Live From the Jade, Nov 13 to Dec 21, from Athens to Cape Town

[Ken the cruiser]

I almost forgot, a few minutes before crossing the equator, they offered their first lecture since we started this cruise back in Athens. I know, who knew it was even possible! 😂

 

As you might imagine, the Bliss Lounge was overflowing with people! I know, with 1860 passengers onboard with an average age of 62, who would have believed anyone who have shown up! 😂

 

But most importantly they had one and Dave, from the CD’s entertainment staff, did a great job!!

 

 
And while I was sitting on the balcony typing this post, my long beak feathered friend from the other day came by to say hi! 😁

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s a question for you folks in the northern hemisphere? The next time you use your bathroom sink, take a moment to see which way the water flows as it goes down the drain, clockwise or counterclockwise?
 

We have checked a few times since crossing the equator and for us it circles clockwise as it flows down the drain here in the southern hemisphere.

 

Unfortunately, I forgot to check when we were on the equator. 😁

[DooBop]

3 hours ago, Busybeeva said:

Deck 4 all days. We met on deck 6, as you noted, for all of our private excursions. We did about half private and half NCL. 

Thanks for your feedback!  Any issues getting off the ship and making it on time to your non-NCL tours?

[Ken the cruiser]

Had another tasty dinner in La Cucina and then headed to the 7 pm show to watch the Freddie Mercury Tribute again, which I must say was even better than the one on the last cruise, which was outstanding as well! 
 

 
The game show tonight was karaoke, so we called it an early night and headed back to the cabin to play on our computers! 😂

 

Edited December 7, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

After the show we always walk to the back of the ship by way of the promenade deck. Very peaceful and sometimes there are some beautiful views over the ocean! 😁

 

 

Then the moon disappeared behind this dark cloud that appeared out of no where!

 

 
And then it started to emerge again. I’m sure there’s a story there somewhere! 😂

  

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at Port Victoria, Seychelles!

  

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Here is our NCL excursion for this morning.

 

 

 

[Busybeeva]

19 hours ago, DooBop said:

Thanks for your feedback!  Any issues getting off the ship and making it on time to your non-NCL tours?

We did not have any trouble getting off of the ship in a timely way. And we found that the tour operators knew the ships schedule, even if it changed. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We just got back from our excursion around the local Mahe area. It was a little toasty in the sun, so we tried to stay in the shade when we were on the various walking parts of our tour.

 

Just a heads up if you’re planning to cruise at some point to this area. We heard a variety of folks on the tour complaining about mosquitos biting them. Luckily, my DW had bought some mosquito repellant early on in the cruise based on what she read regarding the various things some mosquitoes are infected with in both Seychelles as well as Madagascar. 

  

 

 

Some of the views we saw at the Mission Lodge Heritage Site

 

 

 

 

 

Then it was time to drive back to the other side of the island we started from to visit the National Botanical Gardens 

 

 

 

If you look closely, you can see the Jade just to the left of the wind turbines.

 

 
It was fun walking through the gardens, with the highlight being the large tortoises. 😁

 

 
But first we made a pit stop which took a few seconds to figure out who goes where! 😂

  

 

 

 
Then we were off to where the tortoises were!

  

 

 

 

 

  

 
Saw this large ant bed on the side of a building!

 

 

 

 

 

Then we came across the coconut tree that some suggest produces the largest coconuts in the world, the CoCo-de-Mer!

 

 

 

 

Edited December 8, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 26 - Dec 8 - Port Victoria, Seychelles  

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight, even though we got to Alizar MDR at 5:45 pm, we didn’t get done until a little after 7 pm, so we had to pass on the early show and the 8:45 pm Majority Rules game show. However, we are definitely planing to go to the 9 pm show featuring guest singer Lisa Marie Holmes.

