Some observations from Jade (7/19/2013)

I'm lousy at writing proper reviews so I'm not even going to try. :D But I made some observations on this particular cruise and combined to scattered information found here I thought that I should try to put at least them together for others to read too.

1. Jade's normal 7-night itineraries are designed to be halves of 14-night B2Bs so the fleetwide (with exception of Breakaway) first night's steak and lobster dish is only available on every other cruise. We started with the menu for day 8 and the lobster dish for that day was seafood extravaganza or something like that, didn't try it as I'm not so fond of other sea creatures besides fish and occasional jumbo shrimp or lobster.

Because there was some kind of carneval or similar big event in Venice on 7/20 that blocked the big ships' access from the lagoon, our cruise and the one before it were exceptions to normal itineraries with the first one being 6-nighter and our cruise 8-nighter instead of normal 7+7.

2. While the bingo isn't that great at best, for the first time I truly understood why some people have called it a ripoff.

The first bingo on the cruise had the similar packages like on other ships ($10, $20, $50, $70) but there was only one game and they didn't mention it at all in advance. We usually like to play in couple of sessions during the cruise for one of the larger packages but now felt totally robbed after paying $70 and getting to play only one game instead of the three played normally.

After the very big dissapointment of the first bingo session we went back only to the last session on last sea day. After confirming that there would be three games like "normally" on NCL, we played again in that session.

Also the payouts were even worse that we have usually seen even in quiet sessions on other ships and there was no real jackpot with a number limit at all (their big "jackpot" - price for the full house game during the last session was - if I heard correctly - only under $150).

3. Like I mentioned in my reply to another thread, the cultural differences are really obvious on these cruises.

When I went to ask about my pretty unusual black cargo pants (kind of pinstriped) on the first night, the Maitre d' of the aft MDR (Grand Pacific) told us that I'd be more than fine for the rest of the cruise too as they don't enforce the dress code because people just won't dress as required and they really didn't - I've never seen the place so informal on any of my earlier cruises.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in my early 30's and usually hate any kind of formal wear and I'm the number one jeans-plus-maybe-a-collared-shirt-at-the-most kind of person, but I really felt disappointed about that observation.

I think that NCL really should enforce their rules regardless of the itinerary of the clientele. If I don't feel like dressing like the dress code requires, I'll eat somewhere else but if I want to go to aft MDR, I'll dress accordingly because there are other people on all cruises that want to feel special and dress up and while it's "Freestyle", there are still rules to follow.

On our earlier cruises we have preferred to go to the more relaxed midship MDR (Alizar on Jade) but for some reason we chose to eat in aft MDR (dressed accordingly ofc :)) for pretty much all nights we didn't go to a speciality restaurant except for the last night.

Quite frankly I was happy with our decisions earlier during the cruise because the midship MDR on the last night was a madhouse. When we went there, there were three large tables full of teens (I think 20+ in total) without any supervision and combined to the lower ceiling that alone was enough to make the experience quite different compared to aft MDR. :D

Queueing or following orders given by the crew was completely unknown concept to many other passengers, there were people trying to push their way through queues that were not even moving etc.

At several occasions we saw that there were a lot of loud groups of Italians who seemed to adore the Italian member of the Cruise Directors staff who we found to be super annoying and not at all funny.

If we hadn't paid for the last bingo session, we would have left when he very rushingly read through the numbers during the last game speaking mostly Italian - it was like night and day compared to all the other CD staff members who were engaging and called the numbers like they "should" - this one individual only had taking off their shirt as their only skill to engage passengers and that gets old really fast. ;)

It was one of the very few times when I really considered leaving negative feedback about a crew member on a NCL ship and that's quite a lot said.

4. Platinum perks were not thoroughly known or had weird applications.

As we both are platinums, we had two comped dinners. We used the first one in Italian restaurant (Papa's Kitchen) without any problems but when we used the another in Churrascaria (Moderno) our waiter had the voucher in their hand and still tried to charge us for one cover charge because they thought that it was two-for-one.

