Chose a couple of nights in Venice pre-cruise, cant speak highly enough of Venice as an embarkation port but have at least one night before you cruise. Arrived at the port at 11 am and was having a cocktail by the pool bar by 12 midday. Perfect embarkation, by comparison to the very large ships this was a dream. This was our first time on Jade and what a fantastic looking vessel, much larger than I thought (having been on Epic I thought this would be like a rowing boat, wrong!!) The central atrium was so appealing and a bit old school really nice.

Our stateroom (mini suite 11060) was great in all aspects, spotless, spacious and comfortable. Nice size balcony to round off a great choice of stateroom. Everyone seemed very welcoming from cabin stewards, cleaners, restaurant staff and as usual the bar staff who in particular were very friendly. Waiting times even on sea days were minimal.

Chose to eat in main dining room Grand Pacific, the room was beautiful and had a real bygone feel. The service was a little slow but who cares if your on holiday, the food choices and quality were very good. ( a tip for American clients! as the distance from dining room to kitchen is fairly substantial, when you order try this idea. Order everything at once, by constantly asking for infinite extras and then complaining about cold food is stupid on a different level) We also ate in Cagney's this is by far the best restaurant on board, the Teppanyaki is great albeit very showy and if like us you had a disjointed sitting we got to hear exactly the same routine 3 times, a bit tedious but the food was very good. The Churrascaria was very good great quality lots of choice and plenty of it, in fact to much. The other dining options Chinese, buffet, and pool buffet were also very good with abundant choices and great quality, not the best but well worth the cruise ticket. If you want fine dining all day every day,pay double and go Crystal or Seabourn. Read more