Norwegian Jade Cruise Reviews - Reviews

Rude staff, and customer service. On multiple occasions disappointed with service.

As vegetarians, only option was to eat at buffet. Some of the restaurants would oblige and bring down food from the buffet! (in other words will not oblige). The Asian fusion restaurant does not have a single menu item that is vegetarian (will not oblige).  We had indicated our request, prior to boarding, on first day of boarding, repeated complaints but to no avail. Got sick of eating at same place similar food for 7 days.

Getting basic information on ports was difficult unless you take one of their tours.

Hefty corkage fee if you take your own wine (some cruise lines let them free) 

The movie theater was 55 inch TV screen on a bar!  Very few movies were played. 

The slide over the pool was not made for our daughter - a big disappointment. She had to push herself down.  As a consequence, I didn't see any one use the slide in my whole trip. In Disney, there was a line of kids waiting to take the slide... 

My wife suggested this trip only a week before we sailed. Although we have been on five previous cruises on Carnival, this was our first time on Norwegian. We were very impressed by the new Houston Cruise Terminal and the ease of getting on (and off) the ship. We got free parking because I am a disabled veteran. Our parking spot (not disabled) was right in front of the terminal! Norwegian has assigned arrival times and we were within our time frame. We were on the ship in half an hour. We were somewhat disappointed at the size and location of our stateroom - it looks out at a life boat. We were used to a bit larger rooms with a divan on Carnival but our room had one chair and a stool. However, we spent most of our time when we were in the cabin laying on the bed watching TV or reading. The cruise was great. I had never been to Roatan and my wife had never been to Belize.

I tend to get motion sick, so I armed myself with patches behind my ear, wrist straps and a ginger inhaler. I used the patch and it worked well. The water was incredibly smooth - just one evening with a bit of a roll. The mini-suite was great, and we sat outside for our morning coffee. We elected to have contintnetal breakfast delivered to the room in the morning. It was a bit cool leaving Houston in January, so next time we would book later probably April. However, by the time we got to Cozumel the weather was warm and sunny.The meal upgrades were well worth it. The food was excellent. My wife had lobster and chanpagne every night.

The price was good. We have never had  to pay extra for certain  entrées  in the main dining room.  Cabin was small but ample room for luggage. The entertainment was outstanding.  The  service  in dining  room  could  have  been  better.  We would  have  liked  an earlier  notice about dress up  eve. As we had not gone back in our room and found hand written note later that eve. We had dress clothes  along  .we  had a good time  with  our friends. We found it very low key and relaxing.

Just returned from Houston on NCL's Cozumel, Belize, Roatan itinerary. I think overall the experience was good, but nothing outstanding.  Some comments:

Good:  room service, entertainment (in particular David Nastor), workout facilities and specialty restaurants (particularly La Cuchina). My wife enjoyed the spa.

Not so good; restaurant service was inconsistent; in my view, the staff looked worn out and were not consistent in being attentive to customer needs.  Food outside the specialty restaurants was sub-par in my view.  The coffee was terrible.

Also, if the drinks were more reasonably priced, I would have bought more.  Two drinks with the mandatory 18% was a disincentive for my wife and I.  Two beers and you're almost at $20.  Wireless should be free.

This was my 3rd cruise on NCL.

It’s a smaller ship and it’s more laid back then Carnival.

Lets start off with the good! The shows were above average! The room was clean! , Mr Happy Happy, Washy Washy! That is really about it.

The Bad - The service was very lack luster, Could never find a server, had to get my own drinks. The crew look over worked and far under staffed! I almost felt bad for them. I have cruised on other cruise lines and never had the issues I had on this one. Drinks were $2-$5 higher then other cruise lines,  Food was below par! Ship was outdated and not very easy to get around in.

I have tried to get my "service charges" reduced to no avail as well. Customer Service is horrible, wait, I have yet to hear back from them, so who knows if they really one!

NCL lost me as a future cruiser!

Loved the cruise, the ship and the crew members we interacted with. Our room had two balconies which made the cruise even better. The food was well above average in every restaurant we ate in. The crew were always smiling and helpful. Our only regret is that Norwegian does not sail out of Houston anymore. That was an easy port to drive to and they had the embarkation down to a fine science.

I saw so many complaints about this ship and crew that I was a bit worried, but we had an amazing cruise! Entertainers were really awesome, the food was NOT bland as some reviews stated! We enjoyed the balcony, our shower wasn't small, and I am a big guy!

The only complaint I could even make is when they had the $10 sale they had it in the Jasmine restaurant and it was a bit crowded! 

The crew was great, our steward was very friendly and made sure we had everything we needed! The wait staff was very attentive and friendly, the officers were very good at making sure things were done properly and timely! 

The spa and casino were great.

Everything  was great..nothing to complain about but we had alot of bites on our bodies in room 10597. Come to find  out  later that it was bedbugs attacking us.

Bayport Cruise Terminal is modern and clean, and getting in and out is very efficient.

Decor on the ship feels unusually dated for a ship that is only about ten years old. All the public areas were really clean, however, and everything was well maintained.

