Live From the Jade, Nov 13 to Dec 21, from Athens to Cape Town

[Ken the cruiser]

10 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Here’s a little tidbit you may or may not be aware of if you book a cruise with NCL before or after final payment, and you subsequently want to transfer your booking to your travel agent. So I don’t mess up the 7 and 14 day time limitation, it’s best that you read the details below.

What caught us by surprise is that the CruiseNext people we booked our 4 future bookings onboard with said our travel agent’s information would be on all 4 of our bookings. However, when we contacted our TA yesterday, 12 days after we booked them, to see if she had received them, she said no. She contacted NCL and forwarded us the transfer form we had to fill out and email to NCL. 
 

We emailed the forms today, which is day 14 from when we booked the cruises, and luckily we’re 9 hours ahead of EST, so it’s still yesterday in the US. Not sure what’s going to happen with the Jan 2023 cruise we PIF. But you can bet we’re going to have a little chat with the CruiseNext folks when we get back from our excursion today. 😉

 

 

2 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

YESSS! This makes me so happy. I'm really, really glad you'll be able to actually show those snake oil salesmen their lies in person. I know you won't be karen'esque as you're far too polite for that, but deep inside, I'm a wee bit jealous you get to do this (not that it will do anything). Best of luck! 

After dinner while I was waiting for a new coupon for my half used bottle of wine, my DW went to CruiseNext to find out why our 4 bookings hadn’t been released to our TA yet, as we were worried about the 7/14 day TA transfer limitations.

They reassured her that all was good and that their “booking notes” would be released to NCL which would subsequently trigger the transfer of our 4 bookings to our TA no more than 5 working days after our cruise ends on Dec 21. The reason for the delay is that NCL is treating our current 38-day B2B as a single cruise. If they would have treated the 2 legs as separate cruises, the 4 bookings would have been transferred to our TA 5 working days after the first leg ended on Dec 2.

 

It kind of makes sense, though. This way if we did run into any issues with the bookings we made through CruiseNext prior to getting off the ship, they “should” be able to work them out (in theory). Not quite sure if that’s a true statement though, based on your “snake oil salesmen” comment. 😂

 

Bottom line. We’re still glad we submitted the transfer forms this morning (just in case). But I guess we’ll just have to wait to hear from our TA, hopefully no more that 5 working days after our cruise ends on Dec 21, that she got them. 🤞🤞

 

Edited December 13, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Today we had another fun excursion visiting a Hindu temple, sacred lake and shrine as well as having a buffet lunch in a beautiful setting and then visiting some lava formations prior to heading back to the ship. One of the best parts was being the last tour bus to fill at the pier associated with our excursion number as we only had 11 people on our bus, even those there were a lot more going on this particular excursion. 😁

 

 

 

Here are some pictures on our drive to the Hindu Temple.

 

 

These are 3 unfinished apartments buildings. The builder ran out of money before they were finished and are now up for sale!

 

 

 
Here are some from the Temple, shrine and statues we saw.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A couple of unique looking birds!
 

 

 

 

Some kitty cats just laying out and catching a few rays! 😂

 

 
Then we headed to lunch, then to the waterfalls and the lava flows 

 

 

 

 

 

Wild Mauritius blueberries!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[frogandtoad]

Did they say why they are treating your B2B as one 38 day cruise?  Did you book each leg separately and therefore have 2 different booking numbers?

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, frogandtoad said:

Did they say why they are treating your B2B as one 38 day cruise?  Did you book each leg separately and therefore have 2 different booking numbers?

Yes, we booked the cruise with two different booking numbers. We also got shareholder benefit OBC ($250) for each 19-day leg. However, our shipboard account remained intact with the account balance transferring to the second leg. In fact we later found out any excess nonrefundable OBC would have also transferred as well. Not sure if that’s the case on all B2Bs, but it was on this one.

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 32 - Dec 14 - Pointes Des Galet, Reunion

  

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Today the excursion is the longest one we have on the cruise, 8 hours, and we meet in the theater at 7 am, which also makes it the earliest one we’ve gotten up for! 😂

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

As it turns out, we had a very fun bus tour with a very knowledgeable and friendly local guide around the island. We were the second of 2 buses doing our tour with our bus having only 34 passengers.
 

Here’s a hint if anyone is interested in improving your odds of getting on a less that full tour bus. Be close to the end of the line once your tour number is called in the theater to to subsequently get your tour sticker. 😁
 

We stopped at a lava field created in 2007, a spice and perfume garden, had a buffet lunch which included some great tasting local rum distilled from the sugar cane plants grown on the island! 😂

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then we stopped at the spices and perfume garden. We didn’t see any wildlife, but sure saw a lot of pretty flowers! 😁

 

 

 

 
Pink bananas, which don’t get much larger than this!

 

 
It takes 2 years for the vanilla plant to get to this final stage for extracting the juice, with quite a few transformative processes in the middle.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 
Then it was time for a tasty buffet lunch followed by a quick walk above the beach.

 

 

 
Then it was time for our 2 hour drive back to the ship!

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 14, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

And we’re off! Next stop Richards Bay, South Africa in 3 days!! 😁

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight after another great meal in Le Bistro, we headed off to the theater to watch one of the funniest comedians, Mark Palmer, we have ever seen on a cruise ship!! He was simply outstanding!! 😂

  

[jolli]

Hi Ken…..Just wondering if the Jade is at Full Capacity? Do you know? 
looking forward to hearing and seeing some photos from South Africa soon! Weather looks great! Enjoy the rest of your wonderful cruise! 
Cheers Annette and John 

[AbeShrek]

Hi Ken!  Were you able to spot the Green Flash during your sunsets at sea?   I've been told it's best seen if the horizon is clear of clouds.

