We have done a number of cruises, most on Norwegian, and It seemed to me that standards have fallen on this cruise from what I remember in the past. We were traveling with children and grandchildren and the other grandparents. All the adults in our group were experienced cruisers and the children are now on their way.

We did our own travel to Venice for this cruise, and arrived a few days early, which we were very happy about. It was a long walk from the public transport drop-off point to the terminal, and it was HOT. Once there, embarkation seemed more chaotic than usual. I found it hard to tell where to go and which line was for what, and ended up waiting in the wrong line twice. I was dripping with sweat, and it was not fun. As past cruisers, we had priority, but couldn't tell how to take advantage of it. Where were the signs?

We had not been on the Jade before. Our room was nice, but the balcony (forward) had a metal casing around it instead of being totally open, which I didn't expect. I wish I had known to expect that--not enough information about the difference between different categories of balcony staterooms I think. I also noticed a lot of noise in our room, as well as in some of the specialty restaurants. Lots of pounding ??? Not pleasant. Our room was comfortable, though, and our steward was very good--friendly and very helpful. Others in our group found their room steward less than helpful in trying to figure out a way to have a night-light that wasn't too bright but would help avoid tripping in the dark. Why would this be so difficult? How about a built-in night-light setting on the bathroom light? But even a short-term solution seemed beyond this steward's willingness or ability. Read more