6-15-Greetings from Barcelona--Almost LIVE from Brilliance

[CanuckCruizer]

Bob - You said you had an oversized balcony on the hump. Are you in a D1 by any chance? We have 9094 booked and are wondering how much bigger the balcony really is? RCCL just keeps telling me it is the standard 41 sq. ft., but obviously it is bigger. Any details would be appreciated!!

[RDeagazio]

Hi Everyone-

 

Please excuse me for not answering any of your questions, but last night I got 4 hrs sleep, the night before that only 3 hrs and it's 440am and I have to be up in 1.5 hrs to get my group ready for Livorno. Needless to say, I won't be going to bed as the sun is rising and we're curently turning to make our way to the pilot station. By the looks of it the only sleep I'm going to get is on the flight home.

 

We had a lovely day with our guides Frederick and Guy from Dream Tours. Due to the size of our group they camein 2 mini vans and met us right at the dock in Villefranche at 1130am as scheduled. We immediately left the dock and toured Monaco, making the Palace in time for the changing of the guards. We then went to the Cathedral where Prince Renier and Princess Grace are buried and had 45 mins to explore Monaco before heading off to Monte Carlo. Once there we toured the town, Casino and drove on the route of the Grand Prix. Following that, we spent 1 hour at Eze Village which was beautiful in spite of a little rain. From Eze, we headed to Nice and were dropped off in Old Town at the Flower Market for 1.5 hrs to have lunch and walk around. We had a great lunch at a local restaurant and then proceeded to drive the coast of Nice on our way to St. Paul de Vence where we had 2 hrs to explore on our own. This place was incredible and is not to be missed.

From there we headed back to the port arriving at 630p-- the last tender back to the ship was at 730p so we had plenty of time. I can't say enough about these 2 guides and Dream Tours-- their cost was very reasonable compared to the ship tours and they were very accommodating in doing whatever we wanted. Not only did we see more than the RCI tours, but we were able to be dropped off right in front of the places we visited. The RCI tours were more expensive and since they used large busses they had to walk over a mile into the various places while we were dropped off and picked up right in front. One of the ladies told me their tour was 10 hrs long and they only say 1/4 of what we did and paid more than us. Our tour was 7 hrs long and we paid a lot less and saw much more. I highly recommend Dream Tours and will post more info on how to contact them later in the week when I'm not sleep deprived.

 

Tonight's dinner was excellent again-- the food on this ship is nothing short of 5 star!! The menu again had at least 6 appetizers, 4 salads, 8 entrees, the special menu in addition to the regular one, and 8 desserts. Our waitstaff has been excellent. Last night we had requested a few plates of cheese and 4 orders of shrimp cocktail to be shared among the 13 of us and tonight upon arrival in the dining room- they same order was already on the table when we arrived. The meal was excellent from start to finish!! Our waitstaff is excellent and is a lot of fun.

 

Following dinner was the show-- an Italian singer who's name escapes me at the moment but he was very good and funny. He agreed to perform tomorrow (tonight) in the Centrum in between dinner seatings and we look forward to hearing him again. He sang opera, and modern tunes and in between told jokes which was very entertaining.

 

As I mentioned in my first post, the Brilliance was not looking great in the areas of outside maintenance-- I need to correct myself-- the reason the wooden railings looked so shabby is they were sanded in preparation of being re-varnished-- today most of them had a fresh coat of varnish and they're looking very nice.

 

The staff on this ship could not be nicer-- Katherine the Concierge is so sweet and Angela the bartender in the Hollywood Odyssey which serves as the secondary Concierge Lounge nightly from 430p-930p is a total riot!! Watch out for her drinks as they are about 99.9% alcohol!! Tonight she was joking with one of the regular's who's been in the lounge every night prior to dinner and he made a comment to her and she squirted him with water from the beverage gun behind the bar--- she is so much fun and has already attracted quite a loyal following and it's only day 2 of this cruise!

