This is only our third cruise and I will not waste your time on details of the many wonderful ports and my perceptions of our local adventures--I'd rather challenge you to "get out there" and see for yourself. My wife and I had a wonderful time, and the Brilliance of the Seas (BOS) was five-star in almost every category-especially the important ones.
We spent three full days in Barcelona, staying at the Hotel Jazz, which was clean, great staff, and fantastic morning buffet breakfast. Plus, it has a super location--one block from the University Square, Placa Catalunya, La Rambla (you gotta see this place!), two major metro stops, and several neat pubs and Tapas places easily within walking distance. Did the HOHO bus for 2 days-first to scout things out and second to return to selected spots for more detailed views.
As we left the Jazz, we were "shanghaied" by the infamous "Seaforth" gang--a band of merry and adventurous travellers from Connecticut and North Carolina, headed by really cool dude named RTBob. He and his gang also kidnapped several other folks from the UK, Australia, Kansas, Alaska, and even a nice family from Texas (of all places?). In fact Bob and a very talented gent from Alaska (Wes) had previously collaborated over the Cruise Critic website to design and produce t-shirts for his entire band of travellers, and over 40 of us were often seen frolicking about the BOS with our cute little Greek sailing ship (Avatar) design t-shirts listing all the ports soon to be experienced. A couple of ladies even tried to buy mine during our initial lifeboat drill as we left port.