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Review: Brilliance of the Seas 12 nt Mediterranean/Venice


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Our family of 4 cruised on Brilliance of the Seas from Barcelona on 1 July 2016.

 

This is a beautiful itinerary but very full on and at times exhausting as it is so port intensive. A cruise is not an ideal way to see Europe but it is certainly a good way to see a little bit of a lot of places in a short period of time. It’s also an easy way to travel with kids as you do not have to pack up and move on every few days.

 

This is my review. I also have all Cruise Compasses and the full Teen Club Schedule. I haven’t scanned them yet but I will when I get the chance. I am happy to answer any questions if possible.

 

This was our first cruise with Royal Caribbean, we’ve done a Carnival Cruise 6 years ago and a Princess cruise 17 years ago, so we are not experienced cruisers. Both of our previous cruises were faultless in our opinion, this cruise had some issues.

 

This trip was a fairly last minute decision and we had a very small window in which we could travel due to our kids school break. Due to the dates and me wanting to include Venice – this was the ONLY cruise that fitted our criteria. We made the decision to go and booked just under 3 months before departure.

 

My husband and I have visited most of the cities on this itinerary on previous land vacations but this was the first visit to Europe for our boys.

 

We are from Sydney, Australia so we had a 5 night stopover in Dubai and 2 nights in Barcelona prior to the cruise.

 

This ship was nice, probably showing its age a little bit in a few areas. I like the size and layout and found it easy to get around. The newer bigger ships would probably suit my kids better but this cruise is more about the itinerary than the ship.

 

I never saw the Captain at all and the Cruise Director only a couple of times. There were a lot of Europeans on this cruise and all announcements were in English and Spanish.

 

ROOMS

We booked 2 balcony connecting rooms on deck 9 very close to the Centrum. These were the last 2 connecting rooms available on the ship when we made our booking so I just booked them and didn’t think too much more about it until I read some reviews about the noise coming from the Centrum most evenings.

 

We were very happy with our choice of rooms and did not find the noise/music to be an issue at all. We loved being close to the stairs and glass elevators and being just 2 flights from the Windjammer/Pool area and just 3 flights from Vintages & The Schooner bar. The connecting door is at the end of the beds (room config was beds near balcony, sofa near bathroom). The balcony dividers are fixed and cannot be removed. Our balcony was larger than standard because we were sort of on the hump – aft side, starboard. Our muster station was in The Schooner Bar. Our room steward was Edwin, very nice and very quiet. We rarely saw him but our room was always clean and tidy, we didn’t have any special requests, no extra towels, pillows, ice, hangers etc. We had towel creatures every second night.

 

TEEN CLUB

Our boys are 12 years & 15 years and they both attended the Teen Optix club the first evening. Our 12 year old loved Optix and we hardly saw him all cruise but our 15 year wasn’t really into it as much. He is a quieter more reserved person so that’s probably more of a reflection on him than the Optix club. He went a few times after dinner and enjoyed it but usually needed a lot of encouragement to go.

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DINING

Our first night dining was a problem and I really wasn’t happy with the way we were treated or the way the Dining staff dealt with it. There had clearly been a problem or glitch of some sort but rather than admit there had been a problem the staff were blaming us for causing the problem.

 

I had booked for late traditional dining at 8.30pm. Early seating was 6pm and I thought that was too early considering many of our sailaways were not until 7pm. We like traditional dining because we enjoy being seated with and meeting other guests. 8.30pm was a bit later than I would have liked but I wanted our dining time to fit around showtimes so we went with that – although we should not have bothered. More on that later………

 

When we boarded we were informed that the dining times were changed to 6.30pm and 9pm. Our Setsail card had printed 9pm Dining but no table number or any other information. First RC cruise for us so thought this was pretty standard. We went to the MDR on Level 4 at 9pm and there was a huge line up of people to get in. When we got to the front we were informed that we needed to go to Level 5 dining to be seated. We went to level 5 and there was another very long queue. When we got to the front we were told they did not have a table for us and in future we would need to make a reservation. We tried to explain we were on fixed time dining and they said no we were on My Time dining as we must have changed our booking. There was no point arguing as the staff were not prepared to listen to us and sent us away with a buzzer. We went to guest services for help – it’s very difficult trying to have a conversation at Guest Services because the Centrum Music/Entertainers are just a few feet away – you almost need to yell to be heard.

 

Guest Services asked for copies of our booking and reservation and could see our dining was confirmed for late dining. They made photocopies of everything and said they would get everything fixed for us while we were at our first port the next day.