 

Well folks-- it's now 5am, the sun is rising, the pilot boat is approaching and I'm still in my clothes from last night! I need to get in the shower and get ready to wake my group for our 730am pick up for our tour to Florence, Pisa, Lucca and the Tuscan Countryside. I promise to answer all your questions, so please feel free to ask-- it may take me 2 more days until our first sea day to have time, but I will get to all of them.

 

I hope the airline doesn't charge me excess baggage fees for the bags that are under my eyes-- but even if they do it would be worth it... If the next 10 nights are half as good as the first 2 were I will have no complaints!

[hylasgirl]

Thanks Bob for your posts! You seriously need to get some rest though. Wow.... I hope you had a great day in Florence. I love that place!

 

I am glad that you found out why the railings were looking worn... we were on the ship last year and we loved the BOS... in fact, it has been my most favorite ship so far. I love the way everything is decorated. I think it is very classy for that large of ship.

 

Keep up the post... all of us that are getting ready to sail love reading about your trip.

 

My husband and I are interested in finding your restaurant in Barcelona. It sounds great and my husband loves sangria.

[RDeagazio]

We spent today in Florence-- after not sleeping at all last night and spending a full day touring, I'm not sure how detailed this post will be since it's now 1am and the coast of Naples is glowing in the distance. I need to get at least 4 hrs sleep tonight or I'll be dead by the time we get to Pompeii this afternoon.

 

We have not kept 1 single time as originally posted in our itinerary. Originally we were supposed to be in Villefranche until 11pm, but when the docs came it was changed to 8pm-- no big deal. Today we were supposed to be in Florence until 7pm, however they changed our departure to 615p-- again no big deal. It seems that we will keep to schedule tomorrow with Naples port time of 8a-8p.

 

Anyway, today we were met by Claudio Caponera and his associate Danielle from Limo in Rome. They were at the dock as promised at 730a. We had 2 mini vans so we could get right up close to our detinations in Florence and thus not have to waste any precious time walking from place to place. We left the pier at 745a well ahead of the RCI busses and thus avoided the traffic they would have caused. We made a quick 10 min stop at Pisa for a photo op, and then continued on to Florence-- we spent the day at the Accedemia, Baptistry, Bell Tower, Duomo, Ponte Vecchio and the leather market and outdoor shopping stalls. The weather was warm in the morning and hot (96 degrees) in the afternoon. Claudio allowed us to dictate where we wanted to go and how much time we wanted in each place. He made our reservations at the Accademia and we bypassed all lines in each place. Notg only that but he literally drove us to the front door of most places. He parked both vans in the city center and squares and waited with the vans so we could leave our bags there safely. He also made us reservations at a local Trattoria where we had a private air conditioned dining room and excellent food and wine for approx. 13 EURO each. The meal was very good and fast allowing the ladies more time to shop. Claudio made sure we were back on time, and in fact we were quite early arriving at 4pm well ahead of our 545pm all aboard call.

 

We will be using Limo in Rome for our tours tomorrow in Naples and again in Rome. I highly recommend using them if you want a stress free way to see as uch as possible without having to walk miles. The people on the RCI excursions have not been happy-- first off the RCI busses are not allowed in or near any of the city centers thus they have to park 1 to 1.5 miles away and everyone has to walk to/from the cities. On top of that there is little to no free time given and they are taken to horrible tourist trap restaurants for lunch.

 

Back on the ship they has a nice selection of Tapas set up in the Windjammer which were available until 630p at which time the Windjammer dinner service started and the Seaview Cafe opened. There is food available in either the WJ or Seaview almost 24 hrs a day. Due to being so tired from lack of sleep, we opted out of going to the dining room and instead went to the Seaview for Pizza and Salad. The food was very good, and I don't know what all the fuss is about. This "different" menu from the other Radiance class ships is fine-- actually I think I prefer this one over the fast food type menu on the others in the fleet.

