Jade 6/14/14 Review

Ok, I am not great at reviews, but I will give it my best shot. We were on the NCL Jade on June 14th. We started in Venice, Italy then on to Dubrovnik, Croatia-Athens, Greece-Kusadasi, Turkey-Split, Croatia-then back to Venice.

I will post some of the pictures I have.

We are a family of 5. My husband and I have three kids ages 16,13, and 9. My mother in law stayed in an inside room with the children while my husband and I stayed in a balcony room. They were on the 10th floor in 10037 and we were on the 8th floor in 8022. Initially, they were going to be on the same floor, but I called to see if they would be above or below a club, and they were so they wonderful NCL agent moved them for free. We would have had to pay a hefty fee to move our balcony room up 2 floors.

Also joining our party were 3 other families. One family of 2 (my parents), a family of 3, and another family of 5. There were 16 of us total.

Feel free to ask any questions.

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Great review so far, cannot think of any questions yet. Keep up the good work.

We currently live in Germany. We are an American family, just here for a few years. We drove down to Garmish, Germany on Thursday evening to spend the night. If you ever want an amazing view of the Alps, stay here! It is breath taking. I loved sitting on the balcony just to take in the Alps.

We stayed here because it is almost half way between here and Venice, Italy. We didn't want to drive the whole way in one day. We did this last year to Genoa, and it was too stressful! After getting to Italy on Friday, we stayed the night in Mestre. It is just before the bridge to Venice.

We got up on Saturday morning and headed to the port. We parked our car right at the port. It was €95 for the week long cruise to park there. We checked our baggage in with NCL and headed to Venice to explore.

We were supposed to meet up with my parents, MIL, and my kids. They were all together. We told them to meet us at the port. Well, we kept attempting to reach them via Walkie-talkie. After failing to reach them after an hour, we walked into the city. We finally were able to reach them. By this point, we were frustrated with not finding them. Apparently, they had already done lots of exploring and were ready to head to check in on the ship. My parents decided to take a gondola ride before heading to the ship. My kids and mil were exhausted. We explored just a little.

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Thank you for the review. We will experience the same itinerary this September, so I'll be following with great interest.

Was the ship docked in all ports, or were there tenders anywhere?

We decided to head back to the ship and finish exploring after the cruise. My mil has been having muscle issues, so she was done with walking around on the cobble stones and stairs. If you are thinking of taking a stroller to Venice, it is possible, but I would recommend looking for other ways to get around with a little one. It isn't super stroller-friendly.

My husband and I have used 4 cruise lines, including 1 NCL, before. My parents have take 3 NCL cruises before. Last year, we had a really bad experience on a line. We were apprehensive about taking another cruise out of Europe. We didn't know if it was the location, or the cruise line. We went with NCL this year because we enjoyed them the previous time we used them.

The staff to check us in was rather quick and helpful. We had a problem with putting my husbands credit card on file for the inside room since he wasn't in this room. The lady assisting us told us to put a card on file from someone in the room and check with Customer Service once on board to see if they can switch it to his credit card. No problem. We are checked in and ready to go.

I will say, they had cold water and coffee available for everyone to enjoy. This was a nice surprise. It was already hot in Italy. We had to wait about 15 minutes for our boarding number was called. If you haven't experienced this, it is like boarding an air plane. They give you a boarding number to keep the chaos at a minimum. I can't imagine everyone attempting to board at the same time.

When getting to the ship we could instantly feel the friendliness of the staff! They were so welcoming. It made us feel so good to be greeted like this. On our last cruise, we didn't feel like they cared if the guests were there or not. NCL made us feel wanted and appreciated. They had music going and one of the Washy-Washy people was out there dancing.

I didn't get a picture of my kids' room, but it was pretty cramped. It had two twin beds and one pull down bed on attached to the wall. Under one if the twin beds was a twin trundle bed. When the beds were made up for sleeping, it was like one big bed from wall-to-wall. 3 twin sized beds and one hanging from the wall. I was glad I wasn't in this room with my claustrophobia, lol. The room was very clean as was their bathroom.

Our room was fantastic. We had two twin sized beds that were divided by a side table. Reikon (I am not sure how to spell his name) was our room attendant. He made sure to push the beds together for us and they remained this way the rest of the cruise. We had a small couch. I believe it pulled out into a bed, but we never did this. In our bathroom there was a sliding glass door to shut off the toilet from the rest. It was see-through, but still made for a little bit of privacy. We had ample amount of closet space for our clothing.

Our balcony was pretty private. My friends and parents all were on the 9th floor. They said their balconies were not as private. They could see their neighbors. I didn't go on their balconies to seem but each of them were surprised by mine. They said I got less wind on mine, too. I was quite content sitting out there and enjoying the ocean view. Nothing is more calming to me.

