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

[kikki21]

 

The Mr had some sort of lasagne.

 

We didn't have a dessert in the MDR as tonight was the Chocoholic Buffet so we took a turn in there to sample the goods and take pics of course!

 

 

 

There was a lot of creativity in the sugar and chocolate creations.

 

[kikki21]

 

 

There were also ice sculptures as well.

 

 

Then it was off to bed after some chocolate delights and our full last day of the cruise! Sob!

[kikki21]

A match made in heaven! Or should I say at sea :)

 

It's Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Katakolon (third time now.... But I'll be heading to a great little shop I found this time with handmade jewelry).

 

That's the one I want to do.... I also had a jewellery buy in Katakolon, mainly silver jewellery, loads of nice stuff in there.

Get to the Mercouri winery, loads of cheap wine there too! :)

[kikki21]

For me, a stop in Naples means only one place to go to and that's Capri, it's one of my favourite places in the world along with some of the Greek islands and as it's so easy to get to (although not cheap) it's a must do!

 

I know there is sooooo much to do in this area as well like Sorrento, Pompeii etc but I think that's another holiday in itself in order to see it all properly so that Mr had no choice in the matter really! ;)

 

Besides which, Capri has an amazing ice cream shop called Buonocare which makes the best pistachio ice cream in the world and there is also a rather nice silver jewellery shop that I visit so it's a tradition!

 

We had a good breakfast as we were going to skip lunch in Capri as the Mr wanted to get back to Naples and sample the famous pizza at Da Michele which has been featured in many English TV cookery programmes.

 

Oh dear, that means I would just have to eat gelato instead! :D

[kikki21]

 

Pulling into Naples harbour.

 

 

The cruise terminal with the MSC Melody on the left which has been retired from the MSC fleet.

 

 

Waiting for our hydrofoil to Capri to park up, they run every half hour, we got the 9.00am departure to Capri, takes about 35 - 40 mins, ours took about 50 mins as the crossing was a little rough!

 

 

Our hydrofoil was pretty full and there was a big party of school kids on it who were quite rowdy every time there was a wave, this subsided after about 10 mins as most of them were not good sailors!

[kikki21]

Even the Mr was a little bit uh oh and he's a pretty good sailor!

 

 

See you later Jade!

 

So we eventually got to Capri and got our tickets for the funicular to get up to Capri Town..... there was a queue but it moved pretty quick.

 

 

You can get there by taxi or by the local orange buses too.

 

 

View at the top of the Piazzetta.

 

 

Monte Solaro which can be accessed via a chairlift at AnaCapri the other small town on the island.

[kikki21]

Capri is like a photographer's paradise, there is so much to take a photo of for such a small island!

 

 

The church in the square.

 

So we were going by gelato heaven so we just had to have one!

 

 

Mmmm pistachio ice cream, with a freshly made waffle cone, delicious! :D

 

We headed out to the Gardens of Augustus, which cost 1 euro to enter for some spectacular views.

 

 

Views out to the small marina.

[kikki21]

There are more pics to come but my laptop/Photobucket keep playing up hence the reason why this review is taking so long! Grrr! :(

[kikki21]

 

Part of the Via Krupp walkway that leads down to the small marina. Want to walk down that one day!

 

 

Views of the Natural Arch and the gorgeous colour of the water.

 

 

Looking out to the Faraglioni rocks.

 

We walked a bit back into Capri Town and past the swanky shops in the Via Camarelle.

 

 

This place is owned by the hotel next door. The street is chock full of designer named goods.

 

Then we decided to head out to another viewpoint, Punta Tragara. This takes you past a lot of swanky small hotels.

 

 

Closer view of the Faraglioni Rocks.

 

You get a different view of the island here, clouds always seem to come over the top of the island.

 

[kikki21]

So we headed back towards town after a few more pics and made some purchases, got a tile of 2 cats for our 2 cats saying beware of the cats in Latin, an apron for my cooking, some jewellery from the silver jewellery store and ahem of course, more gelato from Buonocare! :)

 

 

Maybe one day I will try more flavours!

 

There are some amazing stores in Capri....particularly jewellery!