 

Our buzzer beeped and we were seated on level 5 in between a server station where the staff scraped plates and a filthy set of curtains at 10pm. Our meals were cold and my sons’ Salmon was dry and crunchy. The Windjammer closed at 9.30pm so we just ate what we could.

 

After returning from our shore excursion on Day 2 we had a message on our phone from the Manager of Level 5 dining to say we had a table for 2 at 8.30 tonight but he could not guarantee that every night. We are a family of 4. There was also a message from Guest Services to say they were very pleased that our dining issues had been sorted out for us.

 

We went back to Guest Services again. They made a few phone calls to the Dining managers and were getting nowhere so she took me too the Dining room so we could speak to the Maitre D directly. He was rude and made it quite obvious that I was being a nuisance to him. He even said “So what is it that you want”. As we had previously explained to Guest Services and the other Dining Staff – we wanted a set table each night at 9pm. He rolled his eyes, huffed and puffed and scribbled a number on my card and all but threw it at me and said “There, no problem”. The guest services lady later apologised the rudeness of the Maitre D!

 

We arrived that night for our 9pm dinner and were shown to a 10 top table with only 2 other ladies and they didn’t speak a word of English. We tried and they tried but we could not communicate anything beyond a smile. Our Waiter and Assistant Waiter were very nice so we just decided to leave it as is was and not try to make any further changes. Our head waiter was very nice and virtually confirmed that our table was a leftovers table. Halfway through the cruise 3 more people joined our table and they had the exact problem we did. They said the Maitre D had been so rude to them that they had been eating the Windjammer or Specialty restaurants instead. We ended up getting on really well with them and most nights hung out together after dinner. I felt sorry for the 2 Spanish ladies though because our waiters couldn’t speak any Spanish either and often needed to call other wait staff over to translate for them.

 

Our waiter Michael and assistant waiter Rohit made up for the rudeness of the senior staff. Our head waiter visited most nights and was always apologising for the table mix up. We learned later that lots of people had the same problem with the table assignment.

 

We enjoyed the food in the MDR (apart from the first night) it was always hot and our waiter made good recommendations. Bar service was usually slow for the first drink so we usually grabbed a glass of wine on our way to dinner and then our waiters kept refilling us as we had a package.

 

We usually had breakfast and lunch in the Windjammer and could normally find seating at the very back of the ship. We had breakfast in the dining room once and lunch once. We had room service breakfast a couple of times.

 

We had planned to go to Chops Grille one night but we were enjoying our meals in the MDR and our dinner companions towards the end of the cruise so we didn’t ending up going there. We had lunch at Rita’s Cantina on the last day of the cruise – it was ok, nothing special. We only shared 2 menu items between the 4 of us but we later realised it was not ever put on our bill.

 

DRINK PACKAGES

Ahhhh, this was a big decision and we went backwards and forwards so many times on whether we should or we shouldn’t. We like a drink – usually wine, and we also like to try new cocktails. The drink prices are fairly expensive in my opinion and then with 18% gratuity added on top it really adds up. We ended up buying the Ultimate Package for my husband and I as we like nicer coffee and fresh orange juice and it included wines up to $12 per glass. I think we did get our money’s worth although we certainly didn’t drink with the intention of breaking even or being in front. We got bottles of water and stockpiled them for our shore excursions, had wine with dinner, a cocktail or 2 before dinner and sometimes a night cap. Our sailing had a 20% sale if you pre-booked and we got the Ultimate for USD $55 per day including grats so I think we got a good deal. We were not going to buy the Soda package for the kids because we really didn’t want to encourage them to drink 4+ sodas per day (I know, hypocrites we are!), anyway the day before cut off my husband said just do it – get the package and forget about it. The boys DID NOT get value from their package. I knew the soda package was only for Sodas from the fountain gun but I didn’t realise the only options are Coke, Coke Zero & Sprite. Our boys probably only had 1, or maybe 2 sodas each day and drank water most for the rest of the time. We saw plenty of people openly sharing drink packages. E.g. He had Premium, she had soda. Each time they order drinks they ordered 1 beer & 1 soda, 10 mins later 1 soda & 1 cocktail. He was drinking beer and she was drinking cocktails and they’d take the 2 soda’s over to their kids in the pool. That is only one example but I did see a few people being creative with it. We did get a couple of milkshakes from the Café one day using our Ultimate package and gave them to our kids because we wanted a little sandwich from the café and you can only have food if you get a beverage. I also got a virgin mudslide for my son one day. I just ordered it without really thinking and took it back to our room for him. Sorry drink package police.

