I am 49 and my DH is 48. We are diamond members. This was my eleventh cruise and DH's fifth cruise, all with RCCL. This was our first time on the Brilliance. This was a free cruise, thanks to RCCL Visa points, and we also had $150 in onboard credit as the result of RCCL Visa points. We had prepaid our gratuities. The captain was Carl Graucob (who is not usually on the Brilliance), and the cruise director was Tim Connor.

1-20-16: We flew from Pittsburgh to Tampa via Southwest (free round-trip flights with Southwest Visa points). We took a cab ($25) to our hotel, Le Meridien in downtown Tampa, which we had booked through Priceline. It is a beautiful hotel which was recently renovated from a federal courthouse. We had lunch at the Sheraton on the riverwalk, and we had a wonderful dinner at Spain Restaurant & Toma Bar. Le Meridien also has a very nice restaurant and a lovely bakery.

1-21-16 Day One: Set-sail day. Le Meridien has a huge, luxury shuttle that will transport within a three-mile radius, so we had a free ride to the pier. We exited the shuttle at 11:00 a.m., gave our luggage to the porters, checked in via the diamond line (though there were no lines anywhere), DH purchased a premium beverage package, and we were eating lunch in the Windjammer at 11:10 a.m. This was truly the fastest, most efficient check-in we've ever experienced. Read more