NCL Jade Cruise Review - March 27th - April 6th 2013

[kikki21]

 

Our first view of the Jade at Civitavecchia, she was the only cruise ship in port.

 

 

Phew! Made it to the MDR and studying the menu and the deck plans!

 

 

I had the prawn and salmon cobb with avocado and the Mr had the club sandwich which we both enjoyed along with a sail away cocktail and a beer!

 

 

 

The Grand Pacific Main Dining Room.

 

I have to say that this the MDR seemed to be packed this cruise as well as the buffet and the speciality restaurants didn't seem to be full apart from the Teppanyaki.

 

This could be that the food was really good all cruise long in both places.

We never had a bad meal apart from once where the lamb I had was a bit tough in one place (ok that's a bit picky but it was the truth!) and to give our waiter his due, he did offer to replace it but I said it was ok as apart from that one piece, the rest of it was good! :)

 

Service in the MDR was generally good BUT only once were we offered a coffee after our meal, something that seemed to be standard in all of the cruises I have been on..... it's not an essential for us, just a nice touch at the end of the meal.

[kikki21]

 

We found our stateroom! :)

 

 

As I said, we really liked our stateroom and the bed was just too comfy! :)

Thank the Lord for sea days!

 

 

 

The all important coffee maker or the thing that ensures the Mr gets out of bed! :p

[kikki21]

This was my 5th cruise and my fiance's first time ever so I had to break him into the cruise ship thing including muster drill as it was all new for him and of course which way you're going on a ship and where you're heading.... always good if it's a bar/food or the casino! ;)

 

He must have been impressed as he definitely wants to cruise again! :D

 

 

We tried to explore as much of the ship before the muster drill and sailaway.

 

 

Part of the Atrium and the Hawaiian decor.

 

 

Water feature in the Atrium.

 

Much is said about the Jade's Hawaiian decor. IMHO, I think the ship looks a bit dated in places and should be modernised to keep it looking fresh.

 

We ate in Le Bistro one night and it didn't have the feeling of a French Bistro at all and having eaten in the Epic Le Bistro, I do think the Hawaiian decor should be restricted to a few areas and the rest given a makeover to make the ship look a bit more stylish.

[kikki21]

 

 

Atrium ceiling decor.

 

 

The quirky decor of the Medusa lounge.

 

 

Checking out the seats in the Stardust Theatre.

 

 

Le Bistro

 

 

The Champagne Bar - I liked this area of the ship, mainly due to the fact that I love Art Deco and Art Nouveau design. :)

[kikki21]

 

Talking of bubbles... I had ordered a romance package for the Mr and I wanted it to come before sailaway or in time for it so doing the ship exploring and muster drill was good timing!

 

 

As when we got back to the room, the roses, sparkling wine and choc strawberries were waiting, nice one NCL! :)

 

 

 

Bon Voyage drinks and wearing jade in honour of the Jade!

[kikki21]

It was a great start to the cruise as it was Lobster night in the MDR, all the food we had the first night was really nice and a bonus was that the next day was a sea day so we coud have a lie in!

 

 

Sailaway from Civitavecchia.

 

 

And onto dinner, I had the prawn and potato starter, it was delicious, could have had a few of them! Mr had the garlic polenta cake with a tomato sauce which was nice but I think my starter was better.

 

Lobster tail and steak - both of us ordered this and we both really enjoyed it!

 

 

I had the chocolate pannacotta with raspberry couli dessert, again I could have eaten a few of them!

I have to say I knew that we could always have more than one thing but to be honest, neither of us could eat that much!

 

 

Mr had the Key Lime cheesecake which he enjoyed and he tells me that he enjoyed all the food he had on the cruise!

 

So we really enjoyed our 1st day on board the Jade at and looked forward to a chill out day the next day at sea.

 

This review is taking some time to do as I am simaltaneously also updating and uploading pics to my Facebook so I am trying to do both in unison! :)

 

Thank you for all the kind comments so far, I will keep it going!

