Norwegian Jade Holy Land Cruise

[tonyd285]

We just returned yesterday after an 11 day Holy Land itinerary cruise on the Jade. I thought I would share a few thoughts. First, on the positive side, the food at dinner was consistently good. The specialty restaurants, and we had dinner in three, Les Bistro, Cagney's and Papa's, was outstanding. Breakfast and lunch were disappointing. Breakfast in the main dining room weems to be an exercise is chaos. We had a rear penthouse cabin which was smaller than I anticipated but well organized. It was somewhat beaten up and needed new carpeting, wallpaper and a refinishing of the furniture. The bed was quite comfortable. The itinerary was spectacular. Alanya Turkey, Cypress, Israel for two days (could have stayed a week), Crete and Naples were all new to us, and I suspect many cruisers, were all wonderful. The ship does need upgrading and a change in the decor. The Hawaiian motif is tacky even for Hawaii, in the Med it is strange. We found wine to be inexpensive compared to Celebrity and HAL, the two lines we usually use. I do think NCL could vastly improve on the entertainment and informational programs. There are no port talks, only photocopied maps and nothing to reommend the sights in the towns and cities. We chose the sailing for the itinerary and were not disappointed. Whether we would travel on NCL again would depend entirely on the ports, not on the quality of the ships.

[canehdn]

Thanks for your short but unbiased review. We will be boarding the Jade for this same itinerary on Feb 23rd and very much looking forward to it. Sounds like you enjoyed the ports, which also is the reason we chose this itinerary. Thanks again for sharing.

 

Cdn in KS

[blair66]

When i did this cruise in January the cruise director did port talks? Did this change?

[sthelder]

This was in my bucket list for winter 2013, until Egypt was dropped. If Egypt is back on, I would not hesitate to book a 2015 cruise.

[pris993]

We are booked on the Jade in April, thanks for your review.

 

We have done this same trip more than a few times, so only the Turkish port is new to us. Did this trip on Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Cunard and Crystal cruise lines. We have family and friends in Israel we love to visit for a few days. So we keep going back.

 

Did a tour from Alexandria to Cairo a few years back, it is a once in a life time experience. Glad we did it, probably would not go again.

 

Mention this because the first cruise we did had Egypt dropped when we were on Crystal, we went to Istanbul instead. Then we could not go to Egypt for a number of years by ship, finally made it on Princess. Regardless, each time we did a tour in this part of the Mediterranean we enjoyed seeing new and different ports. For those disappointed Egypt has been dropped, I encourage you to still go and see what you can, you will get to Egypt eventually, like we did.

[Carolina Daisy]

We will be on the Jade in July, what are the entertainment shows?

 

Thanks, Debra

[HokiePoq]

We just returned yesterday after an 11 day Holy Land itinerary cruise on the Jade. I thought I would share a few thoughts. First, on the positive side, the food at dinner was consistently good. The specialty restaurants, and we had dinner in three, Les Bistro, Cagney's and Papa's, was outstanding. Breakfast and lunch were disappointing. Breakfast in the main dining room weems to be an exercise is chaos. We had a rear penthouse cabin which was smaller than I anticipated but well organized. It was somewhat beaten up and needed new carpeting, wallpaper and a refinishing of the furniture. The bed was quite comfortable. The itinerary was spectacular. Alanya Turkey, Cypress, Israel for two days (could have stayed a week), Crete and Naples were all new to us, and I suspect many cruisers, were all wonderful. The ship does need upgrading and a change in the decor. The Hawaiian motif is tacky even for Hawaii, in the Med it is strange. We found wine to be inexpensive compared to Celebrity and HAL, the two lines we usually use. I do think NCL could vastly improve on the entertainment and informational programs. There are no port talks, only photocopied maps and nothing to reommend the sights in the towns and cities. We chose the sailing for the itinerary and were not disappointed. Whether we would travel on NCL again would depend entirely on the ports, not on the quality of the ships.

 

Glad you enjoyed the cruise! Didn't Gary give a port talk? Or was Gary, the fabulous Jade cruise director, on vacation? He gave one when we were on that itinerary in December. I could have stayed a week in Israel as well. The other two lines do have more port talks which I, too, enjoy.

We just booked another Jade med cruise for 2014 as they've added another itinerary with ports we haven't visited.

[jdvmd]

Thanks for your comments. I would love to do this cruise.

[StarAFire]

For anyone interested... they are in the middle of upgrading the tvs to flatscreens :)

 

They upgraded my ocean port room on the 4th floor when we were docked in Turkey. However, not sure if they have yet finished, as when we got off the ship, they still had not yet upgraded my sister's 9th floor balcony yet.

[AquamarineBreeze]

For anyone interested... they are in the middle of upgrading the tvs to flatscreens :)

 

They upgraded my ocean port room on the 4th floor when we were docked in Turkey. However, not sure if they have yet finished, as when we got off the ship, they still had not yet upgraded my sister's 9th floor balcony yet.