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Thank you for the review. We will experience the same itinerary this September, so I'll be following with great interest.

 

 

 

Was the ship docked in all ports, or were there tenders anywhere?

The ship was docked at all the ports. I believe you are asking if we had to take a small taxi boat from the ship to the port, right? We have had to do this before in the past, but not at any ports on this cruise. Just walked straight off the ship to the port :)

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The ship was docked at all the ports. I believe you are asking if we had to take a small taxi boat from the ship to the port, right? We have had to do this before in the past, but not at any ports on this cruise. Just walked straight off the ship to the port :)

 

 

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Yes, that's right. Thank you for the quick response :)

I didn't get many pictures of the ship, but here is what I did take before getting distracted lol

This is Splash Academy for the young ones. This is where my 9 year old daughter went. She loved it! We had a copy of the agenda for the week and she circled every activity she wanted to make sure to be at Splash Academy for.

This is where the teens went, the Entourage. My teens didn't enjoy the teen club on the last cruise. They said no one went there. They were constantly there this year. It was either there, the card room (who knew teens would enjoy this?), or the pool.

This is the arcade right next to the Entourage. This is my husband. He can't resist playing video games ;) Shooting is serious stuff.

So, we just walked around and had a good time. We didn't sit down at Alisters The Grand Pacific for dinner this night. We did the buffet. The food was not a let down. They now have flavored water on the buffets. It was a great break from water, tea, or coffee. After dinner, we took the kids to do their actives and the adults decided it was our time. I don't know where my parents were, but we ran into them later at Spinnaker. My mother in law stayed in her room. We went around and explored.

After visiting the gift shop, we got some raffle tickets for the raffle later on in the night. We found out they were having free liquor tasting in a bit, too. We decided to go have a drink or two while waiting. We hit up the Martini Bar. My friend and I had an apple martini and my husband had his first vodka martini, my friends husband had a beer. This became our favorite place to grab a drink. There was another lounge bar right next to it that usually had a live piano player singing. Just past there was the casino.

Later, we went and enjoyed some free tastings of liquor. Nicola, the associate giving out tastes, was fun. He kept us entertained. We were all hoping to win anything at the raffle. None of us were lucky enough. By this time, the other couple joined us. I whined a little when a dude win the hat. My husband came back 30 seconds later with one for me. One of my friends husbands picked up a matching one for her. Our other friend already brought one from home, so she didn't need one. It was a $20 hat, but if love it. Get a few drinks in us, and we are bad impulse buyers. That's why the free liquor samples are in the Duty Free shop, because of people like us lol.

My hat

After leaving there, we headed to karaoke night at the spinnaker. I won't post pictures from that. We had too much fun ;). If you enjoy karaoke and dancing, this is the place for you. We visited Spinnaker many nights.

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Did any particular staff member stand out to you?

Did any particular staff member stand out to you?

The Washy Washy guy and girl. He won the Dancing with the Stars competition. They were ALWAYS chipper! I don't know how they did it lol.

For those that have not done NCL, when you go to the Garden Cafe there is one greeter at both entrances. They have a spray bottle to sanitize your hands and say "washy, washy, happy, happy!"

Also, Ricolla at the Duty Free shop and our room attendant Reckon.

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Here is our agenda for the week.

On June 15th, we went to Dubrovnik, Croatia. My dad and I really wanted to scuba dive in Croatia. Since we didn't have an excursion this day, we thought it would be the perfect time. Scuba diving isn't an option for an excursion on this cruise. We get to port. We didn't get to port until 2:00 PM. After getting off the ship and finding a local scuba shop, we find out we are too late for a dive :( we were so disappointed! How many chances do we get to dive in Croatia.

If anyone is a fan of Game of Thrones, this is the city for you. This is where King's Landing is filmed. This is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to. It was a rainy afternoon, but we didn't let that keep us from exploring. We didn't go up on the wall. It would have been around $20 per adult, so it would have added up quickly. Croatia has their own currency and we didn't take out enough. We still enjoyed the views from the ground.

There was a local guy promoting a play performance selling necklaces. My daughter wanted one so bad. She said this and holding the parrot were her favorite things of the day. There was a lady dressed up as a pirate that had 3 parrots for people to hold and pet for a tip.

After heading back to the ship, we decided to hit up The Grand Pacific for dinner. We had my parents join us. The food was delicious.

While waiting for a table, we waited in the main lobby and were all given one free glass of sparkling wine or soda. It was a nice surprise.

This was on the culling above us. I guess the Jade used to be in Hawaii, so it has a lot of Hawaii themed decor. During the cruise while we were at ports they were pulling up carpets and replacing them with different colors to change out the decor.

After dinner, we were all pretty tired. My husband and I went and used some of our play slots vouchers at the casino then hit the bed.

Will continue more tomorrow :) It is 9:21 PM here in Germany.

