Brilliant Lady Mexican Riviera Trip Report (Oct 3-10)
Hi all! I just got back from sailing on the Brilliant Lady and wanted to share some thoughts.
This is my second ever cruise--period. I last sailed the Valiant Lady in February 2025, had so much fun, I promptly came home and booked another trip with my friend, which we took last week.
Itinerary/Shorex
Well, let me just say this super El Niño had its own plans regardless of what I was hoping for. It was really hot and disgustingly humid the entire trip. Our voyage got extraordinarily lucky sailing between two storms and only one port change. We were initially scheduled to go to Cabo San Lucas, but ended up switching to Ensenada because the swells were too high for tendering. Otherwise, the weather was fine -- heat and humidity notwithstanding.
The excursions in Mazatlan and Puerto Vallarta were fun and interesting. I really enjoyed the open air trolley in Mazatlan, and going to the tequila plantation was great, even though I got positively eaten alive by bugs.
The restaurant on the plantation was expensive, but delicious. Three tacos cost $7 USD, but you get a choice of pork, beef, or chicken, as well as salsa, cabbage, rice, and beans. The habanero hot sauce burned so bad (good?); a can of Coca-Cola was $2 USD. I'm not a spicy eater so it was literally painful, but my friend is a spicy eater and loved it. The staff and everyone who worked at the plantation were all fantastic and friendly. Oh, and this tour took us to a little shopping area where most locals go and we got to try some tortillas and salsa and churro -- so freaking good.
Crowd
I don't believe this was a sold out cruise in the first place and I also don't believe it was anywhere near capacity. In fact, it felt rather empty most times. It could also be that the west coast crowd is just super chill (that's what I was told, anyway) so we didn't notice people, but it was very quiet at all times on the ship, which was interesting. I have no feelings about that one way or the other.
Casino
For those who like to gamble, I visited the casino for the first time. I'm not a gambler, but my friend is and thought she'd try it out. There's a few tables for black jack, one roulette table (from what I saw), and slot machines. It's not huge by any means, but it was clean and there was no smoking so it smelled nice.
Service
Everywhere on board the ship, the service was fantastic. The room attendants were so good about turning our room around for morning service. Like, we'd go to breakfast at 11 on a sea day and it was done when we came back 20 minutes later.
Up in the galley, the staff were great at each station and were right on top of everyone to pick up trays and plates. It was very clean, even on very busy days. Being able to spread out and eat outside even when it was super busy inside was nice, and very enjoyable.
The "specialty dining" restaurants had great service as well. The servers and waitstaff at every restaurant we tried were all polite without seeming too disinterested in rehashing the same spiel for the thousandth time (if you've worked in the service industry, you know what I mean).
Food
Ok speaking of specialty dining, I was able to try every restaurant on board this time.
The Wake -- lives up to its reputation. The steak was cooked well and the food was tasty. I filled up on those damn Parker House rolls, but they were so good. 5/5 (I don't expect a prime cut on a cruise ship, nor do I expect it to actually be like a high end steakhouse, but for what it is, it's excellent). The brunch was just okay. That, I'd give 4/5, though that brioche french toast was tasty.
Pink Agave -- high end Mexican. I thought it was fine. Being from Los Angeles, I'm more keen on hole-in-the-wall authentic places where it's not "fine dining" by any means but the food is good. We started with esquite, enchilada (which came with only a very light green sauce of some sort, but was otherwise served dry), and potatoes (food highlight of the night for me). For my main course, I had the steak. It was fine. It wasn't anything to write home about. It came covered in some kind of cheese and sauce and was a bit of a fatty cut. The dessert choices included the chocolate tamale (have had it before -- wildly unimpressed with that), rum raisin bread pudding (not good), and chocolate tacos (excellent, loved it). Overall, I'd rank this restaurant 3/5. I'd eat there again but it's not my favorite.
Test Kitchen -- the semi controversial one (just kidding). They finally added a new menu and have decided to rotate it every 3 days. We happened to get Menu C: corn/truffle; tomato/olive; salmon/cucumber; beet/cashews, lamb rack; barley risotto; strawberry pistachio; mango/chia. I chose the meat side, my friend went vegetarian. It was all pretty good and I actually really liked it. Her biggest complaint was that everything was so wet. Literally everything included some sort of sauce that the food was drowned in. I know it's supposed to be like molecular gastronomy stuff, but I agree that not everything needs to basically be half soup. The desserts were a huge fail, IMO. The strawberry was supposed to have some sort of spice or something on it and I didn't taste a thing. The pistachios were overpowered by the strawberry. The mango thing was flavorless as well. I will say that the portion sizes are still too large for how many courses you have, but overall, a 4/5 experience.
