WannaCruise

DH and I are looking for a mini get away end of Dec (right before Christmas holidays). In "recent" years, we've been on Allure and Symphony, Independence and Mariner. Symphony is my favorite. Mariner is DH's favorite. We currently booked a 4 night on Brilliance as we've never done the Radiance class. Looking at another option...a 6 night on Adventure for similar cost. We're in our 40s, like shows, music, activities in cruise compass and relaxing (but we're not the types to sit by pool all day). It's different criteria when we bring our kids, but for just us don't care about waterslides, rock wall, flowrider (although fun to watch). Comparing ship to ship....what do others prefer? Comparing the two cruises....what would you select? Obviously our dilemmas....Adventure is longer for similar price (proAdventure), but we've been on similar ship (con-Adventure). Also means missing more work on 6 day (con-Adventure). Shows look more modern and more of them on Adventure (pro-Adventure). More venus on Adventure (pro-Adventure). Brilliance seem to get rave reviews for the views (con-Adventure). Help....

Thank you. SO nice to hear you had such a good sailing. Gonna do another post as we're confused again on what ship. ... too many options.

Yes, it seems to get positive reviews. Solarium looks quite nice and different. I heard it has a retractable roof, but they don't tend to ever open it?

That's exciting your cruise is so close. Would love to hear feedback when you return. We were debating forward or aft (avoiding central for centrum issues) but ended up with aft as I wasn't sure about ship movement. We are deck 8 near back at 8148. That would be wonderful if you could check to see if location is ok. Thanks so much. (But no worries if you don't get around to it...so kind of you to ask). Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you. In the end we paid the extra and went with a balcony. Its deck 8 in aft so hopefully ok for noise (or lack of)

Great. Thank you. Think we're going to give Brilliance a try.

Great to hear. Thank you. How are the shows?

Thank you! And obviously then deck 3 is better than deck 4.

Might be too specific a question, but would staterooms 3056 and onwards toward forward side safe?

Yeah...balcony is $500 more on Brilliance so that's a substantial savings to stick with an ocean view (which is only $150 more than an interior)

Yes we were actually on Independence last December, which already included the changes. Love the ship (and our kids would love the new amenities - very similar to Mariner). Really loved Grease and Once Upon a Time, and ice show was great too. But then, we've seen the shows and have been on the ship so questioning if we should try something different? Aside from Grandeur (which was too many years ago to remember),never been on a smaller ship. As long as they have activities and stuff, we should be fine. We wouldn't bring our kids on Brilliance (and if we end up taking our kids, then we would select Indy). Again, ignoring Grandeur, I've never stayed in an ocean view and on such a low deck. Poster above brought up the point that its near the port (although only 1 stop on a 4 nighter) and I guess also near the MDR. The Centrium noise is the main concern....so not sure how forward to select to try and get avoid the noise? (But don't want far forward due to movement)

How are the ocean views on the lower deck? We're debating between Independence and Brilliance. The cost of the ocean view on Brilliance is same cost as balcony on Independence. We love Independence but we've been on it before so thinking maybe we should try Brilliance. One warning I've read about Brilliance is to get a room away from the Centrium as it's very loud at night. Brilliance has ocean view rooms on deck 7 and 8, but they are right at the front of the ship so movement concerns me (esp on a smaller ship). So....has anyone been on an ocean view on deck 3 or 4? I think we'd still pick forward section to be away from Centrium but not sure about being so low. Thoughts? Also..if anyone has comments about Brilliance vs Indy let me know (I posted the other day about Brilliance overall and got some great feedback)

Cool! Thanks! Let me take a look.

I noticed a recent review where they posted the Windjammer outside, which I thought was lovely! Sounds like Brilliance and sister ships have the best views. What about activities?

I loved how you could walk at the upper deck levels and either follow the walking/jogging track, or just do you own laps from front to aft (and as poster said above, you go up a small set of stairs at some point). That was my one thing with Oasis clsas...to walk a full circle, the jogging track is on deck 5, which is blocked at times by the life boats.

Yeah...will be strange without a promenade. The deck plan does list "Shops of Centrum" but am guessing it's not as elaborate as a promenade?

Is this same Park Cafe that is on Oasis class ships? That place is great if it is.

Has anyone been on Brilliance of the Seas? If so, can you tell me about it? Will we be kept busy enough? We've only been on larger ships such as Oasis class, Independence and Mariner. I assume though that they still have the usual activities (shows, games, pool stuff, quest, music, etc) and it will be just DH and I (two adults in our 40s) so we don't care about waterslides and stuff. Would love to hear feedback on the ship, entertainment (shows + other), activities.

I'm a spreadsheet tracker for our Harmony cruise too! Like you, check daily. ?

Lol...you're right. Too funny as it seemed way too far out to find anything (outside of spa stuff as that's always available right away).

Thanks for the replies. Sounds like it's common across many cruises including ones not getting amped (Radiance). Guess booking early really pays off (no pun intended). We still have 1.5 years until our Mariner cruise and 2 years until Harmony so will still check every day (including better category for Harmony). But worries me what cruises will cost going forward.

This may be a silly question as it depends on when you booked and what. But for those that currently have bookings, do you find you still get price drops? We booked Harmony for 2021 back in December when prices were released and so initially got about 6 price drops. But now, it seems like prices just rise and rise. I know...the good thing about booking early and we got a great price for Harmony (but in a lower category stateroom - but always watching balcony rooms). Similarly for our Aug 2020 cruise on Mariner. And I don't even bother checking for the next two cruises (Aug 2019 and Mar 2020) as prices are way above what we paid (and that's comparing our booked refundable to non-refundable). I often cringe at what a standard balcony costs today vs a couple years ago as prices are really on the rise. Thinking with all these amplification changes they are doing, prices are just rising and rising? I am one who loves the changes, esp travelling with kids, but its really driving the cost.

The lazy river is about 20 minutes long (they warn you beforehand). It's really nice, and they try to make it as real as possible with the sounds and atmosphere. You also can see the people going along the ziplines at times. Again, you have to not mind getting wet as the mini falls are hard to avoid, but guess if youi're doing water activities, that shouldn't be a big deal.

Strange about BOGO. We could select it as part of BOGO on recent Symphony cruise as well as Wonderland or Hooked.

It's beautiful. And there are 2 sets of stairs, 2 sides with everyone different (wall posted and far wall too). Best ship for exploring!