Our cabin was clean and functional. A lot of thought went into making the most out of the limited space. I loved having lots of cubbies to store stuff. Our cabin steward was fantastic.

Food is good throughout the ship. Service was consistently good everywhere we ate. I especially liked Le Bistro. The food is excellent and the quiet ambience is a nice retreat.

A low point was the lacking daily activities. Many times during the day I was bored; it felt like there was never quite enough to do. And no, I don't consider a watch seminar or spa tours to be activities.

The entertainment was outstanding. Please don't assume that I'm overstating myself; my already high expectations were exceeded. All of the nightly shows are top-notch. The singers and dancers were all wonderful. The jazz/showband was superb. There were also a male vocal quartet, a magician, and acrobatic and comedy/juggling shows. All around, the Jade outdid itself in the entertainment department.

The ports (Cozumel, Belize City, and Roatan) were all as expected. You can read about them anywhere.

Don't believe the poor reviews for the Jade out of Houston. I had a fun.

Was a little hard to navigate the ship at first but once you are used to it wasnt bad. The ship was very clean and the staff was great.

We had a wonderful stateroom in the Haven area that overlooked the pools and had two balconies. what is there not to like!

This was our 7 cruise and our second NCL cruise. My wife and I love the activities on the ship and the opportunities to learn about other countries first hand. The Jade met all of our expectations. The service was excellent.  The food was great. The entertainment was exceptional. I think NCL does the best job of providing exceptional talent to entertain their guests. It seems to be better than the other lines we've been on.

What we do love are the art auctions on board. We've become collectors and we've learned a lot about artists of today.

This was a Christmas cruise. The ship was well decorated with lights, garland, and gingerbread houses. They played lots of holiday music. I was impressed that they didn't shy away from playing Christian Christmas songs. Most of the cruisers seemed to be families traveling together in groups.

The only thing I was disappointed in was that the ship didn't encourage table sharing in the dinning room.  We asked several times and only one person ate with us at one dinner. We missed meeting people in the dining room.

My wife did come down with a high fever and she was treated in the ship hospital. They did a full assessment and diagnosed her with pneumonia. After several IV's of antibiotics, they handed us a $3,300 bill. We will have to submit this expense with our insurance company. So, if you need to go for medical treatment. Make sure you ask what the costs are. They  will charge them against your ship account.

The Jade is in very good condition and we were pleased with the decor and cleanliness.

This was our third trip on Norwegian Jade. The first two were in Europe a year apart. Everything now seems about getting you to buy there drink and dining packages. I had a drink package and it was hard to find anyone willing to take my order. Bars had one or two servers max, even in the evenings. The restaurant waiters were overwhelmed, had a hard time keeping four course meal orders on time or on person, or even the correct food at times. Perhaps there was some lacking in english comprehension? It seemed the ship wanted to keep the number of employees to a minimum, even though it was a packed Christmas week cruise!

I was very impressed by the shows. By far the best magician and acrobat shows I have ever seen.  The comedian and the dance/singer shows were good as well. The cabin steward did a good job of keeping the cabin clean and was timely in completing all her tasks.  Main dining rooms had so-so food and service.  The lunch buffet had the exact same so-so food every day so by the end of the cruise you were tired of the food.  Eating breakfast & lunch on sea days was a madhouse as the amount of options was insufficient for the amount of people.  Activities were basically gambling (bingo, deal or no deal, lottery, casino) or shopping with very little other options.  Music at night was limited and not very conducive to dancing.

My wife and I loved our cruise on the Jade! It helped convince us to sail NCL more often and we have booked 3 more NCL cruises since sailing on Jade.

Our experience on this cruise overall was positive. The good things were excellent and the bad things were the pits, resulting in a middle rating. The Spa massage and facial services were excellent. Ask for Janett. The evening shows were exceptional! The Fitness Club and daily dance classes were also excellent as were the restaurants Le Bistro and Cagney's SteakHouse. The staff was friendly and the ship was clean. The tendering to ports was a tedious project at best. If you had purchased a shore excursion through Norwegian you got priority in getting off the ship. Since it is Freestyle Cruising you don't have a set seating time in the dining room. This resulted in long lines with 40 minute waits times or being turned away. This also means dressing for dinner is optional. Although the website said no shorts or jeans in the dining room after 6pm., there were people who were dressed to clean out the garage seated with people who were dressed formally. And last but certainly not least our party had a purse and sweater stolen from the lounge while they were dancing. Security was not interested in recovering the items or confronting the thief. In my opinion this left other passengers at risk.

This cruise was a good experience. The entertainment could be improved. 

The tourist should not be the ones in charge of the cruise  to entertainment. 

One thing is to be participants but not responsible for it. Too many trivia games. 

The food started real bad and toward the end improved a lot.

Attention was excellent and the room service was amazing. 

Yes,I would take it again!

Belize should not be a stop. There is nothing to see or do there. 

Ship, cabin, food excellent! Entertainment was great. Medusa Lounge karaoke was a hoot, even though I did not win the competition... Restaurants on board were truly cuisine and the Garden Buffet was excellent. Destination were nice, nice beach and river safari excursions. However the bus ride to the Belize Mayan ruin destination was long. Definitely will cruise with Norwegian again.