Brilliance Med and Radiance Alaska Videos

[Loyal2RCCL]

I was roaming around on You Tube this morning and found some these great videos. One is from the Brilliance of the Seas Med Cruise and the other is of the Radiance of the Seas to Alaska.

 

Each one had 5-6 parts, below is the link to part one of each:

 

I wish i hadn't spent all morning watching because it's making my urge to cruise even stronger!! :eek:

 

Radiance- Alaska:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAoioOfy1Ew

 

 

Brilliance- Med:

 

[tomko2]

Thanks for the links. The recap of the Brilliance Med cruise was especially interesting and they even had our cabin!:D We are so looking forward to this cruise next summer.

Kathy

[Loyal2RCCL]

I had that same cabin on the Med cruise in 2006. Our itin was a bit different as we went to Dubrovnik instead of Split and Corfu rather than Malta, but it's a fantastic trip.

 

Watching those videos makes me want to take out my credit card and log onto rccl.com-- LOL!!

[tomko2]

I had that same cabin on the Med cruise in 2006. Our itin was a bit different as we went to Dubrovnik instead of Split and Corfu rather than Malta, but it's a fantastic trip.

 

Watching those videos makes me want to take out my credit card and log onto rccl.com-- LOL!!

 

We will be doing the Dubrovnik itinerary; can't wait! Cabin 9256 is our favourite cabin. Have flights booked, hotels pre and post cruise booked and most of my lists done and there is still almost a year to go. Two years ago we sailed on the Legend from Rome on my DH's 60th Birthday and I ordered the B'day decorations for our stateroom which were great; next year we will be on our overnight flights for his Birthday so we'll celebrate in Barcelona.

Kathy:)

[Loyal2RCCL]

I've been to both Split and Dubrovnik and prefer Dubrovnik so you're lucky to be going there. Corfu was horrible, so hopefully you won't be stopping there.

 

This itin is perfect. We arranged private guides/driver for most ports and everything worked out perfectly.

 

We stayed pre and post cruise in Barcelona at the Atrium Palace which was a wonderful hotel. On a previous cruise we used their sister property the Apsis Splendid but prefered the Palace.

 

If you have any questions regarding the ports etc, I'll be happy to help.

[tomko2]

I've been to both Split and Dubrovnik and prefer Dubrovnik so you're lucky to be going there. Corfu was horrible, so hopefully you won't be stopping there.

 

This itin is perfect. We arranged private guides/driver for most ports and everything worked out perfectly.

 

We stayed pre and post cruise in Barcelona at the Atrium Palace which was a wonderful hotel. On a previous cruise we used their sister property the Apsis Splendid but prefered the Palace.

 

If you have any questions regarding the ports etc, I'll be happy to help.

Thank you for the offer of help. We will be stopping at Corfu and had been debating about just stolling around the nearby town or taking a taxi to a beach.... not really sure what to do in Corfu. Pre-cruise we will be staying at the Hotel Regina in Barcelona and two nights post-cruise in Mainz, Germany (on the Rhine just 20 minutes from Frankfurt airport). Went to Pompeii last year so want to visit the Museum in Naples this time. Plan on booking the RCI excursion Florence on Your Own; doing tons of reading in advance. Rome probably similar to Florence since we were there for 6 nights in 2007. Venice - self-guided tours using advice from the Boards here and pre-reading. Actually our only excursions planned will be the RCI Bus rides to Florence and Rome.

Do you remember what time you disembarked in Barcelona? Did you use Taxi or Airport Shuttle to you hotel from the Airport?

Thanks

Kathy:)

[Loyal2RCCL]

Thank you for the offer of help. We will be stopping at Corfu and had been debating about just stolling around the nearby town or taking a taxi to a beach.... not really sure what to do in Corfu. Pre-cruise we will be staying at the Hotel Regina in Barcelona and two nights post-cruise in Mainz, Germany (on the Rhine just 20 minutes from Frankfurt airport). Went to Pompeii last year so want to visit the Museum in Naples this time. Plan on booking the RCI excursion Florence on Your Own; doing tons of reading in advance. Rome probably similar to Florence since we were there for 6 nights in 2007. Venice - self-guided tours using advice from the Boards here and pre-reading. Actually our only excursions planned will be the RCI Bus rides to Florence and Rome.

Do you remember what time you disembarked in Barcelona? Did you use Taxi or Airport Shuttle to you hotel from the Airport?

Thanks

Kathy:)

 

 

When we stopped in Corfu, we opted to take some crew friends who had the day off to the beach. We took a taxi to some beach "club" hotel that had chairs, umbrellas, a pool, bar, restaurant and facilities. It wasn't very expensive, however the beach club and beach itself was very disappointing. Our crew friends enjoyed getting off the ship for an afternoon, however if we had to do it again I would stay on the ship. Once we got back from the beach, the crew went back onboard and we took the shuttle into Corfu town-- what a waste of time this was.. The town is very dirty and the overwhelming smell of urine combined with 100 degree heat made it unbearable so we quickly took a taxi back to the ship. Most of the shops/restaurants close in the early afternoon so by the time we got into town nothing was open anyway.

