Norwegian Jade Cruise Reviews - Reviews

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. 

The Norwegian Jade is a beautiful Ship. The entertainment was fantastic, I think has been the best of any ship I have been on, I love the Garden Cafe no long lines. The overall staff were very friendly and helpful. I would return to a cruise on this ship in the future

Upon boarding the Jade at 1545, I had to fight my way thru racks of linens, large brown paper trash bags, chemicals, sprays, rags, cleaners, buckets , giant linen bags, large red power cords, etc. blocking the entire hallway of the bow area on the port side, deck 5. Once in my cabin, the bed had been made up with clean linens, and the head was clean. However, there were lots of crumbs, hair, dirty kleenex, etc on the floors (had not been cleaned), and there was smeared goop on desk, and all tables in cabin (of various colors and degrees of hardness). No water or ice. Porthole was FILTHY!! Blackout curtain half hanging down with no attachment to rod, etc.... 

Three calls to front desk and housekeeping did not solve problem over three hours time. I found my cabin steward, and told him the hallway, (now with spilled bucket of fluid, and large yellow dirty linen bag blocking door) and dirty cabin was UNACCEPTABLE!!! (ship time 1850 on 1/23/2016). I politely but firmly,said I was going up on deck and will return in one hour, please correct these issues. I returned 90 minutes later to: Spotless cabin, clear and clean hallway, fresh ice and water. He was extremely polite and kind, and must have worked furiously to make this happen...kudos to him!!! (I wrote a HERO card for him) He deserves ALL gratuity money! Not one single staff person on this ship deserves ANY of the gratuity. Your standards on this ship are pitiful compared to my last cruise on The Spirit, 12 day Med. cruise Sept. 2014..Sham on you!!

Very nice cruise.well worth the money spend.the only thing keeping me for giving it a five is compared to other cruises I have been on they could improve on the main dinning experience .

Friendly staff, very clean and sanitary ship, & plenty to do. Food in main dining room could be hit or miss sometimes. Food in specialty restaurants totally worth it, especially in the dining package. Bed wasn't comfortable but this was an inside room and you get what you pay for. Very hard workers aboard who take pride in what they do. 

We enjoyed just about everything about our trip this time.  Our only complaint is that they could use better coffee and our steak in the restaurant Cagney's which we paid an up charge for (about $58 I think) was just sort of ok.  I had better steaks in the free style dining areas that had no upcharge.

We thought the entertainment was wonderful!!  David Naster and El Gaucho were real highlights and of course, all the dancers/singers were wonderful.  Magician

Cripton was quite good.  Started out a little cheesy but ended up with a real bang!

Waiting on my $100.00 refund. We was due a $100.00 on broad credit. Didn't receive it. The ship personal said that they had talked with you and you said that you would just refund the $100.00.

This was the BEST cruise we have ever been on.  (We've been on 5 cruises now.)  The people who worked for NCL, the food, the service, the ship, etc. were exceptional.  I would be hard pressed to find something to complain about.  I would repeat this cruise in a heartbeat!!!!!

My husband and I had not cruised with Norwegian for almost a decade but have cruised with them on three prior cruises. This was our 16th cruise and we thoroughly enjoyed it for the most part.  The staff was beyond wonderful and the food was great.  There were only two areas that disappointed us.  First and foremost was the fact that people were allowed in the nicer, more formal dining room in attire only appropriate for mowing the lawn.  When we asked a dining room supervisor why it was allowed when it was clearly stated in the daily newsletter that shorts were not allowed in that dining room for dinner.  Basically she indicated that upper level management policy was to not enforce the guidance because they didn't want to make people angry.  Well, to that I say what about the rest of us who make the effort to shower and wear decent clothing to dinner?  Do we not matter?  If I wanted to cruise on Carnival that is what I would expect, but my previous experience cruising with Princess, Azamara, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean is that they do not allow this.  

