Four additional Royal Caribbean cruise ships scheduled to sail in 2023 has been moved elsewhere.

Guests that were booked on Brilliance of the Seas for her summer 2023 sailings received an email today that their sailings have been cancelled.

Royal Caribbean's original plan was for Brilliance of the Seas was to continue offering sailings departing from Tampa, Florida through April 29th, 2023 and begin its European season on May 15th, 2023, before making its way back to Tampa, Florida in November 2023.

The International Maritime Organization recently shared new speed regulations that Royal Caribbean must adhere to and as a result, they've repositioned some of ships for the upcoming 2023/2024 season.

Brilliance will now sail from Vancouver, British Columbia starting April 3rd, 2023 and Sydney, Australia beginning October 23rd, 2023.

Enchantment of the Seas will now take Brilliance's place in Florida and Europe and will offer similar itineraries.

The original plan for Enchantment of the Seas was to offer sailings departing from Vancouver, British Columbia on April 3rd, 2023 and Sydney, Australia on October 23rd, 2023.

Instead, Enchantment of the Seas will now continue offering sailings from Baltimore, Maryland through April 20th, 2023 and begin a European season with departures from Rome (Civitavecchia), Italy, Athens (Piraeus), Greece, and Venice (Ravenna), Italy starting May 15th, 2023, before making its way to Tampa, Florida in November 2023. 

Starting July 28th, 2022, we'll automatically move your clients to the new Enchantment of the Seas sailing departing on the same day as their original Brilliance of the Seas cruise. They'll receive like-for-like accommodations onboard Enchantment of the Seas, and their amenities will remain the same.

Guests that were booked onboard Enchantment or Brilliance of the Seas have 3 options:

• Automatically move to the Enchantment or Brilliance of the Seas sailing departing on the same day as their original cruise
  • Their new sailing will still offer the same beautiful ports as their original cruise, and it'll depart from the same destination. 
  • Move them to a like-for-like stateroom and their original stateroom category price will either be protected at their original cruise fare rate or reduced to the current cruise fare rate (whichever is lower).
• Re-book any other Royal Caribbean International sailing
  • Royal Caribbean will waive any non-refundable deposit change fees.
  • No price protection
• A full refund of any paid portion of your cruise fare (including non-refundable deposits) and any pre-paid amenities to the original form of payment within 14 business days

Guests have between now now and August 18th, 2022 to decide. If the person does nothing, they'll remain booked on the alternate Enchantment of the Seas sailing.

Voyager and Adventure of the Seas

Another swap was announced for Voyager of the Seas and Adventure of the Seas.

Due to the same International Maritime Organization speed regulations, Voyager of the Seas was to offer sailings departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida through November 4th, 2023, and Orlando (Port Canaveral), Florida beginning November 10th, 2023. Instead, Voyager will now sail from Galveston, Texas beginning May 9th, 2023.

Adventure of the Seas will now take Voyager's place in Florida place and will offer similar itineraries.

Guests will be automatically moved to the new Adventure of the Seas sailing departing on the same day as your original Voyager of the Seas cruise. They'll receive like-for-like accommodations onboard Adventure of the Seas, and their amenities will remain the same.

Just like Brilliance and Enchantment, guests have the choice of the automatic move, a move to another ship, or a full refund.

Another ship moves away from Europe in 2023

Brilliance of the Seas is the second Royal Caribbean cruise ship to be redeployed away from Europe.

Earlier this month, Serenade of the Seas had her summer 2023 cruise season cancelled.

Serenade of the Seas was to offer sailings departing from Copenhagen, Denmark and Stockholm, Sweden starting May 21st, 2023. 

Instead, she'll be homeported in Florida in summer 2023.

Unlike Brilliance, Royal Caribbean cancelled Serenade's European season due to the war in Ukraine.

Another Royal Caribbean cruise ship has resumed sailing this week.

Brilliance of the Seas is scheduled to sail from Tampa, Florida on Thursday, which marks Brilliance's return to service.

Brilliance of the Seas completed her test cruise earlier this month, and received its Conditional Sailing Certificate from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to start cruising.

This will be the first time Brilliance sails with paying passengers in over 21 months.

Royal Caribbean requires all passengers 12 and older sailing from Florida to present proof of full Covid-19 vaccination with the final dose administered at least 14 days before sailing.

Children age 11 and under do not require Covid-19 vaccination to cruise. However, kids age 5 to 11 who have been vaccinated may present proof of full vaccination and follow the protocols for vaccinated guests. 

