Brilliance of the Seas Review
Nice ship, great ports, good value!
Rating by category
Additional details
We chose this particular cruise because time of year was convenient, we wanted to leave and return to the same port, and the itinerary appealed to us.
We arrived in Barcelona 3 days before our cruise departed, so had a nice time exploring that city first. (It is true about what they say regarding pick-pockets - my husband was pick-pocketed getting onto the subway, and we had considered ourselves savvy travelers, so beware! This will not stop us from returning to Barcelona again!)
We were very impressed with Brilliance of the Seas! We chose a room on deck 3, as I was a little concerned about motion-sickness. We rarely felt any motion, we thought our room was spacious! There was plenty of storage space for our clothes, and also for all of our toiletries in the bathroom! We were able to fit our 2 large suitcases under the beds, and we had the 2 beds together so it was a very comfortable king size bed! Our steward was excellent! He was so helpful, friendly & respectful, he really made us feel special! Our friends were in the room next door, and their steward was also very helpful to us, and of course to our friends.
Cabin Review
Port Reviews
Barcelona
We arrived 3 days before our cruise, took the funicular Castell de Montjuic (free entry to Castell on Sunday afternoon), Parc Guell & La Sagrada Familia (tickets obtained over the internet ahead of time), did much walking! We were in Barcelona for one more night after the cruise, walked to Parc de la Cuitadella (free entry), El Born Centre Cultural & Barceloneta Beach. My husband got pickpocketed entering the subway, be careful, it is true the pickpockets of Barcelona are artists! Helpful hint - if you do get pickpocketed, look around on the floor/ground for your wallet - we thankfully found ours with credit & ATM cards intact, only cash missing!
Nice
Took the train from Villefranche, walked around the Old Town in Nice, had a nice lunch, took the train back to Villefranche.
Florence (Livorno)
Took the bus from the port, got tickets for Tuscanybus.com to Pisa, walked around there and saw the sights (sufficient time to do this), then bus back to town, and to the ship.
Positano (Amalfi)
We took the bus from the port of Salerno to town, walked to the ferry, and took the ferry to/from Amalfi. The ferry ride was beautiful and inexpensive, walking around Amalfi was nice, many shops and restaurants, very narrow roads in town, need to be careful when cars drive by as there is so little space!
Venice
We purchased the tickets for the daily boat transport to/from near St. Mark's square. We thought this was worth it as it saved time. Walking around Venice was great - we had gotten tickets for Doges Palace over the internet before we left. Don't wait till a few weeks before, because if you want to get tickets to any of the special tours offered at Doges Palace, if there are other cruise ships in port, they will be booked up quickly. We were very happy with just the tickets to Doges Palace, and we went in the morning as soon as opened, so we did not have to wait in line long. We visited St. Mark's Basilica during the afternoon on the first day we arrived, line moved quickly to get in. Helpful hint - if you are traveling with your spouse, you should both take your cel phones in case you get separated! It would've been worth the extra money to get an additional international package to use both of our cel phones so we could find each other easily!
Kotor
My husband got in l line early to obtain the tender tickets, and they started passing out the tickets early! Very nice old town, easy to walk around, many nice restaurants and shops.