Med Cruise on the Brilliance~ June 7, 2016 ~ My Diary

[maxs mom]

I personally like the way that you are posting. Keep up the good work.

 

I'm a Princess cruiser but discovered your trip reports several years ago...love your writing style.

 

So now I do a periodic search to make sure that I don't miss any of your reviews.

 

Judy

 

Sent from my HUAWEI SCL-L04 using Tapatalk

 

Awww.....thanks, Judy. Very nice of you. I hope this review will be helpful to you.

[SteveinPhilly]

BOY am I ever embarrassed Jane!:o

 

I found your thread and looked at your photos without seeing that you set up a SEPARATE thread for you "diary" and it wasn't on the Roll Call (where I thought it was!). So much of what I posted below is off point. This is YOUR thread and not the one I thought it was. I'll stay subscribed to keep up with it.

 

(Meanwhile I just did my 9 minute video of 28 hours in Venice) and will post on the 6/7 Roll Call

 

Again, sorry I acted to hastily.

 

Steve

[celebrity]

Jane, always appreciate your posts. Will be on Brilliance in Sept. Thanks and looking forward to the rest.

Edited July 7, 2016 by celebrity

[maxs mom]

BOY am I ever embarrassed Jane!:o

 

I found your thread and looked at your photos without seeing that you set up a SEPARATE thread for you "diary" and it wasn't on the Roll Call (where I thought it was!). So much of what I posted below is off point. This is YOUR thread and not the one I thought it was. I'll stay subscribed to keep up with it.

 

(Meanwhile I just did my 9 minute video of 28 hours in Venice) and will post on the 6/7 Roll Call

 

Again, sorry I acted to hastily.

 

Steve[/QUOT

 

No problem, Steve. Glad to have you along for the ride!

[txcowboy10]

Following....as we go in September! Great review and pix so far Jane!

 

Mark

Edited July 7, 2016 by txcowboy10

[Champagne Cruiser]

Yeah! Another Jane review. I always enjoy your reviews and have learned a lot about cruising and ports. Thanks for taking the time to do these reviews.

[maxs mom]

Tuesday ~ June 7 ~ Barcelona

 

Up early.....then we walked up to a corner café again for breakfast. Grabbed some eggs, bacon, and toast.....or a reasonable facsimile!

 

 

 

We arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 10:30. We went down to the lobby at 10:20 and the taxi was already there.....so off we go to the port. A very short ride.

 

This port is beautiful. There was no traffic and we pulled right up to the terminal. A porter came out to the taxi and got our luggage. And we walked right in to the terminal and breezed through security. What a dream!! We walked right up to the counter and checked in, got the on board photo and then walked right on to the ship. I believe this was the easiest embarkation ever ( and that's saying a lot!) We were one of the first on the ship.

 

Welcome Aboard!!

 

 

We then followed our regular getting on board routine and found our way to the Centrum on Deck 5 and sat in some comfy chairs until cabins were ready at 1:00. Andrea and I went around and made all of our dinner reservations...at Chops, Giovanni's, and My Time Dining. We also went up to the Windjammer and got some iced tea and cookies to snack on.

 

Finally on board after a year's worth of planning!!

 

 

 

 

You can usually do some pretty good people watching during this time!!

 

[maxs mom]

We were entertained by a wonderful guitarist.

 

 

Cabins were ready at 1:00 and we went right up to deck 10 to find our cabins. Andrea happily skipped down the hallway until we found them......Junior Suites (that we found a sweet upgrade for).....1580 and 1584. We were more than happy with these!!

 

 

 

 

 

[maxs mom]

A couple more cabin pictures:

 

 

 

Like I said......a beautiful port:

 

 

 

 

We decided to go to Park Café for lunch and avoid the madness of the Windjammer. It was just perfect. Must people don't realize this is here on the first day, so it is always quiet. We got sandwiches and salads and that was just perfect.

 

After lunch we touched base with the Loyalty Ambassador because we were to get a crystal block on this cruise for 630 points and Michael and Andrea wanted to get their D+ pins. She was very accommodating. Very young girl from Romania.....new to the company, but she said she wasn't staying.

[maxs mom]

Next up was unpacking carry ons........then on to the Schooner Bar at 3 for a pre Meet and Mingle. We had a fairly active roll call and there was a great turn out for this event! We met all our folks that we would be touring with except for one couple. And a lot of others as well. Very nice group. I arranged some tours in about 4 ports that we needed to share with others, so people from the roll call volunteered to hang out with us on those days. (Brave souls!) What delightful people we met because of this!! Cruise Critic roll calls are the best!! Here are some pictures of our pre Meet and Mingle. We all stayed here for about an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

Muster Drill was at 4:15 and our Muster Station was in Chops, so we were right there. Love it when the MS is inside!! It was painless, but we all almost fell asleep!!

[Virtopia]

Great review! I'll be doing a Greek Islands cruise in September so anxious to see if we have any similar ports.

[maxs mom]

Great review! I'll be doing a Greek Islands cruise in September so anxious to see if we have any similar ports.

