Jade Live- Norwegian fjords from Hamburg to Southampton.

[BermudaBound2014]

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Callimero]

... as I journal the trip and use my notes later in photo albums. Otherwise, I forget by the time I get

 

Great photos Cheryl, indeed! You can only top this if you've been on this beautiful cruise [emoji6] great ship, great crew and great people on board. CU tonight @Jumari.

 

Cheers Oliver

[Luckynana]

BermudaBound2014, your pictures are stunning!!!😊

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Forums mobile app

[BermudaBound2014]

Gieranger was, by far, the busiest port of call on this itinerary. We sailed in ahead of schedule but it took them awhile to set up the floating pier. Finally called for everyone to exit around 11:15, but the staircases were packed with people so we didn't get off the ship until 11:30 or so.

 

We rented twizzy electric cars. They are super cute and lots of fun. My advise is to take the one hour trip to eagles point OR the 3 hour trip to the glacier. We took the 2 hour trip to eagles point and the knott. The trip to eagles point was fantastic. The ride to the knott was just ok. The roads are super busy so it does take a bit of driving skill. I'd rent again if I had an off road course option.

 

After the electric talking car we did a rib boat ride. Very beautiful!! I do believe the heritage safari rib boat out of flam might be more spectacular, but we chose the bike ride down the mountain in flam, so we did the rib in gieranger instead.

 

Weather is still fantastic, but some coats are coming out. Today I wore my heavy north face fleece for the first time. I see lots of puffer jackets on deck. I packed mine but never used it. Weather is so fickle. We have 2 sea days before arriving in Southampton, so I believe the coldest part of our trip is over and we were incredibly fortunate! As mentioned, we've slept with the balcony door open and find it perfect sleeping weather.

 

There were some strange happenings with immigration and timing today. A letter last night stated we needed clear shengen immigration while sailing from hellsynk to Gieranger and listed various times we would be called to spinnaker.

 

Around 9:00 am, an announcement came that stated those plans were scrapped and instead we needed to head to spinnaker between 5-7 this evening for immigration clearance. Some people were upset because they waited in line this morning too. In this case, being a procrastinator worked in our favor as we arrived in spinnaker at 6:40 pm and were through the line rather quickly.

 

We ate in the dining room at our aft table 51 with our waiter Dan who is very efficient. Headed to Jumari this evening. I have lots of photos to share :). Any requests?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Zeno]

I would love to see photos from the RodneFjord cruise.

 

Great Report BTW!

[SF2AA]

Great posts. Would love to see pictures from eagles point! 🤗

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

[SF2AA]

BTW, any need for insect repellent?

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

[Hey Tina]

Gieranger was, by far, the busiest port of call on this itinerary. We sailed in ahead of schedule but it took them awhile to set up the floating pier. Finally called for everyone to exit around 11:15, but the staircases were packed with people so we didn't get off the ship until 11:30 or so.

 

We rented twizzy electric cars. They are super cute and lots of fun. My advise is to take the one hour trip to eagles point OR the 3 hour trip to the glacier. We took the 2 hour trip to eagles point and the knott. The trip to eagles point was fantastic. The ride to the knott was just ok. The roads are super busy so it does take a bit of driving skill. I'd rent again if I had an off road course option.

 

After the electric talking car we did a rib boat ride. Very beautiful!! I do believe the heritage safari rib boat out of flam might be more spectacular, but we chose the bike ride down the mountain in flam, so we did the rib in gieranger instead.

 

Weather is still fantastic, but some coats are coming out. Today I wore my heavy north face fleece for the first time. I see lots of puffer jackets on deck. I packed mine but never used it. Weather is so fickle. We have 2 sea days before arriving in Southampton, so I believe the coldest part of our trip is over and we were incredibly fortunate! As mentioned, we've slept with the balcony door open and find it perfect sleeping weather.

 

There were some strange happenings with immigration and timing today. A letter last night stated we needed clear shengen immigration while sailing from hellsynk to Gieranger and listed various times we would be called to spinnaker.

 

Around 9:00 am, an announcement came that stated those plans were scrapped and instead we needed to head to spinnaker between 5-7 this evening for immigration clearance. Some people were upset because they waited in line this morning too. In this case, being a procrastinator worked in our favor as we arrived in spinnaker at 6:40 pm and were through the line rather quickly.

