final thoughts and review.

 

Parking:

I used https://www.myparkconnect.com/ to park at Channelside Parking Garage (right next to port parking) for $9/day.  You need to reserve online in advance and pay in advance.  No shuttle service, but you can drop off luggage and then go park.  To enter, its, actually on the other side of the garage opposite the portside.

 

Embarkation.

 

They've got it down so far.  1028 passengers was probably a hiccup for them.  The only line was the line for embarkation time, which I suspect they enforce, but no one actually checks.  They verbally asked me for my embarkation time and put me in that line.  You could lie and still probably get in the line, they didn't check it.  Once we got past the door with ID, vaccination, and status check, we were shunted through security.  Very little line there.  After that, a ipad check in, with another ID, vaccination and status check.  Given a vaccination wristband and allowed to board.  No lines there.  The odd thing was that we didn't get dinged aboard.  Once we finished the ipad check in, it was straight onboard and to the rooms (as it was ready because it was the first sailing).  Very smooth.  IMPORTANT ADVICE:  DO NOT TIGHTEN THE WRISTBAND ALL THE WAY.  ALLOW ROOM TO TAKE IT OFF IF NEEDED.  IF YOU TIGHTEN IT, YOU WILL NOT BE ABLE TO LOOSEN IT UP.

 

Crew/Service:

 

They were absolutely wonderful.  They wanted to be back.  They were happy to be working again and it showed.  Service on this cruise has been the best I've seen in many many years.  Its unfortunate that it was only a 4 night cruise, but they did so well, I detached immediately.  It usually takes more than 4 nights to detach for me.

 

Food:

 

MDR: The way its spaced out on this cruise, every dinner felt special.  Clare and Horace figured me out on the first night.  Iced teas, escargot, no problem.  The food itself has not changed.  Everyone has their preferences on what they liked.  The MDR is separated for vaccinated folks on 4, and everyone on 5.  Late seating dining is always on 5.  So we were sat up there.  Not a big deal because there was NO one near us.  We had a table for just us next to the window.  It almost felt like private dining every night.  We were behind one of those wait stations, which blocked the view of other tables when sitting down.  It worked out very well.

 

Breakfast and Lunch is open seating, and separated as well.  They are VERY strict about that.  No vaccination band, no entry.  This is somewhat contrary to my important advice, as because it was loose, i took it off when i went to bed, but forgot to put it back on.  I was situated on Forward deck 8, and the dining room was aft, deck 5.  A far bit of travel to get my band, so we had breakfast in the "everyone" dining room instead.  Over the years, the lunch menu has impressed me, as some of the offerings have come from the specialty restaurants.  Depending on your viewpoint, that could be good or bad.

 

Specialty Restaurants.  Chef's Table and Sushi & Saki lunch.  Food quality.  Absolutely wonderful.  Best two meals of the cruise. 

 

As i've mentioned before, I do Chef's Table most times i'm on a cruise.  However, i've been slightly disappointed that the last 5 chef's table (since Grandeur in 2017) has been the same menu (though Grandeur had different wine pairing).  My Anthem cruise in 2016 had a different menu.  I did not do a live thread for my Grandeur cruise to Bermuda in 2017 (probably because I did one earlier that year), and in 2016, I didn't start doing Live threads then.  I went back to my pictures (Thanks Amazon Photos) and noted the menu and pairing.  I still will do it, as I feel the value is still there.

 

Izumi's/Sushi & Saki Lunch.  I will revamp my previous views of Izumi, but not by much.  The food was delicious, but I felt the fried rice was a copout (hello, Chinese guy here)  Fried Rice and fine dining don't go together.  It just doesn't.  As I mentioned before, fried rice is used to get rid of leftovers in a tasty fashion, but its rarely (at least at home), used primary dish.  Its a side dish at best, and in this instance, it was the main dish.  Don't get me wrong, it wasn't bad.  So my new view of Izumi's is this.  Their food is good, BUT you're seriously paying an upcharge for this particular restaurant as well as this particular event.  First, keep in mind that you have already paid for the cruise and the food.  This charge is an upcharge above and beyond.  On land, for the same price, I would have gotten way more, or way better food.  One of my go to sushi restaurants charges $28.00 for deluxe sashimi dish, which includes a serving of toro, as well as yellow tail, white tuna, etc etc.  (about 20 pieces).  The amount of saki they give you is miniscule (but for me, more than enough).

