Ok, let's be honest here. Moving the two-year old Pride of Hawaii (POH) out of the market for which it's named is as close to an admission of an "Oops!" that NCL is gonna make. Maybe the Hawaiian cruise market was oversaturated; perhaps the all-American crew didn't provide consistently superior service; heck, maybe NCL just sniffed more profit in the sizzling European itineraries. Whatever the reason, NCL wants to play alchemist, turning the leaden NCL's Pride of Hawaii into a gold-producing European megacruiser. My recent experience on the Jade's February 29 '08 Transatlantic voyage proves NCL might just transform pumice into Jade.
About this reviewer: What type of cruisers are we? I'm a veteran traveler who keeps a bag packed for US business travel; my husband and I vacation several times yearly. But this was only our third cruise. So, a certain novelty still exists for us in being waited on hand and foot, and not having to make beds, cook or serve meals, pack or unpack at a myriad of desirable destinations, or drive to a different theatre for entertainment every night. I still gawk open-mouthed at people at the Purser's Desk who demand the ship stop rolling, whine because the Chateaubriand from the for-fee restaurant is not free, or order the delivery of a milder cabin toilet because they fear the apparatus will suck them butt-first—like a bizarre reverse breech birth—into the ship's sewage hold. (Frankly, don't you agree some passengers belong there?) We also are not filthy rich, or even mildly annoyingly rich. We don't attempt to impress lesser folks with the types of cars we drive (Toyotas and Fords, since you're wondering), or what we do to earn a living (electrician & computer nerd), or how much money we make (the soap powder at Wal-Mart is in aisle 12, if that tells you something). We booked a BB guarantee on the Jade Transatlantic like so many other people, the August day announced the $499/$599/$699 rates. Thirteen days on a two year old ship, transportation to Europe, nightly entertainment, hotel accommodations with daily maid service, high quality meals and a 24 hour food bar. All this for $770 per person plus $50 for travel insurance. As my husband put it, "It costs more than that to stay at home." Which is one reason the dulcet tones of the NCL upsell fairy so easily persuaded me to upgrade up to a Romance Suite. Bless you, dear, dear Upsell Fairy, you were right. The aft Romance Suite was worth every penny. In booking a suite, we received VIP service, which was worth much more than what we paid. SUMMARY: Would we cruise NCL again? Do the Jade again? To both: Given the right itinerary and reasonable rates (not expecting bargain basement rates), absolutely! We recognized early that those $499/$599/$699 rates were offered for our cruise because the ship was still half Pride of Hawaii and half Jade. The real changeover was to occur after we disembarked in Barcelona. We kept this in mind during the cruise, and when small issues occurred, we reminded one another that this was a ship in transition, and we paid transition prices. NCL has much room to improve its dining experience, and with Freestyle 2.0, NCL is showing they've listened to recent complaints and increasing the per passenger food budget by 25%.
PRE-EMBARKATION EXPERIENCE: We arrived in Miami two days early, and stayed in the Kent Hotel South Beach. An excellent value, and worth staying in if you're in Miami. Check out my review on TripAdvisor.com. The night before embarkation day, a subset of our ROLL CALL folks met for dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Company near the Port of Miami. That dinner kicked off a wonderful adventure in shipboard friendship building that ended 13 days later with a similar dinner in Papa's Italian Restaurant. TIP: If you haven't been reading your cruise's ROLL CALL for cruise info, I highly recommend it. If you're a "non-joiner," just try dipping your toe into the ROLL CALL experience by lurking (just reading, not posting). Joining cruisecritic doesn't cost a dime, and the ROLL CALLs are excellent sources of information about your cruise. Check out ROLL CALLs for cruises on your ship that occur before yours. Many ROLL CALL posters return to their ROLL CALL and post information about their cruise. You can learn helpful little tidbits about your ship that way.