    The other disappointment was with the tendering operation in Belise.  I had gotten an excursion ticket thru  (whom I booked this cruise thru) and was instructed that I needed to be on the first tender due to the excursion departure time.  On the morning we arrived in Belise, I got up early and was the second person in the line, which I stood in for 1 1/2 hours to get a first tender ticket.  Well, we waited and waited for our number to be called and when it finally was (over an hour after our excursion show time) they called both numbers 1 and 2 simultaneously and there were so many people camping out on the stairs that we couldn't even get to the point to turn in our # 1 tender ticket.  By the time we got ashore, our excursion was long gone.  We were put on a later, abbreviated version which was great, no thanks to Norwegian. In short, I wasted my time standing in line and waiting to be called when hundreds of people with higher tender numbers were allowed to completely block access and ultimately were allowed to board ahead of us.

   In essence, these were small disappointments because we did have a wonderful time overall.  What I want to impart is that having policies and guidelines that are clearly not followed sends the message that those of us who follow the guidelines are less important customers than those who ignore them.  Not very professional in my opinion. My husband and I cruise frequently, often several times a year, and while we will probably cruise with Norwegian again at some point in the future, it will not be our first choice.

My Mom and I had a great time on this cruise. Thank you for the  excellent service of the entire NCL Crews and Staff, great food and entertainment and on board activities. This trip is highly recommended. This is our first cruise and would love to do it again. Special thanks to Alicia Salgado Robles for putting it together. 

This was our 18 cruise, and the shows in the Theater were the BEST we have ever seen--terrific magician, wonderful acrobats, loved Gaucho!!  Good food, beautiful ship, great service.

The room was great.  We had a great time.  The ship was very nice.  I would have to say the people on the ship were nice but not quite as nice as the ones on the jewel that we had been on previously.

This was our second cruise on Norwegian and it was not as great as our first cruise. We must have been on our cruise when all the waiters were on vacation. Service was hard to get in the lounges and when you got service it was sooooo

sloooowwww. Now I know why they offer the FREE drink package because you have a hard time getting a drink. Everything else was good except on our horseback shore excursion we came back with chigger or flea bites all over our legs. Food was repetitive in the buffet but the Dining Room food was exceptional.

The ship itself isn't as nice as some of the other ships I've been on but it was nice, clean for the most part. My stateroom was a little smaller than normal balcony staterooms even for NCL.  The crowd on the ship was an older crowd for sure but they were a lot of fun. We caught bad weather the week of our trip so pools were closed often. Glad we purchased the Spa pass was able to use that everyday. It's a little pricey but well worth the purchase. No kids under 18 are allowed and you have free range of Jacuzzi, sauna, steam room, lounge chairs, and more. 

The shows on the jade were great as always, activities were plentiful. I found that BINGO was more costly on this ship $39.00 for 3 cards allowing 3 games. Deal or no Deal was fun. Quest game is always a blast, and so is the White hot party. I was disappointed that Captain's night was not a big deal like it usually is on other ships they barely spoke about it or mentioned it on the freestyle daily. I missed it, but I guess I saved myself some money by not taking any pictures.

I found the food on the Jade not to be the best compared to other ships, I didn't like that there is no lobster night, they added al la cart items to the main dining rooms so if you want lobster you have to pay $20.00 for it. The specialty dining restaurants used to be a cover of $20.00-$24.00 per person now all items  are all al a cart.  They also got rid of the chocoholic buffet which was disappointing.

The staff was great everywhere you went everyone was kind and cheery. We never had to wait for long periods of time for dinner. (read some other reviews and there were lots of complaints about service and taking to long in the dining room I never experienced that). Some of the bars opened a little later which made it hard to get a drink but really not a huge issue.

I didn't really care for the ports of call on this trip. Cozumel I think was the most fun but I also didn't do any excursions so that may have been part of the problem. Also I was not happy finding out that I had to pay taxes to the state of Texas for any alcohol or tobacco I purchased in the Duty Free Shop. kind of defeats the purpose of duty free when you have to pay $3.50 per liter of alcohol once you get off the ship. Not sure I want to sail out of Texas again.

All in all it was a good trip I was away from work and met a lot of great people. Looking forward to my next cruise!        