  

 

[jolli]

Hi Ken….we are usually Celebrity Cruisers but we chose this cruise with NCL …..Cape Town to Dubai to Athens simply because of the destinations! I’m looking at the daily timetable and the shows being performed and I’m not really liking what I see! Celebrity has always had amazing shows and these seem fairly lack lustre to me! Are you happy with this? I’m committed to the cruise of course but can’t help feeling a little disappointed about NCL! What cabin are you in…is it a Balcony and is there enough closet space for these B2B cruises? I’m hoping to get the most out of something I’ve been looking forward to for 2 years! Any suggestions for us?

cheers John and Annette

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in La Digue, Seychelles and it’s another beautiful day! We have be so lucky so far on this cruise when it comes to the weather. 😁

 

 

 
Here’s the description of our excursion today.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

10 hours ago, jolli said:

Hi Ken….we are usually Celebrity Cruisers but we chose this cruise with NCL …..Cape Town to Dubai to Athens simply because of the destinations! I’m looking at the daily timetable and the shows being performed and I’m not really liking what I see! Celebrity has always had amazing shows and these seem fairly lack lustre to me! Are you happy with this? I’m committed to the cruise of course but can’t help feeling a little disappointed about NCL! What cabin are you in…is it a Balcony and is there enough closet space for these B2B cruises? I’m hoping to get the most out of something I’ve been looking forward to for 2 years! Any suggestions for us?

cheers John and Annette

Hi John and Annette!

 

First thing we had to come to grips with was this is an NCL cruise rather than a Celebrity or Princess cruise. Once we stopped comparing NCL to them, that helped a lot! But remember, on average, an NCL cruise is a lot cheaper than either of those other two lines, especially when it’s associated with an awesome itinerary like the one we’re on! 😁
 

For example, we’re in an aft-facing Club Balcony (mini-suite) cabin and paid about $260 pp/day (base rate), which includes one free bag of laundry and 5 free special restaurants on each leg. But that price does not include gratuities ($18 pp/day), drink package ($20 pp/day) or unlimited internet (approx $237 to upgrade to unlimited). 
 

As far as the shows go, yes, Celebrity and Princess have better offerings IMHO, but then again they’re targeting an older crowd! For example, in the 30+ days we have been on this B2B so far, there has not been one comedian performing in the evening shows. The only production show that we have been truly wowed by was Elements! The other two missed the mark IMHO. But that’s OK as NCL is usually targeting a younger demographic. For us we like to hear songs we recognize, like those from the 60s through the 80s. 😁
 

In addition, they “usually” have a game show every night in the Bliss Lounge between the 7 and 9 pm shows, but it’s at 8:45 pm. So the only way you’ll be able to enjoy it is if you go to the 7 pm show. But, that’s just how they do things on their smaller 2200 pax ships.

 

As far as closet and cupboard space in our Club Balcony, we haven’t had any issues. There is even a large drawer we can put the large garbage bag we brought with us to store our dirty clothes in. However, we did put in 3 laundry bags on the first leg and 1 on the second leg, as we didn’t bring enough clothes for 38 days! 😂 Luckily, we got 1 free bag each leg because we’re in a Club Balcony and at least one $30 discount bag. However, if you are Platinum or higher, NCL was allowing 2 free bags per person on each of the 19-day legs! Unfortunately, we won’t make that level until after this cruise is over.

 

Suggestions:

 

1. Prepay your DSC (gratuities) prior to your cruise, especially if they have gone up since you booked the cruise. For example, I believe starting in January 2023 all non-Haven cabins go up to $20 pp/day.

 

2. Prebook all of your evening dining reservations, both specialty and regular MDR ones, if at all possible. It helps reduce the stress load once you board. 😁

 

3. Prebook the excursions you really want to go on, as the popular ones will probably be sold out once you board the ship. Remember, this B2B has some awesome ports they visit.

 

4. You cannot use nonrefundable OBC to pay your Daily Service Charge (gratuities).

 

5. Make sure you load up the NCL app on all of the devices you will be bringing with you. It definitely comes in handy while you’re on your cruise!

 

Thats all I can think of right now. Hope they help! 😁

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We had an interesting excursion today, to include both tendering from and back to the ship! Everything was going super smooth until we boarded the tender and headed to the port where they were only allowing one tender at a time to disembark passengers. So we sat out in the middle of the bay, like the one in front of us, for about 30 minutes with not breeze and obviously no AC inside the tender.

 

 
But we finally arrived at the port and we’re quickly directed over to the ferry boat which took us to the island to start our tour. Here are some pictures I took along the way.

 

 

 

 

 
When we got there, I saw this map which kind of shows where we were yesterday, Mahe, with relation to where we are today. We are anchored at La Digue Island and our tour is at Praslin Island.

