This was our sixth cruise and the third on the Jade. We have always enjoyed the Jade and really like the upgrades in appearence and facilities that have occurred on the Jade since we last sailed.
We had always wanted to see Ireland and Scotland and given we were on the earlier Norwegian fyord cruise we saw a good opportunity to visit these locations with a back to back cruise around the British Isles. A wonderful experience! Emabarkcation on the first cruise and the debark on this cruise could not have gone easier. We were never disappointed in any of our excurions. Well OK the Blarney Castle was a let down if you have seen a old castle before bu the gardens were beautiful and the Irish Coffee heart warming. Wanting a slower pace at times we choose to go our own way in Guernsey and Edenborough. We had a great cabbie take us around the Island of Guernsey and show us far more sights than we could have on an excursion simply because we went to places a bus could not approach. By the way Guernsey has better and far more WW II German fortifcations than we found at Normandy and a couple of great museums of the occupation period. Edenborough is a wonderful, beautiful city. We took a cab up and spent the entire day walking the "Royal Mile" between the castle and the palace stopping for beer, coffee, lunch and Scotch Whiskey along the way. We had some 7 and 8 hour excursions and really enjoyed them. The operators scheduled a lot of stops which made the days seem much shorter than expected. Beware-Everyone that went on the excursion to Bath was disappointed in the very long bus ride with little time on the ground.
We kept going back to the Jasmine Garden Restaurant for a select number of their dishes and always had fun with the staff. The buffet was always crowded due I assume to the cool weather that prevented everyone from using the serving line around the pool as happens on warmer cruises. One of us developed a medical condition that required medical tests, examination and medication. We could not have gotten better care anywhere. Overall we highly recommend this cruise around the British Isles unless you do not like the color green grass. We continue to think the Jade is a great ship with a wonderful staff
Very nice. Would have been great but the window was not entirely transparent in spots which reduced the overall experience. Plenty of storage and everything was rather new and attractive. We did not get certain amenities that we had been used to and were told we just needed to ask for them.