Live from Brilliance 12 day venice med cruise

[kely53]

Hi,

I know there was a question before leaving on this cruise about the dining times. Early is 6 and 6:30. Late is 8:30 and 9pm.

 

We have had spectacular weather so far and our private tours have been excellent. We used Sylvie Di Cristo for Cannes, Drive Amalfi for Naples (Roberto as driver), and Driver in Rome (Daniele as driver.).

 

I will check back on here in a few days. Next 2 days are in Venice.

 

Karen

[leftyrn]

Hi,

I know there was a question before leaving on this cruise about the dining times. Early is 6 and 6:30. Late is 8:30 and 9pm.

 

We have had spectacular weather so far and our private tours have been excellent. We used Sylvie Di Cristo for Cannes, Drive Amalfi for Naples (Roberto as driver), and Driver in Rome (Daniele as driver.).

 

I will check back on here in a few days. Next 2 days are in Venice.

 

Karen

Is Angela at the Hollywood Odysey and will she be there in Late Sept Early Oct??

[Dr.Oz]

Kely53, do you have an e-mail address for Sylvie Di Cristo? We will be in Cannes next June and I'm trying to find a good driver while in Cannes for six people.

 

Thank you

[livingandlearning]

Do you have any email addresses for any of these tour guides? I will be going on the Brilliance of the Seas 12 day Venice cruise on Sept. 30 and need to make some arrangements. Do you tell them where you want to go or do they have a list of places they will take you to. Also, do you have to pay in advance to reserve them?

Livingandlearning

[kely53]

Hi,

 

Sylvie's email is : sylvie.di.cristo@wanadoo.fr

She has a website too - I can look it up if you would like it. If you google

thepreismans.com and then click on med cruise you will find a nice review with photos including a pic of Sylvie.

 

We used

We used Drive Amallfi for Naples/Amalfi coast. Their email is *****. Salvadore will be the one to respond. We did not have him as our driver/guide. We had Roberto who was excellent. This was our favorite tour of our cruise. We also did a 2 hour tour of Pompeii at the end of the day.

 

For Rome and Florece, we used Driver in Rome. Daniele was our driver both days and he was also great. We were in Florence on a Monday when many of the museums were closed so we saw what we could see there and then spent the rest of the day touring the Tuscany countryside and stopped at a winery for a wine tasting and great lunch. Having a private driver really gets you around easily and there are so many narrow windy roads in Italy that a 6 or 8 passenger van can manuveur where big buses may not be able to.

 

Driver in Rome email : info@driverinrome.com They also have an extensive website.

 

In all cases, these private tours could be tailored to what you want to do. They will make recommendations depending on your time in port, etc. but ultimately it was our decision what we wanted to do. Also, we did not pay anything in advance and no credit card information was exchanged. We paid in euros all of these private tours - at the end of the tour. Driver in Rome would accept US dollars, Euros, even private check!!

 

Let me know if you have any other questions. I wouldnt hesitate to recommend any of these people.

 

Karen

[Dr. Pam]

Hi Kely53

 

Thanks for the info on the dining times. We are on the Brilliance for the Med Venice on July 20. We are using Drive in Rome (hopefully Danielle) and are using SeeSorrento's Marcello. We are counting the days......My friends want to know how calm the seas have been. Enjoy the rest of your cruise....:)

[kely53]

Hi Dr. Pam,

 

We actually returned from our cruise on 6/14. We had calm seas with the exception of the first night. It didnt bother me - I was aware of it but slept ok.

 

Ihave read good things about Marcello too. It seems there are quite a few guides/driver that consistently get good reviews.

 

Have you cruised the med before? It was a wonderful cruise. I think the trick is being organized and having the private tours lined up. Some of the ports are a distance from the cities so it is nice to have your arrangements made ahead of time. It is advantageous to be in a smaller vehicle (van) as opposed to the big buses because the vans can manuver all the narrow city and village streets and is much quicker getting from point a to point b. The best part is that you can customize the tour to your interests.

 

I would take this cruise again in a heartbeat!!!

 

July 20th will be here before you know it!!

 

Karen

[kely53]

Hi,

 

I wanted to clarify something that I posted earlier. If you go to

thepreismans.com website, scroll down to the med cruise Brillance of the Seas 2003. That is the post where she talks about her tour with Sylvie. The Preismans write great reviews so I am sure you will enjoy checking them out.

 

Karen

[SingBill]

Karen

Thanks for the great review. We are using some of the same private drivers and it is good to hear that you were pleased with them.

[Dr.Oz]

Thanks for the e-mail for Sylvie. If you have her web site, would you mind sharing that as well. I'm glad you had a great cruise. We are excited about our upcoming trip and are using some of the same tour companies that you used as well.

[kely53]

Good morning!

 

Sylvies website is : http://www.azur-guides.net

 

It may take her a day or two to get back to you, depending on her schedule.

 

Have a great day!

 

Karen

[Love Cruis'n]

We’ll be on the BOS in July, and docked in Venice from one o’clock on Wed. till five on Thursday.

 

During this period, can we simply walk on and off the ship as we choose? Assuming BOS docks at the same place all summer, was it accessible to town on foot – in other words, if we wanted to take a stroll at 10 PM after dinner, is that easy to do, or is some sort of ferry needed? Likewise, did the dock area seem safe enough to walk through after dark – or should that be voided?

 

Thanks.

[kely53]

Hi,

 

We also were in Venice the hours that you were. Once you leave the ship, you have to take some sort of water transportation into Venice. We purchased tickets on board the ship to use the water shuttle that Brilliance had available. The tickets were $6.50 pp roundtripand it ran constantly through the day/evening. It dropped you off near St. Marks Square. We also met people who walked a distance down the pier and purchased a ticket on the vaporetto (water taxi). I am not sure of the distance they had to walk. The shuttle provided by Brilliance of the Seas ran up until I believe 11pm. I do not remember hearing that you had to be back on the ship by a certain time, however, I am sure you would have to coordinate it with when any of the water taxi/shuttles would be running their routes.

 

When we were docked in Venice, there really wasnt any other activity going on on the docks. We only walked a very short distance to get the water shuttle so I cant comment on how safe it is. We felt safe for the short distance we walked.

 

Hope this helps a little!!

 

Karen