Greece was beautiful. Norwegian Cruiseline Mediocre.

Norwegian Jade Cruise Review to Europe - Eastern Mediterranean

CrusinNski

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 25

Overall rating:

2.6 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Greek Isles: Santorini Mykonos & Rhodes (Athens Roundtrip)

Sail date: September 04, 2022

Ship: Norwegian Jade

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 8520

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 2 years ago

Review summary

NCL did not notify us of port iternary change until we received our daily port briefing letter the night of the start of our cruise. NCL lacked communication regarding the debacle of the Santorini excursion with no resolve or compensation. Lack of onboard show entertainment was evident also with very limited port stays. Our personal rating, compared to other cruise lines we had taken, rate NCL last. Would not recommend to family or friends. Excursions we booked thru NCL seemed to end thru a gauntlet of predator shops with aggressive sales people.

Embarkation

4 out of 5

Just a small wait to board. Check-in pretty easy.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

4 out of 5

Main dining room better than buffets. Service was mediocre. Hostess was accommodating.

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Shows very limited.

Entertainment

2 out of 5

Shows and performers very limited.

Children's Programs

No children

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ghozi, room steward, very good. Joyce, hostess at the Grand Pacific, very good. Desk Staff not helpful with mediocre wait staff.

Ship Quality

2 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

1 out of 5

Limited balcony view

Ship tip

Don't book excursions through NCL .

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Piraeus (Athens), Greece

5 out of 5

Kusadasi (Ephesus), Turkey

2 out of 5

Tour guide gave limited guide through Ephesus. Missed alot of viewing side streets and highlights.

Thumbs Up 0

Patmos, Greece Did not visit port

NCL cancelled port providing no reason

Thumbs Up 0

Rhodes, Greece

5 out of 5

Needed to spend more port time.

Thumbs Up 0

Mykonos, Greece

4 out of 5

Argostoli, Kefalonia, Greece

4 out of 5

Corfu, Greece

3 out of 5

Santorini, Greece

1 out of 5

Started with a beach 1\2 day . Spent 2 1/2 hours in a line for a cable car ride to take tender back to ship. Onboard we visited the ships service desk to report our complaint and No resolve or empathy from staff.

Thumbs Up 0

Disembarkation

5 out of 5

They couldn't get us off the ship fast enough!

10 Comments

DebsD 1 year ago

I have found this post interesting as I was on the same cruise departing 4th September. An email was received around 2 months before departure to advise that we were no longer visiting Patmos on the evening of the 5th September. The departure time from Athens was put back from 6pm to 9pm meaning that we were arriving/leaving later at Kusadasi so the port was going to be missed. Not sure how Mykonos scored 4* as we never disembarked due to rough weather and had a sea day instead. Regarding Santorini, there was only the Jade and another small ship (Hapag Lloyd?) in that Saturday. We got the cable car back to the port around 7pm and only waited around 15 minutes and another 15 minutes to get the tender back to the ship.

Thumbs Up 0

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byhisgrace 2 years ago

Thanks for your review. I would love to visit Greece

Thumbs Up 0

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kendosnags 2 years ago

Shame it didn’t meet your expectations, in Santorini you can walk the steps down if the cable car is busy, only about 30 minutes so much better than a 2.5 hours queue.

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AuntPinkie 2 years ago

Sorry this cruise didn’t meet your expectations.

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Dumfy75 2 years ago

A bit of research into Santorini and the first thing you’d have read about was the cable car situation. And the higher the number of ships docked that day the worse it is. You do know it’s not under the control of any of the cruise lines though!

Thumbs Up 1

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javawoody 2 years ago

Thanks for the review

Thumbs Up 1

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bubbles60 2 years ago

We cruised with Ncl last year. We had several changes to our itinerary due to government regulations and weather. It was not the the ports we had planned but the trip was still wonderful. Sorry your trip did not work out.

Thumbs Up 2

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Gwbigdog 2 years ago

Outside influences are not the cruise line faults. It does change our perception, thanks.

Thumbs Up 2

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RetiredRay 2 years ago

Sorry that other outside of issues not controllable by the ship caused you to down rate NCL, and that NCL in stuff that the ship could affect was a disappointment to you.

Thumbs Up 2

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michelleb1127 2 years ago

Sorry, you didn't enjoy. The cable car situation I have heard is bad but why is that NCL'S fault? Every large cruise line has to deal with that.

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