Norwegian Jade does slightly different itineraries out of Venice, depending on the date, so not sure which one you are looking at, or the price.

Check out prices on vacationstogo as well as Gate1. It isn't listed in their 90 day sticker. You will have to fill in the little form for your dates.

I haven't used Gate1 or been on the Jade. I did enjoy a Greek Isands cruise, but am not personally in love with the Greek islands and did not feel we saw that many interesting things on the island part of the cruise. That is a bias though because I like art, architecture and archeological sites, so would not do just the island part again. I would rather spend a week in Istanbul, Croatia, the AC or the Venice area.

Our cruise was one way and went also to Ephesus, which I loved, and Dubrovnik and Athens as well as Rhodes and Corfu - all interesting. If, however, you want mostly pretty scenery and the cruise experience, the islands give you that. Someone else can tell you about the ship. Also, check it out on cruisecritic.

BTW, weather would be a determining factor also, for me.

Thank you, I too love art & architecture, we have been to Venice twice, but I wonder if I'd rather see more of the AC rather than just skip down to 'see' the islands. It is cost effective to tag onto a land trip as you need not do the airfare twice from EWR and Lugano is only 200 mi. from Venice. (We've been to Italy 3 times.) We're thinking first week of September, which would put us on the cruise part the middle of September, which is usually optimal. We were intent on Switzerland totally on our own, but there are tour advantages of not lugging one's carryon from train stations into village hotels.