[meltingmoments]

I'm thoroughly enjoying your review and your photos as I eagerly await my own journey onboard the Jade! Thanks for sharing! :)

[dcipjr]

My next cruise isn't until the summer, but I love living vicariously through the reviews here, especially the detailed ones with lots of pictures—just like this one.

 

Keep up the great review! :D

[BobTheCruiser]

Looking forward to the next instalment.

 

We messed up dates and missed the Jade in Jan so this is filling the gap.

 

Thanks.

[kikki21]

I had to drag the Mr out of his pit this morning as I knew from the daily that we would be sailing past the volcanic island of Stromboli and that's an unmissable sight!

We also viewed Stromboli sailing past at night and were lucky enough to witness a couple of lava eruptions but too far away and too quick for any pics! :(

 

 

Yes that volcano is erupting constantly and people live on the island!

 

 

Definitely worth taking pics of it and then shortly after, the Messina Straits.

 

 

There was a HAL ship in the port of Messina.

 

 

Snow on Mount Etna on Sicily, another active volcano.

 

 

Different shades of blue with Mount Etna in the background.

[kikki21]

 

The crew pool at the front of the Jade.

 

 

Pots and pans in La Cucina - very useful overflow area for the buffet at breakfast and lunch.

 

 

 

This was our ONLY towel animal of the cruise! I had told the Mr about them so he was expecting loads.... oh well! :rolleyes:

 

 

Pool deck at night - we had a meal in the Blue Lagoon quite early and then had a snack in the buffet too!

 

We purchased the 6 bottle wine package which we just about managed to drink in the 10 nights on board. We liked the fact that whereever we were, the wine bottles would follow us! :)

[kikki21]

I did a fair amount of research on this port and sussed out quickly that it was probably better to do a low key day than anything.

We didn't really fancy going to Olympia as the ruins there didn't have as high an impact as those already seen in Rome and also ones that would be seen in Athens and Ephesus.

 

So we decided to have a bit of a lie in and then head into the little port town of Katakolon and see if we could get to the Mercouri winery which according to Google Maps about 2 miles from the port.

 

Indeed a little tourist train could take you up there for 6 euros return and the trains run every half hour or so and would conveniently drop you at the winery and you could return.... at the time of this report, the trains would stop running about 2pm.

 

The cost of the winery tour was 4 euros each, it wasn't an intensive tour and didn't really go into the wine making process much. Mainly, it explained some of the history behind the winery and that it's a family run business and then at the end of the tour, you can purchase wines and olive oil made at the winery.

 

TIP: Buy the wine and oil here, it's MUCH more expensive back in the town.

The red wine was probably the best, the white wine seemed to be naturally sparkling and quite refreshing and the rose was a bit odd, again slightly sparkling but with a really flowery taste.

 

The winery itself was a very charming place with loads of fruit trees about, cats, dogs and peacocks!

 

It was certainly a very pleasant place to while away some time and there were some lovely views on the way there and back to Katakolon.

Before long, we were back in town and seeing what else we could see.

I had already got myself some silver and blue topaz earrings and then we got some oil and spices to take home from one of the many foodie shops there.

 

There are many jewellers, arty shops, food shops in the small town and then there are also quite a few harbourfront restaurants and cafes. We asked a local which one he recommended and he said Karousos, it's the one right at the end of the harbour next to the Art Cafe.

 

Indeed, it was a very pleasant lunch, looking on at the Jade and eating Greek food again joined by the local cats, lots of cruise ship passengers and the inevitable hawkers! (Just say no firmly!)

 

We had a last look at the town before we decided to get back on board.

It was great to have such a low key day following a sea day as I told the Mr the next day in Athens was going to be a LOT more intensive!!!

 

 

Land ahoy! Katakolon comes into view.

 

 

The Jade in port.

 

 

Lovely views outside Katakolon.

