Now that it is July and the cruise has been talked about. What are my actual thoughts on the Brilliance of the Seas?

Thoughts

There were some positive items and some negative things. Let’s start with the good stuff.

• The staff was attentive
  • They were speedy to get my wife’s Diet Coke.
• They were always friendly
• Cookies every day
  • That is a plus
• The ship was small, and that was nice.
• Room was nice
  • It was nice to have that small couch in there
• Internet was Decent
  • Better than I have had before
• Food was good
• Handled the seas pretty good

Now the not-so-good stuff

• Long embarkation lines
  • I know they were cleaning for the norovirus.
  • Just glad it wasn’t hot or was raining
• Slow-walking people with check-in-type luggage
• They ran out of cookies.
• My wife didn’t like some of the desserts served
• Park Café had the only options for food after 8:30 PM.
• Park Café had the only options for food between 3 and 5 PM
• No access to the ice cream between 3 and 5 PM
• Sometimes it was dis-organized
  • But that is on a lot of ships
• Not very many places to sit and work on your laptop.

Brilliance

It was a bit of an older ship, but that was fine. Sometimes, the older, the better. Not so many things to do. So you can sit around and relax. You were not always feeling like you had to be on the go and get things done.

The cabin was really good. It was nice and open, and it didn’t feel crowded. We had plenty of space to do our thing and not be on top of each other—plenty of room to have my stuff out. You know, like a laptop, tech stuff.

I like to work on my laptop or iPad out of the cabin, like in the buffet or the main area. Just somewhere I could write comfortably, this was a ship lacking that space.

Ports

Yes, this wasn’t a port-intensive cruise. We had an overnight in San Francisco and a while in Victoria. I would welcome maybe Astoria instead of an overnight. But I can’t control this. I have been to both ports before, and I got to see other parts of the cities.

Overall

It was a great time and a good time to relax and recharge. Yes, there were things I didn’t like, but there was not much I could do. Would I go on this ship again? Yes, I would. I must ensure I am not hungry or bring snacks during those times.

Video

Yep, I did a video.