Review of 7-day Greek Isles on NCL Jade Sept 17-24

[Vancan123]

First off, a big thanks to all of the other posters here on Cruise Critic! I did a lot of pre-cruise preparation, read many other people's posts and knew what to expect; everything went smoothly and we had a great time!

 

We booked our trip nine months in advance; chose the 'free' beverage and wifi offers; purchased a 4-night specialty dining package and booked our dining times in advance; prepaid our gratuities; booked an NCL excusion for Santorini, arranged a private driver for Katakolon/Olympia and did Corfu and Mykonos on our own. We also received a $300 shipboard credit compliments of our booking agency:-- smartcruiser dot com.

 

My father is a type 1 diabetic and it can be unpredictable when he has to eat: for this reason, I booked a mini-suite for my parents, # 11124, near the aft stairs, one floor below the Garden Cafe buffet. This was perfect for us, as he could go up to grab a milk or snack if he needed it. For myself, I had an inside cabin, # 11131, almost across the hall from my parents. We had no issues with noise being under the buffet, or being near the stairs.

 

Pre-Cruise

We flew from Vancouver to Bologna, Italy, on Air France with a four-hour layover at CDG in Paris. We were seated in the Premium Economy Section, had comfortable seats and great food and service. We ate breakfast and I had a shower in the Air France lounge at CDG.

 

We stayed at the Hotel Inter****onale in Bologna for four nights before our cruise. Bologna has many sights to see, but is not exactly on the main tourist trail. Our hotel was quite nice, breakfast was included and probably cost 1/3 the price of a similar hotel in Venice or Rome. We saw the old university and the two towers; took day trips to Ferrara to see the amazing Este Castle (moat/drawbridge/dungeon) and to Rome to see the Colosseum/Forum/Vittoriano.

 

Here are some of our pre-cruise photos, and then I will write about the cruise in my next post.

[cincicruisers]

Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Vancan123]

[i'm having a bit of trouble trying to upload photos of Ferrara and Rome, so I'll just move on to embarkation day]

 

Bologna is about 1h15m from Venice by train. There are some amazing deals if you buy your train tickets directly from trenitalia.com when they go on sale, 120 days in advance. If you know when you want to travel, count back 120 days, and make sure you get your tickets then, or the cheap ones will sell out!

We paid 29 euros each for first class tickets on the Frecciasrossa fast train, which included nice reclining chairs/snacks/drink/newspaper. On the Freccia class trains, there is lots of room to store your luggage at the end of the car.

 

There are two stations in Venice: Mestre is on the Mainland, and Santa Lucia is on the islands. Santa Lucia is closer to the embarkation piers, but you will have to wheel your luggage a few blocks, then over a bridge, a few more blocks to the People Mover, and then quite a ways to the port. It is much easier to get off the train in Mestre and take a taxi.

 

All taxis charge a flat rate of 35 euros to go from Mestre station to the port. Our driver was friendly and loaded our luggage into the trunk, then we headed onto the highway and over the causeway to Venice. There is a security stop at the entrance to the port, and you have to show your cruise booking information to the officer on duty before your driver can proceed to your ship. We passed many people wheeling their luggage from the people mover to the port; our driver dropped us off right beside our ship. We arrived about 12:10, and according to our documents, check-in started at noon.

 

There were two check-in lanes at the luggage drop. A busy lane for people who hadn't printed out their luggage tags, and an empty lane for people like us who had. We walked up, attached our tags to our bags and put them on the conveyer belt and entered the terminal.

 

Inside we were given simple health forms to fill out, and then went directly to the check-in counter, there were no waits inside either. The agent took our health forms, scanned our passports, and was about to take our photos when their computer system crashed. This was the only negative thing about our entire trip, and really it was no big deal; we only waited about 15 minutes, but by then there were probably 100 people in line behind us!

 

Because of the slow down, all of the people ahead of us had already boarded. By the time we got our room cards it was already time for our group to go through security and board the Jade.

 

We ended up having lunch outside at the Great Outdoors, and around 1:30 there was an announcement that we could go to our staterooms.

 

My parents were surprised and very happy that their grandsons had ordered a Bon Voyage package for them: our steward, Komang, had decorated the room with balloons and nautical streamers, a Bon Voyage banner and a cake.

He brought our luggage, and introduced himself around 2PM. We then unpacked, explored the ship, and went to the muster drill around 4PM.

 

The 6PM sailaway from Venice is amazing. We positioned ourselves on the top sundeck, port side, for the best views of St Mark's Square. It takes about one hour to sail from the port, past St Mark's, into the lagoon and out past the Lido into the Adriatic.

 

We ate in the buffet the first evening. There was lots of choices and it wasn't overly crowded.

[Vancan123]

Both of our sea days were relaxing.

 

On our first sea day we had breakfast in the Great Outdoors. It was nice to sit outside and get some sun. It was also a little quieter than the main inside buffet.

 

After breakfast we explored the ship again and then ended up sitting out on deck chairs on the quiet deck up top.

