FloatingFour

Like the OP, our first RCL cruise was on the BOTS out of Ravenna but on July 3. We are new to cruising having only been on CCL 4 times, 2 before and 2 after the shutdown. We spent the week wondering if the differences we saw were CCL v RCCL, Mediterranean v Caribbean or Dream Class v Radiance Class. Here are some of our thoughts to piggy back on this thread. Appearance: We really liked the look of the Brilliance. She is much prettier than the Dream class ships we have sailed. She did not look like she was ten years older while walking around the ship. Communication: I wish RCCL advertised the shuttle from Ravenna to the port. I had seen several mentions of one online but nothing from RCCL. Opted not to show up at the train station “hoping” it would be running. Instead, my hotel had a driver’s contact and set up transportation for us. (I have his business card if anyone is interested.) Early in the week, RCCL asked passengers for their departure transportation plans. This included a shuttle FROM the port to the train station. I paid for this transfer as soon as I saw it. Mid-week, RCCL notified the passengers of a newly scheduled rail strike on our debarkation day for the Ravenna area. Our train trip to Venice would not be available to us due to the strike. RCCL offered several new transportation options to both Bologna and Venice. We ended up on a bus to the Venice transportation hub (Tronchetto). Embarkation/Debarkation: I agree this was very smooth. We arrived early due to our ride to the port and having purchased the KEY program. We were one of the first people on board. Even with all the various departure transportation options, debarkation seems to move smoothly. We did leave our luggage the night before (11PM v Midnight on CCL). We did not see the crowds of people with suitcases filling all the common areas like we have seen on CCL, either. Casino: CCL casinos are always busy and smokey. We hardly saw anyone in it on the Brilliance. This may be the location. We didn’t need to go through it to get anywhere we wanted to be. On the Dream class ships, it is hard to avoid being between the Atrium and Ocean Plaza. Food: Overall, we did not like the food\food options\service on the BOTS. The MDR waitstaff was not very good. The assistants were better than the head waiters. The abilities of the baristas working the coffee bar varied from day to day. We had no consistency in the Frappuccino’s we ordered. Need an expresso or americano? No problem. Anything else? Good luck getting a drinkable drink. We aren’t drinkers so we don’t challenge bartenders with off menu drinks. But when a non-alcoholic drink is listed on the bar menu, I expect the bartender to know what it is and how to make it. The one alcoholic drink I ordered, Bahama Mama from the pool bar, had to go through two bartenders to know what should be in the drink. We did like the selection of MDR menu items available everyday if the rotating menu did not have anything we wanted to eat. We missed the variety of food options available on the Dream ships. The limited selections in the Café Latte-Tudes or Park Café were not worth eating. We like being able to grab a Guy’s and fries after returning from an excursion or some pizza or a grilled sandwich after the late show. Nothing like this on the BOTS. One good thing…mounds of crispy bacon in the breakfast buffet every morning!!! (And for my DW, Nutella and Croissants.) Entertainment: We saw the same Playlist Productions from July 2018 to March of 2022. We were ready for something new. We enjoyed the shows we could see, especially the live band accompanying the singers. We were not able to see all that we wanted to because of RCCL’s timing. CCL is good to have 2 shows at night for people at either dining time. Only one showtime on the Brilliance made it difficult to get through dinner at a normal dinner time AND catch the show. We also felt there were not as many activities throughout the day. Or at least not as many that we were interested in. We also did not know the cruise director when we first saw him. We are used to having the CD visible all over the ship and announcing activities and events. All we saw him do was start the ‘parties’ and introduce the evening show. Anyone could do these jobs so what is special about the RCCL CD’s? Crew: We did notice a lower level of competency in this ships crew as mentioned before under food. We did not see this in the two CCL trips post-covid. Another thing we noticed was missing was the post-covid cleaning we saw everywhere on the CCL ships. You could not go 5 minutes without someone coming by wiping down the high touch areas. We saw drink glasses left all over the BOTS that we never saw on our 2 post-covid CCL trips. Our cabin steward was excellent and we had missed having both morning and evening room refreshs. Passengers: Our fellow passengers were a calmer, quieter bunch than we have joined sailing out of Galveston on CCL. We also didn’t spend very much time on the pool deck this trip so we may have self-quarantined ourselves from the crazies. Maybe it is a smaller ship. Maybe it is the European clientele. Maybe it is the port heavy itinerary. The overall vibe was calmer that any of our CCL trips. This may seem like a lot of negativity but we are not given up on RCCL. We are looking at catching the Adventure of the Seas out of Galveston sometime next year. That way we can have a similar itinerary, clientele, ship size we are familiar with to better compare the two cruise lines.

Hello, we are on the Brilliance July 3-10 cruise. We will be taking the train to Venice after the cruise. My questions are Did you purchase the Port to Ravenna train station transfer ahead of time of did you just show up to catch the shuttle? When did you get off the ship? When did you arrive at the Ravenna train station? Thanks for the info.