Norwegian Jade Review

[beverleyngo168]

(Hi Everyone! This is the first part of my review of the Norwegian Jade. I will write about a day to day account, as well as an overall ship review. I travelled on the Jade between 6th August and 13th August. Let me know if you have any questions or anything you want me to write about:))

 

5th August- Travel

Today was our travelling day. We drove to Gatwick airport and used aph parking. (I highly recommend aph because it was very good service). We were flying from the north terminal with British airways to Marco Polo Venice airport.

 

The flight was on time and great to start with, until my worst nightmare came...the two hour flight ended up taking 6 hours:eek:! Due to thunderstorms, we had to fly into Bologna instead of Marco Polo.The staff were very accommodating, but it still was not fun sitting down for couple hours with nothing to do. Tip: Make sure that you fly out at least a day before your cruise in case things like this happen to you!

 

We made our way to the arrivals hall and went to find our hotel shuttle bus to take us to our hotel- the 'Crowne Plaza Venice East' hotel. I highly recommend that you stay here before your cruise because we had a wonderful stay using their cruise package. This included airport to hotel transfer, breakfast, and a cruise shuttle transfer- all for only 180 euros for a family of four:D! Excellent stay and highly recommended. (Tip: Although the hotel is not in central venice, there is a train station right beside the hotel that can take you into central venice in 20 mins for just three euros:D)

 

We had dinner in the hotel which had very good food at reasonable prices e.g. 8 euro for a pizza. The hotel is situated in a very quiet neighbourhood so we had a very nice and comfortable sleep that night!

 

I will write about day 2 very soon :)

[weloveamerica]

Following, we are doing a b2b on the Jade in September.:)

[pterp]

DW an I sail in less than 3 weeks for our 5 yr anniversary cruise. I look forward to hearing about your experiences!

[saraho05]

Definitely interested in following this review! I will be on the Jade in October leaving from Venice. Definitely interested in hearing logistics getting from Crowne Plaza to the cruise terminal as this is possibly where we will say. Also curious as to what you did with luggage prior to boarding, recommendations on ship excursions/things to do in port, tendering process, and disembarkation day logistics. It will be my first international cruise and I'm very excited!

[hoopslover]

Following. Doing b2b on Jade in September.

[easyboy]

Thanks for sharing.

[cincicruisers]

Following, great start

[dporter]

following

[beverleyngo168]

Hi everyone thanks for the nice comments. So here's what happened on day 2- boarding the ship :D

 

We woke up early after a relaxing sleep and headed down to breakfast at about 9:30am. Breakfast was open from 6am to 11am and was included in our cruise package. It was just a continental with the occasional few hot dishes but nothing special. It was fine.

 

Our cruise shuttle was at 11am and was very organised. We checked out of the hotel and were told to wait in the lobby in a seating area to be called for our shuttle. Everyone on my shuttle was going on the Norwegian Jade. I am not sure if this is just a coincidence, or if they organise it ship by ship. They take you to the back of the hotel and call you out room by room to get on the shuttle. Our room was called first :) so we had a choice of any seat on the shuttle. The shuttle was actually a very large and comfortable coach, and was maybe 1/3 full by the time everyone got on. It was a relaxing 20-30 minute ride and was very organised so I highly recommend that you stay and book with the cruise package at the crowne plaza!

 

In the hotel lobby there is actually a ncl desk with a lady there. I think that if you book a hotel package direct with ncl, they book you in the crowne plaza too but they have their own private shuttle to take you to the port. Either way you book, it is still very easy to get to your ship!

 

The shuttle dropped us off right beside the ship and we joined the queue for embarkation. This is where being organised comes handy. There were two queues to actually get into the embarkation building/ terminal. One queue for people who had printed off their luggage tags, and another queue for people who had not printed off their luggage tags. We printed off ours at home and were inside in no time. On the other hand, the other queue was SO LONG. So top tip: PRINT OFF YOUR LUGGAGE TAGS AT HOME. At this point, you drop your baggage off and head to the desks for embarkation.

