DunkelBierJay

Saw your scopes!   Great work.  Thanks!

Travel Day and Embarkation Day 1
After wrapping up a few things at work, we headed to the airport for our evening flight to Tampa. 
We landed in Tampa at 9:50 and walked into our hotel room at the Tampa Airport Marriott at 10:10. Nothing is better than walking from your plane to baggage claim to check-in.   Getting to the hotel is easy. Adjacent to baggage claim is a bank of red elevators with the name “Sikorsky” above them. Just go back up to level 3 and follow the signs to “Hotel.”     1/06/2018 — Embarkation Day   No alarms today, but we woke up at 9, got ready and we’re out the door at 10.    Our ride share arrived at 10:30, and that was the longest wait of the morning.    We arrived at Terminal 6 at 10:50 and were on board by 11:03. Here was a slight snafu with my SeaPass card bringing up my photo as I scanned in, so security had to retake my photo instead of kicking me off. Whew.    Now, to Deck 11   Windjammer   In all of my Royal Caribbean cruises to date, have yet to have found honey stung chicken anywhere. My wait ended today!   I grabbed Honey stung chicken, zucchini salad and rice biryani, and all three were delicious!     The Windjammer was bustling, so instead of braving the chilly weather on the open deck by Rita’s Cantina at the back, we headed forward to the Solarium and celebrated Embarkation with Kraken Lava Flows...slurp!     After muster, I went to the helipad and hung out for sail away, and was able to see and be seen on Michael Poole’s Periscope (mpoole3) as I waved his way!     A little after 4:30, we went to the Pub to watch the Titans play the Chiefs. We lasted until the Titans were down 21-3 only to find out as we headed to dinner that they came back and won!      After resting and cleaning up, we headed to the Main dining Room for dinner.    I ordered   Shrimp cocktail Horseradish encrusted salmon Coffee ice cream (Really good iced tea)     This concludes a great Embarkation day. Next will Be Day 2 at sea...we’re rocking it as I prepare this post, and our day in grand Cayman. Thanks for reading!


 

Just got off Brilliance Jan 6. They still have Rita. The curry was great in the Windjammer every day for lunch and dinner. The ship is awesome. I booked another cruise and was given 350 off for next cruise. I booked a 6 day junior suite cruise. Went to the diamond lounge every morning and evening. The lounge is relaxing and never felt crowded. I met a man who took 32 cruises last year. He's on the another b2b cruise. 
 
 
 

I can't wait to read this.  As someone going on Brilliance a few weeks after you, I'm curious to see how the ship stacks up.
What are your dinner plans? MTD? Traditional? Windjammer Curry (aka the @monorailmedic dining plan)?

Following along ..... Doing the same cruise in early '19

Have fun! Haven't seen the Brillance in years. Looking forward to following along.

I'd love to see photos of the MDR dinner menu.  I'm trying to figure out if Brilliance has the new or old MDR dinner menu.
The rub on Rita's has been it's fine for drinks at the bar, but the food is not great (see link below).
Yes, and when I went on Brilliance in November 2015 it was awful. 
https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2015/12/09/review-ritas-cantina-brilliance-of-the-seas

I was starting my second Stella as my daughter and I walked through the door on deck 8 of Empress to the forward patio/observation area. I was excited for the quick 4 nighter to Cozumel and back. I was really liking this ship already after a not so perfect boarding experience due to some delays.


 
I started a Periscope for sail away (@DunkelBier_Jay), and had some fun conversations with people as the ship dropped lines and we entered the channel. To our right was the now famous (or infamous) @mpoole3 pad and the mainstay American Victory ship. Tampa Harbour is really cool in that direction. In the other, its all industrial. It is a great sailaway into the Tampa Bay and eventually the Sunshine Skyway Bridge about an hour away. I wanted more of this port!
*save your money*
As we entered the Bay, we walked down the hallway behind us and to the stairs to deck 5. From there, we walked aft, and I had my first lavalflow in the Schooner Bar...

But you're asking...the title says Brilliance, and he's writing about Empress...I'm getting there!
The two beers and the lava flow were talking after we finished and started walking aft. What's behind the Schooner on Empress?
*Next Cruise*
*YOLO*
The booking agent was there all alone, and I couldn't let her stay there all lonely like that. So, I booked a Fall cruise on Empress to Cuba with my wife. In the end, it didn't work out schedule wise, so we ended up changing it to the Brilliance January 6 sailing for five nights to Grand Cayman and to Cozumel.
So, this coming Friday, January 5, we will board a plane for Tampa where we will spend the night at the Tampa Airport Marriott and then rideshare to the port as early as possible.
This itinerary has two sea days to go along with the ports, and it is on a class we haven't sailed before. My goal is to sail every class before 2020.
First Port -- Grand Cayman
The plan is to rent a car and drive to the North Side and tour Crystal Caves and the nearby rain forest. Following that, we will drive to Rum Point for lunch and some beach time. We will stop by Cayman Brewery on the way back to turn in the car and then tender back to the ship.  We chose this because we have been on diving vacations to the Caymans a couple of times, and just didn't want to do the same old thing. We're saving that for the next port.
Second Port -- Cozumel
I flip flopped a lot on what to do, and I even had Chichen Itza booked for a while after a cruise planner sail, but ended up changing it to a day at Nachi Cocom so that we could go into San Miguel to sample some food and fun before the ship leaves.
So, my next posts will show whether or not we pull off these plans, and will show you some sights and sounds that are sure to excite one and all...woot
*thanks for reading this far*
Briliance, here we come!

