Michael Poole is live blogging from Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas every day of his cruise. Enjoy!
Pool Deck
Today is our first sea day, and honestly these are some of my favorite days on a cruise.
I woke up at 7AM today, and got my Starbucks coffee ($3.54) for a large. I was enjoying my coffee and I over heard a family talking about how they needed to hold some pool chairs. Then I remember, oh the chair hogs are going to be in full-force. I made it to the pool deck by 8:15am and sure enough almost every chair had personal belongs in them.
Being a solo passenger, I was able to find one chair open between couples. The pool deck was coming to life, they had zoom class going followed by a kids movie on the big screen.
Around noon I decided to head inside for some lunch.
Lunch at Rita’s
In the backside of Windjammer they have a Mexican restaurant called Rita's Cantina.
This restaurant is priced a la carte, but the prices are very low.
The restaurant just added two large TV’s at the bar, where they were always playing ESPN, these were added two weeks ago.
The view is honestly the best part of this restaurant, just open air and looking at nothing but the ocean.
Now, let’s talk about the bad. For starters, my service wasn’t that great, honestly I felt like I was trouble for the waiter for being there. I actually had to go track him down to pay, but it doesn’t stop there.
They give you chips and salsa, and the salsa well was like nothing I’ve ever tasted before. Let’s just say I gave it two tries and that’s when I pushed it aside.
I ordered a chicken Quesada and it was fine, kind of small to be honest.
That being said, if you want to come here for beers or drinks, it’s a great spot. But I recommend you eat in the Windjammer first.
Afternoon onboard
After lunch, I just explored the ship, made a walk through the casino, but no donation’s yet.
I grabbed a pint in the pub, and they have the best service in there, I love it.
I managed to catch the belly flop contest hosted by our Cruise Director, Ricky Mathews. He recently got on board from the Oasis of the Seas and just filling in for her remaining sailings out of Tampa. He did the best belly flop contest I’ve ever seen, just so joyful and dancing.
I recorded the whole contest and will put on YouTube once I return home.
Evening Hours – Formal Night
Tonight was formal night around the ship, but it didn’t really feel that formal. Most of the passengers are families and it looks like they didn’t want to get dressed up this evening.
I decided to explore the Schooner Bar, since I have not spent anytime in there. They were playing music-trivia when I arrive around 5:30pm.
This is a classic bar across the fleet, and just like Vision-class, they have a full row of glass windows from ceiling to floor, oh I love these views.
They did ask for my photo ID at the bar, and this has now happen to me three times.
I later decided to head up to the Diamond lounge at 8pm, and it was empty. But no worries about it being empty, sometimes less is more.
I should talk to you about all the bars around the ship being empty. In all my cruises, I’ve never seen the bars across the ship just always empty, every chair empty and no wait time. There is just not a lot of drinking on this cruise since it’s mostly families.
Drink Package Check up
Well my friends, I decided to finally give in and purchase the Select drink package today.
I was by the pool and wanted to enjoy some Stella’s and decided I’m getting the package. I paid around $120 for the last three days of the cruise. I was able to purchase the package poolside without any issues.
So those of you who had bets on the package, you win!
Tomorrow we are in Cozumel, Mexico!
