canehdn

Loving your review so far ... love the detail and the pics. Looking forward to boarding the Getaway in October for the first time. Your review gives a great overview of the cruise for someone that has not been on this particular ship before. Thank you ... and looking forward to reading more :)

Enjoying your review ... look forward to boarding October 28th. Thanks for the great details.

Yeah, just went back to the cam and see the ship has turned around and is on it's way out of the harbor.

Not much you can do but make the best of it and try to stay healthy.

Good travels

For the info Kingmaker. I've been watching the SXM web cam and couldn't figure out why the ship was not docking. Also no one tendering so figured it must have something to do with illness.

Shame, b/c NCL does have such a great rep compared to other cruise lines when it comes to viruses. What will it take for people to understand the importance of the sanitizers.

Good luck

Guess I didn't look hard enough to see if there was another post.

Anyone know why the Gem is sitting in the harbor instead of birthing at the pier. I've never seen a cruise ship do this before. Yesterday there were 4 ships in port and all were at the pier. Been watching the live cam and they're not even tendering people to the island. Just curious if anyone has any info.

Thanks

I booked Super Shuttle to pick us up at Hobby Airport for transfer to the Best Western Plus in Seabrook. The hotel offers free shuttle to Bayport Cruise Terminal as it is only 4 miles from the hotel. Upon return Super Shuttle will again pick us up at the cruise port and transfer us to Bush Intercontinental Airport. No worries and no waiting for the NCL shuttle bus to fill up before heading out.

The Bayport Cruise terminal is a bit inconvenient for those traveling into the state by air.

We booked also booked Bob's Limo. Took it from Rome to Civitavecchia and then again from the cruise port to Fiumicino upon our return. Very dependable and reasonable. We self disembarked and were scheduled for an 8:00 am pick up and our driver was right there waiting for us. We paid 30Euro/person ... a year ago February.

Great job on the video. Thanks for taking the time for post this very informative tour of your cabin.

Looking forward to your review. Thanks again

Cdn in KS

Congratulations ... what a great job you did on your video. Absolutely loved it.

Cdn in KS

Loved the video clip you made. Awesome job. Now I feel homesick for the Jade. We did a Med cruise last February on the Jade and loved every minute. Thanks again for sharing.

Cdn from KS

Me too ... all afternoon. Just tried again. Still not working.

Cdn in KS

We are sailing on the Jade and have NCL transfers both before and after the cruise. NCL customer service cannot give us any approximate departure or arrival times for either of our transfers we have booked with them. Can anyone help us with these questions?

 

 

 

NCL can't give you a departure time when you disembark because the buses wait to fill before leaving port. If you're off the ship quickly and board the bus right away ... you could be waiting half hour or longer until the bus fills up.

 

We used Bob's Limousine service for all our transfers in Rome. We booked on line and the price was reasonable b/c you can ask for a shared ride with 1 or 2 other couples. They were so professional ... got all our confirmations on line. There was a driver waiting for us with a sign in arrivals when we landed in Rome and the driver was right there waiting for us just outside the port terminal upon disembarkation on our return. Very efficient ... friendly ... courteous.

 

One last note ... if you've never been to the Rome airport ... good luck. One of the worst international airports I have ever experienced.

Papa's Italian Kitchen at the back of the ship Deck 12 beside the Great Outdoors.

Papa's Kitchen serves traditional Italian cuisine. Antipasti, bean soup, Minestrone Soup, and salads are starters. With a selection of pastas and sauces, you can choose your own first course. For pizza, there's also a create your own as well as three house specialties. Second course menu items include Veal Marsala, vegetarian manicotti, chicken parmesan, and Salmon Francesca accompanied by side dishes. Macadamia nut ice cream, strawberry cheesecake, chocolate velvet cake, and Tiramisu are dessert choices. Papa's Italian Kitchen receives good guest reviews for food quality. The fried calamari is delicious! Per person charge to dine is 15USD at Papa's Italian Kitchen.

The cruise is for March 7, 2015 out of Houston on the jewel. It basically said that due to overscheduling they were changing roatan to banana coast. I looked at the website that tells you how many ships are in port, and it did say 4 for roatan, but I also read that some ships tender, so I just figured we were going to tender. Guess not. but im open to change, just wanted to know if anyone had any previous experience with this new port.

Not sure how true that information is ... our itinerary is changed as well and our cruise isn't until October 11. So I'm more inclined to believe it's a permanent change rather than due to overcrowding of the port. It is good for them to change ports every once in a while. From what I've read on line the Banana Coast looks beautiful and it appears they are looking forward to hosting cruisers.

Apart from the Great Outdoors, the Jade also offers Topsiders Bar and Grill on deck near the Pools as mentioned above, as well as Bali Hai Bar and Grill one level up, overlooking the pool area. Both these bars offer limited casual grilled food and are only open at certain times so make sure you check your dailies for schedules.

Was it ever on the ones out of Houston? That was one of the reasons I didnt book out of there, because it was more expensive and one less stop...I hope they are wrong, I have a cruise booked for Jan 2015 and its still showing on my trip summery on NCL.com

You're absolutely right ... my mistake. We had Coxen Hole, Honduras (Roatan) on our itinerary and it's THAT PORT that was removed and they replaced it with Banana Coast (Tujillo), Honduras.

Apologies for the confusion. Anyway, it would be nice to be notified by NCL when there is an itinerary change. If they did so prior to final payment ... it may have an impact on whether or not one wants to make a cruise choice change.

Thanks for correcting me on this. Happy cruising .......

I'm on the October 11th cruise out of Bayport Cruise terminal, Houston and it's been removed from that itinerary as well. No idea why ......

mpcaruth

Loved your review ... very fair ... very detailed and your photos were fabulous. Good job :)

thank for sharing this find. Really enjoyed it.

Cdn in KS

$12/person/day ... all guests 3 years and older

http://www.ncl.com/faq#service-charge

Really enjoying your review and photos so far. Oh my ... you put so much into the organization of your review. It's fabulous. Looking forward to the balance. Thanks for sharing your experience and your wonderful pictures with us.

Enjoying your review ... looking forward to more. You put some great humor into it. Thanks for sharing.

Cdn in KS

Wonderful pictures ... really enjoyed looking at the menus and food pics. The ship is beautiful also, but OH MY!! those food pics. Great job on the photography. Thanks again for sharing your experience.

Cdn in KS

Really enjoyed reading your very detailed yet unbiased review. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Cdn in KS