Can anyone tell me the difference between the Summit and the Brilliance?

[Travelalot2]

We cruised the med on the Brilliance 2 years ago (Greek isles itinerary) and loved the size and atmosphere of the ship. We are considering the Summit for our next med cruise, this time with our 17 year old DD. Can anyone tell me the difference between the Summit and the Brilliance? Is there as much glass? Is it as nice vs. older and in need of updating? We cruised in an aft room on the Brilliance and are also booked on an aft room on the Summit. However, I'm debating on if I made the right choice going with X. We are diamond members on RCI. The perks on X are not the same. The real reason why we went with X over the Brilliance was itinerary - X includes Athens and Santorini where RCI only goes to Corfu. Any insight is appreciated.

[kitty9]

Stay with the itinerary you prefer. I've been on both ships and I much prefer Summit. The food and service are better on X, and the ship is more elegant IMHO.

[FinelyCruising]

I think the Radiance Class is the best class of ship between the two lines. Have (That may change with Solstice, but I digress) Have been on Jewel, Radiance, Millenium, and Constellation.

 

I have never had an aft on the Radiance Class, but they are amazing on X on this class of ship.

 

The Lounge on RCCL if you have used it frequently will be missed on X, otherwise there isn't anything too glaring that would make one think gee this is not feeling good to me if the trade off are the particular ports that you want to enjoy.

 

If the ports were the same, I'd say take the Brilliance for the loyalty perks and the beauty of these ships, since they are not, IMHO you will still have a great cruise with some very nice aspects that will please you in other unexpected ways. For example, if you enjoy the pool and pool deck areas, I think you may enjoy the more open and roomy feel to the space accommodations that the larger pool decks on X provide with some more private niches if you desire them.

 

Have a good time what ever you decide.:)

[Sky Sweet]

I haven't been on Summit but have sailed all of the other M class ships including Constellation, Infinity, and Millennium.

 

We had a D-1 aft cabin on Brilliance of the Seas for our cruise to the Greek Isles and Turkey in June. It was larger than the concierge class cabins on Celebrity's M class ships and significantly larger than their regular balcony cabins. However, its shower is slightly smaller.

 

Brilliance of the Seas is much prettier than M class ships and has a lot more glass.

 

Food in the main dining room is comparable on both cruise lines, but Celebrity has a much better specialty restaurant. On the other hand, Brilliance of the Seas has a much better buffet.

 

On Brilliance of the Seas we tried My Time Dining, which is not available on Celebrity. This was a major advantage for this type of cruise because early dining was too early for most ports and late dining was too late for us. In fact, during our cruise several people who had originally signed up for fixed dining asked to be changed to My Time Dining, and liked it much better.

 

Brilliance of the Seas was in dry dock shortly before our cruise and was in such excellent condition that she looked like a brand new ship.

 

Celebrity does not have anything comparable to RCCL's concierge lounge for the elite members of its Captain's club. On a port intensive cruise of this nature it was really nice to be able to relax with drinks and hor d'oevres in the concierge lounge between a long day of sight seeing and dinner.

[Starry Nights]

I have been on both ships...corner aft on Brilliance and Concierge Class midships on Summit. From my experiences, I would say that:

• I would be happy to sail on either, and would make my choice in this case on itinerary, so would take the Summit. Santorini is beautiful and if you haven't been to Athens, you should go at least once.
  
• The Brilliance is a very pretty ship, and has somewhat more glass than the Summit. But the Summit is a lovely ship too. Lots of wood, and has more of an Ocean Liner feel to me.
  
• The food and service were much better Summit. Service was friendly on both.
  
• The bed was more comfortable on Summit, and room service was much, much better. We gave up on room service on Brilliance, as wait times were never less than 45 minutes, pre-ordered breakfast arrived way past the state delivery time, and food that should have been hot was usually lukewarm to cold regardless of when it was ordered.
  
• The carpet, sofa and drapery in the staterooms seemed newer on Brilliance, and in better shape, and the colour scheme in the room was better coordinated.
  
• Both ships are about the same size and easy to get around, but Brilliance didn't have aft elevators.
  
• Summit doesn't have a Concierge Lounge, which we really enjoyed on Brilliance.
  
• From my point of view, the clientele was quite different on Brilliance vs. Summit. On Brilliance, there were more families, more young adults, noisier evenings, more running and laughing in hallways, more crowding and pushing at the elevators on Brilliance.
  
• Brilliance was much less dressy, and I would have to say, less common courtesy was shown than we've experienced on Celebrity cruises, but this might have only been the "personality" of that particular cruise.
  
• Oddly, we always felt most at home in the Concierge Lounge during the pre-dinner cocktail hour, and I think that may have had to do with the fact that, by definition, the Concierge Lounge serves more seasoned cruisers, who are used to dress codes, etc. We had this same experience on the RCCL Serenade of the Seas.

While there are a few things you might miss from the RCCL Radiance class ships, there are also benefits to be found on the =X= Millennium Class ships. If itinerary is important to you, I think you will be happy with your choice.

[rolfecms]

Berlitz rates the Summit 1,661 out of a possible 2,000 points while the Brilliance of the Seas gets 1538.

[Bobblsc]

Starry Nights lists many of the differences. For the ships layout, or plan, I suggest you look at these ships on the RCL and Celebrity web sites.

 

We have sailed on the Constellation, Summit and Infinity with Celebrity. Our most recent cruises have been on the Jewel and Brilliance with Royal Caribbean. On Celebrity we book Concierge Class, but on RCL we have booked Grand Suites both times. Most of our cruises have been Transatlantic, so the prices are substantially below other cruise itineraries. The RCL suites were very reasonable, but Celebrity suites are more expensive. Also, Celebrity suites have butlers, which we do not want.