[kikki21]

 

One of the many peacocks at the Mercouri Winery.

 

 

I thought I saw a pussy cat, I did!

 

 

The charming and rustic winery.

 

 

Plenty of oranges!

 

 

Part of the winery museum.

 

 

Just managed to get a shot of this!

[kikki21]

 

Someone still lives in the main house of the winery!

 

 

Part of the vineyards. The company make a lot of wine and half is exported to countries all over the world.

 

 

Sheep in the road back to the port!

 

 

Our Greek lunch in Karousos - saganaki and a Gyros, both delicious and the tzatziki was amazing!

[kikki21]

We decided to have dinner in the MDR again tonight - it was the only night where the food was a bit off, I had roast lamb and it was a bit gristly in one place, the rest of it was fine. The waiter did offer to replace it but it was honestly fine after that one bit.

 

I have to say that apart from that one bit, we were really pleased with the food quality, quantity and choice both in the MDR and the buffet.

We finished up with a nightcap cocktail in Spinnakers and then called it a night as we were sailing into Athens the next day and we had quite an intensive day planned! :)

[Ilikebigboats]

Awesome review!

I love reading about your adventures on the Jade.

Looking forward to see what you did in Athens.

Keep it coming!:)

[kikki21]

So I warned the Mr that today would probably be the most port intensive day of the cruise and I don't think I was far wrong! :)

 

We were up early and had breakfast in the room and got ready around that to get off the Jade at 7.45am, we met up with some fellow CC'ers to get a taxi to the Acropolis to beat the tour buses.

We started haggling a bit in the port but the drivers were not having any of it, till one said that he would meet us outside the port and get us to the Acropolis for 20E.... I think that's still way expensive for what it should be (and after having an experience of taxi drivers in Naples, it seems the message is go out of the port to get a taxi, it's far cheaper!)

 

We nearly got the metro in but it is a good half hour walk from where the Jade was docked although you can get the bus and time was of the essence so the taxi driver was as good as his word and picked us up outside the port. Our fellow CC'ers then got a taxi tour with him and managed to haggle him down on price so everyone won! :)

 

There wasn't a lot of traffic going in at all and we were at the site within 15 minutes! So we went in to get our tickets -just before the tour buses started arriving from NCL lol! ;)

 

 

Our first sights of Pireaus - early morning.

 

 

The 1st sight of the Acropolis Hill.

 

 

The views from the top are spectacular - looking down onto the Agora ruins and Temple.

[kikki21]

 

More ruins on top of the Acropolis.

 

 

Views from the Acropolis of our next target - Mount Lycabettus Hill, the tallest part of Athens at 908ft!

 

 

The Parthenon - still extensive restoration work going on.... doesn't seem a lot has changed since my last visit though!

 

 

A different view - I was just so pleased that it was such a lovely day and the sun was shining as the last time I was in Athens, the weather was nasty and there were flash floods in the Plaka where I was wading through 2ft of water to get to the metro!!! :eek:

 

 

Views to the sea and beyond....

[kikki21]

 

The Odeon - just outside the Acropolis.

 

 

A hole in the wall view of Athens!

 

 

Blue sky views.

 

So once we had our fill of the Acropolis, it was time to walk down to the Plaka, we encountered a free museum on the way so we had a walk in and a look round and then carried on the outskirts of the Plaka and came across where we would be having lunch which was handy as we were just off the main Plaka st - Adrianou and traversing across to where we needed to go next to get to Mt Lycabettus hill.

 

 

Pretty Athenian cat....

 

Right at the end of the street, there are 2 silver jewellery shops on the left.... the last one is huge and sells a vast array of silver jewellery plain and with semi precious stones.... it's probably one of the best shops I know.

I was in there about half an hour and couldn't decide what to pick lol! :rolleyes:

 

In the end, I picked out a fire opal pendant and earrings and happy with my purchase off we went!