 

After dinner we went to the main show a Charlie Chaplan impersonator-- yep you guessed it-- we walked out after 5 mins and made our nightly donation to the casino. Also tonight they had the Italian opera singer from last nights show put on an unscheduled , special concert in the Centrum from 815p-9p and just like his main show-- he was excellent. We actually propped our cabin door open so we could here him while sitting on our balcony drinking wine-

 

I promise to answer all the past questios the day after tomorrow when we have a sea day and I can relax a bit...

 

Right now I need to put my head on my pillow for a few hrs before the alarm goes off.

 

Ciao

[Murphy]

Thank you so much for the great information! We haven't done a Europe cruise yet, but are researching it for our 20th anniversary. Your tips and suggestions are fabulous. Now please get some sleep and enjoy yourself! :)

 

Patiently waiting for more... Murphy

[SingBill]

Hi Bob

All I can say is WOW! Just read your review to DH and he too has said without a question we are going on this cruise. And we've already put the restaurant and hotel on our list for pre-post stays in Barcelona.

 

Your review makes it so real that we feel we are there with you. Can't wait for the next installment.

 

Continue to have fun and hopefully you can throw some sleep in there as well.

[Saunj]

We have not kept 1 single time as originally posted in our itinerary. Originally we were supposed to be in Villefranche until 11pm, but when the docs came it was changed to 8pm-- no big deal. Today we were supposed to be in Florence until 7pm, however they changed our departure to 615p-- again no big deal. It seems that we will keep to schedule tomorrow with Naples port time of 8a-8p.

 

Bob,

 

I'm a little concerned. I was unaware that departure times would change. We also have hired Claudio for three separate ports/excursions. What if we think the ship will depart at 7:00 p.m. and we get back at 6:00 p.m. and it has already departed??? Do they tell you before you leave the ship? This really kind of ruffles my feathers a little. :cool: We were already on a tight schedule trying to squeeze everything in!!!! What to do?

 

Thanks,

Saunj

[jamandamn14]

thanks

[critterchick]

We have never been on a Med cruise and are going in Late Oct on the voyager. Are there any ports that you can just walk to Town to or take a short taxi ride. We will do the rome and naples trips which I guess will be 8 hrs. but we may like to go for a short ride to a close town and spend the day. thanks for any help.

 

If Voyager is going to Villefranche, Florence, Rome & Naples, there is plenty you can do on your own, particularly in Villefranche & Naples. Florence and Rome are pretty far from the port, and if you haven't been to Italy before I would recommend a tour, either independently booked or through the ship.

In Villefranche, you can walk to the train station in an easy 15 minutes and hop on the first train to Monaco. If you get there on Sunday, make sure you have Euro coins because the ticket booth will likely be closed. It's only about a 5 minute ride to Monaco. You can also go the other way to Nice & Cannes in not very much time. In Monaco you can walk to the Casino or the gardens on top of the hill, walk down to the yacht harbor for lunch and have a fine time. Pick up some tourist info at the tender dock and decide what you want to do from that.

In Naples, the ship docks right in the city. You can also hop a train to Pompeii and take a self-guided tour, although there's something to be said for a live guide. And mind the pickpockets! You can then take the train down to Sorrento, or the hydrofoil over to Capri. Get the Rick Steves guidebooks, which will tell you how to do it all on your own.

Enjoy!

[Fran Harp]

Hi - another Canuck......

 

I'm new in here and somewhat new to cruising as well, having only three under our belts. We just did the Transatlantic cruise April 28-May 11 on Brilliance of the Seas - room 9070, just forward of the elevators by the library. Mattresses were good on the beds. Balcony was the standard size, with a table and two chairs. Don't know if that helps. Captain is new - Petter Sundet, just started at the beginning of April - quite visible around the ship and the crew likes him. He often ate dinner in the Windjammer. We were quite impressed with the way the ship was run - but experienced cruisers might have other comments.

 

We loved Villefranche, and there are plenty of wonderful little eateries around and a terrific old fort. We couldn't say we liked Nice a lot. Barcelona was amazing, especially if you get a little out of the city and go to some of the smaller towns along the beach. Rail transportation and subways were excellent and easy to find directions. Don't miss the cathedral "Sagrada Familia", or Holy Family. Stunning. When it get finished it will be even better.

