Brilliance Greek B2B Trip Report ~ Menus~Cruise Compass~Photos

[Roybthered]

Great review, following along with interest. Look forward to the rest of your posts and hope you are recovering from your injuries.

[sgmn]

9 hours ago, luckybecky said:

Wednesday June 15

 

Today we arrived in beautiful Santorini!

 

I woke early, worried about our close timing, and was down at the dining room at 7:15 am to get in line for tender tickets (I did not take the advice from Guest Services to wait until 9:30am). There were about 15 people in line ahead of me. There was an announcement at some point about tickets being given out starting at 8am (so that’s three different times we have been told). They began handing out tickets about 7:45. We got tender number 2. By the time I got my tickets and left, there were dozens of people lined up. I couldn’t see where the line ended.

 

We had packed a tote bag the night before so were pretty much ready to go. It’s a good thing too, because we still thought we had a lot of time. Then the captain announced that we had been cleared early, and tendering would commence almost immediately. Now, all our documents prior to cruising and the website had said 0930, but the Cruise Compass said 8:00am for the arrival. I didn’t notice this change until I was looking at the Compass to write up this review. I’m not sure when it changed. I wish I had known sooner; we would have been better prepared to leave on time.

 

Also the person who gave me the tickets told me not to proceed to the debarkation area on deck 2 when our ticket was called. She explicitly said to go to Deck 3 Centrum (which I know now does not exist) and all ticket #2 holders would proceed together to the tender. This was completely erroneous. But I passed the info to our friends who we were supposed to meet and debark together.

 

Before 8:00 they called for Tender One ticket holders. We hurried to get ready. They almost immediately made another announcement, this time calling for all Ticket 2, 3 and 4 all at once! And

they said to go to deck 2, not 3 as I had been explicitly instructed. OK, so now it was a mad, chaotic dash. Many people rushing down the stairs at once. Thank goodness we ran into our friends in the stairwell coincidentally since our plans to meet had gone out the window.

 

This ticketing and tendering process was very confusing and filled with contradictory info from start to finish. Thank goodness it all worked out in the end. We got to port with more than enough time to walk around a bit and meet our guide on time.

 

 

We did a private tour for just our group of four, with a highly rated guide from a popular trip advising website. He drove us to Oia where we had a nice walk around, took many photos of the beautiful buildings and views. It was very crowded. Our captain said we had nine ships in port!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wow 9 ships. A few weeks ago we were there and there was just us and one much smaller ship. But I have been there with five in six ships in the bay and it was almost impossible to move in Oia by mid morning 

Love this class of ship. It sounds like you do the same kind of things as us. We love ports, food and shows/entertainment adding in some exercise and relaxed reading on one of the top decks on sea days

Edited July 8, 2022 by sgmn

[sgmn]

4 hours ago, luckybecky said:

As we walked back to the ship, I tripped on a bit of uneven sidewalk and went down hard. Got badly banged up. Full face plant.

 

Arriving back at the gangplank, the person on duty noticed I was bleeding and asked if I needed to go to Medical. I thanked him and said I just wanted to go to my cabin to get cleaned up.

 

I had hit my head hard, with a large abrasion and bleeding cut on my forehead and cheek; also my hand, knee and shoulder.

 

So here is my first and only experience with any medical service on a ship.

 

We went to our room and I showered. I was really banged up. I didn’t want to go to medical, but we had reservations at Chops tonight, which requires long pants. I had a huge bleeding abrasion on my knee, and didn’t want to stain my pants.

 

So I told Paul, let’s go down to Medical and ask for some bandages. He said, “if they take one look at you with that wound on your head,  they are not going to just give you a bandage. They are going to want to check you out.” He was sincerely worried that I could have a concussion.

 

I didn’t want all that, I just wanted a bandage for my knee that was really raw and weeping.

 

Paul was incorrect to think that there would be any concern about my head wound.

 

We went to deck 2 to find the medical facility. There were several doors and it was not clearly marked where we should enter. There was nothing like a reception or triage area. I asked a crew member nearby who led us to a tiny waiting room where we knocked on a closed door.

