PetrosZA

sailing out of Piraeus tomorrow on Jade with a couple of stops in Turkey and was wondering what the advised thing is to do for cash in Turkey - firstly do the locals prefer you to pay in Turkish Lira's or Dollars or Euros? If its Lira's is it ok then to just draw from an ATM once on land using our credit cards?

6 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Prices are for next day service. 
 

Express same day service add 50% more. 

Thanks very much! Yikes could end up being an expensive exercise - I seem to vaguely remember from previous cruises that NCL sometimes do a bag special at some point during the week. Does my memory serve me correct?

We will be sailing this Sunday out of Athens on Jade and just wondering what NCL charges for laundry? We are in a Club Balcony which I believe comes with one free bag but I'd be keen to do a little more laundry a couple of days in if the price is reasonable?

32 minutes ago, Jerseygich said:

Looks to me like a negative $50 balance and it is a credit to you

yup looks like a credit to me as well

I know with COVID most ships have been cruising at lower capacity but I'm on Jade out of Piraeus in a couple of weeks time and was wondering if this is still the case or can we now expect a full ship like it was before COVID?

31 minutes ago, OurFunHols said:

We were on the Jade from Piraeus a few weeks ago. The first queue at the port, they check your passport and vaccination records, you then leave your suitcases here (NCL take care of them) and then proceed to a large tent near the terminal for the testing. If you've pre-registered with Eurofins you'll jump part of the queue (compared to those who haven't registered). You then get a coloured label and sit down. There are staff offering water to drink at this time. When they call your colour you go to a small test area, do your test, then go to a separate waiting area. Keep watching for your number to come up on the board, and when it does you go to the desk then get a pink wristband and are then allowed to proceed to the boarding tent (for cabin cards, security, screening, etc) 

Thanks @OurFunHols super helpful answer and sounds like a pretty painless procedure - do you remember which terminal at Piraeus you departed from?

7 minutes ago, Brad548ye said:

Hi, 

 

So sorry to barge in on your topic but the system wouldn't let me message you directly. I'm on this sailing too and having issues with the online check in and just being fobbed off by customer services. Have you been able to download your e-documents yet? Thanks

No, same issue here - did our online check-in earlier and e-docs not available for download - its says they are available from 21 days out which is today but hoping they will be available from tomorrow - ill let you know as soon as we manage to download ours

I've just done our online check-in for our August 7th sailing on Jade out of Piraeus and see that they still have a pre-departure testing requirement. We registered for testing with Eurofins at the port on embarkation day. Anyone done this recently and is it relatively quick and efficient etc.? Also is this done at the NCL check-in area? They don't give much info besides saying to show our QR code when we arrive at the port on embarkation day.

Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!

12 minutes ago, hallux said:

I believe this would answer your question - 

https://www.ncl.com/refund-and-cancellation-policy-covid-19

 Thank you!

I’m about to confirm my annual travel insurance with my provider and they offer something called cruise plus cover that basically pays an amount if you are confined to your cabin for medical reasons including Covid. It’s not a cheap add on so was wondering if NCL themselves give you a credit or anything like that if you are confined to your cabin? I’m thinking of not adding it on to my policy as I’m not sure it would be worth it if NCL provides something as standard?

So I gave NCL here in the UK a call this morning and the agent looked up the availability on my sailing and moved me all the way forward into a stateroom that has the Spa above so should be a lot quieter than where I was booked before. All in all took about 5 mins and was a pretty painless process. Thought I’d enquire about flights whilst I had him on the phone and he managed to get me into and out of Athens from London Heathrow for a lot cheaper than doing it myself. Really really impressed overall. Bravo NCL!

15 minutes ago, KeithJenner said:

If you are able to move then there are some areas that are better.

 

if you can get one further forward, where they are mixed with the 2 bed suites then you have things like the card room or library above you.

