Disappointed overall in the ship, the cruise director wasn't the greatest. We only saw him when he introduced the show in the theatre and he couldn't make eye contact with his audience, all you could make out was ola and he looked up at the ceiling. Cruise director staff were much the same. A lot of the adult activities at night were in the spinnaker lounge and we couldn't get a seat there and didn't fancy standing being squashed so didn't bother. Randon the singer in the atrium was fantastic and we spent our nights mostly there listening to him. Overall very disappointed and if this was our first cruise it would also be our last. Tips are added to your account as soon as you get in the ship and it's a third degree from staff when asking for them to be removed. They don't take them off till the last night so be prepared to get letters asking for more money or a credit card to be put against your account as well as your card being suspended. Totally insulted by that
Embarkation
3 out of 5
Wasn't to bad but found the staff quite rude especially when we were asked for our credit card for the onboard account. When we said that we wanted to use cash get manner changed and she very rudely asked if we were aware it was dollars onbaed. We were given no map and left to find our own way around to our cabin
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
1 out of 5
Service wasn't the greatest. Food in the grand Pacific was warm and was given the wrong meal. Overall the food choices for vegetarians is more or less non existent
Onboard Activities
2 out of 5
Fitness centre was adequate but never any staff around, not a lot of activities available
Entertainment
2 out of 5
No variety in the entertainment mostly singers or the ships singers and damcers
Children's Programs
Nochildren
Service and Staff
4 out of 5
Cabin steward was excellent, went out of his way to give us great service. Was always polite and chatty. Other staff mainly in the dining room served you whilst making small talk but that was about it
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Ship was clean enough but on occasions ladies toilets could have been better. Also very rarely saw any cleaners about during the day
Cabin / Stateroom
2 out of 5
Very disappointed in the size of our cabin given that it was a balcony but can't complain about the cleanliness of it. If sitting drying hair for example other person in the room had to climb over the bed to get past. Balcony was more like a box and felt quite closed in
Ship tip
Book excursions before you go if you can as they are very expensive on the ship
Didn't get a chance to do so as it only docked here for an hour to let passengers on a tour embark. If you got off the ship and weren't doing the tour you couldn't get back on and had to make your own way to the next port
Although it's a lovey city it was advertised as a two day stopbut we arrived at 4pm and left at 12 noon the next day. We had booked the hop on hop off bus and even though it was good we couldn't get off the bus apart from one stop as we would have had to make our own way back as the buses stop at a certain time
The tipping process on many ships is a fundamental part of the crew wage structure (just as it is in the USA where it isn't that unusual for wait staff work for tips only, or even have to pay a regular fee in order to get & retain the tip earning job)... That system is totally alien to our way of working but is why it's essential that tips have been added to the basic pricing for cultures that are inclined to remove tips.. Tipping directly to individuals, as many Brits do or say they do, means the tips only go to front of house staff which is unfair to the majority of the crew who don't interact directly with guests...
In my view if the tipping process was properly explained very few people from far higher waged cultures than the crew would even consider removing them and probably be inclined to be even more generous in tipping more as they go along (particularly to bar tenders who apparently don't share the ship added daily gratuities). It might also help people to understand why asking to remove tips is frowned upon by the crew...
Likewise and don't agree with tips being added on, normally tip if you have had good service and having that added on does it mean it doesn't matter then if the service is good or bad
Mandydownes, that is always our concern. We wonder if they actually get the money. We are from Australia so we are not used to the tipping culture either. We never know whats too little or too much.....so tipping whenever we travel to the States always creates us a slight bit of angst.
Going by some of the comments can you still take the tips off, it's not that we don't want to pay the tips we prefer to tip the staff ourselves which we did as that way we know they are actually getting it
We are cruising Jade in November and our tips will be added to our account daily. We can prepay them now if we wish to. I didn't know you could get them taken off? In saying that its only $300 all up that we pay. Considering the measley wages staff receive on cruise ships I dont mind the add on, I just hope it goes to the workers. I am hoping we do not experience the same cruise director that has been mentioned. It is their job to keep the cruise upbeat and create an awesome atmosphere.
Removing tips isn't an option for European travellers under the new NCL all inclusive package (since April). We have friends who remove tips as a matter of course regardless of the service we get so we were more than happy to see the tip cancellation system ending. The tips system is built on US culture and came across as alien to some Brits and some other Europeans so they've been added to upfront costs on this side of the pond, which is fine by us. We sailed the Jade on its last week in the Caribbean and when it crossed back the Europe. The current Cruise Director joined the ship for the Atlantic crossing & Europe, I agree he's pretty hopeless and far worse than the one he replaced. He seemed the have nothing about him and had every music venue across the ship playing the same 'elderly' genres of music. Every other NCL Cruise Director we've experienced has been very good. We concluded the bigger NCL ships, Epic, Getaway, Escape, etc offer far more in terms of entertainment options.
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