Norwegian Jade Cruise Reviews - Reviews

This cruise line just doesn't measure up to others such as Royal Caribbean or Celebrity.  Food is OK not great,  at the buffet drink dispensers not kept full always having to wait for coffee to brew or drink machines to be refilled.  Long wait for cooked to order eggs.  Evening entertainment adequate some very good some not so much.  Not much in the way of educational seminars and other interesting topics.  Biggest plus is the price.

Onboard WiFi very pricey

A great trip for the price.  Check in at the port in Barcelona was very fast.  The weather during the 16 day crossing was smooth except for a couple days before Madeira where we had 12 foot waves.  The weather in Barcelona was around 70 degrees and it only got warmer crossing the Atlantic. There was custom delays in St Thomas as those who were not American citizens had up to 3 hours wait in line to get their passport stamped.  This was done on board and  there were no announcements to NOT come up to the Spinnaker Lounge until the line shortened.  For those getting off in Miami there was a couple hours delay for those wanting to just go down town etc to be allowed off.  In Houston, we ere off the ship in 5 minutes, we took the charter bus to Bush Intercontentinal  which cost $50 each.  There is no cheap way to get from Bayport to the airport.  The main thing we saw on the ship was a shortage of Bus Staff in the restaurants.   Waiters were busy and tables sat for a long time before they were cleaned off.  The entertainment was super as Norwegian had a variety of acts.  We are taking the return cruise in April 2015.

If only all the employees could learn to smile and be helpful it would have received a higher rating. Perhaps they will learn from their new sibling, Oceania, where all personnel know customer service. Many employees were wonderful but too many were not for a business dependent upon customer satisfaction. Many cruise lines to choose from should be stressed to all of the managers who should be evaluated based upon their subordinates. The signature restaurants were the slowest service at sea. We passed on dessert often to make the shows. All reservations were all at 7 pm and the shows at 9 pm.

On the ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL AND HELPFUL LIST  are Bruno Dentone, concierge, Charlie Cuevas, our butler, Wayan,our room steward and Antonella Cassata at guest services. All took care of any little issues we had. Please extend our thanks to them.

The ship was immaculate at all times, the room well appointed and the bed very comfortable.  We had all our meals in the Garden Cafe and everything, without exception, was excellent.  It got a bit crowded during lunch, but we were always able to find a table.  The open-air stern dining area outside the Garden Cafe was pleasant.  Plenty of choices for this fish-eating otherwise vegetarian, and the veggie burger was delicious.  Breads and desserts were also excellent.  We're low-key travelers, not joiners, so we did not partake in the many activities offered.  The entertainment was excellent, although some of the performances were extremely loud and I had to use earplugs to enjoy them.  Other entertainers in the bars & atrium were also excellent, especially Twice as Nice and the guitar playing singers.  The check-in at Barcelona took over an hour - they needed more people at the counters.  Lots of grumbling from the mostly over-60 crowd.  We were lucky to have excellent weather and the Atlantic crossing was very smooth.  Justin, our room steward, did an excellent job.  We took our own luggage off at disembarkation and were outside at the taxi stand in about 10 minutes.  No crowds.  Overall an extremely positive experience.  

16 night of fun and relaxing!

Peoples are friendly, all different country and all different language. It was interesting to see all type of peoples.

Love Free style dinner even my friend and me took dresses but never did have to wear! Food was excellent and a lot to chose from.

What we paid was awesome and definitely I  will go back again. Especially I love from Barcelona to US. This way time change which occur 4 times is gain instead loss. I was getting up one hour early every morning. That was awesome!

while overall an enjoyable cruise, i had issues with 2 things...food in the buffet area was usually lukewarm, and having to clear US Immigration and Customs in St Thomas (being the first US port of entry) was disastrous, as the island is ill-prepared to handle a shipload of over 2000 passengers/crew..it took well in excess of two hours standing in line to be processed. Norwegian need to rethink this.

