cowtowngals

Any information on current Spirit staff? We are sailing next week!

We have dealt with the VAT tax on the two cruises we did through the Greek Islands. On our last cruise on the Jade in May we did a 14 day sailing and only had the VAT tax in effect for the second week (Greek Isles week). The VAT doesn't apply to food or drink purchased on the ship in restaurants and bars but does apply to purchases in the gift shops and photo galleries. I think it also applies to spa services as well but I'm not 100% certain on that as we didn't do the spa on our last cruise through Greece but did on our first one and I believe there was a VAT tax. I think the VAT was 12% on our most recent trip. If you make purchases over a certain dollar amount the ship gives you a form that you can fill out to have the VAT refunded. You send it in. This was used by people who were buying pricier jewellery items for the most part. The ship provides you with a great hand out explaining it all. We were encouraged to buy our week one photos before we went to VAT to save us the money and we made most of our gift shop (Liquor) purchases in the VAT free week.

Thanks for the great review!! We are boarding the Jade on 2/4 and are excited for our 21 day cruise. Do you know if interior cabins have a clothes line in the shower? We are new to NCL, I know both RCCL and Princess do, but just wanted to make sure the Jade does also. Thanks so much.

There are clothes lines in the shower of the interior cabins on the Jade. We always use them for drying our bathing suits.

The Jade will have a new CD as Rico is now on vacation.

I chose chair hogs. It drives me crazy to go up on deck and have to wander around looking for chairs, while so many sit empty with an item or towel tossed on them. It kills me when you notice some chairs sit empty for hours on end because someone got up early and "reserved" it for later after they roll out of bed have a late leisurely breakfast and do whatever else they need to and meanwhile there are people ready to use the chairs who can't find a spot. NCL is hit and miss with enforcement. I have been on cruises where the dots were used and enforced and others where the staff would just shrug and say there was nothing they could do when someone complained.

We have sailed the Jade three times and just booked a fourth for March 2015. You will find there are people on every cruise who will always have to complain. We most recently sailed in May and I was surprised by the negative reviews - although there were a few complainers I heard while on the ship. I found it quite comical to listen to two women complain about how dry the bread was on their tuna sandwiches was and why wasn't it white bread when the menu clearly stated it was served on rye. These are the types I picture writing the negative reviews.

Go an enjoy. As it is summer vacation time in Europe the pool deck will be very busy. We did an August cruise on the Jade through the Greek Islands and found it too hot on deck in the main day heat of the sun. We would go up right after an early breakfast and enjoy the sun on seas days until the sun got blistering hot and then we retreated to a shadier area.

I just felt the need to get excited about my Greece cruise. So many exciting things happening. We just updated to a 2 bedroom family suite from 2 ocean views. Have a butler and concierge. Who knew! Maybe I will ask for them to pick out all of the green m&m's. Lol. Just kidding.

 

I just bought a house and move 4 days before I leave for Venice and the cruise. Not the way I had planned but at least it's something to look forward to. It's a lot happening for my 40th BDay. :D

 

I've had lots of great tips so far but always love to hear more. I never want to miss out on anything. Tips on the butler and/or concierge? Tips for the Jade? Venice tips (besides getting lost)? Places to eat in Venice?

 

I'm so excited if you haven't noticed.

We did this cruise twice (because we loved it so much the first time) just finishing our second trip May 17.

In Santorini make sure you are there for the sunset - we went for dinner at an amazing place just down from the Scottish Bar ( you can't miss the bar) I don't recall the restaurant name but it had a Tripadvisor recommended sign next to the posted menu. Go to the roof patio (it will be enclosed if windy or cool) and enjoy the view. Bring your camera!

In Venice avoid places near busy tourist areas to eat or places that have picture menus ( they tend to be tourist traps) Find a place off the beaten path for the best (and cheaper priced) food.

Enjoy the Jade! Rico the current CD is a great guy and very personable. He always had time to talk to anyone he saw and really wanted to ensure everyone was having fun. Also pay attention to Captain Lar's when he does his messages - they are actually very funny. The crew when we were on were all very friendly and couldn't do enough for us.

Enjoy yourself! The Jade is a great ship.

