lj77346

I think the real question is not how other people handle inaccessibility while at sea, but rather how upset would you be if your mother had a problem and you could not be there? As others mentioned, once the journey starts you will have about a week at sea, so if you have other family members who live near your mom and you feel comfortable being away, then take the cruise. If you are uncertain and that could affect your enjoyment of the cruise, you might want to consider another alternative.

We were in this situation a few years ago, so I know the decision is not easy. Only you know how important being with your mom would be if there is a medical issue. Wishing you all the best.

On the Jade a few weeks ago and we went to the galley, laundry, and the bridge viewing room. Prior to that, on the Jewel we went to the galley, I95 (main corridor where supplies move on the ship), laundry room, theater, and bridge viewing room. To some extent what you see seems to be dependent on who is giving the tour and what's available that day (if there's a rehearsal in the theater, you probably won't go in).

We ate dinner 4 nights in the Alizar main dining room and always were able to get a table for 2. I don't know how it would be in the other main dining room - the Grand Pacific.

In response to a question a few weeks ago about the location of the tender pier in Roatan, it is at the market place in Coxen Hole.

The Liberty of the Seas is usually at the dock in Roatan when the Jade is there. However, on January 10 the Liberty of the Seas goes to dry dock for the rest of the month. Perhaps at that time the Jade may be able to dock in Roatan. Maybe someone from NCL might be able to provide some information about this possibility.

I was also on the 12/5 Jade sailing and it was an enjoyable cruise. As "wvfrogg" mentioned specialty restaurant reservations were a bit of a mystery. I had problems getting the time I wanted at LaCucina, so I expected it to be crowded, but when I was there it was very empty. On the first night of the cruise, there were less than 10 people eating there between 6 and 7. On the fourth night of the cruise there were less than 20 people, but the reservation board showed it as being crowded.

In Roatan, the tender ride itself did not take long - only about 5 minutes, but as they are using lifeboats as the tenders, the process did not move too quickly. If you want to get off early, make sure someone from your group gets tender tickets as soon as they are available. In Roatan, I think they started distributing tender tickets at 7:30 a.m. from a table that was set up on the starboard side promenade. The first group was called at around 8:30 a.m., but shortly after they must have started using the tenders for NCL tours because it wasn't until around 9:30 that it seemed like tender numbers were being called frequently.

On the port cam it looks like the Jade departed right about 4 p.m. today.

In response to the question about the limited drinks menu - from what I remember, it included national brands of beer and Shiner, a few wines, and mixed drinks. What seemed to be missing were the more expensive brands of liquors, but when the ship got offshore at night everything was available.

Walk off started at around 7:30 a.m. and the line was not too bad and we were in the customs area at about 7:45 and drove out of the parking lot by 8.

There were lots of cabs at the pier - looked like a variety of cab companies so getting a cab should not be a problem. As we were leaving the port area we even noticed a holding area where more cabs were stopped waiting to be allowed to go to the pier.

We walked off from the front of the ship (theater side) on deck 7 and they had two machines going to check you off the ship and the line moved quickly. From the stern it looked like only one machine and a much longer line. If the ship has no fog issues and gets to port on schedule, a noon flight should not be a problem.

I just got off the Jade this morning. The reason we were told that we would arrive early was that there was a forecast of heavy fog for Saturday. So to avoid passengers missing flights because of a late arrival and passengers on the next sailing being delayed, the captain decided to get back to Houston as quickly as possible. The sea was smooth and we made really good time and pulled into port at about dinner time on Friday evening. Essentially, the ship in port was our hotel for the night and we were able to leave this morning at around 7:30 a.m. when Customs was ready to process the passengers. On Friday night the shows went on as scheduled, but the casino and shops were closed and the bars had to use the limited selection of liquors that complied with TX laws. It looks like fog would not have been a problem, but from NCL's perspective it was better to be in port than potentially getting delayed by fog.

I just got off the Jade this morning and can answer a few of your questions.

I'm pretty sure that the pools open at 8 a.m. The gym opens at 6 a.m. and I didn't really notice any music, but I was listening to my own, so if anything was playing it wasn't too loud.