Also in the welcome pack there was the invitation for the Platinum Behind the Scenes tour and request to sign up if interested. But as opposed as on the Pearl, this tour was only less than a hour long and guided by the Cruise Consultant alone without any of the persons from different departments (exception being the bridge where the navigation officer came to the viewing room to give us a brief presentation about the bridge).

And to be honest, after getting the knowledge about the inner workings of the Jewel class ships from here and previous tours, the Cruise Consultant also gave some outright false information during the very rushed and shortened tour.

The real surprise came few days later when we received the directions/invitations to join the "real" Behind the Scenes tour. When we went to Guest Services to sort it out, it was found that the person taking our original signup for the Platinums' tour had signed us to the normal tour and we were told at that time that even though we already had the mini tour, we could join the normal tour with the normal $55pp fee waived as we were Platinums.

We went and this tour was ok with several knowledgeable persons telling us things (also a lot of new tidbits even for us having been on the same tour on Pearl) - the best bit of information we got from the three beautiful members of the production cast was where to sit for the Elements and we were absolutely amazed for the perfect location of the seats tipped to us during the tour - we had the perfect views to everything that happened during the show. :p

5. Disembarkation: There was no easy-walk-off in Venice. The actual terminal 107 seemed to be under renovations (we had to walk at least 400 meters in a tube from the ship until we reached the next terminal building) so it might have something to do with it also.

Contradicting what I've read here earlier about no taxis unless booked in advance in Port of Venice, when we disembarked and got out from the terminal building, there was a taxi stop just outside and we got into one just in minutes.

As a tip to future cruisers: To be honest, the 20 euros spent to taxi each way to and from Piazzale Roma were the best euros spent on this trip, today the temperature was 34C (93F) and it was very moist and sweaty so not having to walk about 800m (half a mile) from the terminal to the People Mover and queueing there was a bliss. On some days there might be a free shuttle but we didn't see one on either day.

Originally we were planning booking a private car from airport directly to the port but when we decided to visit a supermarket near P.le Roma (Store is named "Coop" and is located about 5min from the P.le Roma down by the vaporetto stop there), we took the Aerobus (6e pp) from the airport and then after shopping the taxi to the port and while the taxi fare is quite much for the distance travelled, we still came ahead and also had a bag of cheap Coke cans to enjoy while onboard.

Whew, that's about it. Regardless of the cons listed here this cruise climbed to my own surprise to my personal TOP-3 because of the nice itinerary (Santorini in Greece was unlike any other port we've been to) and (mostly) amazing staff.

I don't have any notes etc, but ask away if there is something I could try to remember and answer to.

[quote=Demonyte;39298098

We went and this tour was ok with several knowledgeable persons telling us things (also a lot of new tidbits even for us having been on the same tour on Pearl) - the best bit of information we got from the three beautiful members of the production cast was where to sit for the Elements and we were absolutely amazed for the perfect location of the seats tipped to us during the tour - we had the perfect views to everything that happened during the show.

Can you tell us the location where to sit for the "Elements". I am booked on the Jade for next year.

thanks

Can you tell us the location where to sit for the "Elements". I am booked on the Jade for next year.

Sure. :D Outside the stage, in the ceiling of the theatre there are two separate rows of stage lights behind small black curtains hanging from the ceiling. Best place to enjoy Elements is in the middle (surprise! :D) on rows just behind the outer curtain, pretty much where the entrance from deck 6 comes in to the theatre - I'd say that it's at least 10th row from the stage (didn't count 'em though). Elements is quite spectacular for a cruise ship show and has a lot of action outside the stage too, that's why the first rows near the stage are not ideal.

Also be there early, doors open 30 mins before and the theatre fills up fast on the last night's shows. I felt sorry for the families that thought that they can come in like 5-10 mins before showtime and realize that all decent seats are already taken.

Was this Italian staff member the one who did the comic conductor in the crew show?

Was Gary Glading the CD?

