This was our third cruise and second on Royal Caribbean. We've sailed previously on Voyager of the Seas and Celebrity Constellation. Brilliance of the Seas is a beautiful ship and we had a wonderful time on this cruise and we are already considering cruising the Mediterranean next year.

Pre-Cruise We booked our cruise entirely through Royal Caribbean this time around, on our previous cruises I had booked usually online. We had booked our previous cruises with separate airfare but this time it was entirely more affordable to go through Royal Caribbean directly for airfare and cruise. This was specially an emotionally charged cruise for my mother and me. We were originally scheduled for the Eastbound Transatlantic Crossing earlier this year on April 28, however just as we had arrived in Miami on the 27th of April we received news that my grandfather (Mom's Dad) had passed away in Mexico City and we had to postpone our cruise. I must say that the entire Royal Caribbean staff, both in Miami Airport and in the head offices was very helpful and understanding throughout the entire situation. We live in Las Vegas, NV but Royal Caribbean Air/Sea staff were fabulous and instead of booking a return flight for us to Las Vegas they immediately booked us on a direct flight from Miami to Mexico City that very morning. We didn't even have to leave the airport and all at no extra cost, and mind you we had not purchased the Cruise Insurance, they even refunded our entire cruise fare on credit for a future cruise. I am very thankful to them by helping my mother and I through this difficult time and for helping us get to Mexico City right away. After we returned from the funerals in Mexico City we immediately booked the Westbound Transatlantic Crossing also on Brilliance of the Seas but this time for November, and this time remembering to purchase Cruise Insurance. Even thought Royal Caribbean was amazing in refunding 100% of our cruise fare, we knew we could have been in a very dire situation had Royal Caribbean not been so lenient, so I surely recommend anyone to spend the extra $80 - $100 per person and purchase the Insurance. Barcelona We left early on Sunday morning, the 5th of November, and flew through New York JFK to fly to Barcelona. We had booked a pre-cruise hotel package as well through RCI and stayed in the Atrium Palace Hotel in Barcelona. The hotel was beautiful and very well located just a couple blocks from Placa Catalunya and Las Ramblas. We were greeted at the airport by the friendly local RCI staff and were transferred to our hotel where we were greeted by the RCI representative in Barcelona. He gave us a letter informing us of the next day's activities prior to boarding the ship and also offered a couple of packages to view the city through their local tour operator. We discussed going on one of these excursions however we thought they were a bit overpriced. One of them was just over 100 Euros so we decided not to book any of them since I had heard that there was a touristic bus that can take you around the city for about 15 Euros per person. Thankfully we found some information about this bus on one of the magazines that was in the room and we found out that one of the stops was in Placa Catalunya which like I said was just a couple of blocks from the hotel. This, of course, ended up being a very good choice. The "Bus Turistic" as it is called, was only 14 Euros per person and it had two routes that pretty much covers all the highlights in the city, and you can get on and off the bus as many times as you'd like throughout the day for the same low price. When you purchase the tickets they advise you that the bus tour is not narrated, however, they do have guides on board and though they do not get into much detail about every place you visit, they do offer a small narration of every place you are passing or stopping by. We did both routes entirely and we got to see all the highlights, like Montjuic, the Barri Gotic, La Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Parc Guell, and all the Gaudi architecture among other highlights. We found Barcelona to be extremely beautiful and we felt as though every street we passed was better than the one before. We couldn't find through the entire tour a single neighborhood we did not like or thought of as beautiful. We got off by the Barri Gotic and walked to the Gothic Cathedral of Barcelona, admission was 7 Euros per person but it was well worth it as it is just a monumental piece of art, we also walked by Las Ramblas which is the colorful center of the City and we also got off the bus at Parc Guell, which is a park with a whole bunch of buildings and sculptures by Antoni Gaudi himself, the great master architect that has marked the city in such a monumental way. We did not get off the bus at the Sagrada Familia Cathedral due mostly to time as it was getting pretty late and we were extraordinarily jet-lagged and tired. Admission for that was 12 Euros per person, but they say that it is a worthy visit though the Cathedral is not completed yet; however it is a magnificent building even if you just look at it from the outside as we did. All in a all Barcelona is such a rich and wonderful city that we have vowed to return to it to see all that we missed in the one short day we were there, and to see all the other sights we missed though we did pass by most of them with the "Bus Turistic", so if you go to Barcelona and you're on a budget, definitely give it a try, it's the sure bet to see pretty much everything though only skimming the surface. We returned to our hotel around 9pm after walking all day, we were exhausted but it was well worth it. On our RCI welcome letter we were advised that Breakfast was include that next morning at the hotel, and also, that we had to prepare our bags to be picked up directly in our hotel room by a porter, and that we would not see them again until we were onboard Brilliance. This was nice to find out, because when I had first booked our pre-cruise stay in Barcelona, they did not inform me that breakfast would be included, and though we knew transportation was included, we did not know it was going to be so easy! By 9:00 am the next morning, right on schedule, the porter was knocking at our door to pick up our bags, after a short breakfast in the nice cafe located in the hotel, we went back up to our room to finish getting ready and wait for our 10:45am pick-up by a bus to take us directly to the Pier. The Hotel was located on the Grand Via, which is pretty much Barcelona's main thoroughfare and we had a balcony overlooking this magnificent street, so we took a few more pictures and watched the bus pull up to pick us up.

Check-In & Boarding I only have to say one thing about the Check-In and Boarding Formalities on this cruise.... "WOW", we were checked in and onboard in about 10 minutes!!! It was unbelievable. We did take advantage, though, of the new online check-in feature on RCI's website, but nonetheless we never saw a line forming or too many buses or cars pulling up to the pier even as we were onboard the ship. This might also be due to the fact that the ship was not 100% full, but nonetheless I think we were all impressed with the quick, efficient service in Barcelona. The terminal is pretty large and there were probably about 40 counters or so and they were all open, even at around 11:30 am when we arrived. The Counters are divided in a couple of sections though, around 3 counters are used for troubleshooting and for the Pier Administrator, around 5 for check-in for Suites, around 20 for "Set-Sail Pass" holders, which is the online check-in feature, and the rest for regular cruise passengers. They were serving coffee, tea, and cookies in the terminal building, however we did not even try them as we were done so very quickly. There are also some shops right before you go up the escalators to board the ship, and these we thought were a bit overpriced as to what we had seen in Barcelona, however, if you are just looking for last minute purchases, I guess they are very convenient. We Boarded through Deck 5, which is where the outdoor promenade or "lifeboat promenade" of the ship is, and we were onboard in no time. We immediately headed up to deck 11 to start our tour of the ship as we knew our cabins would not be ready till 2pm. We did our tour of the ship and had lunch in the Windjammer and before we knew it, it was 2pm and our cabin was ready. Our cabin attendant quickly introduced himself and explained some of the features of the room (which we already knew but we let him go on), and he also reminded us of the muster drill which was to be held at 5pm that afternoon. Read more