Hi blog friends! I’m sorry for the delay but I was just having too much fun in Cozumel, Mexico.

Last night I had a great dinning experience in Chops Grill, which is a specialty restaurant with a cover charge of $30 per person. I had the not so traditional Caesar salad, along with the 10oz filet.

This has become one of my favorite venues over the years with Royal Caribbean, because the quality of the food is simply outstanding. But right when I thought it couldn’t get any better they bring out the crème brûlée, which I might add was on fire! What a great meal and if you are new to cruising or thinking about treating yourself, this is the treat.

Okay enough of talking about food, but I could just go on and on about it. Today was our day in Mexico and I pre-booked the beach day at Nachi-Cocom for $55 per person. This offers all the food and alcohol you can consume along with a beach chair and shade.

One of the unique things about this option is they only let 100 guests per day book this resort. I’ll also note the service is simply outstanding and they work to ensure you are satisfied. If you are seeking a quite day by the beach this is defiantly something to look into, and to me the cover charge is worth the peace and quiet. 

I also got pretty excited to see Royal Caribbean's Liberty of the Seas in port with us today. She made us look so little docked next to her. I will say those Freedom class ships are something special.

Today we are on our final day at sea; gosh these days are flying by! No big plans for my sea day other than soaking up some sunrays. But I might add its one of my favorite events about cruising is the Quest. I’ll be sure go into more detail of this tomorrow and hopefully come home with the 1st place metal.

Until next time, Bon Voyage!

Our guest blogger Michael is blogging LIVE from Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas and continues his live blog below.

During my first evening on the Brilliance of the Seas I had dinner in the main dining room. There are two decks featuring a beautiful staircase. I had dinner with a family from Europe and a couple from Florida.

The service was outstanding, but I thought the quality of food was average. For my main course I got the prime rib, along with carrot cake for dessert.

My favorite thing about cruising is the sea day because I don't have a worry in the world.

Today I spent time in the sun lying by the pool with a great book.

After a few hours I decided to have lunch at Rita’s Cantina. This is a new option to the Brilliance of the Seas, and they built it into the Windjammer all the way aft. I really enjoyed the views from lunch with the open-air aroma and nothing but the sea passing by.

I had a late breakfast, so I only ordered guacamole and chips, which was outstanding with a cold beverage. One thing I noticed at Rita’s is that they no longer charge a cover charge; it's just simply a la carte.

After lunch I decided to venture back to the pool deck for some afternoon sun. They had some typical Royal Caribbean games going on with the inclusion of a new pool game, which was almost like fan-favorite Quest.

Afterwards, they even did a belly flop contest. This was a lot of fun to watch, and cruise director Steve Davis did a great job creating a lot of excitement and interaction around the event.

Coming up this evening I’ll be dining at Chops Grille and will feature a full review of my experience. Talk to you then!

Day 1 - Embarkation on the Brilliance of the Seas Hi, blog friends! The day I’ve been waiting for is finally here -- boarding the Brilliance of the Seas! The weather is unpleasant today, but, then again, I could be sitting at my desk at work, so I can't complain too much.

I arrived at the terminal around 10:30 a.m. and noticed almost no one was here. In fact, there were still guests getting off from the last sailing. I went through security and checked in within five minutes. The boarding process started around 10:45 a.m. and I was right on board.

My first impression of the ship was: WOW, this ship looks great with all the latest upgrades. The champagne lounge has been turned into vintages. They also added King & Country Pub along with the new and favorite R-Bar. I noticed the Schooner Bar was extremely large, and probably the largest I’ve seen in the fleet, so I'm pretty excited to head there this evening.

Now that I’ve explored Brilliance of the Seas there is only one thing to do -- have lunch at the Windjammer. The lunch was very fresh and the selection was great for everyone. I even noticed they had veggie sausage balls and gluten-free bread, so there is literally something for everyone on board.

After lunch I headed off to explore my cabin (E2, Deck 7, forward). The room features a flat-screen TV, new carpet and a large balcony. I’ve never seen a balcony so large! Now I understand why everyone likes the Radiance Class ships so much.

One of my favorite things about blogging about my cruise experience is to share with you all, the readers, where I am when I’m actually writing the post. So I’m currently in the new pub which is right outside the casino on Deck 6, forward. I’ve noticed a lot of people walking by, but not actually coming in, so we'll see how the turnout is this evening. The decor in the pub is exactly like the Oasis Class ships, which offers a very vintage look with a wide selection of beers from all over the world.

I hope you all are enjoying my live blogging so far, and if you have any special requests please let me know in the comments below.

- Michael Poole

I want to welcome Michael as our guest live blogger, as he will be posting daily blog posts about his experience on Brilliance of the Seas.  I hope this will offer everyone a fun insight into what a cruise on Brilliance of the Seas is like, especially for someone who may be new to the Radiance class of ships.  Enjoy!

Hi I’m Michael Poole fellow listener of the Royal Caribbean Blog Podcast, and avid cruiser.

You might recognize me from the recent, round-table discussion podcast on episode 28 or even way back to episode 13 and 17 discussing my Oasis of the Seas cruise.

This will be my 16th cruise and lucky number 13th with Royal Caribbean and will also be my 3rd solo cruise. Needless to say, I’m excited to be sharing my upcoming cruise with all the Royal Caribbean Blog fans and I will be Live blogging while at sea.

I’ve booked the 4 day Western Caribbean cruise on Brilliance of the Seas, which is in the Radiance class ships. I've sailed on every class with Royal Caribbean expect Radiance class, so I’m really excited to try something different.

I decided to book this cruise around three weeks ago when home on a snow day. I just looked outside and said I cannot take much more of this, and thought Why Not! I booked an E2 balcony on deck 7 forward, I’ve read mix review of balconies on this deck, some with views of lifeboats below so I’ll be sure to provide all the details.

This cruise will offer two sea days and a port day in Cozumel Mexico.

For my sea days I'll be pool side soaking up the sun rays and for my day in Cozumel, Mexico I've made reservations at an all-inclusive beach resort called, Nachi-Cocom.

This should be a great experience and I’m really looking forward to sharing it with all of you. That’s all for now and my next post will be from Brilliance of the Seas!