We sailed on the Brilliance from March 14th to 24th to celebrate our 20 year wedding anniversary. Our reason for selecting this particular cruise was for the 5 relaxing sea days and the fact that it was a Friday to Monday. We were not disappointed and leaving from Miami proved to be very efficient - we felt that RCCL had their act together with the embarkation and debarkation process from this location compared to Vancouver, BC or Cape Liberty, NJ.
We were pleasantly surprised to find that there were not many large groups on this cruise, mostly couples like us without children and middle-aged. This was not the case when we sailed on the Radiance to Alaska in 2002. This is a sister ship, so it was basically identical in layout.
Having been to Aruba and Grand Cayman before, we were most interested in seeing the Panama Canal and also Costa Rica. Many of the shore excursions at these ports have very long bus rides, so this is something to keep in mind. We decided to stay on the ship in Panama. Having read on the itinerary that the ship would actually be cruising while in Gatun Lake, it was disappointing to instead be tendered all afternoon. The humidity was also high since there were no breezes. We did get to see a submarine passing by and there was a buffet lunch at the pool area only on this day. But if you want your picture taken here (they offered a very nice Panama Canal facts background), then you'll need to get off the ship and go on an excursion to get that taken.