Back from the Jade (May 5-17)

[sarahemarie]

Hey everyone,

 

I just got off the Norweigan Jade cruise from May 5 - 17 Istanbul to Barcelona. It was WONDERFUL!!! I had an absolutely fabulous time, and it was by far the most incredible vacation I've ever taken. It was my first cruise, but definitely not my last. I don't really have time to write a long review about the ships or port at least right now, but I would be happy to answer anyone's questions on anything.

 

Our ports were: Istanbul, Izmir (Ephesus), Pireaus (Athens), Venice, Naples, Civitavecchia (Rome), and Barcelona.

 

Ask away!

 

Sarah

[KaththeTaff]

Hi Sarah

 

So glad you had such a wonderful time! We are on the Jade in three and a half weeks and are getting really excited now! I hope you don't mind if I ask you a couple of questions:

 

Did the entertainment include a murder mystery night?

 

Did you see a dart board anywhere?!!!

 

Cheers

 

Kath & Martin

[VoyageVirgin]

We didn't find any dart boards back in March - much to the dismay of one of our fellow cruisers (dartnut) - No murder mystery either, but I hear the CD has changed so possibly that may change.

 

Who is the new CD?

[sarahemarie]

Hmm, no murder mystery that I ever read about or heard of, and no dart board that I ever saw. However, there is tons of entertainment every night! Tony and Tina's wedding was onboard one night--but I missed that one. Heard it was great. Lots of musicals, dancing, magic shows, juggling, a crew talent show, dances every night with different themes. My favorite was the improv comedy act of Second City, which is based in Chicago. I went to their show every night that they performed and laughed until I cried. Lots of singing, jokes, special guests with wide ranging talents. They also ran a few hysterical game shows. They probably did about 5-6 shows.

 

Yikes, I cannot for the life of me remember what the CD's name is, or which one he was...there were 3 people who always announced the day's activities. One was Firdy - not spelling that right (who can also sing!), another was Paul, who was the assistant and has a strange talent of being able to simulate any noise in a kitchen, among other rooms, and the third's name I am completely blanking on but he hosted most of the dances and game shows. They were all very funny people though. Hopefully that helps somewhat.

[KaththeTaff]

Thanks Sarah

 

There was some mention of a murder mystery night in one of the dailies from another NCL ship, which is why I asked. It's not going to be a massive disappointment, just something we would have enjoyed if it was on!

 

Oh well ,never mind, no darts either!!

[lambs2]

Hope the Jade does include the murder mystery night in the future!We are going to be aboard her from January 16 to February 6, 2009. They had one on the Jewel when we were sailing in the Southern Caribbean this March. Somehow I missed the sign-up announcement in the Daily, but we just happened to be eating in the Main Dining room when it was going on. All the participating tables seemed to be having a blast!

[4 cruisers]

thanks for posting, Sara! I too was hooked on cruising after my very first cruise!!!! :cool:

 

I fell in love with Istanbul! We're really looking forward to trying the Jade! Our itinerary is different from yours, but to tell you the truth, just cruising makes me happy no matter what the destination! :D

[zumaqueen]

did you use ship shore excursions or did you find better deals once in port? We're going on the reverse trip in September. Thanks for your suggestions.

[Mrs_Duffy]

Welcome back! How did you like Ephesus? The reason I ask is we're trying to decide between two cruises, one that goes to Ephesus, the other that goes to Canakkale instead. Was it so incredibly awesome that we shouldn't miss it, or just average? Thanks!

[sarahemarie]

Actually, my friend and I are very adventurous with ports. We did everything on our own except for one. We used mass transportation in most every city which is always an adventure, but for the most part, we saw every major thing in every city that we wanted to. It worked great. In Naples, because there was nothing we really wanted to see there, and we saw no other way to do it, we took the Amalfi Coast/Pompei tour offered by the ship. This was the best way to see the Amalfi coast, I'm sure. It was nice and of course beautiful, but probably my least favorite day, because everything moves at such a slow pace when on tour, and it's hard to see things when you're competing with 45 other people who are trying to look and listen at the same time as you. That's what I found anyway. It wasn't a bad experience by any means (and they fed us very well!), but I much more enjoyed manuevering on my own--I felt I got to know the city and how the people live more that way (well, as much as possible when I only have one day in each city.)

 

Of course, tons of the excursions were completely booked up, so you know tons of people use them and love them. It is less stressful, if you worry about making the boat and stuff like that. But, I didn't feel I got the full experience on a tour. For the most part, there weren't a lot of other tour (non ship) offers that I saw when I got off the ship every morning. There were always tons of taxis. There was usually an NCL bus to the train station if we weren't docked in a main city. But I didn't see a lot of other options (perhaps because we weren't really docking in main cities in a lot of the ports.) In Venice there were options for other tours, but at the same time, it's so easy to get into Venice and get around on your own and we didn't stop to browse any of said options.

