littlelulu01

The Jade dry dock is scheduled for early next year. Staterooms have flat screen televisions. I'm not sure if you can check onboard account on the television because I never turned it on but you can download the NCL app on your phone and check account. It's accurate and updated quickly when you make a purchase. The Jade has been in Europe so I imagine music and some entertainment will change but there was no Caribbean band in the Mediterranean.

Those could be resold on the Star. The suites are setup so that access can either be the living area plus a couple of bedrooms or the outside area plus a couple of bedrooms. Not sure if it's ever been done but the door configurations are there to block off areas. And those can also be combined with the other one on the opposite side. The walls in the living room are able to be moved to open to the other and the same is true on the outside space.

I was thinking it wouldn't be much to refit that configuration on the Jade. There's already a hallway access door at the end of the hallway inside the gv and each room has card key access. It would simply be putting up a door where the master bedroom hallway door is. Granted the two extra bedrooms would need some spiffing up to make them a little more Haven quality. They are essentially SF furnished as is but they would easily sell stand alone with Haven access and no access to the rest of the GV unless all booked together. The remaining space is still insane/perhaps a little too much upper deck space for two but I don't know how you could cut any of that out without affecting the privacy. I bet if that was an option the suites would be in higher demand. Couples who want a totally private over the top suite would book the main section, families or groups would book the whole suite as a 3 bedroom and couples could book one of the other 2 bedrooms as a less expensive Haven suite.

Thanks for your excellent review. Glad you had fun on the Jade. We loved the cruise. Got on the ship while you were getting off for the two week.

I'm sure you are loving your room. We had 14500 for two weeks, 9/28-10/8. I was in total awe and hated to leave the ship.

We were just two and so the extra bedrooms were a waste of space. I think it would be nice if those could somehow be booked separately.

It was by far the best at sea experience we've ever had. Since the gv had just about anything we could want we didn't even end up using the courtyard.

I've also been looking at the plans for the newer builds and looks like they no longer offer anything comparable.

I'm still waking up in the morning and it takes a minute for me to realize I'm back home and not in the gv.

I don't have menu pics but did just return from two weeks on the Jade. Suite breakfast and lunch menu is the same daily. Breakfasts were nice because they put out a buffet that you can just grab what you feel like. Items such as fresh berries, lox bagels, musili, muffins and danish, cold cereal... off the menu I remember steak and eggs, eggs Benedict, crab Benedict, French toast, some sort of lobster/egg in toast with sauce on it.

Lunch items that I can remember? Cheeseburger, pasta with shrimp, shrimp cocktail, salads. There's more but seems we never really ate lunch on the ship much.

Breakfast and lunch each had about 10 items to choose off menus so if up for variety on a 7 night cruise more than enough to choose from. for us on a 14 night, we were typically off the ship for lunch and would have butler bring us fruit and oatmeal or whatever we wanted for the mornings. Our butler gave us menus for all the restaurants and told us just to write down what we wanted and what time. Whenever we had a request it was always delivered on time and hot.

Have a wonderful cruise. We loved the Jade.

If you intend on using the spa, I think the spa on the Pearl is nicer than on the Jade. Love both ships equally otherwise and would go with the itinerary/price you like the best.

I also just sailed the Jade for two weeks. Didn't pay any attention to hot tubs but I did overhear several times staff talking about preparing for some intensive inspections upon return to the US and need for them to participate in many QA inspections for preparation. This may have had something to do with it.

Great news, noted. What were the pricing options (still time/minutes based and/or also MB data used basis) ?? What was the optional one-time activitation fees per device for the paid, extras using iConcierge App functions? TIA.

 

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Anyone can use the I concerige app and I don't think there is a charge for that. We were on a 14 night so 24.95/day unlimited. I had pre purchased and so didn't pay attention to any other time plans. As many devices as u want but only one at a time.

I wanted to report back after my cruise on the Jade September 24-October 8. I can confirm that the new Internet is available on the Jade and for the most part it works almost as fast as land speeds. We were able to wifi call and FaceTime video as well as do just about anything we could on land. We were very satisfied with the new service.

