We have sailed with RCC before. We (couple with two grown children) enjoy knowing the routines, the crew and the ships amenities and accumulating the points, of course. We chose this particular cruise because we were trying to find an itinerary that almost replicated our honeymoon 25 years ago. Embarkation was smooth and quick most likely because of when we arrived approximately 11 am but rooms are not ready until 1 pm (not a problem for us) and because we had priority check-in. Disembarkation was smooth but you do have a sense of being rushed which is understandable. The Brilliance is not a big ship compared to some of the other RCC ships, but that was okay for us. It was renovated several years back but some wear and tear items need to be looked at. Our cabin was a grand suite that is suppose to sleep 4. The pull out sofa is not big enough for two adult children and a roll away bed was needed. Have you ever slept on a roll away bed for 12 nights? Thank goodness for our stateroom attendant who helped us. For years we have made this comment about the grand suite sofa pull out- the room is big enough to provide proper and comfortable beds for the price of a grand suite for four! The centrum is where most common entertainment activities take place and compared to other ships with a promenade deck, this area is much to small. Entertainment organizers were amazing and handled it all very well. The internet package was a disgrace. We paid a lot of money and both my husband who needed it for work and my son who needed it for school were left stranded many days which meant that important work information was not received and important school deadlines were missed (Unlike last year on a RCC cruise where it was almost flawless). The internet package was very very expensive (also due to Can dollar vs Am dollar) and it was unreliable, inconsistent and just non existent almost all the time and the only thing we were offered was a mere 20%, REALLY! The VOOM desk hours were not enough to handle the number of complaints and disappointed travelers. One of our other biggest complaints was about the shore excursions organized by RCC. Whomever is writing the descriptors of the shore excursions is not doing a very good job. The descriptions are very vague and do not have enough detail in them and they need someone to proofread the vocabulary and syntax used. Three of the four excursions purchased through RCC were absolutely disappointing and this was primarily due to the descriptions.

By the way what you read on line in you purchase in advance doesn't quite match the booklet you receive once on board. Here are a few examples: Excursion#1 Rapallo, St. Maragerita and Portofino well no where does it mention how you will be travelling to these seaside ports from the cruiseship center (you would have to assume via water- NO) Our concierge had to call for us to get more details as he didn't even know. Well from La Spezia port you were driven 1hour by bus to Rapallo where you were given only 30 minutes of free time only, to see nothing but a few shops and then meet back at a café for some croissants and coffee for 45 minutes, what for? From Rapallo you are back in the bus for another 15-20 mins to drive to St. Maragerita where you had approx. 1 to 11/2 hours of free time to see a few things, some churches and shops. Then you meet to receive a ticket for a boat crossing to Portofino where you spend approx. 1 hour in shops and restaurants. Back to the bus for 1 drive again back to cruise port. All of this information should be disclosed in writing before purchasing. Excursion#2Ancient Athens, Acropolis and Plaka shopping. The description was extremely misleading due to wording. This was a huge huge disappointment as you did not go to see the Parthenon and stood on the sidewalk infront of the Acropolis only, down below where the buses stop only. Exterior views and from the walkway were some of the description words used and if you have never been before this can mean many things by looking at a picture. We are very angry about this excursion, in our opinion this was false advertising and this was a waste of money and time. There are hop on and hop off buses-much better. Excursion#3 Mykonos beach, it was exactly what it said. Excursion#4 4x4 jeep tour of Malta. Well, for those of you who have sailed with RCC before and have taken a jeep tour before, YOU are the driver. Not on this one, in fact it wasn't a 4x4 at all, it was a safari truck, you were not the driver because one was provided and you were seated on benches at the back. The wording should have been more specific and yes there is a difference between writing, "the driver" and "with A provided driver". We asked for our money back 48hours prior and then took a hop-on hop-off bus around the island instead. Do a lot of research before you book the RCC excursions because other families found other avenues to see the sights that were reliable and were exactly what they paid for. As for the ports of call the cruise ship centers aren't exactly always in the biggest part of town, so again do your research. We really didn't need to leave some of those ports of call so early (the Greek islands and Malta) because of the proximity to the other ports. Are explanations ever given as to why we leave some ports much later than others, perhaps customers should be told? Why two days at sea back to back? We could clearly see from the ship that there were other ports so close by.

Now, on another positive note, the service at dinner was amazing (Hurray Berkay and Dharamveer) and so was the stateroom attendant (Analiz). Huge thank yous go to concierge Rafaele S.and Francis R. concierge bar tender. Many thanks to the entertainment directors who tried so very hard to involve everyone with humour and grace. Read more