I have always enjoyed cruising. My first cruise was on R.C. back in 1992 on the Viking Serenade. It was so miraculous. The midnight chocolate buffet! The servers and the cherries Jubilee. Waiters cutting my lobster tail. Really, one of the best parts of cruising has always been the access to food at all times. And it was good food.

Well, on Brilliance of the Seas, that is no more. That food was a major gastric catastrophe. My two sisters ordered beef brisket on a potato pancake the first night. They received a greyish/green color of a slice of something odd, served on a mashed potato that had been pressed ever so slightly with a spatula. My battered fish filet was a small, shrunk up piece of soggy bland fish. Served with crunchy, hard peas. And it really never improved after that.

We did eat for two different nights in the Italian restaurant and the Steak restaurant with the upcharge in price. That food was very good, yes. But, the rub came from why must we pay extra to get decent food? Are they purposely making the main dining room and buffet food bad so that you are forced to pay extra to get a good meal? It was very insulting to pay the money we did to receive food that bad. And service that slow. Read more