Edited by redrob1234
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ENTERTAINMENT

I like going to shows after dinner and the show times were 9pm & 10.45pm. Many of our tours started at 7.30am so 10.45pm was late and as the days went on it became too late because we could not stay awake. In saying that, the shows we did see were pretty lame and amateurish. I believe the Phil Collins tribute show was good but we missed that because the show times were changed to 7pm & 9pm for that night only and we did not pick up on this change. The overall entertainment on this ship was very disappointing. There was sometimes some nice singing in the Centrum but there is very limited seating or standing room to be able to enjoy it. The guitarist/singer in the Pub was good and the pianist/singer in The Schooner Bar – Manda Vincent was very good.

 

In hindsight, I would not have tried to make our dinner time fit around showtime - I would book My Time Dining.

 

The Football Euro 2016 was on during our cruise and Quarterfinals, Semifinals & Final were all during our sailing. The games started at 9pm and were shown in a few venues as well as the big screen on pool deck. We do not usually follow this Football but the atmosphere on pool deck was great – especially for the Final. Every pool lounger was full on both decks, kids in the pool and plenty of drink waiters walking around. One night there was a buffet on pool deck during the football and it was the evening we were in Venice so it was good for people getting back onto the ship late if they hadn’t eaten in Venice. It was great watching some of the Portuguese staff celebrating with the guests when Portugal won the final.

 

There was not a lot to do on sea days, sun loungers were snapped up early and the other options were pretty limited. There’s only 3 full sea days so we enjoyed relaxing and didn’t need any organised activities.

 

VOOM – or was it VOOM?

I didn’t do a ping test so I don’t know. I bought a one device surf package and our family shared it. Well, my teenage son used it until we made him get off it so we could use it. Speed was better than I expected, spotty at times but generally Ok.

 

When we checked in at the port in Barcelona we were given a tiny scrap of paper with our password on it. FYI – DO NOT LOSE THIS SCRAP OF PAPER…….

 

I took a photo of the password with my phone but halfway through our cruise we thought we had lost the paper with the password on it and my husband went to guest services to get it reset. He was told that as the package was purchased prior to boarding they could not reset the password. If we had purchased it onboard they could reset it but not for pre-purchases. Seriously? He was told the only option was to find or remember the password or purchase another package for the remainder of the cruise (6 days). It would also not be possible to get a refund on the remaining days on our existing package. He came back to the room fuming but by this time we had found the paper and I also remembered that I took a photo of it on the first day. Weird and poor service I think.

 

We heard some weird stories while waiting at Guest services – some were just clearly stupid on RCI’s behalf.

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Following here too, taking this itinerary next year.

It is normal to have later seating times out of Barcelona as the Spanish eat so late but the way you were treated it completely unacceptable.

Edited by cinnamon
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PORTS

 

We didn’t do any RCI excursions, we booked private tours with people from our Roll Call or we toured on our own. We used Tripadvisor and read lots of reviews on CC to help with our planning. I didn’t hear anything bad about the ship’s excursions but I just prefer small group tours. We were able to see and do a lot more things by travelling in a smaller van as opposed to a large bus and also groups of 8 – 12 can often go to places that large groups cannot access. All of our tours were planned to be back at port 2 hours before sailaway time so we felt confident in getting back to the ship in plenty of time.

 

Villefranche – Tendered 10am – 7pm

Nice, Eze, Monaco & Monte Carlo

There were no tender tickets issued but the tenders were large and it was a very smooth and fast process. We booked our tour with another group of 4 from our Roll Call and we all got on really well. Our tour started at 11am and we were returned to the Port before 5pm. We visited Nice and saw the flower and fruit markets and were given time to walk around the main square and the beachfront promenade. We then travelled to the Medieval Village of Eze where we were given time to walk around the village, take in the breathtaking views and browse through the shops. We had lunch at a Creperie. There was also a couple of perfumies near here that we were able to visit if we wished.

 

We were then taken to Monaco where we saw Prince Albert’s Palace, the Cathedral where Prince Ranier and Princess Grace were married (and now buried) and we also walked around the cliff top gardens. We then went into Monte Carlo. We didn’t go into the Casino but we admired the line-up of cars parked out the front! Our driver took us on a lap of the Monaco Formula One Grand Prix circuit at the steady pace of 50 klm per hour…….

 

We enjoyed our day and it cost 400 Euro for the 8 of us.