Got food poisoning 10/28 in Barcelona. Symptoms happened 4:15pm in stateroom, went to Medical, given shot, voluntarily stayed in room, bland diet delivered, just treated for symptoms, not food poisoning. Nov 1 suitcases were packed by crew and I was taken to a Clinic in Funchal Madeira,  xrays, treated with respect, diagnosed,  given antibiotic and clearance to travel. Ship doctor disagreed with clinic doctor, and coerced me into leaving ship as a71 year old female traveling alone in Funchal.   Fortunately had trip insurance.  However, missed my planned vacation and put into financial strain to pay for hotel stay, medical visit,etc.  Always felt safe with NCL traveling alone, not anymore.  The nurse and one dr. were great, but Head Medical Dr. was incorrigible.   

We had very nice cruise vacation with Norwegian Jade. We have done over 50

cruises but this 1st time on Norwegian cruise line. Service was excellent and staff members were polite and nice. Our ports of call were interesting Venice, Malta, Mallorca and ending in Barcelona. As  the crown and anchor member and cruising most of the times on Royal Caribbean we compared the our ship all the time to for example to Oasis of the Seas were we went last transatlantic from England to Miami. On Norwegian Jade we missed open promenade with shops and spacious corridor but on Jade we admired the interior design and thought that it was more classy than Royal Caribbean. Absolutelly loved the various restaurants and had good old charm like feeling of great steamships.Our cabin was mini-suite with balcony and we were VERY pleased with it. We also bought a SPA pass to sauna, jacuzzis, heated chairs and relaxation SPA and we think that it was the most well spent 100usd/per person during the cruise. it was 6stars to relax there. Unfortunately we had to go back to Finland we would have wanted to go along the NCL JADE across Atlantic to Houston. It is almost impossible to say which one of the cruiseline is better Royal Caribbean or NCL both have so much to offer. We love them both and LOVE CRUISES ONLY THEY ARE THE BEST OF THE BEST!!!! see you again on another cruise in January! Martti & ANU

Everyone onboard the ship are wonderful people. They are always willing to help you any way they can. I have been on the Star and they also were just as friendly.  When I cruise again, I will be going on with the Norwegian Cruise Lines.

Room Steward & remainder of staff warrant a 5 star rating, but food & dining experiences were only average on this cruise.   Didn't care for the overall selections in the dining rooms and the food in the Garden Café was often cold & dried out.    Entertainment provided was also only fair. 

We were on back to back cruises on the Norwegian Jade. The ship itself was an average ship compared to others we have been on. The itinerary was the main reason we took this particular cruise. On this cruise, the second week of 2, there was a fair number of new staff that embarked and this was for the good. The cruise on the first week, the staff was anything but exemplary. Most looked tired of working and were not very friendly. This cruise was much better especially for the bartenders. The other issue was the ship, especially the bar, were short of staff. This caused long waits at time for drinks. One bartender in a busy bar is not enough. 

Thank you for offering such carefree and leisure free time. The staff has been extraordinary friendley and helpful again. Organisation of on and off board is perfectly managed. Food was delicious and the choice of ports was very interesting. This is is the only concern however. The small islands like Santorini or Mykonos seem to small for harboring more than one cruise ship at a time. Anyway, we are a part of the problem ourselves- understandable everyone loves cruising.

This was the first week of back to back cruises. The staff on this cruise was less than enthusiastic. the bars were under staffed and most bartenders could have been friendlier. They spent more time meaning the liquor in drinks than smiling. the itinerary was great especially the stop in Kusadisi - Ephesus. Amazing place, friendly people, great tour from an outside tour group.

Food was good to very good depending on where one dined. Our inside state room was tight but adequate.  One could bang their head on a poorly placed light fixture at the head of the bed especially in a rolling sea. There should be "P" & "S" and "fore" and "aft" markings at each stairwell/elevator. Entertainment varied from quite good to very mediocre. All ports except Corfu were worthwhile. It took us a week to discover certain things like where the daily weather report was located, where to find printed info on each port and other pertinent information. How to get this info should all be made available in the daily hand out. The safety/muster drill was a joke compared to those on other lines.TV service was VERY limited. The BBC station only carried weather reports for South America. There was no DVD player in the room and no DVD's to rent/borrow. Norwegian should look at what the airlines do with this media. Days at sea can get quite boring if you're not into napkin folding and things like that.

