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Saint-Tropez

This is our forth transatlantic so we know what to expect. From day one there have been uncalled for and primarily unapologetic things that have gone wrong. It was a back to back and on the second leg they kept us in the theater 3 hours because they couldn’t find the new sea pass cards. Management was very unaccomidating in the dining room. They were short staffed and would not combine a table of four and a table of six to ten. The daily activities, other than trivia’s, were lacking. Where were the free classes of the past. No watercolor, the scrapbooking was not a class but a sales opportunity, and even the cupcake decorating demo came with a fee. Really, cupcake demo fee!! But wait, there is more. The $19 per day internet barely worked on only for some sites. I have been on other transatlantic and trans pacific where it worked. They should refund the complete amount. Everyday there is another thing that happens to make you think this is a training sail for a new cruise line. Today lunch in the restaurant was lobster rolls that were shrimp and potato and not lobster. I do not blame the workers but the management. The service staff is top notch and taking the brunt of managements poor decisions. This is our last Royal Caribbean.

The WORST cruise I have ever been on.

This was our second Royal Caribbean Transatlantic crossing and what a contrast.  Our 2018 trip was a real pleasure.  This November 2022 cruise was plagued by mistakes.  Almost every day there were last minute changes, conflicting and often duplicate scheduling of events on the ship.  Repeatedly, crew made no seating or staging preparations for events.  The Cruise Campus was a mess.  Examples: Oe the second day of sailing in the Mediterranean, the Cruise Compass told passengers that alcohol would not be served until we were in international waters because of the policies of the State of Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission???  One day, the same issue of that day's Cruise Compass listed the same event in two different locations.  There were typos in almost every issue.  Room service and dining room food was often not hot, or even warm, when served.  Some dining room food items were bland in taste.

On two separate occasions these concerns were brought to the attention of ship officers and we were given obligatory excuses.

There are management problem on this ship!

Ketchikan

sorry to say the service and food at the main dining room was very very poor

the daily activities seemed for nursery  tots.The music and singers around the ship were made for nursing home entertainment.They sang and played the same things all through the crossing.

Now to say that the royal caribbean dancers and orchestra were very good as always.Their shows were very good.

The movie theater is very poorly kept most of the seats are broken.The food at the windjammer was much better and for the first time in our 25th cruise we never went back to the dining room,The 

maître d  was  very rude to us  made us feel  very uncomfortable so with that and being the food and service was so poor we decided not to return during our crossing.This is what we saw and felt I am sure not everyone felt this way though the majority if people I spoke to on board were complaining about the food ,service and extreme bordom,

Was extremely boring

Embarking and disembarking on this ship were very well organized and went quickly.  The ports of call on this trip were excellent.  We got to stay overnight in Lisbon, Portugal which gave extra time to see the area.  It was our first time in all of the ports except Barcelona where we departed from.  Cartagena felt very safe to walk around to all of the main historic sites which were not far from the dock  Malaga and Seville were excellent stops.  One of the most beautiful scenic stops was Ponta Delgada in the Azores.  This is a must see, and we were fortunate to have good weather.  This is a very nice size ship, one of our favorite with a lot of windows including glass elevators facing the ocean.  All of the crew that we interacted with were very friendly.  The food was very good and we got to experience Chops and Giovanni's which were both top shelf.  The entertainment on this trip were the best ever; we are still talking about it and listening to the CD's that we bought on board.  Jimmy Hopper a singer/entertainer from Vegas, The Barricade Boys who had the most incredible harmony and Mary-Jess, an incredibly talented young singer.  I would make this exact trip again in order to see more things in the ports.

First Transatlantic --- ready to go again!

