Royal Caribbean - Brilliance of the Seas Review

Husband gets a phone call from our TA, Lori at Skyscraper Tours.  She has a $600 AFT cabin on Brilliance of the Seas and she tells him it is a great way to rest up from stress on the job.  One week at sea, so sleep for a week in the new pillow top beds with down pillows, & duvet.  The ship isn't selling well so RCCL gave her the deal to sell it out which she did.  So I will celebrate my birthday on the ship.

Boarding in Miami was speedy as we got their at 10:30AM & being Diamond members we just walked up to a clerk, gave her our Set Sail paperwork & got our keys in under 2 minutes.  Then the photo before boarding which was quite good,  Then up to our room to put away crayons, say hello to female Steward who had our toiletries, the bed made with white bedding & green strip running on the foot along the width.  Looked very rich.  Then we head for some lunch.  Buffet is it.  But it was very organized, large print signs telling if main curse, dessert, soups, salad & fruit, etc.

Unfortunately we met up with the 500 Spaniards who are onboard.  Cheap transit home I guess.  But they are very pushy, dropping utensils on the floor, taking food from their plate by hand to put back.  When I saw that I didn't want to eat there.  So we went to the pizza baker to request a whole pizza with sausage & pepperoni and cheese.  He baked it put it on a platter & we took it to our room, out on the balcony to enjoy it.  Even our Steward joined us for a piece.  She got a pitcher of iced tea sent down too.

Great week at sea, for 3 nights we slept so well.  Then it got very rocky & rolling with huge waves from a storm causing a Nor Easter in the States.  I take Bonine so no seasickness so I enjoyed out on the balcony getting wet & we were on 9!  Dining room was empty for lunch & dinner, so we had great service.  Great people onboard for trivia contests, sexy legs contest which I judged, all sorts of crazy games for fun filled folks.

The shows were quite boring actually but the lecturer was great & became a great friend with his wife.  First port was the Azores, islands south of Portugal.  The people are very welcoming, no hawkers, just pride in what they sell.  We saw a store with $2 rock-made magnets, which we collect one from every new country for our fridge.  So we bought 10 for Jerry's coworkers.  We did a bus tour that took us to the highest point on the island for photos or videos, as well as through the streets to see the great buildings of color.

Next day was my birthday, a card from Chops, a specialty restaurant that my TA bought us a birthday feast.  Normally $20 PP to get in, they have prime rib, steaks, fillet mignon to die for.  A bottle of champagne was included.  My husband bought a tour of Lisbon Portugal & a ride over the April 25th bridge, which resembles the Bay Bridge in San Francisco.  You end up on top of the mountain with the Jesus statue, just like S America.  Well it is a NATIONAL HOLIDAY & all streets are closed to traffic.  We can walk around the port if we like & we paid $78 PP for this!  So back onto the ship we go for a credit which RCCL didn't give anyone.  Why they booked excursions on a National Holiday, Portugal's Independence Day.  So we put thru a complaint.

No place to eat but the buffet on Port Days, so we go up & it is pretty vacant.  So we sat to eat.  Even the Chef came out & sat with us,  He had us sampling much of the fare for dinner that night.  All were very good.  Then we go back to our stateroom around 11AM and I am unlocking the door & I hear my husband talking to our Steward about he surprise he bought for $75 that is not on or in our stateroom.  Turns out RCCL has a Birthday surprise $35 for sign on door & decorations in stateroom.  $78 is a made to order cake, champagne which was Asti Spumante, the sign on the door & decorations in the stateroom.  NOTHING IS THERE.  So down to the Purser we go & are told that his surprise was delivered.  NOT TO ME I YELL!  We were 9660 & it went to 9600, a woman who's birthday was the previous week & she had the stuff already as we walked by it.  Now we walk by & she has 2 signs on her door.  So we stop the Steward for her & asked for the paperwork on the birthday surprise.   Our Steward runs down stating she checked & nothing for our stateroom.  The gal returns & it states that 9660 bought 9600 a birthday surprise for $78.  My husband takes the paperwork with our Steward back to the Purser for his money back, that gal can buy her own gift.  I am in tears that my birthday gets the shaft from RCCL.  They cannot sent a second one to me???  The Purser refuses a credit stating the gift was delivered.  My husband asked for the Captain who may speak better English since you cannot understand that he bought me a birthday present, not some stranger.  RCCL fowled up the delivery & they should correct it.  But no, you are insulting me on my birthday so I want you to phone Miami so I can talk with the CEO Richard Fain.  He refuses.  RCCL really blew it in my book.

So Barcelona, Spain is our last port & we fly 8 hours on Delta to JFK in NYC.  Their food was a spinach & cheese pizza which was hard as a rock.  We are both very hot & no AC coming from the knob in the ceiling.  So cups of ice to put on our heads to cool off is all we had.  Then our flight to CLE was delayed 3 hours.  So we got some Tex Mex to eat & plenty of ice water to cool us off.  When we got back to Hopkins we are both feeling lousy, dizzy, and we have to get our luggage.  At the carousel we both passed out.  Luckily a fellow officer saw us go down & ran over.  He saw it was me & called for EMS who took us to Kaiser.  We both have 105 degree temperatures & Pneumonia.  So now we are hospitalized.  3 days of rest there & we are headed home.

NEVER AGAIN is what I said.  RCCL insults me on my birthday.  Even my TA was ticked at this.  But we thannked her for her birthday surprise with a champagne dinner at Chops.