 

Well wouldn't you know it.  The upgrade fairy has hit us without even a phone call.  Just checked online and we have been upgraded from JS to Two Bedroom Suite with Balcony on our sailing the 5th Jan 18, Serenade of the Seas.  I couldn't believe my eyes...i better run out and purchase a lottery ticket!! Waahoooooo!!!!

So thanks to the heads-up from @Sabrinaklai, I've been tracking the flight prices on United and JetBlue for the last few weeks. It's been interesting, not leastwise because yesterday was the 90-day mark before my cruise, and today United's fares dropped like a rock to just barely more than the best price I'd seen when I'd started.
Flight itinerary -- EWR to FLL on Wednesday, March 29; returning April 9 JetBlue "Blue Plus" fare selected for all price checks, since it includes one checked bag for $2 less than checking it at the terminal United regular Economy fare for all price checks, since I need the freedom to choose our seats at booking and be sure the family is grouped together as much as possible JetBlue was holding absolutely steady at $494.40 per person ($1,977.60 total; taxes included) for the entire time I had been checking, going back to mid-December. But on Friday, they suddenly jumped up $40 per person for the departure flight ($2,138.40 total), and for no visible reason (apart from maybe that it's a holiday weekend right now); almost all regular seats still available, nothing else to account for it.
Meanwhile, United had started at $408.40 per person ($1,633.60 total; again taxes included). It very quickly jumped by a lot, to just shy of $600 per person at one point. It started coming back down a bit going into this weekend, and then this morning it dropped to $423.60 per person ($1,694.40 total), just a little more than the lowest I'd seen when I'd started tracking.
For those who want to stop reading here, the key takeaway is that this "90-day flight pricing rule" that Sabrina mentioned really does seem to be a real thing. So a big thanks to her for letting us all know about it, and to watch the flight prices like a hawk both decently ahead of this window, and also going into it.
 
 
 
 
 
For those who care what happened next with me, go ahead and continue reading. For everyone else...

 
 
 
 
 
I've gone ahead purchased my tickets on United, contrary to my original plan to fly JetBlue.
The main driver was the opposite swings in the two prices. The gap went from just under $300 more for JetBlue to just under $500 more. Between that, and the fact that United allowed me to upgrade just my own seat to Economy Plus (for the extra leg room I need) for what I considered a reasonable $150 roundtrip, it was really a no-brainer. Even after tacking on trip insurance for $110, the final price was $1,952.96 -- less than JetBlue at their lowest price I could find, and $340 less using JetBlue's current rate and adding their $160 trip insurance option. If I had upgraded my own seat on JetBlue like I did on United, the difference would bump up to $454.
Now, what's missing here is the checked luggage costs. With United I'll still have to pay $25 per bag when I check in each way, so there's another $200 out of pocket, putting me within $150 of the current JetBlue fare after their trip insurance is tacked on, but I'm still coming out ahead.
All that said, I'm going to take advantage of United's 24-hour no questions asked cancellation policy and re-check the fare tomorrow morning to see if it's gone down again (following a tip I'd read about many lower rates coming out on a Monday night going into Tuesday), and also to see if JetBlue comes back down after we're outside the holiday weekend. But given the daily fluctuations in the United prices, I figured I'd better lock this in while it seems to have come back down. If JetBlue drops and United stays the same, I'll cancel the United flight and switch over to JetBlue.
And if I do stay with United, I'll just have to hope they don't come on board and demand I give up my seat because of overbooking. 

As I complete the "live" blog of my recent Christmas cruise on the Majesty at a glacial pace, there's something I really need to talk with other cruisers about.
Let me start by saying that I am FAR from a pizza snob.  While I've enjoyed some excellent pizza in my time, and I frequently make my own cast iron pan pizzas from scratch, I still appreciate a slice from a national chain, the mall, Cici's or even Digiorno's and Red Barron.  I was a firm believer that there's no such thing as bad pizza.  Just good pizza and better pizza. 
I was wrong.  Sorrento's is bad pizza.  What in gods name do they DO to it?  They appear to be using pre-made crusts with a normal-looking sauce and shredded mozzarella.  The toppings are kinda skimpy, but that's not a big deal.  The problem is that it's got a texture I can only describe as gluey as all hell.  Like Elmer's school glue.  The crust crisps up reasonably well on the bottom and edges, the cheese browns on the top, but there's something going terribly wrong at the crust-sauce-cheese interface.  The entire mass stuck to the roofs of our mouths and left an unpleasant film on our teeth and tongues.  I tried multiple different kinds across different days to see if it was just a particular variety to rule out a bad batch, strange customized recipe or something that's been sitting out too long.  It was consistently gluey and terrible.  An especially well-done pie, fresh out of the oven was only marginally better.  It was still noticeably gluey.  Soggy elementary school cafeteria pizza is superior to this.  I'm just baffled how the pizza can miss the mark so much.  Are they using artificial cheese or some peculiar ingredient?  Pizza isn't a complex food and doesn't require any ingredients they don't already carry for their otherwise excellent bakery and galley operations.  How can it possibly be this bad?