Thanks for the review. We concur with your opinions and loved the cruise. For the 8 am arrival to Santorini with all the other ships in port we used Alex private boat tours for a day charter. Found him on TripAdvisor and split the cost with another couple from roll call. He picked us up and dropped us off at tender drop off point avoiding the need to use cable car or donkey path in either direction. We all agreed that it was one of our best days of the trip. For the 2pm arrival that didn't have the cable car lines we booked the boat to oia and bus back to Fira with cable car ride down to tender point. There was still a bit of walking, about the same as I remember last year when we did the ship excursion you did.

We were also on the b2b, I think the same time as you? (September 24-October 8) we had garden villa 14500 and loved every minute of this vacation of a lifetime.

I think Omar said he's going to be onboard for another two months. Our butler said the butlers rotate every two weeks.

Great review. We were on the b2b starting the 24th. We're currently on our way home.. Sitting at the airport.

A few things I was curious about prior to sail. Internet speeds. I can confirm the Internet is now much faster. We were able to FaceTime audio and video. The first sea day we had a couple hours where it was slower but subesequrnt sea days no issues noted. It was worth the price for us.

There were 400 Americans onboard for the second week sailing so truly diverse crowd.

Food wise. I found the mushroom soup and filet at le bistro excellent and much better than the filet in cagney's but could have just been an off night for cagney's. We ate 6 speciality dinners over the two weeks. I thought the food was fine, service great. We both lost weight on the cruise, not something typical but we tried hard not to eat half of what we wanted being concious of two weeks on board. Loved the wings in blue lagoon. We ordered with sauce on the side. They come out hot and crispy.

There's a nasty cough going around in Europe. Many passengers had it and I saw several coughing without covering their mouths in the Buffett, elevators... I ended up with it. FYI a ship dr visit is $149 and zpack was $92. I got my husband a zpack in Italy on turnaround day, exact same med for 3 euro. He never ended up catching it though. The pharmacies in Croatia won't sell meds without a dr prescription. The ship dr visit was worth it to me and my sore throat, cough, runny nose cleared up in about 4 days.

We both loved the cruise. Hated to get off the ship and could easily have stayed on a few more weeks. It's a smooth operation and staff are quite proficient, helpful and many with years of experience. A vacation of a lifetime for us as well. I can't think of one negative other than passengers coughing.

Our first NCL cruise was a Haven 2bedroom on the Pearl. My husband had sworn off cruising until he tried this for Alaska. It was probably one of our best vacations ever. The same season I sailed inside gt last min with daughter. We had just as much fun. Last year I did an oceanview two weeks on the Jade med with my kids, no husband. We had an incredible vacation. I thought all the extra attention was given on first NCL cruise because we were Haven guests. Our subsequent cruises in non suite rooms were just as attentive, our room stewards were just as good, not having priority tender was really not an issue at all.

In non haven I felt like I got more into the vibe of what was going on, met more people and participated more in the activities around the ship.

Will clarify that I've yet to sail on one of their mega ships. Also found the food in free venues has gotten much better and so has the dining service. I know food is subjective but I felt that NCL was much ahead of HAL on food and entertainment.

Spa passes give you a feeling of luxury and pampering. Also ordering things like a romance package to have some fun pampering things like breakfast in bed, flowers, a couples massage, afternoon treats can add to my feeling of a more pampering vacation and in the grand scheme don't cost much compared to a Haven suite. I wouldn't hesitate to sail in a non suite, inside or oceanview on a Jewel class ship. Of course I'd prefer the Haven but would be quite happy in any room.

When its all said and done, while I'm not crazy how NCl structures their packages for the extras, it's not really a deal breaker to order a case of water, a few coffees, perhaps an upcharge if you want lobster. In the end if you just figure there is going to be some costs like this then it's kinda nice when you get the extra treats and still feel like you aren't paying an arm and leg. I know people don't like the changes here and there with the line but each time we have cruised with them we've had an excellent vacation.