 

As for Naples, if you haven't done the Amalfi Coast, I highly recommend this. There are some very good guide/drivers, one of which is Giovanni at Benvenuto Limos. If you leave the ship early enough, you can still make it back to Naples for time to explore the museums etc. We opted to spend the entire day visiting all the small towns along the coast and decided to skip Naples-- it was a fantastic day!!

 

Taking the RCCL bus to Florence and Rome might not be the best idea. We heard from people onboard who did this and they were not very happy. For one- the busses aren't allowed into the city centers, and must part 1.5 miles away from town. You'll spend a lot of time just walking to and from the bus. They also didn't allow for much time in the cities before returning to the ship. I think you'd get much more time in the cities if you take the train or arrange private guide/drivers. We booked again with Giovanni at Benvenuto Limos and had a wonferful day in both places. He was able to prearrange our visits to the Academia Museum in Florence to see David and also pre-reserved our guide/tickets to the Vatican Museum and Coliseum. We had 2 mini vans and it worked our perfectly since we were literally driven to the front door of these places, stepped out and bypassed the long times waiting to get in. We also had plenty of flexibility and pretty much made our day as we went along and were back at the ship in plenty of time. Another thing we noticed was the busses from the ship got held up in a huge traffice jam on the highway-- because we had smaller vans, we left the highway and made it into town much faster and got to take in a lot more scenery.

 

The ship actually docked in Barcelona very early (around 4am) and if memory serves me correctly they began disembarking people around 6am or so. Leaving the ship in Barcelona is a breeze as there is NO Customs or Immigration to go through! You literally walk off the ship, grab your bags and walk out of the terminal. Taxi's were plentiful so you shouldn't have any trouble regardless of when you leave the ship. I believe the entire ship was empty by 9am since boarding usually begins around 1130am.

 

I hope this helps!

[tomko2]

When we stopped in Corfu, we opted to take some crew friends who had the day off to the beach. We took a taxi to some beach "club" hotel that had chairs, umbrellas, a pool, bar, restaurant and facilities. It wasn't very expensive, however the beach club and beach itself was very disappointing. Our crew friends enjoyed getting off the ship for an afternoon, however if we had to do it again I would stay on the ship. Once we got back from the beach, the crew went back onboard and we took the shuttle into Corfu town-- what a waste of time this was.. The town is very dirty and the overwhelming smell of urine combined with 100 degree heat made it unbearable so we quickly took a taxi back to the ship. Most of the shops/restaurants close in the early afternoon so by the time we got into town nothing was open anyway.

 

As for Naples, if you haven't done the Amalfi Coast, I highly recommend this. There are some very good guide/drivers, one of which is Giovanni at Benvenuto Limos. If you leave the ship early enough, you can still make it back to Naples for time to explore the museums etc. We opted to spend the entire day visiting all the small towns along the coast and decided to skip Naples-- it was a fantastic day!!

 

Taking the RCCL bus to Florence and Rome might not be the best idea. We heard from people onboard who did this and they were not very happy. For one- the busses aren't allowed into the city centers, and must part 1.5 miles away from town. You'll spend a lot of time just walking to and from the bus. They also didn't allow for much time in the cities before returning to the ship. I think you'd get much more time in the cities if you take the train or arrange private guide/drivers. We booked again with Giovanni at Benvenuto Limos and had a wonferful day in both places. He was able to prearrange our visits to the Academia Museum in Florence to see David and also pre-reserved our guide/tickets to the Vatican Museum and Coliseum. We had 2 mini vans and it worked our perfectly since we were literally driven to the front door of these places, stepped out and bypassed the long times waiting to get in. We also had plenty of flexibility and pretty much made our day as we went along and were back at the ship in plenty of time. Another thing we noticed was the busses from the ship got held up in a huge traffice jam on the highway-- because we had smaller vans, we left the highway and made it into town much faster and got to take in a lot more scenery.

 

The ship actually docked in Barcelona very early (around 4am) and if memory serves me correctly they began disembarking people around 6am or so. Leaving the ship in Barcelona is a breeze as there is NO Customs or Immigration to go through! You literally walk off the ship, grab your bags and walk out of the terminal. Taxi's were plentiful so you shouldn't have any trouble regardless of when you leave the ship. I believe the entire ship was empty by 9am since boarding usually begins around 1130am.

 

I hope this helps!

 

Wow, thank you very much. Lots of information. I am going to print it off so I can discuss with my DH. Excellent tips. I didn't know there wasn't any Customs at the pier in Barcelona. Did you have any feedback from people who took the ship sponsored tours in Corfu; I think it goes to a Monastery?

Again -- thank you!:D

Kathy

[Loyal2RCCL]

You're welcome- I hope this info helped.

 

I don't recall anyone mentioning anything about the ship tours in Corfu.

It really was a nasty port and I think most people went into town and immediately back to the ship. The general consensus was we could have skipped that port and enjoyed another sea day.

[BARHAMPTON]

I really enjoyed your video of the Mediterrainian trip. Can you tell me what the title was of the opening musc & who the performer was ? Thank you.