Just back from Brilliance in Mediterrenean

[Aleciajoyful1]

I just got back last night from a 7 night Med cruise on the Brilliance. I'm putting together an official review, but would love to answer an immediate questions you may have.

 

First, the ship was awesome

Second, the itinerary was awesome

Third, we will go back to Europe. But as a land tour next time

[jstducky]

why do you say that you'll do a land tour next time? just so you have more time? was the cruise worth it?

 

also what shore excursions did you do? on your own? with the ship? with a private guide? what were your port cities? did you do a pre or post cruise stay?

 

thanks!

[Aleciajoyful1]

We will do land next time, really to have more time. We found out that from Rome you can pretty much drive anywhere within 3-4 hours. Venice in particular, which was not on our intinerary. On a cruise you are so limited on your time, always thinking in the back of your head, about getting to the ship on time.

 

We sailed from Civitavecchia, where we did a one day pre-cruise stay in Rome. Visited Naples, Messina, Florence, Villefranche and ended in Barcelona. It was the only time this year that particular itinerary was offered. Not sure why. I think it had to do with a private chartered cruise from Amway the week before us.

 

We hired private private drivers in Naples and Florence, which is the best way I would suggest to do those cities. We were with a party of 4, and paid 400 euro total for all of us for the day in each city.

 

In Messina and Villefranche we just got off of the ship and did our own thing. At night my husband went back to the grand casino in Monte Carlo and I stayed on the ship.

[jstducky]

Can I ask you who you used as a private guide? And what sights did you end up seeing in florence and naples?

 

in florence, did you guys to go pisa as well?

in naples did you go to capri and pompeii and sorrento, or did you do sorrento and the amalfi coast, or positano?

 

i'm just trying to gather as much info as possible! thanks for your help!

[LBB]

What was the weather like? What kind of room did you have? Am I correct in thinking that it may not matter as much on this type of trip since it's port-intensive?

[Aleciajoyful1]

Sorry for the delay in responding but jetlag got the best of me last night.

 

jstducky, we used Francesco Marrapese in Naples (loved him) and we went to: Herculaneum instead of Pompeii because I heard it was less crowded and smaller. Without having anything to compare it with we enjoyed it. Then we did the Amalfi Coast drive and stopped in Sorrento, Positano and Ravello. What beautiful cities! In Florence we used Marco with TuscanyTours for a Florence/Pisa tour. We started the day at Piazzale Michelangelo, then went to Florence where he dropped us off to spend a few hours on our own. We went into the Piazza del Doumo and climed over 400 steps to go to the top. Not for the faint of heart! We then walked the streets and went to Ponte Vecchio and did some shopping. When we were done in Florence we then drove to Pisa and toured the Duomo and Baptistry there. I regret that we did not climb the tour but there was not enough time. We got there at 3:30pm, and intended to leave by 5pm and the next tour to go in the tower was at 4:30pm. We probably could have made it, but after climbing all of the stairs in Florence I had to pass!

 

lbb, we left Rome on May 29th and ended in Barcelona on June 5th. It was hot and sunny all week! We had a rain shower our first evening in Rome, and then no clouds for the rest of the week. I was surprised that we were able to lay out on the pool deck when we were at sea. As far as our room, we had an aft balcony (1102), and because we had 2 at sea days I'm glad we went with the bigger room. We had breakfast on the balcony 3 days and had champagne out there 1 formal evening. I don't know that it is worth it to go for a suite unless money is no object!

 

Hope this helps!

[jstducky]

Alecia - thanks so much for the info. i truly appreciate it. your naples tour sounds wonderful, i'll have to look into it. can you tell me how i can contact francesco? does he have a website?