sunandsnow

Sailed on Jade and Liberty. Hands down Liberty.

We are traveling in Feb. so we haven't been yet. I did write down a couple of restaurants that have been recommended:

Lunch in the courtyard of Casa Santa Domingo (from cc)

Hector's Bistro by La Merced Church Ira. Calle Porvente - Trip Advisor 4.5 $10-25

Café Sky 1A Avenida Sur #15 Trip Advisor 4.5 $3-$15

I'm sure there are others listed on the Trip Advisor site.

Thank you. We are doing a full transit with Norwegian next month. Your help is very much appreciated.

Thanks for the great info. We are traveling next month to Cartagena and DIY.

Did you get your taxi right outside the port area or did you walk a few blocks away for that price?

Did you use US $?

How long did you spend in the walled city?

Thank you!

Enjoying your review. We will be traveling on the Jewel thru the Panama Canal next month.

Thanks for sharing!

I have traveled in Italy in October. It was nice but not hot. I wore long pants. Didn't pack any shorts or capris. Short sleeved shirts with a jacket or sweater will work well. Pack a couple of skirts if it does get too warm.

Also plan on some rain. Umbrellas and light weight rain jacket. We had a few days of rain.

Comfortable shoes are a must.

Loved reading your review!! My son is going on the Glory for his honeymoon in Jan. He has been to Belize, Cozumel and G. Cayman. Roatan will be new for him. His fiancé has never cruised. Sounds like they will have a great time.

Thanks for taking the time to post.

I was on the NCL site this morning. It seems that you can go and look under the shore excursions from the home page and find excursions for Guatemala but when I logged into my account there were not any listed there. Hopefully, some of the same ones that are listed on the home page menu will appear there soon. Unfortunately, the NCL site is down right now.

I was hoping to book some of our shore excursions soon since we have the shore excursion credit. I can only use the credit by calling an NCL rep or booking onboard. Maybe NCL would know when they will be posting the info. Their number is 1-866-625-1167.

Sorry about the confusion earlier. I was only looking at the excursions from the home page menu and not my own personal account menu. You would think they would be the same????

We are on the Jewel sailing Feb. 14 2016. NCL has some shore excursions listed on their website.

We sailed on the Jade in March in the Med. Service was great. The food was good (we didn't eat in any specialty rest.). Entertainment was good. NCL just changed their room service policy and you cannot take food out of the buffet area back to your room. Some OBC credit cannot be used on tips which we also didn't like. We have always been able to use OBC for tips on Royal.

We have also sailed on Liberty of the Seas and have sailed many times with RCCL. We like Royal's product. Food, entertainment, service similar to NCL. However, we feel that RCCL has many more activities throughout the cruise. NCL is lacking in that area. I felt the rooms on Liberty were larger and the ship overall is larger.

I would sail on Liberty over the Jade. Jade was very nice though.

I would compare price, ports and port times also before booking.

We have done three cruises to the Med - Jan. Feb/Mar and April. Also land vacation in October. Jan. was the coldest. You do need to dress in layers and be prepared for cold, humid temps. We did get one pool day on our cruise last year in March which was a nice surprise. Sights are less crowded and the cruise prices are generally less expensive. Spring or fall is a very nice time to cruise the med.

Whatever you decide it is a fun cruise - we have been to Italy, Croatia, Greece, Turkey, Malta and Spain on a cruise.

We sailed on the Jade March 2015 in the Med (Italy, Greece and Turkey). We usually sail on RC also. We hadn't been on an NCL cruise for over 10 years. The food was very good - comparable or better than RC. We did not eat in any specialty restaurants. Service was very good. Sometimes a little slow in the MDR. We generally went to dinner at the same time and never waited very long (only 2 of us though). Our room steward was great. The entertainment was good. We did notice that NCL does not have as many activities as RC and a lot of repeats - so bring some good books to read.

The gym is pretty small. Never got in the morning stretch class because of lack of space. I like RC better because you can use their steam rooms and saunas for free. NCL Jade you have to buy a package deal.

We had a very good time and liked NCL enough to book another cruise to the Panama Canal next year.

Hi I am a new cruiser and my first trip is February 28, 2016. We are taking the Panama Canal cruise. Any information I should know or how to get the best excursions at each port will be very much appreciated.

 

bruffyrasin

We are on the Jewel PC cruise Feb. 14. For port info I always look to see what is provided by the cruise line, look at the port info on the message boards on cruise critic and also for info for tour operators on trip advisor. We usually DIY. This time we have the credit for ship excursions so we will be doing some of those. When you look on cruise critic you will need to go to the Mexican Riveria board, the Costa Rica board, Caribbean board, etc. to find the ports you are stopping at.

