Just back from 12 nite Med

[lansingisland]

Hi all, I was helped so much by these boards that I wanted to give a little helpful (i hope) feedback that will smooth a few bumps for others.

 

We took the 12 night Brilliance cruise (departing July 1) and overall the experience far exceeded our expectations. It was our first trip to Europe, and really our first "real" cruise. My husband and I were traveling with our 2 boys aged 11 and 13. I knew and expected that we would only be getting a short taste of each port with the very limited time we had at each. We can't wait to get back to Italy on our own to see sights at a more leisurely pace.

 

Tip for Villfrance! We booked guide Sylvie to meet us at 10:30 in port. This is a tender port where the ship shuttles you in with small boats. We obediently went and got our tender tickets when they were first annouced as available (about 9 am) We were told to wait until our # (5) was announced. Well...we waited for almost 2 hours! Apparently, that get the cruise based tour groups off first and i bet at least 2/3 of the ship had these. We had a greatly shortened tour (though Sylvie was great) becase of this. I highly recommend that you be waiting at the desk where they give the tender tickets before the announcement is made and get a 1 or 2. Or, sneak down to the gangway and get off before your # is called...they did not check ticket numbers at any port. This was a beautiful port. We missed Nice because of the delay, but saw St. Paul Pence (sp?) medieval town, and went to a winery. Upon return to the port, we hired a cab tht was there to take us on a one hour tour of Monaco and Monte Carlo. He was great and we hit all the highlights of this beautiful area.

 

Livorno: we found out when we retuned from Monaco (late) that the ship would not go to Livorno as planned (cicumstances not explained to us) and would instead dock in La Spesia) one hour north. We immediately called our scheduled tour guide (driverinrome) and he already knew and would have our driver meet us there. We tendered off (more efficient today) and had a great tour of Florence and Pisa with Fabrizzio. The David really is amazing.

 

Naples: We arrived late in Naples, but our driverinrome guide was there waiting (Pepe this time) Had a fantastic day driving the Amalfi coast. We stopped in a couple small towns and had a fabulous lunch with amaazing view in Poisitano. On to Pompeii which was far more interesting than I expected. I was picturing it to be like some of the ruins in the States (like Jamestown) where you see a couple of rocks and have to use a lot of imagination. But no...vast and well preserved. Really a remarkable step back in time. Back to ship now.

 

Venice: we did on our own. This was complicated by a water taxi strike the first day and a museum strike the second day we were there So we missed the Doges Palace , though fortunately St. Marks was open and the Pigeons weren't on strike (feeding them was a highlight for my 11 year old) We really enjoyed Venice and bought a lot of gifts and souveniers.

 

Dubrovnic: Gorgeous! We mainly walked the walls and took in the great views of the quaint old town and the beautiful sea.

 

Corfu: We took the ship shuttle in to Old Town and looked around a little. There's not really much here to see. The town is cute, but not really special. I should note that it was remarkably hot (probably 100 degress) and we were getting tired, so maybe this is not a fair assessment of this port. If I had it to do over, I would take a taxi to a beach and relax as the water was beautiful.

 

Rome: Fantastic. Again we had driverinrome for a private tour (Nick) saw the main highlights here and were amazed at St. Peters. We really, really wanted more time here.

 

Barcelona: Do not skip this city. We spent exta days here and really enjoyed it. Great prices on shoes! All Gaudi sights were worth seeing especially Parc Guell. Touristic bus was great, hop on hop off. Stayed pre cruise at the Majestic hotel, and post cruise at the Hotel Arts. Would recommend them both. Great gelato at Dinos (found all over town)

 

Random thoughts: The ship was beautful, staff was friendly, food was OK to good, but never great. And there was plenty of it. We were happy to have late seating even though we are normally early eaters. We often did not arrive in from ports until after early seating began.. The only time we wished for early seating was on sea days, but we went to Chops twice and ate at hte Windjammmer (buffet) on days when we were hungry early. The weather wa mostly great. Sunny except for our last sea day when it was windy, chilly and overcast. Pleasant temperatures except for Dubrovnic and Greece...very hot! We had no sightings of agressive pickpockets, gypsies etc, though we did use our money belts. Crowds weren't bad at all except in Venice. All people were friendly and many spoke enough English that we got by. Some of the little language/cultural differences have become some of our best stories. For a long time hence we'll be telling our 13 year old to go into McDonalds and order french Fries and see what he gets!

