DunkelBierJay

Brilliance of the Seas 5 Night cruise...Day 4 in Cozumel at Nachi Cocom and a little wandering across the street from the International Pier. I hope you enjoy!
 

Brilliance of the Seas 5 Night cruise...Day 4 in Cozumel at Nachi Cocom and a little wandering across the street from the International Pier. I hope you enjoy!
 

Yes! There were seven ships and about 20,000 people on Cozumel the day we were there. It took a little while to get past the traffic at the International Pier, and when we arrived at Nachi, it was full and didn't feel crowded at all. My next post will have the Nachi video....

Can't wait to see it too!  We are booked at nachi in March on a day with tons of ships.   Looking forward to  the limited crowds and warm weather!   Jane

Sure thing. There will be a link in this thread either this evening or tomorrow. 

Definitely interested in that one, will be there this March and need to "convince she-who-must-be-obeyed" that Nachi is a great place. Please let us all know where we can find it on youtube, when you have the time that is. Thanks!

IT'S CRUISE DAY!!!
Departing Cape Liberty (Bayonne, NJ) I have two sea days, Port Canaveral, Miami, Nassau, CocoCay then two sea days back to Cape Liberty.
I haven't booked excursions and plan to work some days.  Some of these ports are places I've visited many times.  As always I'm hoping we make CocoCay but since it's currently a tender port that is always a game day decision for the Captain. Finger's crossed.
I flew in last night and stayed at a hotel near the Newark airport.  On the plane I checked Anthem's position on a ship tracking site and was surprised to see she was beating me into NJ.  Apparently there was a medical incident that precluded helicopter evacuation so they sped up to make port.  
This is my 3rd cruise on Anthem after a back to back in December.  That seems so long ago but then again it was last year.
I'm in a balcony cabin on deck 6 forward this time.  Most deck 6 balconies are obstructed view due to the position of the life boats however I'm far forward enough to be away from them.  
I'm planning to purchase Voom on board as it never went on sale in the cruise planner.  Since we are in port much of today I'll wait until day 2 to buy Voom to save some money since the on board plans are pro-rated based on how many days are remaining.
Yesterday I changed planes in Atlanta.  It was very odd looking out the window of the plane and seeing some snow on the ground.  My favorite airline lounge has an outside deck which was closed yesterday because of the snow.  Where I come from this isn't considered a lot of snow but for this part of the country the recent storm was snowmageddon. 
 
Here in Newark it is 28° F this morning.  There is something about boarding a ship when it's below freezing that just seems weird.  I think I'll skip the sail away and Verrazano-Narrows Bridge event on deck 15 this time.
With that it's time to finish re-packing my bags and hail a Lyft.

You want shark dives? Come to North Carolina, we got plenty of wrecks and sharks! Tiger sharks, Sand Tiger sharks, Nurse Sharks, Bull sharks, Sand Bar sharks. 

Ben & Jerries should be available at Cafe Latitudes. This ice cream is priced a la carte and all you need is your Sea Pass card. The pastries at this location are compliemtary. The coffe is a la carte unless you get a Cafe Select card or it is a feature of the drink package.
Park Cafe is located in the back port side part of the Solarium and has hours to cover the munchies when the Main Dining Room and the Windjammer may not be open. It has a nice menu, and all of the offerings are complimentary. It is the easiest place on board to get a glass of water, juice or iced tea most times of the day.
Room Service is $7.95 per order for anything but continental breakfast. There is no limit to how much you can order. You can always go to any of the restaurants on board, order what you want and take it to your room, so yes, you can go directly.
 
You will need your SeaPass card wherever you go. It is your room key and form of payment on board. When you check-in at the cruise terminal, you can leave a credit or debit card number on account for on board charges. You can also leave cash at Guest Services in the Centrum.
Mystery Dinner theater has been available on board Enchantment. If it is available on your sailing, you should be able to find it in the Cruise Planner under Entertainment and Activities. You could also check when you get on board if you can't find it. Here is a link to the most recent Enchantment Cruise Compass that is posted elsewhere on this site:
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/cruise-compasses/enchantment-of-the-seas/fri-2017-11-03-0000
 

Nice video! Can't wait to see the rest!

