Brilliance of the Seas Part 1

In August, we had to actually sign-on to the Brilliance for 1 week in order to re-texture the climbing wall. We worked for about 5 days and thoroughly enjoyed the time we had when we were not working. Here is a re-cap of our week:

Tuesday, August 23– Barcelona, Spain. We left the hotel around 11am and were able to sign-on to the ship without any problems. In order to avoid any issues with Kevin's tool bag, we took our bags with us and went straight up to the Windjammer for lunch. We met up with Richard - our primary contact on the ship - and got some details about the paint and the process we would have to go through in order to start working. After we set a plan for the day, we dropped our bags off in the room and then explored the ship before our muster drill. Before we could start working we had to meet with the Environmental Specialist to go over the contractor work plan and get a briefing on "Saving the Waves." While we were in our meeting, we learned that we did not have the correct form and we almost couldn't do the scheduled work. The paint we would be using is considered hazardous material, so the Environmental Specialist was apprehensive about us doing the work. Finally, after we ensured him we had the proper safety equipment, we had permission to begin painting. The first step in the process was to strip the wall of all of the artificial holds. We started "stripping" around 6pm and were finished in about an hour. We went back to the room to shower and change and then went to the Schooner Bar to enjoy some drinks before starting the hard work the following day.

Exploring the ship. This is the entrance into the Schooner Bar.

All of these knots were on display in the Schooner Bar. Kevin was psyched!

Ready for our Muster Drill!

The view of the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona from the ship. 

This is what the wall looked like before we started any work. 

Wednesday, August 24 – Villefranche (Nice), France. The ship got into port around 9am and was tendered because the port was pretty small. We went up to the wall around 10am and started scraping all of the excess texture off. We took a 2 hour break around lunch time, and then went back up to the wall to finish.  After we had scraped for about 6 hours, we power washed the wall and even more paint chipped away. We finished work around 5pm with just enough time to shower and go to dinner in the dinning room. After dinner we went to see the evening show which was a Beatles cover band. They were pretty good, but certainly not the Beatles. We were pretty tired so we went to bed around 11pm.

Overlooking the French Riviera. 

Chipping away.

Don't mess with a woman with power tools!

Ready to paint. All of those black spots are patches where there is no texture. It was amazing how much of the texture chipped away. 

All dressed up for dinner. This is still overlooking Villefranche.

Guests can go out onto the helipad if the choose to. It is a beautiful view from the front of the ship. 

Thursday, August 25 – Livorno (Florence/Pisa), Italy. We met Richard at the wall around 10am and because the wall was in the direct sunlight, we decided to wait until later in the afternoon to start painting (and the wall was still a little wet from the wash the day before). We decided to go to Pisa!! Unfortunately we never made it that far…We paid $8/person just to get from the ship to the city. Then we had to buy Kevin some new shoes because his shoes were soaking wet from power washing the wall the day before. After we successfully purchased some new shoes (well boots really) we went to the information booth to get the details on traveling to Pisa. We learned that we had to take the city bus to the train station, then ride the train for about 25 minutes, then walk another 30 minutes to get to the tower and then repeat to get back to the ship. We decided to try it, but got on the city bus going in the wrong direction! By the time we realized we made a mistake, we realized we would not have time to make it to Pisa. I pouted for about 45 minutes, and then got over it. We will make it happen another time. We ended up just going back to the ship to have a FREE lunch and started painting around 2pm. We painted for 6 hours….until the sun went down and we had to return the paint to the mooring deck. We missed dinner in the dining room again this evening, but still made it to the show featuring the Brilliance of the Seas singers and dancers in their Broadway tribute. We crashed pretty early again, knowing we had a long day ahead of us!

Ready to paint!

Slowly but surely making progress.

The end of the first day of painting. It took a lot longer than anticipated. 

Friday, August 26 – Rome, Italy. We started painting at 8am on Friday in an attempt to beat the heat, but no such luck! The wall was in the beating sun ALL day. We painted for about 5 hours, took a lunch break, and then painted until 8pm again that evening. It was at 8pm that evening that we ran out of paint. That’s right, the job is incomplete because we didn’t have enough paint. The paint seemed to just soak into the part of the wall that was still textured and so we only got 7 out of 10 meters finished and are going to have to go back at a later date to finish up. We missed the show this evening because we were working so late, but still had time for dinner in the Windjammer and enjoyed a few drinks at the Schooner Bar. We were exhausted after such a long day, so we checked in early.

Day 2 of painting. We knew at the end of the first day of painting we would not have enough paint to finish, so we strategically estimated where the paint would reach and then painted down. That way, Kevin wasn't standing on wet paint. 

A close up. He was such a hard worker. 

Beautiful sunset! 

Saturday, August 27 – Naples, Italy. We finally got to sleep in! We had to wait 24 hours for the paint to dry, before we could re-set the routes, so we had a nice relaxing morning. We spent some time at the pool, reading books, and even napping! It was so nice to finally relax. We went up to the wall around 4pm and Kevin re-set the routes. It took him about 2 and a half hours to get all of the routes back up and then we went down to the room to freshen up, eat dinner in the Windjammer, and make an appearance at the Disco Party!! Richard had to perform at the party to we made sure not to miss that! Went to bed around 11pm.

This is Richard at the 70's party!

Sunday, August 28 – Our first sea day. The only work we had to do today was a normal safety inspection. The wall was finally open for guests to use, so we spent a good portion of the day sunbathing and reading at the wall while we watched guests climb. It was so cool to finally see the wall in use. Our normal inspections typically take place while the wall is closed, so it was awesome to see how the wall normally functions. The inspection took us about 2 hours and then we were finally done working on this trip. This was the first and only formal night while we were on the ship so we got all dressed up and then ate dinner in the Windjammer.  The show this evening was another production number with the Brilliance of the Seas singers and dancers called Tango Buenos Aires. It was another great show followed shortly by us calling it an early night. 

The finished product (for now). 

Relaxing by the pool!

Formal night in the dinning room. 

The entrance to the Schooner bar on formal night. 

 Monday, August 29 – Venice. We didn't arrive into Venice until about 2pm this afternoon, so we spent the morning enjoying the sun. We "bronzed" by the climbing wall and enjoyed watching the climbers before our scenic entrance into the Venice Port. When Kevin and I were on the Splendour of the Seas last year, we sailed out of Venice so we knew what was coming, but it was just as spectacular the second time around. The ship goes right past St. Marc's Square and basilica and you get such a unique view of an incredible landmark. We decided to venture out onto the island around 6pm and got so spend some time with Richard off of the ship. We went to a pub called Devil's Forest Pub and our families got to see us on the live webcam! This link wont show you our picture, but you can see what is happening at the pub at this very moment. It was awesome to be half-way across the world and be able to see our families (well they could see us). We got back to the ship around 11pm and packed for our early flight out the next morning. Our time on the ship was busy, but we had a blast! Stay tuned for updates on the finished wall!

All of the gondolas lined up outside St. Marc's Square. There were so many people!!

Overlooking St. Marc's Square. The white building on the right is Dodge's Palace and just behind that is the basilica. Such a unique perspective! 

A towel animal on out last night.