 

Thanks for the news! It would be nice if they get to deck nine by my cruise at the end of next month (although I don't plan on making much se of the tv).

 

If you have anymore news from the Jade - please post it :)

 

Happy cruising!

[chisoxfan]

Am very interested in your impressions. We had booked the Jade Holy land for Oct. 2013 early llast year and booked hotels in Rome (5 nights) and air. Subsequently, we were informed the itinerary would change to an extensive Western Med one. We were frankly surprised that they would abandon Turkey, Israel, etc. (understand the issues with Egypt) and change to a West med itinerary. Can't help but feel this was more economically motivated by NCL.

Anyway, also were concerned about the 'state' of the Jade. We too booked an SF Penthouse aft. Our inclination is still to go but we feel somewhat 'let down' by the new itinerary even though it will be new to us.

We do have a concern about late Oct weather which should have been 'nice' in middle east maybe not so much in western med. The good news is that the suite is very well priced (approx 4000 for both of us with a 550 credit). My gut feel is to keep the trip as it is but I do feel somewhat 'misdirected' by NCL on this. I am burning a bunch of miles for business class air and hotel in Rome and I do want this to be a memorable trip.

Sorry for rambling on but I would appreciate any thoughts or comments.

[HokiePoq]

Am very interested in your impressions. We had booked the Jade Holy land for Oct. 2013 early llast year and booked hotels in Rome (5 nights) and air. Subsequently, we were informed the itinerary would change to an extensive Western Med one. We were frankly surprised that they would abandon Turkey, Israel, etc. (understand the issues with Egypt) and change to a West med itinerary. Can't help but feel this was more economically motivated by NCL.

Anyway, also were concerned about the 'state' of the Jade. We too booked an SF Penthouse aft. Our inclination is still to go but we feel somewhat 'let down' by the new itinerary even though it will be new to us.

We do have a concern about late Oct weather which should have been 'nice' in middle east maybe not so much in western med. The good news is that the suite is very well priced (approx 4000 for both of us with a 550 credit). My gut feel is to keep the trip as it is but I do feel somewhat 'misdirected' by NCL on this. I am burning a bunch of miles for business class air and hotel in Rome and I do want this to be a memorable trip.

Sorry for rambling on but I would appreciate any thoughts or comments.

 

I was sorry to see them abandon that itinerary and glad that we got to go on it before they did. The ship was nowhere near full....only realized that when comparing it to the packed Dawn in January. I would tell people where we were going and they would say they would be afraid to go to Israel. At no time did I feel anything but safe there, but I don't think Westerners are booking the cruise enough to make it profitable. There still are some spring sailings left, I think, and I do not hesitate to recommend them to anyone considering going. We were glad to see a new itinerary with a number of new to us ports like Tunisia, Monaco, Valencia and went ahead and booked that one.

[chisoxfan]

As you stated the bookings for this itinerary are probably weak which no doubt has a lot to do with the changes. I think Princess (Pacific Princess) and Costa are the only lines that have kept the Holy Land scheduled for later this year.

[sayaguru]

Hi, I just booked on this cruise for April anmd would love to hear about your port trips. I am only researching now. So many amazing ports.

 

I've booked a trip in Limassol so far.

Looking at a 2 day trip in Israel.

Naples we will either go to Isle of Capri or look around Naples.

[tonyd285]

We found all of the ports to be interesting. Alanya is a lovely resort town, Cypress, with its history and many ruins and friendly people was a delight. In Israel we took the ship's tour to the Carmel Winery and had a wonderful time. The next day we took a private tour to Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. Absolutely awe inspiring trip. On the way back from the Dead Sea our driver took us on a route through the West Bank along the Jordan River Valley. Never did I feel the least bit threatened. All of the people we encountered, Jewish, Muslim and Christian treated us with kindness and respect. On Crete we went to the Archeological Museum and had a typical Greek lunch. In Naples we took a ship's tour to Pompei. It was pouring rain but still interesting and well worth a visit. The last time I was in Naples Pompei was on strike. Apparently somebody is on strike somewhere in Italy every day. I will second what another poster said, the ship was far from full. Probably more than half the passengers were Italian and many of the rest were French. English speakers were a definite minority. The specialty restaurants were always available. I never saw more than a handful in the Moderno restaurant. Still, it is a wonderful itinerary and I'm sorry that NCL is abandoning it.

[Carnac767]

We booked the Jade for the October 2013 Holy Cruise almost two years in advance. We'd done a cruise to Egypt on Jade in the spring of 2009 and were really looking forward to a return visit. It was a fascinating experience. We loved the Jade, too. Of course, the main reason we'd booked the cruise was for the stops in Israel. So it was pretty disappointing when the itinerary was changed to a West Med cruise. It looks like a nice itinerary but just not one on the top of our bucket list. We used to live in Spain. Hopefully, things will settle down and NCL will eventually return to that Holy Land itinerary. We'll settle for the Caribbean in the interim.