My friend and I shared adjoining rooms on this cruise out of Tampa. It was our fifth time on the Jade. We had fun and we’ll book her again. Here are some of my specific thoughts:
Hits
Drydock Decor. Along with adding art throughout the ship, the recent renovations in Freeport finally removed the outdated Pacific staircase decor in favor of attractive new browns and greys.
I'd book it again. For one person, there was plenty of space. It was near the Mid-Ship Elevators and Stairs. The shower was spacious. The HVAC worked quite well. The new TV offered recent movies but only had one sports channel showing mainly soccer. The balcony had two nice chairs and a small table.
We stayed at the Hilton Downtown before and after our cruise. We'd go back. It has typical high-quality Hilton rooms. It's near several great restaurants. We ate at Spain and at the Yeoman's Cask & Lion. It's also near the Riverwalk. We had an amazing trip on the Pirate Water Taxi to and from the Lowry Park Zoo.
While it was a bit of a walk, we had an amazing meal with live music at Pancho's Backyard.
This new development is off to a great start. The beach activities, shopping and food service were doing very well. The native animal exhibit needs more work.