Norwegian Jade Cruise Reviews - Reviews

I was the escort for 100 Zoomers on the Valentine Cruise abroad the Jade.  The experience went so smoothly because of your the crew and staff that I can say "excellent".  Several cruisers made the comment that the loading  and disembarkation was the easiest ever..  I met with Antonellle Cassata and Aldine, the dining manager at 2:00 pm to the discuss the needs or the groups and every desire was met.  If there were any specific issues during the cruise, I had the names and numbers of the "go to" people and issues were resolved immediately.  The group got to have a special cocktail party along with a group pictures that they will print in our Del Webb magazine, Sun Rays.

Cruise overall was average. Dining rooms were noisy.Specialty dining was better.

Staterooms were not as well maintained by staff as on all other cruise lines I have cruised with. Cruise director/entertainment staff were very good.

While this wasn't my first or second cruise with Norwegian, it was my 3rd. I have actually been on this ship when it was the Pride of Hawaii. I suppose it was better when I was cruising around Hawaii, I don't remember the ship being so small. First, the ship was much smaller than I recalled. I went to show my boyfriend around as it was his first cruise. Well a short walk and we had completed the tour. Not much left to see or do. The activities were lacking. The casino was small. The shop was the smallest shop I've ever seen on a ship, don't expect to find anything if you forgot to pack anything...you won't find much. 

What I do like about Norwegian is the lack of 20-somthing aged Carnival partiers hanging around acting like insane fools. I don't miss the 100+ families that allow their children to act like undisciplined mongrels. I myself have 4 kids and have taken them on a cruise and they were so well behaved they got praises every meal.....I don't miss the 20-something aged party seeking people acting like children neither..... Norwegian is for those aged 30+. You will find that most are 45+ but if you enjoy quiet cruises not dedicated to a huge party you will enjoy NCL for that much at least. 

It's not the large array of different aged guests quite like Royal Caribbean...RC is much more of young, family, and some wiser guests. It isn't quite the age of Princess Cruises either though. NCL is just the calmer, older crowd which I do not mind.....(we aren't talking Holland America here....calm down) 

The Pro: Freestyle cruising. I still love being able to come back and eat when I like. I will say that we were so bored on this ship we ate dinner every meal first thing. No restriction on when you have to rush back to go to dinner or eat really really late was still a plus. 

CON: NCL still has some of the worst food of any cruise line I have been on. Dessert? NO thanks, everything tastes like sponge cake with color. Snickerdoodle pound cake? why sure I love snickerdoodle cookies and cinnamon! Oh wait....hold on...where's the cinnamon? No cinnamon or sugar? sooooo it's just regular pound cake with a scoop of ice cream? what kind of trickery is this????

Oh but the crepe bar was nice. Could be better, but was delicious considering our meals most of the cruise.

My favorite: bananas foster....don't get your hopes up here. It only resembles the dish being that it had bananas and a sauce similar in color to bananas foster....who forgot to order cinnamon????!!! 

Again, no cinnamon on the bananas foster, no cooked bananas, the sauce was a mixture of butterscotch and some sort of citrus flavor mixed with sayyyy passionfruit??? I don't even know what to call that conglomerate of a dessert that I ate 2 bites of....only to try to figure out what the freaking heck it was made of. 

PRO: You are on vacation!!! You are in peaceful serenity!!

CON: you chose this over that awesome Royal Caribbean ship with more activities. 

If you find yourself choosing this cruise based on the great price.....enjoy yourself and go into it knowing you must bring board games to occupy yourself and just kick back with your smuggled booze and relax......

we took this cruise last minute so we got a great price on the cruise.  We booked an ocean view guaranteed room.  We ended up in cabin 4526.  Good room location , near the elevators with a straight shot up 12 to spa, fitness center, pool and Garden Cafe. Jorge was a great room steward. Friendly and accommodating to our needs and schedule. There was plenty of storage for the two of us, space adequate and bed comfortable.  I was worried about the location on deck four but it was smooth sailing and it made going to shore easy since that is the floor you exit on n ports.  We had been to these ports often so we just wandered around the dock shopping area.  Always stop for a beer and free wifi at the Beer in Cozumel.  So as far as port reports we did not do excursions.  