You can also join your roll call on CC. There might be some tours there you might want to join. Our roll call right now has very few on it.

I also like to look at the member reviews on CC for the ship I'm sailing on and under port reviews.

You can also google the ports to see if there is something that interests you or your local library is a good source - I like Frommer's and Fodor travel guides. Rick Steves is great too (but I think he mainly writes about Europe).

I've just started planning but have a pretty good idea of what we will be doing. We have been to Cabo, Acapulco and Costa Rica before so just trying to figure out Puerto Quetzal (probably go to Antigua with the ship on our own and pick up a guide for around $10 pp for a walking tour). In Cartegna looking to do another ship tour to the city but there are several guides that get good reviews on the Colombia board. Can't find much info about Corinto , Nicaragua but will probably be going to Leon (again with NCL because of our shore excursion credit).

We are excited for our Panama cruise. It was a great price too! Have fun planning.

Found this post very interesting especially since I booked this cruise this morning 2/14 thru 2/28 from LA to Miami through the Panama Canal.

Seems strange that the dates were different (only thru the 21st from the post I read). Are people still traveling who were previously told it was cancelled? Is it a partially charted ship?

I booked through an online TA but NCL site is also showing available cabins.

Thinking of booking air tonight. Should I?

We sailed on Jade March 2015 in the Med. We really liked the food. We have not sailed on NCL for over 10 years because of the food. We ate in the main dining room (I think it was called Pacific?) and the buffet for breakfast and lunch. We did not eat in any of the specialty restaurants. We usually sail on RCCL. The service was excellent on the Jade.

There are not as many activities on the Jade as on RCCL - it seemed like a lot of repeats and pretty boring stuff. The gym is pretty small. The space is really small for the free aerobics class in the morning. I was never able to find a space.

I think the entertainment was comparable to RCCL.

Embarkation and disembarkation were very fast.

We had OBC from our TA. We have always been able to use that for tips when sailing RCCL. This time we had Non-refundable OBC which could not be used for tips. We found this out the next to the last day. Too late to use it on very much so I went jewelry shopping. I couldn't understand what difference it would make on using it for tips - so be aware if you have OBC.

Don't know what ports you will be stopping at but we loved Barcelona.

We recently returned from Pumukkale. We used the same taxi driver as Ssislandgirl. We really enjoyed our day with Yucel. We paid 150E plus tip. Entrance to Pumukkale is 25tl per person. Cleopatra's pool is an extra fee. It was a very long drive but nice to see the countryside of Turkey. You spend more time in the car than at the actual site. We enjoyed Hieropolis a lot. We did not have time to swim in the pool. The "hot springs" were barely warm. It was interesting especially since we had previously been to Ephesus.

I would think your kids would be bored because of the long ride. Since you are going in the summer you may want to explore the National Park area near Kusadasi. Our taxi driver had info on that and it looked good but have not been there personally. Seems like that would be closer and might be enjoyable for your family. I would highly recommend Yucel Bor for your transportation needs.

Just returned from Katakolon. Just outside the port gates on the main street (across from the port entrance) we got a bus for 10E per person to Olympia roundtrip. On the return we had a short narration. The company had several buses. It was less money than pre-booking with another bus service. We had several hours at Olympia and then we were given the choice of being dropped off at the far end of town to shop or back at the port entrance. They also had free Wi-Fi at their business. Sorry can't remember the name of the company. Would use them again.

We just returned from visiting Athens on the NCL Jade. Athens is very easy to DIY. We walked the 30 minute walk from the cruise terminal to the train station (you can also take a bus). Walk out the terminal, up the ramp to the left to the main road. Head left along the main road and walk along the waterfront. After about 20 min. along the waterfront you will come to a stoplight and will need to turn right. You will be able to see an overpass/bridge. The train station is a large yellow building. We had to ask a couple of people if we were heading in the right direction.