 

I'd better get to my laundry. I'm happy to answer any questions

[stressball]

I have one question that hopefully you (or anyone else) can answer. What did you think of Florence? My DH and I have conflicting views about going there. He has read in several tour books that it's overcrowded, a tourist trap and that you'll hear more English than Italian spoken there. I proceeded to show him the other tour guides that say Florence shouldn't be missed. I would like to go, of course, to see David. However, there is really nothing else that is drawing me there.

So in your opinion, what did you think of it? If you had to go on your own, without a guide, do you think you would like it? Or do you think we would be better off going someplace else, such as Lucca?

Anyone....please help!

[RHayes8793]

What time were you able to board the ship? And, how did you telephone your driver in Livorno about the port change? Transportation from hotel to port? Thanks, we are on the Sep 11 cruise.

[vacationhappy]

I am curious on how your kids did with all the touring. We are taking two girls, ages 10 and 12. We are spending three nights in both Venice and Rome and are visiting a number of the Greek islands. We are hoping to mix up the touring with the beach. Any thoughts here?

[Guest Crazeecat5]

Can you tell me more about your stay at the Majestic? My DH and I will be there next week for a few days prior to our July 24th Splendour sailing. How was the air conditioning in the rooms? Did you eat any of your meals there? How convenient was it to the hop on bus? Thanks so much for your answers.

Sheryl

[joan24]

Stressball,

Florence is not to be missed. Lucca is nice to see after you've been to Florence. You can pre-reserve tickets at the museums or just stroll this wonderful city. It's like walking through a museum with art everywhere. I have a wonderful guide is you'd rather tour instead of doing it on your own. Her name is Pauline Priore and she's great. She can arrange for tickets in advance, so no lines. She's an American who has lived in Florence for over 25 years and is terrific. Her email is paulinep@tin.it. We've been to Florence 4 times and I always discover something new everytime we go. Pauline took us on a tour of Sienna, Lucca, Pisa, San Gimignano. Whatever you decide to do , I sure you'll enjoy it.

Joan

[Dripps]

What time were you able to board the ship? And, how did you telephone your driver in Livorno about the port change? Transportation from hotel to port? Thanks, we are on the Sep 11 cruise.

 

Hi. We were on the same cruise (and did much of the same things!) so I can answer your questions (I'm also doing laundry). I got to the pier before noon and they were already boarding the ship. It was quick to check in (lines were short and moved) and we went right on board and headed to Windjammer after checking out our rooms. They ask you not to go to your room until 1:00. My daughter was anxious to go swimming so she had her bathing suit with us (carry on) and she went right in.

 

I contacted driverinrome via email as soon as the port change was announced and received an email back within 1/2 hour. They charged our group an extra 100Euros for this change because of the extra driving to get there. After he picked us up and I saw how far we were from where we needed to be...it was understandable. We still got the highlights in but I felt like it was a day of mostly driving. I suppose it's better than missing the port completely but I would have liked to have better explanation than "the port doesn't have satisfactory place for us". I also found out that our captain changed when we were in Corfu. At the captains session the new captain explaned that the orginal captain was "tired" and they made the convenient switch there because he lived in Greece. Perhaps this was just a joke. I know it's preferable not to change captains in the middle of a cruise but I think his reference to other captain being "tired" was because they work 3 months and then off 3 months....and it was at the end of his stent.

 

I hired a guy ahead of time to get us from the airport to hotel and we booked him when he dropped us off to take us from hotel to pier. We had 5 people and lots and lots of luggage and I didn't want to worry about finding suitable transportation when we arrived. It worked out great.... tonitours@hotmail.com

 

vacationhappy,

I was travelling with our 8 year old daughter and we dragged her to all our excursions until venice. Then I gave in and let her stay in the Adventure Ocean with others who preferred not to leave the ship. She did ok but wasn't as interested as I had hoped in all the sights. She just wanted to get back to the ship and go swim or play with her new friends. When we got to Corfu she let it be known that she was only interested in going to the beach and NOT driving and sightseeing. We rented a car in Corfu and visited several beaches (be warned that beaches in the Med all seem to be topless - my 17 year old son enjoyed the beaches greatly!). When we got to Rome I was torn but gave in and let her miss our excursion and stay on the ship. I missed her but I do believe she was happier. I'll have to digitally add her to the pictures...hahaha.

 

stressball,

All we did in Florence besides a drive through was go visit the David. It was definately worth the entrance fee. Then we drove to Pisa and I loved that! That's all we had time for because of change in port.

