When you plan that dream Caribbean cruise, one of the last things you expect is to be impacted by a technical issue, but unfortunately, these situations happen occasionally. And that is the case with Royal Caribbean’s Brilliance of the Seas, which remained stuck in Mexico overnight.
Guests onboard the Brilliance of the Seas on October 19, sailing out of New Orleans, were informed that the ship was experiencing technical issues impacting its propulsion systems. The issue came to light while the vessel was docked in Progreso, Mexico, on October 24.
The 2,142-passenger ship was originally scheduled to depart the port at 5:00 PM on October 24 but remained overnight so engineers could resolve the issues.
The vessel eventually departed the following day, on October 25, at approximately 3:00 PM. According to passengers onboard, the issues were fixed, and the ship is heading back home. Guests have also been kept updated by public announcements by the ship’s captain.
Read Also: Progreso Cruise Port – Piers, Getting Around and What’s Nearby
The Radiance-class ship is coming to the end of a 7-night western Caribbean voyage, which also included visits to Cozumel in Mexico on October 21 and George Town in Grand Cayman on October 22.
The 90,090 gross ton vessel is still set to return home on the same day but much later than originally scheduled, resulting in delayed passenger disembarkation. This will mainly impact those who had earlier flights booked.
Following Sailing Impacted
As expected, the following October 26 departure out of New Orleans has been impacted, and the cruise line has already sent a communication to booked guests. Rather than departing at the normal 4:00 PM, Brilliance of the Seas is now scheduled to depart at 11:30 PM.
Royal Caribbean said, “Due to a brief technical issue with one of our propulsion systems during our previous sailing, Brilliance of the Seas will have to delay its arrival into New Orleans.“
“As a result, we will now depart later than originally planned at 11:30 PM. Due to our delayed departure, we will have to adjust our itinerary. Kindly note, while we will still visit the same ports of call, our times in each port will differ,” the cruise line added.
It will mainly mean guests will have to hang out in New Orleans a little longer and could even be a chance to enjoy more of the city. When guests usually arrive at the terminal for embarkation, they will have time slots. This will be the same case, but the time will now be much later.
Guests who were originally set to arrive at 11:30 AM and noon will now have to arrive at 9:00 PM. For those at 12:30 PM, the new arrival time is 9:30 PM. For 1:00 PM, the time is now 10:00 PM, and for guests originally set for 1:30 PM and 2:00 PM, the new time is 10:30 PM.
Royal Caribbean has also said that it will still stop passengers from arriving earlier than their set time. Guests could be turned away at the terminal, leading to further disruption for the day.
The October 26 Western Caribbean cruise will still be calling at Cozumel, Grand Cayman, and Progreso as normal. The voyage will end back in New Orleans as scheduled on November 2, 2024.
It’s not the first time Brilliance of the Seas has suffered technical issues. Back in Spring 2025, the March 19 sailing out of Sydney, Australia, suffered a technical problem. It also led to the cancellation of Nouma during the 11-night voyage.
The ship’s following March 30 sailing had to be completely cancelled, to give the crew time to fix the problem, but for guests, it meant the 5-night Tasmania voyage could not go ahead.
Brilliance of the Seas is not the oldest ship in the fleet, as it entered service in 2002 after being constructed at the popular Meyer Werft shipyard in Papenburg, Germany. The ship does have a scheduled dry dock for Spring 2025, where, hopefully, the ongoing issues can be fully resolved.
