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

maxs mom
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Sunny AZ Girl

Sunny AZ Girl

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Thank you for the wonderful review, Jane! Excellent, as always.:)

 

We will be doing a TA from Barcelona this October on the Harmony and the Jewel Italy and Greece in October 2017, so your review hit quite a few ports of interest for me. Like you, the Jewel has seem to become our "home away from home". I enjoyed seeing the similarities/differences on the Brilliance.

 

I know how much time a review such as yours takes. I have done several. I got lazy after my last one on the Jewel (Panama Canal) and did not do one. Now I kind of regret it. It is a nice way to remember the cruise for me, too. I do a detailed photo book with Picaboo, but I have no real way to share that here.

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Cat54

Cat54

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I enjoyed reading this wonderful review. Makes me want to book this itinerary again. We are doing the 13 Night Ultimate Baltic cruise in 2017 aboard the Serenade.

 

Like you we used Rome In Limo both times we cruised from Barcelona. Highly recommend them.

 

Thanks for posting the pictures. It sealed the deal. Looking to book this trip in 2018!

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CajunCruisers

CajunCruisers

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Thank You So Much for this Wonderful Review Jane!!! I loved it! We are doing the same cruise on the Brilliance on October 5 with one exception, we are going to Dubrovnik, Croatia instead of Salerno.

Reading your review and looking at all the Great pictures has made me even more excited than I already was and I did not think that was possible!

This will be our first Mediterranean Cruise and our first trip to Europe and we are really looking forward to it. I have been planning for a year and can't believe we only have 11 weeks left till we sail.

Thanks Again,

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SeeUsoon@Sea

SeeUsoon@Sea

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Thank You again for the GREAT review! Did you happen to hear anything about a dry dock for Brillance? I know that Jewel was April of this year. I've been reading many reviews that she needs "freshening".

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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PhilNDebbieAtSea

PhilNDebbieAtSea

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Well.....I feel like we got the good price that we did by booking as soon as we knew we were going to book the cruise which was over a year out. We had heard that Icelandic Air had great prices' date=' but when we checked American/British Air......we found the prices just as low as Icelandic so we jumped on it. So glad we did. That made the trip so much more enjoyable![/size']

 

 

 

Thanks for the tips!!

 

 

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PhilNDebbieAtSea

PhilNDebbieAtSea

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We actually jumped on the business class seats the week they came out! As I recall, we had a choice of seats because none of the others had been taken yet. Also, as an aside, we found direct flights from Charlotte to Barcelona. Since Charlotte and Raleigh are close to Jane and John, we flew in several days earlier. Michael and I used miles for first class tickets to Raleigh and first class tickets home from Charlotte to LAX. There was a secret(which I am sharing here...) look carefully at domestic flight awards. It was 25,000 miles to fly first class and 30,000 miles to fly economy. YES, those numbers are correct. This has happened in the past as well.

 

 

 

Wow!!! That's crazy!! Thank you!!!

 

 

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CruisinBarb63

CruisinBarb63

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Thank you for sharing such a wonderful report! I always dreamed of traveling the world and I'm thrilled that I am able to do so virtually thru the pictures and reports of so many who are able to travel to places I will likely never see in person.

 

Safe travels!

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SeaBreezy

SeaBreezy

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The sailing after ours (7/1/16) just returned and I thought I'd share a comment or two there Jane. First off the Capt did the same thing as he did for us. He was never around and every night he came on and MUMBLED and no one could understand him.

 

 

Who was the Captain? Did you see them much?

 

 

 

This has been a most excellent review! Very informative. Thank you so much!!!!

Edited by SeaBreezy
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maxs mom

maxs mom

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  • Author
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Ole-Johan GRONHAUG

 

Never saw him (I missed the Captain's reception since it conflicted with dinner.)And when he spoke on speaker he mumbled everything and was totally incoherent.

 

Steve

 

I don't recall ever seeing him. He has been with the company FOREVER. He was the Captain on our second cruise back in the 80's when he was a brand new Captain on the Song of Norway. I don't think the crew is real happy with him. When I had lunch with Teodora and the Bar Manager......I was telling them about him and they just laughed and asked if he spoke faster back then!! I think it is time for Ole to retire!!

 

Once again, thank you all for the nice comments. It's been fun. At the time of the cruise we were always so exhausted. When I put it all together like this, it makes me realize how much fun we had!! Thanks for reading!

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SteveinPhilly

SteveinPhilly

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I don't When I had lunch with Teodora and the Bar Manager.....!

 

Jane- Since you had good relationship with the top level staff includingTheodora, might you have an email address for her or any of the heotel managers?

 

I'm trying to reach two guests I met who wanted to stay in touch and I got there email addresses and then lost them in Barcelona, I'd hate to lose touch.

 

When we were on the ship I was able to have the Front Desk contact them with MY cabin # and they could contact me. I write to RCI's C&A to given them permission to provide my email address to these two couples (and let them know I wanted to reach them) but they weren't able to. Of course I got a generic reply.

So if you have any email contact info, let me know and I'll let you send to me privately.

Steve

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SteveinPhilly

SteveinPhilly

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Jane:

 

Someone going next month asked this question and you are better qualified to answer than I:

 

I emailed Jany at Romeinlimo and she said they really recommend just 6. The price is $20 more for 6 so not too bad.

 

They also recommend a Vatican guide. It's $160 euros split between the 6 of us. What do you think? Steve? Any thoughts? Is there an audio tour we can use in there? Otherwise the driver just drops us off at the Vatican. Oh, and Kristy, we have to buy some of our tickets ahead of time. (Not that I have yet.)

 

I know you used Romeinlimo and I recommended them based on you. We did not do the Vatican the last two times we cruised because 1) we had been and 2) It takes a lot of time in very short (5 1/2 -6 hour day)

 

I've always told folks that you should choose to see EITHER St Pauls and Vatican Museim OR see Trevi Fountain, Forum, Plaza Navona, Pantheon and Colusseum unlesd you want just a drive by. I also say - come back for what you missed.

 

What would your reply be to these folks - they are a family of 4 with kids 8 and 12. (I'll share with them)

 

Steve

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