I noticed in the Freestyle Daily when we tendered in Santorini there was a note to people with wheelchairs and scooters that they may not be able to be accommodated for tenders. There was a weight restriction on scooters and electric chairs. In Santorini . the woman who had a cabin two down from ours was saying she had to stay on board as the tenders couldn't take her scooter and there was also no way for her to get up to Fira as the cars were not set up for scooters or wheelchairs and neither were the donkey steps.

I would suggest checking with NCL on this. Normally Split is a tender port and the Jade actually docked there for the first time two weeks back.

We have done both the itineraries and just repeated the Greek Isles last week. You probably guessed we preferred the Greek Isles. I found the Greek ports so beautiful. This is not to say we did not enjoy the ports on the other itinerary there is just something about Greece that stole our hearts. Watch one sunset in Santorini and you will know what I mean.

On two of our previous Jade cruises they did offer a package of pay one price and get all your photos from the cruise ( they were not digital but you got every picture they took) We got the package both times, but they no longer offer it as a different company is running the photography on the ships. We were told on the Pearl last year that the European based NCL ships have a different photo company than the US based ships. So this is why you may see different photo offers on different cruises.

We purchased the USB drive this past cruise on the Jade is was 24.99 and they let us put on all our pictures for the 14 days it was nice to have pictures social media ready when we got home.

We will be setting sail in June on the Jade for 7 days. Will there be a formal night? The last NCL cruise we took had one. We used another cruise line last year and they had two formal nights. Anyone that has done the Athens, Croatia, and turkey itenary, do you recommend booking excursions with NCL or waiting until we get to the port?

 

Any negatives I need to worry about with the Jade? We loved the Spirit in the States.

We have sailed on the Jade three times. We actually just got off May 17 from a 14 day journey. We did the itinerary you are doing two years ago. We booked our excursions through NCL and booked them all before going. I just prefer having my plans in place before I go , but you could book on the ship and they would be billed to your account.

As has been mentioned the former dress up or not night is now Norwegian Night out - you can dress up or not depending on your preferences. You will see everything from people in shorts to people dressed to the nines.

We love the Jade - the only downfall we find is the entertainment (evening shows in the theatre) - but that is because they don't have the same kind of shows - there is no Second City for example. Do go to Elements though - it is a great show.

We were on the Jade from May 3 to 17 - Rico was a great cruise director. We have been on the Jade twice previously and had not been big Gary fans. He was a little formal for us. Rico was very personable and lots of fun. He will be going on vacation in two months.

We just got off the Jade Saturday and the Surprise Surprise girl was in the Grand Pacific every morning as well. We loved her as did most people in there. They make a special pastry item each day that you can only get from the girl who delivers them. We saw the girl in the dining room a few evenings and everyone would do her bit back to her. I found people liked it - similar to washy washy happy happy.

We have done both Caribbean and Mediterranean with NCL. The ship rules are the same for both except for drinking age - where in the Mediterranean passengers who are 18 can drink without a waiver being signed by their parents.

If you go during European summer vacation the majority of passengers will be European. Announcements will be done in about four different languages and make sure you book your excursions in English (if you book them) as there will the same excursion offered in English, Italian and German.

Deck chair hogging is a premium we have found in the Mediterranean. People go at the crack of dawn and reserve chairs and they will be untouched at noon. Our last cruise on The Jade they were actually putting the dots on chairs and removing people's stuff to aid this problem.

The shows are different and more European oriented. There is no Second City and if there is a comedian they will be British.

The only other difference was we noticed the dining venues are busy much later. We would go for dinner between 7 and 8 pm and waltz in with no issue. After 8 there were waits for tables.

Is there anything at this port worth taking a picture of? I am still debating Going on a short ships excursion just to get off of the ship first.

 

Has anyone else taken a ship excursion from the Jade and if so was it worth doing?

We did the Charming Oia village excursion on our visit to Santorini on The Jade. The village is lovely and it is where you will get your photo of that blue domed church that shows up in every picture if you google Santorini ,as that picture is actually in Oia.

The tour allowed a lot of time to leisurely wander Oia and then dropped us back in Firi and gave us our cable car ticket to get back. We had lots of time to tour there and have a lovely dinner and watch the sunset.

The tour did get us priority tender but talking to people who went on their own they waited until after the excursions had gone and then rode over.