 

I have noticed that RCL regular cabins have the sitting area by to entry door and the bed by the veranda. Celebrity has the reverse, which we prefer. The RCL ships have atriums all the way to the top deck. The Celebrity ships have atriums only to the fifth deck. We like the Cova Cafe on Celebrity because there is often a string quartet playing classical or semi-classical music there.

 

Night life seemed more active on RCL. The Schooner Bar was usually well attended at night. The lounge aft, Colony Club, is very attractive and well attended when there is a scheduled event, such as Karaoke.

 

We thought the food on RCL was lacking in taste. We don't eat much, so the portions were plentiful. We have had dinner twice in Portofino's And did not think much of it. We once lived in Italy. We did not go to Chops.

 

We found most of the entertainment on all ships to be good. One of the RCL with the ship's company was excellent, Called "the Tango", or something similar.

 

The Concierge Lounge on RCL is a nice extra. There were so many diamond members on the TA's there the evening cocktail time had to include a larger lounge on a top deck. Celebrity has nothing comparable.

 

You must know that you can use your RCL Diamond status to obtain Elite on Celebrity.

 

Starry Nights' post was much better organized, but it is late night now.

 

Our tastes are such that we are back with Celebrity for our next cruise.

 

Bob :cool:

[cavkc]

We cruised on Millennium and Brilliance within 6 weeks of one another in 2006 and I wrote the following comparison:-

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=392725

[rolfecms]

We cruised on Millennium and Brilliance within 6 weeks of one another in 2006 and I wrote the following comparison:-

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=392725

 

Thanks so much for pointing us to your review. Clear and unbiased.

[hcat]

We have also been on both--same size ship

 

DH prefers Summit, I prefer the layout of Brilliance although the aft bar area on Summit is a definite plus not offered on Radiance class ships

 

Brilliance has a great Centrum where there is live music--versus Cova area--live music but classical only...

 

Brilliance has the great Safari club area (or whatever they call it) & 2 specialty restaurants that we like--less time to dine than in Summit's specialty restaurant which for us is a plus.....

..

the theater flow & layout outside the theater is better on Summit...

 

food, service & ambiance is better on Summit--more Euro classical feel..

 

more fun times on Brilliance--different crowd (also depends on when you go)

 

Can't beat perks of the Concierge Club...

 

Guess I'd pick the itin that was most appealing & best price...can't go wrong with either..

[SeaSeaCritic]

Thanks so much for pointing us to your review. Clear and unbiased.

 

Sorry, but the description of the casual dress on the Brilliance was biased and I'm afraid not true. Yes, you may see the occasional pair of jeans on casual night, extremely rarely a tee shirt, but to describe it the way the review was written, I refuse to believe was any where near accurate.

 

I've cruised on a number of RCCL cruise in the last year, including some Bahama cruises, and never have seen anything as described.

 

I'm taking my first M-Class cruise in Jan. so I am interested in the comparison, but not sure this review was fair.

[FinelyCruising]

I just read it and don't find any glaring misrepresentations. I too found the ease in dress style among guests on RCCL to be a difference between the two lines.

[Starry Nights]

Sorry, but the description of the casual dress on the Brilliance was biased and I'm afraid not true. Yes, you may see the occasional pair of jeans on casual night, extremely rarely a tee shirt, but to describe it the way the review was written, I refuse to believe was any where near accurate.

 

I've cruised on a number of RCCL cruise in the last year, including some Bahama cruises, and never have seen anything as described.

 

I'm taking my first M-Class cruise in Jan. so I am interested in the comparison, but not sure this review was fair.

 

I would have to say that the review of the Brilliance by Cavkc was a pretty accurate description of our experiences on the same ship. If you look at my earlier post on this thread, you can see where I alluded to the difference in dress, although I didn't spell it out.

 

We have also been on the Serenade of the Seas in the past 8 months, and dining room attire on that ship was also much more casual than on M-class ships.

[Sky Sweet]

When we were on Brilliance of the Seas in June I did not see a noticeable difference in the way passengers dressed in their main dining room , as well as their specialty restaurants, compared to Celebrity.

 

However, even though there wasn't a difference in dining room attire, there were a lot more people who changed their clothes between dinner and night time activities. At the same time, this trend was also true on our Holland America Cruise in November.

 

In my opinion, the main difference between Celebrity and other cruise lines is that Celebrity passengers have a tendency to stay in the clothes they wore to dinner while they are more likely to put on something more comfortable after dinner on other cruise lines.

[Denny01]

OK, I wasn't going to add anything because I haven't been on the Brilliance, but I can't keep from mentioning the T-Spa on the Millinium. It's a warm salt-water pool enclosed (overhead is retractable) area that is beautiful. It has 4 hottubs around it, and many seats. An adult area for relaxation, with a Spa Cafe serving low-calore food. The pool is relatively deep, and with water pouring in from spouts on either end you stand under. The best is on the sides - steel rods under the water that form lounging areas with bubbles coming between. Fantastic. After our first experince, we got staterooms underneath so we could pop up in our robes and jump in. Loved it.

 

I AM biased.

 

Denny

[cavkc]

Sorry, but the description of the casual dress on the Brilliance was biased and I'm afraid not true. Yes, you may see the occasional pair of jeans on casual night, extremely rarely a tee shirt, but to describe it the way the review was written, I refuse to believe was any where near accurate.

 

I've cruised on a number of RCCL cruise in the last year, including some Bahama cruises, and never have seen anything as described.

 

I'm taking my first M-Class cruise in Jan. so I am interested in the comparison, but not sure this review was fair.

 

Let me get this right .... Do you belief I am a liar???

 

Perhaps our cruise was unusual, but my review was written on FACTS not on what I would have liked to have seen.

 

I find your tone and accusations that I am a liar to be extremely offensive.