 

 
Once we arrived at the small port, we were bused a short way to Vallee De Mai Nature Reserve, a UNESCO site, where we learned all about the Coco de mer or “double coconuts”.

 

 

 

Here is what a “double coconut” looks like with the outer shell still on, which takes about 7 years to mature. Do you remember the bathroom pictures from yesterday’s excursion? The “nuts” under this shell look like the picture on the women’s bathroom, and the male spore pod (not pictured) looks like the men’s bathroom picture. Just thought you would like to know! 😂

 

 

 
I forgot what this fruit was, but they are definitely something you don’t want to be under if they fall from the tree. That goes for the double coconuts as well as they can weight up to 20 kilos! 😂

 

 

  

These are “double coconuts” at different stages of development. BTW the gecko is the one that does all of the work to pollinate the female “blossom” with pollen flowers from the nearby male tree. I know, probably too much information. Welcome to our tour. Imagine 45 minutes of this! 😂

 

 

Just some more pictures of the plant life, mostly “double coconut” trees along our walk.

 

 

 

 

 

I know, where did the rock come from? Someone on our tour asked that question, but I didn’t hear the answer, nor did I care! 😂

 

 
This was the stump from a “double coconut” tree. Notice all the water veins inside the tree trunk! You probably can’t see them, but a little ant colony has taken up residence in some of those holes. 

 

 

Then finally if you look closely, you can see the elusive Black Parrot! Can’t see it? It’s the gray bird sitting on top of the multiple flower strands.

 

 

Then just before leaving, we saw a termite nest on the side of a tree! Hey, you know me. Can’t pass up a wildlife photo! 😂

 

 

From the Reserve we headed to the beach for the last 45 minutes of our tour before heading back to the ferry boat.

 

 

 

 

 
The ferry boat ride was quite enjoyable as we had all that wonderful ocean breeze blowing on us all the way back. Did I mention it was about 85 degrees and about 85% humidity during our walk and even hotter when we were on the beach?

 

 

 

 

 
And then we arrived back at the pier, and no fast pass line in sight!! 😱

 

 
And when we got to the front of the line after about 45 minutes standing in the hot sun, we had to wait for the next tender. But it appears the line didn’t get any shorter from when we first got in it.

 

 
In all it took us about 60 minutes to get back on the ship.  But for the most part, it was a fun excursion, but hopefully our next tender adventure will be less “memorable”! 😂

 

[Ken the cruiser]

I know I keep saying it, but it’s true! After another tasty dinner, this time in the Grand Pacific, we headed to the early show to watch the encore performance of Cello 2 Cello.

  

 
Then it’s off to the Yes or No Game Show at 8:45 pm in the Bliss Lounge. I still think it’s odd that CD Richard doesn’t even mention the game show in his comments after the early show that his entertainment staff hosts. But then again the prior CD, Danny, didn’t mention it either on the last leg either.

 

[Ken the cruiser]

16 hours ago, jolli said:

Hi Ken….we are usually Celebrity Cruisers but we chose this cruise with NCL …..Cape Town to Dubai to Athens simply because of the destinations! I’m looking at the daily timetable and the shows being performed and I’m not really liking what I see! Celebrity has always had amazing shows and these seem fairly lack lustre to me! Are you happy with this? I’m committed to the cruise of course but can’t help feeling a little disappointed about NCL! What cabin are you in…is it a Balcony and is there enough closet space for these B2B cruises? I’m hoping to get the most out of something I’ve been looking forward to for 2 years! Any suggestions for us?

cheers John and Annette

I forgot to mention one another thing. If it’s in the budget and you enjoy having unfettered access to the internet while on the ship like we do without stressing over the number of free minutes you have left, especially when the internet speed is super slow, or did you remember to log off before going to bed, I would recommend upgrading your “free” internet perk minutes to unlimited. 😁
 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Level six]

Loving your report, what a great trip!  We might be doing the same one soon. 

 

I have been on Princess and NCL about the same amount of days 170+ and I find NCL to have better food, and nicer guests.  I have also loved the shows on NCL and just overal a better experience. I have sailed on Princess about 60 days post covid and just got a refund of FCD, that's how much I have not liked Princess recently. 

