Good for the price, but unorganized

Norwegian Jade Cruise Review to Caribbean - Western

Cruises: 1 cruise (first)
Review: 1
Helpful Votes: 14

Overall rating:

3 out of 5
Verified Review
Norwegian Jade

7 Night Western Caribbean (Houston Roundtrip)

Sail date: January 30, 2016

Ship: Norwegian Jade

Cabin type: Inside

Cabin number: 8519

Traveled as: Couple

Reviewed: 8 years ago

Review summary

Overall the cruise was good, the ship was kept clean and neat. Our room was very nice, we had everything we needed and our room attended was probably the best part of our experience on the ship. I celebrated my birthday while on the cruise and I never mentioned it to him but he found out and was the only one of the ship crew that wished me a happy birthday, and left a birthday card from the ship in our room. Unlike our room attendant, every thing else on my birthday made the day difficult and upsetting. We had booked an excursion on the 2nd to celebrate in Belize and we missed our excursion because of the delay to get off the boat. I understand the boat was SLIGHTLY delayed because of local clearance, but the tender process was terrible. We waited in an extremely long line for over an hour to get a tender ticket, then stood and waited in another line for several hours with our group number to board the correct tender. We watch people who did NOT have a tender ticket or had tickets for later tenders go in front of us. The attendant that was supposed to be taking the tickets was too busy talking to pay attention to her job. We missed our excursion, lost the deposit on that excursion and lost 3 hours in port time. This made the worst start to my birthday. It was followed by a terrible dinner in the blue lagoon restaurant, where my chicken was served raw on the inside..completely raw.. when I was brought a replacement of the same meal the chicken was near burnt and was not served with my side or sauce. We just gave up and went to bed. Hoping that was just one bad day the next morning hoping the tender to get to Honduras would work better. Again we stood in line for 2 1/2 hours, despite being one of the first in line. And again it was unorganized and people didn't know where to line up creating very confused and then very angery people. My boyfriend sent me inside away from the crowd because several people began yelling at each other and one threatened physical violence. Durning this whole episode there was not one crew member present. Until several people went to the service counter were crew members sent and by then things were such a mess they ended up causing more confusion.  We also had issues at the bars, we would have to stand and wait to be attended to and then was told on one of the last days people had created a line to help the bartenders attend to people in order. Why do the people on the ship have to help organize the crew process to get service?  We also had issues with the entertainment. It was all geared towards a much older age group and we felt very overlooked and limited on how to send our time on board. Most of the time we would go and watch people play bingo- not fun. Granted a majority of the people cruising were 50 and older, but it would have been nice to have a few things geared toward a younger (25-35) crowd. The magician was fun to see though. It would also have been nice to have more 24 or even late night food options or snacks. It wasn't the worst trip we've been on but we agreed that when we cruise again we will be choosing a different cruise line. 

 

Ship experiences

Food and Dining

3 out of 5

Onboard Activities

1 out of 5

Entertainment

1 out of 5

Service and Staff

3 out of 5

Ship Quality

5 out of 5

Cabin / Stateroom

5 out of 5
It would have been great to have the bed set parallel to the ship so when it rocked we weren't sleeping against the waves causing major sea sickness. The rooms was otherwise great and our attendent was absolutely wonderful! He was truly one of the best parts of the whole ship. He was very kind and attentive, we always left our room smiling with a wonderful genuine morning greeting and walked into our rooms smiling because of all he did.

Ports of call

Houston, Texas

5 out of 5

Cozumel, Mexico

3 out of 5

Belize City, Belize

5 out of 5

Coxen Hole, Roatan, Bay Islands, Honduras

3 out of 5

Traveler Photos

Birthday surprise in room
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3 Comments

AJR214    8 years ago

I don't understand the Honduras issue as there is NO tender. You're docked and you walk off on deck 4 using both exits which are usually set up as soon as they are docked, but can't let you off until cleared by the port authority. We got off and on the Star twice with less than 5 minutes wait each time. And yes, NCL caters to an older (40+?) crowd, but activities are all over the ship all day.

AJR214    8 years ago

For Belize, ship excursions have first tendering priority. If it was a private excursion then you take the risk (at any port). On the Star last week, they announced 3 different times and had in the freestyle how the tender process works in Belize. They wouldn't let you anywhere near the exit if you weren't in the correct tender group.

racsan    8 years ago

Amen. I was on that same cruise.

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