The Jade is a nice midsize ship.  It is in need of updating but is kept pretty clean by a very friendly staff.  The one exception are the chairs in Medusa, they could use a good cleaning.  The entertainment on the ship was very good.  David Naster, the comedian, was great and delivered a wonderful message about using humor to get through tough times.  The production shows were very good.  The acrobatic duo were awesome.  The comedian/juggler was very entertaining.  As with most theaters on cruise ships you are glad the shows don't last too long because the seating is not the most comfortable to stay in too long. Rows very close together but does not stop us from going to the shows.  We dined in the main dining room at night and food was good to very good.  Garden Cafe had a good variety and the setup of several food stations made it flow well.  Prince, the washy washy guy that greeted you made me smile.  He was so joyful.  Not many people go on cruises and stick to their "diet" but f you choose to do so there are many healthier options to choose from.   We are not gamblers but did walk into the casino.  It appeared small and smoky but well used.  We used the Thermal suite in the spa for an extra charge.  It was nice but would like a larger coed relaxation area so hubby and I could relax together.  But all in all it is worth the expense of $129/ person for the week.  On the deck area near the pool it was crowded on sea days but we could always find a place to sit, read and people watch while enjoying a few beverages.  

Debarkation was so easy.  We carried off our own luggage.  Was off the ship in record time and had about a two hundred yard walk to our car in the parking lot($85 with a car cover for the week). It was a very relaxing cruise and yes I would recommend sailing out of Houston.  

This was my first cruise arranged by my daughter and her family.  I am 84 and wonder why I waited so long to do something this exciting and wonderful.  It was such a great experience. There was something for everyone and I am only sorry I could not take in more of the activities.   That means maybe I should take another cruise so I can enjoy the activities I missed, such as the zip line, the ruins, and some of the shows I missed..   The crew was outstanding and took wonderful care of us.  The food!   Oh my!  It was outstanding and there was so much to choose from.  I am sure I gained weight but it was worth it and will happily work on losing any extra pounds.    I especially enjoyed the surprise of the folded towel animals I found in my room each night and I did get to learn how to make them myself so can surprise my friends and family with them in the future.. I took advantage of the chapel and was so thankful you had it there where I could escape for some quiet time of prayer.

Thank you, Norgewian Jade, for a wonderful experience.  I can find nothing to complain about.

Mary L.Martens.  

Had a great time, the embarkation and disembarkation went very smoothly and quickly, and was well organized. We were a little concerned about several things after reading lots of reviews. But I will say, the ship was in great condition, very clean, and there were always crew everywhere cleaning. They were very careful about passenger hygiene, so there were hand sanitizer everywhere. And like at the buffet there were always ( washy, washy ) crew members with squirt bottles and big smiles and made it a part of the eating.

And I will say, the main crew member with that duty, got to be quite the celebrity during our trip. The cabin stewards were also great. We were very impressed buy all the crew, they all seamed to be having a good time, and had great attitudes.

Our cabin was very nice, we had a balcony room, and it was well worth the few extra hundred dollars. We had the door open the entire trip, once we left Houston, it was so great to sleep and wake up to the sight and sound of the water rushing by. I highly recommend it, you will sleep like a baby.

The entertainment was top notch, and there was a lots of variety, the singers and dancers were fantastic with big routines with lots of choreography and they never missed a beat and the singers were truly stellar. They also had an illusionist  couple that did a big show, and also another couple that did acrobatics, they were also great. and comedian Dave Naster who did 3 very different programs, which were all very thought provoking and yet very entertaining, and should be heard by a much bigger audience. And then another comedian/ juggler, also very entertaining. 

We got off the ship at all 3 stops, and did 2 snorkeling excursions, the first at  Belize, A tendered stop, so the boat picked us up right off the ship. took us out to the reef. The water was spectacularly clear and the excursion boat was very nice with a great crew and very nice equipment, lots of different fish and coral, even a ray swam by, very cool. and then they took us to a private island           ( starfish island ) and then took us back to the ship. It was a great day.

We also snorkeled in Roatan, but the weather was a little choppy where we were going, so before leaving the ship the excursion director handled it very well, with lots of excursions impacted he did great. He got us another excursion on the other side of the island, that particular tour was a little disorganized ( not run by NCL ) 

Overall a great trip, we would get right back on the ship now and go again and the couple we went with ( first timers ) also enjoyed themselves a lot.

A word of warning about the corkage fees, we thought we would be smart and bring a big bottle of wine as we knew about the corkage fees $15 per bottle, but they charge more for the big bottles $30 so plus the cost of the cheap wine $11 it winds up being $41. You can bring on your own water and pop which we did. But you do not really need to there is always drinks available juices and such. But the water was nice to have.

Anyway we had a great time, and would highly recommend NCL to anyone, and we cannot wait until we can go again.

Darryl & Robin

My young adult daughter and I booked 10 days before departure.  Great price for an ocean view room.  Food was great! Only problem we encountered was the tendering in Belize took far to long and people who had booked excursions from other vendors and not NCL were very upset because they were going to miss their excursions. From what the staff said, it was  not NCL's fault but the tender boat operators from Belize.  This should be fixed when in the late summer NCL opens its new island off of Belize which means no more tendering!