[Angus3]

Hi Ken. 

Loving your Live coverage.  Thank you

We will be taking the same excursion in Nosy Be when we travel north on the Jade in January. 

For the wet landing would you recommend we wear/bring water shoes?

Thanks

[Ken the cruiser]

8 hours ago, jolli said:

Hi Ken…..Just wondering if the Jade is at Full Capacity? Do you know? 
looking forward to hearing and seeing some photos from South Africa soon! Weather looks great! Enjoy the rest of your wonderful cruise! 
Cheers Annette and John 

Thanks! The total number of passengers on this leg was 1,860, about 300 more than the last leg.

[Ken the cruiser]

5 hours ago, Angus3 said:

Hi Ken. 

Loving your Live coverage.  Thank you

We will be taking the same excursion in Nosy Be when we travel north on the Jade in January. 

For the wet landing would you recommend we wear/bring water shoes?

Thanks

We just wore our regular shoes and took them off and just carried them when we walked in the water as it was only a foot deep. But if you have extra luggage space and they are comfortable when walking up and down steps, then that would definitely eliminate having to take them off.

[Ken the cruiser]

7 hours ago, AbeShrek said:

Hi Ken!  Were you able to spot the Green Flash during your sunsets at sea?   I've been told it's best seen if the horizon is clear of clouds.

No, but I will start looking for it if the skies are clear at sunset on our next 2 (last) sea days!! Thanks for the heads up!

 

 
https://www.livescience.com/26376-green-flash.html

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 33 - Dec 15 - Sea Day (1 of 2)

 

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We went to another port talk today by Dave covering Richards Bay and Port Elizabeth.

 
 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[jolli]

4 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

No, but I will start looking for it if the skies are clear at sunset on our next 2 (last) sea days!! Thanks for the heads up!

 

 
https://www.livescience.com/26376-green-flash.html

 

Now here’s the thing Ken…you’re not in the Pacific Ocean….you’re in the Indian Ocean! 😆😆🇦🇺🇦🇺

[Ken the cruiser]

19 minutes ago, jolli said:

Now here’s the thing Ken…you’re not in the Pacific Ocean….you’re in the Indian Ocean! 😆😆🇦🇺🇦🇺

So you’re saying the Green Flash is only seen when you’re on the Pacific Ocean? I know the article example is referencing the Pacific, but I would have thought the phenomenon would have been seen on any ocean around the world if the right conditions existed? But I’ll still be looking if it’s a clear horizon at sunset. If nothing else, for another cool picture. 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

After a relaxing afternoon on the balcony after competing in another round of progressive trivia after lunch where we are maintaining our own in last place, we ate another tasty meal in the Alizar MDR. Then it was off to the early show to watch another amazing acrobatic performance of Kate and Vasya!

  

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 34 - Dec 16 - Sea Day (2 of 2)

  

 

 

 

 

  

[Ken the cruiser]

This morning we went up to Spinnakers to watch the How to Run a Floating Hotel Presentation followed by the Captain and Senior Officer Q & A session, both hosted by CD Richard. TBH we’re really starting to be impressed by the effort CD Richard has put into providing informative port talks and informational presentations on this cruise. 😁
 

On our last leg from Athens to Petra, the previous cruise director, Danny, organized zero presentations, to include not even offering a Senior Officer Q &A.

  

[Ken the cruiser]

So it’s been 34 days since we first embarked on the Jade, and it’s been a great cruise so far visiting some awesome locations like the Suez Canal, Petra, the Valley of the Kings and Queens, Oman and Dubai to name a few. But for us, NCL has truly saved the best for last. South Africa!! 😁

 

So, even though our unlimited version of Wi-Fi on the ship won’t let us play YouTube videos, I think it’s time for Freddie to do an encore performance just to reiterate how much we are looking forward to going on the 3 safaris we have scheduled as well as seeing penguins on our excursion to the Cape Town airport!! 😁

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgzGwKwLmgM

 

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Ken the cruiser

[Ken the cruiser]

Here’s the first safari we have booked once we get to Richard’s Bay tomorrow in the early afternoon! 😁

  

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

FYI … Our SIL, who along with my DW’s brother joined us in Dubai, found out some interesting information today at the Q & A as to what the specific “bio-security” requirement was that caused the Jade to leave Mauritius at 5 pm a few days ago rather than at the originally scheduled 9 pm.

 

Apparently there is a nocturnal insect that loves eating sugar cane that lives In Mauritius that only flies after the sun goes down. Because of this the Reunion “powers that be” told the Jade if you don’t leave Mauritius by 6 pm, you might as well stay there until 6 am to minimize the potential of bringing any of the evasive sugar cane eating bugs to Reunion where sugar cane is their largest crop.
 

Up until today, we were all wondering what that bio-security requirement was. And now you know the rest of the story! 😂

 

Heres another FYI for those considering booking an aft-facing cabin on a cruise from Cape Town to Dubai, or some other northern port.
 

As some of you know we are in an aft-facing Club Balcony and have had a great time! One of the reasons why is because for the most part we were cruising from North to South or from West to East and have had plenty of shade on the balcony. However, it would be just the opposite if we were cruising from South to North or from East to West. Just something to think about. 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Ken the cruiser