Jade from Rome, 5/23/19

[mdsgu]

First a little about our group: 6 people -- myself, my wife, our 2 kids (ages 8 and 9) and my wife's parents.  We ranged in age from 8 to 72. 

 

This whole adventure started after we read a book on Greek mythology to our kids (bedtime stories) starting about 2 years ago.  They said they wanted to see "all those places."  Well, we wanted to see them, too.  We found this particular cruise and NCL was offering their 3rd and 4th guests sail free offer, so that brought the cost of the cruise to about what we would pay for a 7-day Caribbean cruise.  We booked it.  Then, we figured since we're already going to be in Europe, why don't we try to see London, Paris, Florence, and Venice, too?  We couldn't make the trains work out for us to squeeze in Florence, but we hit the others!

 

We flew out, direct the Heathrow, on 5/16.  Landed around noon on 5/17, and since we weren't suffering any jet lag, we rented a car and drove to Salisbury to see Stonehenge.  We did, though it is a bit underwhelming.  We also saw Salisbury Cathedral (where one of the 4 remaining original copies of Magna Carta is kept) and had fish and chips before returning the rental car and hopping on the tube to King's Cross.

 

On 5/18, we had arranged a private tour with ToursbyLocals to see the highlights of London.  This did not disappoint.  We were picked up in a black cab (not the curvy iconic black cabs, but a black Mercedes van with traditional London cab seating) and driven all over the city.  Our guide was a licensed London cab driver -- which apparently takes 4 years of training to become -- and we saw Buckingham Palace, Clarence House, the Mall, St James Park, Green Park, the old Republic of Texas embassy, Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, the Globe, Burrough Market, St Paul's, Westminster Abbey, and then it was off to the Tower.  We had skip the line tickets for this and we took one of the "free" Yeomen Warder (Beefeater) tours.  Of course we saw the Crown Jewels, too!  We finally stopped for a late lunch at a pub, and then our guide dropped us (and our luggage) off at St Pancras to catch our Eurostar train to Paris.

 

We boarded the train for Paris and in less than 3 hours we were in the City of Lights.  We thought our cab driver on the way to our hotel was going to kill us -- he was in a way grumpy mood and I thought he was actually aiming for people on the sidewalk.  We finally made it there, dropped our bags, and headed to the Eiffel Tower (in an Uber) to catch our nighttime cruise on the Seine.  Perfect timing, too, as the Tower started it's twinkling just as we left the dock and as we were returning.  After a late, late dinner -- lasting until 1:30am -- we turned in for the night.  The next day we had a private walking tour of Paris.  Beautiful city, but there's a lot of graffiti and some trash.  We had a wonderful late lunch near the Bastille and took some "Griswold-esque" pictures, with berets labelled Clark, Ellen, Audrey, and Rusty.  Finally, we took the Metro back to Gare de Lyon for our overnight train to Venice.

 

The overnight train was an adventure.  We had a 6-person couchette, which basically means 2 bunk beds stacked 3 high.  There are no shower facilities, and the toilets are at each end of the car.  Even so, it was not uncomfortable, especially considering they offered somewhat reasonably priced Prosecco in the dining car.  Of course, it was late getting into Venice, so we didn't arrive until around 11, instead of 9:30 (something about being held up in Switzerland), but our guide was waiting for us at the station.  We loved Venice and we were even able to visit a glass-blowing shop on Murano, St Mark's Square, the Doge's Palace, the Rialto Bridge, the Grand Canal, and the Bridge of Sighs.  Our guide returned us to the station in time to catch our train to the Eternal City.

 

We arrived into Rome after dark and immediately transferred to our hotel, a Holiday Inn.  Rather nice and spacious, especially by European standards.  We had pizza (what else?) and turned in.  Promptly at 8am the next morning, our Best Rome Driver driver arrived and we started touring Rome.  It was a long day, but well worth it.  The Colosseum and Forum as magnificent, and you can't miss the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.  Lunch at MaxRoma on Aventine Hill near Circus Maximus and the Secret Keyhole was great.  St Peter's Square is awe-inspiring even in the waning light of day.  Our kids had a "gladiator class" at Gruppo Storico Romana, and they loved it.  We had dinner at Osteria dei Pontifici -- we didn't order anything, they just kept bringing out dish after dish including homemade ravioli.  It was delicious!  One special thing we did was climb the Scala Sancta.  This is a marble staircase that was brought to Rome in the 4th century.  It originally was in Pontius Pilate's praetorium and they are the actual steps that Christ climbed during his Passion.  For over 300 years, they have been covered in wood to protect the well-worn marble, but they were uncovered this year for 10 weeks for restoration.  We were privileged enough to be in Rome during those 10 weeks and we were able to ascend the marble stairs (on our knees, of course).

