Med Cruise on the Brilliance~ June 7, 2016 ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Inside the church:

 

 

 

 

 

We really enjoyed our time on The Rock!

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

Back on the boat......we are underway again.

 

[maxs mom]

For our last treat of the day.....Yuri does something really special with a watermelon!

 

 

 

 

 

And it was enjoyed by all!!!!

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

Vesna is so cute!

 

 

The sail back to the port begins.

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

As we sailed by the village of Parus......we dropped Vesna off so she could pick up their children from Kindergarten. She jumped on to an old boat and went from there! She and the boys met us when we docked back at the port.

 

 

 

Then Ed got to drive the boat!

 

 

[maxs mom]

Back home!!

 

 

 

 

 

Some smaller ships in port.

 

 

What a wonderful day in the Bay of Kotor!!!

 

[maxs mom]

Saying good-bye! What great friends! Yuri tried to give me money back for our portion, but we made sure he kept it. There are all kinds of ways to see Kotor, but this......I assure you.....is the most relaxing and delightful way to do it!!!

 

 

We had to wait for this ship to leave before we could get on our tender.

 

 

 

The tender ride back to the ship:

 

 

It was after 6 when we got back on the Brilliance. No time for napping or resting. We got ready for dinner and made it to the DL in time for one drink before heading to the Windjammer for dinner.

 

 

 

We were so pooped.....so I think we all headed off to bed after dinner. Time for some rest. It was a great last port day!! We sailed off into the sunset!

 

[rwright261]

Absolutely love your reviews Jane.. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to post them :)

[maxs mom]

Absolutely love your reviews Jane.. Thanks so much for taking the time and effort to post them :)

 

 

Thanks so much!

[SteveinPhilly]

Jane- this was certainly one port which you could see from top or bottom. I knew you were organizing the "sailing" event but I had made myself a promise (aftefr watching so you tubes) to get up to the Fort. And I'm glad I did. You had a great - and totally different experience. Of course I burn so easily that a boat ride would probably not be the best choice for me. ;) But now I can live out though your photos.

 

I was so glad that sail away not till 8pm (while you were eating dinner, I was at the top of the mountain :eek:) and came back and then watched the AMAZING sail away until about 8:45 and then went to dinner in MDR.

 

BTW, A CC "buddy" I've never met but email with (turns out we both had blood clots) is on the LAST BOTS Europe Sail in October and their itinerary is the same as us except they go to Croatia or someplace similar instead of Salerno. (But they do go to Kotor). I think we had the BEST itinerary. Not one port I wasn't thrilled that we visited.

 

Thanks for your narrative.

S

[Setting sail for fun]

Jane,

 

You find the best excursions. It looks like the perfect day!

 

DH always teases me "you are already on a boat and now you are getting on another one for the day"? And the answer is always "yes"!

 

Thanks for sharing.

 

Debbie

[maxs mom]

Friday ~ June 17, 2016 ~ At Sea

 

Finally a day of rest. My idea of the end of a perfect cruise is not one day at sea but two days at sea!! And that's what we have! My cold was getting nothing but worse. I ran out of OTC meds that I brought with me, so we had to stop in the shops after breakfast to see what they had. I bought some Dayquil and Advil to the tune of $30.00!! The have a captive audience!! Lots of folks were out in the shops.

 

 

We relaxed in the Centrum this morning and watched the rehearsal of the Thriller Dance. Looked like they were doing a good job. That always fun.

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Next I saw Michael and Andrea go in to the Next Cruise place, so I went over and joined them. We never did see anything to book at this time. We already have 9 more on the books, so I didn't feel the urgency at this time.

 

 

I was invited to eat lunch with an officer at noon, so I went to the dining room and met the Loyalty Ambassador there......Teodora from Romania. Only one other couple was coming, but they were late. So we went ahead to our table in the center of the MDR. We met Michael, the Bar Manager, at the table. He is from Ireland. Soon the couple joined us. They were a delightful couple from Germany. They are retired and have a small travel cruise agency now. We had the nicest lunch......great conversation....even though we just ordered from the menu. It was still nice.....we had wine. The lady from Germany also writes diaries like I do for their cruise website in German. So we compared notes! Very nice lunch. I had the Tutti salad and an apple strudel type dessert.

 

 

 

 

Thee pool was jam packed today.....as it was all cruise.

 

 

[SteveinPhilly]

Friday ~ June 17' date=' 2016 ~ At Sea[/u']

 

I ran out of OTC meds that I brought with me, so we had to stop in the shops after breakfast to see what they had. I bought some Dayquil and Advil to the tune of $30.00!! The have a captive audience!! Lots of folks were out in the shops.

