Splendour of the Seas vs Norwegian Jade

[subaru94]

We are looking at doing a meditarranean cruise next year from Venice, not sure which cruise line to go with, any feedback on these ships please.

[Tigerman00]

Hi went on the Splendor in the USA last year, great ship, spacious and lots of food LOL .. if you selected this ship I think you could do a lot worse. Perhaps if you ask on the USA carnival site you will get alot more confidence. We had an aft cabin and loved it ! .

K

[aussie cruzer]

We did the Jade Holyland cruise last year with Ncl..The Jade is nice ship,It's the perfect size,not too big or small.
Ncl cruises are priced well and the ships are first class.

The suites are reasonably priced and the extras you get our worth every cent.

Also you can book direct thru NCL US and get full refund of deposit up too 75 days before departure if you have too cancel.
We booked thru Aussie agent and had a non-refunable $1100 p/p deposit paid for a suit,now we book direct thru NCL.COM.

[subaru94]

[quote=aussie cruzer;33640847]We did the Jade Holyland cruise last year with Ncl..The Jade is nice ship,It's the perfect size,not too big or small.
Ncl cruises are priced well and the ships are first class.

The suites are reasonably priced and the extras you get our worth every cent.

Also you can book direct thru NCL US and get full refund of deposit up too 75 days before departure if you have too cancel.
We booked thru Aussie agent and had a non-refunable $1100 p/p deposit paid for a suit,now we book direct thru NCL.COM.[/quoteMany thanks for your reply. ]Just curious how the tipping works on the NCL line as we have travelled with Royal Carribean and they let you do your own tips, do NCL do the same thing or do they take out compulsory gratitudes from your account please?

[aussie cruzer]

[quote=subaru94;33652635]

Originally Posted by aussie cruzer

We did the Jade Holyland cruise last year with Ncl..The Jade is nice ship,It's the perfect size,not too big or small.
Ncl cruises are priced well and the ships are first class.

The suites are reasonably priced and the extras you get our worth every cent.

Also you can book direct thru NCL US and get full refund of deposit up too 75 days before departure if you have too cancel.
We booked thru Aussie agent and had a non-refunable $1100 p/p deposit paid for a suit,now we book direct thru NCL.COM.[/quoteMany thanks for your reply. ]Just curious how the tipping works on the NCL line as we have travelled with Royal Carribean and they let you do your own tips, do NCL do the same thing or do they take out compulsory gratitudes from your account please?

Ncl have a $12 p/p service charge added to your account daily.

If staying in a suite,you tip your butler separately.

We had a suite on the Jade and we were able too jump the queue too get off the ship at all the ports,thanks too the vip perks you get.
In Egypt & Israel we saved hours of queuing by having these perks.

[midwife]

We did the Jade out of Venice last October. Booked through the NCL website. Great service, got the cabin we wanted. If you can afford, we had a forward facing penthouse suite (10000) it has a large balcony and an extra large room due to the bump out in the bridge.

The perc's given by NCL to these suites is a lot better than many cruise lines. It includes: priority check in with a separate lounge for suite passengers. A concierge service with preferential booking and a separate restraint for breakfast, this is just a few.

We have sailed with most of the major lines, The value for money is the best with NCL.

Peta

[mum and son]

I cruised the Jade out of Barcelona. I think she's a great ship. Perfect size and plenty to do. The prices are very reasonable and this allows you to enjoy plenty of the speciality restaurants and still stay under the cost of other lines. The comments above about the suites are definitely true. The suite perks on NCL far surpass those of any other cruise line. Dining in Cagneys for breakfast and lunch is fantastic (only for suite pax).

I only book through a US TA and I paid less for a 2 bed/2 bath Courtyard Villa, with butler, concierge, private floor with keycard access in the lift, private pool, spa, gym, steam room and rooftop deck shared by about 12 cabins, for 12 days than I would for a week on the Pacific Dawn in a balcony cabin in January.

The most important thing is to find a TA who will work with you on the upsells. I started with an aft mini-suite (no perks) then when the price dropped I moved to an aft suite (full perks). After final payment date I stalked the villa I wanted and when I saw price movement and availability I had my TA phone NCL direct and make an offer on the Courtyard Villa. We negotiated for a while and in the end I only paid $900 more for one of the most incredible cabins you could ever imagine. This kind of negotiation is commonplace on NCL - you just need to make sure your TA is ok with it. Oh, and you can phone US free call numbers (1800) for free via Skype, so you can talk to your TA for hours if you like .

[subaru94]

Originally Posted by mum and son

I cruised the Jade out of Barcelona. I think she's a great ship. Perfect size and plenty to do. The prices are very reasonable and this allows you to enjoy plenty of the speciality restaurants and still stay under the cost of other lines. The comments above about the suites are definitely true. The suite perks on NCL far surpass those of any other cruise line. Dining in Cagneys for breakfast and lunch is fantastic (only for suite pax).

I only book through a US TA and I paid less for a 2 bed/2 bath Courtyard Villa, with butler, concierge, private floor with keycard access in the lift, private pool, spa, gym, steam room and rooftop deck shared by about 12 cabins, for 12 days than I would for a week on the Pacific Dawn in a balcony cabin in January.

The most important thing is to find a TA who will work with you on the upsells. I started with an aft mini-suite (no perks) then when the price dropped I moved to an aft suite (full perks). After final payment date I stalked the villa I wanted and when I saw price movement and availability I had my TA phone NCL direct and make an offer on the Courtyard Villa. We negotiated for a while and in the end I only paid $900 more for one of the most incredible cabins you could ever imagine. This kind of negotiation is commonplace on NCL - you just need to make sure your TA is ok with it. Oh, and you can phone US free call numbers (1800) for free via Skype, so you can talk to your TA for hours if you like .

Thanks Libby, that's amazing that you can get really good prices. did you google to get a TA overseas?

[sherrif]

We did our maiden cruise in May 2011 for my 50th out of Venice on Splendour before her refurb. we found the ship fabulous and we enjoyed our cruise more than we thought we ever would, had an inside cabin on deck seven but we were fine no problems sleeping he! he! Visited magical places, Kotor Montenegro [ where I celebrated my birthday] Athens, Ephesus and Kusadasi in Turkey and gorgeous Santorini and Mykonos and Split in Croatia and then back to beautiful Venice.

[subaru94]

Originally Posted by sherrif

We did our maiden cruise in May 2011 for my 50th out of Venice on Splendour before her refurb. we found the ship fabulous and we enjoyed our cruise more than we thought we ever would, had an inside cabin on deck seven but we were fine no problems sleeping he! he! Visited magical places, Kotor Montenegro [ where I celebrated my birthday] Athens, Ephesus and Kusadasi in Turkey and gorgeous Santorini and Mykonos and Split in Croatia and then back to beautiful Venice.

Was this a 7 night cruise please? We are time limited as we are visiting relatives in England first.

[sherrif]

Originally Posted by subaru94

Was this a 7 night cruise please? We are time limited as we are visiting relatives in England first.

SUBARU94
No this was 11 nights, but I did see that Splendour was doing 7 night cruises out of Venice.

[subaru94]

Originally Posted by sherrif

SUBARU94
No this was 11 nights, but I did see that Splendour was doing 7 night cruises out of Venice.

Thanks Sherrif, did the Splendour have a putt putt area at all, we have been on the Rhapsody and Legend, Legend had putt putt but Rhapsody didn'nt love all the Royal Carribean ships.