We now have a few cruises on NCL and can honestly say we've had just as much fun Haven as non haven- just different experiences.

Based on my extensive massage experience [emoji2]I know cheap places/chair massage might charge a buck a minute. Nice spas about twice that. So, $50 service. Calculates to $9. If it was awesome I'd round to $10. I would not tip less than $7. That is just what I would do.

 

 

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Thanks. Pretty much what I was figuring. Still a little perplexed on the romance package included dinners. We also have a dining package that we already paid 18% on. I guess they'll let us know which meals we need to pay an additional 18% when the bill comes.

Guess what? Spa is not part of the DSC. I hope you tip the poor masseuse.

 

 

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I was well aware the DSC does not include spa services. I hope I tip the poor masseuse too! But on a package that includes the dinners, flowers, massages..... And the massages have no price assigned, on what cost do I tip this person?

Did you get that writing? It doesn't say either way in the description of the package on the NCL website (or in Explore & Plan if you try to order it).

I agree, $10 for a thermal suite day pass is a steal (they could have gone earlier in the day, and after the massage). The OP didn't say how much they were asking for to extend the massage.

No I didn't. I called and ordered, paid for and was told. It makes sense to me that when given as a gift, the receiver is not charged extra just to receive a gift. My understanding is that 18% on dinners and other gifts Is paid at time of purchase and thus can retain its, "gift" status vs turn into an extra fee burden.

The way it was explained to me is that I can give extra above DSC and various package fees to anyone I feel has gone above and beyond to make my vacation special but that I am not expected or mandated to give extra above what I am pre charged for nor are additional tips expected. If I am expected to give 18% + on a massage with ? $ value to begin with and expected to pay an additional 18% + on my romance package dinners it is a very different product than I thought. I was figuring an extra cash tip for good service to those I choose to tip depending on service. I'm not expecting to get a bill for a le bistro dinner and have to pay an additional $20-30 just for one dinner tip a la carte priced when the romance pkg says the dinner is included.

So did you tip and if so how much? Kind of hard to figure out what the tip is when the massage part is lumped in with all the other things. I got the package on our upcoming cruise. I was told that the 18% tip on the dinners and 25 mins massage was included. There's no 25 minute massage for sale on the spa menu so nothing to price compare. I was thinking about leaving something extra if my experience is enjoyable and relaxing but a 9x's sales pitch within 25 minutes time span doesn't sound too relaxing.

How ironic- this is also the day we booked him for. I just realized you are on our roll call! Thanks for your advice on checking in- we are definitely planning on it as we have heard the airport is chaotic like you described.

Let's hope there's more than one of him because we have him booked for the train station! I think it's a taxi service vs one man outfit. I found on trip advisor last year when I was trying to schedule airport ride with early flights.

If you opt for putting your bags out the night prior, instead of carrying off, make sure to watch the daily newsletter for distribution of the color bag tags. They were available on a wall next to guest services. The early times go fast.

I don't remember seeing others carrying luggage off, but that's not to say they weren't. I do remember it being a smooth operation and our bags were off and waiting for us when we disembarked. The airline lost our bags on the way to Europe last year and we didn't see them till the night prior to getting on the ship so this year we're only doing carry on.

See you soon! We board the 24th.

Yes, it would work.

 

You won't get lags with calls, but perhaps "cut outs" when the connection lags. However, I used a version of a Wifi phone (I'll explain below) and it was mostly okay.

 

You will sometimes get "auto logged out" by the system for no activity after 30 mins, so be aware of that if you are expecting incoming calls (or want to make outgoing ones and discover it suddenly doesn't work!) To remedy this if it happens, simply go to a web browser, go to any web page, and it will force you to re-login.