 

 

I know where I am coming if I win the lottery! :D

 

We decided to go to Anacapri and see if we could capture some more views. We got the bus there and that was a great way to see the island, if you do this, then stand/sit on the right, you get the best views and have a head for heights too!

 

 

This was taken from the bus and is one of my favourite pics of the holiday. You can see Capri Town, the marina and also the Sorrentine Peninsula in the background, never remember seeing it so clearly!

[kikki21]

The roads are very narrow on Capri and so are the cars/small lorries. Capri Town is traffic free and the hotels transport your luggage in small electric golf buggy type cars to and from the large marina which is a great idea.

 

Think our second honeymoon is going to be Sorrento and Capri! :)

 

More pics coming up!

[kikki21]

 

Hairpin road bends and small vehicles!

 

 

 

Again taken from the bus!

 

 

Close of the Sorrentine peninsula.

 

 

A church in Anacapri.

 

Capri is famous for the porcelain tiles you can see around the island.They are used for street names and also for decorating benches!

We didn't have time to do the chairlift up to Monte Solaro, that's one for next time!

[kikki21]

We had a coffee in Anacapri and then headed back down to the marina to get back to Naples, the bus took a bit of time to get there but we eventually got there and purchased our hydrofoil ticket back to Naples and food!

 

 

Nearly time to leave at the marina.

 

The journey back to Capri was still a bit rocky which wasn't a problem for us and then we set off to get a taxi from the port to get to Da Michele pizzeria, it wasn't that far but we did it for speed.

Our journey there cost 12 euros, our journey back from a flagged down taxi cost 5 euros! Mmm seems like our taxi drivers at the port like to pocket a bit extra!

 

 

Our destination - this claims to be the oldest pizza place in Naples and it only serves 2 types of pizza! With cheese or without!

 

 

That's the menu! We had the double mozzarella pizza and shared it!

 

 

This was the pizza, it was ready in about 3 minutes! At first glance, it looks ordinary, it didn't taste wow at the beginning but the more you eat, the better it gets and when you have another pizza elsewhere, the taste of the pizza dough you ate, you think ah.... that Da Michele pizza was damn good! :)

 

So it was time to say ciao to Napoli, we got back to the port, took a few more pics and back on board the Jade!

[kikki21]

 

The castle in front of the port.

 

 

The cruise terminal.

 

 

We needed to pack - sob but we decided to have a medical pina colada to take away the pain before packing and our final dinner onboard.

 

 

So it was time for our final sailaway of the cruise.

 

 

On the way to Citivitavecchia.

 

 

Views of Vesuvius and the Naples coastline.

[kikki21]

 

Ready for last night's dinner!

 

 

We ate in the Grand Pacific again and needed a pager to get in which was about a half hour wait but we did some shopping while we waited.

Dinner was good, not one of the best probably as it felt that this was the last stand!

We had a good walk round the Jade before we went to sleep to wake up in Civitavecchia.

 

 

One of my favourite bits of artwork on the Jade.

[kikki21]

But not the end of our holiday as to defeat those nasty post cruise blues, we were booked for another 2 nights in Rome - yay! :)

 

We got some breakfast in our cabin from the buffet (so handy being on deck 11 midship!) got ready, left the ship just after 7.30am, our suitcases labelled up for 7.30am were already waiting, collected them, met up with our fellow CC peeps for the van ride back to Rome and by 9.00am - we were already back in Rome!

 

We were booked into a different hotel this time, a bit closer to the Colleseum etc and at the end of the Via Corso.

The hotel was the Residenza Torre Colonna, a medievel tower converted into a small hotel with just 6 rooms, one on each floor. There is also a roof terrace where you eat breakfast and it's got a spectacular view.

The hotel itself is very chic and modern and it was a real pleasure staying there!

 

Pic to follow!

[kikki21]

 

MSC Lirica was already in Civitavecchia when we opened up our curtains.

 

She was then joined by the MSC Orchestra.... this was the most cruise ships we had had gathered in one port all cruise!!!

 

[kikki21]

We had picked another well located hotel, it wasn't actually that far away from our first hotel... in fact it was about 7 mins walk to the Trevi Fountain!