 

Your sailing is odd because of where you are, so maybe that is why there has been some disappointment with certain things.  But, I think once you have finished this incredible cruise and go back to Princess post covid.........who knows. 

FYI, I think we are on the eclipse cruise together. 

[Ken the cruiser]

56 minutes ago, Level six said:

Loving your report, what a great trip!  We might be doing the same one soon. 

 

I have been on Princess and NCL about the same amount of days 170+ and I find NCL to have better food, and nicer guests.  I have also loved the shows on NCL and just overal a better experience. I have sailed on Princess about 60 days post covid and just got a refund of FCD, that's how much I have not liked Princess recently. 

 

Your sailing is odd because of where you are, so maybe that is why there has been some disappointment with certain things.  But, I think once you have finished this incredible cruise and go back to Princess post covid.........who knows. 

FYI, I think we are on the eclipse cruise together. 

Understand. And like you noticed, for us it’s about the itinerary and “free laundry”! 😁

 

In the case of NCL since we got double points for this 38-day B2B, that will make us Platinum at the end of this cruise. Not bad for only cruising 3 times with NCL! So that checks the free laundry box (1 free bag per person per leg), especially if we book Club Balcony mini-suites from here on, which gets us another free bag! Woohoo!! 😂

 

That puts them on equal footing with both Princess and Celebrity. As far as food goes since we now only book Aqua cabins on Celebrity and CC mini-suites on Princess, we have enjoyed not getting heartburn at anytime on this NCL cruise! So as far as food goes, especially with the free specialty restaurants that come with both being Platinum as well as via NCL booking perks, that also puts them on equal footing with both X and PCL.

 

That brings us to itineraries, especially those unique ones that are 3-5+ weeks long. Princess has some pretty cool ones, of which we have booked a few to include the Voyage of the Glaciers (in Alaska), and hopefully soon their 28-32-day Tahiti cruises RT out of LA. Then every once in awhile Celebrity shines like the 21-day B2B cruise on the Apex we just booked in July 2024 or the B3B you referenced on the a eclipse out of Sydney starting in Apr 2023 winding up in Vancouver. But at the same time we have booked 4 NCL itineraries on this cruise, 3 of which are in a B3B starting in Oct 2024 that includes going to Alexandria (Cairo) to see the pyramids as well as a lot of ancient sites in Greece! So for us all 3 cruise lines have something to offer.

 

As far as entertainment goes, we do like going to enrichment lectures on sea days, which Princess and Celebrity usually offer while NCL doesn’t. Princess and Celebrity have super fun games shows every night between the early and late shows that are actively promoted and many times led by the CD, especially on Princess. NCL, at least on the smaller ships like on the Jade, the CD doesn’t even promote the game show after the early show other than listing it in the Daily, which BTW oddly starts just 15 minutes before the 9 pm theater show. But at the same time I’m pretty sure the entertainment a lot more lively and with more variety on the larger 4000+ pax ships, like the Getaway which we booked that 29-day B3B on starting in Oct 2024. 😁

[Level six]

Yes, to all of the above.  You sound like you are fun to cruise with. 

[jolli]

Hello again Ken…we’ll you’re certainly the experienced cruiser! Because we’re in Australia….and most cruises are in $US the cost for us is a lot more…as at this moment we are only getting 68 centsUS ato our dollar so it almost doubles the cost for us! Then you add on all the extras and the amounts add up like crazy! We’ve decided this time to do mostly private shore excursions and have been lucky enough to have quite a few people interested in joining us….the cost of course is a lot cheaper than than NCL ! I’m happy with this…I’ve arranged a lot of private tours before on our cruises! But as you said this is a once in a lifetime experience for us…never ever done. B2B cruise so I hope my hubby and I will still be talking to each other! LOL

weve decided to take a taxi to Côte D’Or Beach for the day on Praslin and just laze and swim in that beautiful Indian Ocean for a few hours! Hope there’s some lovely palm trees to lie in the shade near the beach? We’re spending a week in Cape Town pre cruise and a week on the island of Paros post cruise! Always been on my Bucket List to stay on a Greek Island and at 72 my dream has come true! Also to see animals in their natural habitat in South Africa! 
We shall have no internet package…only use internet in port for us! I’ve heard that if you don’t pre pay gratuities…you can’t get the free drinks package included in our deal! Is this correct? Thanks for all your amazing info and photos! Annette

[Ken the cruiser]

9 hours ago, Level six said:

Yes, to all of the above.  You sound like you are fun to cruise with. 