 

Livorno – Docked 7am – 7pm

Florence & Pisa

 

We did another small group tour today with the same family of 4 from yesterday (really lovely family). Our driver was waiting for us at the Port at 7.45am and took us to Pisa first. We were the first people there and even beat the stall holders who had just begun setting up their stalls. We had lots of opportunity to take photos pushing the tower over or pushing it back into place (whichever you prefer) without other tourists in the background. We had previously agreed to just viewing the tower and not climbing it as the climb takes at least an hour and we thought we could use our time better. The tower does not open for climbing until 9am and we were ready to leave by then. We then drove to Florence, stopping along the way near an Olive farm for a very scenic photo stop. We also stopped at a vantage point near Florence which had spectacular views of the River and the city. When we got into Florence our group of 8 joined with another group of 8 and we shared a guide for a 2 hour walking tour of Florence. We had originally planned to purchase skip the line tickets for the Academia so we could see the Statue of David but we were there on the first Sunday of the month and that is when all the museums are free. So this means skip the line tickets are not available and there are thousands of people trying to get in because it’s free. We knew we would not have time to wait in the line so we just saw “fake David” in the square instead. After our walking tour we had time to visit the Duomo, do some shopping (great leather – cheap too) and sample some Gelato. We found a restaurant in an alley just off the main square and had some great pizza, pasta, chianti (local wine) and the use of a clean toilet. It was also air-conditioned which was a welcome reprieve from the heat.

 

We were back at the port by about 5pm. This tour was 99 Euro per person.

 

Civitavecchia – Docked 7am – 7pm

Rome & Vatican with Guide

 

We did another Private tour today with another family of 4 we met on our Roll Call. We had been advised that security had been stepped up at the Coliseum and it was taking a long time to get inside – even if you had skip the line tickets. It was suggested that if we start our tour as early as possible we could get to the Coliseum soon after opening time and would give us the best chance. It worked. Our guide met us at 7.30am and we were on our way. The line for the Coliseum only took us about 15 minutes so we were all happy with that. Our driver pointed out lots of Rome landmarks and sights and we had lots of quick stops for photos. We went to the Pantheon and he took us to a café that sells “The best coffee in Rome” and we all enjoyed a great cappuccino for 1 euro. Then we went to the Trevi Fountain and the water had been drained and there were work men in there picking up coins. People were still throwing in coins and the workers were ducking so they didn’t get hit in the head. There were large clear Perspex boxes stacked nearby and we later learned the Trevi Fountain was used for a fashion parade and the clear boxes were placed in the water to form a stage. It looked very cool when I saw that on TV back at home.

 

Our guide took us to a Pizzeria that sells “The best pizza in Rome” and we all picked up some lunch (pizza sold by weight) and wandered around in a local food market. We saw other sights too, Forum, Circus Maximus etc.

 

After lunch we were taken to the Vatican City where our Vatican Guide Laura met us and took us straight past the queue and into the Vatican Museum. We spent a little over 2 hours in the Museum, the Sistine Chapel and St Peters Basilica. I highly recommend a licenced guide for the Vatican. There is so much history and you really need a guide to take help you make the most use of your time. The museum is huge – it would take days to see it all but it is possible to see the highlights if you have a good guide. Rome is a very busy city so travelling in a small group is ideal – our van was able to get us to many places that a large bus would not be able to get to.

 

We returned back to the port by about 4.30pm. We paid 140 euro for adults and 125 euro for children and this included all of our tickets. We were exhausted after 3 big touring days with early starts.

 

Salerno – docked 7am to 6.30pm

Pompeii, Sorrento & The Amalfi Coast

 

Today we travelled as a group of 12 and our driver met us at the port at 8am. Our first stop was Pompeii and we were met there by our guide Sabina. Sabina was the best tour guide I have ever had. She made me feel like we were living in Pompeii in 79AD when Mt Vesuvius erupted. My kids were hanging on her every word too. She knew of a few sneaky shady spots and also took our group to some areas that you can only access if you are a small group and have a licenced Pompeii guide. Without a guide Pompeii is a dirty, dusty, hot pile of ruins.

 

After Pompeii we were taken to Sorrento and given a couple of hours to explore. This was enough time to walk through some very quaint alleyways, a bit of shopping, see the beach and have lunch. Once again we found a little pizzeria and had some pizzas and pastas for lunch followed by lemon sorbet.

 

We were then taken for a drive along the Amalfi Coast and stopped a few times for photo stops. The views of the clear blue waters were amazing.

 

We returned to the port at about 4pm. This tour cost 69 euro each plus 13 euro per adult for Pompeii. Children under 18 years were free with photo ID. I had my kids student ID cards and that was sufficient for them to get in for free.