Glad you enjoyed most of the cruise - bingo is well known as a complete rip-off ( and a complete bore IMHO).

thank you so much for your review! It's not often you read a Jade review on here, for some reason!

We leave in 6 days!! :eek: :eek: :eek:

And FINALLY......a definitive answer on self-disembarkation at Venice....thank-you! Not what I WANTED to hear.......I'm a bit of a worrier and like to keep my luggage with me.......but at last I can plan accordingly!

Did you tender at Mykonos as well as Santorini.........and how was the process?

Glad you enjoyed your cruise and welcome home! :)

Was this Italian staff member the one who did the comic conductor in the crew show?

Can't say anything about that, one illusion show (they called it magic ;)) and Elements were the only ones we went to.

Was Gary Glading the CD?

Yep, older guy that to be honest was most unmemorable of all CDs that we've had.

Did you tender at Mykonos as well as Santorini.........and how was the process?

We had priority tendering and went in first or second tender so can't say about how the "true" process goes. In Santorini it pays to get to the shore early as the line to the cable car at least gets very long if there are other ships unpacking too - so I recommend getting the tender tickets as early as possible.

On our cruise the tender tickets were available on pooldeck 9am-10:30am and 12:00pm-arrival on the morning of Santorini stop (scheduled arrival was 1:30pm).

Riding up the hill with donkey was an interesting experience, can't remember if there were any noticeable lines there. Using either one of mentioned transports is highly recommended, the cliff is steep and temperatures are very high.

In Mykonos the ship docked in a place called New Port, about 10 minutes bus ride from the Old Port and there was a free continuous shuttle service from the side of the ship to Old Port. From Old Port there was about 10 minute walk along the beachside to the town itself.

In Mykonos taxis are apparently hard to get, we got one by "accident" when we absolutely needed to get to a working free WiFi (Starbucks, had already tried one of the restaurants that claimed to have WiFi but it didn't work) but when we wanted to get one to get back to Old Port, we had no luck and had to walk - the walk wasn't that bad, only about 20 mins total but boy, was it hot! :)

Thank you so much for the information!

I'm a LITTLE bit excited now!! :) :) :) :) :)

glad you had a good time . any comments on the food.

glad you had a good time . any comments on the food.

I think that food was consistent throughout the cruise. Sometimes nothing to write home about (don't expect Michelin star dinners with mid-range price) but with only one exception* we never had a dish that we'd have described as bad. We were fed pretty much anytime we wanted and didn't need to cook or clean the table so we were happy. :D

On this itinerary we didn't care to try any of the local specialities (mostly because our pickiness caused by some of the the ingredients) like we have done in Caribbean itineraries so we stuck to the regular dishes on the menu.

As we had only couple of months since the last two cruises, we found for the first time that the menus do get a bit old too when cruising often but that's completely different story - same has happened to me earlier in the buffet on earlier cruises (trying to eat a bit healthier and still have good variety gets difficult after a while), on this cruise we ate in buffet or Great Outdoors only one or two lunches after returning from a shore.

*) Chicken parmesan in Italian restaurant was a dry and was sent back - this is one of my GF's "regular" dishes and has been ok before so we hoped that it was a one time incident.

Hi Demonyte! Thank you so very much for writing about your trip! It is rare to see comments about the Jade and for those of us going next Saturday or thereafter, appreciate you taking time to do so. I am happy to hear that Elements show is on Jade. If it is the same one I saw on Star a few years ago, then yes, I remember thinking it was the best show ever seen onboard. Thank you for the heads up on the behind the scenes tour. I guess with so many platinum members now they separate them from the paid tour.

Thank you also for clarifying the taxi situation for disembarkation.

Can you tell me a little more about the shuttle from port to town? Is it a bus...is it an open air thing like found in Caribbean...? I am going with a sister who is in a wheelchair and I am figuring it is going to be easier for me to push her into town the mile or so than it will for me to find someone to lift her on and off the shuttle...unless the Italian who takes his shirt off all the time wants to help us...hahaha.

