Wonderful Trip But Improvements Needed

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 55

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Brilliance of the Seas

12 Night Mediterranean Greek Isles (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 13, 2017

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 9068

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

The ports we stopped in were all beautiful.  Royal Caribbean cancelled one port and changed us from Turkey to another Greece port.  They cancelled two of our excursions due to lack of numbers.  Very disappointing since you are international with no internet so no way to book with other company.  Everyone at our dinner table had at least one excursion cancelled.  Evening entertainment -- there were not enough options.  The shows were not very good and certainly not up to the shows you see on their larger ships.  All the excursions we booked through Hilton Honors were wonderful.  Santorini - if you go be sure to book a private tour with Markos of SantoriniExperts by far our best guide of the week.  Took us to the places we should go and then to places he wanted us to see - local family farm which was amazing.  Be sure to ride the donkeys up (don't listen to what they tell you on the ship); it was a blast.  If you do this cruise -- consider staying off ship in Florence and taking train to Rome.  You will have expense of train and hotel but much more time to see Rome.  We did not do it because we thought of it too late but we talked with a couple that did it.  Pisa was a pleasant surprise -- thought you would see only leaning tower but much more in the plaza.  If you want to see a lot in a little time, the cruise was great because of the ports.  The entertainment and the nickle and diming to death on the ship really hurts Royal's reputation.  Many of the folks on our cruise were disappointed with Royal but not the service of the workers or the ports we went to.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
Our room was very good considering there were four of us.

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Cannes, France

5 out of 5

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

5 out of 5

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

3 out of 5

Mykonos, Greece

5 out of 5

Santorini, Greece

5 out of 5

Valletta, Malta

3 out of 5
Was this review helpful? 55

2 Comments

HeatherEric    7 years ago

I'm not op but I was on this cruise. As you walk on board you go through a gauntlet of staff trying to upgrade everything. Specialty restaurants, beverage packages, internet, shore excursions, it really is never ending. Even in the buffet and the main dinning room. Want fresh juice? Upcharge. Lobster? Upcharge. Surf and turf? Upcharge. Room service? Upcharge.

marytaylor    7 years ago

How were you nickled and dimed?

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