Signor John

The service is slow, and performance is supposed to be better in public rooms than in the cabins, but I was able to check e-mail and look at Web pages in our stateroom via Wi-Fi.

I'd suggest waiting until you're on board to buy your minutes, so you can take advantage of special offers.

Hi all.

 

Booked our first Norwegian cruise today on the Jade.

 

So you Norwegian Jade experts. Tell me what you know.

 

Favourite bar or lounge.

 

Best restaurant.

 

What's not to miss, what to avoid.

 

 

Thanks in advance.

The Grand Pacific dining room was our favorite restaurant on the ship. Great setting, and some of the best MDR food we've had on a cruise ship. (The cooks even got it right when we asked for rare or medium rare.)

This morning, my wife and I disembarked from NORWEGIAN JADE after a 14-day roundtrip cruise from Venice that included Santorini, Kusadasi, Piraeus, Civitavecchia, Livorno, Cannes, Valletta, Messina, and five delightful sea days. The ship was spiffy, the food was mostly good to excellent (we especially liked the Grand Pacific MDR), the entertainment was outstanding to downright phenomenal, and the overall vibe couldn't have been better. We had a diverse group of crew (63 nationalities) and passengers (55 nationalities). It was our first cruise with Norwegian, and I'd have to say that our expectations were met or exceeded. Great ship, fine crew, memorable experience.

It all comes down to what the line thinks is the best strategy: Offer low fares to get bookings (and annoy passengers with high charges for drinks and other extras), or price its cruises high enough to eliminate nickel-and-diming (while risking the loss of passengers who just want to see "cruises from $999").

As far as including the specialty restaurants is concerned, that could get tricky because of supply and demand. (If everyone can visit the steakhouse or French restaurant without paying extra, the steakhouse and French restaurant need to be larger than they are on NCL's current ships.)

I don't know what hotels NCL uses in Venice, but some of the cruise lines use hotels that are miles away on the Venetian mainland. (The so-called "Crowne Plaza Venice East" comes to mind.) Before booking, look up the hotel's location. Ideally, you'll want to be within walking distance of the Piazzale Roma, where you can take the People Mover elevated tramway or (if you prefer) a taxi to the Marittima cruise basin.

This thread is a bit old, but I'll comment on the Alilaguna airport-boat fare from the Molino Stucky to Marco Polo Airport. In 2015, the one-way airport fare from Central Venice is 15 euros (cheaper if ordered in advance, or if purchased as a roundtrip) If you're going only from the Molino Stucky or another location in central Venice to the cruise terminal, you pay about half fare, or eight euros (again, with an advance discount if ordered online).

Since the ACTV water buses (vaporetti)( are nearly as expensive as the airport boats for travel in the city center, and since the Alilaguna Blue Line boats go directly into the Marittima cruise basin, it makes sense to use Alilaguna to reach your NCL ship if you're staying near an Alilaguna Blue Line stop. For more information--including maps, timetables, and fares--see Alilaguna's Web site at:

http://www.alilaguna.it/en/

:rolleyes: Guess I & my cohorts are some of the "few" that have ignored this requirement. We had no problem with the "vaporetto police" though.

For what it's worth, my wife and I have had our tickets inspected any number of times on Venice's vaporetti. The inspectors do sweeps from time to time, so be forewarned.

To the participants in this discussion who think luxury is all about dress codes, let me ask this: How many five-star hotels require a tuxedo or gown at dinner these days?

It wasn't that long ago that first-class passengers on ships wore black tie every night. Now they're doing it a few days a week. Pretty soon they'll do it if they want to, but they won't if they don't.

Cole Porter is dead; rich Brits don't dress for dinner every night; white tie is now associated with orchestra conductors. Times change, and a business that doesn't keep up with change is doomed to die off with a shrinking pool of customers.

With all the grandiose words, all that is really offered is no formal nights, which some folks like and some folks don't!

They're also offering early embarkation and late departure at no additional cost, plus tours (they didn't say how many) that are bundled into the fare instead of being add-ons. So it's inaccurate to say "all that is really offered is no formal nights."

If Silversea does this right, it could be a "unique selling proposition" that will help Silversea capture more of the prospects who are being targeted: first-time cruisers (largely Baby Boomers, I'd guess) who want the type of "casual elegance" that they've come to expect at many upscale hotels and resorts.

Also, even if the test is successful, that doesn't mean formal nights will go away. Why couldn't dress codes be tied to the theme of a cruise? Maybe there's a market that would like to dress up in tuxes and ball gowns every night, not just two or three nights, just as there's a market that doesn't want to dress up at all. Imagine an "Edwardian Elegance" cruise on one of the smaller ships: Guests might dress for dinner every night as they did in the waning days of the British aristocracy, and during the day they'd stop at English, Scottish, and Irish ports with complimentary excursions to country houses and castles.

I don't see much value in repeating anonymous rumors that aren't supported by evidence. In my opinion, such rumors are likely to be spread by people who:

- Are holding a grudge.

- Have an axe to grind.

- Have a sports-fan mentality ("I love X, so it's my duty to spread fear, uncertainty, and doubt about Y").

- Are simply credulous.