 

We ate in the dining room at our aft table 51 with our waiter Dan who is very efficient. Headed to Jumari this evening. I have lots of photos to share :). Any requests?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thank you for reporting on your experience with the Twizy car. I'm planning on renting on on my solo trip next year and wondering if you can expand on your experience with the rental, especially if there's anything you think isn't suited for a solo?

[trinitytrees]

Thank you so much for you daily updates, loved reading everyone, and you have also told us about the weather, each day, sounds like you had great weather, my hope is it stays that way for us......everything crossed, keep changing what's in the case, but today last chance to do so! Have a fantastic two days at sea. And safe pleasant journey.

[BermudaBound2014]

Zeno- post 130 in this thread has some photos from rodnefjord cruise. Internet is being spotty with photos- I'll post more as we get farther south.

 

I carry mosquito repellent towelettes in my day pack because we tend to wander off the beaten paths if possible. Only time is used was in Kristiansand and we were far off the path in ravendal park.

 

Tina- as a solo I would recommend only the one hour to Eagles point. The traffic with busses was terrible on all the switchbacks- we had to reverse several times to allow busses to pass. Are you set on renting in gieranger? The flam rental seemed far less trafficy. Also- get off the ship first. The line to rent was huge- even with pre paid reservations. Only two people working to check in and give car instructions. The three hour to the glacier is so iffy because most days there is zero view due to clouds. The cars are super cute and fun and imo would be perfect for off road things that busses can't get to.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[SquishTheWhale]

Hi

We are on the JADE IN 3 weeks stopping at Edinburgh, please can you tell us why a disaster of a stop?

Thanks

joanie1699

 

Sounds to me like they are talking rubbish, unless there was a specific disaster that befall that exact cruise. Edinburgh is an absolutley wonderful city and you will have a fantastic time there! I'm not sure which port NCL uses- Leith is super easy to access via the public bus, Queensferry I think you are better taking the shuttle bus or taxi in. Either way it's not difficult. Living in the UK I haven't cruised to Edinburgh but I have been there many times.

[unknown123]

I hope I am doing this post correctly; please excuse my lack of knowledge! Thank you so much for all the postings that have been done! We will be on the Jade next summer to do the fjords. It sails out of Southampton and I am wondering IF you can see the Cliffs of Dover at some point during the cruise---leaving or returning to Southampton??? Thank you for your reply or replies!!!

[BermudaBound2014]

Hello from a relaxing day at sea. We've spent the day napping, reading, and sipping coffee on the balcony.

 

Last night and this morning it rained pretty heavy. I think a front moved through as this morning was the most chilly of all our days. It's beautiful and sunny now, but cooler than the last 9 days. I was totally fine with my cozy pjs and added a robe layer for warmth on the balcony. We went to lunch at the buffet and noticed most sitting outside had broken out their puffer jackets. I think our balcony is a bit more protected from the wind.

 

Speaking of buffet, I'm not overly impressed, but we are Not buffet people so ymmv. I much prefer the long line cafeteria style on the away ships. The cluster style set up never works well, and on day 9 I tend to be less patient with those who insist on standing in the middle of the aisle with absolutely no awareness of those around them. We've found our perfect table in grand pacific and sit there every night (table 51- aft facing with Dan as our waiter).

 

In total we ate one dinner at the buffet and two lunches. The pastries are delicious and the soft serve ice cream is very creamy. Other than that, I would rate the buffet as average or slightly below average. Don't get me wrong, lots to choose from, but for us, the quality was lacking. A Direct contrast to our experience on the epic just 7 months ago.

 

Speaking of food- I have lots of food porn and menu photos to share once I get to a stable internet. Tonight we are back in Cagneys and tomorrow is lebistro. We choose 2 Cagneys and 2 lebistro for the 4 free speciality dinner packages.

 

Tonight is elements and we plan to attend. This will be our first show of the trip. We like shows, but don't feel compelled to attend, plus we have so enjoyed Jumari that our evenings have been spent with him. Not to mention that our days consist of 30k plus steps, so by midnight we are ready to hit the hay.

 

I can NOT believe how fantastic this itinerary is. I'm still pinching myself. Next year our big vacation is Galapagos- but we absolutely plan to return to Norway on a land trip where we rent a van and head off the grid for a few weeks. We aren't loyal to just cruising and enjoy all different types of holiday. Norway is nothing shy of spectacular- those boarding are in for an exceptional cruise.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ginger Pepper Mom]

I hope I am doing this post correctly; please excuse my lack of knowledge! Thank you so much for all the postings that have been done! We will be on the Jade next summer to do the fjords. It sails out of Southampton and I am wondering IF you can see the Cliffs of Dover at some point during the cruise---leaving or returning to Southampton??? Thank you for your reply or replies!!!