Melbourne

It was our 50th anniversary and we thought a repositioning cruise would be a great experience.  On previous cruises we have always eaten in the dining room for all our meals.  We found the food to be cold.  My omelets were incomplete, only half of my omelette had filling in it.  We tried it again when we gave our review on the ship and they asked us to try breakfast again.  The food was still cold.  The windjammers breakfast was much better.  We only ate dinner in the evening.  We had great table mates and enjoyed there company.  The food was just adequate.  Some nights I couldn't find something to eat.  When my husband ordered beef bourquinion he had 3 small chunks of beef.  In the Centrum the chairs were ripped. My husband ordered an anniversary surprise for me and only half of what was supposed to come was missing.  They did not have it aboard the ship. Our daily compass had incorrect information

 On the front it said casual dining and in the center it stated formal attire.  Half the guests showed up formal and half casual. The activities schedule was the same activities at the same time. The activities were very one note.  If you had early dining you missed activities.  They also had last minute changes in the shows. Our tour guide on one of the cruises left passengers behind and we missed more than half of our tour

  Thank goodness one of the onboard  next cruise employee was with us.  She was appalled that we were left behind with the employee.  They only refunded half of our tour money because they said we saw half of tour.  The eating outside the windjammer was stained and dirty.  Alot of chipped paint was noticed.  We have been on Royal Caribbean ships before and enjoyed them.  We did not enjoy the Brilliance of the Sea and would not recommend this ship and this experience left a bad impression for us to cruise again with Royal Caribbean.   In the past we always enjoyed our experience.  This cruise was for a special occasion and it spoiled our experience.

Disappointing

This was our third crossing and thoroughly enjoyed the Royal Caribbean Brilliance of the Sea conveniences as well as the fantastic attitude of the ship's staff. We sailed form Tampa to Ireland and Belgium and ended in Amsterdam. We stayed on the ship back to back on the Baltic cruise visiting Denmark, Sweden, Estonia, Finland, Russia and Amsterdam. Total of 28 days.

The Atlantic crossing was dampened by the overcast and cool weather however the Baltic region temperatures were comfortable for May.

One of our daily favorite times is the My Time dining option sharing a table with others and having world topics as conversation.

We bid on a Jr Suite for the second leg of the cruise which made that part very comfortable.

Having a walk in closet and approx 300sf with chairs and a couch, the area was perfect for relaxing.

We achieved our Dimond Plus status and are looking forward to our next cruise in March out of Dubai.

Atlantic Crossing to Amsterdam

We love long cruises with lots of sea days and this cruise did not disappoint. We sailed from Tampa Bay to Amsterdam, seeing ports that we had yet to visit.  The 8 sea days to begin the cruise were a wonderful way to really relax and kick off our month long vacation.  We have sailed a lot on RCI, have attained Diamond Plus status, and really do like the Radiance Class ships in Royal's fleet.  There were LOTS of experienced cruises on this sailing as over 900 passengers of the 2000 on board were either Diamond or Diamond Plus level on RCI.  Rather than wait until the cruise to deal with this large number of elite members, Royal communicated with us weeks before the cruise to let us know that they were going to use the Colony Club as their evening venue for the Diamond lounge event.  Royal did a great job organizing and delivering the service that elite cruisers want.  Cudos to RCI for making what could have been a difficult situation work smoothly.  

Our Balcony Cabin on Deck 9 was in great shape and our room steward was attentive, friendly and engaging in our many conversations with him.  In fact, both my wife and I found the entire staff (our waiter Mary, our assistant waiter and most other staff we interacted with) went out of their way to be both friendly and accommodating to our needs.  Service could not have been better throughout the 15 day cruise.

The entertainment was also diverse and well presented.  The RCI singers and dancers were as good as any group we have seen on our many cruises and the cruise director was engaged and seemed to really care about the quality of the performances.  The food was varied, presented well and seemed a bit better than some of our other cruises.  We went to Chops Grill twice on the cruise and it did not disappoint.  RCI delivered a great experience over the two weeks of the cruise from embarkation to getting off the ship (It took us less than 1/2 hour to walk off, get our luggage and clear customs in Amsterdam!)

Great Transatlantic Cruise!

