Norwegian Jade 10N Katakolon Athens Kusadasi Istanbul Naples Rome (Greece and Turkey)

[Iluvcruising2]

We dined mainly in the main dining restaurants. However, we would also go check out the buffet, just to see what was being served. This evening, I decided to take you on a video tour. Here is the video link -

 

On another evening, there was a grill Mediterranean theme -

 

Overall, the food selection at the buffet was good. The Asian selection every evening was also very good. The pasta station was excellent - this was available for both lunch and dinner, with pastas freshly made for you.

 

One highlight of dinner was the crepe station. Nutella crepes were available! But go early, as they only have a limited number of Nutella crepes each night. The chef said he could only open a limited number of Nutella bottles each evening. Of course, they had the normal chocolate sauce, even if Nutella had run out.

 

The main dinner buffet starts at 5:30pm and ends at 9:30pm.

[Iluvcruising2]

Day 2 was a Sea Day. Very relaxing. For breakfast, we tried Cagney's for the very first time and loved it. Thereafter, we had breakfast at Cagney's every day, except for one day where we were getting off the ship early for a private tour and so we called for breakfast room service.

 

We were sailing on the Norwegian Jade out of Rome to Greece and Turkey, and stayed in a 2 bedroom penthouse suite. One of the suite perks was to the privilege to have breakfast at Cagney's. This was a wonderful perk indeed. We loved the breakfast as well as the service and attention from the staff. Well done Cagney's!

 

In this video, I go through the selection available for breakfast, including the buffet area, waffles, hot cakes, french toast, crab cakes benedict, steak and eggs!

 

For my kids, they either chose hot cakes or waffle, or they would ask for bacon, eggs and hash browns. My wife would sometimes ask for an omelette with fillings of her choice.

 

The self-serve buffet area did not have toast. You had to ask the service staff to get you the toast, either white or brown.

 

Fruits and dried fruits available at the buffet selection.

 

My personal favourites were the Crab Cake Benedict and Steak and Eggs.

 

This was the Crab Cake Benedict, half-eaten.

 

Overall, this was a great perk. We loved the breakfast at Cagney's.

 

[Iluvcruising2]

A compilation of videos I made on Day 2, Sea Day.

 

First was from the sun deck, where passengers were out to view the passing Mt Stromboli island. At 1:40, you can see the village at the foot of the active volcano. Quite an impressive sight.

 

At 2:23, I go explore the shops. Spacious shopping.

 

The Internet area at 3:39. The Internet manager was there to answer questions. There were about 7 PCs that you could use. I bought an Internet package of 100 minutes (with 10 minutes free) for us. I had to keep in touch with office. The Wi-Fi was pretty fast. I used my own iPad.

 

The Centrum area from 4:00, showing you guest services, restaurant reservations and shore excursions. I believe the loyalty office is located next to the shore excursions, that is where you can book you next cruise.

 

5:10 - I go through the drinks menu of the Aloha cafe, showing you the prices.

 

At 5:50, some Bingo activity at the Spinmaker Lounge.

 

At 6:22, some mass dancing going on. Very interesting.

[Iluvcruising2]

Deck 11 - Forward, You can get the see the Bridge and observe the Bridge crew. They had some instruments for you to look at as well. When I was there, the ship was sailing at 16.5 knots. They put up a very nice and detailed map of the cruise route.

 

The video link is here.

[kikki21]

We did this same trip in 2013 and loved it - especially Istanbul! :)

[Iluvcruising2]

The list is called 'Navigate to your drink'. Very cool.

 

 

I made a video of the drinks menu. Beers!

 

Example

 

Beer & Cider - $5.25 (add an additional 15% gratuity)

Amstel Light, Heineken Light, Bass Pale Ale, Molson Canadian, Beck's, Newcastle Brown Ale, Birra Moretti, Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Buckler (non-alcoholic), Pilsner Urquell, Bud Light Premium, Samuel Adams, Corona Extra, Boston Lager, Corona Light, Stella Artois, Dos Equis Lager, Strongbow cider, Heineken

 

I can't remember the exact prices on Royal, but I think they are largely the same.

