Comparison Review: Nieuw Amsterdam and NCL Jade - long

Comparative Review: HAL Nieuw Amsterdam Eastern Med and Norwegian Jade Transatlantic

Background: We are 3 Star o.n HAL [11 cruises/145 nights]; Platinum on Princess [6 cruises/82 nights]; Gold on Carnival [6 cruises/70 nights]; Bronze on NCL [3 cruises/30 nights]; Classic on Celebrity [2 cruises/26 nights]. We’ve also had one European Viking river cruise for 14 nights, and one 11 night Norway coast Hurtigruten ferry cruise. We hadn’t sailed NCL since 2005, a B2B western Caribbean in December 2005 – our 3rd/4th cruise.

For our recent trip we were on an 11 week Europe itinerary including 2 cruises, land tours and time on our own, plus getting together with family also travelling abroad, so timing of how the pieces of our trip fit together was extremely important but cost was also a factor. The HAL cruise was from late September into October, Venice to Venice 12 nights with 2 scheduled days at sea; the NCL cruise was late October into mid-November, Barcelona to Houston, 16 nights, 3 port days. We had mid-ship balcony rooms on both cruises, a luxury for us. We booked HAL through a PCC we had used before; booked NCL through a TA we had used before. The HAL cruise was

Demographics: very similar on both cruises, as expected for 12 or 16 night cruises on most cruise lines. We find that the demographic is based on the itinerary and length of cruise more than other factors.

Ships and rooms: NA has a blue hull; Jade has a white hull with flowers. Both were about the same size and each sailed with 2300 passengers. NA has the mid-ship glass elevators with a view, nice. Jade a a bigger variety of suites and fancier upper end rooms with the Haven and Garden Villas – at the more “normal” levels NA has some Insides with couches, Outside with couches and tubs; balconies with tubs. Jade’s Insides and Outsides have no couches, showers only; our balcony room was shower only.

Muster Drill: NA mustered on the lifeboat deck with oral roll call. Jade mustered inside with manual check in against a list as one entered. Jade used video and live demonstration which all could see and hear because we were seated.

Our balcony rooms: NA had 2 nightstands with drawers and a loveseat; no drawers in the vanity; 3 closets, large wall mounted TV with tons of viewing options but not the HAL presentations done in the theater [CD told us they hadn’t figured out yet how to put them into the new type TV system.] Jade had only one nightstand, with a shelf, no drawer (on DH’s side of the bed he used the couch for his night things), a loveseat couch, one large closet, many drawers and good-size shelves. The flat screen TV was on a shelf with a handful of channels. Both rooms had artwork, mirrors, and tables - NA’s table was a small oval but adjustable height; Jade had a low square table with shelf underneath and a high table which was really the “desk” but it was moveable to suit our needs. Jade’s rooms have hot water kettles and instant coffee/tea bags which I enjoyed in the afternoons. Jade’s bathroom had a shower with glass sliding door and a toilet compartment with glass sliding door – I thought the toilet compartment was a little cramped but ok.

Furnishing on the balconies: NA has 2 chairs, one with ottoman plus tiny table and the balcony was deep enough for the ottoman. Jade had 2 chairs, small but not tiny table, no ottoman and was not deep enough for one. Both were Plexiglas, covered and private.

Promenade deck: NA has many nice comfy lounge chairs with pads on the walk-around teak deck; NCL has a full walk-around promenade deck but few lounge chairs – more lounge chairs in the shade on deck 13 which can be pulled right up to the railing so no people walking in front of you. Jade’s promenade deck is non-slip and has a pair of very nice shuffleboard courts on good sliding surface which were often in use; the walls were painted with motifs that reflected the area of the ship behind that part of the wall, whimsical fun, such as Venetian scenes around the bow where their Venetian themed theater is.

Pools: NA has 2 pools, one mid, one aft (adults only); the mid-ship pool has moveable cover. Jade has 2 mid-ship pools, one adults-only. I believe NA pools are fresh water with chlorine; NCLs pools were salt water, no chlorine (I loved the soft, no chlorine salt water and swam easily in its buoyancy.) Jade has a mild slide, only a few people used it. There are hot tubs on both ships in the pool area; some of Jade’s were nice and hot, some of Jade’s were covered; some of Jade’s were adults only and all of Jade’s could be set to have bubbles or not. I don’t remember much about NA’s hot tubs because: 1. We were busy with lots of excursions; 2. There were too cool to be inviting; and 3. The bubble jets never shut off and were too aggressive to fight against.