All unvaccinated guests ages 2 to 11 must undergo 2 more Covid-19 tests at the cruise terminal and prior to disembarking.

All crew onboard all ships in the fleet will be fully vaccinated.

Brilliance will offer 4- and 5-night Bahamas and Western Caribbean cruises from Tampa. Itineraries include stops in Costa Maya, Cozumel, Nassau and Perfect Day at CocoCay.

Guests who have been vaccinated will have full access to venues onboard, and will not need to wear a face mask at vaccinated-only venues. Here is a list of venues and activities available to vaccinated-only guests, as well as everyone.

Brilliance of the Seas is just the latest cruise ship to return to service after being shutdown in early 2020. She is now the 19th Royal Caribbean International ship to restart sailings again.

Enchantment of the Seas will be the last Royal Caribbean cruise ship to restart cruises before 2021 comes to an end, with a few more ships scheduled to restart operations in early 2022.

Brilliance will sail from Tampa until the end of March, at which point she will move to Europe to begin her summer season.

Royal Caribbean has quietly added Brilliance of the Seas as one of the ships in the fleet to be able to use the cruise line's new smart phone app.

While the app has not been updated, the list of supported ships in the app does now list Brilliance and we were able to pull up an upcoming Brilliance of the Seas sailing for use in the app.

Royal Caribbean has been expanding the apps to include more ships recently, with Independence of the Seas, Adventure of the Seas and Mariner of the Seas all added recently.  Moreover, Allure of the Seas is currently testing a new chat feature.  

There are currently nine ships supported by the new smart phone app, with each ship offering varying feature sets.  These include:

• Adventure of the Seas
• Allure of the Seas
• Brilliance of the Seas
• Enchantment of the Seas
• Independence of the Seas
• Mariner of the Seas
• Oasis of the Seas
• Serenade of the Seas
• Symphony of the Seas

The new app is being actively developed, which means not all features area available on the app yet.  Moreover, the cruise line is slowly rolling out support for more ships.

The app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

Royal Caribbean has released version 1.10.2 of its new smart phone app, which prepares to add Brilliance of the Seas to the smartphone app as well as adding the much-anticipated chat feature to Allure of the Seas.

The chat feature allows guest-to-guest chat on Allure of the Seas.  Guests may link to other staterooms and chat with friends and family for free.

Allure of the Seas is the first Royal Caribbean ship to offer the chat feature and marks a major step forward in the app's development.

The app is available on the iTunes App Store and Google Play Store.

On a recent Brilliance of the Seas cruise, we decided to revisit a popular Royal Caribbean specialty restaurant, Chops Grille, to see what's new in this classic restaurant.

Royal Caribbean's signature specialty restaurant, Chops Grille, remains a favorite for many who cruise Royal Caribbean often.  It's inviting atmosphere, great cuts of meat, and service have earned Chops Grille quite a reputation among repeat cruisers. While Royal Caribbean continues to add new specialty dining options periodically, Chops Grille remains a popular choice.

Many blog readers have shared with us their positive experiences at Chops Grille, so I wanted to re-visit Chops Grille on Brilliance of the Seas to ensure it continues to be somewhere I can recommend to others.  And so, in the name of research, my wife and I have returned to Chops Grille once again.

Atmosphere

Chops Grille on Brilliance of the Seas is located conveniently on deck 6 near the Schooner Bar.  Its location adjacent to Giovanni's Table and across from the Schooner Bar makes it an easy-to-find restaurant, since there is a lot of foot traffic in the area and odds are you will walk past it multiple times on your cruise.

Walking into Chops Grille, you will find a large, open room that has tables filling the interior, with some booths along one side.  A few tables are near the windows to provide a view outside.

Chops Grille on Radiance Class ships has a large open kitchen, which provides a nice view for guests into the work being done to prepare food.

Food

The Chops Grille menu on Brilliance of the Seas has changed recently, to bring with it the "new" Chops Grille menu.  Other ships in Royal Caribbean's fleet have this updated menu, and Brilliance now joins them with it.  You can always tell the new menu from the old menu based on the fact the new menu offers seafood towers, as well as does not have the French onion soup.

While I lament the loss of the French onion soup, I decided to try the Wild Mushroom soup.  After all, it has truffle oil, so how bad could it be?

I really enjoyed this mushroom soup because the consistency of the broth was just right.  It was not too thick or watery.  Of course, the white truffle oil helped distinguish this from a mushroom soup you might heat up at home.

From the Signature Appetizers, I went with the tuna tartare.  Admittedly, I can never resist tuna, and this version was outstanding.