 

Embarkation was not the best we have experienced. First, adults have to fill out a health form. Then, you proceed to the desk for check in. This was quick, but the long waiting comes when they hand you a number to be called out so that you can get on the ship. We were given a card with number 11, but they were only currently calling number 7 at that time. After maybe 45 mins to an hour, we were called. Notice that we got to the terminal at around 11:30 but embarkation is only supposed to start at 12...get there early because you will still have to wait around.

 

Once on board, we were greeted by happy staff and loud music. Rooms weren't supposed to be ready until 1pm, but ours was just done by about 12:30. We were in a family inside cabin for 4, cabin no. 10571. It was tiny, but we managed. (I will do an in depth review of the ship itself separately).

 

We chilled by the pool that afternoon as we brought our swimwear in our hand luggage, and enjoyed the sail away bbq party. The safety drill was easy and quick- no need to wear life jackets. The sail away bbq party was excellent and tasty. However, they were handing out free bahama mamas that day and I was given one- but I am underage! (Don't worry though, my parents let me drink safe amounts:p) I do look older than my age, but be aware that the drinking policy isn't as tight as it should be.

 

We watched the show which was nothing special, and had dinner at the Grand Pacific main dining room. Overall it was a good start to the holiday!

 

My next post will skip the sea day and go straight to corfu, unless you would like a sea day review :)

[EllieinNJ]

Thanks so much for doing your review. I think it's only the third one of the Jade in the Med this year. Many of us are hungry for details, especially about shore excursions or what to DIY. Anxiously awaiting more. Ellie.

[easyboy]

Hi everyone thanks for the nice comments. So here's what happened on day 2- boarding the ship :D

Nice. Following,

[beverleyngo168]

Thanks so much for doing your review. I think it's only the third one of the Jade in the Med this year. Many of us are hungry for details, especially about shore excursions or what to DIY. Anxiously awaiting more. Ellie.

 

You're more than welcome, and my thoughts exactly. Before my cruise there was not much information available, so i'm doing these reviews so that you guys have some details. I'm currently in the process of writing part 3 :)

[beverleyngo168]

Hi again so this is part 3 of my review. Sorry for the overload of reviews in a short time i'm trying to get them all done before I have to go back to school :( !

 

(If you'd like a sea day review just let me know)

 

So the 8th of August was Corfu and also my mum's 40th birthday! We didn't choose to book an excursion am I am glad that we did not because we had a great day!

 

The Jade was docked in the new port of Corfu and there was a complimentary bus that takes you to the entrance/exit of the cruise port. You can also choose to walk it if you wish but we were too lazy to walk it :p. When you exit the port there are many different options of what to do. There are companies offering tours, a hop on hop off bus, taxis and a bus stop. We had planned to get the bus number 16 or 17 for 1.70 euros pp to take us into the old town of Corfu, but it was very busy so we decided to take a taxi. This costed 10 euros for the whole taxi to drop us off in the old town. It was a short 5-10 min drive and our driver was very nice. Most of the taxi drivers offered day trips around the island or to a beach, but we opted not to.

 

In the town there are many shops, including the main street with larger shops. We walked to the old fortress and stopped for lunch at a McDonald's on the way. If you want fast wifi and a toilet break come to this McDonald's! It was also not busy at all, which was strange! The McDonald's is located about a 3 min walk from the old fortress.

 

We then walked to the old fortress, which was just 6 euros per person (under 18s go free). The fortress has lovely views of Corfu and is interesting. There is a cafe inside as well as a musuem and a gift shop. I recommend that you wear comfortable shoes though because the ground is cobbled and bumpy.

 

After about an hour in the fortress, we decided to head back to the ship. We decided to take the bus number 17 back and paid 1.70 euros per person. The traffic going back was horrendous though. The journey was supposed to be quick but took over an hour to get back! Luckily there was air con, seats and good views from the bus otherwise we would have been bored to death.

 

When we were back on the ship, we went back to our room to find it beautifully decorated with birthday decorations for my mum and a giant cake! We bought the birthday package for £22 which included the cake and decorations. We were also surprised with a little cupcake and birthday card for my mum! A very nice touch by ncl.

