Nice Cruise

Embarkation went smoothly. We arrived to the terminal at about 11:30AM. The lobby was packed and we thought it would take a long time to board. To our surprise, things moved fast and we were on board by Noon. Our luggage did not arrive until about 7:00PM, but we didn't mind since we were busy exploring the ship. We had an obstructed oceanview stateroom (8062). The room was nice and clean for the most part. We usually purchase an inside stateroom, but we chose an oceanview because of a promotion that included a free ultimate beverage and ultimate dining package for about $100 more. It was well worth it.

We dined at most of the restaurants and really enjoyed them. Our favorite restaurant was La Cucina(Italian). Our steaks at La Cucina were actually better than the steaks we had at Cagney's steakhouse on the ship. We also enjoyed the Teppanyaki restaurant. Our Chef (Christopher) was very entertaining. We also dined at the Main Dining Rooms a couple of times and they were decent. The only poor dining venue is the Moderno restaurant. The place is supposed to be a Brazilian Churrascaria similar to the land based restaurant Fogo De Chao. The service was extremely slow and the meat was sub-par. It was very disappointing. I will say that the wait staff were very friendly, but the place appeared to be short staffed and we saw several people walk out after not being served for a long time. We usually had breakfast at the buffet and it was good for buffet food. The omelet chefs are very good. We usually had lunch in the Grand Pacific dining room which was good.

There was no shortage on entertainment. Every day and night, there were live music acts all over the ship. The Reggae band was phenomenal. We only attended one show in the theater(stand up comedy). The comedian was hilarious. We spent most of our time in the casino and had a blast. There are many games to choose from and we did pretty well.

We had three ports: Cozumel, Belize City, and Roatan. Cozumel was gorgeous. We opted for an all inclusive day pass at the Hotel Cozumel resort. It was only $35 per person and it included food, beverages, snorkeling. We snorkeled most of the day and saw all kinds of fish. In Belize, my wife was not feeling well so we stayed on the ship. I hit up the bars that day to take advantage of my beverage package. In Roatan we had to tender because there were too many ships scheduled. The tender ride was fast. We booked a monkey interaction tour with Bodden tours. It was really fun.

On the way back to Houston, we were told that the ship would arrive a day early to avoid forecasted fog but we would still be able to stay on the ship until our scheduled debarkation. The biggest downside was that we had to pay port taxes on any purchases made. However, it was nice to know that we would debark timely and the ship was not rocking back and forth as we were docked. Debarkation was a breeze and well organized.

This was our third Norwegian Cruise and we enjoyed it immensely. We will definitely continue to cruise Norwegian. We only cruise with NCL and Carnival because of the laid back and casual atmosphere. I have to wear a suit to work everyday, so I like to dress casual while on vacation. The Jade is a nice ship and the layout is almost identical to the Jewel. We feel that it was well worth what we spent. The crew members are very courteous as well.