Norwegian Jade Cruise Reviews - Reviews

The food on board the NCL Jade was a big let down,very bland,no matter where you ate on board. The crew could not have handled the disembarkation at Belize any worse, after waiting in line for 2 hours to get tickets for an early tender to go to shore,we were held on board until the people that had booked excursions with NCL could go ashore first,so much for there first come first serve policy. We almost missed our excursion that had been booked on line,we were 2 hours late. We will not cruise withNCL again.

Once we got used to the ship's unusual decor, we had a blast. Our cabin steward was wonderful, food was good, entertainment was a bit campy but enjoyable. On the last night we were overcharged for someone else's bar tab but it was promptly corrected by a nice lady at the guest services desk the next morning. We booked three shore excursions, one was cancelled due to bad weather, the other two were awesome. Once we returned home I notified the Shore Excursions Group of the cancellation and received a refund within a few days. Overall an awesome experience!

Just what I needed to cycle down and recharge for the new year. The entertainment was varied and high quality, the room was clean, hospitality was friendly and worked hard to make us happy.  An excellent value.

  The Jade is a nice ship, not too big, not too small with a nice bed and ample size bathroom.  The food in the upper buffet area far exceeded the fare in the formal dining areas. In the latter, our food was often room temperature when served and on multiple occasions we had to leave our table to go get the tea pitcher or baskets of bread, all because the wait staff stood waiting instead of attending to the diners.

  As for the room staff, we battled unmade beds, sloppy cleaning and missing towels.  Very disappointing considering the room itself was very nice. 

  We attribute the poor service to the fact that no matter whether good or bad the staff now receive a weekly salary instead of tips.  A preset amount is billed to your acct each day to cover tips for the staff. At the end of the cruise the funds are distributed among the staff.  Sadly, too many of the staff are now just biding their time waiting for payday Saturday to arrive.

After everything we read about "Free Style" cruising and even though we chose the ultimate drink package and paid the extra gratuity up front we were still charged for things! A bottle of water was $4.50 plus 18% gratuity!! We read that tipping was our choice, NOT TRUE, they withheld $13.50 per person per day out of our account. Sure it's not much but it is aggravating when you're told you tip who you want to. We dined at Cagney's for my husband's birthday and it took us 3 hours to complete our meal!! I much prefer having the same waiters each night and building a camaraderie with them.

There were very few activities on the ship while it was in port. There were several bars on the ship but, if there was no activity in the area they were closed. 

It was just not a good cruise overall and even though we LOVE cruising we will NEVER cruise with Norwegian again. Looking forward to cruising again in May on Celebrity!!

The menu variety in the dining room was not on a par with our expectations based on prior cruises.  It was as good as other cruise lines, but our experience with NCL was better in years past.  The entertainment, however, was excellent compared with other cruise lines.

The cruise was amazing, and we are so grateful to Clarissa Weir who helped us through the process of booking at the last minute!  If it wasn't for her professionalism and commitment to making sure everything went smoothly, we would not have been able to go - or have such a pleasurable experience.  She is obviously one of the best in her field, and I will recommend because of her service!  We loved everything about the cruise, and hope to get to go again!  Thanks Clarissa!!!

Linda & Albert was so helpful with DI that we are planning on another trip to Cozumel. The staff on the Jade was wonderful. We lived in the SPA with Jenna & Carol and the entire staff in the SPA was the best for my wife & I. We came home with no stress on my neck & back.

THE FOOD WAS OK,THE FOOD SERVICE STAFF WERE SLOW,ROOM ATTENDANTS WERE EXCELLENT,CRUISE DIRECTOR STAFF TALKED WAY TOO FAST AND HEAVILY ACCENTED-COULD NOT UNDERSTAND

We've been on multiple cruises, first time on NCL.  The service was terrible, food quality poor and we had to continuously watch our bill as we were charged for drinks even though we bought the beverage package.  

