Norwegian Jade Review

4.0 / 5.0
2,043 reviews

NO MORE NCL FOR ME...NOT GOOD! ITINERARY WAS AWESOME- MARCH 28 2015

Review for the Mediterranean Cruise on Norwegian Jade
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glogodschild
6-10 Cruises • Age 70s

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Sail Date: Mar 2015
Cabin: Mid-Ship Inside

I sailed from Rome on the 11 night Western Mediterranean only, not the 21 night. I would not have survived it. I have many pros and cons, but the most important things I will cover here. 1st of all, the decoration on the ship got very old...nothing pretty about it. Sailing in Europe and reminded of Hawaii was not delightful. #2...entertainment was terrible most of the time. The best shows were only 3 I could name: 1st night of male singers, and the Competition with the 4 and the audience judged, and Elements. The Elements were very professional and the presentation was awesome...you could tell everyone enjoyed the show. So 11 nights and 3 good entertainment nights is all I can give credit to. I did not participate in any activities other than Sudoku because I have been on many cruises and the activities have gotten old...all the same, "bingo", "zumba", dance classes, sing along, etc. Others in my party of 5 did participate with things that they were interested in. I did more reading and quite time...my choice. #3..there were too many kids on the cruise for me...I forgot when booking March was spring break time. Most of the time it was okay...but many times I saw kids doing things they should not have been doing...throwing balls in front of elevators, jumping up to pull on things from the walls, running down the corridors.....yes you got it...NO PARENTS IN SIGHT! At the shows, the rule was no children under certain age in 1st 3 rows.....this was not monitored until I called the guest services and complained...then they had staff there to monitor, at least at the last 2 shows that I went too. #4 Food.....I do not go to the buffet because I consider it the place to pick up germs without asking....kids messing in food, etc. I used room service to avoid buffet. I went to Main dining room for dinner. Most of the lunch times we were on tours....opted to just wait until 5:30 for my supper. The food in the early sitting was fast and tasty...only had 1 bad meal and I should not have asked for something not on the menu. Breakfast was hot and to order from the Main dining room and I enjoyed most of them. The menu was the same pretty much with changes only with the Entree.

All in all....I was not pleased enough to return to NCL. It is a lower class cruise line to me and I knew this from experience on Star....so my main reason for booking again on Jade was for the Itinerary and I was not disappointed with it. I did not take any excursions with NCL because I know about the mark up. I booked separate tours and we all ended up at the same places, but the benefit was that my tour groups were no more than 12 people. We had great tour guides with SPB Tours in Livorno, Nizza Travel in Monaco, Tours Valencia, and the Hop on/Hop Off tours. We did not miss anything and the views were awesome. I have not regrets of the cruise itinerary and it was all good....the Ship has a lot to be desired. Needs a complete makeover with decorations if they are to stay in the Mediterr. and new mattresses in all the cabins. They make enough money on all the extra fees they charge to do a better job. I will return back to Princess and the 5 star ships...enough is enough. You get what you pay for, this is so true with NCL...no washer/dryers on each floor....and I can go on as I compare other ships. But the Itinerary was worth the BITE!!!

Cabin Review

Mid-Ship Inside

Cabin IB

The mattresses in our cabin probably have never been replaced or maybe just on some decks. On the 9th deck midship only 1 mattress out of 4 cabins that we had was sufficient. The others dipped in the center, NCL tried to rectify the problems with foam toppers which made the situation worst because then you had a hump to climb over when you got out of the bed. This spoiled my on board experience because I have a bad back and when the bed is not right, I cannot have a good night. The cabin steward tried to make it better but he could not if mattress was old. Bathroom was nice size and he kept it clean...water was hot...sprayer was great. Closet space adequate. Cabin was a little smaller than most other cruise lines only 158 sq where others are 168, 178, 188. You have to pay more on NCL to get a larger cabin and this is not so on Princess and Celebrity where it is large enough to even have a sofa in the room.

Port Reviews

Barcelona

We did the Hop on/off and this was good for us. We had 3 lines and it was a long time to see all of Barcelona.

Really was worth the money and to do our own thing today.

We ate at a local restaurant which was delicious

Sardinia

Not much to see on this stop. We walked around after taking a bus that was there. It was a cool wet day. the bus was only 8 euros. the town does not have much to offer tourist. I took this as a needed stop for the cruise line and not the passengers.

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