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Thanks for the review. We leave on Saturday. What was your favorite port?

Thank you for the review. I love the detail and appreciate the detail of port reviews and costs. We are planning the 14 night next year.

Very nice review. Nice pics. Thanks for posting

I would also like to know your fav port. I did his trip with Royal Caribbean and it was awesome. Looking forward to sailing on Jade next year

Thanks for the review. We leave on Saturday. What was your favorite port?

It is hard to say. I really loved Dubrovnik. I want to go back for a vacation just here. I also loved the Turkish market in Kusadasi. I love to bargain, so this was a blast for me.

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Day 3, we are at sea. We didn't do a whole lot this day. We enjoyed the pool, played some chess at the giant outdoor chess game and played some games in the card room. We watch The Lego Movie and Frozen in French on tv. They did have English channels in the rooms, but my family was more interested in watching the movies in other languages since they have seen them so many times in English.

I did enjoy a Fish Bowl drink :)

The kids and my dad tried out the water slide. They said it needed more water or pressure. They all got stopped going down and how to scoot themselves.

After a relaxing day at sea, it was formal night. (Or not if you didn't want to). All the husbands had their suits, so we were getting decked out ;) we went to Allisters to eat. I made a reservation ahead of time so we could all try to be together. I was informed that they only do reservations at opening at closing time. So, we say down for dinner at 6:00. We had two tables, one for adults and one for kids. We were happy to all be together.

After dinner, us adults headed to the martini bar. My husband cheater and changed out if his suit, lol. All three of us ladies did the martini sampler. You get 6 small martinis for $15! I found out that I do not like gin martinis. I will stick to vodka. We did not do the all inclusive drink package. We do not drink liquor enough to make it worth our while.

Afterwards, we hit up the casino. My husband won $160 on the slots. Yay!

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Day 4-Athens, Greece

We couldn't decide if we wanted to book an excursion through NCL or not for Greece. My friend had researched the Hop On Hop Off buses for us, she has previous experience with them in Berlin and London. We get to the port and get hounded by taxi drivers. They were telling us how expensive the bus was going to be and how it would take so long to get where we wanted and how the buses wouldn't make all the stops we wanted. We pushed through and walked over to the buses. The Yellow bus company offered us the tour for €15 per person. Not bad! The Red Bus company offered us €20 per adult and kids free. One of the other families decided to go with Red Bus company, so we did too. It was awesome. They gave us each a pair of head phones to plug in and listen to the tour in preferred language. My parents went with the Yellow Bus company since it was €10 cheaper for them. The other family cruising with us did a taxi ride for their family of 3 for €80. He gave them his own personal tour and did all the stops they wanted.

We rode on top of the bus on the way there. On the way back to the port we were too. Hot to be in the sun anymore so we rode on the bottom. The bottom was I closed and air conditioned. We got to see both Piraeus and Athens. Our main goal was Athens. We saw the Acropolis and Zeus temple. We went to the flea market and did some shopping. We found that they don't like to bargain much in Athens. I was let down. I like to talk people down on prices, lol. We still had fun.

The kids were already getting hot after hiking up to the Acropolis. It was about 10:00 in the morning. I can't imagine going around 12:00.

We got to sample so many different kind of olives! I was in olive heaven. I got a small bag of them for under €2. I also got some authentic Greek olive oil.

My daughter continued her tradition of buying outfits from different counties. This is her Greek dress.

After getting back on the ship, we opted for a buffet night. It was quick and then we could go relax in our rooms. My kids wanted to go do actives in their clubs, so they went off.

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Day 5-Kusadasi, Turkey

I loved this port!! The locals in the market were so friendly. They spoke English very well. I had so much fun bartering. I want to go back for more shopping!!!

My husband took his mom on an NCL excursion to The Virgin Mary's house. They also went to a couple of other places, but was the main place she wanted to see. They said it was amazing. They said it was worth the $80 each for the tour. I took the kids to the market and beach.

I was offered 200 camel for my oldest daughter and 500 for my youngest daughter for the guys little brother ;) Fiona's (my oldest daughter) new "fiancé" is Alejandro. He sold us a pashmina we didn't know we needed/wanted of her lol. Once he wrapped her in the way Turkish women wear them, we were sold. But not for the €20 he wanted. I paid €5.

I got super sunburnt on the beach. The tide was out, so we could walk super far out i to the ocean. Parts of the water were super rocky, but not too far. By the sea wall, there was lots of trash in the water. On the beach, there were 2 lose dogs running around. They decided laying on my beach towel with me was a good idea. I guess I look like a dog person, lol. I guess I am, I have 3 of my own. They stayed with me for a long time. One followed me out to the water when I went in. I don't know who's they were, but they had collars on. They eventually wondered off into the city.