On a day when there is more news about the breakout of sickness on Independence, there is almost no coverage of Royal Caribbean International's Celebrity Summit rescue of six people who were stranded on a sail boat for over a month and had run out of food. It happened on December 16, and I saw it on Captain Kate McCue's (@captainkatemccue) awesome Instagram account just now. I wanted to call it out for the awesome news that it is.

Just watched her bit on Instagram about the rescue.  Then ended up reading more articles about her and watching some of her interviews.  She seems like an amazing woman!

Interesting info...I followed the link @JLMoran posted and found this map showing the status of each state and territory.It looks like 18 or 19 states have been granted an extension with several under review. It looks like if your state is green, you wont have any issues. It's still ideal to have a passport regardless IMO.
 

Hi Everyone,
Thanks for making my first cruise on Royal go well with all the tips and reviews on the board plus the blog post.  Just a quick story time.
The wife and I flew out of MSP on Friday, Dec 8th, 2017 to Fort lauderdale thru Atlanta.  The same day a massive unheard of soul crushing blizzard fell on Atlanta. Our flight to ATL landed 45 mins late but our flight to FLL was a nightmare.  We got on the plane at 3pm and then over the next 8 hours got on and off the plane twice, pushed back and then the flight got canceled because the crew timed out.  ATL only has 8 deicing trucks and they apparently breakdown easily.  MSP has 40 for a comparison.  All the flights the next day were past the set sail time so we had to improvise.  We stood in line for 2 hours trying to get our checked luggage back and Delta said no go at 1AM.  I started the search for a rental car and all the one way, one day rentals were gone and was told there is no way we can rent you a car.  Here is the trick:  If you reserve a one way car but for a weekly rate it will come up and you can get out of there.  It cost more but when in need its totally worth it.  Most programs have an early return policy so you will get a little money back.   In the end we got a car from Hertz for $360 and drove from 2AM-noon to fort lauderdale without bags.  Did a quick Walmart fashion stock up and got on the boat.   During the drive down talk to Delta and got our bags rerouted to Jamaica our 4th day stop and we picked them up there and enjoyed the rest of our cruise.  So we were the casual people on formal night :)
 

I've only heard great things about Captain Kate.  Hope one day to sail on a ship with her at the helm.  

When we took our first cruise, on Freedom, I was confronted with just how massive the responsibility is for the Captain and his crew to keep his passengers safe, regardless of situation.
 
So, from then on, I've added ship captains, pilots, train and bus drivers to my prayers.  Really, anyone how is responsible for the well-being of another life.
 

Phew!  Packing nearly complete.  I've done quite well.  Only 43 bags.
Two less than I took on Anthem!

I'd book Nachi - if there are that many people in port, other places will be even more overrun than Nachi. 

On a day when there is more news about the breakout of sickness on Independence, there is almost no coverage of Royal Caribbean International's Celebrity Summit rescue of six people who were stranded on a sail boat for over a month and had run out of food. It happened on December 16, and I saw it on Captain Kate McCue's (@captainkatemccue) awesome Instagram account just now. I wanted to call it out for the awesome news that it is.

On a day when there is more news about the breakout of sickness on Independence, there is almost no coverage of Royal Caribbean International's Celebrity Summit rescue of six people who were stranded on a sail boat for over a month and had run out of food. It happened on December 16, and I saw it on Captain Kate McCue's (@captainkatemccue) awesome Instagram account just now. I wanted to call it out for the awesome news that it is.

On a day when there is more news about the breakout of sickness on Independence, there is almost no coverage of Royal Caribbean International's Celebrity Summit rescue of six people who were stranded on a sail boat for over a month and had run out of food. It happened on December 16, and I saw it on Captain Kate McCue's (@captainkatemccue) awesome Instagram account just now. I wanted to call it out for the awesome news that it is.

On the upper right of your screen, you should be able to see your screen name with a pull down -- click that
Under the pull down, you will see "Account Settings" -- click that
See "Signature" -- click that

You will then see a field where you can enter what you want to enter as well as options to format it however you want (ignore the screenshot below. I was not able to remove it).
 

Alright, this thread inspired me to write this out a bit more.  Shameless plug incoming...
http://www.cruisehabit.com/“smart-bags”-have-become-popular-–-we-find-some-impracticalities-and-now-airlines-are-banning-them

We're hoping to go on the group cruise too.  July is hard for us as our college kids are home and it's impossible to know who will be around that summer and who will be working/internship.  We feel guilty leaving them when they are only here for a couple months.  We're debating booking a room for four, then cancelling one or both if needed.  But our goal for 2019 is to get the 11 points we'll need to be Diamond, so will more than likely take two cruises to get that.  Have thought about just doing the group cruise in a junior suite too; I was trying to price out a couple options so when the group cruise is announced we can book.