My wife and I were on Brilliance of the Seas October 6, 2010 sailing that went to Spain, France, Italy, Croatia and Greece. This was our fifth cruise, but our first with Royal Caribbean (all of the others have been with Carnival). The food quality and personalized service are the main reasons we enjoy cruise vacations. We selected RCI for this cruise because of the positive reviews we received from friends and cruisecritic.com regarding first-class dining and outstanding customer service. Many reviews mentioned that RCIs food quality surpassed Carnival, which routinely exceeded our expectations, so we were really looking forward to the upgraded RCI experience. Unfortunately, we very displeased with the food quality on the Brilliance, which we found to be mediocre at best. There were several additional issues during the cruise, such as our cabin bathroom having a foul smell for the entire cruise (despite reporting it to our cabin attendant), but our chief disappointment was the food. RCI advertising emphasizes "world-class food" from "heavenly entrees to delectable desserts," but RCI's cuisine fell significantly short of that expectation. The culinary disappointments, while always plated nicely, ranged from several overcooked steaks (including one in Portofino), fishy tasting sea bass, shrimp cocktail, and calamari fritti, over-battered fried shrimp, excessively gamey lamb shank, and the lack of lobster tail on the menu. Many guests that we talked with on our cruise were also not impressed with the cuisine. We met several diamond members that stated the Brilliance had the worst food they had tasted than on any previous cruise. Although the food was a disappointment, we did find that our wait staff was both friendly and attentive. RCI's online website states, "From the first bite of the antipasto to the last spoonful of tiramisu, dining in the elegant atmosphere of Portofino is an evening to remember... you won't be disappointed." Our meal at Portofino was in fact one of the more disappointing meals of the entire cruise. My wife ordered the Veal Saltimbocca which featured tough veal and excessively salted prosciutto. I ordered a medium-well steak which was served extra well done. The accompanying mashed potatoes tasted like they came from a box. Two of the items on the dessert sampler were unpalatable (a flavorless flan and a chalky, overcooked chocolate cake). Our waiter inquired about our meal, and we conveyed our displeasure with the overall lack of food quality on the ship. He told us that we should be happy because the food quality was significantly better now than it was several months before. Later, the Portofino manager stopped by to ask about our meal, so we mentioned our dissatisfaction about the taste. His response to our compliant was neither accommodating nor service oriented. Our experience in Portofino was far from amazing, especially for the $47.99 that we paid (which included a bottle of water, which carried an unexpectedly hefty charge). We also discussed our food quality frustrations with a Guest Relations Officer and mentioned that the cuisine on our prior Carnival cruises was significantly better than what we had been experiencing on the Brilliance. Her response was blunt: "Well, this is a different cruise line." We also mentioned comments from Diamond members that we spoke with and their concern that RCI had significantly changed over the past two years. She crassly responded, "Yes they have". Lucia stated that she would register our complaint regarding Portofino, but we never received a response. Overall, the quality of service was adequate, but not reflective of the "Gold Anchor Service" advertised by the RCI website. For example, we went on this cruise to celebrate our wedding anniversary. Prior to the sailing, I confirmed twice with our travel agent that it would be celebrated on the second day at sea. There was no mention of our anniversary at dinner that evening, or at any other time during our cruise. This, and numerous other situations, demonstrated a lack of customer-centric focus. Some of the staff we encountered seemed bored with their jobs and several even spoke negatively of their work environment and RCI management.Despite our dissatisfaction with the food and service on Brilliance, we made the best of our time on the ship. There were numerous things we found noteworthy: smooth and efficient embarkation, debarkation, and lifeboat drill (significantly better than Carnival), relaxing Solarium and overall shipboard environment, and an excellent cruise director (Matt Sole).While our first impression was unfavorable, we trust that our experience was not representative of RCI. We wrote Royal Caribbean to express our concerns and got a completely unacceptable reply that basically said sorry, hope you try us again. They can stop hoping... there won't be a second time.