FYI, there is a Starbucks here! There was one in Athens, too. Also, I don't know there regulations on medications, but my husband said he saw steroids on the shelf really cheap. I guess this means they are pretty open with medications. I didn't pay attention. I was having too much fun at the market and beach.

After dinner time was the NCL White Hot Party! I was super stoked to go. I had prepared and brought us all white outfits. I got up to the spinnaker to be greater by white angels and white everything. They had some pretty light up cups for drinks. There were tons of people. I suddenly felt ill. My husband and I left. My parents were walking in as we were leaving. My other friends said they went and didn't make it back to their rooms until 3:00am, so I think they had a great time. I wish I could have stayed, but the sun had just gotten to me too badly.

Fiona and Alejandro

Turkey is know for their handmade rugs. This lady was working on one. It is a detailed and time consuming job.

Oh look, an outfit for Maya!

€12 for the outfit, hat, shoes, and a matching bracelet

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Thanks for the report!

These are from my husband of their excursion. It is a library and the Virgin Mary's house.

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I stayed behind while my husband and the kids went to the Magic Show starring Krypton. I got mixed reviews lol. I think the men and kids loved it. My 2 girlfriends that went weren't impressed. I am not that into magic, so I didn't go.

The next day was a Sea Day. We did pretty much the same as the first sea day. Just lounged and wandered. We did get to go to the unveiling of Carlo's Bakery treats. We had just finished breakfast, so we went back down later to try out the yummy treats. I got a tiramisu. It was amazing! They weren't over priced like we were afraid they would be.

The Splash Academy put on a circus show. It was really cute. The kids were proud of their new found talents. After the show was the NCL chocolate buffet! If you have never experienced this, go just to see. They have amazon sculptures out of ice, chocolate, and candy. They have all sorts of chocolate. I didn't eat much but I did indulge in a chocolate covered banana and some covered strawberries.

We then went into a chocolate coma for the night.

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Friday was our last full day on the cruise. We went to Split, Croatia. My kids went with my parents to hang out for the day. My dad was going to attempt to go scuba diving again, but the shops weren't doing dives. He was disappointed. They rented a local speed boat and went beach hopping. My husband and I went to Krka National Park. The two other families went on the same NCL excursion. This place was so beautiful!!!! The bus ride was over an hour there and back. We weren't left with too much time to explore. We did get to swim in the water. The water was cold, but not unbearable. We ate at a little restaurant down there. We didn't take any of the Croatian currency because we heard they took euro. Well, we weren't able to get any keepsakes because we didn't have their currency. The restaurant did take any currency and credit cards. On the trip back to the port, we had about 30 minutes before all aboard. The bus driver dropped a few of us off right before the port so we could hit up a shop. We didn't even really look at any shops, just grabbed a shot glass and went straight to the ship. We didn't have much time to spare. This would have been a great stop if we had more time. We would have loved to been able to explore Split after returning from the excursion. I am glad we did the excursion, though, so I wouldn't cut that out to make time for exploring. The excursion was about $90 per adult.

I got the days mixed up. The night before this, After getting back on the ship, we ate at The Grand Pacific. All 16 of us went to Watch Elements. This show was so fabulous!!!! My husband and I went to see the Criss Angel show in Vegas at the Luxor before, and Elements put his show to shame. The magic wasn't that impressive as we could see several errors, but the dancing and acrobatics were so amazing. After the show, they brought out a lot of the staff onto the stage. It was defiantly a show everyone should attend. We were all in awe.

After Split, there was a couple of shows, but I didn't go view them. Fiona went with a group of teenagers and really enjoyed the,. She said Elements was by far the best, though.

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We packed up our room and put everything in our luggage. We got the 9:20 luggage tags to depart the ship. We put our luggage outside the room by 11:00pm so they could get the luggage off the ship in the morning.

Upon checking out our charges at the customer service desk, I was informed about the service charges. We have always paid the service changes and never expected anything else. The clerk told me, without me even asking about them that tipping is not normal for Europeans (which I know) and so many people have the charges reduced or even taken off all the way. I found this very surprising. We did a European cruise last year and were not happy with any of the service and complained and were not told we could remove the gratuity. I could not imagine not tipping on NCL, though. Everyone tries really hard to go over the top to make the guests happy.

The only time we saw a not happy person on board was when we were waiting to go on the Krka excursion. Paloma, the excursion lady, seemed to be frustrated/irritated to be there. She is normally chipper, so this was odd. I think it had to do with 4 guests not showing up on time for their canoeing excursion. She kept calling for last call over and over hoping they would show.

Since returning home, everyone has been talking about the cruise non-stop. The kids of all 3 families have been discussing hour next cruise, lol. Even the family that this was the first cruise is ready for the next one.

I hope I gave enough information. I know I am missing stuff. Please feel free to ask anything.

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Thanks for the trip report! Very interesting and informative.