As we boarded our favorite ship "The Brilliance" there was an atmosphere of adventure as the ship was only doing 2 cruises to the circle and this was the second one. There were 44 different nationalities aboard and so it was quite a group. The first morning out was the Meet & Mingle where we met all those with whom we had chatted for months. Great fun. Second day we were invited to the helipad for the entrance into Geiranger Fjord - spectacular.
Norway is a country of wild, natural beauty and the fjords and waterfalls are one more beautiful than the other. The sun never set and we found ourselves watching from the balcony at all hours of the night. A "Blue Nose" party was organized at midnight as we crossed into the circle. They painted everyone's nose blue and as the winds blew, we kept warm with hot chocolate and Irish coffee. It was fantastic because just about everyone on the ship was in attendance no matter the age. When we arrived in Honnisvag it was raining and cloudy. We had booked a private taxi thanks to a super couple from South Africa we met on this website. So, while everyone else visited the North Cape by day and couldn't see anything, we set off at 10:30 in the evening and got magnificient views. When we returned to the ship, the town was sunnier than it had been that morning. The rest of the trip - the Flam railroad, Tromso, Alesund, etc. were continuations of the beauty and breathtaking views. The weather was warm and the ship's personnel was great and hospitable. We love being on Brilliance.
We were in cabin 8598 in the center of the Brilliance. It is not a very large balcony cabin but very comfortable and close to the elevators. It is a quiet cabin. Once we had everything put in it's place the cabin worked quite well.
Bathroom was adequate - no problems.
We prefer being center ship near the elevators. Makes life easy to be able to return quickly to the cabin for forgotten things or to store purchases you don't want to carry around.
Balcony comfortable, on the hump, and bed very comfortable.