 

Fran

 

 

Bob - You said you had an oversized balcony on the hump. Are you in a D1 by any chance? We have 9094 booked and are wondering how much bigger the balcony really is? RCCL just keeps telling me it is the standard 41 sq. ft., but obviously it is bigger. Any details would be appreciated!!

[Grumm]

We can only suggest that you do the cable car ride to Santorini (AWESOME! - only 4 minutes up to the spectacular pinacle of awesome beauty!!,...AND, on a STABLE,... SWISS MADE cable car!! ;)........take the cheap bus ride to Fira/Oia (Where the famous picture of the blue domed church is!! ;)

 

By the way, DO NOT do the donkey thing unless you want to smell like a donkey in the most beautiful place on earth for the rest of the day!! It takes approx. 4 minutes by cable car (best plan!!) but again,......if you want to experience the "primitive way of travel" getting to the top of Santorini you will endure 45-50 minutes going up through VERY poopey streets that are narrow and cobble-stoned........Not a nice picture is it? We saw poor fellow cruisers (June 4th Med. Cruise) thinking they were "doing the native thing" FREAK OUT later when they reached the top as they suffered a "bottle neck" of donkeys on the 1000 foot climb from the dock at Santorini.....Worth it? It's your call of course.......:)

 

Also, the cruelty to the donkeys is too much to bear. My wife and I actually walked up and walked back down. The beer I had on board afterwards was the most welcome ever!

 

Alan

[AFT_LOVER]

Hope it is Monte Carlo so you can climb the stairs way up to Grace's castle. Then down the street across from it to the church they married in which now bears a marble slab with her & her Prince inside & room for 3 kids. The stores & people are jsut great with many bargains.

 

Cannes is another hottie town with very little worn, men just adore it.

[TheMiz]

Hope it is Monte Carlo so you can climb the stairs way up to Grace's castle. Then down the street across from it to the church they married in which now bears a marble slab with her & her Prince inside & room for 3 kids. The stores & people are jsut great with many bargains.

 

Cannes is another hottie town with very little worn, men just adore it.

 

is it easy to get to Cannes?

[Grumm]

We have never been on a Med cruise and are going in Late Oct on the voyager. Are there any ports that you can just walk to Town to or take a short taxi ride. We will do the rome and naples trips which I guess will be 8 hrs. but we may like to go for a short ride to a close town and spend the day. thanks for any help.

 

Barcelona, Santorini, Mykonos, Villefranche, Monte Carlo,Cadiz, Gibraltar,Ajjacio are all within a short walk or short taxi ride from the pier/tender....I'm sure there are others, just can't bring them to mind at the moment...oh yes!....Naples, but it's almost impossible to cross the streets as the traffic is horrendous and the traffic lights are ignored by all drivers.

 

Alan

[CanuckCruizer]

Fran - thanks for your reply. Yes - 9070 would have a standard size balcony. On the deck plan, 9094 (the one we have booked) is showing a little bigger as it is in the hump area. We were wondering if the hump area is darker (little or no sun) because of the overhang and how much bigger the balcony really is. From my research, I know that 9092 and 9078 are bigger but very deep, dark and closed-in. I saw a photo of the outside view of the ship and it looks like 9094 is more open with more light - but hard to tell. Thanks for your help.

 

Canuck

[RDeagazio]

Greetings again-- we're now sailing into Day 6, but due to inability to connect I'm a bit behind.

 

Here's the info from our day in Naples:

 

We were met at the pier by a local escort and driver (booked through Claudio at limo in rome) and departed for our 11 hrs of touring. We drove over the mountain, going up the winding, narrow roads until reaching Ravello where we stopped for 40 mins. The views were spectacular and this sleepy little town was quite nice. From there we drove to Amalfi, Positano where we stopped for 45 mins, then went on to Sorrento for a 2 hr break. We had lunch at a great little restaurant in town for 13 Euro each and continued the drive to Pompeii where Claudio arranged for us to have a private guide who is a retired professor of archeology and has a pd.D. He was very knowledgable and gave us a 3 hr guided tour which allowed us to learn and see way more than the others on the RCI or self guided excursions.