 

I agree with lansingisland, get tender tickets early if you want to leave asap. They don't check your tender tickets so just go down when you are ready if it seems slow in calling numbers. Also we were travelling with my motherinlaw who needs to use the elevator instead of stairs.....and learned that instead of going to 3rd floor and standing with the large group of people making their way down, just take elevator to the 2nd floor and go through!

[RHayes8793]

Thanks for the answers, one more question, how much is the in cabin internet service? I hadn't planned on dragging the laptop, but it could come in handy.

[Dripps]

Thanks for the answers, one more question, how much is the in cabin internet service? I hadn't planned on dragging the laptop, but it could come in handy.

 

I am trying to block out all the costs of this vacation but my best recollection was internet in the cabin was about $110 to $120 for the whole cruise. Service was poor and we got a $60 credit because there were problems which made the internet unusable for a day and then at various times. We had expected that anyway, and it sure came in handy. Paying by the minute is expensive when connection is so slow and this way we didn't have to worry about it.

[lansingisland]

Stressball, I also was initially not very excited about Florence, but it was beautiful. Go to those smaller towns after you have been to Florence. RHayes, we just used the ship's telephones to notify our guide of the change. Didn't notice how much that cost! We did not board the ship till 4...we were having such a good time in Barcelona. No stress boarding. VacationHappy, My kids did very well overall. They don't really tolerate art museums so we were in and out of the Accademia pretty quickly, though they really enjoyed the David.. We listened in on an american tour guide describing it. They loved roaming the towns, shopping some, exploring the ruins, esp, Pompeii, St. Peters, gelato, feeding the pigeons in St. Marks. They were actually a little bored on sea days. At 11 and 13, they were good ages for this trip. I don't think they would have done so well 3 years ago, or even 2. Crazeecat5, the Majestic was great. Very quiet, AC worked very well, location was perfect. The touristic bus was a 2 minute walk away. We did not eat at the hotel. Spanish people eat at very different times; 2ish for lunch and 9ish for dinner. We ate a lot of gelato.

[bec2629]

I read that Celebrity gives each guest an email address that they can use to send and receive up to 75 pages of email for about $2. Does Brilliance offer this great service??

 

Thanks

[trishs]

Brilliance doesn't offer that service.

 

Our driver to Florence was Giovanni http://www.allroadsleadto rome.com he was great about picking us up at Le Spezia since we had to dock there verses Livorno, he didn't charge us extra. It was a long drive.

We had his other driver in Rome very he had tons of knowledge not rushed but we tend to want to move faster.

As far a Florence we had reservation at the uffizi cruised through fast because we aren't into museums that much. The statue of David was the best. We went on the Ponte Veccheo bridge not impressed with the prices. Saw the duomo, Cathedral Bell tower and Baptisery that was beautiful in side. If you are into art you will like Florence a lot more than us. We loved seeing Pisa. Florence wasn't on the top of our list but I have talked to others that love it. Gelato and pizza was good.

 

We loved Corfu. We rented motorcycles and cruised to Paleokastratisa it was the most beautiful water in the world. We went to Kassiopi and all over 1/2 the Island where you could smell the different fragrance from flowers as you rode by. We saw an old lady with her donkey and sticks on the back of the donkey it was amazing. There were others in cars looking at their maps but the signs were good we didn't get lost just went places we didn't know where we were but ended up in the right place. People were in their front yards selling olive oil. We went swimming and the water was clear and about 84 degrees. It was a place we would come back to. Prices were good. You should rent a car and just take off the Island isn't that big so if you keep driving you will get to somewhere! We didn't go to old town my dad fell on the motorcycle and we needed to take care of him.

Trish

[mixx]

Hi trishs!

 

My husband & I are also planning to rent either a car or motorbikes when in Corfu (coming right up 8/06/04!). Are there enough available that we could wait until we're actually there...or is it necessary to make arrangements ahead for a rental?

 

 

Mixx

[trishs]

I would email D&M rent a bike. You can have them give you a ride to their shop from the ship. You don't have to pay ahead of time. You won't be out anything if you change your mind. GLYKIOTIS speaks great English (I have no idea how to say his name) It was only 79 Euros for a 250 125 and an 80 scooter. You will have a great time on the bikes. There wasn't traffic and riding around was easy. My dad just hit the front brake thinking it was the clutch. Keep in mind that when you make your reservation there is 1 hr time difference. so if you port at 8 tell them 9. Have fun this was a highlight for us. Make sure you wear your swim suit because you have to go in the water. Trish

Here is his info.