Jost Van Dyke

We are Diamond members with RCI so have quite a few cruises under our belts.  The service on ALL RCI cruises are beyond expectations.  They really go out of their way to earn your loyalty.  Have to say that the food quality and variety have greatly improved over time - thanks to honest and vocal guests.  We've also enjoyed their entertainment immensely on this particular cruise.  However, the background music on the casual dining area can be improved.  Would be nice if some of the background music played is representative of the itineraries or ports being visited i.e. this itinerary should play some Spanish/Irish/Celtic music.  There was a Irish band & dancers on the port however with the cooler/windy weather, most passengers just walked by them.  The disembarkation process was unpleasant in that the port is still not up to efficiency standards required for processing 2,000+ passengers.  Recognize this is not the cruise line's responsibility, however the port infrastructure is just not there to have a more organized process i.e. process wheelchair passengers separately, etc.

Improved Food  Quality and Variety

Just got back from 16 days on the Brilliance.  Our stateroom was so tired.  Furniture was scuffed, needed replacing or refurbished.  The bathroom had an odor we couldn't identify, sort of like mold.  The  main dining room needs more variety.  Food was mediocre.  Some of the entertainment was good, other so-so.  I had a good time, but I began to feel like I was in steerage, no amenities in the stateroom.  No lotion in the bathroom,  no pen and paper in the desk.   But what I did like was the amount of storage.  Large closet with shelves for shoes, etc.  Vanity had six nice sized drawers.  The bathroom had one mirror that opened so one could see the back of their hair.  The mirrors over the vanity opened up for storage.  The stewards, waiters, all the folks serving our needs were excellent and wanted to please.  Ports were excellent.  The captain plotted course to avoid hurricane Florence entirely.  The overall feeling was that Royal Caribbean is cutting expenses to the bone.

Tired ship

I wished to go on a TA going west and after careful consideration I opted for a 16 day trip on Brilliance of the Seas.  It left from Amsterdam, visited four ports in Ireland and one in the Azores before a seven day / night crossing.

I was in stateroom 3042 (outside view).  I was happy with it. I also elected Anytime Dining.  I usually ate late, as I hate fighting crowds for either dinner or the showroom.  I made a reservation a few times, but was seated without a wait after 8:00 p.m. 

Mike, the cruise director, and his staff were excellent.  The number of sea days meant a number of activities were scheduled.  I especially enjoyed The Brilliance Race and the morning game shows.  There were lots of trivia sessions, as well as some traditional party game activities.

Music on the ship was great, coming from a duo, a guitar player, and a trio of string instrument players (violins and piano).

The quality of the shows varied from fantastic (hand shadows, AbbaMax, pickpocket) to weak (the first production show, the comedy magician).  I found all three production shows lacking to some degree.  This was not the fault of the singers and dancers; the blame goes to whoever created it.  

Food quality was mixed.  The Windjammer breakfast and lunch selections had a minimum of variation from day to day.  Breakfast pastries were limited to sticky buns, and even they vanished during the crossing.  I heard rumors that the shipment of yeast the ship expected to take on in the Azores did not arrive (thus forcing the bakery to make cuts) but I can't verify that situation.

Dinner was generally good, though some nights it wasn't exciting.  The menu overdosed on items available at all dinners with fewer daily selections than I was used to.  The food was fine, with some dishes being better than others.

I went to the mystery dinner one night.  The cast needed work in learning the script.  They also resorted to shouting.  The food quality that night at Giovanni's was fantastic.

This was my first sailing as a Diamond member.  Due to the large number of Diamond and above passengers, events were held in both the Diamond lounge and the Colony Club.  Lines formed an hour before opening.  I went a few nights, but cocktail parties are not really my thing.

Weather was mixed, from cold in Ireland to warm / hot in the Azores and during the crossing.  However, it did not rain anywhere I went.

I would do this trip again.  The price was good, and the Air2Sea price of a flight from my home of Las Vegas to Amsterdam was an astonishingly low $290.85.  The length was a bit long, but I had a great time.

Fantastic Transatlantic with a few Issues

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