We flew out of Edmonton on Saturday April 14 to Toronto and then to Miami arriving Saturday afternoon. We checked into the Greenview Hotel on Washington Avenue which we had reserved for two nights at $89.00 a night. The hotel was quite old; being built in 1939 but was very clean and had an excellent complimentary breakfast. There was a good shopping area close to the hotel with lots of outdoor cafes.

We took a taxi to the dock at about 10:30 on Monday morning and had very little waiting time to embark on the Brilliance of the Seas. We went to the eleventh deck where we ate lunch at the Windjammer and waited till about 1:00 to get into our balcony stateroom. The stateroom was wonderful with ample drawers and cupboard space for all our clothes and suitcases. The shower and washroom were of sufficient size and very well laid out. The ship pulled out at 4:00 without the replacement captain and some guests as there was bad weather in New York and were late because of cancelled flights.

There is nothing more relaxing than six straight days at sea as there is no rush to get up early to go on some shore excursion or to see the port. We enjoyed sitting in the sun and enjoying the pools and hot tubs. The Solarium was very impressive and a beautiful place to go for an evening swim. The food at the Minstral dining room was excellent and the service from our waitress, Andrea from Chile and our Maitre'd David from Liverpool were top notch. I did not like the menu at the Seaview cafe and ordered only once a pizza that I found rather tasteless. The Solarium cafe served a delicious club sandwich Read more