Jade Mediterranean Review November 2013

[lilli]

My husband and I enjoyed 10 days on the NCL Jade last month and thought I would post a brief review of our experience. This trip was our first on NCL--we generally sail on RCCL and have also been on Celebrity and Disney. We chose this trip primarily for the itinerary/ports and liked that it started and ended in the same port--easier for travel. Originally, my mom was supposed to travel with us and we were all 3 booked in 2 bedroom suite on the 11th floor. After final payment, my mom had to cancel and we were not able to "downgrade" since we had already made final payment so, instead, we were able to be upgraded to a penthouse suite in "the haven." We had flown into Rome the Saturday before sailing and spent 4 days seeing Rome prior to heading to Civitavecchia on Wednesday.

 

Embarkation: We took the train from the San Pietro Station and it was fairly straightforward and definitely the right price--4.60Euro per person!! The Civitavecchia station is about a 10 minute or so walk from the port At the port, you have to ride a bus to the ship. The check in area is like a big blow up tent and we arrived around 145 or so and it was a fairly painless process. Since we were in a suite, we were ushered into a separate area with little snacks and drinks--kind of funny because it was just behind this curtain from the rest of the check in area, but whatever! Our butler, Rosh, escorted us on board and to our cabin.

 

Stateroom: All we could say was WOW--the suite life on NCL is pretty dang nice! We have been in a 2 bedroom suite on RCCL before but this was over the top! It was very luxurious with double sinks, soaker tub with view of ocean, shower with window to ocean, and not to even mention the whole haven area. It was truly an oasis of calm. There is a private deck area above the staterooms with wonderful loungers and beds. One of the garden villas was empty during the cruise and we had a tour and it is crazy with grand piano, 3 bedrooms, and private hot tub. Our butler, Rosh, was a delight and he did an awesome job with the few requests we made. The concierge, whose name I can't remember, was less than stellar--seemed very nervous and anxious and the couple things we did ask of him--dinner reservations and a spa reservation--were not correct.

 

Restaurants/Food/Bar: We utilized the breakfast and lunch option at Cagney's for suite guests on most days and enjoyed all the food there--they had a lovely continental option with lots of fresh fruit, pastries, cereals, etc. The main dining room was hit and miss--one night was great and then the next night, I ordered a vegetable risotto that was inedible to me--it had a sauce akin to nacho cheese sauce at a ball game. Also, ordered some kind of mushroom terrine that literally looked like a turd on the plate--really bad in presentation. The garden cafe was always packed and felt like a feeding frenzy--the food was ok but it was competitive to find a table.

We did eat at Teppanyaki, Cagney's for dinner, and Le Bistro and we enjoyed all three and felt they were worth the up charge.

The martini bar was a fun spot for a pre dinner drink and also the bar at the back of the ship behind the garden cafe. I had brought some wine from Rome with me and had completely forgot i had it in the process of getting on and no one said anything so i never paid the corkage fee and just drank it in the cabin. We also brought a bottle onboard from the winery we visited in olympia and we did stop and pay the corkage fee while boarding for that one.

 

Entertainment: We only really went to two shows--the first night which was not great and to an aerial act that was very impressive! I think their "big show" was called Elements and we missed it because we were worn out and went to bed that night.

We did enjoy a lounge singer whose name escapes me, but he sang james taylor, etc and was very good.

I was very disappointed that there were no "educational" offerings regarding the ports or any of the historical significance of the regions. Lots of bingo, etc tho....

 

Fitness Center: it was adequate--we never had any trouble finding machines. I did take a pilates class and it was a waste of $$.

 

Ports: We visited Olympia first--we had arranged a private tour with Andreas Stamos of Olympia taxi. It was a delightful day with a visit to the Olympia site and then to a winery, the town of Olympia and to a monastery for "views". The ruins here were not as spectacular as Rome or Athens but still very interesting.

The next stop was Athens and we also did a private tour with Private Greece Tours with just 4 of us. This day proved to be a very busy one but we hit all the highlights--acropolis, mars hill, syntagma square, ancient agora, temple of zeus, roman forum, etc. Our driver was excellent and tho we did not have an "official" guide, we did not feel that we needed one!

On Sunday, we docked at Izmir and we visited Ephesus, House of the Virgin Mary and St Johns Basilica with Ephesus Shuttle. Also a great day, with wonderful history and ruins and really an impressive site.

We were thankful that Monday, we did not dock till 1 pm in Istanbul so we could all sleep in a bit and have a leisurely morning! We used ephesus shuttle again here in istanbul and had a private tour. Istanbul is walkable from the port but it is a bit confusing and is so different with regard to language/signage and takes a bit to get acclimated. The first day we visited the Topkapi Palace and the Grand Bazaar. The palace was beautiful and takes a few hours to see--we really enjoyed the harem and the sacred items from Islam as well as all the gorgeous tile work and jewels. The grand bazaar is overwhelming with people wanting you to buy stuff--definitely not for the faint of heart. You have to haggle for every purchase and it gets tiring! My husband and I took advantage of the overnight and went to dinner at a rooftop restaurant called Imbat--it was very reasonably priced and was delicious!! We loved the food in Turkey. We walked back to the ship after diner and walked under the Galata Bridge--took about 30-40 minutes and was very pleasant.

The second day in Istanbul, we visited the Hagia Sophia, blue mosque, hippodrome, underground cistern, Suleymaniye Mosque and ended at the spice market.

we ate a restaurant called Hamdi right near the spice market--it was on the top floor and if you had reservations, they had a lovely terrace with views of the Galata Bridge and Golden Horn.

Our last port was two days later--Naples--and we had arranged a group shore excursion through AP tours for 18 people off of the cruise critic roll call. It worked out great and we ended up with 3 vans of 6. Our first stop was Pompeii and we spent a couple hours there and then on to Positano and Sorrento. Another busy day, but pompeii was awesome and the other sites had beautiful scenery and some fun shopping. We did have a private guide in Pompeii for our group and that was well worth it as the site is huge and would be overwhelming pretty quickly. We definitely enjoyed the "brothel" inside pompeii and seeing the eery plaster casts of the victims--even a dog!

 

Disembarkation: an absolute breeze!! we carried off our luggage and were meeting our transfer at 0700. We weren't sure how long the process would take so we had room service for breakfast and left the cabin at about 625. We were back in the "tent" thing by 635 and delighted that our transfer from Rome Cabs was already there! We were on our way to the airport before 645!

 

Overall, it was an awesome trip and we enjoyed it immensely!! We are not usually "suite" people so being in the suite and in "the haven" area was a big treat and we really loved it! Happy to answer any questions!

[jdvmd]

Lovely review! Glad you had a good time. We did a similar cruise with Celebrity this past summer and used a lot of the same tour operators. Had a great experience. Thanks for sharing!

[pieshops]

We are doing this cruise next December, loved your review and itinerary. I think I will copy it lol.

[pieshops]

How far out did you book your tours.