Calling Brilliance Med 2017 Cruisers - are you out there?

Hi!

My DW and I are embarking on the 12-night Venice cruise departing July 12, 2017 on Brilliance. We are both Diamond C&A and will be staying in an aft-facing balcony cabin.

I have scoured these boards every which way and unless my search skills are not what they used to be (certainly possible!), I'm finding very few reviews of Mediterranean cruises on Brilliance. Maybe everyone is so busy touring Europe there is no time to post! - haha

If anyone is out there that has cruised and can provide copies of cruise compasses it would be greatly appreciated! I was able to find the compasses online (not on cruisecritic) of the 2016 cruise, but would like to see the latest and greatest. Pretty much I'm looking for logistical tips and tricks - tender times, show information, other ship suggestions, etc.

If anyone has questions for me will be happy to share my plans. We are flying in from east coast of United States (Newark, NJ airport) into Barcelona one day early, staying at Hotel Jazz with a tour booked with Barcelona Day Tours on departure day. BDT will drop us off at the ship mid-afternoon. We have all other tours booked through italytours.eu which gets fantastic reviews. We then fly home after getting off the ship on the 24th.

Thank you!

The problem with getting a recent Cruise Compass is that Brilliance has only been in the Med for a few weeks. I believe the transatlantic was sometime in April.

I've made 3 12 niters on both the Serenade and Brilliance. The last one some 4 years ago on the Serenade. I also, have a 12 niter on the Brilliance this coming Aug. 29th and if the itinerary is the same (Venice stop) you will have a wonderful time. We are flying direct to Barcelona from Philadelphia as the fares from the metro area are out of this world.

Take advantage of the tours whether via ship or private. Some ports are some 1 to 1.5 hours from the main cities (Florence & Rome). Some of the tours to these cities are in the 10 hour range. Enjoy breakfast on your veranda while the ship is entering the various ports. Go to the Crow's Nest and get a fantastic view of the ship as it enters the Canal in Venice. This may be one of the last times that these ships will follow this route as the City is trying to minimize damage to it's historic building from ship's wakes and minimize the number of tourists allowed in each historic location. A must is Capri and the Amalfi Coast.

There's so much to see & do in the Medit. itinerary.

I'm hoping to do this cruise in 2 years and am already searching for info & reviews. I hope you have a great time & report back when you get home!

Thanks so much for the responses! We are very much looking forward to the trip and will absolutely report back. I save all of my compasses so could scan and send to anyone interested.

We are doing this same cruise a few weeks after you and we are also staying at Hotel Jazz and using Barcelona Day Tours and staying in aft facing balconies!! :'):') I am curious if you are still docking in Livorno or if it has been changed to La Spezia?? I heard it was changed to La Spezia at the last minute last week and I am obviously wanting to adjust my plans if we are switching ports as well. Please report back once you return and I hope you have a fabulous time!!

Following. We are on 29th Aug sailing.

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Hi!

My DW and I are embarking on the 12-night Venice cruise departing July 12, 2017 on Brilliance. We are both Diamond C&A and will be staying in an aft-facing balcony cabin.

I have scoured these boards every which way and unless my search skills are not what they used to be (certainly possible!), I'm finding very few reviews of Mediterranean cruises on Brilliance. Maybe everyone is so busy touring Europe there is no time to post! - haha

If anyone is out there that has cruised and can provide copies of cruise compasses it would be greatly appreciated! I was able to find the compasses online (not on cruisecritic) of the 2016 cruise, but would like to see the latest and greatest. Pretty much I'm looking for logistical tips and tricks - tender times, show information, other ship suggestions, etc.

If anyone has questions for me will be happy to share my plans. We are flying in from east coast of United States (Newark, NJ airport) into Barcelona one day early, staying at Hotel Jazz with a tour booked with Barcelona Day Tours on departure day. BDT will drop us off at the ship mid-afternoon. We have all other tours booked through italytours.eu which gets fantastic reviews. We then fly home after getting off the ship on the 24th.

Thank you!

We are on this same cruise June 18th - unfortunately I am not sure how to post pictures on here but would gladly photograph the cruise compass each day and e mail them to you.

We are on this same cruise June 18th - unfortunately I am not sure how to post pictures on here but would gladly photograph the cruise compass each day and e mail them to you.

If you are not using a smartphone app, then one option is to upload photos to a photo sharing site such as Photobucket and put links to the photos in your posts here.

We are doing this same cruise a few weeks after you and we are also staying at Hotel Jazz and using Barcelona Day Tours and staying in aft facing balconies!! :'):') I am curious if you are still docking in Livorno or if it has been changed to La Spezia?? I heard it was changed to La Spezia at the last minute last week and I am obviously wanting to adjust my plans if we are switching ports as well. Please report back once you return and I hope you have a fabulous time!!

How cool. Aft-facing balconies are the best. Had one for Alaska cruise a few years back on Serenade and we had the best seats in the house for glacier viewing.

I was contacted by italytours stating they heard Livorno was changing to La Spezia. Others on my sailing were contacted as well. Bottom line is that I believe the "Venice" cruises are still docking in Livorno and the alternating "Greek" cruises are changed to La Spezia. I just checked the RCCL website and still going to Livorno.

You doing Barcelona Day Tours on embarkation day or the day prior? We are using them on embarkation day so hoping Hotel Jazz will allow an early check-in as I believe our flight will land around 9AM local time the day before embarkation.

We are on this same cruise June 18th - unfortunately I am not sure how to post pictures on here but would gladly photograph the cruise compass each day and e mail them to you.

Thank you so much for the offer! Looks like Bob has some suggestions for how to upload here (use the app) or via a photo-sharing site. I'm think it would be better to post them publically here on CC so that everyone can benefit from them.

How cool. Aft-facing balconies are the best. Had one for Alaska cruise a few years back on Serenade and we had the best seats in the house for glacier viewing.

I was contacted by italytours stating they heard Livorno was changing to La Spezia. Others on my sailing were contacted as well. Bottom line is that I believe the "Venice" cruises are still docking in Livorno and the alternating "Greek" cruises are changed to La Spezia. I just checked the RCCL website and still going to Livorno.

You doing Barcelona Day Tours on embarkation day or the day prior? We are using them on embarkation day so hoping Hotel Jazz will allow an early check-in as I believe our flight will land around 9AM local time the day before embarkation.

Thank you for the information regarding the port changes. Please let me know if you hear anything else regarding La Spezia/Livorno. I have tours booked in both ports right now but will need to cancel one as we get closer.

We are using Barcelona Day tours the day before to pick us up from the airport then we go on a half day tour and then they will drop us at Hotel Jazz. Same thing for the back end, they are picking us up from the port and then a full day tour and drop at Hotel Jazz.

If you are not using a smartphone app, then one option is to upload photos to a photo sharing site such as Photobucket and put links to the photos in your posts here.

Thanks for the info Bob, I will try to do this once onboard.

We are also on the 29th of August sailing, any "inside information" on theme nights etc. Much appreciated. Going by previous cruises it looks like a white party and masquerade party. Looking forward to see the Cruise Compass x