Our live blog is back with a cruise aboard Royal Caribbean's Brilliance of the Seas for a 4-night sailing from Tampa, Florida.
Brilliance of the Seas restarted cruises from Tampa in December 2021, and I've been eager to get back onboard a Radiance Class ship. I really enjoy the layout of these smaller ships. I'm often asked which is my favorite small ship in Royal Caribbean's fleet, and Brilliance is always my answer.
This is a 4-night Western Caribbean cruise with just one port stop in Costa Maya.
Since the cruise departs from Tampa, I'm able to drive to the port in just about an hour travel time from my home in the Orlando area.
Of course, I took my pre-cruise Covid test two days ago and it came back negative. I used the at-home test that Royal Caribbean accepts, and it couldn't be easier. No waiting, and the entire process took 20 minutes from start to finish, and I never had to leave my desk.
Since I booked this cruise only a few weeks ago, check-in times were limited by the time I went to get one. At first I had a 1:30pm check-in time, but I managed to subsequently get a 1:00pm check-in time.
Read more: 7 things worth checking again on a Royal Caribbean cruise
The drive to Tampa was uneventful and I parked via the valet parking option. $80 total, and I get to drive right up to the terminal and hand my keys to the attendant and be on my way.
As expected, they were enforcing the check-in times and I entered a line for the 1:00 check-in time. Luckily, it moved very quickly and I completed the entire check-in procedure in under 30 minutes. In fact, I spent more time waiting to get through the line outside than the actual check-in procedure.
I boarded Brilliance of the Seas and headed right away to the Windjammer for lunch. I hadn't eaten lunch yet, so I figured for the benefit of the entire ship it was a good idea to eat before I got hangry.
I love the outdoor seating in the Windjammer on Brilliance of the Seas at the back of the ship.
The staterooms opened up right around 1:30pm, so I went down to my room to drop off my stuff.
For this cruise I'm booked in a Category 2M - Spacious Ocean View Stateroom.
I haven't stayed in an ocean view cabin since Majesty of the Seas in 2017, and I was pleasantly surprised how much living space there is inside.
The distance between the couch and the bed is substantial. The room is anything but cramped.
After catching up on some blog posts, I realized I hadn't finished the muster drill, so I went to complete that.
I had done the first two steps (watch the safety video and listen to the emergency siren) while I was still at home, so all I needed to do was go to my muster station to check-in.
I then walked around Brilliance of the Seas a bit to explore a bit. Being back on a Radiance Class ship, it was an adjustment after so many significantly larger cruise ships, but it felt like being home and the ship looks great.
Sail away was at 5pm, and I headed to one of my favorite Brilliance of the Seas secrets: the helipad.
We had a beautiful day to sail out of Tampa, with temperatures in the low 70s, no clouds, and a very light breeze.
We even saw a few dolphins as we departed.
When your ship departs Tampa, it takes a few hours to exit the harbor, as you travel towards the ocean and finally make it to the ocean when you pass under the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
In the time before we made it to the bridge, I decided to stop at Izumi for "pre-dinner" and get some sashimi to hold me over until dinner.
I was able to walk in without a reservation when they opened and get a table.
After I finished my sushi, I enjoyed a beautiful sunset on the pool deck.
Roughly two hours after we set sail, our ship passed under the Sunshine Skyway bridge.
Dinner brought me and some friends onboard to Giovanni's Table.
Food was great, and the pasta of the day had a spicy flavor to the sauce.
We concluded our evening with music in the King & Country pub.
Tomorrow is a sea day.
Stray observations
The water bottles on Brilliance have these aluminum water bottles with a screw top.
The stricter face mask protocols are still in place on Brilliance of the Seas. One policy I noticed that I had never seen before was you had to mask up when ordering at the bar outdoors.
I had heard from other guests they were expecting around 1300 passengers on this sailing, but I'll need to go to Guest Services and verify the number.