Thanks! I have to admit, we are cruisaholics and usually try to find a way to have a great time on all of our cruises, even on a Oceania cruise back in 2017 when the ship was in a Code Red lockdown for the last 10 days of a 12 day Caribbean cruise because of norovirus! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

6 hours ago, jolli said:

Hello again Ken…we’ll you’re certainly the experienced cruiser! Because we’re in Australia….and most cruises are in $US the cost for us is a lot more…as at this moment we are only getting 68 centsUS ato our dollar so it almost doubles the cost for us! Then you add on all the extras and the amounts add up like crazy! We’ve decided this time to do mostly private shore excursions and have been lucky enough to have quite a few people interested in joining us….the cost of course is a lot cheaper than than NCL ! I’m happy with this…I’ve arranged a lot of private tours before on our cruises! But as you said this is a once in a lifetime experience for us…never ever done. B2B cruise so I hope my hubby and I will still be talking to each other! LOL

weve decided to take a taxi to Côte D’Or Beach for the day on Praslin and just laze and swim in that beautiful Indian Ocean for a few hours! Hope there’s some lovely palm trees to lie in the shade near the beach? We’re spending a week in Cape Town pre cruise and a week on the island of Paros post cruise! Always been on my Bucket List to stay on a Greek Island and at 72 my dream has come true! Also to see animals in their natural habitat in South Africa! 
We shall have no internet package…only use internet in port for us! I’ve heard that if you don’t pre pay gratuities…you can’t get the free drinks package included in our deal! Is this correct? Thanks for all your amazing info and photos! Annette

Sounds like a great plan. We got our cruise so cheap because we booked it over 2 years out. Before our category had sold out the Dubai to Cape Town leg had gone up $1,400 per person! 
 

I know you won’t get the “free” drinks package if you don’t prepay the beverage gratuities when you book the cruise which works out to be about $20US per person.

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 28 - Dec 10 - Sea Day

 

 

 

  

  

 

[Ken the cruiser]

13 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

As far as entertainment goes, we do like going to enrichment lectures on sea days, which Princess and Celebrity usually offer while NCL doesn’t. Princess and Celebrity have super fun games shows every night between the early and late shows that are actively promoted and many times led by the CD, especially on Princess. NCL, at least on the smaller ships like on the Jade, the CD doesn’t even promote the game show after the early show other than listing it in the Daily, which BTW oddly starts just 15 minutes before the 9 pm theater show. But at the same time I’m pretty sure the entertainment a lot more lively and with more variety on the larger 4000+ pax ships, like the Getaway which we booked that 29-day B3B on starting in Oct 2024. 😁

To focus on my above statement a little more, this morning we went to our second lecture where we learned about the history of Madagascar and the islet of Nosy Be where we will be tendering at tomorrow. Dave, one of the crew on the entertainment staff gave a great briefing considering he probably only was given a day to prepare, similar to the time he had to prepare his Equator presentation the other day.

 

 
However, at the end of his lecture, I asked when was his next one as he gave a very enjoyable presentation? He said there wouldn’t be any more, even though both of his lectures were packed! When I subsequently asked CD Richard why there weren’t going to be any more, even though we’re heading to Mauritius and then onto 3 ports in South Africa, he said “some people” didn’t like them and that was that. When I said they didn’t have to come to them, as there were a lot of folks that really enjoyed his presentations, he gave me a big “I could care less what you say” smile, as only he can, and then basically said thank you for your input and moved on.

 

Needless to say our opinion of Richard as a cruise director is not all that great right now. But in all fairness, our previous CD on the last leg didn’t offer any port lectures or promote any of the “8:45 pm” game shows at the end of the 7 pm show either, even though it was their staff that were doing them. That is except for one, Deal or No Deal, which both CDs hosted themselves. I guess lectures and game shows are just not something NCL promotes on their smaller ships. 

 

Anyway, sorry for the venting. Back to having a fun time on the cruise!! 😂

 

Heres a picture of their Christmas display. There are also a few decorated Christmas trees scattered around the ship.