Thermal suites: NA price: $259 for 12 nights; Jade $199 for 16 nights, both comparable amenities. Jade has free steam rooms, men’s and women’s.

Décor: NA has light and dark paneled area, lots of fresh flowers, elegant design, New York themes. Jade has cherry wood paneling most places; lots of flower arrangements but not many fresh flowers, rich colors of reds, blues, interesting designs in the carpets; fish in the stateroom hallway carpeting swim forward!

Dining options:

NA has one MDR, traditional fixed or open with some reservation times available. 3 specialty restaurants: $29 Pinnacle Grill, $20 Tamarind and $10 Canaletto.

Jade has 2 MDRs (same menu but one is the main large aft dining area with the basic dress code (slacks and collared shirts, no shorts, no flip flops, etc), the other is a mid-ship MDR- smaller and with more casual dress allowed. Jade’s MDRs are open seating, no reservations unless for parties of 8 or more, lines varied from zero to several minutes. There are also 2 complimentary table service restaurants – Jasmine Garden (Asian fusion) and Blue Lagoon (casual with comfort foods) open 24 hrs. Jade has 5 pay-extra restaurants: 2 at $29.95: Steakhouse and Teppanyaki; and 3 at $19.95: French Bistro; Brazilian Grill; Italian La Cucina, plus Sushi Bar with a la carte pricing (complimentary sushi was available in the buffet in the late evening and maybe other times but not all the time). Jade has electronic signs in several places around the ship showing approximate fullness of their restaurants. Reservations are encouraged but not always necessary for the specialty dining rooms. 18% gratuity is added to specialty dining charges; dining plan are available, many bookings include a choice of dining or beverage plans or other choices may be available – we chose the free hotel service charge plan- HSC is now $13.50pp/day, more for suites.

MDR food: We had good food overall. They have an always-available menu with steak, chicken, flounder and three lasagnas: beef, turkey sausge and vegetarian. We had some upscale selections and many very nice selections – beef tenderloin, prime rib, rack of lamb twice, teriyaki beef loin, leg of lamb, lamb shanks, carved beef striploin, many shrimp dishes, a couple of cordon bleu – chicken and veal, lots of fish selections… lots of very good food in the no-extra-charge MDR.

Buffets: NA has a linear,central, 2-sided buffet with seating on both sides, plus poolside grill and very good made to order pizza. Jade has 2 buffets main and aft, plus the poolside grill and buffet. The main buffet on Jade is asymmetric: buffet on one side of the ship and seating along the other side of the ship. The buffet area is spacious with “island stations”, lots of walking space, hardly ever a line, many dishes prepared to order including a carving station; several omelet stations, waffles, eggs benedict-etc. stations, English breakfast, Asian breakfast and all the regulars. The timing of buffet service is such that the main and aft buffets overlap so that one or the other is always available until late nighttime. NA’s buffet was more crowded, less walking space to get around the lines forming plus the lookers trying to find out what was offered but had the same types of offerings on both ships. The hours of the buffet on NA had gaps between meals. On NA I think the buffet area was a bit more appealing and broader for variety of juices in the morning. The Jade had a charge for fresh squeezed orange juice and only a couple of types of juice available. The Jade’s aft buffet had most of the regular selections and nice seating outside or just inside connecting with the main buffet seating area so we always found seating but may have had to hunt a bit. Jade did have a special area marked for those with mobility challenges and a special area for families with children.

Mostly DH gravitated to the burgers, fries, salads and soft serve… didn’t like the pizza (which was his go-to lunch on NA.) I like the Indian curries, hot dishes, salads and brownies! especially with soft serve on top!

Room service on NA is complimentary, 24 hr.; certain times for certain selections, some selections always available. Jade has complimentary continental breakfast but a $7.95 charge for all other room service, also 24 hr. I did not bother to collect data on their room service menu – there was not one in our stateroom and I didn’t ask for it as I had no interest in it.

Wine: Hard to really do a comprehensive comparison but I can say that our Beringer white zinfandel was available on each ship, about the same price, I think $32 on NA and $29 on Jade. On Jade we could get 4 bottles for $88 on their Viva Vino plan, plus %18 (the VV plan has different levels of wines – ours was basic level – and one can purchase different size packages for good value). NCL charges $15 corkage on all wine bottles brought onboard and you can drink them anywhere. NA charges $18 corkage after the first 2 bottles and you can drink the corkage-fee bottles anywhere; the 2 non-corkage-fee bottles must be consumed in one’s room. I do not know about smuggling bottles of wine or other onboard. Again, beverage packages are very popular and available with many booking combinations on both lines.