A very bad experience overall. Poor service, poor to little communication, dated worn ship decor, mediocre food. My family saved and planned for our first cruise and were extremely disappointed in our cruise experience.  I will/ would not recommend Norweigan to anyone. I would welcome follow up from Norweigan Cruise Lines  but doubt they'll reach out to us. I am angry that our one special family vacation was such a bust. I cried when I first got to the ship and realized that this cruise had been so misleading

Sailed on NCL Jade 12/26/15 to 1/2/16. First let me say that overall it was a nice cruise. Weather was good, mostly clear skies and moderate temperatures. First day "At Sea" was a little rough with seas 4ft-7.5ft. Secondly, the ports of call were as expected. Conzumel we've visited on previous cruises with other cruise lines. No surprises. Belize City, Belize was a disappointment. Took a tram for sites of the city and was shown government buildings, hospital and schools. The disparity of affluence versus poverty here is depressing. Also, here we were required to be tendered in to port and out. About 20 minutes one way. This was not comfortable. Roatan, Honduras was a pleasant surprise. shopping was fun and ALL merchants were friendly and accommodating. It was a fine time sitting on the Jade aft deck and admiring the port and landscape. Return "Day at Sea" was very rough. Seas 7.5ft-12ft. Lots of sick folks. Hard to walk passageways.

Third, we were greatly disappointed in trying to reserve dining at the specialty restaurants for New Year's Eve. ALL reservations were already booked. Hostess at the reservation desk informed us that majority of people had reserved three months in advance. If this is an acceptable option for NCL it needs to be better advertised. Food overall was plentiful and many selections for all meal times, however we found all the taste to be odd or really bland. We never did find a meal that we finished all the courses or said "That was a great meal!" one real bright spot was our cabin steward. He was always very friendly and attentive. He had our names down by day 2. I think next cruise will be through a different cruise line. Overall it was nice...not spectacular. I've done better.

great cruise all together, food was excellent, only issue was the Teenagers hanging the the stairwells.

Rooms were very clean and bedding changed every single day.

overall, a really great cruise!!!

My first thoughts upon entering the ship was how gorgeous it is...Lots of detail, giving it a very ''grand'' feel to it.  Lots of options for entertainment and dining.  Entertainers are amazing - you could easily have been at a Las Vegas/Touring Broadway show.  The complimentary dining is solid, not my favorite, but definitely splurge on a specialty restaurant: I recommend the Jazz Brunch - my favorite.

The cruise was pleasant overall.  There were lots of onboard activities that are great for all family members.  Lots of kids activities-for those with kids.

Norwegian Jade vessel needs to add more onboard activities for the kids like other newer ships. The food are decent but the sit down menu at Grand Pacific starts to get stale after a while.  

Need to have more authentic Asian food served at Garden Cafe to complement the other fares.

Service was the worst. It took 3.5 hours to get through dinner. After complaining we made it through dinner in 2.5 hours, not much better. Very rude and unhelpful staff. The food in the main dinning room was pretty good, although the buffet I could do without.  The Jasmine the  food is very bland and it took 3 hours.  Never had such bad service on a cruise before!  Every order was messed up. How difficult is it to bring an order of wings and not mess it up?? The cabin was fine. The guy that cleaned ours did the basic job, so I won't complain about that but certainly nothing special. Public restrooms were dirty and didn't have TP. The pools were packed. 15 kids (all under the age of 10) in a hottub that was designated as adults only! This was my 3rd time on the Jade and nothing like the other two times. It appeared to be a new staff that was all still in training.

Pros:  Getting on & off the ship went quickly & smoothly.  The food was outstanding; service in the buffet & Grand Pacific dining room was excellent.  The excursions were wonderful (Maya Key Private Island Retreat encounter with sea lions and swimming with sharks; Atlantis Submarine; and airboat adventure); good service from cabin stewards except for smelly linens; fun casino.

Cons:  Ultra-small cabins; smelly pillows and bed coverlet (like dirty oily body smell--ugh!); very narrow hallways; a rude salesperson in the watch sale slamming shut the boxes when they closed early because of arriving back in Houston early, but giving no announcement or warning, or acting nice about it; expensive cocktails especially before leaving ports; much miscommunication & being sent to wrong locations for things like picking up bingo cash awards & bottled wine at end of cruise.  I personally won't book with Norwegian again; prefer to go on Royal Caribbean.  But overall, we thoroughly enjoyed the cruise to these ports (Roatan, Belize, & Cozumel).

Cruised over the Christmas holiday with my three kids. Chose the mini suite, which provided ample room and storage space for us. Overall, an excellent cruise. Food, entertainment and atmosphere made for an awesome time. We opted for the excursions in Cozumel and Belize, jeep tour and cave tubing, respectively. Both were outstanding. On Roatan, we opted for the NCL Tabyana beach party, which was a nice way to end the cruise. 

Unhappy staff meant the service was not as good as other cruises I have been on. NCL now charges $7.95 for room service. This seems high and another attempt to nickel and dime the customer. The tendering to ports was very poor. It took 2 hours in some cases and port times were not very long to begin with.