Overall we had a wonderful time and would cruise NCL again! Staff very pleasant and helpful!

Since this was our second Jade cruise, I was expecting to be "delighted," and NCL delivered the same quality and cleanliness standards we have come to expect. A few of the cruise staff remembered us from previous trips on other ships, making us feel like family reunited.  I hope NCL will decide to again offer lobster dinner at the complimentary restaurants for at least one night.  That would definitely earn them my 5-star rating.

We booked our land excursions separately through .  Watch out, because Norwegian Jade arrived one hour after our stated time for our day one land excursion.  On day two, we stood in line on the ship for 1 1/2 hours to get a tender number to get off the ship at an early time, (we were numbers 9 & 10 in line).  Our land excursion that day was set for 1 3/4 hours before we disembarked from the ship.  On day three, we finally arrived 2 1/2 hours early for our land excursion.  We have been cruising for years and have always booked our land excursions through Cruises Only and have never run into this problem before.  

The ships daily buffet was not very impressive...same uninteresting food each day. The dessert part of the buffet was okay, if you wanted an ice cream cone, as the rest of the desserts weren't very plentiful for individual selection.

The staff on Norwegian Jade was very cordial and did try to help as much as they could.

We are up in the air as to booking with Norwegian in the future because we want to enjoy our cruises that we plan for our vacation each year, not to worry all the while we are on the ship cruising.

There was nothing great about the jade - an older ship that needs to be refurbished.  Food was the same, menus for dinner, same - seafood you have to pay additional cost - Carnival does not charge extra. 

 Getting off at Belize was a nightmare..... NCL docks in Belize every week and they have not found a way to accommodate everyone getting off the ship in a timely fashion- not 2 hours waiting time .  Find another port then.....waste of time.  No waiter to offer coffee in the morning while you are having bfast but lot of "busyboys" to clean the tables.  

Some staff were very helpful - Carlene in jewelry, Megan at customer service, a waiter that works on deck 8 - working the nite shift from INdia - don't remember his name. 

I have always said that even the worst cruises still have some good points. Certainly, Norwegian Cruises wasn't a terrible cruise but there seemed to be more than an expected number of oops than I've had on other cruise lines. 

Starting from the beginning, boarding was fast and painless and the rooms were ready when we boarded. The mini-suite was roomy with more than adequate storage room. Luggage was promptly delivered. Then when one visited the buffet you started to notice little things. Getting served was easy but finding a place to sit was impossible and none of the staff seemed to be in a hurry to clear dirty tables. The result was walking around looking for a spot and then just walking up to strangers with an empty seat and asking if we could join them. Haven't noticed this problem on other lines. Seemed the personnel were unconcerned and didn't pay a lot of attention to the passengers. 

Then next day was when you really started to notice just how much personnel had been reduced. Our room wasn't cleaned until late afternoon and then towels and wash cloths weren't left. Finally found a cart in the hallway that had some towels. I can't fault the cabin attendant he was trying but you could tell he was way overloaded. To be fair I have noticed over the last few years that most of the large ship lines have made personnel cuts but at the same time I have never not had my cabin cleaned until almost 5PM.and then not have bathroom linens supplied. 

On a positive note three of the four specialty restaurants we visited were outstanding. Le Bistro and Cagney's were first rate, with delicious food and impeccable service. Moderno was also very good and offered a good variety of roasted meats. The only disappointment was the Italian venue called La Cucina. The location is in a spot where there is a banging noise overhead which was distracting. Service was very slow even though there were few people dining. Then when the food was served it was barely warm. I sent back an order of calamari that were cold, greasy, and tasteless. They came back a bit warmer but still not appetizing. The entree was the same, served cold and by this time we had waited over an hour and gave up. I heard similar comments from other cruisers saying the same things. The visit to Grand Pacific was less than pleasant. It was so noisy that people were shouting at each other across the tables. Also food was served at best lukewarm. Even though this was a "free" dining venue I would have expected the food to be tasty and served hot. 

One nice aspect of the Garden Buffet at dinner time was the hot crepes that were prepared with fillings of your choice. The evenings we didn't eat at the specialty restaurants we enjoyed these special treats. I have never seen this done on a cruise line so kudos to Norwegian on this. 

Another very nice venue was the Mixers Martini Bar on the sixth deck. Bartender Charlie did a great job of mixing drinks and keeping the cruisers happy. We enjoyed Mixer's so much that we never made it to any of the other venues serving drinks. Another real plus was the beverage package that Norwegian offers. It was just as advertised, you could have any drink up to the specified limit. This was a very nice touch. 

