Gives A Taste Of Multiple European Cities

Brilliance of the Seas Cruise Review to Europe - Mediterranean

roywinters6

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 4-6 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 72

Overall rating:

4 out of 5

Verified Review

12 Night Mediterranean Venice (Barcelona Roundtrip)

Sail date: May 25, 2017

Ship: Brilliance of the Seas

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 1536

Traveled as: Family (older children)

Reviewed: 7 years ago

Review summary

We like cruising. There is no hauling baggage from place to place, food, entertainment, friendly staff and social activities abound. You only get a taste of places you stop at though, as you always need to keep in mind getting back to your ship early in the day (usually around dusk).

This ship is one of the best, though its age shows here and there. Medium size (with ~2,400 Passengers), it was clearly designed with engaging and entertaining the passengers in mind. I would judge the majority of passengers as older on this 12 day cruise.

A bit on the down side. They really try to sell you a lot of stuff on this ship. There is an extra (and substantial) charge to use their "specialty" restaurants, drinks (particularly alcoholic), laundry and any other services (such as skin care, massage & such. There is plenty of food included in the price of admission which makes these extras optional). The on board shops lean toward jewelry, perfumes, art and the like, most expensive. We also miss the ice and chocolate sculptures, and carved fruits/vegetables that we have seen on previous cruises.

All in all, I could recommend this ship and this cruise. I want to go again.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

5 out of 5

Onboard Activities

5 out of 5

As we are older we didn't partake in as many activities as were available. Our children and grand child did better

Entertainment

5 out of 5

Service and Staff

5 out of 5

Our concierge, Rafael, was absolutely outstanding. This was the first cruise where we rated this service and it was great.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

We haven't tried some of the newer ships yet. This one is showing a bit of age, lacking some of what is offered now. The crew does their best to keep it spic and span and largely succeed.

Cabin / Stateroom

This cabin was quite a step up from the previous balcony suites we've enjoyed in the past. We had minor quibbles. The shower is in a tub (we had no tub in previous trips). Sounds good, but it meant a high leg lift to get in and out of the shower. There was also no place to plug in the coffee pot if you also wanted a TV or a laptop charger.

Ship tip

We wound up booking the same My Time table (for eight in our case) at the same time for most nights. For us it worked well.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Barcelona, Spain

5 out of 5

Villefranche-Sur-Mer, France

5 out of 5

Livorno (Florence & Pisa), Italy

3 out of 5

Florence & Pisa are a ways inland. You won't have time to do a lot of sight seeing on your own.

Thumbs Up 0

Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy

5 out of 5

We did the nine hour bus tour, but as with Livorno what you want to see is over an hour away, so you do not have the time to see a lot of things. It was a good taste though. We would like to go back.

Thumbs Up 0

Salerno (Naples), Italy

5 out of 5

Venice, Italy

5 out of 5

Zadar, Croatia

5 out of 5

We only went to see the Sea Organ, so I'm sure we missed a lot...

Thumbs Up 0

Kotor, Montenegro

5 out of 5

As in other stops we did the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus tours, and as in other cases you have to keep in mind that each Hop-Off eats into the time before you have to return to the ship, particularly in cases like this where you are tendered in. Kotor is worth the visit. Multiple towns along a long coast and backed up against spectacular mountains.

Thumbs Up 9

1 Comment

floridapatriot 7 years ago

Sometimes they(RCCL) will have a late night buffet at the pool deck. Not like the big chocolate feasts they used to have and I miss that too but I understand they must keep costs in line. There must have been a huge amount of waste with people becoming more weight and health conscious...well, some people anyway ð

Thumbs Up 1

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