 

There might be some, so hang in here with me!!

[maxs mom]

Our luggage had arrived by the time we got back to the cabin, so the rest of the unpacking took place then. I watched a little of our sailaway, then I got ready for the evening.

 

 

 

 

We tried the Concierge Lounge out for drinks this evening. It was very nice, very quiet.....not many there at all. I started out with a lemon drop.....very good.

 

 

We met Charmaine, the Concierge. She came over and checked us off her list. She was very nice but let us know.....in a small way....that her priority was the Suite Guests......not in so many words.....just a feeling that we got. When Andrea and Michael got there.....Andrea and I went over to the Diamond Lounge to meet Ricardo Mock, the Concierge there. He is a friend of one of our friends. He was so nice.....we decided we would go to the DL the next night and we ended up just going there for the rest of the cruise.

 

 

What a sweetheart!!

[maxs mom]

Dinner tonight was in Chops. Not many people there tonight. It was a beautiful evening at sea.....the sun sets so late here.....well after 9:30.

 

 

I ordered my usual.....goat cheese salad, petit filet.....then we got bacon and vegetables for the table. It was all good. Service was great. We split the cheesecake for dessert.....as usual.

 

 

 

 

 

Very nice evening. Of course we had to check out the casino before turning in. It was ugly. We went to bed after that.

 

[George C]

Great review, we also sail on her in 66 days but whos counting

[Canadian Tyler]

Hi Jane! I've missed your diaries lately, glad to see you back!

[maxs mom]

Wednesday ~ June 8, 2016 ~ Villefranche/Nice

 

Got up and had some coffee in the DL. No one around.

 

 

They had a nice spread in here for breakfast.....very nice. We like to eat a real breakfast every morning.....so I all did was look at this stuff.

 

 

 

 

Very quiet place to have coffee every morning, and that's exactly what I did!

 

Nice sail in this morning.

 

 

[maxs mom]

Hi Jane! I've missed your diaries lately, glad to see you back!

 

Hey Tyler! Glad to see you as well!!

[maxs mom]

On this ship......D+ are able to go to Chops for breakfast and that's exactly what we did.....most mornings. On the port days where we had to be out really early.....we went to Park Café. Chops for breakfast was just lovely and we thoroughly enjoyed eating here. Hardly anyone took advantage of this perk.....even the suite guests.....so the service here was unbelievable. Everything was cooked to perfection. We loved being able to have breakfast here.

 

 

 

 

We anchored in Villefranche around 10:00. Lovely area!

 

 

 

[janlou37]

Hi , thanks so much for writing this review. We're on the Brilliance in a couple of weeks so your timing is perfect [emoji6].

 

Interesting about your comments on the Concierge Lounge, we just made D+ and we're looking forward to trying a new lounge. But I think we'll stick with the DL as Ricardo looks such a sweetie!

 

Any hints or tips for the various ports would be gratefully received.

 

Jan

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[maxs mom]

Hi , thanks so much for writing this review. We're on the Brilliance in a couple of weeks so your timing is perfect [emoji6].

 

Interesting about your comments on the Concierge Lounge, we just made D+ and we're looking forward to trying a new lounge. But I think we'll stick with the DL as Ricardo looks such a sweetie!

 

Any hints or tips for the various ports would be gratefully received.

 

Jan

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

Hey Jan! Stay tuned! Lots of tips and hints coming your way. You will love it! Rest up because it is an exhausting trip!!!

[janlou37]

Thanks Jane! Can't wait!

 

 

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[Bobal]

We were on exactly the same cruise so following this excellent thread with interest. I remember seeing you onboard. I have to agree about Ricardo. We've had him once before on Navigator and he really is excellent. Although we didn't get the same issue with Charmaine we have been made to feel the same on a number of other ships. We barely used either lounge on the evening as we had a drink package on this cruise. We loved them for coffees during the day.

[nursedibdob]

Loving your review style. We're in the med with Celebrity in September & lots of new ports including Villefranche, is your review is invaluable as well as enjoyable

 

 

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[maxs mom]

We had an easy tender in. We just planned on winging it on our own today since the next three days were going to be intense.

 

 

The weather was very nice!

 

 

We decided that we would take the bus over to Nice and try to find the Promenade Anglais and just hang out for a while. We didn't exactly know where to go but we followed the crowd up a very steep hill and finally found the bus stop. This little sign was helpful.

 

 

It was not a easy walk, but we made it. The bus was 1.5 euros over to Nice and it was packed. Standing room only. Thank goodness it was a short ride.

 

 

 

When we got to Nice, we had no clue where to go from where the bus let us off. We couldn't see taxis or anything. But this HOHO bus came along and we just hopped on it. We had a nice ride around the city and we finally reached the Promenade Anglais. We hopped off there and looked around and then found a nice little sidewalk café to have lunch. Of course John spotted a McDonalds and had to go there for some Wi-Fi. Andrea, Michael, and I went to the café and John joined us later. We got a look at the very rocky beach there and decided that was not the beach experience that we would like to have.

 

Edited July 7, 2016 by max'smom