 

 

[/url]

 

Janie had to buy Dayquil on board too at $17.00! Talk about a captive audience. :eek:

[maxs mom]

After lunch I took some Dayquil and had a nice long time to rest. I needed it! I spent a lot of time on the balcony today where there were great views all day sailing past lots of little islands. Just beautiful.

 

 

 

 

We went on to the DL at our regular time. On the way we stopped to visit with our fabulous cabin steward, Foster!! One of the best!

 

 

It was formal night. We visited with Ann and Vic, as usual. Then Michael and Andrea joined us. The view was interesting tonight.

 

 

[maxs mom]

Janie had to buy Dayquil on board too at $17.00! Talk about a captive audience. :eek:

 

I know, right!!??? Michael also had to buy some. We ran into many folks who got this same head cold. Oh well.......happens on a cruise every now and then. Fortunately it wasn't too bad, but it stayed with me long after we got home!!

 

Edited July 18, 2016 by max'smom

[maxs mom]

Cheers!

 

 

Like I said, it was formal night. We all got gussied up!

 

 

 

We went on to dinner in the MDR tonight. Since we ate in the Windjammer many nights on this cruise, we never had a designated table here. Tonight we were seated in the kitchen! Very noisy and not a very pleasant place to sit. That's what we get I guess.

 

 

The menu was again, very strange. I had never seen it before. I got some kind of shrimp and it was just OK. Most everything I have ordered in the MDR this whole cruise has been very Meh! The food in the Windjammer was much better.....but that's just my opinion. I ordered the baked Alaska for dessert tonight. On a lot of ships they have updated the Baked Alaska and it has been excellent, but this was the old version. Again......just ok.

 

 

This was basically just ice cream with a meringue topping.

 

[maxs mom]

After dinner....the 70's party was getting cranked up in the Centrum. We watched that for just a little bit.....always a good time. Tanya was doing a great job with that. From what I could tell......Tanya was a human dynamo and did a lot more than the CD. I couldn't even tell you who the CD was!!

 

 

 

 

 

Next we hit the casino. I wanted to play craps again, but I was not doing a lot of winning there, so I stopped and called it quits for the evening. But I was so happy that I learned to play the game a little bit. Now maybe I won't be so intimidated to try it on other cruises!

 

 

Losers!! Ha Ha!!

 

 

John had already gone to bed, so I headed that way as well. More Dayquil. (Couldn't afford the Nyquil!!) Then on to bed!

[rs12065]

On the way back.....Giovanni took us to a beachside place so that we could get some gelato! Yum!!

 

 

 

We made it back to the ship a little after six. All aboard was 6:30' date=' so we did well. Boy ......we packed a lot into this day and it was totally worth it. Giovanni was the best.

 

 

We were pooped and had very little time to rest before heading out for the evening. We took showers and got ready and headed straight to the lounge for drinks.

 

 

We were so tired......we just headed to the Windjammer for a relaxing dinner. The choices were wonderful there and we had a very nice dinner. We enjoyed visiting with Michael and Andrea and Vic and Ann, too. We went straight to bed after that!

 

 

[/We are doing this same cruise in September, and are using RomeInLimo as well for 3 different ports. How much did you tip the drivers?

[Joe12]

The CD was Jerome Sueur. If I didn't read the forums, I wouldn't have remembered who he was either (had him on Allure last year.)

[maxs mom]

Saturday ~ June 18, 2016 ~ At Sea

 

Yay! One more sea day. We slept in again. While in the DL this morning getting my coffee, I observed Chelsea and her mom staking out their claim at the pool for the day! Ha!

 

 

 

 

Andrea and Michael finally joined us for breakfast in Chops this morning! It was another awesome day there!

 

 

John and I both broke down and added pancakes to our repitoire this morning. Yum!!

 

 

All these guys made our dining experience wonderful most every morning. Just loved it!

 

[maxs mom]

[/size][/font][/We are doing this same cruise in September, and are using RomeInLimo as well for 3 different ports. How much did you tip the drivers?

 

I think, generally we tipped about 20 euros per couple each day. Hope this helps.

[maxs mom]

The CD was Jerome Sueur. If I didn't read the forums, I wouldn't have remembered who he was either (had him on Allure last year.)

 

Wow! I don't even think I remember that name at all!! Goes to show you what a fabulous job Tanya did!

 

[maxs mom]

After breakfast we went down to get some pictures at the Photography shop. We ended up in the DL for some quiet time.

 

 

 

After that......the dreaded packing began!

 

 

 

John got his lunch at Park Café and I got mine from the WJ and we met back in the cabin and had lunch on our balcony. Very nice for the last day!

 

 

We got some ice cream for dessert and I stopped by the pool to visit with Chelsea and her family.....still in their chairs from the morning!