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Venice – docked 3.30pm – 6.30pm the following day

 

The sail in (and out) of Venice is simply stunning. It takes about 1.5 hours as the ship cruises at a very slow speed with a tug at the front and rear to keep it straight. The outside decks and starboard balconies were crowded with passengers taking in the view. We had lunch on the balcony and really enjoyed this whole experience. The ship transfers were a very contentious issue and cause for much discussion and confusion. We were kept in the dark until the evening before we arrived and then details were provided. RC transfers were US $25 per person per day. That would have been $200 for our family of 4. Our ship docked in terminal 107/108 so we were very close to where the ship transfers were – I believe this is not always the case. We opted to make our own way and walked to the people mover and took that over to Piazza Roma where we purchased a 24 hour unlimited Vaporetto ticket (public water bus). The 24 hour period begins when you activate the ticket before you board your first vaporetto. We realised that the people mover had taken us a very small distance and agreed we would just walk it on our return journey. I did a lot of research about transport in Venice but was still confused and overwhelmed when I got there. Once we arrived and walked around for a bit we got our bearings very quickly and felt a lot more confident.

 

We boarded Vaporetto # 1 at 4.25pm and travelled to San Marco. We spent the afternoon wandering around the little alleys, did some shopping, took a gondola ride and had a lovely dinner in a little Ristorante that I had found on Tripadvisor. We took another Vaporetto from Rialto Bridge back to Piazza Roma and from there we walked back to the ship. We arrived back around 9pm because my son wanted to watch the Football on pool deck.

 

Venice Day 2

 

We visited the islands of Murano, Burano & Tonchello. We could have easily done this using our Vaporetto ticket but I had pre-booked a tour, it was inexpensive but in hindsight I would not bother with the tour. I would spend more time on Burano and I would skip Tonchello.

 

When we returned from our tour we went inside St Marks Basilica. We walked around Venice a bit more and ended up back at Rialto bridge just before 4.15pm so we used our Vaporetto ticket once more just before it expired. We made our way back to Piazzo Roma and walked back to the ship. The sailaway from Venice was beautiful from the Helipad with a cocktail in hand.

 

Ravenna – docked 8am – 5pm

 

We had a very slow morning today and didn’t get off the ship until almost 11am. Once again we were not given any information on port transfers until the night before. RCI transfers into Ravenna (approx. 20 mins) were US $22 per person. The sailing before this cruise offered free transfers to Ravenna, but we were told this was a port charge and RCI had no control over it. Very odd. Anyway, there was a taxi rank and a small tourist information office so we asked them to call us a taxi. It took about 40 minutes to arrive but the RCI shuttles were not leaving in any hurry either so we waited for the taxi. Fares were 23 euro each way. Once in Ravenna we bought a ticket to see the Unesco world heritage mosaic sites. The ticket was 9.50 euro for adults and 8.50 euro for children and that gave us entrance to 2 cathedrals, 2 baptisteries and a museum. We skipped the museum and went into the other 4 sites. They were absolutely breathtaking!!!. Ravenna is a small city and very easy to walk around. We got a taxi back to the port and got changed and walked over to the beach near where the shipped was docked. We had a really enjoyable time in Ravenna and we didn’t have very high expectations.

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Kotor, Montenegro – tendered 12.30pm – 8.30pm

 

This is another amazing sail in and definitely worth getting a good vantage point to view it from. The water is so blue and the mountains are so high – some of the passages are so narrow it would take a lot of skill just to get the ship through. Tender tickets were issued for this port and people started lining up long before the advertised time. We had a private tour booked for 1.30pm so we didn’t feel the need to join the queue. Once again the tender process was very smooth and we were on the dock long before our guide arrived to collect us at 1.30. Our tour took us to the small seaside village of Perast and we took at small boat across to the little church on the island – Our Angel of the Rock. There is also a very small but interesting museum attached to the church. The views from here are stunning. We took the boat back to Perast and had time to look around the village, climb the bell tower and have a snack and drink. After this we were driven back to Kotor and we had a one hour walking tour of Kotor. This tour was 120 euro for the 4 of us.

 

What a gorgeous little Village with so much history. As we sailed out of Kotor at 8.30pm the lights were just starting to come on as we passed each little village. We almost missed our dinner because we were mesmerised watching the view.

 

Next up…… final thoughts

Edited by redrob1234
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Thanks for the great review, Redrob1234. My husband and I are on this cruise in October as are 2 of the posters I see.

I do have a question about Venice. Once docked, are passengers free to come and go at any time? I had read in a previous post ( forgot where! ) that there was an "all-aboard" time for the first night. Did you find that to be the case?

Thanks,

Heather

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