Our first sea day on Brilliance of the Seas started out with us doing what every parent dreams of… sleeping in with no alarm or children to wake us!
The motion of the ocean this morning provided a natural wake up call, as the ship rocked a bit with some swells in the ocean. The motion was nothing bad, just enough movement to stumble or lean now and then when walking.
After waking up, we headed to the Windjammer for breakfast. To my pleasant surprise, it was not terribly busy at 9am. I judge crowdedness purely on the basis of the line at the omelet station, which had no one there.
We decided to enjoy our breakfast at one of the best spots on any Radiance Class ship, the outdoor Windjammer seating at the aft of the ship. Nothing but a gentle breeze and the ocean view to enjoy.
Following breakfast, we headed to the Schooner Bar for General Trivia. To our surprise, we actually won! If you are wondering, the grand prize for being trivia buffs is a Royal Caribbean pen.
We took a walk on the pool deck, which had warm enough temperatures for shorts, but the sky had more clouds than sun, so it was not quite the perfect sea day. Nonetheless, it felt good to be out for a bit.
Seeing that we had won trivia earlier, we decided to give TV trivia a shot. Unfortunately our lack of knowledge of past David Duchovney shows not named X-Files did us in.
We did a bit more exploring of the ship before heading to the main dining room for lunch. Lunch in the main dining room offers some great choices, in addition to the Tutti Salad Bar option. I had the turkey parmigiana and steak fajitas, which were great.
After lunch, we went up to the Solarium for some quality lounging time. The sun had come out a bit more, so it meant warmer temperatures and we even managed to snag lounge chairs at 1pm!
Our afternoon was a mix of lounging and walking around to explore. It was a typical, yet relaxing sea day afternoon.
I also took a trip or two up to the Diamond Lounge for complimentary espresso machine use.
Since it was formal night, my wife went to the spa to get her hair cut and styled for the evening. She reported great service.
We rounded out our afternoon with another trivia session in the afternoon. We missed winning by one point (who knew there were 12 wooden pieces of equipment in cricket), but had a great time.
Tonight is formal night, and we had dinner at Chops Grille. It was another great meal and I tried the lamb chops, which were a great choice!
Our evening entertainment was the classic Royal Caribbean game show, Love and Marriage Game Show.
Tomorrow we will be in Cozumel!
Stray Observations
- The main pool closed due to motion at one point, but the Solarium pool remained open. Seems odd logic.
- According to the Cruise Compass, specialty reservations made at Chops or Giovanni’s Table will have an 18% gratuity added on top of the cover charge. Not sure if that is just for reservations made onboard, or those that pre-booked too.
- I met the Cruise Director, Jimmy Rhodes. After this sailing, Jimmy moves to Allure of the Seas.
