Sunday, November 18, 2012

Cruise ship Brilliance of the Seas




I was really excited when I saw that Brilliance of the Seas was coming to the Cape Liberty cruise terminal on the New Jersey side of New York harbor to do a cruise. It had been more than five years since Brilliance had last done a cruise from the continental and here she was going to do one from the Port of New York, which could not be more convenient for me.

Why the excitement? Brilliance is one of four Radiance class cruise ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet. If you think you know Royal Caribbean but have not sailed on a Radiance class ship, you are in for a surprise.

The cruise experience on the Radiance class ships is different than on the giant Royal Caribbean ships. Brilliance and her sisters at approximately 90,000 gross tons are big ships but on a relative scale they are much smaller than the Freedom and Voyager classes, not to mention the Oasis class. There is no Royal Promenade, no ice skating rink, no surfing simulator. The facilities are not as Wow-oriented. Rather, they are more subtle, high quality features. These ships could easily fit in the fleet of Royal Caribbean's premium category affiliate Celebrity Cruises.

They are also different than Royal's Vision and Sovereign class ships. Those ships do not have the features of the Voyager class ships because they were built before the Voyagers. The Radiance class ships were built contemporaneously with the Voyager class. Thus, they were intended to provide a different cruise experience than the Voyagers. Moreover, they were designed to provide a different cruise experience than Royal's older ships. For example, although they are bigger than the Sovereign class ships, they hold fewer passengers. This means more space for each passenger.

Do not get me wrong - - I like the cruise experience provided on the other Royal ships. I am constantly recommending Allure of the Seas to people who ask what are my favorite ships. Along the same lines, I had a great cruise on Enchantment of the Seas earlier this fall. Rather, the point is that the cruise experience provided on Brilliance and her sisters is a special version of the Royal Caribbean product. A fine wine that attracts many of the most experienced of Royal's frequent cruisers.
on
This week we are adding Brilliance of the Seas to Beyonship's cruise ship profiles. http://beyondships.com/RCI-BOS-Profile.html It is the 99th cruise ship to be profiled on Beyondships. The profile has daily programs, menus, deck, plans and other information about the ship. In addition, there is a multi-page photo tour and commentary about the ship. http://beyondships.com/RCI-BOS-Tour-1.html

More on Brilliance next week.

No comments: