NCL staff and crew did a good job offsetting the inadequacies of the Jade. The trip itself was disappointing as the fall time of the year was not pretty and somewhat depressing.
Embarkation
1 out of 5
Horrible Experience. NCL should be embarrassed. The signage was lacking. There was a Viking Cruise Line and the NCL Jade both loading at the same time and it was confusing as they was one tiny sign. It took us 2 hours to get on because NCL did not have enough people for all of the wheelchairs that were needed. I had emailed Special Needs at Sea to reserve a scooter but it wasn't there. We are used to getting priority service as a Haven guest and both of us being Platinum level, but that was no the case. There was a VIP room, but from there you were escorted to the main registration level to sign up and get your keys, then back to the VIP room. Made no sense.
Ship experiences
Food and Dining
5 out of 5
Only dined in the specialty restaurants, and they were excellent, especially Le Bistro. Jamie is very professional.
We were disappointed to learn that even though both my wife and I are platinum Latitudes members, the free dinner for a Platinum member is "one per stateroom". This seems very unfair as it makes the second person's Platinum status meaningless.
Onboard Activities
3 out of 5
Game Room was nice.
Entertainment
4 out of 5
Average quality but entertaining.
Service and Staff
5 out of 5
All the staff were excellent, especially Collette (Concierge), Mel, our Butler, and the cabin steward.
Ship Quality
3 out of 5
Clean, but one of the mid-ship elevators was out the entire trip and that was a major problem as mass confusion using the elevators was a problem.
Cabin / Stateroom
4 out of 5
Shower was tiny and the bed filled up the entire bedroom. It was difficult to get in and out -- and this was a Haven Suite. I can only imagine how the non-Haven cabins were like.
Ship tip
Don't sail on the Jade it you have ever been on one of the NCL bigger ship. We have been on the Escape and Getaway and that spoiled us.
Very nice. Ate lunch at Sims Corner Restaurant for mussels and lobster. Was great, except I left my iPhone there, which I didn't miss until we were at sea. Collette was an angel getting my phone back to me in Halifax. She swung into action contacting the restaurant and dispatching an NCL representative to go get the phone and ship it for a minor fee to the ship for delivery to me. PHEW!
A delightful city. We were cheated out of a day there. We were supposed to stay overnight and be able to explore the city until we departed at 2pm the next day, but we had to leave at mid-night. One reason for taking this cruise was the two days in QC. I feel like we got cheated out of a day! NCL blamed it on the Canadian government. No compensation was offered for this disappointing change.
Do not take the Lighthouses & Lobster tour -- it's a rip off and the tour guides were incompetent. The tour is basically a ride on an old open air boat through the harbor to a lighthouse where they pull up a lobster trap. It's advertised as a "Level 1" tour with a short walk to the boat, but it's actually about a mile walk, and the two ladies in charge just walked off and left half the group who got lost in the crowd. If you have mobility problems there is a steep circular stairway that you must go down to exit the boat. NCL should be ashamed of their connection to this tour company.
Perfect getting off the ship and picking up the luggage, but finding a taxi was a battle. After walking out of the customs area in to the streets of NYC there were no taxis to be found. The excuse we were given is that since it was a Monday none of the taxi knew there was a ship unloading. This almost caused us to miss our flight home.
What inadequacies??? We were on the Jade Oct 6-16, everything was outstanding. What was disappointing???
The contrast of colors from the foliage turning was amazing. How can any of that be depressing.
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