 

No one responded so I cracked open the door and saw a lady at a desk inside. I said, I don’t know if I am in the right place, but I just need some bandages, and I pointed to the large bleeding area on my knee.

 

She told me to wait outside. After a few minutes, she came out and handed me some bandaids. She turned, went back inside, and shut the door. No concern about my bleeding head LOL And no bandages large enough for my knee (or shoulder, or elbow).

 

I also had a broken finger. My right hand was rapidly swelling and developing a deep bruise. Paul went to a bar and got a glass of ice. I put the ice in a washcloth and alternately iced my hand, forehead, and knee.

 

Well, onward!! Making the best of it.

Sorry to hear about your fall. What bad service from the medics on board and a broken finger, you must of been in a lot of pain 

[Kathscof]

The kids!!!!!! HAHAHAHAH

 

We were on Radiance May 27, so we had a similar ship, so I can picture everything!  We also had one group of like 4-5 kids (assuming it was 2 families for how large the pack of surrounding people were) on our ship that were rambunctious and all we had to say were “the kids!” And shake our heads when we decided to divert our paths.....I like down front seats in the theatre and I was making a beeline for the good seats and I was almost there, saw the kids, and slowly backpedaled back up the stairs to stay away hahahahaha

 

I loved your amusements about things in Italy!  I never realized that some of the surprising things for people are things that I take for granted and love! 

[mapleleaves]

Great trip report !  Thanks for taking the time to write.  And especially thanks for not doing a paragraph a day like some of the live reports that drag on for weeks.  This is wonderful.

Could you please indicate the names of any tour operators that you use. Many of us are still in the research and planning phase so this info would be very helpful.

[luckybecky]

10 minutes ago, mapleleaves said:

Great trip report !  Thanks for taking the time to write.  And especially thanks for not doing a paragraph a day like some of the live reports that drag on for weeks.  This is wonderful.

Could you please indicate the names of any tour operators that you use. Many of us are still in the research and planning phase so this info would be very helpful.

 

We use a popular trip advising website to find and research tour providers. I know that Cruise Critic has limits on mentions of specific travel agents, but I hope it is OK to name our tour providers. 

 

In Santorini, we did "Private Santorini Tailor Made - Choice of the guest!" by Santorini Road Trips.

Dubrovnik: "Sea Kayaking and Snorkeling Tour" by Adventure Dubrovnik

Mykonos: "Sightseeing with a Mykonian (max.8people)" with Matthaios Kousathanas

Split: "Blue Lagoon & 3 Islands Half-day Trip from Split" by Toto Travel Day Tours

 

I would highly recommend any of these -- even the kayak tour as long as you are fit enough and have ample time.

 

We are firm believers in doing tours booked outside of the cruise line. We get smaller group tours and better prices. I research the tour providers carefully and only select those that have many positive reviews. However our slightly close call with the timing of the kayak tour shows the danger of using an outside tour. If you miss the ship, you are on your own. But even in the case of our kayak tour which was running long,  the guide made sure to get us back with time to spare. We have never had a truly close call -- knock on wood!

[luckybecky]

Sunday June 19

 

Turnaround day! We arrived back in Ravenna. We got out of our room around 7:45, went to

Guest Services as instructed in the letter that was left in our room. It was very specific. Said we needed to go to Guest Services from 7:15-8:00am to pick up our new Sea Pass card and In Transit card. It instructed us to make sure to bring our current Sea Pass card, Covid vaccination card, and passport. We were not required to re-test for Covid.

 

So we went to Guest Services with the required docs, and the representative seemed to have no idea what we were talking about. I showed him the letter that had been left in our cabin and read him the instructions verbatim. He was still confused. Asked us 3 times what time we were getting off the ship. We said, well, we don’t know. In an hour maybe? We were planning to get breakfast first.

 

I told him again about the instructions that were very specific to go at this time to this place. He told us to wait to the side and he would get someone to help us.

 

Soon a lady did arrive who seemed to know what was going on. She made copies of our vaccination cards and gave us our new Sea Pass cards and In Transit cards.

 

We ran into some other B2B cruisers who were planning to take a suitcase full of clothes to a laundromat. Smart!

 

Windjammer for breakfast. Good. I mentioned earlier about the raw bacon. That was only a thing the first time we ate there. Every time since, the bacon has been crispy and delicious.