We also were in Athens in Feb. and didn't think the Hop on Hop off buses would be running but they were. They are just outside the terminal on the main street. They were charging 10E. The metro is easy to use. We bought our tickets at the window - all day pass for 4E. Validate ticket before getting on metro. We chose to ride the Green Line to Thisso (about 15 min). We got off at the Ancient Agora and went there first. The entrance fee is 12E and includes the Acropolis. After the Agora we went to Mars Hill and the Acropolis. We used Rick Steve's guidebook and also downloaded his walking tours of the Agora and the Acropolis on an IPOD which were great (and free). After we walked through the Plaka area (stopping to shop and eat gelato) to Syntagma Square where we watched the changing of the guards. We then walked to Ariston #10 Voulis Street (about 2 blocks from Syntagma) for a chicken/bacon pie for 2E. Yummy! You can read about this bakery at athensguide dot com. We then proceeded to walk down Ermou Street to Monastiraki Square. We found Mitropoleous Street "Souvlaki Row" and found a restaurant with take away gyros for 3E. Sorry didn't get the restaurants name but they were yummy and there was a bathroom too. We shopped a little around the area and then boarded the metro at the Monastiraki station. We had a wonderful day in Athens and really enjoyed the city. The weather was nice and minimal crowds. We did do a lot of walking but we prefer to walk and see things than ride the metro to and fro but that also would be a possibility.

It was non-refundable OBC. We have not talked to our travel agent yet. We just returned home yesterday. We usually sail on RCCL and have always used the OBC from the same travel agent for gratuities. We did not know we could not do that on NCL. We went to guest services and they told us we could not use it for the gratuities because it was non-refundable. Didn't want to lose it so bought a ring.

We just returned from our Jade cruise and were surprised by NCL's policy regarding OBC for tips. We received our OBC from our online travel agent and could not use it for tips. We usually cruise on RCCL and have never had this problem. We did not find out the policy until we received a letter in our cabin on day 8 of a 10 day cruise that we had a credit and if we did not use it we would lose it (glad we were informed but day 1 would have been better). We only had one port day left and already had plans for the day so a ship excursion was not ideal nor was booking a specialty restaurant (most were already booked). I ended up buying a ring. Seems like a stupid policy. What does it matter if OBC is used for gratuities? We really enjoyed our cruise on Jade except for this policy.

We just returned home from cruising on the Jade. We were on the Star 10 years ago and never sailed on NCL again because of the food. We were very impressed with our recent experience on the Jade (it made us want to sail on NCL again). We have been on Carnival, Princess and Celebrity. We usually sail on RCCL. We thought the food on the Jade was better than on RCCL. - MDR and buffet food. There were always plenty of choices and the food was always hot (one thing that was always hard to get on our last two RCCL cruises).

Thanks for posting and sharing your beautiful photos. We will be in Istanbul in a couple of weeks and can't wait to experience it for ourselves. I have been enjoying your other port photos too.

Thanks again for all the info! We are booked with Yucel in a couple of weeks. Can't wait. We always like to explore and see new things when we travel to ports we have already been to. We would've never known that this was doable from Kusadasi. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for posting. Great info. We will be in Kusadasi in 3 weeks and have been to Ephesus. Can you remember how much you paid for the taxi and what time of year you were there?

Not knowing the interests of your family of the two choices I would choose Allure.

We have been on two med cruises (both on RCCL - the cruise line we prefer). We are leaving on the Jade in 3 weeks. We have been on NCL one other time with our four boys over 10 years ago. We were not impressed so have not been on another NCL cruise. We liked the price and itinerary of the Jade so we are trying NCL again. Our children had a fun time on NCL. It was their first cruise. We have also sailed on Liberty of the Seas with our children which had a lot of activities for them. Our children have never done the kids clubs so can't comment on them.

We have been to Venice, Corfu, Santorini and will be going to Olympia (not really a lot there from what I've done in my research for that port) in a couple of weeks. Love Venice and Santorini.

We have also been to Barcelona, Mallorca, Florence, Rome and Naples.

I know my family would enjoy the ports and the Allure ship the most.

Lots to see in Barcelona. Spend at least a couple of days there. Metro is easy and inexpensive. Mallorca has a big cathedral and castle. Florence and Rome are further away so transportation can be pricier. Local train into Rome is easy if you want to DIY. Haven't docked at Le Spezia - not sure of transport into Florence but have always wanted to explore the Cinque Terre. Can combine Pompeii and the Amalfi coast in Naples. Lots of art/history/culture on both trips but if I thought this might be the only time in Europe as a family I would choose Allure (so many more ship activities for your family on sea days too).

We have never sailed in a suite. When traveling with our children we have booked adjoining staterooms giving us two rooms/two bathrooms.

If you book the Jade sailing you may want to consider renting a car/taking the train to Rome for a few days and then flying home from Rome. We have done that before too.

Happy planning! What ports would be on you and your husband's bucket list?