Jump to content
Cruise Critic Community

Review: Brilliance of the Seas 12 nt Mediterranean/Venice

redrob1234
 Share

Recommended Posts

redrob1234

redrob1234

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Can anyone offer me any advice or suggest what I am doing wrong here? I have been loading the photos up straight from the camera roll on my iPad. The first few posts were good but the past few are really poor quality. I'm stumped.....

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums mobile app

Link to comment
Share on other sites
Clarea

Clarea

Posted
Posted
Can anyone offer me any advice or suggest what I am doing wrong here? I have been loading the photos up straight from the camera roll on my iPad. The first few posts were good but the past few are really poor quality. I'm stumped.....

Somehow you have flipped the resolution to thumbnail mode.

Link to comment
Share on other sites
redrob1234

redrob1234

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)

I will give up on the photos for a while until I sort out my technical difficulties.

 

On to my final thoughts:

 

We had a fantastic trip and could highly recommend this itinerary. We liked the ship and the size and the fact that there is so much glass and that you can nearly always see water is a big plus.

 

This time of year is very busy and very hot in the Med ports and there are lots of kids on board the ship. This cruise in June or September would be more comfortable in terms of the heat and humidity.

 

I think it pays to do your research on the ports. We met people who thought they could just disembark and wing it. You can do that but you probably won't get to do or see a lot. We met a family who did no tours at all and really regretted it.

 

Royal Caribbean did not WOW me, in fact there were a few annoying things. I would cruise with RCI again but I would certainly explore other options as well.

 

We usually do land vacations so I'm not sure when our next cruise will be.

 

We had opted to settle our Setsail account in US Dollars and let our credit card company do the conversion to Australian dollars. Our documents reflected this too but when we received our final account they had already converted the amount using the very Unfavourable RCI exchange rate. There was a large queue and guest services so we let it go. Our final account wasn't that much so it wasn't a big deal but it could have been if we had a large account to settle.

 

Surely this information would be in the same computer system that spat out my documents confirming I would be charged in US Dollars.

 

We enjoyed the solarium pool and also liked the Park Cafe for snacks or breakfast.

 

We didn't get to the casino. We planned to but we just never got around to it. We did walk through it a few times and it was nearly always empty.

 

The specialty restaurants also appeared to be empty.

 

I didn't have any spa services. The prices were high and I really dislike the hard sell you always get at the end of your treatment. It's far from relaxing when you walk out felling really cheap because you didn't buy the magic creams that were promised to fix my disaster zones.

 

We prepaid our tips but didn't feel the need to tip any extra except a few $ for room service. I hate tipping - I find it awkward and degrading and wish the criuse staff did not have to rely on it for a proper salary. It should be a compulsory service charge and built into the overall cruise fare.

 

We traveled for a week prior to boarding the ship so 4 ports in the first 4 days really took its toll. We were very ready for our sea day on day 6.

 

The highlight for us was the great people we met. We enjoyed chatting to different people and found the guests and staff to be very friendly.

 

 

 

 

~ Vicki ~

Edited by redrob1234
Link to comment
Share on other sites
KiwiGal117

KiwiGal117

Posted
Posted

Thanks for taking the time to do this!! Very sorry to hear about the disaster with dining, that really would put a sour note on proceedings and is so preventable.

 

May I ask what tour company you used in Rome for the private Vatican tour? We will be there in a few weeks and wanted to organize something. Thanks!

Link to comment
Share on other sites
redrob1234

redrob1234

Posted
  • Author
Posted (edited)
Thanks for taking the time to do this!! Very sorry to hear about the disaster with dining, that really would put a sour note on proceedings and is so preventable.

 

May I ask what tour company you used in Rome for the private Vatican tour? We will be there in a few weeks and wanted to organize something. Thanks!

 

WE booked with Joe Banana - they have a tour sharing page - it's easy enough to find. The price gets less the more people you have up to a maximum of 8 people. Very easy to deal with and you pay cash at the end of the tour.

Edited by redrob1234
Link to comment
Share on other sites
Carolinalady1950

Carolinalady1950

Posted
Posted

Loved reading about your trip. Thank you for sharing with all of us.

I had read somewhere that you could catch a bus at the dock for a ride into Ravenna. From reading your review, only RCI bus or taxi's . Do you remember the cost for the 4 of you for the taxi?

Thanks,

Eunice

Link to comment
Share on other sites
redrob1234

redrob1234

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Hi there

 

We paid €23-25 each way for the taxi. I heard some other people mention a public bus for about €2 each but it was a bit of a walk from the port (not visible from the port area) and the bus came once per hour I believe.

 

 

~ Vicki ~

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Please sign in to comment

You will be able to leave a comment after signing in



Sign In Now
 Share
Go to topic listing
  • Forum Jump
    • Categories
      • Welcome to Cruise Critic
      • New Cruisers
      • Cruise Lines “A – O”
      • Cruise Lines “P – Z”
      • River Cruising
      • ROLL CALLS
      • Cruise Critic News & Features
      • Digital Photography & Cruise Technology
      • Special Interest Cruising
      • Cruise Discussion Topics
      • UK Cruising
      • Australia & New Zealand Cruisers
      • Canadian Cruisers
      • North American Homeports
      • Ports of Call
      • Cruise Conversations
×
×
  • Create New...