Oh...I thought of two more questions...1. since we are not Italian debarking in Italy, will our passports be held meaning we have to do a special clearance? 2. Was there an additional tax when you bought things onboard...I was reading about a VAT tax for Barcelona and was wondering if it also applied to Venice.

coka

Can you tell me a little more about the shuttle from port to town? Is it a bus...is it an open air thing like found in Caribbean...? I am going with a sister who is in a wheelchair and I am figuring it is going to be easier for me to push her into town the mile or so than it will for me to find someone to lift her on and off the shuttle...unless the Italian who takes his shirt off all the time wants to help us...hahaha.

 

Oh...I thought of two more questions...1. since we are not Italian debarking in Italy, will our passports be held meaning we have to do a special clearance? 2. Was there an additional tax when you bought things onboard...I was reading about a VAT tax for Barcelona and was wondering if it also applied to Venice.

The shuttles in Mykonos are tourist buses with two doors (front and back) and windows. :D I don't know how they will handle people with wheelchairs though so I can't comment on that. However there are no sidewalks and the road from the ship is narrow and curvy, I wouldn't recommend walking the distance - especially pushing a wheelchair.

I did see something about passports in the Freestyle Daily but didn't read that properly because we live in EU and were not affected - we had our passports in our possession at all times and the only time they were even asked was in terminal when embarking (we didn't leave the ship in Turkey which was the only non-EU-port on the cruise).

There are no extra taxes for cruises originating from Italy because there is no tax for drinks etc. The situation in Spain is quite unique in the whole EU tax area.

Happy cruising and ask away if there is still anything I can help you with! :)

We were booked on that same cruise, but the day before we were to fly to Italy, I was rushed to the hospital and wound up having emergency surgery. We had to cancel our entire trip! :( Thankfully, everything turned out ok.

It turns out that the daughter of one of my doctors was apparently part of a group of teens touring Europe this summer. They were scheduled to be on your cruise. I wonder if that was the large group of teens you saw in the dining room? Small world!

We're booked to go to Alaska next summer, but we'll try again for the Jade in the near future. I hope you had a wonderful trip!

We were booked on that same cruise, but the day before we were to fly to Italy, I was rushed to the hospital and wound up having emergency surgery. We had to cancel our entire trip! :( Thankfully, everything turned out ok.

It turns out that the daughter of one of my doctors was apparently part of a group of teens touring Europe this summer. They were scheduled to be on your cruise. I wonder if that was the large group of teens you saw in the dining room? Small world!

We're booked to go to Alaska next summer, but we'll try again for the Jade in the near future. I hope you had a wonderful trip!

Aww, that's too bad - good that everything worked out for you. Having had a larger group of teens onboard would explain somethings, there were times when I wondered how come the teens club participients have "clicked" to such large group(s) that we sometimes saw - usually I've seen teens hanging around in smaller groups of just few people.

Just arrived back from a superb two weeks on the Jade...here's my best stab at a review.

1. Staff...all were brilliant, the Cruise Director Gary, deputy Rodrigo and their team were always happy and helpful. All reception and excursion staff were professional...only negative was the galleria shop staff...seemed to be lots of them but till only had one and took ages.

2. Entertainment, best we had experienced on a cruise ship, first night west end show great, Magician superb, 4 ever singers were great, acrobats and Moscow state circus fantastic, crew show very funny and last nights elements was great. This was topped off by a top class 6 piece band who blew us away with their jazz and blues numbers. They also had a piano bar, acoustic guitarist playing in the atrium, duo paying in the Medussa lounge and two house bands power play and Champagne that played in spinnaker lounge and pool side.

3. Food, much the same as any cruise, lots, good quality and great choices. We loved less formal approach and special mention to Tepanyaki, try it it was fantastic, book early it gets full.