[Iluvcruising2]

This was during one of the sea days and I was exploring the ship, people watching.

 

I came across these two chinese couples playing ping pong with a whole lot of gusto. The lady in red, on the left, looked to be at least in her early 60s. Yet her footwork still looked pretty good.

 

I hope I am as nimble as her when I reach her age. Keep fit and healthy!

 

[Iluvcruising2]

This is a rather long compilation of the food we enjoyed in the Main Dining Room, largely in the Grand Pacific Dining Room, but also a couple of times at Alizhar Restaurant. Both are complimentary restaurants on NCL Jade and their menus change every evening. We were told that NCL Jade just got new menus a couple of months back!

 

Video Link:

 

This was our first time on the NCL Jade and first time trying out the Freestyle Dining concept, after many cruises on other lines like Royal Caribbean. We loved Freestyle Dining!

[Iluvcruising2]

In this video, I take a walk around Deck 7, outside. One round is more than 600 yards. We like to spend some time walking while on a cruise ship, primarily to get some exercise and walk off those calories after all the feasting.

 

 

I like it that we can walk around the entire ship, on Deck 7. I prefer to walk here rather than on the sun deck, because this walk is sheltered and the sun is not shining directly on me.

 

Beware though, some of the overhead structures are rather low, as I will show you in this video. If you are tall, be very careful that your head doesn't it the overhead structures.

 

No running. This deck is for walking.

[Iluvcruising2]

This shows you the ship's tours available on our cruise to Greece and Turkey.

 

We did not use any of the ships' tours, other than 2 pax going to Pompeii on our Naples call.

 

Some highlights from the price list, all in USD.

 

Day 2

Behind the Scenes Tour (minimum 8 years old) - $79

 

Day 3 - Katakolon Greece, Arrival 8am, all aboard 3:30pm

Best of Olympia - 6 hrs - $139.99

Olympia & Archaeological Museum - 4hrs - $89.99

 

Day 4 - Piraeus (Athens), Greece, arrival 7am, All Aboard 4:30pm

Best of Athens and its scenic coast - 8.5hrs - $149.99

The Acropolis and leisure - 6 hrs - $89.99

 

Check out the entire list in the video. Watch in HD.

[papcx]

This shows you the ship's tours available on our cruise to Greece and Turkey.

 

 

 

We did not use any of the ships' tours, other than 2 pax going to Pompeii on our Naples call.

 

 

 

Some highlights from the price list, all in USD.

 

 

 

Day 2

 

Behind the Scenes Tour (minimum 8 years old) - $79

 

 

 

Day 3 - Katakolon Greece, Arrival 8am, all aboard 3:30pm

 

Best of Olympia - 6 hrs - $139.99

 

Olympia & Archaeological Museum - 4hrs - $89.99

 

 

 

Day 4 - Piraeus (Athens), Greece, arrival 7am, All Aboard 4:30pm

 

Best of Athens and its scenic coast - 8.5hrs - $149.99

 

The Acropolis and leisure - 6 hrs - $89.99

 

 

 

Check out the entire list in the video. Watch in HD.

 

 

 

That's really good info, thank you.

 

In terms of the behind the scenes tour, I was under the impression if I wanted to book I should go to Guest Services as soon as possible. Would you suggest excursions instead?

[PathfinderEss]

Thanks for your review and great photo's.

[Iluvcruising2]

Day 3 - Katakolon, Greece, for Olympia

 

This was the first port day after Day 2 - sea day.

 

I have posted my review and video links on this cruise critic thread, parked under Greek ports.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2140938

[Iluvcruising2]

Trying to embed a video on the thread to make it more user-friendly. Let's see if this works. Embedding the 2 minute snippet video of our day in Katakolon.

 

[YOUTUBE]bfABTgvEFRY[/YOUTUBE]

 

Yes, it WORKS!

