Norwegian Jade Review
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Additional details
We chose this cruise due to it's ports of call and enjoyed it tremendously. The ship is very nice and the staff are always attentive and friendly. The ports of call were all fabulous and we enjoyed every one of them. The embarkation and disembarkation at each port was done as smoothly as could be expected trying to get 2400 passengers on and off. The cabin is definitely small which was expected, but to be honest, it would be nice if some of these ships could make slightly larger staterooms when designing these ships. Some of the shore excursions could be improved. For example, we did the Stirling Castle shore excursion that left in the morning and was a 5 hour shore excursion. With the driving there and back, it left maybe slightly more than an hour to see the castle, eat and go to the bathroom. That was not near enough time to explore fully the castle. Plus, other Norwegian Jade busses that left at the same time as us had different times to meet and ultimately ended up with more time at the castle, not a lot more time, but more time nonetheless. And, for this port, we were there until 7:00 p.m. so we had lots of time for this shore excursion to be lengthened even by 1/2 hr to an hour. The dining rooms were all nice and the staff attentive, but we didn't always get what we ordered. For instance, if a dessert was a cake with ice cream, sometimes, we got the ice cream and sometimes, we didn't. Not a big deal, but still not exactly what we had ordered either. Also, the dining room windows are terrible. They give a distorted view outside and even for those of us not inclined to sea sickness, looking out of them was not ideal. We did download the app iNorwegian and were excited to use it, but it wasn't what we had expected. Yes, it gives information on what is happening and at the ports, but not a lot of information. You can't see, for instance, what the entertainment is, just the name of the performer. You can't see the hours of the restaurants if you wanted to know when, say, breakfast was being served in the diningroom. Certainly, with technology always improving, I foresee this app becoming a great asset to Norwegian. However, the charge of $10 per person to be able to use the messenging feature seems excessive. Possibly $10 for a group of 2 or 4 people to use the messenging system, but each person being charged that amount to belong to a group messenging system doesn't seem reasonable. As well, our account listed on the app was generally accurate in it's overall total that we owed, but it never showed every charge or rebate and we know that it could because the other couple we were with had a more detailed account on their app. I also wish the TV could be improved. I realize that Norwegian doesn't want us spending our time in the cabin, they want us out and about and potentially spending money, but having a channel that listed the channels and times of the movies and programs would be helpful when you are in your cabin. However, after all of these small issues, I would definitely travel with Norwegian again.
Cabin Review
Inside
The cabin was great with more storage space than you think you will get, however, it's still a very small cabin space. Getting around the bed on either side of it (at the wall) was difficult at best especially with the extra bed slightly protruding from the wall. Our cabin stewart was friendly (Danni) and quick. Our room was made up or turned down without us ever seeing him do it lol. Possibly hooks at the back of the door or elsewhere on the walls would be helpful for hanging coats and purses and knapsacks. And, it would be nice if the TV was slightly improved so that you could see ahead of time what movies and the times that these movies started at could be found. It's really annoying coming in the middle of movies and although I realize Norwegian wants us all out in the public spaces potentially spending our money, it would also be nice if we knew what was on our TV's.
Port Reviews
Southampton
Southampton was a very cool place to start our cruise, but we didn't have enough time to actually see too much. We stayed in the old part of the city for one night and managed to do a walk around the walls that were built in the 1300's, but that is all we had time for.
St. Peter Port (Guernsey)
This place is beautiful. We did our own thing here including walking to Fermain Bay which was a fabulous way to see a bit of the countryside. It wasn't an easy walk, but it was well worth it. We ended at a cafe on Fermain Bay and had lunch there and it was definitely a highlight of the trip. We also visited Castle Cornet which made for a fascinating afternoon.
Cobh (Cork)
We did our own thing in the morning by visiting the Titanic Experience and wandering around the town which we thoroughly enjoyed and then, did a Jamieson Distillery tour with the ship which we loved. The tour guide was fabulous and the distillery was fascinating to see. The tasting didn't hurt lol.
Dublin
We had prearranged tickets to do the Book of Kells and a Teeling Distillery tour while our friends did a Guiness tour (we had been to Dublin before and had already done that, but anyone who is a first timer to Dublin should do the Guiness tour). We also went to St. Patrick's Cathedral. We ate at the Brazen Head pub which everyone should try to do when in Dublin.
Greenock (Glasgow)
We did a shore excursion to Stirling Castle. We loved the castle, the shore excursion could have been better. There wasn't a lot of time to explore the castle and the tour went right over the lunch hour leaving the port around 9:00ish and returning by 2:00ish. No time to really eat, we bought a scone at the little cafe there. I think this shore excursion could certainly be improved. There was lots of time at the port as we didn't leave until 7:00 so why the shore excursion wasn't longer is anyone's guess.
Kirkwall
This was a very interesting place to visit. We did our own thing with hiring a Craigie's taxi to take us around. We were able to go places and see things that we wouldn't have been able to do with a shore excursion, however, as pleasant and polite as the taxi cab driver was, he was no tour guide so there wasn't too much information presented on where we were going and what we were seeing although, everywhere we went, there were interpretive signs so all was good. We ended our tour at the Highland Distillery which is a really cool distillery to see and then walked into town to St. Magnus Cathedral. There is a free shuttle bus from the tourist information centre to get back to the ship.
Invergordon (Inverness)
We arranged our own shore excursion with another company. The problem with the ship shore excursions are they generally only do one thing so a trip to a castle, potentially a stop at a town for a short visit and that is it whereas other companies generally combine more sights and that was the case this time too. We went with a company called WOW and they were very good and we saw a lot. The castle we toured was more of a manor home, than an actual castle, but it was still old and it was still nice to see. The bonus is that we saw that castle and other sights that we stopped at and were able to look around. They provided us with a very good lunch as well and internet on their bus so even the travelling was a little elevated from what is offered in the shore excursions.
Edinburgh (South Queensferry)
Love this city and we did our own thing as we had been there before. We did have prearranged tickets to the Royal Brittania and did that first thing in the morning. From there, we took a cab into the old part of the city and walked from Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace. We didn't go into either as we had done them both before, but we took our time wandering the streets. The only complaint I would say is that there is no real gift shopping at the docks. We had to be tendered in so maybe that was the reason, but having a little place to do some last minute gift shopping would've been nice.