Brilliance of the Seas Review
Senior Booze Cruise...but that's O.K!
Rating by category
Additional details
So the title isn't misleading as that really was our takeaway...perhaps due to the time of year when we sailed. In short, it seemed like a majority of passengers were over 60, Florida retirees and I'm not sure I've seen more merrily imbibing senior citizens in one spot before...but all of that was OK! In fact, it was pretty awesome! Plenty of younger folks too as well as a fairly large group of paralegals on a working seminar/vacation package. Actual kids were pretty rare...again, probably due to the time of year. Fair number of international passengers including Brits and Canadians.
To start the review, I'll give a brief summary, discuss the arrival and embarkation, time at sea, time in Cozumel and final thoughts on the room, food, recreation, and other tidbits.
Background:
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
We had a "Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony" for the first time ever. Really liked the size of the room and not sure if I can convince my wife to go back to a standard exterior room after this. Room number was 9654. It is the last starboard facing stateroom on the starboard side. The upside is that you don't really have a neighbor to your right (their balcony faces aft) and because of the design of the ship, the deck is extra long...about 50% bigger than a standard balcony. There are pictures at the following link from the Cruise Critic forum:
http://forums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1799298
Bed was fairly comfortable, balcony was very private though direct sunlight only hit the balcony either early in the moring (0800-1000) or late in the afternoon (1600-1800) depending on the direction of ship travel. Very nice to sit on and watch the world go by, but if you want to sun-tan, you'll need to head up to deck 11 or higher. Bathroom was pretty standard. I've read other reviews that folks have had problems with odor. We noticed none of that in the stateroom bathroom nor most of the common area bathrooms
Port Reviews
Tampa
Very organized convenient airport, quick transit to port, very easy embarkation experience (and disembarking too).