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

[maxs mom]

 

 

All the people in St. Mark's Square looked like ants! And there were so many of them!!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

Here we are coming in to the port area. We docked around 3 o'clock. The Rhapsody was there! They were embarking there today. We saw them having a muster drill when we went out later.

 

 

 

So we got ourselves ready and got off the ship around 4 o'clock. We bought the one day shuttle from the ship at a cost of $25 per person. We thought we would use the local vaporetto the next day. Here we are getting off the ship:

 

 

This is the shuttle that the ship uses. They said it was going to take us to St. Mark's Square, but in reality it took us about 4 bridges down from SMS and for someone with mobility issues......that was a fairly hard walk. If you are in good shape.....no problem. When we took the vaporetto the next day.....it dropped us off almost right there at SMS......much better in my opinion.

 

 

On the shuttle:

 

 

Here we go!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SeeUsoon@Sea]

We just booked this cruise!Thank you for the pics and review. All these ports (Rome and Venice) was the game changer for me. Of course it's not till 10/2017 but reading review like yours and planning ahead will hopefully occupy my time till cruising.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Virtopia]

I'm really enjoying the review. I hope to book this itinerary in Sept 2017. I've done many Caribbean and Mexico cruises, but have never been overseas. I'm a little nervous since I will be traveling solo. I definitely want to use Romeinlimo for Rome. Hopefully, I can tag along with another group. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

 

I'm going solo in September and I'll have a full review when I get back! I'm a bit nervous but more excited as this is my bucket list trip.

[SteveinPhilly]

Not to hijack this amazing review but Steve in Philly,would you mind sharing a link to your youtube video's as I am sure many (including me) would love to check them out ;)

 

Terri! I didn't want to deter from Jane's report - it's her thread. I took a lot of video with my digital camera (I like that cause I can explain it) and made TWO youtube videos for each port. One is a comp of the video footage (some is not edited - takes to much time), and ones with the still photos and a music soundtrack. So there are about 18 of them. The easiest way to see what you want is to go to this link (in a minute) for Barcelona (day 2 - with the AMAZING La Sagrada Familia) and then chick on my "channel" and you can scoll down and see the others. All are public. MOST of my other videos (I have a lot) are of music performances mostly of folk musicians - I'm a music journalist:cool:.

There are separate ones for each day in Barcelona (I fractured my wrist after getting off ship :(. And there is one of me climbing the 1700 steps to the fort in Kotor.

 

 

The Meet and Mingles (there were two) with Tanya is an unlisted Youtube - but you'll find that here:

 

Thanks for letting me share Jane. As you know we saw different things

 

S

[TLC535]

You will love it!

 

I know we will :D we have been to most of the ports except Livorno' date=' Ravenna & Kotor and being able to spend my 20th anniversary back in Europe thrills me to no end !

(especially Venice :D my personal favorite) Thank you again for bringing back so many wonderful memories !

 

 

 

Steve - I found all of your great videos/photos and sharing a link to them with our roll call :D Thanks for helping to build the excitement ![/b']

[txcowboy10]

Question: can guys wear shorts on excursions allowing them entry to the various churches on tours or should we wear long pants? We've done Rome and Vatican before so that's not on our bucket list but I know we're visiting many churches on our excursions...thx for any feedback on this issue! :)

 

Mark

Edited July 12, 2016 by txcowboy10

[maxs mom]

We just booked this cruise!Thank you for the pics and review. All these ports (Rome and Venice) was the game changer for me. Of course it's not till 10/2017 but reading review like yours and planning ahead will hopefully occupy my time till cruising.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Great! You picked a good one. We've done a good bit of this itinerary before so that should tell you how good it is.

[maxs mom]

Terri! I didn't want to deter from Jane's report - it's her thread. I took a lot of video with my digital camera (I like that cause I can explain it) and made TWO youtube videos for each port. One is a comp of the video footage (some is not edited - takes to much time), and ones with the still photos and a music soundtrack. So there are about 18 of them. The easiest way to see what you want is to go to this link (in a minute) for Barcelona (day 2 - with the AMAZING La Sagrada Familia) and then chick on my "channel" and you can scoll down and see the others. All are public. MOST of my other videos (I have a lot) are of music performances mostly of folk musicians - I'm a music journalist:cool:.

There are separate ones for each day in Barcelona (I fractured my wrist after getting off ship :(. And there is one of me climbing the 1700 steps to the fort in Kotor.

 

 

The Meet and Mingles (there were two) with Tanya is an unlisted Youtube - but you'll find that here:

 

Thanks for letting me share Jane. As you know we saw different things

 

S

 

It's amazing how you can be on the same cruise and have totally different experiences.

[maxs mom]

Question: can guys wear shorts on excursions allowing them entry to the various churches on tours or should we wear long pants? We've done Rome and Vatican before so that's not on our bucket list but I know we're visiting many churches on our excursions...thx for any feedback on this issue! :)

 

Mark

 

Yes......we wore shorts just about everywhere and had no problems. We were a little more conservative when we went to Rome and St. Peter's, but one in our group had on shorts and it was not a problem.

[txcowboy10]

Yes......we wore shorts just about everywhere and had no problems. We were a little more conservative when we went to Rome and St. Peter's' date=' but one in our group had on shorts and it was not a problem.[/size']

 

Thx very much Jane...really enjoying ur review and pix...getting us very excited for our same trip in 8 weeks!