 

On Wednesday, we were up quite early to get to the Papal Audience.  Though we had to wait about an hour before getting into St Peter's Square, we got very good seats and immensely enjoyed the experience.  After, we had a food tour with a local guide.  I don't know how many restaurants we went to to sample various dishes (including gelato), but we were absolutely stuffed at the end.

 

Thurday, 5/23, marked our day to board the Jade, but before we could do that, we had one last tour to squeeze in -- Waking Up the Vatican!  Only 20 people, we met at the entrance to the Vatican Museums at 6am.  We were met by our guide and ushered into the museums to literally unlock all the doors and turn on the lights!  My father-in-law somehow got the honor of unlocking the door to the Sistine Chapel itself.  After breakfast, we climbed to the top of dome of St Peter's for breathtaking views of Rome.  Then we returned to our hotel to collect our bags and head to Civitavecchia.......

 

To be continued....

[mdsgu]

We got to Civitavecchia around 12:30 and were delivered directly to the port.  Embarkation was rather easy.  Yes, there was a line, but it moved quickly, and, as soon as we had our keycards, we walked onto the ship.  We dropped our bags in our rooms and went to O'Sheehan's for lunch (we had just missed lunch in the dining room, bummer).  After, we did a little exploring before the muster drill, which was pretty mundane, and then took a short nap before more ship exploration.  We sat on Lido for sailaway and had a few drinks before dinner.  After all the travelling, we were pretty tired, so we all went to bed and slept very late on Friday, our only sea day.  We woke in time for lunch.

 

The ship was really nice.  She apparently has just undergone a dry-dock and appears clean and well-maintained.  Service was top-notch -- much much improved over our Thanksgiving 2018 cruise on the Breakaway.  We never waited more than 3 minutes for bar service, and there were plenty of roving bartenders to take orders.  They have a whiskey and bourbon bar, and they display a few rather nice bourbons (Blanton's, Weller's, Elijah Craig) but they don't sell them -- weird.  And most of the bars close by midnight.  Only Bliss Ultra Lounge stays open until 2am.  Also weird.

 

Dining was pretty good.  Also much better than on the Breakaway.  Cagney's, of course, was top-notch -- except for my potato au gratin side, which was strangely ice-cold.  Surf and turf is filet mignon and shrimp.  LeBistro was great, especially the escargots, which NCL has removed from the MDR.  We had room service breakfast a few times when we had early morning excursions and they were on point and on time.  Mornings without really early starts we had breakfast in Grand Pacific.  Not bad, just your typical NCL breakfast foods.

 

Our cabin steward changed out in Malta.  Before Malta, he touched our room at least twice and usually three times per day.  After, the new one did good just to clean it up and turn it down.  Even so, the service wasn't bad.  We did have an issue with our toilet, but they fixed it after two attempts.  My parents-in-law's toilet, though, seemed to require maintenance every other day for the duration of the cruise.  They got a (terrible) bottle of wine and some chocolate covered strawberries for their inconvenience.

 

The cabins were surprisingly spacious.  We booked an obstructed OV on Deck 8.  Usually we book an interior since all we really do is sleep in there, but to get 2 "perks" we had to upgrade to an OV.  We had a view of a lifeboat, but that was ok.  The room was big, and the bathroom was almost huge -- even a separate WC.  My parents-in-law had an interior across the hall, and it seemed almost as big.

 

The ship never seemed crowded.  They had a sign out at Guest Services saying the ship was full, but apparently the crowds are handled easily.  We had Freestyle Dining, but the longest we ever waited for a table for 6 was about 30 minutes -- we just sat in the nearby bar and had some cocktails.  Even getting off in port seemed very easy with no long waits in hallways or stairways.  We had to tender at Santorini; even that went smoothly.

 

Our kids usually go to Splash Academy.  Our son, who turned 10 since we got home, decided he is just too big to go there and that it is just not fun.  We made him go once, but he didn't have a good time.  Our daughter, age 8, is always ready to go somewhere, and she wanted to go every evening.  We let her go several times and she had a blast.  She kept saying she wanted to go back to late night camp (from 10:30pm to 1:30am) when we picked her up for dinner, but she invariably fell asleep after dessert!

 

Port info up next.............

[rmurray847]

2 hours ago, mdsgu said:

  My father-in-law somehow got the honor of unlocking the door to the Sistine Chapel itself. 

That is AWESOME!!

[dmms]

Thanks for the review 

we are going on this cruise in October!

can’t wait to hear the rest of your port reviews!