 

It clouded over after lunch, so we checked out a few indoor activities: my Mom went to a 'Diamond Seminar' and my Dad and I went to Bingo. I was a little surprised at how much it cost to play (packages were $30/$40/$50), but we had pre-paid for everything and had a $300 shipboard credit from our booking agent, so we had to spend it on something LOL. We only played two games, but Hector, Margaryta and Ari from the Cruise Director's staff made it a lot of fun.

 

For dinner we had reservations at Teppanyaki. There are only four stations and each of them only seats eight guests, so make your reservations early, because it was booked solid every night. To start off you get miso soup and a salad; the chef cooks in front of your, cracking jokes all the time- it is quite the show! I ordered beef and chicken, but he made so much, that you get to try a bit of what everyone else has ordered too.

 

After dinner we went to Spinnaker's Lounge to watch the Yes/No game. Contestants sit in a chair and try to have a two-minute conversation with the Cruise Director, without using the words Yes or No.

-who are you travelling with today?

-my wife?

-where is she?

-over there.

-is that her over there?

-yes.

BUZZ!

 

After that we went to the evening show and watched an acrobatic duo, and then back to Spinnaker's to play 'Sing it if you know it'.

 

All in all a fun, relaxing day.

[Vancan123]

The weather forecast had predicated heavy rain for our day in Corfu, so we were pleasantly surprised to wake up to a mix of sun and clouds, although there were quite a few dark clouds in the distance.

 

We ate breakfast in the Great Outdoors, and got ready to head into Corfu Town. There was a shuttle bus from the ship to the port, and from there we took a taxi for 10 euros into the old city.

 

All of the streets were soaked, as it had poured earlier in the morning. We walked to the harbour and had a look at the Old Fortress from outside (it looked like there would be a lot of climbing inside, and my parents weren't up to that). We then returned to the main shopping street in the old town and realized that the whole city was without power, so we took a taxi back to our ship--we had good timing, because it started to rain on our ride back to the port.

 

Back on the Jade we played 'Celebrity Trivia', and had dinner at Cagney's: my Dad and I had the filet mignon, and my Mom had the chicken. It was pouring outside, there was a huge lightning storm, and the ship calmly rocked us to sleep.

[www3traveler]

Do you remember who any of the Senior Bridge or Hotel were?

 

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

[easyboy]

Following your review. Nice photos too.

[Vancan123]

Sorry, I have no idea who they were.

*****

www3traveler

 

Do you remember who any of the Senior Bridge or Hotel were?

[Vancan123]

The Jade arrived in Santorini about 3PM. Truly spectacular!

 

People not on excursions were lining up around 11 to get tender tickets, but we went to Bingo instead, since we had booked a tour through NCL, and they have a separate tender process for people on their tours.

 

We met in the Stardust Theatre where groups were called one-by-one and escorted to the tender. Most people went on tours that stopped in the town of Oia; our tour took us to see the ruins of Akrotiri and then to a winery. There were less than 20 people on our excusion.

 

The tender docked in the port of Athinios, where we boarded our bus. It took about 30 minutes to get to Akrotiri, mainly because the road was steep and narrow with many switchbacks. The views were amazing!

 

Our guide was very knowledgeable and told us a lot about the island and its history. Akrotiri was destroyed in a volcanic eruption over 3500 years ago, and only about 3% of the site has so far been excavated. Our guide had many photos of artefacts and paintings on her tablet to help us image what life had been like for the Minoan era people who lived there.

 

The next stop was at Santos winery, where we got to were offered a selection of snacks and got to taste three wines. The view from here were really impressive.

 

Finally we drove to the bus lot in Fira and our guide walked us up a steep hill into Fira town. It is quite a steep hill: my Mom's legs were sore, and one gentleman was panting. The guide then gave us directions and tickets for the cable car down to the port.

 

We had heard about lengthy waits for the cable car, but we had none at all. There were four ships visiting Santorini that day, but three of them had left by six, and all aboard time for the Jade was at 9PM, with a 10PM departure.

We got to the cable car around 6:30PM and walked right on, then we waited less than 10 minutes for a tender back to our ship.

[Vancan123]

We chose to do Mykonos on our own.

 

NCL ran a free shuttle bus from the port to the bus depot just outside of Mykonos Town. We walked around the alleyways, saw the windmills, and had a drink by the harbour.

 

That evening we ate on board at Alizar.

[Vancan123]

We arranged a private shore excursion with Mamousis Tours, and it was one of the best things we did on our trip.

 

Our driver, Nikos, was waiting outside the ship at 9AM; he had a sign with my name on his dashboard. He explained about the history of the Olympic games as he drove us to Olympia. We spent 90 minutes there: roughly 45 at the archeological site, where we saw the ruins of the Stadium, Gymnasium and various temples; and another 45 minutes at the museum. It was nice that we arrived there before all the tour buses, and at times it felt like we had parts of the ruins to ourselves.

 

After Olympia, Nikos took us to an old monastery on a hill with amazing views of the countryside. He spoke to the nuns and they unlocked a special room where they keep some relics. Then Nikos took us to a nice restaurant overlooking the beach.

 

Back on board, we ate at Moderno, a Brazilian restaurant. They waiters came around to each table with maybe 10 different skewers of meat, plus there was a large salad bar.