 

You do not need a premium service like Vonage to receive calls or send/receive texts while onboard. There are many apps you can download for your phone (search for free texting) which will allow this. Typically these apps will assign you a phone number (which you can give to friends for the cruise only), and then you can both receive free calls on it AND send/receive texts on it. The only restriction typically comes in that it costs money to make outgoing calls, but you can buy some cheap plans for that, and it often gives you something like 10 free minutes.

 

That's what I did.

 

Skype also sometimes works for incoming and outgoing calls. You need to sign up for premium service if you want a real phone # and the ability to call out, though. However, some ships block Skype, so beware of that.

Thanks

Thanks so much for the advice- we were able to book with this individual!

Good. We have him booked for the 8th of October. I would also make sure you are checked in for flight prior to arriving at airport. The lines were much less for those who were checked in (British airways). I did it on my phone in the way to airport. Once arrived at airport it is a little overwhelming. There's staff available to point you in the right direction but it is a chaotic mess until you get through security. You should easily make your flight as long as you have someone picking you up, get off the ship as soon as it's clear. We were cleared for disembark from ship at 8:10.

If I have a wifi phone, and the unlimited internet, would this work instead of getting these apps for wifi calls? I know ship is slower than home. My home is in a cell service dead zone so when I'm in the house the phone automatically switches over to wifi call. Didn't know if ship is like that but just slower and potentially lags with calls? Sorry about the questions. Not very savvy with this sort of thing.

There is a trick to using more than one device.

 

Google "Connectify" and download that free program. It will allow you to rebroadcast your internet connection to other devices for free. This also works at hotels, on airplanes, or anything else that only allows one device to be connected at a time. I use it, and it works.

 

Regarding connection speeds on NCL, comparing it to dialup is not accurate. Dialup, for all of its slowness, was at least consistent. Believe it or not, you could use an old-school dialup connection today and still do most of your web-browsing and e-mail reading fairly easily, with only minimal delays. Dialup's weakness came when downloading large files. That means that you couldn't watch videos on dialup, nor could you download movies or music in a reasonable amount of time. But standard web browsing would be fine.

 

The ship is a good deal faster than dialup in most cases, but it is also very inconsistent. Think of it as a surface street where the speed limit is 50 mph, but there's a whole lot of traffic lights. So you'll go at a decent speed for a short time, then have to stop. Then you'll go again, and stop again. This is why ship internet is very maddening to use. It will start to download something (e-mail, a webpage, etc), and then freeze up, giving the impression that the whole thing is just really slow. It's more likely that it's just stopping more than it's running, thus giving the appearance of slowness.

 

Now, don't get me wrong. Even at its best, the NCL internet connection is much slower than your home WiFi. But the speed can't really be quantified in comparison to consistent connections, even dialup.

 

BTW, it is possible to have a free INCOMING phone number via the NCL internet. On my last Dawn cruise, I bought unlimited internet, and strolled around the ship with my cell phone, receiving calls from friends and family back on land! Didn't cost me a penny beyond the cost of the unlimited NCL internet. I'll explain this if you want. It's not perfect, but it mostly works.

I would like to know how you used wifi to receive calls. Thanks.

No we are not, but I might contact NCL to see if they could assist prior to cruising. Thanks for the help!

I used this guy last year and have him scheduled again this year. 40 euro from ship to airport ekiprent@tiscali.it He was waiting with a sign. Had a Mercedes sprinter. I would definitely pre book and not expect taxis lined up in Venice waiting. There are a few but the cue was very long and the wait was too. If that guy isn't available just google search for something, but definitely have it set up in advance if you are in a time crunch. It's about 20 minutes barring traffic problems from ship to airport. I think you will have much better luck setting up your own taxi ride vs calling NCL and asking them to.

Thanks. Last May I took the offer. On my very last roll I hit a hand pay.

Last year I purchased a FCC. If taken in casino play $, they gave $125 vs $100 obc. Does anyone know if they still offer this? Thanks

The spa passes will be available to pre purchase at a discount 60 days prior to crui. 90 days prior for those booked in suites. I think they were $179 pp for our upcoming med 14 night. Prices vary depending on sailing.