Great trip, clean ship, great staff, pay restaurants poor value, beware Ephesus tour guide

Norwegian Jade Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

Cruises: 7+ cruises
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 45

Overall rating:

4 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Jade

Greek Isles & Turkey from Venice

Sail date: April 25, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Jade

Cabin type: Suite

Cabin number: 11058

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 9 years ago

Review summary

This was our seventh cruise, second on NCL.  We also have cruises on RC,Carnival, and Princess.  Really enjoyed the whole trip and ports.

The ship was very clean, and the staff was excellent.  Our stateroom attendant was one of the better ones that we have had.

We were quite disappointed in how poor quality the pay restaurants were.  I normally only eat at these restaurants, but by day 5 we switched over to the dining rooms, which had food that was about as good.

Another item I feel the need to warn people about is the tour to Ephesus.  People need to know that the tour to Ephesus that interline offers has a tour guide which, while extremely knowledgeable on the area, is a shill for a carpet company in town.  The people in there are hard-sellers, so be ready to deal (their rugs are beautiful but you should only pay about 20-25% of what they ask, less on more expensive items), or once you see that this portion of the tour is starting, just duck out. 

The itinerary was also great.  While I'm not interested in going back to Split I'm glad I went, and the other ports were fabulous.  If you like martinis, take NCL up on their cheap tastings...the bartender is a real pro.  

All in all, great trip.  I'll sail NCL again.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5
Pay restaurants represented quite poor value for money. Free restaurants better. See my review. Also, the officers were getting fed first in the Brazilian restaurant. Since we all eat from the same cuts of meat, they were eating all of the good cuts. This isn't right and should be addressed.

Entertainment

5 out of 5
A surprisingly good value.

Service and Staff

5 out of 5
Enjoyed all of our interactions with the staff.

Ship Quality

5 out of 5
Ship was in great shape.

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5

Ports of call

Venice, Italy

5 out of 5
Really nice port. Late April is the perfect time to go.

Dubrovnik, Croatia

5 out of 5
Great AA tour. Beautiful city. Great restaurants.

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5
Great AA tour.

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

5 out of 5
The city was great, but watch out for those hard-selling shop owners.

Split, Croatia

3 out of 5
Wouldn't go back, but I'm glad I went.
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