8-Days on Norwegian Jade

The NCL Jade sails the Mediterranean year round.

July in the Mediterranean is a hot and very busy season indeed. I was one of 2600 passengers on Norwegian Cruise Lines 94,000 ton Norwegian Jade which just celebrated her 5th birthday. She was purpose-built as Pride of Hawaii but this was a disastrous short lived venture as NCL could not keep America Staff onboard the ship due to U.S. politics and bureaucracy. After the Hawaii venture failed, this magnificent ship was converted into Norwegian Jade and sent off to service in Europe year-round.

The Jade is a well maintained and spotlessly clean ship done in rich colors and lots of dark rich wood paneling (faux of course, due to fire at sea regulations). She is a ship built for the contemporary market and is far more appealing than any Carnival ship and while her other competitor, Royal Caribbean, has more interesting maritime architecture, I prefer the NCL Jade (part of a 4-sister ship “Jewel Class” fleet). She’s going into dry-dock in November and I hope NCL tones down and upgrades some of the child-like décor to a more sophisticated look as they have created on their newest ship the Epic.

Some of the ships décor is just too kitschy and done up like a little boys bedroom but some elements are quite well done. Nonetheless, this is a contemporary product and not a premium experience.

The ship offers a non-stop cornucopia of dining venues that range from Sushi, Steak house, Asian fusion, Tepanyaki, French, Italian, and so forth. There is a fee of $10-$30pp for these alternative venues and this is where I choose to dine as it creates more of a resort like fee and makes the cruise experience more interesting than eating in the main dining room. In this venue, it is a bit redundant and large dining halls do nothing for me personally. NCL offers Freestyle onboard where one can pick when, where, and with whom they choose to dine. I personally prefer this although there is sometimes a wait of 10-15 minutes during peak hours. The food in all of the alternative dining venues was very good to excellent while meals in the main dining rooms was okay to good.

NCL offers a fun and lively ship where there is constant entertainment in the evening ranging from piano bar performers, live rock band, disco with professional DJ (most ships use cruise staff that play crap from their own Ipods)-not on NCL!, lively variety acts, comedians, and full musical Broadway style shows. They excel compared to many cruise lines in the breadth of  entertainment offered. The pool side performances by a Romanian singer was not quite up-to-par with her heavy accent singing American pop songs and she became ridiculed. This was the only poor choice of entertainment on my cruise.

The staff were always friendly except in a couple of instances where training of who goes first Passenger or Crew were not yet ingrained but when vacuuming in the corridors took place, staff stopped, turned them off, and greeted me on every occasion. The dining, cabin, and pool staff were always friendly. NCL continues to offer the best bar staff and while their cocktail prices are higher than their competitors, they make excellent drinks!

I was fortunate to stay in one of the forward Penthouses where the cabin was just around 300 square feet and my balcony was as big as the room adding almost another 300 square feet. The views were amazing especially coming in and out of port. Guests in Penthouses are given extra privileges from Butler Service, to private dining in Cagney’s (the ships steak house) for daily breakfast and lunch. This is always a treat!  We also had access to a lovely Concierge, Florentina, a Croatian woman who is professional, delightful, and as courteous as one could possibly want. She is a true asset to NCL.

I think NCL Penthouses offer a far superior experience than her competition, and in some ways more than some higher class premium lines. Many elements of traveling in an NCL Penthouse border on a luxury experience. This class of ship also offers a private Courtyard Area just renamed The Haven. This area is a card access area of suites that share their own private pool, spa, sauna, gym, and sunning area. These accommodations have become so popular that many Hollywood celebrities and pop stars (most notably Reba McIntyre) have booked these for their families. The Royal family of Kuwait was on my sailing and had many of these magnificent suites booked. I have stayed in The Haven on several occasions and must tell you it is quite special. My favorite is the single Black Diamond Suite perched at the very top of the ship overlooking the pool and offering a panoramic view unparalleled. This suite is nearly 600 square feet in size and has 2 balconies on either side of it (his and his).

I have talked many times about the Jade but the itinerary was also quite nice. We sailed from Venice to Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos, Izmir, and 2 days at sea before arriving back in Venice. The handling of embarkation and disembarkation by NCL was downright spectacular. It was among the easiest I have ever encountered.

While I truly enjoyed the cruise, I was disappointed by the lack of supervision of nearly 1000 children of various ages. 1600 Europeans were onboard and the kids mostly did not participate in the programs offered by NCL so they overran the ship. They took over the disco and drank alcohol freely and openly (not sure how this happens). I am told that if they are 18 or older (16 for Europeans), and the parents sign a waiver, they can drink-no bueno! It was appalling to go to the dance club and see hundreds of 11-16 year olds out of control. Kids took over the adults pool and NCL security had zero control over this issue. Kids took over elevators by pushing all the floor buttons thinking it was cute, and were constantly running. I will likely not travel again in the Summer for this reason. From what I hear, Summertime on most cruises-especially contemporary brands, kids rule the roost. Sorry, this kids rule experience is not for me …

What I Liked About Norwegian Jade

• The many dining venues with high quality of dining in paid-for venues
• The cruise price compared to other brands
• Freestyle Cruising
• The cleanliness of the ship
• The overall friendliness of the crew
• Great entertainment
• Superb embarkation and disembarkation
• Wonderful array of suites and penthouses
• Florentina, the ships Concierge-she is a TREASURE!
• Excellent cocktails!

 What I disliked About Norwegian Jade

• Unsupervised children and teens and kids taking over the adults-only pool
• Teens drinking in the dance club
• Little boy décor in corridors and many cabins-this can be easily remedied to make the ship look more sophisticated
• TV programming was pedestrian “E” Channel for your main viewing is just dull and common-NCL can do better!
• Main dining room food and service can use improvement. This is the weakest link for NCL.

Happy Cruising!

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