 

Additional note:  I'm not sure what's going on with the gratuity here.  I've read that its included when you book online, but when onboard, the price is the same, but they add gratuity.  This one we booked on board (we were hoping to find a discount, but failed) It was $39.99 but they added tip, which put it up to $47.19.  Also, never heard of them upping Chef's Table to $135.00 as reported on my last day.

 

Major flaw.  Lack of late night dining options.  This is where the big ships win.  Park Cafe was extremely limited in what you can get.  With the Windjammer closed for dinner these days, (it was closed for dinner for the duration on the cruise), if you have early seating dinner, you're kind of screwed once dinner is over.  You could shell out money for the specialty, but after 9, you're done, your option is park cafe or room service.

 

Entertainment & Activities: 

 

I seriously can't believe i missed EVERY show.  That has never happened to me before.  I mean, short cruises, with the way they are, its easier, but we had 2 sea days.  There were several movies, but either I recently saw them (like Space Jam and Reminiscence) or I had no interest (In the Heights).  I wanted to try their movie theater too.  I think this is the only ship class that has a true movie theater.  Other classes bootleg their main theater which I don't really like as much.  As a result, the only time I ever saw our cruise director, was on the first day coming into the room and he was on the TV.  So, Jamie Fentiman was our cruise director.  That's all i know.  I didn't see him anywhere else, but to be honest, if i did, i may not have recognized him.  Also, with covid protocols, I suspect much has changed on how the CD handles the interaction between himself and passengers.  Activities was mostly trivia, gameshow type events and music.  Pretty standard fare for cruises.  Nothing stood out

 

Ship layout.

 

Can I say i love this ship layout.  The Schooner bar is amazing, possibly best designed one out of all the classes of ships.  Solarium is also my favorite and it maybe the number of people, or possibly the time, but the air conditioning helped keep the Solarium comfortable without being cold, yet you can tell the difference between outside and inside.  Plus the design is just...serene with the birds sound in the background.  What i do not like.  Windjammer seating is limited, unless you like eating outside, and then its just amazing.  Easily 1/2 of the total windjammer seating is outdoors.  I personally don't like eating outdoors, so its a detraction for me.  Centrum.  Its beautiful, but after being on Grandeur, I can't help notice that the staircase in the centrum adds so much flexibility.  Without it, it feels empty and a little like unused space that could be utilized better.  The absolutely awesome part of this ship, so far, this ship has a number of areas forward that is truly dark and great for stargazing.  If the moon wasn't full like it was for me on this cruise, I think i could have seen a whole lot more.  The two places i note are the helipad and the forward area on deck 13.  Deck 12, there is light, but deck 13 blocks the light from 12.  I mentioned above.  A REAL MOVIE THEATER!!  The Brilliance of the Seas and the Radiance Class is a classic ship.  Its full of great stuff without transforming the cruise ship into a theme park.  I kind of feel like it starts feeling like that as you get bigger, Voyager class and larger.  I think this fact may also have helped how i felt so detached and in vacation mode so easily.  The ship never made you forget that you were on a ship.  I think the larger ones can do that.

 

Ports of Call.

 

Costa Maya.  So, Native choice was a great choice for our excursion.  One of the things Joel (Ho-el) said was when they built Costa Maya, they had agreements in place that protected the locals.  Cancun and Playa Del Carmen did not, and the locals pre-Cancun were more or less displaced and pushed out in the pursuit of tourism.  As a result that area has been over developed and become tourist traps.  He said Costa Maya still has a lot of the local communities like the Mayan one we visited after 20 years (Costa Maya was built in 2001).  The result I've seen is that the area still has a lot of the local flavor.  I did not get a chance to visit Mahahual, as I only had like 2 hours left and was pretty tired after our excursion, but i suspect it has the same feel.

 

Disembarkation.

 

Tampa has the fastest record, but at the same time, this is one of Royal's smaller ships, with 50% occupancy.  They don't have facial recognition yet, so they still had to do it with a port agent from the Customs and Border Patrol.  

 

Overall:

 

This was a good cruise.  Good service, good food.  Good atmosphere, that's the important part.  I didn't run into very many entitled attitudes, which was good.  There were minor issues like safe not working, power going out in my room, all easily fixed, with no lasting effects.

 

So this concludes my 4 night Live thread.  I hoped you enjoyed following along as i enjoyed writing it.  I actually have more pics than what was posted here as posting pictures using the ship wifi can be a little tedious.  So if you want something, and I have it, I will post it.

