First timeers return

[helenliz]

Been back a week from our first cruise. Brilliance in the Western Med. We chose this as we wanted to go on holiday to Italy, and couldn't decide where to go. So a cruise taking in 5 stops in Italy seemed as good a way as any to have a taster tour of the country to decide where to go back to. So, with tongue partly in cheek, I offer the following random musings on our trip.

 

The good

 

 

• The places: Where you do the majority of traveling overnight, there's the thrill of waking up in a new place. OK, so cruise ports aren't usually in the nice end of town (or indeed any where near town at all in some instances), but there's still that excitement of "what are we going to discover today".
  
• The bed: Slept like a log. Not sure if it was the bed or the inside cabin (no natural light to wake me up) but I got my zzzzs in.
  
• The service: For the most part the staff were excellent. Helpful without being in your face. Especially those that you see regularly. Iris in the MDR worked out that we really did want another glass of wine with dinner and they'd arrive without being asked after a day or two.
  
• The space: I was worried it would be a bit cramped, but apart from the odd sea day, it didn't feel too crowded and there were enough places to be able to get away from everyone else and each other. (not sure we've ever spent that much time solidly in each other's company - space is a good thing!)
  

The bad

 

• The places: it is a very whistlestop tour, 8 hours in Rome is nowhere near long enough to see it, but it is long enough to decide if you want to spend more time there.
  
• The drinks: That's not coffee, it's tar in a mug. And how difficult is it to make a proper cup of tea? Apparently well nigh impossible.
  
• The drinks: yes I am sure I mean no ice.
  
• The drinks: Will someone please explain the drinks package to me? Husband & I could order as many glasses of wine as we liked at dinner, but not a bottle on the drinks package. How's that at all logical? Also the prices for drinks were eyewatering! If the package hadn't been an offer, I'd have been baulking at the price of every mouthful.
  
• The food: I came back desperate for a proper steaming hot meal. They were all off hot. A buffet you expect to be just warm, but even in the main dining room, the food was not properly steaming hot.
  
• The food: What has bacon ever done to deserve being turned into shrapnel?
  
• The food: It really should not be that difficult to get scrambled eggs on toast. 3 goes it took me, came close once.
  

The ugly:

 

• The service: There were a few notable exceptions to the service being good and they stuck out like a sore thumb in contrast to the usual very good standard.
  
• The food: The Italian was like no Italian I've ever been in - and not in a good way. Not worth the extra, imo.
  
• The food: Maybe it's a palate thing, but I found a lot of the sauces far too sweet (pepper sauce should never taste like syrup imo). There was also a tendency to be overly heavy handed on the cheese - the parmesan potatoes could have done with tasting of potato with a sprinkling of cheese.
  
• The arrival: You get on the boat, get your sea pass and then nothing, no map, no handy instructions as to where your cabin is, nothing. Had no idea where I was or where I was going and the last thing I want is a bloody raffle ticket.
  
• The hard sell: We had never heard of Kotor, so when we saw a "lecture" on the history & culture of the next few stops, we decided to go. Person giving it had no knowledge of either (apparently the mosaics in Ravenna are 1 to 2 centuries old. Seeing they're largely 6th century, that's only a factor of 10 out). It was an excursions sales pitch, nothing else. Misrepresentation at the very least.
  
• The extras: The way everything seemed to be extra stuck me as unreasonable. You've sold this cruise at going to Ravenna, the port is 16 km from the city and now you want to charge $15 for the bus? The boat transfer in Venice was $22 when a day ticket on the vaporetto was 20 euros for all day - and went down the Grand Canal, which the transfer didn't. However it was sold as the only option open to you. I don't like being treated like a sheep.
  
• The tipping thing: In the UK a tip is for exceptional service. We did pre-paid tips (seemed better to get it over and done with) so objected to being asked for extra tips left right & centre. Asking repeatedly is likely to get the opposite response.
  
• The security: I can accept that it has to happen, but I don't see why it's needed twice at a single port, once on the dock and once on the ship. Getting half undressed once I can deal with, twice is surely redundant.
  
• The staff: It felt that the majority of the staff seemed to come from the poorer countries of the world. It felt like we were taking advantage of them and having them wait on us in an echo of a colonial rule thought pattern. I found that really difficult to deal with.
  

So would we cruise again? Not sure. Maybe, but I think we'd try another cruise line if that were the decision. Maybe a few years, once we've returned to the places we now know we want to go and spend some more time.

Edited May 20, 2017 by helenliz
To add ship.

[Missusdubbya]

Thanks for your review, which ship?

 

 

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[helenliz]

oops, sorry. Brilliance. have edited to include!

[Missusdubbya]

Thanks

 

 

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[Seashoregal]

Thank you! We written.

 

 

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[Clarea]

... The drinks: Will someone please explain the drinks package to me? Husband & I could order as many glasses of wine as we liked at dinner, but not a bottle on the drinks package. How's that at all logical?

 

...

I think it is fairly clearly stated in the drink package description that it only includes wine by the glass. Also, if you do order a bottle, you get a significant discount (20% or 40% depending on the bottle price) as a result of having the drink package.

 

 

Thanks for the report.

[Biker19]

The staff: It felt that the majority of the staff seemed to come from the poorer countries of the world. It felt like we were taking advantage of them and having them wait on us in an echo of a colonial rule thought pattern. I found that really difficult to deal with.

So would we cruise again? Not sure. Maybe, but I think we'd try another cruise line if that were the decision.

The staff demographic does not change much between cruise lines, so if you feel you are taking advantage of the crew, then cruising is not for you. Actually, much of the world would be off limits to you if that is an issue.

[Seashoregal]

One of our waitresses told us that the money she made she sends home to her family to buy clothes and shoes and schooling for her daughter.

 

 

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[dd likes to cruise]

Haven't been to those ports, but I've never even had to take a jacket off with ship security. It's nothing like airport security. So not sure why you had to undress?

[reallyhooked]

Have done Brilliance & Navigator on the Med., would go again in a heartbeat.

Hopefully OP will try cruising again