We arrived at the Port of Tampa early on Saturday 12/15 since it's an easy drive from home and we were on board the ship by 11AM. Even though this was a "short" 5 night cruise, we were both pretty excited about this one. It was our first cruise on a "Radiance Class" ship and we decided to splurge a bit and booked a Junior Suite. I have wanted to try a Radiance Class ship since they first came out but my wife was admittedly anxious about the decision since she really prefers ships that have the "Royal Promenade", which the Radiance ships do not. Prior to this, the Radiance Class and Quantum Class were the only Royal Caribbean ships we have not been on.
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| Solarium |
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| Main pool |
I have to say, we were both very pleasantly surprised with Brilliance of the Seas and we thoroughly enjoyed our time on board. The ship itself was in exceptional shape even though she is approaching 20 years old. I'm not sure when her last refurb was but she did not show any signs of neglect or wear. The only "broken" things we found were, unfortunately, the "self leveling" pool tables, which were not working. Playing pool at sea was something I have wanted to try for a long time. We still played a couple of game though while docked and had a great time.
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| Jr Suite 1094 |
As I mentioned, our cabin was a Junior Suite (#1094) and it was very very nice. It was actually one of the nicest cabins we have ever had on any cruise. Just like the rest of the ship, the cabin was in great shape and there were no issues, except one.....the noise. The cabin was situated near the rear of the ship, under the outdoor area of the Windjammer (formerly Rita's Cantina) and every morning, bright and early, all we would hear above us was chairs and carts being dragged back and forth creating quite a racket. Sleeping in, was pretty much impossible. So, even though the cabin was great, I don't think we'd book in that exact location again.
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| Brilliance along side Liberty of the Seas in Cozumel |
This 5 day cruise had 2 stops. First in Grand Cayman, and then in Cozumel. We like Grand Cayman, but we really don't like having to tender. So, even though we had tentatively planned to go ashore, we did not. The weather was not cooperating that day and the seas were a bit rough causing some tender delays so we just stayed on board and enjoyed the ship. Weather would continue to be a factor the rest of the cruise and next day when we arrived in Cozumel to find windy, rainy and cold weather. That lasted pretty much the entire day, very unusual for the Caribbean. Again we stayed on board most of the day though I did sneak off to grab some pictures of the ship. The bad weather continued the following day at sea which started out sort of sunny but very windy and choppy, then it got downright nasty in the evening with pouring rain and some crazy lightning. Arriving back in Tampa on Thursday morning, we were again greeted with pouring rain and wind with very cool temperatures. From what I understand, some itineraries were changed following that due to this crazy weather pattern in the Caribbean and Florida.
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| Nasty weather ahead |
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| In the thick of it |
As we have done on our last few cruises, we spent a lot of time in the Diamond Club and, once again, we met some wonderful people. The staff in the Diamond Club was also amazing and took great care of us during the cruise. We had such a good time there that we stopped going to the dining room for dinner on day 2 and instead just went to Windjammer in the evenings to get something to eat after the Diamond Club died down. The food in the Windjammer was very good on this cruise and we actually enjoyed it more than the dining room.
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| Christmas decorations in the Centrum |
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| Looking down in the Centrum |
To sum it up, we had a great time, and we were really impressed with the ship. There may not be as much to do as there is on the newer, larger ships like the Oasis Class, but it was still a great time. The staff was fantastic and aside from the noise in the mornings, the cabin was great. We would definitely cruise again on Brilliance if we get the chance.
Hits:
- Ship is in great shape
- Nice cabin (Jr Suite)
- Fantastic Staff
- Met some wonderful people
Misses:
- Weather (nothing you can do about that)
- Noise in mornings from Windjammer
- Broken pool tables
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