 

To the people who wanted to know about Turkey: I loved Istanbul, but we are 2 younger (26) girls there roaming around, and while the people were so nice, the taxi drivers were very agressive towards us. When we were walking somewhere, they would seriously park their cars, get out, and chase us down the street. One grabbed my friend's arm and tried to drag her over to his taxi. Another stole 20 bucks from me, and another tried to charge us 120 bucks to go 3 miles and then swore at us in English (and probably Turkish too) as he chased us down the street after we refused to get in the cab and told him we'd walk. However, this did not mar my view of the city. We just learned very quickly to be careful. And for the most part Istanbul was amazing, the people were so nice and helpful, and the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia were so amazing. The grand bazaar is not to miss either. It is totally different from anything I have ever experienced. I would definitely go back. But this might be one where I would take an excursion next time--the city is too big and we couldn't figure out the train, and taxis turned out to not be our best option. However, maybe this was just our bad luck. Anyone else might have had wonderful taxi experiences, so I won't generalize.

 

Someone asked about Ephesus, and I actually didn't go here. Most ship excursions went here, but we docked in Izmir, and if you weren't on a tour, you were kind of stuck there. But I heard the ruins are incredible, and people really seemed to love the tours. We roamed Izmir on our own, and found a modern part of town that was kind of like walking down a Turkish version of say Soho in New York. Lots of little non-chain boutiques, good prices, funky stuff. So we shopped there most of the day, and found a bunch of neat things. So sorry I can't fully answer that question.

 

Overall, I loved every different port for very different reasons. It's hard to beat going inside the Blue Mosque and seeing the groups praying on their knees in the middle of the brighly lanterned room. It was breathtaking. The Grand Bazaar was overwhelming, but something you have to see for yourself. I didn't actually buy anything, but kind of wish now that I did have a souvenir from that particular place.

 

Okay, hope that helps.

 

Sarah

[linwood77]

Yikes, I cannot for the life of me remember what the CD's name is, or which one he was...there were 3 people who always announced the day's activities. One was Firdy - not spelling that right (who can also sing!), another was Paul, who was the assistant and has a strange talent of being able to simulate any noise in a kitchen, among other rooms, and the third's name I am completely blanking on but he hosted most of the dances and game shows. They were all very funny people though. Hopefully that helps somewhat.

 

 

Paul Baya is or at least was the Cruise Director on the Jade. He's the bald guy. He also sings and sang the Home Away from Home song along with Administative Assistant Gabriel Turner during the farwell performance on our Panama Canal Jade cruise Feb. 16th. 2008.

[zumaqueen]

thanks so much. Sounds like youhad a ball.

[Carnac767]

Welcome to your new addiction, Sarah. Glad you had such a good time. My Sarah and I can't wait for our Jade cruise next March.

[kentish belle]

Hi Kath & Martin, I was on the Jade in May too, there is a dartboard in the Spinniker Lounge, there was also a darts tournament on one or two days of the cruise. Regards Sheila

[jlines]

Welcome back! How did you like Ephesus? The reason I ask is we're trying to decide between two cruises, one that goes to Ephesus, the other that goes to Canakkale instead. Was it so incredibly awesome that we shouldn't miss it, or just average? Thanks!

 

If you are interested in ruins you will love Ephesus. These were by far the best we saw, especially the terrace houses. Of course we had a wonderful guide which is a must to understand exactly what you are seeing.

[Biogal]

I have to say, if you love ruins and can make it there go for it for sure! It was actually one of our favorite. In our opinion it was even better than Pompeii.

[sarahemarie]

Okay, shows how observant I am...I was in the Spinnaker a lot, usually whenever Second City did their Improv Comedy, and I never noticed these dart boards. :D Good to know though, right?

 

What did you think of the cruise, Sheila? I absolutely loved it, as you may have gathered already. I am already browsing the NCL website for another one...I may be addicted.

[annfi]

Hey everyone,

 

I just got off the Norweigan Jade cruise from May 5 - 17 Istanbul to Barcelona. It was WONDERFUL!!! I had an absolutely fabulous time, and it was by far the most incredible vacation I've ever taken. It was my first cruise, but definitely not my last. I don't really have time to write a long review about the ships or port at least right now, but I would be happy to answer anyone's questions on anything.

 

Our ports were: Istanbul, Izmir (Ephesus), Pireaus (Athens), Venice, Naples, Civitavecchia (Rome), and Barcelona.

 

Ask away!

 

Sarah

Exciting to hear from you! We are sailing on the Jade on June 13 and can't wait! We are normally "the independent types" but Rome is making us nervous with so much to see and so little time. Can you please share

your experience in Rome? Thank you!