One of the biggest oops was when the toilet decided to stop working. Push the button and nothing happened. We'd call customer service and be told they's report it. Finally gave up and went looking for other options. Then the commode would decide to operate properly for a short while and then stop again. Finally, someone admitted they were having problems with the system. I realize that maintenance issues are a fact of life, but just be upfront and tell us that you have problems and then we can come up with solutions. This along with the poor cabin service was what kept this cruise from being first rate. 

Would I cruise again with Norwegian? Since they are leaving our area this spring and won't be returning most likely I will not. If this had been my first cruise most likely these negative points wouldn't have mattered that much. But as a long time cruiser I've had much better experiences and most likely will stick with them. 

Please remember that these are only my observations and as such may not be viewed by everyone in the same manner. As I mentioned in the beginning, even  the worst cruise still has some high points and in all fairness Norwegian did have some of those. 

I really enjoyed my cruise on the Jade.  The food was great, employees were wonderful and my room was nice.  The only drawback is that too many of the activities on board the ship cost and their was too much trying to sell me something.  But that didn't keep me from having a great time and I look forward to doing it again soon!

the services were good. The shows were excellent.The ship was cold,had to wear a sweater in many areas of the ship.The deck plans,well lets say I had a hard time getting around,very confusing.The drinks are very expensive and weak.The daily event schedule did not show what level the events take place,for example,show band at the Medusa lounge at 7pm.Where the hell is the Medusa?The lower level rooms were ship noisy.Get what you paid for.

We loved this cruise; the people on the ship were all courteous and helpful.  The specialty restaurants were fabulous, and our package included that plus drinks, so we were well fed and had drinks to spare the whole week.  The entertainment was far superior to other cruises we've been on.  Every night was excellent.  This is a cruise I would definitely recommend to friends.  The only negative item was the process of 'tenders' getting guests off the ship.  There has to be a more efficient way to do this so people don't have to stand in line so long.

Cathy C.

Houston, Tx.

The food was good, the service was average but the room was not clean.  We found mold in the sink and trash can.  We also had to clean the TV screen and the mirrors to be able to see. Found a previous guest Zantac behind the ice bucket and dirty socks under the bed.

Our overall rating of this cruise is that it lacked the overall sparkle that was present in most of the cruises we have experienced. Observations:

The food was of lower quality and selection than anticipated.

Staff members were obviously not trained in the ships features. Questions unanswered, among others, were; Where would we be able to attend a worship service while on board, and; prior to leaving the port in Houston; where will a cell phone work?

  A major concern:  during the night, at about 3 AM on 2 nights while at sea, we were awakened by pounding and other construction sounds. It sounded like heavy articles were being moved around. We asked about this at the service desk. what we were told was to call if we heard it again. We did hear it again but since it was toward the end of the cruise, it seemed it would be a waste of effort to call in the middle of the night, and then need to answer our and be imposed upon even more. We were in a cabin on deck 10. It shouldn't have been difficult for you to determine the source of the noise. 

The entertainment on cruises in general seems to have deteriorated over time. NCL is no exception.

The cabin dimensions have become too tight. 2 examples: the overhead bunk is an obstacle for navigation on one side of the cabin, and the corner table below the TV makes it difficult to squeeze through on the other side.

This was our second, and probably our last NCL cruise. On our first cruise, not NCL, we were impressed with the pristine atmosphere, the food quality, staff knowledge, among other things. In several cruises since that one, on varrious cruise lines, we did not notice a significant decrease in quality between cruises until this one. 

Overall, NCL is disappointing in many ways. 

I like the freestyle type of eating the state room was always made neat and clean great stops and enjoyed the ports better than flying to each country will go back to Roatan Honduras

Had a good time.  Food was great.  Boarding and unboarding was very quick and efficient.  Belize tender took a long time (5 miles from shore).  unless you do a tour, the stops are just typical tourist traps but still fun.  Our biggest complaint was this- the cruise staff in charge of activities were all from a non English speaking countries and most do not know how to read, write or speak either American or British English.  Their attempts to run various games such as trivia or family feud were a disaster.  They were unprepared and not familiar with American customs, resulting in a lot of misunderstanding.  Communication is their job but they do it very poorly.  There also were not very many free activities on the at sea days.  Bingo was a bit expensive (39-89).

The cruise itself was great. The tours we took at ports were great. The only concern we had was on Thursday we were informed that there was a $13.50 charge per day, per passenger as a gratuity for the room stewards and the food staff. I don't have a problem with the charge because they deserved it. The problem we had was we were not informed of this before we left. The additional charge of $183 was a shock. On our past cruises, the charge was as low a $5.00. I believe should have informed us of this. 

The Norwegian Jade had the best entertainment of any of my nine cruises.  Food was excellent and the wait staff very conscientious.  Loved the Cruise Director and his staff.  Would definitely said the Jade again.