West meets East - Great Itinerary on Norwegian Jade - September 2008

Overview of Cruise All in all the NCL cruise on board the Norwegian Jade was an enjoyable and relaxing experience even if a bit disappointing when compared with some previous cruises on rival cruiselines. The Jade is a beautiful ship but has not yet been successfully transformed from its previous identity as the Pride of Hawaii! Lots of glaring South Seas murals and carpeting all over the place - the only thing they appear to have changed is the ship's name! The ship itself was great. Twelve restaurants, impressive range of bars and lounges, three pools, Las Vegas style showroom, casino, fully equipped gymnasium and fitness centre, comfortable cabins (with private balcony) etc, so we really had very little to complain about. In retrospect, I guess the only things that gave us some minor misgivings about the cruise were the disappointing quality of food in the speciality restaurants (where a small couvert was charged), and the generally ultra business like attitude of ship staff. Very pleasant and courteous but a bit cold and super efficient. Not as homely as our other cruise experiences. The freestyle experience also allows one to do as much or as little as one wants (there were plenty of arranged activities if one is into that sort of thing) and there are few restrictions on anything, including dress codes, although some of the better restaurants did insist on men wearing long pants for dinner! Freestyle dining provides total dining flexibility but we are not sure we actually prefer it to the preassigned seating one finds on most cruise ships.

Prior to the cruise. The main reason we chose to cruise Norwegian was because we were seeking a cruise itinerary that either started or ended in Istanbul to synchronize with a three week land tour that we had already of Turkey, a fascinating country that we had long wanted to visit. Apart from some of the six star boutique cruise ships such as Seabourn and Silversea, which regrettably are out of our league, the Jade was the only ship that had a suitable itinerary to fit in with our land requirements. Read more