[nhtraveler313]

Glad to hear you had a wonderful cruise. We'll be on the Jade in November on the same itinerary. We like to do cities on our own, too, and are only planning a tour to Ephesus. I was curious about the NCL bus from the pier. Was there a fee for this? Did you have to sign up in advance? And in which ports was this offered and where did it take you to? Thanks!

[sarahemarie]

Annfi--

 

Rome was excellent. We docked in Civitavecchia, which is a ways from the city, as you know. There was a free NCL shuttle to the edge of the port, because I guess we were docked some ways away from the entrance/exit. We took the shuttle and then the group of us on the bus asked the driver which way it was to the train station. It was about four blocks, and we all trekked there. Once there, we got in line for tickets, and told the cashier that we wanted to go to Rome on the fastest train possible. (There are 2 trains, express and local...the express took 40 minutes, the local took 2 hours plus--so definitely be sure you make the distinction.)

 

 

The train came 10 minutes later, we hopped on, and 40 minutes later, hopped off at the St. Pietro stop--for Vatican City. For time reference, we got off the ship about 8:15ish, got to the station by 8:30, got on the train by 8:40, and were in Vatican City by 9:25. So not too bad...there are signs leading you to the Vatican that are easily visible from the doors of the train station, so we walked on over. Waited in line to go in the Basilica...the line was LONG, like more than half way around the entire square. But it moved...we only waited about 35 minutes.

 

***Note: There are all these people that look like college kids asking if you speak english and coming over to you while in line, telling you they have a tour leaving in a few minutes and you don't have to wait...they tell you the line is over 2.5 hours long. It's not. And I'm not entirely sure they are legit either. Some probably were. Others take your money and run. I've heard about the scams, but didn't experience any firsthand. Just know, whatever you decide to do, that they are definitely lying about the wait time in line, so who knows what else they are lying about.

 

Went inside the Basilica...it was amazing! Definitely a must see. Then we asked around for directions to the Vatican Museum, where the entrance to the Sistine Chapel was. Also a long line to get into the Museum, but it moved. Once inside, we bought a ticket and then headed towards the Sistine Chapel. This takes awhile. Probably between 1 hr and 1.5 hrs to get through all the rooms with everyone else trying to do the same thing and get into the one entrance of the Sistine Chapel. It was frustrating, people push, and I fought the urge to run over the tours who stopped in the middle of the hallway to talk and not let anyone through for 15 minutes at a time. It seems like you have to go through a million rooms, up and down steps, and around various bends before you get there, but the good news is that the rooms are interesting and beautiful, and once you get there, it's totally worth it. You can't take photos inside the Sistine Chapel, but photos wouldn't do it justice anyway. I would definitely recommend this...just give yourself a couple of hours.

 

Next we caught some lunch at a cafe just outside the museum. Delicious pizza in Italy, of course. Then we, being the adventurous souls we are, decided to try our hand at the city bus system. We wanted to go to the colosseum, so we got on one bus that was to take us to the main terminal that stopped near the Vatican and then we planned on transferring. We had a Rome on your own book that laid out the bus/train stops and routes. Very helpful. Except, while on this bus, we saw ruins at one stop, before we were at the main terminal. Curious, we hopped off. Turned out to be the Roman Forum, with the colosseum just a few blocks away, totally visible in the background. So basically, we're very lucky. It wasn't far from the Vatican though, and a taxi wouldn't have been too expensive either I don't think...we just didn't realize that at the time.

 

The Roman Forum was beautiful! We didn't go inside, but we didn't need to. There were beautiful photo ops all around the place and we thought about going inside, but then decided to venture to the colosseum and see if we had leftover time. The colosseum was a zoo! We got there at about 2 in the afternoon, and the line again looked long. The pretend tour guides again made a big show of telling us the line was 2.5 hours long. It was possibly 20 minutes max. We went inside, and it was magnificent. One of my favorites on the trip. We, admittedly, were pretty slow in looking around here. I wanted to really take it in, so we didn't leave until almost 3:45. We got a snack, and then decided we should probably start working our way back to the train station.

 

Here's the interesting part: we decided to catch the train at the main terminal (Roma Termini, I think)...it was our best bet to get back fast. So instead of messing around with the bus system again, we just hailed a cab. Unfortunately, a protest had just begun at the main terminal and all surrounding sites. We couldn't get close to the outside of it, walking or driving. Seriously, it was crazy. The driver tried to explain the cause, but we couldn't really understand. So he had to drop us off at a different station. (we had a pass that worked all day on different trains, just remember to validate at the little yellow machines at the station before you get on your first ride, and apparently you're supposed to at your last ride too, but no one ever checked...it wasn't very well monitored.)