A good place to read in peace and quiet during the day is the Spinnaker Lounge, when nothing is going on there - it's usually very empty. The soft serve ice cream machines were working from around lunch until after dinner. You can get hard ice cream all the time at the Blue Lagoon on deck 8 - there is a brownie sundae on the menu, but you can just ask for ice cream with chocolate syrup.

For the question about drinks on embarkation day - the ship can only sell liquor that they paid TX taxes on until they get to international waters - sometime later at night. However, beer, wine, and mixed drinks are available, but not as wide a selection as is available once the ship gets out of TX waters.

If you want a low cost way to see the Curonian Spit and don't feel like traveling far on a bus, you can take the local ferry boat from Klaipeda. The cost is 0.80 Euros round trip and the ride takes about 5 minutes. If you walk to the right from the ferry dock on the Curonian Spit you can see some old fishing boats and a recreated fisherman's homestead. Then you can follow one of the paths through the woods and you'll come out to the beach on the Baltic Sea. Although the dunes are not as high here as they are further down the spit, they still are scenic.

An alternative that is faster than the 76 bus is to take the 1 bus to the Gardet metro (T-bahn) station and then take the red line to the Gamla Stan station, which is the next stop after the Stockholm central station. The Gardet metro station entrance is just in front of and to the right of the bus stop. We used the 24 hour transit card and found it to be a great way to travel around Stockholm.

Danish viking - Thank you for all your effort in providing detailed information and pictures for using public transit to get to Oceankaj. The Copenhagen tourist office should reward you for all you do to aid visitors to the city. Bravo!

I hope this is correct - tillykke med fodselsdagen. Jeg vil drikke en dbeer i din aere.

Thank you for all the time you spend answering questions on Cruise Critic. Cheers!

Thank you for the review. We're doing a B2B on the Serenade in Europe in June and your review has us chomping at the bit to start cruising. Cheers!

Thanks for sharing - it's nice to see how seemingly simple acts can mean so much to someone. Kudos to the "stranger" for caring about you and your family. Wishing you all the best.

As you are aware, the weather is fairly unpredictable. However, we've taken 3 cruises that had a number of ports in Spain in late-September and early-October and the weather was wonderful - temperatures in the high 70's and no problems with rain.

Like "CruiseScrooge" I also found that email to be darkly amusing as my Mom also is dead. Also, I'm sure that if she wants a vacation, she'd prefer Las Vegas to a cruise.

Given the average age of people who cruise, you'd figure that the NCL staff in marketing would realize that "your Mom called" might not be the best slogan for a cruise promotion. With Mother's Day approaching this campaign could be a little hard to take for people whose mother recently died. This is just my opinion.

In response to InTheWASide's question - Food in O'Sheehan's is free, but you pay for beer, wine, etc. Items that I remember from the menu are chicken strips, fried mozzarella sticks, salad, soup, fish and chips, chicken pot pie, corned beef sandwich, meat loaf, hot dogs and burgers. I think that one or two nights at dinner time they had prime rib, one or two nights fried chicken, and one night ribs. There were also were a couple of desserts. They also serve breakfast there (with a limited menu) in the morning.

We were on the Dec. 13 cruise and Cirque is a great show - lots of action. Unless you want performers literally in your lap, sit in the center section, but not too close to the stage. Some of the acrobats perform over the audience. If you are sitting too close to the stage there are performers on silks, rings, and bungee cords and they are behind you while others are on the stage. IMO definitely a show to see.

Merry Christmas!

Having sailed out of Vancouver a few times, I think that there would not be enough time to get to the ship unless you're a real risk taker. Most cruise lines want you to be checked in 90 minutes to 2 hours before the ship sails so that would use most of the 2-1/2 hours you have. Also flights do not always arrive on time and you still have to get your luggage, clear customs and get a cab to the port, which is not near the airport. So, in my opinion unless you're a real gambler, I would consider a different flight.

It was very foggy in Galveston this morning. If the ship had not arrived last night it probably would have had a late arrival today. At least by docking ahead of schedule everyone will be able to make their flights and embarkation will be on time today. Next week we sail on the Jewel so we're hoping that the fog stays away. To those sailing this week - wishing you a great cruise!

Tahiti - beautiful beaches, friendly people, no hassles

In late January - early February, in general at night the temperature is in the low 40's and during the day around the low 60's. However, that is also when we get hit by Arctic air masses occasionally and the temperature can be in the 30's, but that doesn't happen too often.