Brilliance of the Seas Review
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RCCL has really gone downhill compared to my last RCCL cruise, which was on the Radiance of the Seas a few years ago. Our cruise director was practically non-existent, we only caught a minute glimpse of her at the intro to the nightly show. It seemed like she was on TV more than she was around the actually ship. They really need to vary the nightly show more, it seemed every night was a singing and dancing show when some variety would have been nice. The only show we walked away from saying, "wow" was the last night closing show. That was great and featured many aspects of the singers, dancers, staff, and orchestra. The activities director was decent though.
Service staff were great, with a few really stand out performers at the bars and our dining experience was superb. Overall, needs some major work on the excitement factor and planning of the activities. The biggest disappoint was our cabin's cleanliness. We had a balcony stateroom, and felt sick for the first 2 days everytime we went into our cabin for a few minutes we were sneezing and coughing like crazy. We also noticed that everything in the cabin kept getting a pretty good layer of dust on it after sitting for about an hour. We complained about this to our stateroom attendant and I think he did his best effort cleaning, but it did not help. After some inspection we found that the cabin air filter in the ceiling was filthy. We called maintenance and ask them to replace it. Got some lip about it already being replaced recently, but eventually convinced them to come out and change it. Once they did it was a world of difference and we weren't feeling so terrible in the cabin anymore. It seems like on this ship they nylon carpets were starting to break down and the fibers were loose and just floating everywhere. Vacuuming seemed to make it worse actually. I have seasonal allergies, but don't need central air or a air purifier in my own house. Because of this cruise with RCCL I highly doubt I will go on another. Probably going to try Carnival for our next cruise as I heard great things about their newer ships.
Cabin Review
Superior Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
If you like to sleep, strongly avoid this cabin for numerous reasons. This cabin is directly below the beverage area of the windjammer cafe. So you constantly hear ice being thrown (refilled) into the stainless steel holding bins above your head. Also hear carts rolling around and tables and chairs dragging around. I would recommend a cabin towards the front of this ship. It surprises me that the suites are on this level, as it's really a bad experience. Earplugs were necessary and I am an extremely heavy sleeper. The beds probably need to be replaced as well because it was like sleeping on rocks (lumpy), and I enjoy a stiff mattress. Aside from that and our cabin filter needing changed because of the terrible amount of dust and unhealthy air flow, it was a decent sized room. I just would have rather had an inside stateroom for a cheaper price considering what we had to deal with.
Port Reviews
Tampa
Port of Tampa is amazing, convenient, and all the people are very helpful and happy. This is world's different than Miami or Fort Lauderdale. Such a great and fast experience getting in and out of the port. $25 ride to and from the airport in a taxi. I recommend a taxi to/from the airport because the cruise line wanted $21 a person, and taxis are readily available. So long as you aren't traveling solo, this will be cheaper, and definitely more convenient either way.