 

Your details are amazing 😉 

[LeesaB]

Sounds amazing and exhausting!

[Dar & Bob]

We are doing this cruise in September and looking forward to the rest of the review.  I am very glad to hear that the ship did not seem crowded.  

 

[flahagan]

Great review - we're going on her August 1.  Please continue and let us know what you did in the ports.  I'm anxious to hear how the tender process went in Santorini, as I've heard tales of not being able to get on a tender for several hours unless booked on an NCL tour.

[JOHNHOWARTH2]

45 minutes ago, flahagan said:

Great review - we're going on her August 1.  Please continue and let us know what you did in the ports.  I'm anxious to hear how the tender process went in Santorini, as I've heard tales of not being able to get on a tender for several hours unless booked on an NCL tour.

When we were on the Jade, we took a NCL tour to make sure that we got off the ship easily enough. It was the only port that we took an NCL excursion to save not having to get up the hill to Fira.

[flahagan]

JohnHowarth2, there is only one other ship in Santorini with us, the Celebrity Constellation. and it's in port from 7 AM to 5 PM - we're there from noon - 10 PM.  I'm hoping we won't have too much difficulty, plus NCL's tours are way overpriced.  We're thinking of taking the boat to the port below Oia, then the shuttle bus up there, eventually take a bus to Fira and cable car down.  Keeping fingers crossed.  It's so wonderful to hear from people who have been on this cruise.

[Travelicious]

Your pre-cruise travels sound utterly exhausting!

[jetsfan]

We are cruising on the 22nd of September loving your review.

 

[mdsgu]

So we sailed off into the Mediterranean on Thursday.  Friday was a sea day, thankfully, since we were pretty exhausted from travelling all over Europe.  We all slept late but still somehow made it to breakfast in the MDR.  We did some exploring, drinking, and eating, and the kids played around in the pool.  If you have kids, you'll be pleased to know that NCL has a lifeguard on duty at the kids' pool, but we still kept an eye on ours.

 

The next day, Saturday, was Santorini!  We all met for breakfast, and then my father-in-law and I headed up to Lido about 15 minutes before they were to start handing out tender tickets (if you have an NCL excursion, you don't need a tender ticket, but we had a private tour arranged).  The ticket station was in one corner of Lido, and before the line started moving, it had snaked all the way around the perimeter of the deck and back into the ship.  We were only about 1/2 way back.  Once it started, it moved fairly quickly, and we got Tender #7.  Arrival was as scheduled, and there appeared to be only one other ship in port.  Surprisingly, the tenders were VERY quick and efficient -- if your only experience with tenders is in the Caribbean, this is nothing like that.  We got to the dock, got our tickets for the cable car, and were up on top in Fira before 1pm, which was the meeting time for our ToursbyLocals excursion with Kostas.  He was great!  Picked us on time, in a Mercedes van.  We walked all over Oia, up and down steps, looking at the blue-domed churches and all the quaint little shops.  It really is just like you imagine -- a living postcard.  We went to the monastery of Profitis Ilias, the highest point on the island.  It was off to see the ancient cave houses, and then he had given us the option of seeing both the red and black beaches, or just going to the black beach with more time.  We opted for the second one.  He dropped us off and had arranged for beach loungers.  We also had chair service for beers.  The kids played in the Aegean and we sat under the Greek sun (under umbrellas, of course) and watched.  Another postcard moment.  After about an hour, Kostas was back and we headed to Maria's Farm.  The best bruschetta and ouzo ever, and we got to meet Marco Polo, the local donkey, and feed him some grape leaves.  We then had to head back to Fira and the cable car in order to catch the sunset (not to be missed in Santorini) which was at about 8:15pm.  We timed it just right and were headed down on the cable car as the sun slowly sank beneath the Aegean.

 

Back on the ship, we still had time to make it to a late dinner and toast the beautiful island of Santorini.  We didn't stay up too late -- in bed by midnight -- because our Athens port call would come early.  We put our room service breakfast order form on the door and turned out the lights.