Chef Table: Both ships had an extra special Chef’s Table dinner.

Both ships have specialty coffee bars.

Entertainment, Activities and Other:

Enrichment classes/presentations and ports. NA has Microsoft computer classes, nice. Jade had iPhone, iPad, iPod classes, also nice. Jade had 2 presenters, one general knowledge topics, one specialized in astronomy type talks plus, on all sea days, hands on lessons in the sextant and night time star gazing. To be fair the NA cruise was so port intensive there wasn’t much opportunity for enrichment classes.

Port Talks: NA had port talks by the location specialist teamed with the shore excursion staff. The port specialist had Q/A times at his desk in the late afternoons. Jade didn’t have many ports and no port specialist, only the shore excursion staff and the shopping presentation.

Other: Both ships had a good complement of other activities considering their very different itineraries: Bridge classes, cooking classes, trivia, fun and games, oh yes and let's not forget the art auctions.

Jade’s internet manager had desk hours 9 hours per day and he was very helpful. Internet prices were comparable between the ships and performance was as expected – similarly slow. NA was a bit more frustrating with the internet but oh well.

The Jade had several sessions with the Captain and officers, lots of opportunities to meet them: Q and A; mingle in the atrium, dine with them by lottery, etc.

Both ships have a library, NA’s is larger than Jade’s but both are comfortable with views and a librarian.

Entertainment: Each ship had 2 shows per evening in the show lounge. On NA we had for 12 nights: 3 NA Cast performances by the singers and dancers; one night by the in-house BB Kings Blues Band; 2 nights had no show at all due to being in overnight ports (Istanbul and Venice); there were 4 guest entertainers; one night of Dancing with the Passengers, and once night of the CD introducing onboard staff and a video of entertainers; one late night crew show.

On Jade, in 16 nights, we had 3 Jade Cast performances by the singers and dancers – one night was wow exceptional!; one night by an in-house music group (last night before disembarkation); zero nights of entertainment by the passengers; 11 nights of guest entertainers (one performed two different shows – remember we were at sea a lot with fewer options to rotate entertainers on and off the ship) and the first night with the CD introducing short acts by some of the entertainers including the singers and dancers doing a partial show. There were also several matinee performances by some of the guest entertainers and 1 late night comedian show. The guest talent show was a matinee as was the crew show. There were several game-type shows in the alternative lounge, forward up-top (similar to the HAL Crow’s Nest).

Entertainment is subjective but I felt like the Jade had more opportunities for higher-level professional entertainment than NA. The Jade Cast shows were good to outstanding with Elements including heart-stopping acrobats and illusion integrated with the singers and dancers. It was a wow performance.

On board music entertainers: Remember, same size ships. NA had the Band; Adagio duo (who, sadly were a most uninspired pair); Piano Bar and Disco. Jade had the ballroom dance band; the pops band; the Piano Bar; Variety Music duo, classical guitarist, a keyboard/vocalist plus the Disco. Oh yes, karaoke.

Jade has a unique bridge viewing window (deck 11 forward). It was an area with a large window to see what’s happening on the bridge (curtained off evenings and in and out of ports). The viewing area has multiple live radar screens for passengers to checks positions, ship’s navigational data, maps, videos on the building of the ship, and the many pretty and interesting ship’s plaques for inaugural port calls.

The CC roll call M&G on Jade had the Captain, Chief Engineer and the Group Coordinator who arranged some special events for us, very nice.

Service: Both ships have crews that are very hard working and attentive. I felt they were very similar, warm and caring. HAL’s crews come from Indonesia and the Philippians. NCL draws crews mostly from those countries plus India, the Caribbean, a few from eastern Europe and I met one woman from Africa; there were other countries I’m sure but I can’t remember.