 

Alternatively I would also consider the rooms under the buffet or La Cucina. I believe that you don’t hear much from

them. Avoid the galley area though (forward of where La Cucina is on the port side, as I have heard tales of noise coming from there.

thanks very much, that’s a really useful reply! Unfortunately nothing available further forward under the card room etc but I see if I do a mock booking online then 11102 is available which looks like under the buffet, so I’ll give them a call and see if I can move - cheers

3 minutes ago, janice2348 said:

I am in cabin 11570 which is under the splash academy.  I think we’ll be ok. Can you move cabins?

think I’ll give NCL a call and ask the question

25 minutes ago, YVRteacher said:

While I have not stayed in this room on the Jade, I did have the experience of staying in a cabin one floor below the pool deck on the Pride of America.  If you like to sleep in the morning, this isn’t the right cabin for you as the pool deck staff put out the deck chairs every morning and there is a lot of banging and scraping of chairs.  It woke us up and kept us awake every day.  Since then we do not book cabins below the pool decks.  The best tip for booking a cabin is to book a room surrounded by cabins.  A cabin above you, below you and beside you.

thanks appreciate the feedback. Unfortunately we don’t have the option of booking a room surrounded by cabins as all the Club Balcony Suites on Jade are on deck 11 with the active deck above. I’m now seriously considering “downgrading” to a standard balcony room on a lower deck for this reason. Not sure NCL would allow this at this stage though 

So this will be our 3rd cruise with NCL and normally we go for a balcony stateroom. Currently booked on Jade out of Athens on the 7th Aug and when booking we saw that the Club Balcony Suite's were about the same price as a standard balcony and so we booked cabin #11048 as we thought if would be nice to have a little more space that the Clubs offer.

At the time I saw that these cabins are directly below an active deck so I chose #11048 which is under the pool deck as opposed to under any kids area or anything like that to try and minimise the risk of any noise.

I'm now a it stressed that it might have been a bad decision and it will be really noisy.  Anyone else have any experience with the club balcony suites on deck 11 of Jade or stateroom 11048 in particular?

4 days till Star out of Venice!

Thanks so much for your report, we are sailing on this cruise on Sunday and cant wait!

Wow reading some of the comments on here really is an education in itself. The fact that some folks have the DSC removed totally boggles my mind. I have never even given a second thought to the DSC as it just makes up a part of the total cost of my holiday and quite frankly thats the only number im interested in.

I guess each to their own but i will continue to gladly pay the DSC and then tip individual crew that go out of their way to make my holiday a memorable one.

So we will be sailing on the Star out of Venice on the 3rd Sep and booked a Balcony (BC) Room almost 10 months ago for about $3600.00 for the two of us.

After receiving the upgrade email, i have been mulling over the idea of whether or not to make a bid for either a mini-suite or a penthouse with balcony but finally have decided to stick with our existing balcony as how much time do we really spend in our room anyway.

anyone else share the same sentiments? The cost isn't really the issue but feel i would enjoy rather spending the money on nice meals in Venice etc.

Don't forget Sept 3rd is Regata Storica day, so will be very busy around Grand Canal from about 2pm. Water transportation will be limited, but you should be ok on land.

This is a major Venice event!

Thanks for the heads up. checked my train number and it does stop at Mestre so will get off their and grab a taxi straight to the boat.

So easy to get on, the Star is small the terminal is big, very easy getting on, dont go for lunch, it will be too cumbersome, we walked right on

Thanks @txclctr - what sort of time did you get to the terminal?

Thanks everyone for your useful insights, luckily when getting off we will be spending two nights in Venice so don't have to run to the airport to catch a flight.

We are catching the high speed Frecciarossa into Santa Lucia and as i understood it this train does not stop anywhere else and goes direct into Santa Lucia. Will do some further research and see if it in fact does stop at Mestre and then will pay the EUR45 odd to grab a taxi from there direct to the ship to make things as stress free as possible!

Hi All

We will be sailing out of Venice on the 3rd Sep on Star and I have booked a train into Venice from Bologna arriving at 11:30. Assuming another hour to get from the train station to the cruise terminal I estimate that we will probably get to the check in at about 12:30.

My question is basically how easy or busy is check in and boarding at the Venice terminal and is it a bad idea getting there at 12:30 which i assume would be the rush hour? We prefer getting on board as soon as possible but if it is going to be a pain at this time then would rather lunch in Venice and then head to the port a bit later.

We stayed in 9192 last year, which is just a few rooms away. The location was great for us, as it's a fairly short walk to the mid stairs and then just down one deck to o'Sheenans (where we could often be found) and another down to the atrium. Three decks up to the pool deck, so you are fairly central.

 

I think you'll be happy there.

Thanks @KeithJenner!

Sailing on the Star on the 3rd Sep and booked room 9202 (Balcony). Has anyone stayed in this room or have any comment on location etc? Have I made a good choice?

Thanks!