 

 

 

 

[AngAndBoys]

Thanks for review! Getting on Jade in a few weeks and it has been mist helpful. Great pics!

[kikki21]

 

 

[chris_kelowna]

Kikki, thank you very much for an informative and generous review. I really enjoyed it and now am really looking forward to our cruise on the Jade next April. Thanks again and happy sailing!

[sayaguru]

Thank you!

There's more coming.... eek I heard about the famous Choc Fudge Brownie in the Blue Lagoon.... did you have to ask for it? It wasn't on our menus! :eek:

 

I haven't been to Prague or Barcelona but they are both on my list! :)

I live in Leicestershire now but I am a Notts girl born and bred!

 

 

I think it was chocolate brownie sundae. Yes on the menu. Had to go back for a second one. It's a warm brownie with a huge scoop of icecream then whipped cream on top with a cherry. I'm puting on weight just thinking about it. Still not even close to getting back to my pre cruise weight.

 

Notts- Nottingham? We did a canalboat trip from there 2 years ago and loved it which is why we went back this year for another one.

 

Yes definately go to Prague. It's like going back in time. When you walk over the Charles ST bridge you excpect princess to walk out.

Barcelona is amazing too. I want to spend at least a few days in Parc Guell. I'm into architecture and the Gaudi buildings are magnificent.

Too many places too little time.

 

Enjoying your adventures. Makes me want to go again, and I've only been home a week. Thanks again.

[kikki21]

I think it was chocolate brownie sundae. Yes on the menu. Had to go back for a second one. It's a warm brownie with a huge scoop of icecream then whipped cream on top with a cherry. I'm puting on weight just thinking about it. Still not even close to getting back to my pre cruise weight.

 

Notts- Nottingham? We did a canalboat trip from there 2 years ago and loved it which is why we went back this year for another one.

 

Yes definately go to Prague. It's like going back in time. When you walk over the Charles ST bridge you excpect princess to walk out.

Barcelona is amazing too. I want to spend at least a few days in Parc Guell. I'm into architecture and the Gaudi buildings are magnificent.

Too many places too little time.

 

Enjoying your adventures. Makes me want to go again, and I've only been home a week. Thanks again.

 

Well I will just have to go on the Jade again as I never saw a choc fudge brownie on that Blue Lagoon menu as believe me, if I would have seen it, it would have been in my belly! :D

 

Yes Nottingham, it has got a few canals, I sailed up the Trent in a yacht one time but not been on a canal, I think I prefer my ships to be a bit bigger!

 

Still have got more Rome pics to post to complete the review (and more food pics!) but been having trouble with my laptop! Grr,:confused:

 

I want to go on another cruise like now! Love my cruising adventures! :D

[kikki21]

So today after we got our bearings in our new hotel, we walked up to the Colleseum, taking into account the ruins of Trajan's Market first and had a good walk round the Colleseum. We had not paid for tickets in advance so we did queue but it wasn't a biggie to us, although next time, we will know to book on line and to get tickets for the underground area and the 3rd tier which you need to book with a guide.:)

 

We had a little walk in the Forum area after we viewed the Colleseum and took a lot more pictures.It was starting to get a bit more cloudy and uncertain weather wise and we were getting hungry so we ventured across the road from the Forum to a restaurant, it wasn't the one we had earmarked for a meal but it was packed with quite a lot of people.... just as we got there, there was an almighty crack of thunder so we called it right!

 

They had a singing waiter at this place who was very amusing... the bad weather meant everyone scuttled to the roofed area of the restaurant and then there was some chaos over meal orders etc.... thankfully we had pizzas which did arrive but the poor man on the table next to us never did get his meal although his wife did but they just told him to forget her food and drinks bill which was fair enough for their error!

 

Our coffees took some time to arrive, it had to be said but we needed something to warm us back up! After an hour or so, it did stop raining and we were back to sunshine again! :)

[kezza]

Thanks Kikki21 for a fantastic review and brilliant photos....we look like we're going on the Jade next May and are so excited about it....the ship sounds terrific...thanks again.