I am creating videos of this cruise and I will post them in this thread. Here is the first of three or four short videos. I hope you enjoy them!
 

Well, if we're going to give the countdown for all of our upcoming cruises, I have to add 270 days until Anthem.
And now it's 73 days until Freedom! Only 70 if you count it from when we fly to Ft. Lauderdale!! 

I am creating videos of this cruise and I will post them in this thread. Here is the first of three or four short videos. I hope you enjoy them!
 

I am creating videos of this cruise and I will post them in this thread. Here is the first of three or four short videos. I hope you enjoy them!
 

Great job!!!

End of the Last a Sea Day and Reflections on the cruise:
After killing a couple hours on deck 12 after the Sexiest Man competition, which had some alcohol induced cringe moments between one of the judges and Flavio, the Activities Manager, we did some much needed napping there and a little later in the Solarium. I was sad that I was still too full after Chops to have another Kummelwick. 


More napping was to be had, so that continued to happen into the evening.

We had intentions of going to the farewell show before dinner. That did not happen, so we opted for the drawing to guess the carat weight of a piece of tanzanite jewelry in order to win it. I missed it by a half carat, and someone else nailed it. Congrats to him!
We listened to some music by the Kronos Band, and I shared a couple of scopes. They moved from country to Jimmy Buffet, and are my favorite musical ensemble I have heard at sea. Their range goes from Sinatra to Otis Redding, and country to metal. They were extraordinary. 
Screenshot from the Periscope
When 8:30 pm came around, we headed to the MDR for dinner. 

When we arrived, we made sure that we expressed our gratitude to two amazing waiters, Arturo and Lyudmylla. One of my favorite parts of cruising is this connection that develops which I believe is sincere on their part. I have yet to experience a cruise where a short, temporary friendship develops at a minimum and some are Facebook friends to this day. 
So, we love giving some extra to these fantastic people! We also had a chance on disembarkation day to express the same gratitude to Bernardo, our stateroom attendant. I hope that everyone appreciates how hard they work to make guests’ experience wonderful. I will make sure they get our highest evaluation on the email request to do a survey.
Final Thoughts
Embarkation — A+
There’s something about Terminal 6 in Tampa that has it over on Terminal 3. I certainly don’t know all of the behind the scenes contributions to the experience for guests, but it was superior than my previous experience embarking on the Empress.
Stateroom 4014 — A+
access eas early layout was perfect size was perfect everything worked it was close to the forward elevators the Centrum was easily accessible This is by far my favorite stateroom in any of my cruises. I have stayed in a jr suite, Superior OV with balcony, Inside Promenade, Inside. I think it is easily the best value I have experienced, and while balconies are nice, I have rarely used them when I had them. Stateroom Attendant, Bernardo — A Main Dining Room — B
while beautiful, it is over-crowded and there were some organizational and procedural issues that affected others as well as us. I think it had to do with communication between the Head waiters at the two seatings   Waiter and Assistant Waiter, Arturo and Lyudmylla — A ++ I cant speak highly enough of them. They made what could have been a difficult circumstance into not a big deal. In my view, they should run the dining room. They were that good. If you are sailing on Brilliance within the next two months, ask for them.  Food — B++ I could be wrong, but I sensed that some of the organizational issues affected the food quality at times. It was never bad, it just wasn’t as good as I have experienced on other ships.  Windjammer — A
The Windjammer on Brilliance was my favorite I have experienced. It may be because the honey stung chicken was as good as billed, and I finally knocked it off my bucket list. They executed breakfast really well. The made to order omelets were the best I have had at sea. I love the open area at the back. Love. It. I consider Rita’s part of the Windjammer and would like to see Royal Caribbean commit to it or change it into something more appealing. It seems like they are just letting it sit there without any availability of their old menu except on certain days in the Windjammer. Specialty Dining (Chops) — A
i would rate it higher if the Chops on Empress didn’t edge it out by a smidgen. Solarium — B++
I would rate it higher if it was a little larger. I think the Solarium in Enchantment is larger, and remains my favorite. It is a very beautiful spot on the ship.  I really like the Park Cafe and the offerings there. They do Kummelwick roast beef sandwiches during lunch, which was a very nice surprise.  Gym — A
good staff, layout and assortment of exercise options Shopping — B-
they didn’t have a good selection of logo gear, and a limited size availability. I didn’t really look at anything else. Bars
Pub — A+ — favorite pub I have experienced in a ship R-Bar — A
Vintages — B+ — the liquor package seems to be a necessity because the a la carte pricing is quite high. The ambience and location on the ship is great.  Schooner — A — great spot for a cocktail. I really like the location on this ship Solarium Bar — A- — its a little small. The service is really good.  Entertainment — B+  
what we saw was nice, but not set apart from other experiences.  Music — A
The Kronos Band was just great. The options at Schooner are mixed. The Pub singer was pretty good, but we didn’t listen that much.  Movie Theater — A
we saw two movies here, and this is such a great amenity. When you want to chill out. I’d like to see more of these in the fleet. Special Events - A+
The effort and fun out into the College Football National Championship game experience on board was far over and above expectations. It was great, and I would have rated it the same had my team not won.  Dis-embarkation — A +
We self assisted with our luggage. Actually, we have never used the ship’s service. That’s what wheels are for. We were able to walk off with no lines at about 8:45. There was a five minute line at customs. This is the first cruise where we did not have to fill out a customs form. We were in our Lyft 10 minutes later, and having breakfast #2 by 10:30 am. Other — This is just an observation
I’ve never seen so many Pinnacles in one place as on this sailing. Everywhere I turned, I saw a name badge with Pinnacle Club on it. Overall — A-
Some aspects of this cruise could have been better. The ship has an overcrowded feel, especially in the MDR. The beauty of the ship, the well known connection to the sea, the many amenities and especially the crew make for an amazing experience. 