 

Overall Corfu was very beautiful and very easy to visit the old town and fortress by yourself. If you are celebrating a birthday anniversary etc. on your cruise, be sure to book the celebration package because it was well worth the money to see my mum's reaction!

 

My next post will be about Santorini and if you have any questions i'm more than happy to answer them :)

 

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[beverleyngo168]

So on the 9th August (day four on the cruise) we visited Santorini. We chose to book an excursion with ncl and we are very glad that we did! Here's why:

 

1- All cruise ships tender in Santorini and when we were there, there were FIVE ships in port! That is over 10,000 people in one day! To make this worse, the only way up to Fira, Santorini is by cable car which has very long queues. So imagine having to queue up for the cable car in the heat!

 

2- If you do not book an excursion, you have to queue up for a tender boat ticket. People started queuing up two hours before the advertised time for tender ticket handing out. Not my idea of fun.

 

3- By choosing the excursion, you do not need to wait for a tender ticket or the cable car, as a private tender takes you to the other side of the island to see Oia, the postcard town of Santorini.

 

We booked the 'Charming Oia Village' on myncl before our holiday started, and paid £50 per person. When we boarded the ship on the first day, our excursion tickets for waiting for us on in our cabin. Our meeting time was 1:30 at the stardust theatre, and we got there 10 minutes earlier just in case. The theatre was already filing up fast so we were lucky to turn up early. One by one they call out your cruise excursion number, and ours was first! They give you a number sticker to wear throughout the day and we were whisked off to our tender boat.

 

Once we reached the other side of the island, we got on our coach to Oia village. Our coach tour guide was a young lady from Athens, but she was not the best guide ever. Although she seemed to know a lot about the history of Santorini, it was her first day working as a tour guide and she spoke with broken English. However, we were able to overlook that because once we arrived in Oia, the views absolutely made up for it. Oia is the postcard village of Santorini and is just stunning. The hype that surrounds it is totally true and you really must be there to appreciate the view. You cannot visit Santorini without visiting Oia! We were only given about 90 minutes in Oia but this was enough time to take pictures, have lunch at a restaurant, and soak in the views! It would've been nicer to have more time in Oia, but we still had a great time. Be sure to try greek salad and the local beer!

 

We then headed back to Fira on the coach. Fira is not so exciting. It is crowded and nowhere near as beautiful as Oia. A one way cable car ticket down is included with the excursion, but the queue was horrendous. We queued for over an hour in the scorching heat for what was a two minute ride. Although the view from the cable car was very nice, it was not worth the wait. We could have walked down the donkey path instead.

 

The tender boats queus back to the ship for ncl were very short and were covered under ncl marquees. Other ships such as Royal Carribbean and MSC did not have these and they had to wait in the sun. Just another lovely touch by NCL, who also provided us with cold drinks and towels while we waited. You could sense the jealousy from the other cruise lines!

 

Overall, Santorini is beautiful and you really must visit Oia. If there are two or less ships in port, I think it would be fine to not book an excursion and you could do it yourself, but any more than three ships in port is too much and you are better off booking an excursion. We really did have a relaxing day as we did not have to queue up for tender tickets or for the cable cars up!

 

If you want to do Santorini by yourself here is how:

Option 1: After getting off the tender boat, there are companies offering to take you to Oia by boat and then back to Fira by bus. This varies in cost and is about 15-25 euros depending on who you go with. Be aware that these companies are not punctual in time as said by other people who took this option!

 

Option 2: After getting off the tender boat, take the cable car/ donkey path up and get a bus to Oia and back.

 

My next post will be about Mykonos :)

 

Gorgeous Oia

[Aturnee]

Thanks for the memories...did this excursion in Spring 2014 and it was amazing. We were able to watch the sunset from Fira before the cable car ride!

[beverleyngo168]

Thanks for the memories...did this excursion in Spring 2014 and it was amazing. We were able to watch the sunset from Fira before the cable car ride!

 

Wow that's amazing I wish we were able to witness the sunset from Fira but we ran out of time! Gotta go back some day for sure :)

[hoopslover]

Thanks for such a wonderful review. We leave in 4 weeks. Making me even more excited.

