Greetings from Brilliance!

Jan115 · October 8, 2013

Checking in from the Brilliance, which sailed from Boston Sunday. Beautiful sunny day at sea yesterday, followed by pouring rain this morning in Halifax, resulting in cancellation of our private motorcycle sidecar tour. Plan B immediately went into effect: the morning at the maritime museum and a lobster roll on the boardwalk. Prime rib on sail away night was great. Loved The dining experience at Izumi - tried a Japanese hot rock dish. What fun! Looking forward to a day at sea tomorrow.

Sarge6870 · October 9, 2013

OOOH...You know I'm on the Brilliance in November Jan...FEED ME!!!!!! I watched you dock in Halifax this morning VIA the cruise ship cams link (from the bridge of the AIDAbella). Looked a bit foggy. How are the updates to the ship? Hope your having a BRILLIANT time!!!

KeithnRita · October 9, 2013

Thanks for your update! :thumbup:

Jan115 · October 10, 2013

Fantastic day in Saint John, NB, with private all-day tour arranged with 4 others, to Bay of Fundy, Reversing Falls, St. John, lunch and more. Weather is perfect here! Surprisingly, not as much fall color as expected, though.

Sarge - I had not seen the ship before the renovations, but she is shiny and beautiful. Love the cabin (outside, deck 4), the coffee bar, the pubs, the deck space, mini golf, the Solarium (gorgeous!), the food stations in the buffet, Izumi, and the entertainment. What doesn't rock my boat are the food in the buffet (and I am not a picky eater), the excursion disembarkation process (gangway lines a mile long), and the wait for an unpacked elevator (but that might be my bum knee talking). It's also weird that 4 times out of 5 times that we ate in the dining room, no one took orders from the bar for wine or anything.

We booked a last minute whale watch from Bar Harbor tomorrow since our indy tour won't be going to Acadia Park due to the govt shutdown.

Will report back later.

WeCruiseToo · October 11, 2013

Thanks for the updates Jan! We did a similar itinerary a few years ago and Bar Harbor was our favorite of all the wonderful ports – enjoy!!!

Jan115 · October 12, 2013

The whale watch from Bar Harbor was a bust. No whales in sight. Saw a few seals, dolphins and a lot of birds - but no whales. The boat was packed with hundreds of people, as I knew it would be, and I couldn't wait to get off. I've become spoiled with small group tours, but picked this as a last minute replacement for the Indy Acadia Park tour. Not only did we not see whales, but we didn't see Bar Harbor either since we arrived back just in time for the last tender. We've decided to simply drive up here again some weekend to see what we missed.

Today we're in Portland. We've decided to skip all tours and just go shopping because we haven't bought a thing for anyone back home yet.

I've been writing my review as we go and will post tomorrow.