samshltn

So the opinion in this thread seems to be unanimous: Cruise ships are bad for Venice.

Would any of us actually boycott an itinerary that included Venice though?

Odd that you didn't state your opinion.

I haven't formulated one yet. I'm here to encourage healthy intelligent debate, not state my case and then try to argue it.

During the weekend in Venice, the impact of cruise ships was incredibly apparent. I can't work out if they're helping the city or if they're just a nuisance though.

My husband and I have popped over to Venice for the weekend. Here, we keep seeing these protests (see picture). What's your opinion on Venice (or any city) campaigning against ships visiting?

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I got confused and added that last comment on the wrong thread! That was for this month's cruise on the Jade, not next month's one on the Pearl. So... it's just the two of us: My husband and me.

Unless there's anyone else on here?

Op asked

What does that mean, specifically?

I think she's asking what, specifically, the

specific cruise line policy

Thank you for the thorough report. Were you able to walk from the ship to Miniatur Wunderland?

Thanks Sam.

It would be walkable, but we didn't. I would very much recommend taking the riverbus from the pier at Altona (right next to the ship) to Landungsbrucken and walking from there, or normal bus number 111 which goes all the way there.

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The party.

We are six lads, in three couples, who cruised from Southampton to Hamburg on the Jade last weekend. Two of us are Gold Latitudes, the other four had lovely new peach-coloured cards ;-) We had the Unlimited Beverage Package, inside cabins. We met up in the Admiral Sir Lucius Curtis at 1000hrs on the morning of our sailing for breakfast. We left there at 1100hrs, walked less than 10 minutes to get to the terminal. (So we recommend the Admiral as a perfect pre-cruise meet-up pub!).

Check-in and boarding.

The terminal was quite chaotic, even compared to other cruise terminals we've been to. Each member of staff contradicted the last ("All six of you go to desk 14", then at desk 14: "Please can you all go to separate desks"... and so on.) Security was badly organised as well, with each member of staff making up new rules by themselves, which all contradicted each other (Take your shoes off, leave them on, go stand over there, come back over here....) However we were boarded VERY quickly: we were in boarding group four, and barely had time to sit down and put all our documents away before we were called to board. That was fantastic.

Food and beverages.

On board, we headed to O'Sheehans for a pre-prandial beverage, and then to Grand Pacific for lunch. Here, the service was perfect, and there were barely any problems. Two of our party reported that their chips were stone-cold, however. At various times during the weekend we ate at the buffet (which had never appealed to me but was attractive to the rest of the party), Alizar, and O'Sheehans. We had no problems at any of these. The menus are limited but varied, and the food was of a reasonable quality. We found beverage service to be of a good standard everywhere, but one barman (At Topsiders) cut himself while cutting lemons, and proceeded to spill that blood into every drink he prepared thereafter. We moved to a different bar at that point. The $15 drink limit was scarcely a problem, although we did notice that a few of our favourites that we enjoyed on previous cruises are now above the limit.

We took Prosecco up onto the front of deck 14 to toast sailaway, then went downstairs to watch Southampton disappear into the distance from the Spinnaker lounge. One of our party's mothers lives locally, and drove down to somewhere near Lee-On-Solent and flashed her headlamps for us to see. The live band in Spinnaker at sailaway was fantastic. I think this was my favourite moment of the trip.

Cabin and steward.

We all thought the inside cabins were just great. We have three cruises currently booked after this one, and we have downgraded them to inside cabins because the ones on the Jade were so good. However, we had requested that the cabins be made up as doubles rather than twins. This had not been observed, and several phone calls and requests to the steward and guest services did not resolve this. The steward told us that he would do it at turn down, but he did not. We didn't see him again during the whole weekend. Towels placed on the floor to be exchanged were just folded and hung up again damp. Obviously, we didn't get towel animals.

Entertainment and facilities.

We saw both theatre shows that were on on our sailing: Welcome Aboard Variety, and Showdown. The variety show was a little pointless, with the exception of the opening number. We all enjoyed Showdown, however. Elsewhere on the ship, we enjoyed the band and the pianists and guitarists dotted around the place. We had a great time playing shuffleboard together. The gym is reasonably well equipped, the locker-room has a steam-room with a cold shower (which I very much recommend as a hangover cure!) as well as regular showers.

