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Jade is structured EXACTLY the same as Jewel so getting around wasn't a problem. Jade originally began service in Hawaii as “Pride of Hawaii” but for economic reasons was re-registered in the Bahamas and had a name change. Much of the Hawaiian decor remains. These ships carry about 2300 passengers and we were told that 1600 of them on this trip (June 11-18, 2011) were non English speaking. All announcements were in five languages. Gary, the cruise director, was amazing in that he could speak eight languages!
Everything about the ship was familiar to us... the entertainment was very enjoyable. Have to admit we really felt the crew show was pretty good.
We ate all of our meals in the venues included with our cruise. We couldn't see paying extra for the specialty restaurants because the food offered in the included venues was better than what we typically eat at home. We like the generally smaller portion sizes we have gotten on all of our cruises.
All breakfasts were in the MDR or Blue Lagoon. Lunches were out of the buffet. All dinners were in one of the two dining rooms.
The balcony cabin was the same as we've had on other NCL ships. Bright, roomy, comfortable. Our balcony was on the starboard side so, for the first time, we had room service bring us breakfast so we could take in Venice as we returned to port. It was memorable!
Our favorite place on deck is deck 13, midship, starboard, side in the shade under the overhang. We'll spend hours there reading our Kindles. Never had a problem finding space there until the last day at sea. The chair hogs were out early because there were NO chairs to be found ANYWHERE (by 9am) let alone a place to put it in our favorite shaded spot.
We totally enjoyed all four of the Greek ports visited. We did NONE of the ship sponsored excursions choosing instead to go ashore and do our own thing.
Everyone on the crew was professional and friendly. We sensed that they were slightly older (more mature) than the crews we've seen on Jewel and Dawn out of NYC.
Getting on/off the ship in Venice was a breeze. We were in no hurry because we had arranged to spend a couple days in Venice before heading home.
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