Brilliance of the seas 21-28 August 2022 the good the bad and the ugly

[Morganno]

I'll start my review by saying any time on a cruise ship is an amazing time.

The weather was perfect for the most part and the destinations were great. 

Our opinion was this was our best cruise and also our worst cruise at the same time!

Let me explain.

My highs from this cruise.

The bar staff in all the bars were great attentive and served us very well. Shout out to Ana and Clifford in Schooner bar and Colony club.

The ship was clean and well maintained despite being 20 years old most of it fell very well kept.

The people we met. The passengers were very friendly on this cruise, we were apprehensive as it was the first time we had sailed as only a couple but we soon got chatting to and met loads of new friends and had such a fun time on this cruise laughing and joking every night this is what made it a great cruise despite the lows.

The lows we gambled with royal up and lost.

We were in an inside cabin on deck 3 carefully selected by us to be centrally located.

We won an upgrade for 220$ in total to a balcony cabin, the downside was it was above the piano bar with what most of us on board thought was a simply terrible piano singer. 

Naturally on day 2 we asked for a move as we like early nights and early starts for excursions. However the cruise was full so on day 2we gave up the early starts and enjoyed the evenings on the ship since day 3 was a sea day. 

On day 3 we got a phone call at 8.30 that there was a cabin above the theatre available so we went along to see it, it was perfect. We were very happy about it we could get an early night and get off the boat early. BOY were we wrong, we were not above the theatre like they said but above the King and Country pub with the loudest guitar player I've ever heard playing in a pub. Our floor was literally vibrating with the noise.  No early night for us. I phoned to complain about the noise level at 12:30 asking when he would stop, he stopped at 12.35.

AT 1AM after getting to sleep guest services called us back to inform us that they had went to the pub and there was no noise.  The literally woke us up to tell us that!

Again we asked to be moved but there were simply no cabins left for us

Very disappointed in RC moving us from one noisy cabin to literally a worse cabin for noise. On hindsight I should have looked at deck plans but we didn't have the internet and it was a sea day, so I trusted guest services.  

On this occasion we simply decided to look on the positive side and gave up any excursions this time and enjoyed late nights on the ship.

Still not happy at the sound level of the guitar player who was simply far to loud for a drinking venue.

He wasn't playing MSG but a bar on a cruise ship where people might like to chat.

Complaints to him and the cruise director Mike about his insanely high music level fell on deaf ears (probably literally) It was impossible to sit in the bar and have a conversation when he was playing which might explain how there was always an abundance of seats every evening..... 

Lesson learned we will never do another royal up as they just move you to bad locations that no one wants.

Our one other big negative was the level of service in MDR which was atrocious.

We had 6pm dining. At 6:20 no one had come near us finally I flagged down the head waiter to ask what was going on, were they short staffed etc. No no was her reply were are fine, what's the problem? The food was also either under cooked (worrying for crab cake) or dried up and cold. It really was horrible. The wait staff were non existant and when we did get them we really didn't fancy another long wait for a replacement meal as we wanted to see the show at 8pm. 

We skipped MDR day 2 we thought we'd let them sort out their issues but day 3 was even worse. Again had to seat ourselves, watched as our waiters ran around up and down the MDR carrying covered plates. Were given our menus at 6.20 literally thrown at us not even a good evening. Water came eventually and we ordered drinks which came with desert. The food was totally inedible and by 7.20 we'd had enough. 

On day 5 of 7 we received a phone call from the head waiter begging us to come back that all was better but our various conversations with other passengers told us otherwise. People with a 6pm sitting had to skip dessert to see the show at 8pm.

It seemed like if you complained enough you got the service you should have got at the start but probably at the expense of some one else. By this time we'd gotten to know the wait staff at the windjammer and had our drinks served to us as soon as we entered the windjammer so again despite missing out on the MDR which we very much enjoy, the windjammer staff made up for it. Also the food in the windjammer got progressively better (warmer) as the week went on, we actually burnt our tongues on the steak and Guinness pie. 

By the way,  to add a bit of insult we received 8 complimentary chocolate covered strawberries from the head waitress,  however 3 of them had gone off and were squishy and moldy. We just burst out laughing when we picked them up. No point in getting more annoyed but it at least convinced us we had made the right choice. 

The entertainment was hit and miss but I think this was just post covid and on it's own wasn't that bad. 

All in all like I said we are very fortunate to be able to afford cruising and this was the first ship which we had so many bad experiences, but the good laughs with the other passengers and the bar staff more than made up for the poor customer service desk and mdr. 

I still have to write my post cruise survey but it will not be 10 out of 10 for MDR or guest services. 

 

Thanks for reading see you on the next cruise. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[letscruise]

Thanks for your thorough review, and it's refreshing to read your positivity, given all the negatives you encountered on this cruise.  I've never done Royal Up, but you've presented a side of it that I hadn't thought of previously; another good lesson from your post--be happy with what you have, grass isn't always greener, yada yada!   

 

[Swar]

We did five cruises on BOTS earlier this year and have three lined up for December. We had a fairly good experience and got pretty good RoyalUps. Sorry for the bad spots on your cruise. We stopped going to the MDR several months ago because of the sameness of the meals and the long dining times. We usually do Windjammer, Solarium, and a three specialty dining package. If there is a Playmakers that is perfect.

[Morganno]

15 minutes ago, Swar said:

We did five cruises on BOTS earlier this year and have three lined up for December. We had a fairly good experience and got pretty good RoyalUps. Sorry for the bad spots on your cruise. We stopped going to the MDR several months ago because of the sameness of the meals and the long dining times. We usually do Windjammer, Solarium, and a three specialty dining package. If there is a Playmakers that is perfect.

We were on Odyssey in July and the highlight was MDR, arriving at 6pm waiters lined up accompany to your seat, pull out your chair throw the napkin on your lap, day 3 so 2nd full day all our drinks were already on the table before we sat down. Stories exchanged with other guests and our excellent waiters and food hot and tasty with virtually no waits. Compared to BoTS you would think we were on a completely different cruise line. Like I said though the friendly staff at windjammer made up for it.  

2 hours ago, letscruise said:

Thanks for your thorough review, and it's refreshing to read your positivity, given all the negatives you encountered on this cruise.  I've never done Royal Up, but you've presented a side of it that I hadn't thought of previously; another good lesson from your post--be happy with what you have, grass isn't always greener, yada yada!   

 

Yeah we were just so lucky to be able to cruise and still had a great time. 

[Linda R]

We will be on Brilliance in about 2 weeks. B2B.  We picked our cabin and are happy with it, a JS Aft.  Hoping the MDR improves.  The first week we do have Unlimited dining so will not be going to MDR at all.  We will see how the second week goes!  We will enjoy anyway, as we love cruising!

[Morganno]

6 hours ago, Linda R said:

We will be on Brilliance in about 2 weeks. B2B.  We picked our cabin and are happy with it, a JS Aft.  Hoping the MDR improves.  The first week we do have Unlimited dining so will not be going to MDR at all.  We will see how the second week goes!  We will enjoy anyway, as we love cruising!

Thanks for the reply. The food in MDR did improve during the week as we heard from friend but not the service. Like I said if you  really complained to the maître d' you  got good service if not you were missing dessert to see the shows. My advice would be to complain early if things aren't right. I loved the cruise as well but won't sail on brilliance again. Too many other ships to see to give it a 2nd chance. 

[Ramja]

Thanks for your very descriptive review. And for confirming what I have always suspected of the Royal-Up program.  Given how close to sailing these rooms are assigned, it always seemed likely you were being assigned undesirable/unwanted rooms.