Brilliance of the Seas

[Barbara L.]

Hi!

 

Two couples are going on the Brilliance of the Seas, June 5,2005. We are trying to get some information about the ports and shore excursions. Some people are saying not to take Royal Caribbean's excursions and instead take taxis and mini-vans. How do we find out about this and what to see at each port.

 

 

 

Thanks!

 

Barbara

[VickiVSN]

There are a bunch of us on this same cruise that have been talking through our roll-call board here - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=44659&page=1&pp=25. A lot of the conversation is geared around coordinating private excursions if you want to go in on a group.

 

Did you catch the Travel Channel's Samatha Brown's First Cruise that aired on Thursday. Wasn't all of the same port stops, but was the Brilliance on a 12-day Med cruise?

 

Anyway, come join the conversation on our roll-call :D

[cougfan]

Barbara,

 

We just returned from our Med. cruise on the Brilliance. We did all of our tours with RCI. They all were great. Sure you were on a bus with a large group of people but we were trained from day 1 to be on time for any meeting times. In all cases we did not have to wait for any late arrivals. All the ports were busy because of the ship being there and on at least two occasions we also had the Splendour there also. We talked with people that did there own thing and they also had a great time but you really need to do research on the place you will be going. On the tour we got a good history lesson on the bus going and than during the walking. Didn't really talk to anyone who did private tours.

 

Julie

[hdawson]

You will love Brilliance. Prettiest ship of my 15 cruises. For Ports information, go to the Ports of Call board here on CC. Lots of information,.

I strongly recommend http://www.lawrenceofantigua.com to see the beautiful island of Antigua. Very nice gentleman and very flexible. I think our tour was almost 6 hours and cost $25 pp. Very clean van with good air.

When I arrive on ST Thomas I immediately take a taxi to Red Hook and ferry ($3/20min) over to the paradise of St John and Trunk Bay.

[Teri Wimmer]

Hi,

We also just returned from Brilliance Med. We did one excursion with RC and private tours at all other ports. I highly recommend private tours. Smaller more managable, less wait time and hassel. We had driverinrome.com for all our other tours except Santorini. We rented a motor bike and did that one on our own. (You must have motorcycle endorsement on your license.) We loved it! Remo the owner of driver in rome was our guide for Livorno and Rome. He is awesome. Funny entertaining and very knowledgeable about the places you see. He also seems to know all the right people because he walked us past a line of about 200 people right into see the David in Florence even tho we had no appointment. His son Danielle also does tours and even tho we didn't have him we did meet and he seems great also. (And very good looking!) They can also arrange tours for you in Athens although It was a rather boring guide. She was smart but had no passion. Have a great time. I wish I was going again. Someday........

[CruisingFLFamily]

Barbara, We were booked on the June 5 cruise until I became aware of a conflict. I have found great tour advice on the Europe board. Alot of the private guides have websites with all the info. In fact I am having difficulty making decisions with all the choices.

 

Teri,

Hi, We are doing the Brillance Med trip in July and I have booked a couple of tours with Driverinrome (Livorno & Rome) I Hope we get Remo. Looking at using them in Naples, for Pompeii. Did you like your guide in Naples? I am hoping the private tours will be fun for my kids(12-16). I booked with Revelation in Villefranche. I'll keep looking for a guide in Athens. I thought we would do Santorini & Mykonos on our own & maybe a ships tour in Turkey. Any suggestions or highlights we shouldn't miss?

 

Also, did you stay in Barcelona pre or post cruise? If you did ,any hotel recommendations? We are looking at staying 3 days pre. My daughter visited the Med in 2003 and Barcelona was her favorite so I feel confident we will enjoy our visit here.

 

I see we are almost neighbors ...north of Daytona....Palm Coast.

 

Thanks, Allyson