 

We walked off the ship and went to the ferry to the marina. The ferry costs one euro and runs continuously. It takes only minutes to make the crossing. We spent about an hour walking around the tree lined streets in the marina area, but it was a Sunday morning and aside from a few cafes, everything was closed. It was really dead.

 

We had heard that this is a hot, happening area. But not at 9am on a Sunday.

 

We went back to the ferry, crossed back over the canal, and walked 20 minutes or so to the beach. We found a beach club that had a bathroom where we could change. Not sure we were supposed to be there, but it worked. We had carried a bag with our swimsuits.

 

This photo was taken on board the ferry. You can see it is not far from the ship. The ferry ride is very short, just across a canal. 

 

 

 

On the beach

 

 

We spent about an hour enjoying the beach. It was a nice beach very near the ship. Smooth sand, clear water. If you are doing a B2B, I think I would recommend you do a beach break. Our time in the marina was a lot of walking, and pretty much a bust.

 

So by now it was noon-ish. We headed back to the ship. Just showed our In Transit cards and passed all lines except for security, which went quickly.

 

It was still too early to go to our new room. So we went to the Solarium, it was lovely. The hot tub was closed but we enjoyed the pool and some snacks. We also went to the main pool and hot tub. Finally at 1pm we went to our room and unpacked, and had a nice long nap.

[luckybecky]

First night in dining room:

 

 

 

 

I had the roasted carrot and parsnip salad which was delicious, and the asparagus soup which was also very good.

 

 

 

Paul had seafood risotto and shrimp cocktail.

 

 

 

We almost always ordered two appetizers each. I would usually have soup and salad. Paul liked to try a variety of things. Portion sizes were much more manageable than in the specialty restaurants. It was almost a relief after a week of specialty dining to have lighter fare!

[luckybecky]

For entrees, I had the artichoke crepes fontina and Paul tried the pan seared red snapper.

 

 

 

Dessert was Boston crème pie and chocolate mousse. Everything was delicious. As noted, portion sizes were noticeably smaller than in the specialty restaurants but that was a good thing. They were more normal sized and so it is easier to avoid overindulging.

 

 

 

We watched the sunset and spent some time in the casino. We skipped the evening show because it was the same acrobat couple we saw twice last week.

 

 

Here is today's schedule of activities

 

 

[luckybecky]

Monday June 20

 

Kotor Montenegro

 

The sail into this port was gorgeous. We slept a little late and missed the first of it but were up in time to see most.

 

 

 

Here's our ship in port

 

 

We did a speedboat tour. It was fun, but if I had known that it took exactly the same route that we had just seen from the ship (and would see again when we left), I would probably have chosen to do something else. But it was still fun.

 

We motored into a cave that had been carved out of the mountain as a defensive place to hide submarines by Tito of Yugoslavia.

 

 

 

 

We had a very brief time in Blue Cave – very brief. We motored in, then back out again.

 

 

 

Once outside of the cave, we had about 10 minutes to swim in the open water. The water was very clear, cold, a little rough to swim in. Soon, back on the boat and speeding back the way we came. We made a 10 minute stop at Our Lady of the Rocks, a tiny island with a church. We didn't grab any cash when debarking our tour boat so we weren't able to enter the church. I think they said it was 2 euro if you want to go inside. 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

 

A couple more shots, I might have taken these during our speedboat tour, or sailaway. I can't remember.

 

 

 

On the helipad for sailaway. You can sort of see my banged up forehead and slightly black eye. It's looking better from a day or two ago! 🤕

 

 

Today's tour was "Ticket Tour: Blue Cave, Mamula Island, Submarine Tunnel, Lady of the Rocks (3hr)" by The Seagull Speedboat Tours and Experiences

 

Of all the tours we did, this is one I probably wouldn't repeat. It certainly wasn't bad, we had a good time. Our guide was fine and the speedboat ride was fun. But it was a lot of time speedboating, only a very brief swim and a short time on the little island. And the scenery was the same we saw from the ship. It would be great to see if you had arrived in Kotor by land, but I might recommend trying something different. 