[mdsgu]

Athens, on Sunday, did come early!  But we ate our room service breakfast and were dressed and off the ship in time to meet our driver and guide.  We headed immediately to the Acropolis to try to beat some of the crowds.  Our guide had pre-purchased our entrance tickets, so that saved time.  Before too long, we were face-to-face with structures we had only seen in books and on Wikipedia.  The Propylea, the Erechtheion, the Parthenon, the Temple of Athena Nike -- it's all there and it's all amazing.  After about an hour, we started to head down, and the crowds were now thick as molasses and the marble is slick.  We made it and went to the Acropolis Museum.  If you are American, you get charged more (for some reason), so my advice would be to tell them you're from London.  They don't actually check.  Anyway, the marble friezes from the Parthenon are there, save for the ones carted off to the British Museum by Lord Elgin.  The Brits were nice enough to let the Greeks make plaster casts of the ones in London, though.  The pediments (or what's left of them) of the Parthenon are also on display.  The original Caryatids from the south porch of the Erechtheion are there (again, except for the one carted off by Lord Elgin).  I didn't know it, but the ones up there on the Acropolis are actually copies.  There's a ton more stuff at the museum, but it's just too much to take in in one day.  In addition, the museum in perched atop some ancient Greek ruins, so it actually is on pilings.

 

We then went and saw the changing of the guard at Parliament.  Our guide and our driver got into a little tiff over whether it is Greek or Prussian in origin, which was actually a little funny.  Then we headed to the Plaka for lunch.  The Plaka is an older part of Athens, but really modern compared to the Acropolis.  Anyway, we had a fabulous lunch, on the sidewalk, at a restaurant.  We sat and ate and drank for about 2 hours.  It was delicious, but then we had to walk it off and meet our guide again.  We were escorted back to the ship and we all took a nap before another late dinner.

 

At dinner, we remarked at how "European" we had become -- eating dinner at 8:30 or 9:00 every evening!  

[flahagan]

So happy you're continuing this terrific review!  It sounds like the lines weren't too horrible for the cable car to/from Fira - was it much of a wait either way?

[TSUmom]

Enjoying your review and can't wait to read more!  Thank you for taking the time to post.

[Dar & Bob]

Thanks, anxiously awaiting the rest of the ports. 

 

[N6595L]

Mdsgu I’m loving your posts. This itinerary is now on my bucket list!  

Which company/tour guide did you use in Athens?

Edited June 10, 2019 by N6595L

[RNRcruisers]

Wow your pre-cruise agenda was amazing! We were on the Jade in the Med 4 years ago and really liked it. Thanks for the review.

[mdsgu]

Next up: Mykonos.

 

We walked out of the cruise ship terminal and almost ran right over our little tour guide (again, ToursbyLocals), Ervin.  He gives tours of his home island, works in the Mayor's office with tourism, and plays semi-professional soccer.  He had a little van that fit all of us and we drove a short distance from the port before we stopped to walk through Little Venice.  It is similar to Venice, but not quite.  We could have walked back, but due to my mother-in-law's poor knees, he left us to get the van and picked us up from the other end.  There are little chapels dotted all over; Ervin says there are over 700 on the island.  Apparently, there is a law that if you build one on your property that can hold at least 4 people, you get a 70% reduction in your property taxes.  We did some sight-seeing (there are a few old windmills at the end of Little Venice) and visited a small monastery with absolutely gorgeous icons.  We went to the lighthouse for some photos and picturesque views of the sea.

 

Then, it was beach time.  He gave us a choice between two beach clubs.  The first looked nice and so did the second.  Since we were already at the second, we decided to stay there.  The loungers were a bit pricey, as was the alcohol, but the service was outstanding.  My wife ordered white wine, and the server literally stood there and swirled an ice cube in her wine glass to chill it!  There is a restaurant there, in a cave overlooking the sea, that he recommended.  We called and got reservations, and, when we were done on the beach, we strolled over.  It has some tasty dishes and some rather high prices -- lobster was 190 euros per kilo.  Needless to say, we didn't have lobster, but we did have fresh sea urchin, grilled octopus, prawns, oysters, wine, beer -- it was fabulous.

 

Afterward, Ervin showed up exactly on time and dropped us back to the ship.  Another nap, and another late dinner!

 

Tomorrow -- Crete.  Our only island without a pre-planned excursion.

[mdsgu]

10 minutes ago, N6595L said:

Mdsgu I’m loving your posts. This itinerary is now on my bucket list!  

Which company/tour guide did you use in Athens?

 

We used PK Travel.  I highly recommend them both for their prices and their professionalism.

[mdsgu]

1 minute ago, RNRcruisers said:

Wow your pre-cruise agenda was amazing! We were on the Jade in the Med 4 years ago and really liked it. Thanks for the review.

 

Thank you.  We spent quite a bit of time planning the pre-cruise portion.  The cruise part was easy!  That's the main thing we like about cruising.

[mdsgu]

3 hours ago, flahagan said:

So happy you're continuing this terrific review!  It sounds like the lines weren't too horrible for the cable car to/from Fira - was it much of a wait either way?

 

It really wasn't.  We probably waited 10 or 15 minutes on the way up (to buy tickets) and much less than that on the way down.  I think the key is avoid the last-minute rush.