We had a wonderful time on our trip!  We had the ultimate beverage and food package and would definitely recommend that for everyone.  The food at the specialty restaurants was unbelievable...we have never had steak as good as we did at Cagney's!  The staff was awesome and made our trip even more special.  We celebrated my sister's birthday and she had a wonderful time as well!

We booked 3 excursions with :  Corfu, Santorini, and Mykonos.  The only excursion we were not happy with was the one to Corfu.  While the tour guide was very knowledgeable, she talked so much (especially about Greek history and mythology) that we were on overload.  The bus trip was long, no water was provided, there was no time left to eat lunch.  We came back to the ship after 3pm, hot, thirsty, tired and hungry!  The other two excursions were absolutely wonderful 

and the tour guides were awesome!  They were so knowledgeable and made the trip fun as well.  We did not have any problems getting back to the ship in time and loved the fact that these excursions did not have a ton of people on them like the ship's excursions did!  We would certainly recommend the Santorini and Mykonos excursions through .

All in all, a wonderful trip!

We were well pleased with our cruise. We had an inside cabin and was very pleased with the room and storage capability. The bathroom was large enough so that it functioned well. Bed was very comfortable even if a little tight getting in/out on the sides of the bed. 

We primarily used the basic restaurants and although the service was quite slow especially in the main Grand Pacific.. The Alkazar seemed to have better service and they both had the same menu. The decor and atmosphere at the GP was nicer but we prefered the better service at Alkazar.. Entertainment was great. We enjoyed all the shows and had a good variey of entertainment at the bars. Swimning pool was nice and the Spa area was enjoyable. My first 7 day cruise and would definately consider going on NCL once again

I like to have some quiet, relaxing time on a cruise. There was nowhere to be quiet on this ship - it seemed like a floating theme park with endless noise and overly loud music. Also, there were a lot of smokers on board, which surprised me as it wasn't allowed on previous cruises I've taken. Just not a good match for me.  

The excursions all went to places I wanted to see, so they were worth it, but the crowding was unbelievable. A tour guide told me that they had nobody there the day before, then 4 ships all came in on the same day! Several hundred people in numbered groups all trying to squeeze into tiny places. Very uncomfortable. There were enough buses and guides, but not enough streets/pathways/parking to allow access to the sites, in many places. This may not be Norwegian's fault, but some better planning is needed somewhere, as I understand this problem of too many ships at once happens often.

I wasn't excited about some of the buffet food - hot dogs and hamburgers - but it was fine for breakfast, though. The main restaurant had some enjoyable meals available. I like something special when on holiday, not just a slight upgrade on fast food that's everywhere. 

I was happy with the service, though - pleasant, friendly and helpful, particularly the stewards and waiters.

We chose this because we were able to see two different parts of Croatia (Dubrovnik & Split), as well as Venice (Italy), Athens (Greece), and Ephesus (Turkey). It's hard to say what our favorite port of call was... I highly recommend all of them! We went in late September/Early October 2015 so things were much safer in Turkey... however you are VERY far away from the instability so I would still recommend going while you still can. Plus, they will eventually likely close Venice since it's literally sinking into the sea. We used our bank and our local AAA office to convert the currency for Kunas (Croatia) and Lira (Turkey). While you can use Euros in those cities, you will save MUCH more money paying with the local currency. In Dubrovnik, we paid 30 Kuna for a Taxi... they were charging 15 Euros... so we paid about $4 instead of $16. 

As for the ship, it's beautiful. Trivia is SO much fun. I would do this cruise again. 

the ports of call were great and the shows awesome, however Norwegian cruise lines tend to be too crowded; difficult to find good seating in lounges and cafes. Too many activities onboard require additional money, and activities are bland and not creative. Service is a little impersonal compared to other cruise lines. I have taken better cruises.

This was our fourth cruise and the itinerary was perfect.  Enjoyed all four ports, especially Kusadasi, Turkey and Piraus/ Athens.  Staff on board the Jade very nice and accommodating.  Entertainment was top notch at the Stardust Theater.