 

Mark

[joand452]

Jane _ I’m following your narrative and accumulated a few comments, in case useful to others taking same itinerary.

 

Re: Nice – we took bus too. Sorry you didn’t discover Castle Hill. It was literally a few blocks from where the bus dropped you off. A FREE elevator and a great park with old ruins and GREAT view and lots of trees for coolness. I put a lot of the views in my video on You tube for that day.

 

I was going to attach some stills but they are too large to attach.:(

S

 

Would you mind including a link to your review here? I'd like to see your video, as well.

 

So happy to find another of your diaries, Jane! I really enjoy reading them -- especially when we have no cruises for at least a year! :(

[maxs mom]

So off we go to Venice in the late afternoon. As I said, we were dropped off about 4 bridges down from St. Mark's Square. Just so happens that the last time we were in Venice, our hotel was right at this spot, so we were familiar with this area. We headed towards St. Mark's through all the crowds. It was a tough walk for John as he has some mobility issues, but we took it slow and we made it. There were four bridges to walk over and each had a great view.

 

 

Lots to see.

 

 

 

We passed by the Bridge of Sighs.

 

 

It was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed St. Mark's Square.

 

 

[maxs mom]

The crowd was beginning to thin out just a little bit.

 

 

Our first stop was the Camponile or bell tower. We paid 8 euros each to ride to the top for the fabulous view. There was just a short line so it didn't take too long to get up there.

 

 

 

Really great views from up top.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

The bells didn't ring when we were up there, but I know people who have been there when they did.....and it was quite the experience!

 

 

 

 

A few more shots from up in the air!

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

We walked through the square and enjoyed that for a little bit, but we wanted to get out into the little alleyways and away from there where the real action is!! It is so fun to explore all the little nooks and crannies back in those alleyways. That's the best part of Venice to me. It is truly sensory overload!!

 

 

 

 

We slipped into one of the corners of the Square and wandered down the little alleys.....you just keep going and going and run into all kinds of fun and great sites. You can't get lost....there are directional signs on the buildings that tell you the way back to the Square or the vaporetto. So don't worry about getting lost.

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

On our walkabout we saw lots of folks taking a gondola ride. We did this last time so didn't feel the need to do it again. But it is a fun thing to do.

 

 

 

Just a lovely evening for a stroll.

 

 

 

We were walking along and came upon a landmark that I recognized. It was a hanging lamp that was the entrance to a neat little restaurant that we had been to before. I got so excited.....until we got closer and found out they were closed on Mondays!! Bummer! So if you are wandering around and see this lantern sign......stop in to eat because it is a wonderful little family restaurant.

 

 

So just over the bridge we found another trattoria that looked ok, so we stopped in there to have dinner.

 

 

[maxs mom]

This place was ok and gave us a little fuel to keep going!

 

 

 

 

I had some delicious lasagna and John had a pizza.

 

 

 

Nice little stop.

 

[maxs mom]

We paid our bill and continued to meander our way back towards the RC shuttle stop.

 

 

 

We then sailed away back to the ship.

 

 

 

We got back to the ship just in time to have a drink before the DL closed. So we sat there and had our drink even though the lounge was closing and the cleaning crew came in. Nice views from the lounge.

 

We were pretty tired, so went on to bed!

 

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ June 14, 2016 ~ Venice[

 

Had a leisurely breakfast this morning in Chops. Delicious. No one there!

 

 

Andrea, Michael, and I put on all our rain gear (yes.....it was raining) ....and headed out again this morning for a day of exploring and shopping. John decided to stay on the ship. That would just be too much walking for him.

 

 

As we left the ship....the bottom fell out and it poured. That didn't stop us, though!! We decided to take the vaporetto today.....round trip.....for 15 euros. That's the way to go The vaporetto stop is much closer to SMS which is much more desirable. So I would recommend doing that.

 

 

We walked through the square in the pouring rain.

 

 

 

We finally figured out that we needed to be walking under cover through the colonnades while it was raining so hard.

 

 

[maxs mom]

 

You only want to window shop here as the prices are sky high in these shops. When you are ready to do some real shopping......get into those alleyways where the prices for things are drastically reduced!

 

We even saw a little orchestra playing outside a restaurant.

 

 

It rained.

 

 

And rained.

 

 

And rained!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

The rain started to slack off, so we took off down one of those alleyways and started browsing through some shops.

 

 

 

We started finding some things right away that we wanted to buy. One of the first things that we bought were masks. That is something that I regretted not buying the last time we were here and there was going to be a masquerade ball that night......so why not!?

 

 

 

We wandered a bit more and shopped some more....we bought some Murano glass jewelry pieces and other items made from Murano glass......very reasonable. I'm sorry that I didn't get more! Andrea found some great prices on leather purses and she bought three!! We just kept finding more and more alleyways and squares and finding more and more things. Great fun!

 

 

We found out where the water taxi stand was! Even though we weren't looking for it!

 

[maxs mom]

Water taxis.......very expensive if you take one!!

 

 

 

 

We were looking for a certain restaurant that Andrea and Michael's daughter recommended. She was just in Venice the week before. We finally found it.....to discover that it was closed on Tuesdays!! What??!!

 

 

So we found another restaurant in a square nearby. It turned out to be very nice and we had a great lunch.

 

 

[maxs mom]

Enjoying lunch!