To help my sister in law celebrate her 50th birthday, a group of 10 women sailed from Tampa to Cozumel on Brilliance of the Seas for 4 nights. I will attempt to give you an overview of our experiences, and my opinion on things. (In other words, welcome to my review, but it is just based on my opinion, so please, don’t get all up in arms if it doesn’t jive with what your experience was/is.)
We flew in from the East coast, so we departed a day ahead just to add a bit of a buffer. We got into Tampa around 2 PM, and took the hotel shuttle to the Country Inn and Suites on Benjamin Rd. The shuttle was free. The hotel was fine, however there were a few misses for us. First, it is not located next to much within a safe walking distance. You could walk to things, but not without crossing multi-lane highways etc… The other miss was the hot tub was cold. Coming from the East, it was our goal to sit outside in the hot tub and send our frozen friends to the North pictures of said activity. Couldn’t do it. Total bummer. The hits: The staff was welcoming, accommodating and helpful. The rooms (we had 3) were clean and comfortable, and the breakfast was as good as you can hope for at a hotel buffet. Frankly, it is nice to have a free breakfast at the hotel. The other thing I appreciated is that the hotel staff set us up with a shuttle to the port the morning of our cruise. All 10 of us in a van. With tip the total was $100.00. Perfect.
We left the hotel at about 10:15 the morning of the cruise. It took us just about a half hour to get to the port. Once we arrived at the port, it was a very quick boarding process. We gave the porter our luggage (and there was a lot of it!) tipped him, then headed into the terminal. Went through the screening area, then walked right up to a check in station, got our sea pass cards and off we went to get our onboard mug shot. Then it was right onto the ship. It was a dreary day, but we made the best of it. Hit the sky bar, then grabbed some lunch in the Windjammer. It was early enough that we actually didn’t have to fight for a table. We all had balcony rooms on deck 8, and the rooms were ready about 1 PM.
We felt our cabin was in a good location, and it was quiet for the most part. Plenty of storage and clean. Bed was a bit hard, but not so bad that I couldn't sleep.