Brilliance of the Seas Review
Rating by category
Additional details
My husband and I joined a friend who wanted to go on this cruise because it fit her schedule. The 3 of us shared an OCEAN BALCONY STATEROOM (she slept in the bunk!). The Brilliance is larger than our first cruise about 15 years ago in the Mediterranean - it was a port-intensive cruise (i.e., a floating hotel) - neither of us remember a pool or kids on that 7 day trip. This was quite different - lots of young (drunk) adults with a smattering of middle school (loud) kids.
Our companion took full advantage of the slot machines. My husband sat on deck and read. I just remember walking back & forth a lot - fitbit battery died on last day at sea.
Food was excellent as was the service. The only onboard tour we did was the kitchen and, with a background in restaurants and father & father-in-law military cooks, an amazing operation. On the last evening, service in the restaurants seemed a bit undermanned.
Cabin Review
Deluxe Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony
The balcony chairs had been visited by a bird recently. The pull-out sofa was a futon-style bed and when fully extended would have made it difficult for us to get from the bed to the bathroom, so our friend opted for the bunk. There were no nightlights and not all of the lighting worked. The linens and blankets were a bit old - time to be replaced.
But our housekeeper kept everything neat and fresh ice in our ice bucket constantly.
Not a complaint - there is no way the housekeeper could have known this:
Our friend couldn't get the bottom drawer closed on the dresser. My husband, stretched back & found her sunvisor had fallen behind the drawer but he noticed something else on the floor under the drawer - a previous occupant had left her tiny, very short but very sparkly cut off jeans behind! Our housekeeper was horrified, but we found it very funny.
Port Reviews
Tampa
Embarkation was easy. We used a local parking lot with a shuttle and it was almost seamless service.
Departing was good and well-organized but we did have to wait for our shuttle - primarily because some passengers were not good sports about it and jumped the line.
Cozumel
Our tour to Chichen Itza was cancelled due to the earlier Ferry bombing. We legged it around town (very clean) and returned early to the pier - wasted away in Margaritaville at Jimmy Buffet's. Townspeople were very nice - the more Spanish we spoke, the nicer they were.