[pterp]

Thanks for the review so far! You mentioned 5 boats were in port the say you were in Santorini. Were any others in port during the later period the Jade is (docking in afternoon vs morning)? Also, what time did you decide to get in line for the cable car down? Thanks!

[cincicruisers]

Enjoying your review.

[beverleyngo168]

Thanks for the review so far! You mentioned 5 boats were in port the say you were in Santorini. Were any others in port during the later period the Jade is (docking in afternoon vs morning)? Also, what time did you decide to get in line for the cable car down? Thanks!

 

No problem! When we were in Santorini, the Jade was actually the last ship to dock as we arrived at 2pm. All the others arrived early in the morning around 9am, apart from the Jewel of the Seas which arrived at 1pm. We booked the excursion because we thought that passengers from the Jewel would create long queues from the cable car since they arrived just a bit before us.

 

We decided to get in line for the cable car down at 7pm. This was probrably a bad idea because passengers from the Jewel and from the Rhapsody were trying to get down because both of their ships were leaving at 8pm! I reckon if we started queuing at 8pm it would not have been such a bad queue, but we are paranoid and don't want to miss the last tender hehe!

 

Hoped this helped!

 

The ships in port that day:

Rhapsody of the seas 8am-8pm

MSC Sinfonia 9am-3pm

Jewel of the Seas 1pm-8pm

Norwegian Jade 2pm-10pm

Another smaller greek owned ship that I cannot remember the name of.

[beverleyngo168]

Hi everyone thanks again for the nice comments! So on the 10th August, we visited Mykonos! We did not book an excursion.

 

In Mykonos, the Jade was docked in the new port of Mykonos. Prior to my cruise, I thought that we would be tendering, but that was not the case. There were 3 other ships in port too, but they were all tendered. This actually scared me a bit because our plan was to take the tender boat right into town, so we had to change our plans.

 

Luckily, our plan didn't actually need to change, because NCL provided a complimentary shuttle bus right into town! It took about 5-10 minutes and was much smoother than a tender boat-with great views too! Alternatively, you could get a 'seabus' to Mykonos town for 2euros per person each way. Tip: We saw some people who got scared of the queue for the shuttle bus and took the 'seabus'. But the shuttle buses come so frequently that the queues move very quickly. Don't be put off by the queues for the shuttle bus :). Furthermore, don't bother thinking about getting a taxi because there are only 31 taxis on the whole island!

 

Once we got off the shuttle bus, we were right in Town. There were many companies offering transfers to Super Paradise beach, but we opted not to because we aren't really the party type! Mykonos is very beautiful with crystal clear water. There is a little beach right in Town tat is totally swimmable. We didn't know about this beforehand and would've worn our swimwear if we knew!

 

We walked around the little streets of Mykonos which were beautiful but very crowded with four ships in port! We stopped off for lunch in a seafront restaurant which had lovely greek salad and beer. There was an ice cream shop next door with delicious homemade ice cream- you must try the watermelon ice cream:p!

 

After that we headed back to the ship. Mykonos is very beautiful to visit but also very busy in high season. I do not feel that there is much point in doing an excursion because Mykonos town is doable by yourself and very easy to get to with the free ncl shuttle!

 

Next post: Olympia!

 

[/img] Don't worry about getting lost- there is a giant map in Town!

 

Yummy watermelon ice cream!

[Mel71]

thanks for your review!!

 

we love the Jade (4 times yet) and will do this cruise on 1th Octobre

[Huntingdon1701]

I'm enjoying the review. Doing this in just over a month.

[weainaship]

We are on the Jade from Venice on the 10th Sep for 14 days. Your review is of great interest - thank you.:)

[yoboy08753]

Great review!!! Thank you!!! We are sailing the Jade on Thanksgiving after she gets back to the USA. A sea day review would be great as we are not hitting those ports although I wish we were. How was the ship overall? We have sailed her sister ship the Gem out of NYC and looking foward to seeing the differences. :):D

Edited August 19, 2016 by yoboy08753