As a self-described ahi tuna habitué, I found this to be worthy of a Brazilian steakhouse style operation, where my waiter would bring me as many as I want until I turned over a card to indicate I was satisfied replete.

For our entrees, I was not sure what to order.  My wife always picks the filet mignon (no one ever regrets filet mignon), but I was not sure what to do.  I opted to ask our waiter for his recommendation on what he really enjoys.  He pointed me to the New Zealand rack of lamb.

I know what you are thinking, "There are entrees on the menu that do not have beef?" but it does indeed exist.  My hesitation about lamb is that it can be tough, and I spend more time trying to extract the meat from the bone than actually enjoying the food.

Nonetheless, how could I object to a recommendation made by a crew member I had met just 15 minutes earlier?  I rolled the dice on the lamb.

To my pleasant surprise, the lamb was extremely soft, and essentially fell of the bone.  Instead of wrestling with the knife or wondering aloud to my wife what time the Windjammer is open to, I spent a few glorious minutes enjoying a terrific serving of lamb. 

No visit to Chops Grille is complete without a few sides.  The sides can feel like a meal, but they offer a great accompaniment to your entrees.  I prefer to load up my fork with as many mushrooms as I can fit, alongside a cut of the meat and a dip in the mashed potatoes.  Perfection!

The new Chops Grille menu has resulted in the removal of the Red Velvet cake.  Alas, no restaurant is perfect.

Overall

I enjoyed our meal at Chops Grille on Brilliance of the Seas.  It is easy to see why Chops remains such a popular choice with so many cruisers, based on the wonderful menu.

It is important to note that for this visit, we took advantage of a Royal Caribbean dining package, which brough the cost down considerably.  The price for Chops Grille continues to push up, so consider a dining package as a way to really save money.

For a night out of great dining, Chops Grille is a solid choice for celebrations, date nights, or "the main dining room menu isn't my favorite".

What are your thoughts on Chops Grille? Leave us a comment and tell us about it below!

Here is a look at the category 5D Ocean View Stateroom with Balcony, which will take you through the cabin to provide an idea of what to expect if you book this category stateroom.

On Brilliance of the Seas, we reviewed stateroom 8160 on Deck 8 near the aft of the ship.  It was one of the last staterooms on the deck, which meant it was a bit more secluded than some other rooms.

This stateroom has a small couch for sitting on during the day.

The bed in this photo is joined together, but can be split up upon request. Access to the balcony is also on the other side of the bed.

The private balcony measures 41 square feet in size.

We are back from a fantastic cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas and wanted to share with everyone our list of great activities to try onboard.

Brilliance of the Seas offers a lot of fun shows, events, programming throughout the cruise. We went through the list of offered activities to handpick the things you ought to try on your Brilliance of the Seas sailing.

Play darts

In the King & Country pub on Brilliance of the Seas, you can take in live music, throw back a few pints and try your hand at the dart board.

Unlike the pubs found on Royal Caribbean's larger cruise ships, the pub on Brilliance of the Seas has a dart board and darts to use by its patrons.  It is the perfect opportunity to see who has the best dart skills, with the loser buying the next round.

Darts in the pub is complimentary.

Two ways to watch a movie

Brilliance of the Seas offers two venues onboard to watch new and classic films onboard.

Like so many Royal Caribbean ships, movies are shown in the evening by the pool. Poolside movies are great because you can combine seeing a new flick while in the hot tub.  

Brilliance of the Seas also has a dedicated movie theater, with stadium seating and a fully enclosed space to see the films just like in a theater on land. 

Both movie venues are complimentary.

Water slide

Brilliance of the Seas offers younger children their own dedicated water slide towards the back of the ship for lots of sea day fun.

Kids will find the slide a fun activity that takes them down a twirling journey before ending up in a splash area.

Use of the water slide is complimentary.

Sushi making class

Whether you are new to sushi or consider it a favorite food, Royal Caribbean regularly offers a Make Your Own Sushi class during your cruise.

Guided by an Izumi's chef, you will learn the proper technique for making three different sushi rolls. Before you know it, you will be able to easily create the same kind of sushi served in Izumi.  And the best part? You get to eat everything you make!

In addition, there is a galley tour of Brilliance of the Seas' main dining room kitchen included with the class.

The cost to take a sushi class is $28 per person (plus 18% gratuity).

Escape room

A recent addition to Brilliance of the Seas is a new escape room game that will challenge your intellect.