[Huntingdon1701]

Do you remember who any of the Senior Bridge or Hotel were?

 

Glad you enjoyed your trip.

 

First names only in the Freestyle Daily, but:

Captain Vanya

Hotel Director: Mirsad

Cruise Director: Dave

Guest Services Manager: Sayeed

[Vancan123]

We spent much of our final sea day on deck, then before dinner, my Mom started to organize our suitcases, and my Dad and I went to the final Bingo session. This was the session where, in addition to the Bingo prizes, they award a 'free' 7-day Caribbean cruise for two.

 

Yes, I was the lucky winner, and am already booked on the Gem out of San Juan, PR, for Nov 27th!!

 

I'm still responsible for paying taxes and fees, so to cover those, my Dad and I stopped at the Cruise Next Desk, and purchased two $250 deposits, which gave us a $250 shipboard credit so spend on this cruise.

 

We went back to meet my Mom for dinner and told her part of the news. We had a great dinner at Le Bistro, and then I said 'there's more...we have to spend $250 on board tonight" She was happy, and ended up getting two tops, three bracelets and a necklace in the on-board boutique.

[Vancan123]

The night before disembarkation we had to put our large suitcases out in front of our rooms by 11PM. There were coloured luggage tags on a rack in the Atrium, and you chose a colour that corresponded to what time you planned to leave the ship. We had to be out of our rooms by 9AM, and off the ship by 10AM, so we chose orange tags, which were for 9:50.

 

The buffet was really busy at breakfast, but we still found a free table. We went back to our rooms to get our carry-ons and then waited in the Medusa Lounge for a bit. We walked off when our colour was called, and it was easy to find our suitcases in the terminal.

 

There was a bit of a walk (maybe 10-15 mins) from the disembarkation terminal to the water taxi stand. I had prebooked a private water taxi to Venice airport--I gave the woman in the booth my voucher, and she radioed for a water taxi to come. It took about 30 minutes to get to Venice airport.

 

We arrived there around 11AM, and our flight to Paris didn't leave until 3PM.

Venice airport is crowded!

We managed to make our way through the crowds to the AirFrance SkyPriority line and waited about 15 minutes until it was our turn...

 

Because the airport is so crowded, they won't let you check in for your flight until 2 hours before departure!!

 

The agent was really nice about it. She phoned her supervisor, but the system wouldn't let her put us on an earlier flight, or let her accept our luggage! She was able to tag them, but we had to go away for 1h45m until she could accept them.

 

We weaved through the crowds again to the overcrowded cafeteria and finally found some seats and got a drink.

 

At 1PM we returned, checked in our luggage, breezed through the Sky Priority security line and got to relax in the lounge.

 

Apart from waiting to check in, the entire process from leaving our cabin, to taking a water taxi, to flying to Paris went really smoothly.

[Vancan123]

We had a two night stopover in Paris before returning home to Vancouver.

I figured it would be easier if we just stayed near the airport and took a day-trip into Paris, instead of lugging our bags into the city, paying twice the price for a hotel, and then having to leave at 6AM to get back to the airport.

 

CDG is a gigantic airport, but it wasn't that difficult to follow the signs from the baggage carousel to the CDGVAL shuttle. We took it two stops to RoissyPole, and from there is was only a five minute walk to the CDG Hilton.

 

The hotel served a nice breakfast, and about 9:30 we headed in to the city. We took the CDGVAL shuttle to Terminal One and then followed the signs to LeBusDirect, a comfortable highway style bus that goes directly to the Arc De Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower. We lucked out as it was a 'car-free' day in central Paris, so there was very little traffic and it only took 30 minutes to get to the Arc de Triomphe.

 

After the Arc de Triomphe, we literally walked down the middle of the Champs Elysees as it was closed to traffic. After a few blocks we turned to the right and the Seine and then walked to the Eiffel Tower.

 

We had reservations to go up at 1PM: that probably saved us one hour, but that was only for the first elevator, then we had to wait nearly an hour for the second elevator, and then wait to take it back down to the first level, and then wait for the elevator to the ground floor. All-in-all it took us 2.5 hours to go up and down and that was with a reservation. Make sure you budget enough time!

 

After the Eiffel Tower we took a Seine River Cruise. That was nice and relaxing and we got to see a lot of central Paris. I prebooked a ticket through Bateaux Parisiens which included the sightseeing cruise, and dinner at a nice restaurant on the Seine. By the time we had finished our dinner, it was almost dark. We walked to the Trocadero to get a good view of the lit-up tower and then took LeBusDirect back to CDG and our hotel.

 

The next morning we had breakfast at the hotel, and then took the hotel shuttle to the terminal. We had a long walk through the terminal, but check-in, security, boarding was very easy and quick.

 

We really enjoyed our trip.

[riclop]

Thanks for the review.

[littlelulu01]

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.

[cruisequeen4ever]

A fun read; thank you for sharing! And super congratulations on winning the free cruise!! [emoji313]

 

 

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[easyboy]

Thanks for your review. Paris is a nice place to end a vacation.