Edited December 26, 2014 by Iluvcruising2

[Iluvcruising2]

That's really good info, thank you.

 

In terms of the behind the scenes tour, I was under the impression if I wanted to book I should go to Guest Services as soon as possible. Would you suggest excursions instead?

 

Indeed, it does look like shore excursions is the correct place for this.

[papcx]

Indeed, it does look like shore excursions is the correct place for this.

 

 

Thank you.

[herdingdogmom]

In terms of the behind the scenes tour, I was under the impression if I wanted to book I should go to Guest Services as soon as possible. Would you suggest excursions instead?

 

We signed up and paid for the Behind the Scenes tour at Guest Services not the excursion desk. The tour was several hours long with lots of standing and walking. It was on a sea day and did not conflict with any port excursions offered through the excursion desk.

[Iluvcruising2]

We signed up and paid for the Behind the Scenes tour at Guest Services not the excursion desk. The tour was several hours long with lots of standing and walking. It was on a sea day and did not conflict with any port excursions offered through the excursion desk.

 

Thanks for the info! In your opinion, was the tour worth doing?

Edited December 27, 2014 by Iluvcruising2

[jkgourmet]

How would you compare the food in the MDR on the Jade to Celebrity?

[papcx]

We signed up and paid for the Behind the Scenes tour at Guest Services not the excursion desk. The tour was several hours long with lots of standing and walking. It was on a sea day and did not conflict with any port excursions offered through the excursion desk.

 

 

Thanks for that. GS I think, because I want to book chefs table as well.

[herdingdogmom]

Thanks for that. GS I think, because I want to book chefs table as well.

 

I have heard that the Chef's Table usually should be booked right when you get on board because of the limited space. Guest Services will know when the Behind the Scenes Tour will be held and can sign you up at the same time.

 

To the OP, yes, we thought the paid Behind the Scenes tour was worth it, but we took it on a NCL ship that included a tour of the bridge. I don't think the Jade's tour includes a tour of the bridge since it has a bridge viewing room/window to the bridge. Our cabin was near the viewing room and it looked like the tour just went there and an officer came out from the bridge to talk to them. We were Platinum on the Jade cruise and decided not to do the "free" tour since it was at an inconvenient time and didn't include all the stops on the paid tour.

[Iluvcruising2]

Do you have by any chance the freestyle dailies of this cruise? Especially when the welcome aboard show the first night is?

 

I looked through my photos and I couldn't find the freestyle daily but I was sure I did take a photo of some sort.

 

Turned out that I took a video. Haha. Must be on a video craze this cruise

 

Here is the video.

[YOUTUBE]wTryeZ-Wjj8[/YOUTUBE]

 

To answer your question, welcome aboard show on first night was 7:45pm and 9:30pm.

[Iluvcruising2]

How would you compare the food in the MDR on the Jade to Celebrity?

 

Overall, I think the MDR food on Celebrity was a bit more posh. You had 4 courses instead of 3, though of course on the Jade you could always ask for 2 starters and the waiters would oblige. Overall, I'm happy with the food in the MDR of NCL and Celebrity (and Royal for that matter).

 

Overall, I have simple tastes. This is what I usually have for lunch on a working day! Packed rice.

[YOUTUBE]wUPf0y2PNrw[/YOUTUBE]

 

You may have already seen my review on cruise critic -

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1952065

Edited December 28, 2014 by Iluvcruising2

[SK-1]

I looked through my photos and I couldn't find the freestyle daily but I was sure I did take a photo of some sort.

 

Turned out that I took a video. Haha. Must be on a video craze this cruise

 

Here is the video.

[YOUTUBE]wTryeZ-Wjj8[/YOUTUBE]

 

To answer your question, welcome aboard show on first night was 7:45pm and 9:30pm.

 

That was useful information, otherwise I would have booked dinner at 7pm and missed the show.

Thanks a lot.

[Iluvcruising2]

That was useful information, otherwise I would have booked dinner at 7pm and missed the show.

Thanks a lot.

 

No problems. Glad to be of help.