 

Anyway, so we're at this other station, and we were trying to figure out how to get to the main terminal, where the Civitavecchia train was. We finally figured it out, got on a train (and thought we were going the wrong way for about 20 minutes, but we actually weren't, thankfully.) We hopped off at the main terminal, and looked at the screen for departures...our train left in 10 minutes! (and the next one wasn't for an hour, so we ran.) That terminal is huge, but made the train and saw tons of people from our boat on it. We arrived back in Civitavecchia and hopped back on the boat in plenty of time. However, at this port, about 9 people were paged over and over when the boat was supposed to leave. I think they may have gotten left behind, and I can see why. It is a little stressful, but you just have to make sure to give yourself plenty of time.

 

I pretty much saw everything I wanted to see, and I felt like I got a little more of the culture taking their transportation systems. I wouldn't have done it any other way. Yes, it's a little rushed, but it worked for us, and we saved tons of money. Transportation that day cost us about 15 euros total. I think the the Civitavecchia train leaves Rome for the port every 1 or so, so make sure to give yourself plenty of time.

 

Hopefully that helps. If you want more specific info on the trains/buses we took, let me know. I think I wrote down the numbers and times somewhere.

 

Sarah

[sarahemarie]

nhtraveler,

 

We only took the free shuttles offered by NCL that took us from the port to whatever train station was near. So really, it only took us a couple of miles, max. There were no other shuttles that were free, such as Izmir to Ephesus...you have to pay for a tour to do that one. There is a shuttle from Civitavecchia to Rome for the day, but it costs you about 100 bucks.

 

You did not have to sign up for the shuttles in advance. And for the most part, they ran all day every ten-fifteen minutes or so back and forth. We used it in Piraeus to go to the train station that took us to Athens, and we used it to get to the end of the pier in Civitavecchia, which was near that train station to get to Rome.

 

But for the most part, the shuttles only get you to the train station, and then you are on your own. Still very helpful though, and a great money saver.

 

Enjoy your cruise. Hope this helps!

 

There was a NCL water bus that you did have to pay for and I think sign up for in advance to get tickets in Venice. It just took you from the pier to San Marco's Square. However, right next to that boat was a Vaporetto boat that went to the same place for less money, so we took that one.

[annfi]

Wow!! Fantastic Sarah.

This is SO HELPFUL!

I'm going to refer our rollcall folks to this link

because many of us have been wondering and having questions.

Thank you so much!

[greywillow]

Welcome back! How did you like Ephesus? The reason I ask is we're trying to decide between two cruises, one that goes to Ephesus, the other that goes to Canakkale instead. Was it so incredibly awesome that we shouldn't miss it, or just average? Thanks!

Ephesus is worth seeing. We were there in 2001 and are excited about returning this December.

[Russian Blue Mom]

Sarah, I'm wondering if you can help with three questions. We booked with 3 other couples for the Jade for 14 days in June:

 

1) I'm wondering how many people "dressed nicely" for dinner on the Jade for the Mediterranean trip. I understand there are a couple of nights that they suggest "nicer" attire.

 

2) How was the service in the restaurants and/or lounges?

 

3) How was the smoke from cigarettes?

 

Appreciate for any input you can give!

[sarahemarie]

Russian Blue Mom -

 

1. There was one night where it was "dress up or not" night. We first opted for not, as we were only eating in the garden cafe...then on our way to dinner, we saw so many people dressed up that we got excited to dress up and went to change. No one in the buffet was dressed up, but lots people were in the other restaurants and in the Spinnaker lounge afterwards. It wasn't super formal...I wore just what I would wear if I was attending a wedding or something. You could really do either and not feel awkward in my opinion. Just know most people in Grand Pacific and other restaurants will be. In the buffet, you can wear sweatpants and not feel out of place.

 

2. I experienced excellent service in every place I went. Truely. I have worked in the service industry, and I know how hard their job is, but I also know how to do it well, so I'd say I'm a pretty fair critic. I know a lot of people come on here complaining about it, but everyone was so nice and polite and fairly fast. I had no problems. Maybe i don't have as high of expectations as others, I don't know. But everyone was great. The bars were especially helpful...you never wanted for a drink, and you never had to get up. (i was usually at Spinnaker, but found my way to a few others on a couple of nights.)

 

3. Smoking is only allowed on the open decks, I believe. I was slightly worried as well...I HATE cigarette smoke, and come from a city where it's pretty much banned everywhere, so I don't usually have to deal with it. However, I only had one incident with it...I was relaxing on the sundeck, and the lady next to me lit up a cigarette and blew smoke directly in my face, and the fact that the wind was blowing in my direction did not improve the situation. But she was just rude. An isolated incident. In general, I didn't notice it and it wasn't a problem. I don't think you'll be particularly bothered.

 

Hope that helps. Enjoy your cruise!

 

Sarah