Tel: (+30)26610-97150 & 90753 intermot@otenet.gr http://users.otenet.gr/~intermot/office.htm

[mixx]

Trish,

 

Thanks for the info! Hope that your Dad's ok and that any injury was minor!

 

Great idea...we were thinking strictly in terms of a car originally, but this really sounds like fun! You didn't get lost at all? Hope we're as lucky!

 

Mixx

[dbh62ark]

Hi Stressball,

 

There are many options to consider if you would rather not try to do Florence in a day, which I don't recommend anyway. Lucca is very nice. We went to San Gimignano and Siena in May using a private driver and had a magical day (http://www.papillonservice.com/ is very affordable and is great). We also stopped briefly at Monteriggioni. It's nice to see the tower in Pisa, but I don't think there is as much to see there as there is in some of the other villages. It's hard for me to pick a favorite in this region, but I think I would maybe pick San Gimignano.

 

By the way, my husband and I are absolutely crazy about Switzerland and hope to return soon.

 

Hope you have a great time,

Donna

[stressball]

Donna - thanks for that insight...we have decided to do a private tour of Florence and Pisa with others on our cruise. Prior to finding them, I did have all the research done to go to Pisa and Lucca. Guess we'll just have to use it on the next trip! Hopefully with the private tour we will be able to see more, thus making our short time there more worth it.

 

By the way, my husband just read in one of our tour books yesterday, "Switzerland is a nice place to live, but I wouldn't want to visit." Interesting...

 

Thanks again!

[marise]

QUOTE< Upon return to the port, we hired a cab tht was there to take us on a one hour tour of Monaco and Monte Carlo. He was great and we hit all the highlights of this beautiful area.>

 

 

LANSINGISLAND: Thanks for the wonderful review. Three questions - (1) would you remember what the cost for the one hour cab tour was? And was one hour enough to see Monaco and Monte Carlo???

And (2) In Corfu, what did the ship's shuttle into Old Town cost? And finally (3) for Rome, I have viewed "driverinrome" website and see that they have wonderful tours, but they are TOO long for our family (have mother 85, and mother-in-law, 82 along) so you mentioned doing St.Peters? Were you able to JUST see one or two sights for shorter than their standard 7-9 hour tours, and what did it cost?

 

Would really appreciate any and all replies.

Thanks.

Marise

[lansingisland]

Marise, I'll try to answer you questions, this cruise already seems like a distant memory! You will have a great time!

 

In Villefranche, very near where the ship's tenders drop you off there is a line of cabs. Our ride was just over 1 hour and cost 130 euros. No, it was not nearly enough time. We literally just drove past the main sights and jumped out to take some pictures. I would have loved to have been able to walk around near the casino. But...we had a boat to catch and it was better than nothing.

 

The Corfu shuttle to the best of my memory was about 4 dollars round trip. It sounds like a lot of people managed to have a much better time than we did there. This was the only port I didn't really research.

 

In Rome: I would be surprised if driverinrome offered a shorter day ( although it wouldn't hurt to ask, they are VERY accomodating. ) Also if you pay them for the whole day they are at your service, and if you want to return early they will certainly comply. It is over an hour drive into Rome and there is so much to see. If it is walking that concerns you, driverinrome practically eliminated it because they were able in most places to pull right up on the steps of churches, coliseum, etc. The only heavy walking was in the catacombs, but you could just tell them that you did not want to do that.. They also get you to fronts of lines somehow so there is very little waiting. Rome was Fabulous.

 

Hope this helps, Susan

[marise]

Susan, thank you so much for your very helpful and informative reply.

Sorry that I didn't get back sooner. I left for a 2wk vacation, and only just returned. I have not done any booking of tours and feel the pressure as our Oct.5th Med cruise on the Brilliance looms!

If you can think of ANY other helpful hints, please feel free to add them here as I sure could use all the help. Never been to the Med before and really looking fwd to it. Am a bit apprehensive about the tours costs tho' which is why we are looking into cabbing it, or tours other than what the ship is offering.

[dperales]

The cost of the shuttle on Brilliance was $4 per person one way. In Corfu we had purchased tickets and decided not to use them. We wanted to go to a beach, so we originally planned to use a bus to the other side of the island to Glyfada. There were taxis outside the port terminal. The one inside quoted us 80E, the first one in line wanted 50E so we started walking to the street to find the bus. The last taxi in line offered to take us for 30E. He was wonderful and asked us how long we wanted to stay and came back for us in 3 hours! He was great. We turned our shuttle tickets back in that night and we were credited for the $16.

Donna