Brilliance of the Seas Review
Honeymoon Trip! Terrible Food and Service onboard, Excellent Excursions
Rating by category
Additional details
My husband and I went on this 8 night cruise for our honeymoon! We wanted to do a Mediterranean cruise and trusted the Royal Caribbean name; that's why we chose Royal Caribbean. I have sailed two other times on RC in the Caribbean. Embarkation and disembarkation went very smooth and fast. We did self assist for disembarkation. The ship is a bit out dated. There are not a lot of activities for people in their mid 30's. The main entertainment seemed to be in the atrium, other bars were empty. Staff was not engaging or inviting in the bars so there was really nothing to draw you into having fun. Our bathroom smelled moldy and this was addressed right away but the smell kept creeping back throughout the cruise. The bed was hard, way to firm in my opinion. The pillows were also very flat and firm. We had a balcony which was spacious and clean.
Dining in the Main Dining Room was terrible! The food was cold and the taste was BAD! I was shocked at the poor quality of food. The Windjammer had much better food and we eventually gave up on the MDR and just started eating in Windjammer. The one show we went to was mediocre, we left halfway through. The on board activities were just boring and not fun. The casino was SO smokey that we couldn't even go in or around it which took out one source of entertainment. Beverages were not made correctly and are very pricey. Also, $4 for 1 can of soda is OUTRAGEOUS!! We had a very hard time getting ice to our room. Some bartenders were SO slow and rude that we just decided to go back to our room. It's really not a fun ship if your a young couple.
The ports were good. Some ports you NEEDED to do an excursion because the port area was just a dirty industrial complex. The excursions however were very good. We did one every day of our 8 night cruise and were 100% happy with each one!
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
The cabin was small. I realize all cabins are small on a cruise but this is my 5th cruise and this cabin seemed a little extra tight for my husband and I. Our bathroom smelled moldy which was addressed by the room attendant right away but the smell kept creeping back throughout the cruise. The bed was hard, way to firm in my opinion. The pillows were also very flat and firm. We had a balcony which was spacious and clean. The attendant did not put those cute towel animals in our room every night which was disappointing.
Port Reviews
Barcelona
We only had a few hours to spare between our flight and embarkation. We took a cab for 40 euros from the airport to the ship. We checked in our bags at the ship and then took a free bus that Royal Caribbean had running between the port and a nice shopping area/market. This was free and I think they were circling every 10-20 min. We walked around the marina. It was very pretty. Then we walked into a market area and explored a little. We finally settled into one of the restaurants with outdoor seating and shared a Paella dish which was very good.