My next cruise is in March on the Enchantment of the Seas.  This one will be a much longer one.  12 nights out of Baltimore, visiting St. Maarten, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Barbados.  3 of those islands are first for us.  I will be sailing with my wife this time.  I do plan on doing a live thread then as well.  So, again, thank you all for following along.

 

 

[FionaMG]

1 hour ago, Rogueperson said:

My next cruise is in March on the Enchantment of the Seas.

 

It's been great following along, as always Rogue.

 

Remember to tag me on the next one.

 

In the meantime take care and Happy Holiday wishes to you and Kat. 

[Rogueperson]

Just now, FionaMG said:

 

It's been great following along, as always Rogue.

 

Remember to tag me on the next one.

 

In the meantime take care and Happy Holiday wishes to you and Kat. 

I haven't forgotten yet, have I?

[FionaMG]

41 minutes ago, Rogueperson said:

I haven't forgotten yet, have I?

Not once! Tagged me every time. 😊

[CruisinMama2003]

Great Live and post review! Thanks for taking us along, will def follow the next one too!

 

Happy Holidays 🌲🎅

[ellenw]

6 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

My next cruise is in March on the Enchantment of the Seas.  This one will be a much longer one.  12 nights out of Baltimore, visiting St. Maarten, St. Croix, St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Barbados.  3 of those islands are first for us.  I will be sailing with my wife this time.  I do plan on doing a live thread then as well.  So, again, thank you all for following along.

 

 

We are doing this cruise on February 5. So looking forward to it. 4 of the ports are new for us.

 

Thanks for the review.

[Bailey & Sophie]

 

Thank you for your review. I appreciate the efforts and thoughts throughout. Right now, reviews are as close as I can get to cruising until ours next Feb. 

 

[c-leg5]

On 12/20/2021 at 7:44 AM, Rogueperson said:

I have confirmed that the diamond vouchers are available on disembarkation day as well. 

Are you implying B2B would get double vouchers - in the morning and again for new sailing, when you get new sea pass?

Edited December 26, 2021 by c-leg5

[Rogueperson]

1 hour ago, c-leg5 said:

Are you implying B2B would get double vouchers - in the morning and again for new sailing, when you get new sea pass?

Possibly.  Since you’d be getting a new card and new account, it sounds like this could happen.

 

There are only limited options to use the vouchers on disembarkation, but its more than probable that its a “bug” of the voucher system .  You’d pretty much can only get it in the MDR for mimosas and the cafe latitudes. 

 

I have a b2b in September.  I will explore that option.

[Biker19]

1 hour ago, c-leg5 said:

Are you implying B2B would get double vouchers - in the morning and again for new sailing, when you get new sea pass?

Yes, that should be the case but when the switch over occurs is a bit of a guess and as was mentioned not much available in the morning.  
 

Biker, who had a latte with Bayley’s on disembarkation morning.  

[c-leg5]

2 hours ago, Rogueperson said:

Possibly.  Since you’d be getting a new card and new account, it sounds like this could happen.

 

There are only limited options to use the vouchers on disembarkation, but its more than probable that its a “bug” of the voucher system .  You’d pretty much can only get it in the MDR for mimosas and the cafe latitudes. 

 

I have a b2b in September.  I will explore that option.

 

2 hours ago, Biker19 said:

Yes, that should be the case but when the switch over occurs is a bit of a guess and as was mentioned not much available in the morning.  
 

Biker, who had a latte with Bayley’s on disembarkation morning.  

Thanks, sounds like a bug to me or you are getting 8 days vouchers on a 7-day sailing.
 

Surprised I haven’t seen more reports and surprised it hasn’t been fixed. I was thinking more of collecting some water for my second sailing rather than wasting vouchers during the sailing.
 

A mimosa wouldn’t hurt!

Edited December 26, 2021 by c-leg5

[Biker19]

6 hours ago, c-leg5 said:

Thanks, sounds like a bug to me or you are getting 8 days vouchers on a 7-day sailing

No bug, RCI is just being generous and assumes you may not have any or very few drinks on disembarkation morning. 

[red919]

What an awesome thread!! 😃

 

Rogue, thanks so much for posting...best "live from" I've read in a really long time.  Nice to know there are still those out there who appreciate the Radiance class.  A lot see Brilliance as old and tired, not up to par with the rest of the fleet, but I'd choose her classic lines and wonderful ocean views over the newer RCL ships any ol' day and this thread has me super excited for my Brilliance cruise in February.

 

Thanks again and Cheers to you!! 😊🍸