Brilliance of the Seas Review
Thanksgiving Cruise on The Brilliance
Rating by category
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We recently sailed the Brilliance of the Seas on a Southern Caribbean itinerary . We disembarked on November 17, 2012, out of San Juan, Puerto Rico. We were extremely pleased with most every aspect of our cruise experience and I would definitely recommend this itinerary.
Pre- and post-cruise hotels: We stayed our first night at the Conrad Hilton, which is a nice hotel in the Condado area. After returning, we stayed at the Caribe Hilton (directly across the Condado Lagoon from the Conrad) for two days. Of the two hotels, we definitely prefer the Caribe Hilton for its grounds. If you stay at the Caribe, be sure to wander the grounds, visit the peacocks, and stop at the bar to have Virge make you a pina colada! A couple of notes about the hotels: 1.) As is probably to be expected at any resort hotel, food is crazy expensive (like $20 bucks for a "tapas" plate that is really just cheese slices, meat slices, and a few olives or $15 for a breakfast fruit plate)! As an alternative, there are many restaurants on Ashford Avenue (if you are staying at the Conrad) and if you are willing to forego authentic PR food for a meal, there is a Subway around the corner from the Caribe. 2.) There is wifi at both hotels, but the connection is unpredictable, so don't rely on it for things like Facetime or Skype.
San Juan (pre- and post-cruise): San Juan is one of our favorite places to visit and this time is no exception. It was fun being there around the holidays, though we were unfortunately just a few days shy of seeing everything all lit up for Christmas. A couple of the squares had beautiful Christmas trees and lights strung up, but they were not supposed to be lit until the week after we left. I'm sure it is beautiful when all lit up at night. We ate at some wonderful restaurants: The Parrot Club is always a fun and delicious place for dinner; El Toro Salao is pretty good, though I wouldn't exactly think of their "tapas" as actual tapas; Caficultura has fantastic cafe con leche and delicious breakfast foods (coconut French toast is amazing); Cafeteria Mallorca makes a mean mallorca and is almost as good as La Bombonera was; and finally, Mandolin is a super cool old diner with great cafe con leche and delicious pastelone.