Don't waste your time or money!!!

Norwegian Jade Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

jason3233

Contributor Level: Purser

Cruises: 2-3 cruises

Review: 1

Helpful Votes: 48

Overall rating:

1 out of 5

Verified Review

7 Night Western Caribbean (Houston Roundtrip)

Sail date: November 21, 2015

Ship: Norwegian Jade

Cabin type: Balcony

Cabin number: 10548

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

If I could give this cruise line zero stars I would. EVERYTHING on this cruise was terrible from the food to the staff to the execution of getting people off the boat at the different ports. "Freestyle cruising" as they call it is a joke. Instead of assigned dining times, they have multiple restaurants on the ship and you are supposed to be able to eat what you want, when you want. The "good" restaurants charge an additional $20 to $30 per person to eat there. We got the "Ultimate Dining Package" which was supposed to allow us to eat at these restaurants without the additional charges. However, people were making reservations for dining six months in advance which means there was no available seating at the "nicer" places to eat. We were then relegated to eating at their disgusting buffet every meal. When we looked in the pay restaurants, there were hardly any people in there and but they still claimed to be full. Apparently they didn't plan to serve many people here?

At the various ports, Norwegian didn't pay to dock the boat. Instead, they stopped 5 miles out in the ocean and used the life boats to ferry people to shore. This process took many hours leaving most people with just a few hours to visit the islands. When visiting Honduras, half of the people scheduled to be on out shore excursion had to miss it because they couldn't get off the ship. If you booked your excursion through anyone other than Norwegian, you were not going to be reimbursed.

Everyone we talked to had the same feelings. No one was happy with the experience and you could tell by the "mood of the ship" that people were extremely unhappy about the cruise. I will never give a second thought to taking a Norwegian cruise.

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

1 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Children's Programs

3 out of 5

Service and Staff

1 out of 5

Ship Quality

1 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

3 out of 5

The cabin was OK. It might have been better if the rest of the cruise hadn't been so awful.

Ship tip

Book your cruise on another cruise line, you'll thank me later.

Thumbs up

Ports of call

Houston, Texas

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

1 out of 5

Belize City, Belize

1 out of 5

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

1 out of 5

12 Comments

meyeboo 8 years ago

when I talked to a rep on the website I was told that the $160 charge for the free drink package covered all taxes and fees ... thanks for the heads up

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

Lilijanes 8 years ago

Wow! Thanks!

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

kndavis 8 years ago

Lilijanes - no, bottled water was not included. Also for the UBP, you have to pay port tax on the drinks that you have while in port in Houston. The receipt will show full price for the drink but to give you an idea, the 16oz bud light bottles we had there were $1.07 I think. We weren't aware of this, so just a head's up!

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

marymat80 8 years ago

ok so our check Innis 1030 if we parked by 10 we should be good right

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

Lilijanes 8 years ago

Thank you guys so much! So, water was not included in the ultimate beverage package?

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

Elizabeth777 8 years ago

Lilijanes, we got to the port just after 10. We went through security and were done with check in by 10:40. We did have to wait for boarding to start, but we were not stuck in lines the whole time.

Thumbs Up 1

Flag

kndavis 8 years ago

Our check in was 1:30-2:00, but we actually parked the vehicle about 12:15 and we were on the ship around 2:15-2:30. I would suggest selecting the earliest check in time (noon, I think) and get there around 11 maybe? Just guessing obviously but by the number of guests in line ahead of us, they were there early! Just a tip - Next time we will also take bottled water...there were several people with cases of water in line and when we got on board we realized why. It was not included in the drink package and it was around $25/6-pack of liter bottles (which was still a bit less than purchasing individually).

Thumbs Up 2

Flag

Lilijanes 8 years ago

So what time would you suggest getting to the terminal in Houston? I'm leaving On Jade Saturday.

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

kndavis 8 years ago

We just returned last weekend from the Jade. We had a much different experience......perhaps we had low expectations ;) We had a great time. There were a few things that could have been improved on, but we tried to stay positive and patient and make the trip what we wanted it to be. A few things we will try to keep in mind for next time.....get to the port in Houston early-the check in times really didn't mean much with such a long line. When tendering to a port, get tender tickets as soon as they are available or book excursion through Norwegian-we missed our excursion in Belize because of a later tender, but we were able to book another in the port and were happy with it. If the desired specialty dining restaurant is booked, check with the host(ess) and see if there is any availability - we were able to get in at Cagney's on our last night on board, a very last minute decision (it was after 8:00, but TOTALLY worth the wait and the upcharge!!!). All in all, IMO, the trip is what you make it!

Thumbs Up 6

Flag

marymat80 8 years ago

when was your cruise?

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

anasophia19 8 years ago

oh my god my cruise is in 25 days... how sad

Thumbs Up 0

Flag

klindsey 8 years ago

Ports are "normally" tendered because a) water is too shallow close to dock for ships that size & b) the port is too full to fit another ship, not because they didn't pay to get close :/ Sorry you had a bad time, I've seen several negative posts for the jade from its recent new itenerary. Hoping ncl gets there act together before our cruise in 54 days!

Thumbs Up 3

Flag

Other reviews of this sailing

Good but not great

Save your Money

Good First Cruise