Hello! First, I must admit that my husband and I really wanted a "Mediterranean" cruise for our Honeymoon, but had a hard time finding a good compromise. We didn't want to do the less expensive 7 day cruises as it didn't seem worth it coming from the US, even though we could spend some nights before and after in the embarkation city... and we also couldn't really couldn't do the 12+ night ones since 1) they were so expensive and 2)it was a little too long to take off work.

But one day, I happened to see this route on NCL.. 9 nights was a good compromise, plus it was during a 3 day sale where we scored balcony cabins for just $800 a person. I was a little hesitant about being on NCL as I had just had a HORRIBLE experience on the Dawn in August 2009, but forged ahead.

And I am happy to announce, we were pleasantly surprised and had a great time. I felt that NCL Jade was far superior to the Dawn, despite being a smaller boat. Maybe we were just lucky with a better crew. Who knows. The one thing that bothered me a little was how for the first 2 or 3 days you had to get served in the buffet - I felt it clogged everything up a bit. But I guess once they determined that no one had any serious diseases, they let us take our own food and drinks and it was much better. Also, there is far too little seating in the buffet area and we always spent 15 minutes searching for a place to eat. My only other minor "complaint" was that the Jade really should update their interior from the Hawaiian decor just a little. I mean, not much is needed... just take down the pictures that say Hawaii - the rest of the sea and flower theme is fine for the Mediterranean... Read more