 

Upon arriving back at the ship we were exhausted-- we were literally the first people off the ship at 8am and didn't arrive back until 715p for an 8pm departure- but we saw so much of the area nobody complained.

 

Tonight we opted for dinner in the Windjammer which was very nice and relaxing and the food variety and quality was very good. After dinner we again stayed up way too late, leaving the disco at 430a and decided it was a nice time to take a swim in the Solarium-- from there we hit the hot tubs out on the pool deck, which turned out to be a good decision as at that time we were sailing around the "boot" of Italy and there was land on both sides of the ship so close we felt as it we could reach out and touch it. It was nice sitting in the warm hot tub and watching the ship wind and turn through the channel. Tomorrow is a sea day and we're looking forward to sleeping in and relaxing after 4 days of non-stop activity.

[RDeagazio]

Today was the long awaited and much needed day at sea!

 

Having not gotten much sleep since leaving CA, we didn't wake up until 1pm (we didn't get to bed until 6am from the night before). We sat on the balcony for a bit drinking our "morning" coffee and then headed to the Windjammer for a nice lunch after which we laid out by the pool.

 

Tonight was dinner in Portofino which was excellent as usual. Followed by a walk around the ship listening to the various entertainers in the lounges.

 

It's now 530am and I'm still awake, the sun is coming up and wer'e slowly making our way toward Venice for our 1pm arrival. Looks like I won't be sleeping much today either.

 

A few general comments about this cruise so far... First off as I've mentioned before, the crew, service and especially the food has been excellent. The menu's have so many choices for appetizer, entree, salad etc it's almost impossible to decide what to have. The Windjammer has continuous food available from 5am-1030p every day. The afternoon tapas are a special favorite as is the nightly sushi offerings.

 

Another pleasant surprise is the fellow passengers on this sailing.. I've not sailed with a nicer crowd in a very long time. Everyone is so polite, respectful and pleasant it's been very easy to make friends and have pleasant conversation onboard. Everyone chats with everyone else, there has been little to no chair hogging, and even the 300+ kids onboard have hardly been seen or heard.

 

The weather has been nice-- warm, but not brutally hot, although that will be changing real soon as the summer gets into full swing. The crew told me the last 2 cruises had cold and rainy weather all week, so we've been very lucky.

 

I haven't forgotten about all your questions and I promise I will answer them as soon as possible.. It's been a near perfect trip but an exhausting one and I'm doing my best just to get these posts online. Tomorrow I should have some free time from the group and will do my best to get all the questions answered then.

 

By the way, I have the cyber cabin, unlimited internet package at $120 for the 12 nights and the speed is not too bad-- connectivity has also been very good. Well, I'm off to bed for now -- the alarm is set to go off in 3 hours and it will be another busy day in Venice.

[ksrgatorfn]

Bob,

 

Wow, sounds like I need to get a lot of sleep this week because starting next week I won't be getting much. LOL.

 

Thanks for all of the updates. I will be boarding as you disembark, so I am getting more and more excited with each of your posts!

 

Safe sailing!

[critterchick]

Bob, these updates are just wonderful! I hope you are having a wonderful stay in the magical city of Venice!

[Fran Harp]

.

 

Another pleasant surprise is the fellow passengers on this sailing.. I've not sailed with a nicer crowd in a very long time. Everyone is so polite, respectful and pleasant it's been very easy to make friends and have pleasant conversation onboard. Everyone chats with everyone else, there has been little to no chair hogging, and even the 300+ kids onboard have hardly been seen or heard.