[luckybecky]

Then, back to town. We still had a couple of hours before back aboard time and we needed to exchange some currency. It was just after 3pm. We went to three different banks in the old town and they all said they were closed for currency exchange. So we tried to withdraw money from an ATM and our card was declined at 2 ATMs on land, as well as the one on the ship. (There are at least two ATMs on board, one that dispenses dollars, and one for euros.)

 

We have to have euro to pay in cash for our tour tomorrow so we were getting stressed. We went to guest services. They said they could do currency exchange for us, but they strongly discouraged us, saying the exchange rate is terrible.

 

We had a debarkation time of 7:30am tomorrow with a tour time of 8:00 so there was no time for any other attempts to get cash. We exchanged some dollars at guest services; it cost abut $117 to get 100 euro.

 

So after all that we got cleaned up and went to dinner.

 

 

I started with chicken waldorf salad and french onion soup. Both were good. Paul had crab cake and a green salad.

 

 

 

 

 

For an entree, I tried the Caribbean jerk pork chop (very spicy! And delicious) and Paul had the Southern fried chicken which he said was exceptional.

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Desserts were warm chocolate hazelnut cake and key lime pie.

 

 

 

We saw the singer's showcase show again, same as last week but it was good and worth seeing again. Then we hit the casino for a short time but came back to our room fairly early because we had to get up early in the morning. Plus we had to turn the clocks up an hour so we would lose an hour of sleep tonight.

 

Here is today's schedule

 

[luckybecky]

Tuesday June 21

 

Corfu

 

The best tour of our trip so far, hands down! A cruise critic member had organized a tour. We had a private boat for 14 of us: two families both with 2 parents plus four kids, and Paul and I. The total cost was 960 euro divided among the 14 of us, but then we added a bit extra for a fuel supplement because prices had spiked so much after we booked. I didn't book this tour so I'm not sure of the contact info. The company name was Nautilus. If you try to book it, you will probably be given a higher price. They mistakenly quoted us a lower price than what they normally charge, but they agreed to honor the price since that is what they quoted us. 

 

We had to turn our clock ahead one hour today so we lost an hour of sleep, and had an early meeting with our group in the R Bar at 7:15 am. Went down to debark around 7:30am. There was a shuttle bus that drove us a short distance to the exit of the port. Then we found our boat nearby.

 

Here's a view of our ship as we left the port

 

 

The boat was fantastic. It could have accommodated at least 8-10 people more than we had, so there was plenty of room to spread out. We motored along for awhile, stopping briefly at some scenic spots for a little commentary from our hosts. Then we arrived at our first swimming spot where there was a large cave.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

 

 

We went to a second cave for another swim in the beautiful clear waters.

 

 

Back on board we motored along for awhile longer. Along the way our hosts offered us water, juice, and wine the captain had made himself.

Does Paul look relaxed, or what? ☺️

 

 

 

 

We reached our third stop, a lovely little beach that we had entirely to ourselves.

 

 

[luckybecky]

While we swam, our captain fired up a grill on the back of the boat while we enjoyed a swim. He made us grilled chicken, fish and pork chops. There was fried cheese, and an amazing dish of big slabs of cheese cooked on the grill over peppers and onions with oregano and plenty of olive oil. It was incredible! Add to this fresh Greek salad and bread.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What a lovely day! The scenery was beautiful, the swimming was refreshing, and the food was amazing. We highly recommend this tour.

 

[luckybecky]

We stopped at the bar on when we got back on board to pick up our new favorite drink: frozen mojitos. So good, and refreshing! Here's the menu from the R Bar.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

 

Dinner

 

 

Escargot

 

 

Pumpkin soup

 

 

Calamari

 

 

Tenderloin

 

 

Seafood linguine alfredo

 

 

Carrot cake

 

 

Grand marnier souffle

 

[luckybecky]

We went to the evening show which was a wacky, very energetic entertainer named "Jeremy the Entertainer." Sort of a jack of all trades. Juggling and other tricks of all kinds. He was fun and funny. Sorry I forgot to take any pictures.

 

We went to the casino again and then to bed early. It had been a long but wonderful day. I was really sorry to miss the Ideal Couple game show. It was so hilarious last week and I really wanted to see it, but we were just beat and not up for staying out until midnight.

