Brilliance of the Seas Review

Nice Fjords Cruise

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Brilliance of the Seas
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HappySnaps
6-10 Cruises • Age 60s

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Value for Money
Embarkation
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Additional details

Sail Date: May 2012
Cabin: Large Ocean View Stateroom

The Brilliance of the Seas is an older ship but is well maintained. There are plenty of public areas so that the ship does not seem crowded (other than the Windjammer Cafe - more on that later). Compared to my most recent Cunard cruise, I can say that RCCL is much more casual. There were 2 formal nights but cocktail dresses or pants with sparkly tops were the preferred attire for women, rather than long formal gowns. Otherwise dress on the ship was very casual, jeans are fine.

The food in the main dining room is good - not great. Some meals were better than others. Our assigned dining room wait staff at dinner were quite excellent, but when seated elsewhere at breakfast or lunch, service could vary. The worst dining experience was at the Windjammer Cafe on deck 11. In poor weather when everyone wants to eat inside, there aren't enough tables/chairs and the room layout can make it quite crowded. There were constant announcements for people to kindly eat and move on so as to make room for other people to eat. Not a relaxing experience!

Hopefully you can get an extremely good cabin rate, as it will be the only bargain of the cruise. Expect to pay a lot of extra fees for sodas, specialty coffees, fresh squeezed juice, of course cocktails and wine. Spa services are not cheap but are quite good - note that gratuities are automatically added on to all services in the spa as well as the dining room. Someone at our table purchased a cookbook (only available through the dining room wait staff) and had 15% gratuity tacked on. Some activities will cost extra too. There is Internet and WiFi available if you want to pay a high price for it.

Cabin Review

Large Ocean View Stateroom

Cabin G

3074 was a very nice stateroom. It is a great mid-ship location on deck 3 and was comfortable even in heavy seas. The room was very quiet - no engine noise at all. There were times when I couldn't tell if we were moving or docked. The room has plenty of closet and drawer space and even small cabinets at the vanity that are perfect for little items. There is a safe in the room. It was convenient to walk up one flight for the restaurant, or down one flight for disembarkation at various ports. Did not need to rely on elevators!

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