4. Ports, we disembarked at ports and used local transport network. Dubrovnik is special, walk the walls if your fit, port side Olympia bus trip is 8-10 euro going every half hour with a set pick up time, cost 9 euros to enter so 36 in total, NCL were charging 60 euros each....maths doesn't lie.....Santorini we booked he trip and it was worth took in a wine distillery, took the open top bs outside e port in Crete.....Venice again fantastic we tool the boat taxi, 16 euro each, Gondola ride is between 80 - 120 euro fora 6 man boat. Advice would be walk into StMarks square with you back to the tower walk to the bottom right and corner of he square and walk through the designer shops and you arrive at a small gondola station...adjacent to the arid rock cafe....this is the best pace to take the Gondolas...hope this helped..

Hi Demonyte & thanks for your thoughts! I especially liked your note about the cultural differences... As a foreigner living in Italy that's my daily life ;) but its fun too (usually...).

I'd love to get a little more of your opinion on the ports... I'll be traveling alone with my 10-year old & was thinking of just taking a little walk around the main towns while we are in Santorini, Mykonos & Corfu. I really exhausted her with tours on our cruise a few weeks ago & would like this one to be more relaxing. Is it easy enough to just walk around these places with the time available? Is it easy to get back to the ship?

Thanks :)

Hi again... I also wanted to ask about the crew& officers - Captain, HD etc.

just curious if they'll be the same or different from my last time on board.

Coka and Meltingmoments, since you'll be on in just a few days :), would you mind posting this info for me as well?

Thanks and happy sailing to all!

Hi Demonyte & thanks for your thoughts! I especially liked your note about the cultural differences... As a foreigner living in Italy that's my daily life ;) but its fun too (usually...).

 

I'd love to get a little more of your opinion on the ports... I'll be traveling alone with my 10-year old & was thinking of just taking a little walk around the main towns while we are in Santorini, Mykonos & Corfu. I really exhausted her with tours on our cruise a few weeks ago & would like this one to be more relaxing. Is it easy enough to just walk around these places with the time available? Is it easy to get back to the ship?

 

Thanks :)

Thanks! :)

I'd say that these ports are perfect for just to stroll around and getting back to the ship is really easy IMO, we didn't do any excursions on this cruise.

As you are in no hurry, I'd suggest that you'd take your time getting off the ship in Mykonos and Corfu (like leave an hour or two after the gangways are opened to avoid lines and heavy traffic).

In Corfu I suggest taking the bus to the town so you can save your strength - it's so hot there at least this time of year and the distance between the port and town doesn't offer anything too interesting to see.

We walked from the ship but after walking in the town for few hours we decided completely exhausted to take taxi back. But just as we were walking to the taxi station, we saw the bus loading across the street and went there to ask the price and hopped right in. If I remember correctly the bus was number 6 and it goes only between old town and the port so absolutely no worries about getting lost with it. :) The cost was 1,5 euros pp and tickets are sold by the driver.

In Mykonos the free shuttle bus takes you to where there is a nice pathway by the beach right to the edge of the town so it's very easy to get to the town there too (the bus probably stops facing the ship so the main town is in opposite direction behind the bus, there is a small "bay" with a short but nice looking beach just by the town's edge that you need to go around).

As a tender port, in Santorini you probably can't avoid the lines somewhere (if not sailing in a suite and getting priority tendering), be it in the ship (get the tender tickets early) or down at the pier queueing to get up the hill by donkey or cable car.

10-year old might be able to survive the donkey alone but if not too adventurous, I'd suggest taking the cable car, it's much faster once you get past the queue. Many people near us got some light scratches or small bruises from the donkey ride as the donkeys sometimes went really close to the concrete walls, trees growing over them, etc. The donkeys can be stubborn sometimes too, my donkey stopped many times during the trip up and got moving again only after being passed by donkeys that came from behind us. My GF on the other hand was on a small group of donkeys that was tied together and probably had a handler with them and they got up way before me with no major delays.

We just loved the narrow alleys, small shops, cafes, etc in towns of all three ports. Also in these ports there are a lot of newsstands, kiosks etc that sell cold beverages, water was usually 50c for 0,5 litres (might have been a bit more expensive in Santorini) so no need to haul your own from the ship - it gets warm really fast and we noticed that it's best to have as lightweight bags as possible when exploring the towns, there are slopes and even stairs everywhere.