 

[Preziosa]

Thank you, now it is Easy to Read all the Daily Programs

[luckybecky]

Wednesday June 22

 

Athens!

 

I was so excited about this port. I’ve been dreaming about seeing the Acropolis since I was a kid.

 

Because the main sights are a little distance (about 45 minutes) from the port, and because Athens is so large with big city traffic, we chose to do a RC excursion (the first and only one we did on this trip). We didn’t want to take any chances on missing the ship.

 

Our port time was 12 noon to 8pm. We were instructed to meet in the theater at 12:15, along with hundreds of others. This was the most crowded I ever saw the theater. At every show, there was plenty of space for social distancing, but now we were packed in shoulder to shoulder.

 

After about 20-30 minutes, our group number – along with many others – was instructed to proceed to the gangway. There were hundreds of people all rushing the gangway at once. So much for social distancing!! I'm not sure why they didn't call one number at a time.

 

 

We were instructed that masks were required on the bus. Most (not all) people complied. Speaking of masks, they were optional at all times on board and almost no one was wearing them. It was extremely rare to see anyone with a mask, except for crew, for whom masks are still required. We rarely saw people wearing masks in any of our ports, either.

 

We had a guide on the bus who gave some info along the way and then guided us at the Acropolis. It was very easy; she led us around, bought our entrance tickets, gave us interesting commentary. Then we had about an hour to explore on our own.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We met back up to get on the bus and go to the Plaka for some shopping. We had about 3 hours here. We picked up several souvenirs. The prices seemed very reasonable, better than in Santorini and Mykonos.

 

We went to a restaurant and had supper. We weren’t going to be back on board until around 7:30pm. It was a scorchingly hot day (we have had fantastic weather up until now – but the heat finally caught up with us). We knew we would need to shower and change once back on board, so we would have to miss dinner on board tonight.

 

Souvlaki:

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

Since we missed dinner, I took screen shots of the MDR menu.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[luckybecky]

So I noticed something I had not realized at first: if you scroll down in the app, you get the children's menu (which adults can order from too -- that banana split sounds good !) and then there is also a vegan menu which includes several additional options for apps, soup, entrees and dessert that do not appear on the printed menu that they hand you when you sit down at the table. Sorry, I got all those screen shots and then somehow don't have the last part of the vegan menu. 

 

But the point is, there are several additional options to choose from, you just have to look for them.

 

As long as we are talking about dining, maybe someone can clear something up for me about dining times on Royal.

 

We had booked anytime dining. But last week, I noticed our Seapass card said dining at 7:30pm. I went to ask the maitre d' about it. He said no problem, he would change us to anytime dining for 6:30pm.  ??  I thought anytime dining meant we could go anytime? We didn't want to wait as late as 7:30 because we usually like to go to the show and casino or other activities after supper. So he told me he changed us to 6:30, but when we got our Seapass card for week 2, it said 6:00pm. I'm really confused now about how anytime dining is supposed to work.

 

We were seated at the same table every night, next to a lovely German couple who we enjoyed visiting with. 

[luckybecky]

Anyway, on with our story.

 

We went to listen to the ship orchestra play some jazz in the Colony Club. We saw them twice playing there, both times it was very lightly attended which is a shame because they are very good.

 

 

Later we went to the Love and Marriage show. We always love this show. Tonight’s show seemed to drag on a bit, though. There was some criticism on our Facebook group, some people thought it was too long. And they did not hold a microphone for the contestants so it was not possible to hear their answers. By the way, cruise director Jamie had rejoined the ship on Sunday and he led the show tonight.

 

 

[luckybecky]

Thursday June 23

 

Today was our second day in Mykonos, the only port that we went to twice, and the only time we did not plan an excursion. It was extremely hot, much worse than last week. We took our time about getting off the ship, then just walked around doing a little shopping, but we didn't buy much. Prices had been better in Athens and we bought most of our souvenirs there. We walked up to the windmills again and took a few photos. And we saw the island mascot, Petros the pelican, just wandering among the crowds.

 

 

That's "little Venice" along the waterfront, a row of restaurants and bars that is said to be the best place to watch the sunset.