We just got off a 4 night on the Brilliance and it was definitely one of our best cruises. We generally do longer trips, but limited vacation forced us into a shorter cruise.
First the ship, Brilliance reminded us of our favorite ship the Disney Magic. It is very well laid out and everything is easy to get to. We really liked the Centrum area, and how you could view the shows there from multiple levels. The Solarium was great, liked that it was covered so that it wasn't as cold as on other ships during the winter cruising season. Overall the ship was very clean and seemed well maintained, minus partially losing power during debarkation, not sure what happened. The music in the stateroom hallways was a nice touch that we were used on DCL. We had a front facing oceanview room and really liked the size of the room and the view out the front of the ship. Just a personal opinion, but I hope Royal goes through with a smoke free casino, or puts doors on it or figures out a way to better contain the scent. At times the smell will get into the centrum area even up on the floor above.
The entertainment on the ship was pretty good. We are still adjusting from the DCL style shows to Royal's. Do still really like the live band Royal uses. The comedian was pretty good and while he used vulgar language, it was part of the act, not just to try and be funny buy saying a swear word. I have to give a shout out to the Kronos Band. These guys were amazing, great lead singer and guitarist. Cruise ship singers usually don't suck, but really don't make you put them down as a must see activity, these guys were a must see activity. We skipped the cover band main stage performance to catch their time in the centrum.
The food in the MDR and Windjammer was overall very good. I did the gluten free thing and never went hungry. The only complaint we would have is more options for less adventurous eaters. Even the basic menu included sauces that my wife was not a fan of. She did have the chicken one night that wasn't cooked quite right. Of course the deserts could be better, but for some reason this is a trend we have noticed on cruise ships. We did miss the Pavlova we had on the Freedom. We didn't do any of the specialty dining options. We really loved the outdoor seating for Windjammer, missed this on the Freedom.
The service was very good. Our drinks in the MDR were always full and our food was paced very well so we never had a really long meal, we did my time dining. Our room steward was super friendly and did a great job on our room. Also want to note that pretty much all of the staff on the ship were very friendly and would say hi. The staff seemed to be very happy, it isn't something that can really be faked. The staff was equal to what we have had over on DCL.
The embarkation was so easy, we got to port at 10:55ish and was on the ship in under 10 minutes. Lines like DCL can learn something from RCCL. debarkation was good too despite the partial power outage on the ship. The only thing at Tampa that sucks about Debarkation was that the porters could skip the big line and go right to the front of the line for customs. When we got closer we saw the porters had access to 3 customs agents and the big line only one. This isn't a RCCL issue, but a port issue that really is not fair.
The 10 for 75 drink card was offered on day 3 giving us 2 days to use it. Even though this was a 4 night cruise, I wouldn't call it a booze cruise. Yes there were some that drank too much, but it didn't impact our cruise and wasn't very obvious.
For those with kids we didn't look at the kids clubs so don't know how they compare to DCL.
Overall this cruise slots in somewhere in my top 5 cruises. We have found a class of ships on RCCL that we really like. Really hope they get the 2020 itineraries out for them so we can book another cruise.
Let me know if anyone thinks this should land on the DCL forum as a comparison thread for some to see.
@Dug720 you were so right this is an awesome class of ships
First the ship, Brilliance reminded us of our favorite ship the Disney Magic. It is very well laid out and everything is easy to get to. We really liked the Centrum area, and how you could view the shows there from multiple levels. The Solarium was great, liked that it was covered so that it wasn't as cold as on other ships during the winter cruising season. Overall the ship was very clean and seemed well maintained, minus partially losing power during debarkation, not sure what happened. The music in the stateroom hallways was a nice touch that we were used on DCL. We had a front facing oceanview room and really liked the size of the room and the view out the front of the ship. Just a personal opinion, but I hope Royal goes through with a smoke free casino, or puts doors on it or figures out a way to better contain the scent. At times the smell will get into the centrum area even up on the floor above.
The entertainment on the ship was pretty good. We are still adjusting from the DCL style shows to Royal's. Do still really like the live band Royal uses. The comedian was pretty good and while he used vulgar language, it was part of the act, not just to try and be funny buy saying a swear word. I have to give a shout out to the Kronos Band. These guys were amazing, great lead singer and guitarist. Cruise ship singers usually don't suck, but really don't make you put them down as a must see activity, these guys were a must see activity. We skipped the cover band main stage performance to catch their time in the centrum.
The food in the MDR and Windjammer was overall very good. I did the gluten free thing and never went hungry. The only complaint we would have is more options for less adventurous eaters. Even the basic menu included sauces that my wife was not a fan of. She did have the chicken one night that wasn't cooked quite right. Of course the deserts could be better, but for some reason this is a trend we have noticed on cruise ships. We did miss the Pavlova we had on the Freedom. We didn't do any of the specialty dining options. We really loved the outdoor seating for Windjammer, missed this on the Freedom.
The service was very good. Our drinks in the MDR were always full and our food was paced very well so we never had a really long meal, we did my time dining. Our room steward was super friendly and did a great job on our room. Also want to note that pretty much all of the staff on the ship were very friendly and would say hi. The staff seemed to be very happy, it isn't something that can really be faked. The staff was equal to what we have had over on DCL.
The embarkation was so easy, we got to port at 10:55ish and was on the ship in under 10 minutes. Lines like DCL can learn something from RCCL. debarkation was good too despite the partial power outage on the ship. The only thing at Tampa that sucks about Debarkation was that the porters could skip the big line and go right to the front of the line for customs. When we got closer we saw the porters had access to 3 customs agents and the big line only one. This isn't a RCCL issue, but a port issue that really is not fair.
The 10 for 75 drink card was offered on day 3 giving us 2 days to use it. Even though this was a 4 night cruise, I wouldn't call it a booze cruise. Yes there were some that drank too much, but it didn't impact our cruise and wasn't very obvious.
For those with kids we didn't look at the kids clubs so don't know how they compare to DCL.
Overall this cruise slots in somewhere in my top 5 cruises. We have found a class of ships on RCCL that we really like. Really hope they get the 2020 itineraries out for them so we can book another cruise.
Let me know if anyone thinks this should land on the DCL forum as a comparison thread for some to see.
@Dug720 you were so right this is an awesome class of ships