… and finally over our jet lag. We sailed a 7-night cruise to the Greek Isles R/T Venice on NCL's Norwegian Jade. I'm working my way through 1200+ photos. An album of Venice can be seen here.

Pictures from our ports of call to follow soon.

Short-ish review:

We spent two nights in Venice pre-cruise and then sailed to Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, and Katakolon (Olympia).

We loved the Jade. I did sort of miss having a set dinner time with the same wait staff every night. However, there were nights when we really appreciated NCL's "freestyle" dining which allows you to dine whenever you like. The buffet had a wider selection of food than I recall seeing on other ships. The entertainment was excellent. We booked an aft balcony (on the back of the ship) because so many people rave about them. The views from our cabin were fabulous but you do feel the movement more at the back than in the middle of the ship. A couple of nights were pretty rocky!

Instead of staying in a hotel on the island of Venice, we booked a hotel in Mestre. Our hotel was directly across the street from the train station. It costs a euro or two each way to ride from Mestre to Santa Lucia station in Venice. The ride takes about 12 minutes. We saved hundreds of dollars by NOT staying on the island plus we had the added benefit of NOT having to drag our luggage across pedestrian bridges in Venice. (There are no cars on the island of Venice. Be prepared to do a lot of walking!)

For those who crave American junk food when traveling, there is a McDonald's in the train station in Mestre and at least one in Venice. The one in Venice has free wifi, too.

My opinion of Venice: It is a very interesting place to take photos and they have the most amazing Murano glass for sale in the shops! Other than that, two days was more than enough for me. Venice and Mestre are both very crowded and I didn't find the people to be especially friendly. Oh, and some of the restaurants have toilets in their ladies rooms with no toilet seats. You have been warned.

The ports we visited in Greece were a different story. They are small villages where most people depend on tourism for their living and they are much friendlier to the hordes of people who visit for the day before heading back to their cruise ships. More on our ports of call when I post pictures from those visits.

Stay tuned.