Choose the Norwegian Jade for a twentieth anniversary cruise. Have cruised numerous times in the past but never with Norwegian and thought we would give it a try, seemed like a fair price. Ship was nice enough and stateroom was what we expected. Then it begins... upon touring the ship we noticed a large green waste management shipping container on the upper pool deck. We assumed this was to offload supplies. Embarkation day was clear and weather was great. At the beginning of the sail away party we were notified we would not be leaving on time due to fog? We went back to our stateroom balcony and noticed divers on the starboard side of the ship which we assumed was routine maintenance. After 7 hours of delays, casino closed and port taxes we were underway...in the heaviest fog I have ever seen. You could not see the Sunshine Skyway as we passed under it except for the lights on the bottom. No big thing, make the best of it.

Later that night we were advised we would not make port in Key West due to time, not a big thing we live in Florida. So we decided to go to the pool where the construction dumpster remained closing one side of the upper pool deck. There was no wait service on the upper deck and all traffic was funneled through the deck chairs on either side. Then CONSTRUCTION began. Not maintenance, they were literally dismantling the waterslide and closed the kids pool to do so. Jackhammers and impact wrenches all day long. After waiting at the bar 45 minutes for a drink we said enough pool.

Decided to sit on one of the decks and struck up a conversation with a crew member who advised we did not leave due to divers making repairs under the boat not fog. Being from the area imagine we missed the tide to make it under the bridge. We also decided to sign up for unlimited wifi to conduct some business back home. Waste of money, after 3 trips to the wifi supervisor we could not access any way to reach kids at home. He advised it must be a phone issue not wifi issue. Cruise director MIA all day although entertainment was good. Read more