Overall nice trip.

Item: Brilliance of the Seas
Rating: 3
Author: KlausR

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

KlausR

Contributor Level: Deck Hand

Cruises: 7+ cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 9

Overall rating:

3 out of 5

Verified Review

12 Night Eastern Mediterranean (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: October 22, 2011

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Traveled as: Large Group

Reviewed: 13 years ago

Review summary

Brilliance was a pleasure to use as a base for our 12-day cruise. We were disappointed at the allowance of smoking fin indoor venues - made it impossible to partake of several activities on board.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Entertainment

3 out of 5

We would have liked more opportunities for ballroom dancing - the common atrium area was overused and too crowded for enjoyable dancing.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Public bathrooms were maintained to the highest standard I've ever experienced on a cruise ship.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

3 out of 5

Public transit inconvenient to reach from port (over a mile away). Three of our group of eight were victimized by pickpockets on the subway.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Markets are a pleasure, food choices were great.

Rhodes, Greece

5 out of 5

Clean streets, happy people, friendly cats, terrific marketplaces, wonderful preserved history - a fabulous port of call.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Have an ouzo with the locals!

Valletta, Malta

5 out of 5

Like Rhodes, wonderful preserved history and architecture, delightful people, great food, friendly markets.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Side trip to Mdina on the local bus!

Istanbul, Turkey

5 out of 5

Many in our group had trouble getting our ATM cards to work, and nobody wanted to exchange our Turkish Lyra when we left.

Thumbs Up 0

Don't Miss: Sample the local halvah and turkish delights - fabulous! Visit the Pera shopping district.

Palermo, Sicily

1 out of 5

Streets filled with litter, statues spoiled by graffiti, no tourist-friendly signage, no regard for traffic laws, major quality of life issues - we felt that stopping here was a total waste.

Thumbs Up 0

Pros: Most ports of call were really nice.

Cons: Terrible handling of complaints regarding Grand Bazaar being closed both days we were in Istanbul.

Recommends Brilliance of the Seas? Yes!

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