Hi! When are you cruising on the Jade to Norway? We are 6 or 8 family and friends leaving from Hamburg on August 12, 2018 on that itinerary.

[KeithJenner]

Sounds to me like they are talking rubbish, unless there was a specific disaster that befall that exact cruise. Edinburgh is an absolutley wonderful city and you will have a fantastic time there! I'm not sure which port NCL uses- Leith is super easy to access via the public bus, Queensferry I think you are better taking the shuttle bus or taxi in. Either way it's not difficult. Living in the UK I haven't cruised to Edinburgh but I have been there many times.

 

 

 

There do seem to be issues with Edinburgh.

 

The Jade is apparently slightly too big to dock, so they have to tender instead. For some reason it seems that they tender from quite a way away so the journey takes a long time (I've heard 45 minutes each way mentioned). People were apparently getting ashore hours after they expected to.

 

I think the Jade has been to Edinburgh twice so far this year and both times it seems to have been a problem. On one of those occasions, a friend of mine was onboard and he didn't even try to get ashore.

 

We haven't planned anything when we are there in a few weeks. If we get ashore then it will be a bonus, but it's not a major problem for us, as we've also been there many times before, but I do feel sorry for people who see this as a highlight of the itinerary.

[KeithJenner]

Hi

 

We are on the JADE IN 3 weeks stopping at Edinburgh, please can you tell us why a disaster of a stop?

 

Thanks

 

joanie1699

 

 

 

Just quoting your post so you may see my reply. If you haven't done so already then check out the roll call for the cruise (I assume your on the same one as us on the 19th). It's quite a lot to read through, but there are reports on there about what happened in Edinburgh previously.

 

It's worth reading up on if you have plans in Edinburgh that rely on you being somewhere at a specific time.

[Hey Tina]

Zeno- post 130 in this thread has some photos from rodnefjord cruise. Internet is being spotty with photos- I'll post more as we get farther south.

 

I carry mosquito repellent towelettes in my day pack because we tend to wander off the beaten paths if possible. Only time is used was in Kristiansand and we were far off the path in ravendal park.

 

Tina- as a solo I would recommend only the one hour to Eagles point. The traffic with busses was terrible on all the switchbacks- we had to reverse several times to allow busses to pass. Are you set on renting in gieranger? The flam rental seemed far less trafficy. Also- get off the ship first. The line to rent was huge- even with pre paid reservations. Only two people working to check in and give car instructions. The three hour to the glacier is so iffy because most days there is zero view due to clouds. The cars are super cute and fun and imo would be perfect for off road things that busses can't get to.

 

 

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Thanks. I wasn't set on Geiranger. A rental in Flam or even Alesund would be fine, I think I'd just like to rent the Twizy/emobility car for the experience. An hour might be the perfect amount of time.

[SquishTheWhale]

There do seem to be issues with Edinburgh.

 

The Jade is apparently slightly too big to dock, so they have to tender instead. For some reason it seems that they tender from quite a way away so the journey takes a long time (I've heard 45 minutes each way mentioned). People were apparently getting ashore hours after they expected to.

 

I think the Jade has been to Edinburgh twice so far this year and both times it seems to have been a problem. On one of those occasions, a friend of mine was onboard and he didn't even try to get ashore.

 

We haven't planned anything when we are there in a few weeks. If we get ashore then it will be a bonus, but it's not a major problem for us, as we've also been there many times before, but I do feel sorry for people who see this as a highlight of the itinerary.

 

Ah, in that case I realise why he was complaining! Wasn't going to tolerate someone slating my favourite city on earth haha. But being annoyed at tender times is justified. I hope they sort it out soon.

[Granny DI]

Sounds to me like they are talking rubbish, unless there was a specific disaster that befall that exact cruise. Edinburgh is an absolutley wonderful city and you will have a fantastic time there! I'm not sure which port NCL uses- Leith is super easy to access via the public bus, Queensferry I think you are better taking the shuttle bus or taxi in. Either way it's not difficult. Living in the UK I haven't cruised to Edinburgh but I have been there many times.

 

This is not rubbish! The ship TENDERS bring you into New Haven. The port only allows ONE tender at a time.