Gunbae -- either you love it or you don't. The food isn't something to write home about, but the overall experience is fun for me. Your tablemates will make a huge difference and anyone who wants to act like a damned wet blanket is going to ruin it for everyone else. I understand that not everyone drinks. Our server came up with a great alternative to the teetotalers at my table by offering them cranberry juice. Overall, 4/5.
Extra Virgin -- Well, the pasta and the charcuterie board were delicious. Overall, I thought it was fine? 4/5.
Rojo -- wow, just wow. This is a new Spanish restaurant that replaced Razzle Dazzle and wow, the food was fantastic. We both got the chicken and it was cooked to absolute perfection. Crispy skin on the outside, tender, juicy meat on the inside. My friend is not a big eater and she cleaned her entire plate, it was that good (for us, anyway). And the churros I had for dessert were delicious. My only regret was not having enough room in my stomach for more than 2 of them.
The Galley -- Richard Branson's answer to the traditional cruise buffet. I like it, but my friend (who has been doing cruises since she was a kid) was a little thrown off by it at first. My only issue with The Galley is the menus never change. They’ll occasionally have a theme night, but it was kind of… meh. I do wish, especially for dinner, there’d be more incentive to eat up there — though I understand that they want people in the restaurants because those folks are more likely to buy alcohol or spend money on a “treat yourself” item.
Drink Package
I got a deal on my last cruise that included a $200 drink credit and a $200 onboard credit. I decided to purchase an additional $225 ($200+$25 “free” credit) for my friend and I to share, just to see how we’d do. We’re not big drinkers, though I admittedly did a smidge overboard since I was like fuck it, we have the credit. However, if you’re into coffee, the Intelligentsia premium coffee bar is so worth the extra credit (although we honestly probably could’ve gotten away with just $200). Their Americanos and cold brew were so tasty. I very much enjoyed those. The kombucha they sell in the can (Humm brand) is just okay, but I bought one anyway because, again, I had the credit lol.
So if you’re into coffee, a $200 credit is worth it for the Grounds Club.
Entertainment
This one is a bit interesting because my friend is really not into shows, and we didn’t take advantage of most of the onboard entertainment so I can’t really comment on BL’s stuff. I did enjoy myself on VL last year, for whatever that’s worth.
One thing we did do was pairs and paints, and I kind of wish I’d read the description more closely before I signed up. The idea was to paint your partner while you have some bubbly. I…. Am not an artist. By any means. I will not be sharing my work, but just trust me when I say that it was BAD. Fortunately, my friend thought it was utterly hilarious and she loves the awful portrait I made of her. The one she did of me was incredible, even if it looks absolutely nothing like me lol.
Scarlet Night was a brilliant hit as always. The Happenings Cast were terrific, and fun, and dancing in the pool was a damn delight. We got so lucky again with this. The day before, as we headed down the coast from Mazatlan into Puerto Vallarta, we passed through some thunderstorms. It was mostly just atmospheric stuff because the water was smooth. But the thunder and lightning was right on top of us. And right after PV, we had to head back up the coast to L.A. And there was no dillying or dallying to be had because Rachel and Simon are both making a beeline for Baja (godspeed, Mexico), so we had to rush out of port. But, the sky was clear and the weather was -- well, still disgustingly humid, but not too bad that Scarlet Night couldn’t proceed as planned.
Stateroom
Ok last bit. I booked us a sea terrace and they squeezed us into a corner next to a Rockstar suite. I think next time, I’ll try to make sure we’re more mid than aft. Our room had a connecting door to the suite and we could hear every single word that the people next door were saying. I thought maybe it was just that the walls were thin — nope! They were just loud, and the door didn’t help matters at all. We had neighbors on the other side of us and we didn’t hear a peep out of them the whole trip. So it was a combination of loud people in the suite and the door. But, our room was also quite small. Look, I know I didn’t pay for an enormous room — that’s fine. But this is admittedly slightly smaller than the average sea terrace.
Overall
For everything, I give the trip a 9.5 out of 10. There are some things VV couldn’t help, like the weather, so I don’t take away from that. But the food and the experiences and the room are some of the few detractors for me. There’s some bad, but it’s mostly all good. And yes, I will be sailing again. I already put down my deposit, like the sucker I am.