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Royal Caribbean International

MV Brilliance of the Seas

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Reviewed by: Reint VanDijk
# previous cruises: 8
Date of Trip: August 31, 2005
Itinerary: Mediterranean

This was an Atlantis Gay Charter, which meant the ship was fully booked with over 2000 gay men and a couple of women. It was like 9 days continuous gay pride with it's pros but above all cons. Expect party party party on Atlantis with it's druggy muscle boys and randy sexual atmosphere at times.

RCCL was in general far much better than expected. But it's cruising for the masses and it's not chique exclusive experience.

Ship is very nice and very well designed. There is a big atrium with bar and lots of other small lounges. Dining room is nice but has got terrible acoustics downstairs.

One design fault is the missing third staircase. You have to walk a fair bit on this ship. (which might be very good for some people)

This was a charter so diner was without reservations and free style. You could walk in any time you like, shipboard and Atlantis staff would assign you a table. We never had to wait and it was very efficient. Quality and service of dinner was surprisingly good and pleasant.

Dining room breakfast service not very good and RCCL is one of these lines who would rather have you take the buffet for breakfast and lunch. Buffet food was good and well organised. But it gets boring after a while and atmosphere wise it reminded me of a shopping mall. Not exactly something for a cruise.

Speciality Restaurant Portofino's very good and very enjoyable.

The Italian cafe is very nice for lunch.

Inside cabin was well designed, big enough with plenty of storage space. Very nice Cabin steward who seem to be a bit overworked at times.

Cabins are reasonably isolated, unless the neighbours were having a sex party.

This was special Atlantis entertainment but the shows in the theatre were among the best I have ever seen on a cruise ship. Deborah Gibson was the special guest star.

This cruise I joined in Villefranche, France. We went to Rome, Mykonos, Kriti, Napoli and disembarked in Barcelona. Plenty of interesting ports. Beware of the pay shuttle buses of RCCL. In Rome the port authority offered a free one!

Brilliance of the Seas does not have so much deck space and it can get a bit crammed at times.

The Atlantis crowd did not appeal to me. It has at time a very circuit party atmosphere with lots of drugs. At night the it could turn cruisy with sexual displays later on. I did not find the atmosphere very pleasant, open and friendly. If you want a relaxed cruise do not take an Atlantis cruise, I found it pretty exhausting

When do the gay party organisers like Atlantis take responsibility for the health and drug usage of their own customers??? Atlantis knows it happens, but why ignore it!!!