Partnering with Puzzle Break, Royal Caribbean offers guests an escape room experience called, "A Royal Mystery."  The game involves teams working together to solve a series of clues and puzzles that will lead them solving the larger mystery before time runs out.

A Royal Mystery is complimentary.

Visit the thermal spa

If you are looking for the perfect way to relax anytime you want, consider purchasing a thermal spa pass.

The thermal spa pass gets you access to a few different services that can be enjoyed throughout your cruise at your leisure.  It includes:

• hot stone chairs
• rainforest shower room
• infrared sauna
• steam room

Royal Caribbean sells day-passes for this service, which offer unlimited access to the thermal spa.  These passes are limited in quantity to prevent overcrowding.

There are two thermal spa pass prices: single and couples.  Price will vary depending on sailing.

Have a Kummelweck sandwich

There is lots of great food on Brilliance of the Seas, including arguably one of the best snacks on any Royal Caribbean ship, the Kummelweck sandwich.

Guests are served a rare, thin cut of beef dipped in au jus accompanied by a secret sauce.

If it sounds mighty tasty, that is because it really is and something that is a must-try (at least a half dozen times) for any guest.

Your thoughts

Have you been on Brilliance of the Seas?  What do you think is something that everyone should try onboard? Share your thoughts in the comments for the blog post!

Guests sailing on Brilliance of the Seas can look forward to enjoying an escape room game while onboard their next sailing.

Puzzle Break CEO Nate Martin confirmed to Royal Caribbean Blog in an exclusive interview that the company now offers, "Royal Mystery," which is a hybrid puzzle hunt escape room experience that is playable by multiple teams at the same time.

Puzzle Break's website lists Brilliance of the Seas as a ship offering a Puzzle Break experience

"To bring Puzzle Break experiences to an even larger audience, we also have a couple of games that we've done for Royal which we're rolling out to more and more ships everyday. It is a kind of a hybrid experience, that kind of captures what an escape room is...but instead of one team in one room, it's a whole bunch of teams in a very large space all working on the same puzzles independently, racing against the clock and somewhat racing against each other," said Nate Martin, Co-Founder and CEO, Puzzle Break.

"This is called A Royal Mystery, we're going to be eventually be doing several of these for Royal.  They are available now aboard Brilliance of the Seas, Ovation of the Seas, and I think we are rolling out to Harmony pretty soon."

"I think the current plan of record is to get those on every single ship in the fleet."

Royal Mystery on Ovation of the Seas. Photo by drummerdave72

Royal Caribbean and Puzzle Break are also collaborating on bringing an escape room experience to Symphony of the Seas, which is Royal Caribbean's upcoming fourth Oasis Class ship that will debut next year.  According to Martin, an escape room game for a ship like Symphony of the Seas costs "over a million dollars to make."

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas will skip a scheduled port stop in Ephesus (Kusadasi), Turkey this week following the news of the attempted coup in the country.

Royal Caribbean issued a letter to guests, informing them that the scheduled stop in Ephesus on Wednesday, July 20, will be canceled.  Royal Caribbean is working to find an alternative port of call to replace the stop.

"Since we became aware of the incident, we have been in close contact with our Global Security Team in Miami, as well as our local contacts in Turkey.  After taking all of their intelligence and advice into consideration, we have decided to cancel all port calls to Turkey, including our scheduled call to Ephesus (Kusadasi) on Wednesday, July 20.  We are currently working to find an alternative port of call and will let you know as soon as one is confirmed.

We truly regret having to take this action, but feel it is in the best interest of all guests.  The safety and security of our guests and crew members is always foremost in our minds."

All shore excursions purchased through Royal Caribbean International will be refunded to the form of payment used.  

Thanks to Royal Caribbean Blog reader Jacob Holness for alerting us to this change.

Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas rescued 18 Cuban migrants off the coast of Florida on Friday morning, following a 22 day journey at sea for the migrants.

The United States Coast Guard reported the rescue by the Royal Caribbean ship, which unfortunately also resulted in nine deaths prior to the resucue.

Brilliance of the Seas spotted the raft while on her way to Mexico, west of Marco Island in Florida. The migrants on-board suffered from severe dehydration, the Coast Guard said.

"Our deepest condolences to the families of the nine people who recently did lose their lives," said Captain Mark Gordon, chief of enforcement for the Coast Guard's 7th District. "Unfortunately, tragedy is all too common when taking to the sea in homemade vessels with no safety or navigation equipment. The dangerous waters of the Florida Straights can be unforgiving for the unprepared on ill-advised and illegal voyages."