Jade March 8 from Barcelona--Day one report

[Carnac767]

I. Slept late this morning because we had waaay too much fun in Barcelona last night, so we missed the free breakfast spread at the Continental. There was still food left over, though, so we were able to assemble a pretty decent breakfast, which we had on our balcony overlooking La Rambla. We were treated to a parade of dozens of classic autos from the 1920s and 1930s.

II. We were able to leave our luggage at the hotel. They have a lockup facility. We wandered around the waterfront and came back to the hotel around 1:30 to collect our luggage. We took a taxi to the port, which cost 16 Euros. Some guests dragged their bags down La Rambla to the Christopher Columbus statue and got a bus to the port from there. We just weren’t that motivated. It was hard enough to wade through the crowd on La Rambla without luggage.

III. Check in was a breeze. From the time we were dropped off until the time we were in our cabin was no more than 20 minutes. Incidentally, the ship started checking in guests at noon. We were greeted with champagne and orange juice upon boarding. Our bags were delivered to the cabin less than hour after we dropped them off. It was the easiest boarding yet with NCL.

IV. We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring the ship. We had a lunch at the Garden Café, though several other restaurants were open. We wanted to eat outside since it was such a beautiful day.

V. The lifeboat drill was held at five and lasted about half an hour. The worst part of this drill is having to listen to all the instructions repeated in various languages. That seemed to go on forever.

VI. There is an ATM in the internet café. Speaking of internet, the cabins have an Ethernet port to connect to the internet.

VII. Tennis rackets can be checked out from the ship’s library.

VIII. Our roll call is tomorrow at eleven in the Alizar Restaurant. Internet connection plans are 250 minutes for $100, 100 minutes for $55, or seventy-five cents a minute pay as you go. Connection is sloooow.

IX. The first trivia contest of the cruise was held at 5:15, where we ran into the Coughenours and Kutjans from our roll call.

X. We joined the Boucks for dinner in the Garden Café, where also ran into Kutjans.

XI. The evening’s entertainment in the Stardust Theatre was the “New Welcome Aboard Show,” hosted by our CD, Darin . . . aaarrghh, already forgot his last name. He’s from Toronto, eh. It was a smorgasbord of the entertainment we’ll see during the cruise. Based upon what we saw, it should be terrific. The comedian and ventriloquist were great and the Second City rep absolutely killed. I can’t remember their names, unfortunately. I’ll get them later. The song and dance troupe was good, too. No Jean Ann Ryan, though.

XII. The ship is beautiful, well-maintained, and in excellent condition. So far the sea has been dead calm. You can barely feel that we’re underway. Our cabin is on Deck 11, facing aft, which keeps our balcony out of the wind. It’s a great location, so far.

XIII. More to follow, if I have the time.

[mickeysgal]

Thank you for the report! Enjoy your cruise.

[cromwell43]

Now you have me hooked and I will wait for each posting from the Jade.

Can I wait 21 more days......

You had me excited for a min about the Ethernet port in room but I think that is just in suites ...we are just in an inside so I will have to find a corner somewhere closer.

Waiting for your next installment....

[hightownCO]

So glad to see your post. Can't wait till my Jade cruise! Only 364 days to go ;-)

 

Was muster held outside at the lifeboats or do the passengers go to various lounges/venues?

 

My daughter would be interested to know if movies are shown during sea days somewhere on the ship.

 

And to get an idea of what we'll experience next year, are there very many kids/teens on board?

 

Thanks in advance and have a great cruise!

[ohioNCLcruiser]

Hey I haven't seen you around in a while. Still with United?

[Carnac767]

Sigh. This is my third attempt to reply. For some reason when I hit the "submit reply" button, the system here loses the connection. Must be trying to eat up my minutes.;) If duplicate postings eventually show up, you'll know why.

 

Yep, I'm still with United. Most of my postings lately have been with my roll call.

 

Lots of children on board.

 

No movies but there are movie channels on ship's TV, including one for children.

 

Muster was held indoors at the restaurants.

 

I'll ask at the Meet and Greet today if the inside cabins have an ethernet connection. We're in a mini-suite which is really nothing more than a balcony cabin with a bathtub.

[Fishbait17]

Thanks so much for the report so far, keep it coming!!! We will be on the Jade cruise following yours, we leave in a little more than a week :eek::D. Getting so excited I can barely stand it!

 

Robin

[4 cruisers]

Ah the Jade! We were on her for two weeks in June! So nice of you to post! Who's your Hotel Director and Food and Bev Manager?

 

Enjoy!

[piercetc4]

thanks for posting about your cruise! some of my family members will be on the april 22 cruise - we are all looking forward to reading about your time on the ship and in port :)