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Brilliance of the Seas or Navigator for Med Cruise???

Chippendale

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Chippendale

Chippendale

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Planning cruise for next June. Choices are Brilliance of the Seas 12 days (4 sea days) or Naviagator of the Seas 7 days (2 sea days).

 

Each ship will stop at Civitavecchia(Rome), Pireaus(Athens), Greece, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey.

 

Brilliance also goes to: Barcelona, Spain, Villefrance (Nice) France, Livorno, (Florence/Pisa), Santorini, Greece and Naples, Italy.

 

Navigator includes Messina(Sicily), Italy and Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece.

 

This would be a girls trip and our first trip to Europe so all of the ports are of interest. Thanks for your input!!

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Noreen411

Noreen411

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Hi

 

We had a similar decision to make also. We looked at all the ships in Europe, made charts of the different ports, pros and cons about the ships, etc.

 

This will be our first cruise to Europe and other than business trips to London, I have never been anywhere in Europe.

 

We decided to go on the Brilliance for the 12 night cruise. It goes to many interesting ports and is a longer cruise. As long as we're travelling that far, I wanted to make it longer. We thought maybe a 7 night cruise and then a longer pre or post cruise stay but thought a longer cruise would be easier and we would be able to see a few more ports.

 

We love the bigger ships - the bigger the better so I was a bit concerned about a smaller ship. So many people reassured me that we'll be so busy touring we won't miss the flowrider and also that the Brilliance is a great ship.

 

We are looking forward to our first European cruise.

 

Enjoy whichever one you choose

 

Noreen

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pcur

pcur

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I would go with the Brilliance for the itinerary. I've been to all those ports, and I think you will love them, especially in the summer. June is a good choice, as the weather will be warm, but probably not scorching!

 

I agree, she's a lovely ship. You will have a great cruise!!

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kkpcruiser

kkpcruiser

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I chose Brilliance!

I haven;t been on her but have cruised the Serenade in her class and it is a stunning ship and honestly a great size. Before choosing the Serenade, I also had only done Voyager class...3 in total and was very concerned that our family wouldn;t be happy or "busy enough" on a smaller one. Someone said to be that the Serenade class IS big, the Voyager class was just Huge and he was absolutely right. I have since been on the Liberty and still think the prettiest, classiest ship was the Serenade.....and Brilliance is I am sure is just as lovely. So much glass and what a perfect arena to use it to view Europe.

I have been on the Navigator and while it is very nice..i say Brilliance hands down.

As for 7 or 12 day...while both great itineraries, Brilliance just offers so much more so you may as well get your airfare's worth!

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swcruise

swcruise

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My vote if for Brilliance as well, we traveled on her last year on a 10 day that included 4 sea days, I did think that may be too many sea days and what would we do. I needn't have worried, it was great to have time to relax and recharge before the Port days, the extra ports of call on the Brilliance are great stops with plent to see and do DIY with a little advance research.

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insulationbabe

insulationbabe

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We were on the Brilliance in May for the Med cruise and enjoyed the ship - but if I had a choice - I do like the Navigator class of ship - only for the Promenade and the set up - the only complaint I had with the Brilliance in general was they catered mainly to the Europeans which was fine but the music and entertainment were horrible and not to our liking- we questioned the cruise director and he said that they had no idea that there would be 500 Canadian and US Citizens on board - I don't understand this, because they could have just checked the passenger list well ahead of time - Some of the menu selections were strictly European as well - not sure what the Navigator is like - you might want to check one of the forums and see - hope you enjoy the cruise - we loved seeing all the history of the countries we visited and our meet and mingle group was fabulous

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Tamerella

Tamerella

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Planning cruise for next June. Choices are Brilliance of the Seas 12 days (4 sea days) or Naviagator of the Seas 7 days (2 sea days).

 

Each ship will stop at Civitavecchia(Rome), Pireaus(Athens), Greece, Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey.

 

Brilliance also goes to: Barcelona, Spain, Villefrance (Nice) France, Livorno, (Florence/Pisa), Santorini, Greece and Naples, Italy.

 

Navigator includes Messina(Sicily), Italy and Chania (Souda), Crete, Greece.

 

This would be a girls trip and our first trip to Europe so all of the ports are of interest. Thanks for your input!!

 

Hey Chippendale!

We are doing a Girl's trip next June too! I was looking at Navigator of the Seas too (I love that ship). We ended up picking Liberty of the Seas. It is a fantastic ship, a bit larger and newer than the Navigator!! Here is our itinerary:

Pre-Cruise - Spending two days in Barcelona

Cruise:

Day 1 - Depart from Barcelona at 5pm

Day 2 - Provence (TOULON), France - Arrive at 7am - Depart at 5pm

Day 3 - Villefranche (NICE), France - Arrive at 7am - Depart at 7pm

Day 4 - Livorno (FLORENCE/PISA), Italy - Arrive at 7am - Depart at 7pm

Day 5 - Civitavecchia (ROME), Italy - Arrive at 7am - Depart at 7pm

Day 6 - Naples, Capri, Italy Arrive at 7am - Depart at 7pm

Day 7 - Cruising (AT SEA)

Day 8 - Arrive back in Barcelona

We are SUPER excited!! :D

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quanmama

quanmama

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We came back from our Med cruise on Brilliance last month. I absolutely agree that Brilliance has one of the best Med itineraries and that was the reason we picked it. The ship was still in good shape in general although you could see signs of aging at some areas. Food and service were fine. I also agree with one of the previous posters that the entertainment was horrible. Our 8 yo son has what they call the "perfect pitch' ears and he mentioned a few times throughout the cruise that he could tell couple of the singers were horrendous and off tune, and there was only one good singer. That just cracked us up! :D Having that said, it did not spoil our trip since we had such a great time at all the ports. Good luck with your decision!

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