We have just returned from a cruise on the Jade. We travelled independently at all the ports and found them easy to do. For Rome, it was a straightforward 10 minute walk to the train station. The tickets cost 9 euros per person and this included travel on the buses and metro in Rome. I would take a map of Rome. It is a good city to walk around but obviously a simple map would help. We went to Pisa. This was a shorter but slightly more complicated journey because it involved a bus and train journey. However the shuttle bus drops you outside the Tourist Information centre in Livorno and they give maps and directions. I would recommend looking at the 'Trenitalia' website before you go as this will give you the train timetables for the trains in Italy and we found their information to be accurate. In Barcelona, we used the Open top Tourist buses but would not do so again. They were very busy and slow. To be honest, we found that there were lots of people from the various cruise ships travelling independently all going to the same destinations so we did not feel alone and found that everyone seemed to share any useful information they had.

A certain number of the dining rooms charge a cover charge all depending on which one you go to. The free dining rooms Alizar and Grand dining room usually have the same menu as one another "Cagneys" is a steak place and has a hefty cover charge but is excellent. At least five dining rooms have a cover charge or you can go to deck 12 anf join the crowd for a free for all

Although I have not cruised on Jade, I recently cruised on the sister ship Jewel. On the Jewel there are two main restaurants that do not incur a surcharge(Both serving the same manu). In addition there is a buffet restaurant, poolside buffets and limited room service menus. So it is possible to dine very well without paying additional cover charges. I am certain it is the same on the Jade.

This is the same case on the Jade. However there is a marked difference in the quality of both service and food in the resaurants where a surcharge is paid. Where you pay it is considerably better...

We were on the Jade in June and are not in the habit of complaining but when you are woken in the early hours of the morning by out of control children in the cabin above on numerous occasions we felt we were justified in complaining this was met with indifference by the staff even after a security officer agreed it was unacceptable when we called him to our cabin to listen for himself.There were many issues raised by numerous other people.We did not get any refund.

I so agree with you about the career complainers and their real intent. I don't know if cruise companies keep a list between them about serial demanders of refunds but if they don't they could learn a thing or two from insurance companies who now log serial claimants.

People complained about this cruise because it was crap!