2025 London and 15N Trans-Atlantic Cruise on Brilliance of the Seas: Final Thoughts

 

Final Thoughts



We had a fantastic time on this trip. It went by so much faster than we thought it would. We both feel like we’re well-suited for longer cruises because (among other things) we’re quite happy to wile away our time reading. Other than trivia, we don’t need many activities. Having said that, we’re not sure we could have tolerated another full week on Royal Caribbean due to the lack of enough food choices. Things just would have gotten too repetitive.

The highlight of London for both of us with the V&A Museum. We could happily go back and see more. The lowlight was probably the visit to the Museum of the Home. The changes, particularly the loss of the audio commentary, really hurt.

The highlight ports were Reykjavik for E and Halifax for me. Reykjavik, as a major city surrounded by UNESCO sites, would likely support another visit, but I’m not sure another Halifax trip would be fruitful, however.

Now that we’ve experienced both Radiance and Brilliance we’ve confirmed our opinion: we adore the Radiance-class ships. They are perfectly sized with everything easy to get to. The places we generally spend most of our time (WJ, MDR, and Schooner) are all located aft (along with the specialty restaurants and Colony Club). While the Theater is located fore it is easy to get to, and it doesn’t require going through the Casino nor out on deck to get there. The Centrum is awesome. Spanning Decks 4-9 it provides many ways to engage with the live activity happening on Deck 4. The glass elevators looking over the water or into the Centrum are fun to use. You can literally sit in comfy chairs in the center of the ship overlooking the Centrum while at the same time looking out through windows on the port side of the ship. The shops, which we had to pass through every night on the way to the Theater, don’t come across as a shopping mall as they do on the ships that have Promenades. Finally, the layout and flow of the WJ buffet just makes more sense than on any of the other classes we’ve experienced.

Some thoughts on the mechanics of the trip:

1. My clothing packing list was pretty much perfect. It was well worth the time of preparing the list. The packing cubes are a solid WIN.

2. A 2.7oz tube of toothpaste will last both of us 2 weeks. The 3oz bottles of shampoo definitely lasted 2 weeks and likely would have lasted for 3 weeks. The 3oz bottle of body wash definitely lasted 2 weeks and probably would NOT have lasted 3 weeks.

3. The motion-sensitive night lights were totally worth the purchase and should always be packed. The USB table fans were once again unused and should probably be left at home. Ditto for the air mattresses – particularly if we’re getting a Junior Suite, where we can pretty much be assured of getting a mattress pad upon request.

4. I forgot to ask for a bathrobe (a C&A benefit) and it would have been handy to have one.

5. For a trip of this length we should have packed the collapsable laundry hamper.

6. Using Samsung DEX worked and it was nice to leave all the extra weight of the computer at home.

7. Pre-planning onboard activities was helpful for meal planning, as it allowed me to avoid too much repetition in my choices. Pre-planning theater stuff wasn’t as important this time because every night was known to be unique and therefore we didn’t have to pick/choose between options for the same show – we knew that we’d be going every night. On cruises where some events play on multiple nights the planning would have been more useful. Pre-planning other activities (including live music) wasn’t worth the effort. That stuff was simply fit into the schedule as things developed onboard.

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