 

 

Did you get Captain Sundet's shipboard announcement about 'since we are all in the same boat together, so to speak, let's work at getting along together.'? or words to that effect? I thought that set some of the tone for the voyage - we really enjoyed two weeks, and had gone with some trepidation. We heard he'd been sent to Brilliance to shape things up.

 

Fran

[Saunj]

Please forgive my persistance. I reposted this reply because I'm new at this and getting a little nervous about this trip:confused: . In addition to my question below, I would like to know if you've been pleased with Limo in Rome. Also, are the cars comfortably air conditioned? Thank you so much!!!!!

 

We have not kept 1 single time as originally posted in our itinerary. Originally we were supposed to be in Villefranche until 11pm, but when the docs came it was changed to 8pm-- no big deal. Today we were supposed to be in Florence until 7pm, however they changed our departure to 615p-- again no big deal. It seems that we will keep to schedule tomorrow with Naples port time of 8a-8p.

 

Bob,

 

I'm a little concerned. I was unaware that departure times would change. We also have hired Claudio for three separate ports/excursions. What if we think the ship will depart at 7:00 p.m. and we get back at 6:00 p.m. and it has already departed??? Do they tell you before you leave the ship? This really kind of ruffles my feathers a little. :cool: We were already on a tight schedule trying to squeeze everything in!!!! What to do?

 

Thanks,

Saunj

[vlnovak]

Thanks so much for all the info. I really appreciate all the travel tips. Glad to hear that you can do some trips without taking a 9 hr tour. for some reason everyday in a taxi was going to be a bit much plus expensive. thanks again. keep them coming.

[critterchick]

Please forgive my persistance. I reposted this reply because I'm new at this and getting a little nervous about this trip:confused: . In addition to my question below, I would like to know if you've been pleased with Limo in Rome. Also, are the cars comfortably air conditioned? Thank you so much!!!!!

 

We have not kept 1 single time as originally posted in our itinerary. Originally we were supposed to be in Villefranche until 11pm, but when the docs came it was changed to 8pm-- no big deal. Today we were supposed to be in Florence until 7pm, however they changed our departure to 615p-- again no big deal. It seems that we will keep to schedule tomorrow with Naples port time of 8a-8p.

 

Bob,

 

I'm a little concerned. I was unaware that departure times would change. We also have hired Claudio for three separate ports/excursions. What if we think the ship will depart at 7:00 p.m. and we get back at 6:00 p.m. and it has already departed??? Do they tell you before you leave the ship? This really kind of ruffles my feathers a little. :cool: We were already on a tight schedule trying to squeeze everything in!!!! What to do?

 

Thanks,

Saunj

 

I honestly don't think you have anything to worry about. Bob talked about seeing the changes "when the docs arrived," which I took to mean the documents you get a couple of weeks before the cruise, so you'll have plenty of time to notify your tour operator of any changes to the itinerary. They presumably have done this kind of thing before and will be able to adjust your schedule accordingly.

 

The ship will tell you when you are departing before you get off in port - It will be posted in the Compass, and they will announce it. If you are in doubt, ask before you leave. The only way the ship will leave prior to the announced time would be in an emergency - a port evacuation for some unforeseen reason. I've heard of that once on the CC boards, when a hurricane moved faster than expected and the ship had to leave Bermuda (Bahamas?) ahead of schedule. A few people ended up stranded. But that

is an extreme circumstance, and not at all what Bob was talking about.

[Travelgrrl]

I'm sorry Saunj, I could have also answered your question yesterday. If there are any time changes after boarding the ship for the trip, they will clearly announce that in the Compass. So you would always know at least the night before.

 

It's been my experience that tour operators are able to track ship's late arrivals - and an earlier departure can be conveyed to them when you meet for the day. It should not be a problem, and generally, the ships sail at the time initially advertised on their websites. If not, you will have notice and they won't just leave early.

[Saunj]

Thank you both so much. I have a dreaded fear of "missing the boat"! I will definitely check departure times before leaving the boat. Luckily, I haven't heard of any itinerary changes as of yet.

 

Thanks,

Saunj