Review of BOS 8/15/06

[producegirl]

This is going to be a first time thing for me...so please bear with me.

We just had such a good time that I feel I need to share with all of you.

Day 1

We started out flying on US Air direct from Philadelphia to Barcelona.

A great flight and when we got to Barcelona, we got our luggage in 20 minutes...a definite first for US Air.

We stayed at the Hotel Palace and we were treated like Kings and Queens! We were upgrated to a suite and had a bottle of wine waiting for us and a full breakfast was included every day!

We landed at 7:30AM Sunday morning, but for us it was the middle of the night. So we ate a good breakfast and then went to the room and took a nap.

Thanks to all of you we hired Gaston as our guide. He meet us around 5:30PM and we had Hilary, an American living in Spain, take us on a tour of the Gothic district and tapas bars. We stayed out to around 10PM and then had to get back to bed again. What a start!!

 

Day 2

Gaston meet us at 10AM and he had his driver with him...Patti. He drove us all over the city. Went to the flower market, saw Gaudi and then more Gaudi...loved La Famiglia! Took us to a Castilian restaurant for lunch...very good and inexpensive. Dropped us back at the hotel around 6PM.

We asked our Conceierge for a suggestion for a restaurant that opened before 8:30PM. He gave us one and made a reservation for us for 7:30 that night. I have to find the card with the name for you all...it was AWESOME!! When I went to the Ladies Room there was a picture of famous people that had eaten there...Bill Clinton was one of them. My husband was "craving" a Margeretta all day and they not only made him one but did it right in front of us.

As we were leaving there was a fiesta going on and we got to watch and enjoy that.

Then back to the hotel for the ending of another perfect day.

 

Day 3

We slept in a little then had breakfast and took a cab to the ship.

She was the most "beautiful" ship in the harbor! We boarded around 11:30 AM with no problems. Couldn't get to the cabins till 1PM but that was no problem for us. They even offered to hold your carry ons for you.

Before we left home, Katherine, the Concierge in the Lounge had emailed us and after we Boarded made our way to Deck 10 and meet with her and went over all of our arrangements that she did for us. Made all of our Spa services and dinner reservations at Chops and Portofino's. Can I tell you what a life saver that was!!!!!!!!!

Then we proceeded to the Windjammer for lunch and took a quick tour of the ship. By then, we were able to access our cabins. We had a GS cabin #1030 a little forward. It was a typical GS suite and we were very pleased. Our friend, Joanne, was with us and she had a D1 cabin #1024 right down the hall from us.

We meet our room stewart, Lana, the BEST we ever had. She was from Rumania and just couldn;t do enough for us!!

The rest of the day was spent getting familiar with the ship and getting ready for dinner and meeting our table mates and dinning staff. But, that will have to wait until tomorrow.

[MrsKnuts2]

We loved the Brilliance! I can't wait to read the rest of your review.

[PoohUnderstands]

Producegirl:

Great first review! Keep the information coming! We will be going on Sept.20th. If you can give specific information on where you ate in Barcelona for lunch and dinner(good or bad!) it would be appreciated. Can't wait to read on about your port of calls!

 

Also, if you were just to pick one speciality restaurant would it be Chops or Portofino and why. Thanks again for taking your time to give us your review, and yes, isn't it a grand way to relive a great cruise!

 

Pooh

[MLinFL]

Great review - looking forward to the rest. One question - did you book your pre-cruise hotel on your own or thru the cruise line?

 

Thanks!

 

Mary Lou

[producegirl]

I have to write the true review early in the AM at home as this is where my notes are. So, this is just to try and answer some of your questions.

We picked the hotel in Barcelona on Hotels.com and then gave the order to our travel agent and she did the rest. We asked her opinion and so forth. We wanted a 4 of 5 star hotel so it wasn't a real hard choice. The Hotel Palace use to be called the Ritz Hotel. But, the Ritz Carlton built next door and they changed their name to the Hotel Palace.

I have to ask Joanne the names of the restaurants where we ate in Barcelona and then I'll get back to you.

As for the speciality restaurants on the ship...both were very good.

We ate at each one twice...but I did prefer Chops. I thought that the service and food was just a "tad" better.

Hopes this helps and more to come tomorrow.

[terrybiz]

Hi Producegirl

I am sailing BOS on Sept 12th and enjoying your review.

I was wondering how you got conceirge service in a D1 CABIN, are you a diamond C&A. I would love to setup services also, But we are Platnium

Thanks for the reply in advance

[keith0926]

Hi Producegirl. Great review! I am enjoying your cruise! We booked the BOS for Panama in Feb 2007. I can't wait to read more!

 

Patty