Brilliance of the Seas Review

Great service from caring employees but excursions were unorganized at times

Review for the Baltic Sea Cruise on Brilliance of the Seas
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Cruisestlouis
6-10 Cruises • Age 50s

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Additional details

Sail Date: Jun 2018
Cabin: Spacious Ocean View Balcony

We chose this cruise because of the itinerary. We have been on many cruises in various parts of the world and we found the service on this particular ship to be outstanding. We made reservations for most nights in the main dining room for a table of two during “my time dining” ( if you are traveling as a couple and want to eat alone make sure to do this!) The service was fantastic and the food was much better than many other cruises we have taken. We ate two nights at the specialty restaurants and actually thought the food and service in the dining room was better! This has not been the case for us on other cruise lines in the past. The breakfasts and lunches in the Windjammer were average and like most other cruises. We ate breakfast one morning in the dining room and were placed at a table with 8 strangers which is not our preference so we went to the Windjammer the rest of the mornings. Our cabin attendant named Natalia was wonderful and took great care of us. We enjoyed wine and the view each evening at Vintage Bar and Tatiyana who worked there was fabulous! The entertainment was good during a few evenings including a Beatles show and Claire Maiden. A few of the other shows like the final evening and a Broadway song production could use improvement. The parties in the Centrum each evening were lots of fun and we wished they would’ve lasted more than 45 minutes. There was an 80s party that was particularly fun! The cruise director was ever present and quite funny!

We felt the excursions were average. There were many on the ship who booked outside private excursions and they seemed very pleased with their decision. We found the transportation and tendering to be rather unorganized and very time consuming . We missed half of our time at St. Andrews due to a tendering mistake. The ship did offer to refund 30 percent of the excursion cost but it was disappointing to not have much time at St. Andrews. The organization for these excursions and dismissals need to be MUCH more efficient each day. Leaving and returning to the ship in guernsey was time consuming as well so plan accordingly. We did love our visit to Canterbury and our guide named Liz was great. Our BIGGEST blunder was purchasing an airport transfer from the ship. Take your OWN luggage and take a cab! We were told by the ship that our luggage would be waiting for us at the airport when we got off the bus they provided.....this was NOT the case. Our driver let us off at the wrong place VERY far from where we all finally found our luggage hours later! When we asked him where to go he turned and drove away! We called Royal Caribbean’s emergency line and were on hold for 15 minutes then were told to call back later! This was a horrible way to end a lovely cruise and many were upset. We eventually found our luggage but others were not as lucky. So many people work so hard on the ship to make it a perfect cruise so it’s a shame this stressful and unpleasant incident happened. We are appreciative of the hard working staff on the ship however and they truly deserve thanks.

Cabin Review

Spacious Ocean View Balcony

We had a lovely balcony cabin on the 7th floor in the middle of the ship. The cabin was very roomy and clean when we arrived and kept clean daily.

Port Reviews

Greenock (Glasgow)

Took the Glasgow on your own excursion....just a big city that’s rather dirty and unattractive. We would’ve been better off going to see a castle in the country. This was our least favorite day.

St. Peter Port (Guernsey)

Really a slow process getting on and off the ship. It’s a beautiful little town however so don’t miss seeing it!

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