I was on the Jade on July 28 when it anchored 30-45 minutes from New Haven. I was in line for the tenders at 4:30. Last tender was at 5:30. The line wrapped around the port! Then the skies opened .....no shelter for anyone in line! The ship was to sail at 6:00 but finally pulled the anchor at 7:30. Avoid New Haven on any ship!

[KeithJenner]

Just to hopefully finish off this discussion about Edinburgh, which isn't really relevant to this thread anyway - apologies to BermudaBound for the off topic, I'll just paste this message about Edinburgh from another thread.

 

if it's to do with Edinburgh tendering it was a simple question of Maths.

 

Approx 100-150 passengers to each tender. Time to load passengers on, then travel approx 30mins ashore, offload and then 30mins back meant each tender was taking 1hr20mins.

 

They started with 4 tenders and both pontoon sides down.

 

So 8AM 150 go, 8:10 150 go 8:20 150 go, 8:30 150 go .. 600 out of over 2000 ...now errm wait until 9:20 for next 150 ..

After the 2nd cycle so now near 10AM 1200 passengers left, tender 1 not due back until 10:40 they dropped two more of the lifeboats to allow another 300 to go.

 

1500 gone, about 600 left to go..

 

Round 3 was then 10:40 - 11:10 offload with most arriving by 11:40. Then it was open tender and they winched boats 5 and 6 back in.

[Single Cruiser]

This is not rubbish! The ship TENDERS bring you into New Haven. The port only allows ONE tender at a time.

 

I was on the Jade on July 28 when it anchored 30-45 minutes from New Haven. I was in line for the tenders at 4:30. Last tender was at 5:30. The line wrapped around the port! Then the skies opened .....no shelter for anyone in line! The ship was to sail at 6:00 but finally pulled the anchor at 7:30. Avoid New Haven on any ship!

 

 

 

I was on the Jade in May when we tendered in. And yes was near mutiny onboard. The issue was the time to tender . X minutes to load passengers, 30 minutes to tender into Newhaven, offload, 30mins back. So 1hr 20 round trip per tender. Comfortably the tenders were taking about 150 passengers.

 

2000+ passengers trying to tender in, they started with 4 tenders so 600pax every 1hr20 albeit staggered.. so was about 4hrs to get everyone ashore.

 

This is the view of the ship to shore and the tenders .

 

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

[BermudaBound2014]

Had a nice dinner at cagneys last night. Food was delicious- service was off last night and we had the very same waitress last week. Pics to follow but internet currently slow. Meal was delicious. I recommend you Allow 2-2.5 hours from start to finish if you plan to see a show.

 

We saw elements and thought it was very good. I am a bit spoilt by the larger ship entertainment options, but elements was worth seeing.

 

Closed the atrium bar with new friends and then headed to osheehans for bar food at 2 am. Service in osheehans has been surprisingly good as typically osheehans is notoriously slow. Not on the jade! In fact, osheehans is much quicker than the grand pacific. You will also need to budget 2 hours for a meal in grand pacific. The food had been excellent even though service is slow. Ask for an aft facing table and the view makes up for the service. We like our waiter very much, but grand pacific is just a slow pace. Most people have reported better luck in alzair dining room, but the seating there was terrible. I'm not sure if the bench seating was redone in the refurbish, but it is extremely uncomfortable. So much so that we only ate there once.

 

It's a lovely day at sea. We can tell we are sailing south as the air has gotten warmer and the sunset at 9:30 last night instead of much later. I have photos from alesund at midnight where it is still very much twilight.

 

We are staying in Southampton with friends for 3 nights and then London for another 3 nights before making the journey home. This trip sure has been amazing!!!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Luckynana]

BermudaBound2014, I have been looking online for hotels in London for next September..do you have any suggestions? I've been thinking of perhaps a Hampton Inn or Staybridge Suites..Comfort Inn..

 

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Forums mobile app

[KeithJenner]

BermudaBound2014, I have been looking online for hotels in London for next September..do you have any suggestions? I've been thinking of perhaps a Hampton Inn or Staybridge Suites..Comfort Inn..

 

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Forums mobile app

 

 

 

There is a Hampton Inn at Waterloo. I haven't stayed there, but it gets decent reviews.

 

Hampton Inns in the U.K. are a little different to those in the U.S. in my experience, but they are certainly a good budget option here. I use them a lot.

[Luckynana]

Thank you, Keith!

 

Sent from my SM-T350 using Forums mobile app