[mdsgu]

Crete.  Our only stop without an excursion -- mainly because we needed to be back on board no later than 11:30am.  We walked off and had to purchase bus tickets to be dropped off in town (or take a taxi for 10 euros).  We took the bus and then walked, as per the map, toward the Venetian harbor.  It is similar to Mykonos and, I suppose, with some imagination, Venice.  This was early in the morning, and very little was open.  We took quite a few pictures (there's a lighthouse) and then found a little cafe (Aroma) to have breakfast.  Crete's idea of coffee is different than mine, but their breakfast foods are wonderful!

 

My advice for Crete -- don't buy an NCL walking tour.  It is really easy (and free!) to do on your own, at your own pace.  Just don't wait until the last minute to get on the ship.  If you watch the tour information channel, they will tell you this and why.

 

We walked back to the taxi stand and, instead of waiting on a bus, got 2 taxis to take us back to the ship.  Naturally, they were both Mercedes-Benz sedans, and the ride was only 10 euros for each taxi.  Since it was early (we heeded the ship's advice and didn't wait until 11:30), we ran up to the room, the kids threw on their swim suits, and we went to Lido to let them swim while we enjoyed some poolside libations.  The rest of the day was spent lounging around.  As was customary by now, we enjoyed a late dinner. Then my father-in-law and I had some late-night cocktails since Malta, our next stop, wasn't until 1pm the next day.

[mdsgu]

So we've left Greece behind and we are heading back to continental Europe.  But, before we get there, we have a stop at the island Republic of Malta.  We didn't arrive before 1pm, owing to the long jaunt from Crete.  We slept in, because we could, and headed to Grand Pacific for lunch at 11:30.

 

Naturally, we were docked on the wrong side of the port from where our guide expected.  There was a water taxi with a considerable line that we just bypassed, figuring we knew where we were going -- until we realized we were on the wrong side of the port.  So we finally got in touch with our guide, who was waiting for us (on the other side).  We got on a water taxi and found her easily, once we got on the right side.  Once again, we had a Mercedes van at our disposal.

 

We headed into the city from the port and arrived at the Co-Cathedral of St John the Baptist.  The outside is very plain, but the inside is literally dripping in gold.  It took 10 years during the last restoration project to apply gold leaf to everything requiring it.  Caraveggio was an artist-in-residence several hundred years ago and his masterpiece, the only painting he ever signed, is in the cathedral ("The Beheading of St John the Baptist").  We were driving to Mdina, the old capital of Malta, when we stopped at another church.  Now, according to our guide, there are 365 churches on Malta, and we just happened to stop at the church of the Annunciation -- my wife was born on the Annunciation and my son's middle name is Gabriel, but the guide knew none of that.  That church, too, was gorgeous.

We continued on to Mdina, which is still very much medieval.  Called The Silent City because only a handful of cars are allowed on its ancient streets, there are examples of Byzantine and Norman architecture.  There is also a beautiful lookout over the sea.  Game of Thrones fans will note that Mdina stood in for King's Landing in season 1 of the series.

 

We drove to the Blue Grotto, which is basically just a picture point with perfectly blue water and caves.  On the way back to the ship, we stopped for traditional Malta street food.  We had octopus pie and some sweets.  Awesome!  And our guide, and our driver, were able to drop us off on the correct side of the harbor so we didn't have to worry about catching another water taxi.

 

Later in the evening, much later, after dark, we had our now traditional dinner around 9pm.

 

Tomorrow.......Messina!

[LuvKruzn]

16 hours ago, mdsgu said:

 

The next day, Saturday, was Santorini!  We all met for breakfast, and then my father-in-law and I headed up to Lido about 15 minutes before they were to start handing out tender tickets (if you have an NCL excursion, you don't need a tender ticket, but we had a private tour arranged).  The ticket station was in one corner of Lido, and before the line started moving, it had snaked all the way around the perimeter of the deck and back into the ship.  We were only about 1/2 way back.  Once it started, it moved fairly quickly, and we got Tender #7.  Arrival was as scheduled, and there appeared to be only one other ship in port.  Surprisingly, the tenders were VERY quick and efficient -- if your only experience with tenders is in the Caribbean, this is nothing like that. 

 

😎OUTSTANDING REVIEW😎

We will be doing same cruise on Jun 20 with family group and your review is very helpful.

Santorini Tender Ticket Question:  

We have a group of 15 in 5 cabins that desire an early departure together. 

Do we all have to get in line for tickets, or just one from each cabin, or can one member get tickets for all 5 cabins?

Look forward to more tips.  Thanks so very much.