This was our first cruise and I can't imagine how it could have been better.  We had a great time and met some wonderful people.  That's all I know to tell you.

We live in New Hampshire and were in for a much needed vacation. The price and time frame were  exactly what we had in mind so off we went! The staff was attentive and friendly. The rooms were clean and the towel animals were the best. The food was fabulous and the waitstaff wonderful. The entertainment was excellent! I would go on a cruise with Norwegian again. The only thing that could be improved upon was unexpected was the amount of the bill at the end.

Enjoyed the outstanding entertainment, especially, Thurs. night show, equal to best Vegas review. Cripton and Renata, and David Naster were superior as were the acrobats.

Layout of ship continuously confusing to two very bright people-needs much better signage, explicit directions to parts of ship. Much frustration getting to and from dining and events.

Very clean, excellent service staff-very cooperative. Women at front desk had too many language barriers, however, and at times were snobbish.

Major complaint-We felt as if we were attending one sales pitch after another. In all our travels we have not had such an experience. We've traveled on such ships as Holland America and the Stellar Solarace.

On the Norwegian there were extra charges every time we turned around and someone looking to sell us one more thing. 

The excursions were quite expensive and other options to travel the ports of call very limited. Belize City offered nothing of interest and we hired a cab to drive us around the city and to the so called "beach." We had seen the ruins at Cozumel and were looking for a different experience in Belize.

Honduras was lovely but the cab we hired hustled us to a crowded beach with bad service. 

We saw no information that really assisted us in creating our own trips and were not prepared to buy the cruise packages.

The activities, as a whole, were fun, especially the ball room dancing, Glenn Miller band and the guitarist.

Massage therapist, Mihaela, was excellent.

It was my first time  cruising. It was a lot of fun, I wasn't sure what to expect. I did expect to see more beaches when the ship stopped at the ports. I was a little disappointed that  the  pool areas did not have any nightly activities.  Overall  it was a fun vacation for us. I might go on a different  ship next time though 

The destinations were great. But the Houston Port is located in the middle of nowhere.  Had to stay at a hotel near the city the night before because there is nothing but industrial lots and factories near the cruise port.  Ended up paying $114 round-trip just to get from the airport to the cruise terminal and back.  Taxis would have been even more.  The activities onboard were seemingly geared toward an older crowd.  They offered a presentation to inform of entertainment/shopping options for the ports of call we were going to visit, but the woman spent the entire presentation (and week) attempting to sell diamonds and tanzanite.  There also was minimal diversity on the ship.  I purchased two bottles of rum from the duty free shop on day one of the cruise, but only one bottle was delivered to my room.  When I asked why, they stated "there was an accident and your bottles were broken."  So items they pretty much convinced me to purchase because they aren't available in the States were broken and no effort was made at all to remedy the situation.  Only a credit of the amount paid.  I was HEATED!!  Also, this is the first cruise I actually looked forward to spending time in the cabin (but even there, normal stations are not provided, only two movie stations, three news stations and the woman selling diamonds).  And to top it off, the room attendant walked in on us while we were, umm, "in bed".

The ports of call (Cozumel, Belize, and Honduras) were awesome, however.  The 24 hour dining was great as well (although the better options required payment).  But if you're looking to actually enjoy your on-board experience, look elsewhere.

There were many times for which I asked for something and was just told no for a simple request, i.e. Some fruit as a side for dinner (I was told I would have to get up and leave and go to a different restaurant and get it myself, this is after already putting in my order with one restaurant). When the Internet was not working on my phone, and I had been to the specialist already without success, I was told I couldn't change what freebie I had chosen to a different one, it was only after continuing to ask that I was able to receive a dinner credit. To that point, the Internet manager had me on the Internet attempting to make it work on my phone, and when it did not work, I was still charged for the time we had used in the attempt!. Additionally, when other passengers received a call letting them know that their shore excursions was cancelled, I did not receive a call and disembarked in pouring rain (it said rain or shine)  only to be told as soon as I reached the end of the pier that mine was cancelled. I could have easily been notified. 

Being on vacation was great, and it was nice to see so many countries, but I was not thrilled with Norwegian.