I am creating videos of this cruise and I will post them in this thread. Here is the first of three or four short videos. I hope you enjoy them!
 

I am creating videos of this cruise and I will post them in this thread. Here is the first of three or four short videos. I hope you enjoy them!
 

When you justify a cruise based on money saved by turning down the heat at home while your cruising, as well money saved on groceries   - a cruise almost pays for itself!

Could have waited atleast until midnight.

If you are up to staying in South Beach, we stayed at Hotel Ocean booked through Kayak for the Navigator Group Cruise last February. We paid $149 plus tax and got a pretty cool room. Fortunately, we were far enough off the street that the partying sounds of Ocean Drive didn't filter to our room. That might be the only concern about staying in that location. The people watching in that area is very interesting. Our room was clean and nice. It was not a cookie cutter. The beach is directly across the street.
There is no shortage of restaurants, it is definitely South Beachy and fun. We walked a few blocks to a Cuban restaurant called Puerto Sagua the night before, and it was spectacular food. It is close enough to the South Pointe Park Pier if you want to get up early enough for a walk to watch the ships come in. It's an amazing thing to see from the beach and the pier area. It is a 10 minute Cab/Uber/Lyft to Port Miami.

The longest out I've been able to book was at 156, the day after I booked that cruise.  I've never had to wait to book Oasis class shows but 156 was my longest away booking until I booked Symphony for October.  Oasis was 145 and I booked all shows the next day, before final payment.  Harmony similar except on Harmony I could never book MTD reservations even two weeks before sailing so I asked the suite concierge to do it for me when they emailed me.  

Reading this thread again this morning a lightbulb went off.  It's very self-serving for Disney to make it easier for parents to have sex. 
It maintains a steady stream of new kids on the way to keep their business interests going for years to come. 
Well planned DCL!  Your level of attention to all details is truly amazing!

Interesting second paragraph.  
Guess it shows each cruise line is better for some activities compared to others.  Apparently Disney is a better cruise line for SEX.  Walt would be proud.

Thanks @spiegeje -- DunkelBier_Jay!  I am once again out of reactions , and I only gave out 3 today? ?