Our Brilliance of the Seas cruise is here! No matter which Royal Caribbean sailing we happen to book, I always get super excited for the start of the vacation and this is no exception.
Living in the Orlando, Florida area, we opted to drive to the Port of Tampa in the morning. My in-laws came over to take care of the children while we were away, and we hit the road right at 9:15am.
We reached Tampa at about 10:15, although had to make a pit stop to pick up a forgotten toiletry item. We arrived at Port of Tampa in Terminal 6 at 10:45am. We valet parked the car ($80 total cost) and went through the check-in procedure. To my amazement, boarding had already begun!
Onboard Brilliance of the Seas, it felt so gratifying to be back on Brilliance again. There was a bit of line at the Centrum elevator area, so we walked up one deck to deck 5 and then walked forward through the Centrum Shops. The forward elevator banks were not busy at all, so we headed straight up to the pool deck.
We started off our cruise with some drinks at the Solarium Bar. We have the Deluxe Beverage Package on this cruise, so expect a trend of drink photos coming you way.
The Windjammer was listed to open at 11:30am but it was open when we walked by at 11:15 or so. My cruise tradition of lunch at the Windjammer continues!
After lunch, we decided to relax in the Solarium until our staterooms were ready at 1pm.
We are staying in a Grand Suite on Deck 10 and it is a great size for just the two of us. In fact, it is a lot of space and I was quite happy with our decision once we stepped foot inside.
A pleasant surprise in our room was our travel agent surprised us with an anniversary decoration package.
There was also a surprise gift from Crown and Anchor Society as well.
In the afternoon we decided to hang out by the Solarium Bar, primarily since it was much cooler temperature-wise in there compared to the main pool.
Speaking of the main pool, the entire day the main pool was closed for maintenance. Not sure what was going on, but they were working on it much of the time.
Muster drill seemed a bit earlier at 3:15pm, with sailaway immediately following at 4pm. It was a glorious day weather wise, but also quite warm if you stood in the sun.
As afternoon turned to evening, we headed down to the King & Country Pub to enjoy some live music from the pub singer. Due to the football games later tonight, the pub singer was on early.
A little after 6pm, we headed back outside to enjoy one of the real highlights of sailing from Tampa which is going underneath the Sunshine Skyway Bridge.
We walked around Brilliance to check out more of the venues. The nice thing about Brilliance of the Seas is despite her size, there are lots of great venues to enjoy and it seems like there is something happening.
Dinner tonight took us to Giovanni's Table.
I noticed there was a serving of roasted garlic and olives that came with the bread, which was new to me.
For my entrees, I chose the eggplant parmigiana and the branzino fish.
Both were good choices, but I have to give the edge to the eggplant parm. In fact, on the "old" Giovanni's Table menu the eggplant parm is an appetizer, whereas here it is an entree.
Stray Observations
- The WiFi login screen seems to be an updated user interface. A bit more modern in its look.
- The new Royal Caribbean app is available on Brilliance, although its functionality is mostly limited to being able to browse the Cruise Compass.
- Here is a look at the Concierge Lounge, which is quite a bit larger than I was expecting.
- Darts are available to play in the Pub. I am not very good at darts.
Tomorrow is a sea day and a day full of plenty of fun....and cocktails.