Disembarkation.

We received no notification of our check-out time (we're used to getting a 'you're leaving us tomorrow' notice delivered to our cabin, along with a summary of charges outstanding.), and we received no statement of account. We were awoken at 0803 on departure morning by the steward telling us we had to be out by 0800. At the same time, one of the party got a stern call from Guest Services saying that he had outstanding charges to pay. ("You MUST pay NOW. Guest services nine am!" <click>) (He went to pay them, he didn't have any). We left our cabins at a leisurely pace.

We had a lovely relaxing breakfast in La Cucina, and strolled off at about 1030hrs to start our sightseeing in Hamburg. (We highly recommend Miniatur Wunderland, and that you book it in advance.)

Summary.

we all very much enjoyed the weekend. The new cruises among us are already planning their next cruises on NCL.

I welcome any questions you may have.

Sam.

I was so surprised that none of the three cabins in my party got any towel animals at all on my last cruise on the Jade.

Do you take it as a 'given' that you'll get towel animals? Or is it an unusual treat? I don't think I've ever done a cruise that didn't get them....

I'll be Southhampton in a couple of weeks and was expecting to pay the VAT there, too. But now I guess I won't have to!

I have it in writing from NCL that they won't be passing the VAT that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs charge them, onto us. They will be absorbing the cost into the cruise fare, UBP, etc.

I didn't look at the port in detail. The strange thing is, I normally see the tenders going back and forth on MarineTraffic, and I haven't seen them running today.

Does she normally tender at Newhaven? I would have though there'd be space her her to dock....

I'm on it on Friday, I'll let you know.

So this is now just one week tomorrow. We've become a group of six by dragging our friends along with us. Will that be it for the FOD gathering? Just the six of us?!

I've extended my existing 'earning timeline' into the future, and can expect to reach Platinum in March next year, Platinum Plus in 2028, and Ambassador at the age of 77, in the year 2057.

Sam.

Google maps are not live.

I'm aware of this. I should have been more specific. I'm not asking for a live aerial feed from an aircraft hovering over the ship.

I'm asking if anyone knows if there are any locations on Earth where the Jade was at the same time as the aerial photographs that show that area were taken.

I hadn't planned on this getting so complicated/pedantic.

Most likely nowhere, or possibly in 2 or 3 different places…

I should have been more specific. Does anyone know whether the Jade is on Google Maps, or if it's nowhere? And if it's not nowhere, specifically any of the two or three places it might be in?

Does anyone know where on Google Earth we can see the Jade at the moment?

Oh I see! Haha I thought that OP meant that they found the sight of armed police alarming haha! I've been all over the world, and the US is the only country I've been to where the armed port police have anything less than an assault rifle.

I would find it disconcerting to see a lack of armed police at a port!

May I ask: What was terrible about the memory? Here in the UK, police at ports are usually armed, we're quite used to it. Are you from a country where none of the police carry firearms?

...NCL Jade arriving at the Altona Pier...

How did you find out which pier you are arriving at?

Still curious...

British humour?

Fixed that for you (y)

Speaking a British person, I don't generally comment on threads about tipping because I'm British and that's not what we do in our culture.

I understand that Americans comment on ALL threads about tipping by default, regardless of the quality of them, and that's fine. But that's not how we do things in Britain.

However, if I find a particularly good thread about tipping that I feel deserves special recognition, then I might make a comment or two on it out of the kindness of my own heart.

I just feel that a comment shouldn't be 'expected' from me - it should be reserved for the very best threads about tipping, where the members have made a special effort.

Sam.

Being British, and not accustomed to a tipping culture, we just pre-pay the tips and be done with it. Its easier for us than trying to work out who to tip and who not to. We pay them when we make the booking, and at the end of the cruise there's no bill. We just walk off. To us, this is the simplest way to do it.

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If we are in a bar in Southampton, where the drinks are less costly, there is NO VAT?

When you drink in a bar in Southampton, you'll be paying VAT at 20%. This cost is included in the prices of the drinks.

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