Hope this helps, happy cruising! :)

Hi again... I also wanted to ask about the crew& officers - Captain, HD etc.

just curious if they'll be the same or different from my last time on board.

Our captain was Mikael Hilden, a really nice Finnish captain who left for his holiday when we disembarked, I don't know who the current captain is.

Also because we didn't have M&G where we'd have gotten the infos of the officers, I can't remember the name of HD as I never write those down but always afterwards rely on the cards handed out in M&G. :D

Thank you for the great info on the ports. It is very helpful & exactly what I needed to know :) My daughter would probably love the donkeys in Santorini because she rides horses ... But we'll see ...:rolleyes: good to know about the water and I'll remeber to get tender tix early!

We had a different captain last time, also from Finalnd if I remember correctly. Hopefully, someone else will come back with the information.

Thank you again!

Aquamarine breeze, I will come back and tell you. Although we are not having a meet and greet on our sailing, I am thinking the Jade will also have a posting of who is who in the hallway where the library/card room is as they do on other Norwegian ships.

Demonyte, thank you again for all the information...including the water situation in ports. We have a private taxi to meet in Corfu once in the town. I know we are walking there from the ship as the taxi guy does not meet outside the ship area. I looked ahead for the weather...it is showing full sun and 93 degrees! :eek: I packed my gym sneakers, hat and sunblock! We leave tonight for Venice and again, your postings here answered all my last questions! I am a newbie on this one! Wish us luck!

coka:D

Aquamarine breeze, I will come back and tell you. Although we are not having a meet and greet on our sailing, I am thinking the Jade will also have a posting of who is who in the hallway where the library/card room is as they do on other Norwegian ships.

 

 

coka:D

Thank you coka! I appreciate it :) There is a board right by the library.

I'm about two hours from Venice & you're right it's very hot. Actually a bit cooler today & tomorrow after storms yesterday... But temps will be rising for the rest of the week so keep that sunblock handy!

Have a blast & thanks again :)

I'm on this itinerary in late September. Thanks for posting all these details. It's making me very excited about our upcoming trip! I'm brand new to cruising so can someone explain the disembarking procedure? I thought that you left your luggage outside your door the night before and then walked off the ship and picked it up.....then you were on your own. Is that right? Also from Venice pier, is there a place to get the vaporetto?

I'm on this itinerary in late September. Thanks for posting all these details. It's making me very excited about our upcoming trip! I'm brand new to cruising so can someone explain the disembarking procedure? I thought that you left your luggage outside your door the night before and then walked off the ship and picked it up.....then you were on your own. Is that right? Also from Venice pier, is there a place to get the vaporetto?

Yes, that's exactly how the disembarkation in Venice goes (at least at the moment there is no alternative to this "regular" disembarkation there).

There is no vaporetto stop directly by the port (only Alilaguna blue line stop) - you need to either take people mover to either direction (see the vaporetto route map for which direction suites best: of the most used lines number 2 goes from both stops, number 1 goes only from P.le Roma) or take the taxi to P.le Roma and take vaporetto from there.

Thanks for your review, glad you had a good time. This is one of itineraries that I would like to try if the funds were available.

Hi again... I also wanted to ask about the crew& officers - Captain, HD etc.

just curious if they'll be the same or different from my last time on board.

 

Coka and Meltingmoments, since you'll be on in just a few days :), would you mind posting this info for me as well?

 

Thanks and happy sailing to all!

HD was Jean-Michel Dhelin

F&B was Ivo Belev

Concierge was Karabi Saikia - she came on board in Dubrovnik on 7/14 as Carlos was leaving - LOVED her!

We actually had 2 butlers as they rotated suites after the 6 day cruise - first was Roshan (can't remember his last name, Willie threw out his card) and then we had Wilfredo "Call me Willie" Erum