[kikki21]

So we made it to the main road on the way to Syntagma Sq and the Parliament building after seeing Hadrian's Arch and then looking at the map we went across and then up and up and up and up...some parts of the Kolonaki area looked very nice as we walked through the district and going up all the time!

 

We got to the St George Hotel and asked the doorman if we were on the right track for the funicular and yes we were, 2 streets and then head left! More climbing! He gets asked that question a lot!

 

Bear with me, as I have lots of pics to show you of the next installment but Photobucket is having none of it! :mad:

[kikki21]

Looks like Photobucket is working again so I'll continue on! :)

 

 

Passing by Syntagma Sq and the Parliament Building on our way to Mt Lycabettus.

 

It was my 3rd time in Athens and I had always been fascinated by this hill so I was thrilled to finally get up there, the walk up was very worth it as the views are just spectacular, looking down on the Acropolis is something else and it was such a clear day, you could see for miles from the top.

The funicular ran every half hour and we spent half an hour at the top before heading down again.... for the fit, you can walk up the hill but we chickened out!

 

As we were a bit puffed out and to save time, we decided it was a good idea to get a taxi back to the Plaka.... there are a LOT of taxi drivers in Athens, maybe that explains the traffic, it cost 14 Euros to get back down but it was worth it as we were dropped off right outside the restaurant for a very enjoyable Greek meze lunch.

 

Basically for 14 euros each, you have 5 meze dishes between you to share, bread, water, a drink and free dessert. Bargain! Scholarhio was well recommended on TA, we enjoyed the meal, in particular, the waiter just brings out 18 choices of food on a tray and you pick what you fancy!

[kikki21]

 

In the funicular tunnel - look for the words Teleferik on the building then you know you've made it, it's not very obvious!

 

 

Looking down on the Acropolis.

 

 

Harbour pic, if you look to the left of the pic, you can see the funnel of the Jade - that's on a 16 times zoom!

 

 

Olympic stadium.

 

 

The church at the top of the hill was decorated, great place to get married at the top I'd say!

 

 

Reflections in the sun.

[kikki21]

 

The Temple of Apollo, gardens and Parliament Building.

 

 

Our delicious meze lunch at Scholarhio....fried zucchini, tzatziki, meatballs, pork in tomato sauce and Greek salad!

 

We had a wander around the Plaka after lunch and after an hour or so decided that we had had enough and headed back to the Jade. We got the metro from Monastiri (sp) and it took about 20 mins and then a further 20 mins to walk to the ship but you can get a taxi or a bus.

 

We could have taken in the Agora which we had planned but we had done plenty of walking already and besides you have to save something for next time! :p

 

 

We had our canapes this evening as part of the Romance package and we enjoyed them sailing away from Athens.

 

 

See you next time Athens!

[kikki21]

It was another early start today as we were docking at a new port for me, Izmir but not going to a new place - Ephesus - I think this was my 5th visit! :)

 

We had joined up with a group from our roll call to visit Ephesus and also do 2 half day tours of Istanbul which worked our far cheaper than NCL prices. The tours in Ephesus and Istanbul were both very professional and the tour guides were both great. The vans we travelled in were very clean and comfortable even when we had 2 extra passengers for Ephesus! :p

 

Our Ephesus day involved a pick up at 9.00am and a tour round the site plus somewhere I had not been before which was the Terrace Houses which were well worth the extra to go around plus lunch at a local handicraft centre aka a carpet demonstration - seems they cannot be avoided!

 

We had enough time to have a quick look around the seafront in Izmir too which seemed quite pleasant, there were lots of people about as it was a Sunday enjoying a promenade walk and a drink in the many cafes.

 

I have a lot of pics from Ephesus which I will upload later - hard to believe that we were half way through the cruise already!

[AquamarineBreeze]

Lovely review! Great photos & nice details. I've been enjoying it - like going back on vacay again :) something I'm already planning on!

 

Can't wait for more!

 

Thanks