Some Things I missed on Jade: No newspaper digests or free internet NY Times; bar soap (they had lavender liquid hand soap dispensers at the sink, dispensers in the shower held liquid body wash and liquid shampoo); hair conditioner; hand lotion; fresh squeezed OJ; free room service (not too big on my list but sometimes…); 2 night stands in the room; an ottoman on the balcony; the padded loungers on the promenade deck; towels at the pool – they give you beach towels in your room and you can do a towel exchange at the pool, one dry for one wet; chocolates on my pillow – only silver and above get chocolates…

Some Things I especially liked on Jade: Lots of music; shows and music venues were not overly loud; extra shows in alternative lounge; coffee/tea in the room; fish in the carpet swim forward! to help orient us; lots of very legible signage especially around the elevators to help orient us; attractive and varied colors in the carpets and décor; extra help whenever a line of 3 or 4 would form at the front desk; an atrium that had very comfortable seating and often had music during the afternoons; more accessible officers; higher level of professional entertainment; 2 gangways at ports; easy disembarkation – self disembarkation with luggage at any time or pick up your luggage tags for your desired time-slot at the front desk side display; glass door for the shower; free steam room; MDR 3 meals a day; Blue Lagoon 24 hrs table service; buffet available all day; soft serve ice cream available all day – rich, smooth and creamy; Brownies! as well as cookies; “hot” hot tubs; free rum punch available all over the ship one afternoon; warm friendly staff who were very willing to go beyond the norm to make us comfortable.

They’re different lines with different marketing and different strengths. We enjoyed both cruises very much; on both ships we were well cared for by a warm and attentive crew, ate way too much food and felt very comfortable. I wouldn’t hesitate to cruise again on NCL.

One last thought: NA was about $120pp/day before taxes and gratuity; Jade was about $60pp/day before taxes and gratuity, although they were very different kinds of cruises, eastern med vs repositioning, but that’s what it cost us for similar rooms, mid-ship balcony. We had a small amount of OBC on each, $100 vs $75, and a bottle of wine on each – just to keep my comparison honest.

“It’s hard to have a bad day on a cruise ship.” I’ll try to answer any questions you may have. Thanks for reading all this. m--

Wow-very well thought out comparison. Thank you for taking the time to do this. Found it very interesting.

We will be sailing for the first time on the NA but just for a quick 5 day cruise. Know one of the officers on it so will be nice to see him. Never been on NCL but our son and friends have and enjoyed their time.

We are open to try other lines so really appreciated your review.

I commend you for all the detail and time you have taken in this. I don't think I am likely to sail on NCL, but I do very much appreciate your comparisons.

Thank you for doing the comparison review.

Welcome back from your cruises.

Thank you for taking time to write such a superb comparison review.

Thanks for the comparative review. Really thoroughly and well done. :)

Thanks for your comparisons.

Thanks so much for your review. I was very interested in the comparisons and appreciate your taking the time to do so.

Thank you for taking the time to write a very detailed comparison between HAL and NCL.

Thank you for this very detailed comparison. We've looked at NCL.

Two questions: Is the NCL bathroom completely open (no wall or door) to the sleeping area? It seems to show this on their cabin diagrams and the NCL person I spoke to had no idea.

Also, are the round beds big enough? Thanks.

Cheers!

Thank you for this very detailed comparison. We've looked at NCL.

 

Two questions: Is the NCL bathroom completely open (no wall or door) to the sleeping area? It seems to show this on their cabin diagrams and the NCL person I spoke to had no idea.

 

Also, are the round beds big enough? Thanks.

 

Cheers!

The bathroom we had on Jade in the VB balcony category seemed pretty standard... it had a door opening from the main room opposite the closet. The bathroom door opened into the main room area but was not part of the main room area. There is a slight rise into the bathroom at the threshold but just a small step, maybe 4 inches. Once inside the bathroom you are in the middle third with the sink in front of you... the shower with glass sliding door to the one side and the toilet with glass sliding door to the other side.

Our beds were not round nor rounded. Maybe they are in the Garden Villas or other suites? The only rounded-corner beds we've had on ships were on Celebrity and they worked ok but regular shaped beds with square corners on our NCL beds.

Enjoy, m--

Maureen, what an excellent comparison! I haven't been on either of those ships but have been on their sisters -- Eurodam and Jewel -- and your comparison reminded me of what we enjoy about both lines.

Thx for the comparison. I enjoyed reading it.

Thanks so much for posting your wonderful review. Just a very well balanced review with excellent comparisons of the important areas.

Thank you for taking the time to post! I really enjoyed all the great info!

Thank you for a very detailed comparison. I especially liked how you pointed out what you liked and why (and vice versa). It always helps me appreciate new perspective. I very much appreciated the way you outlined everything, easy and a pleasure to read.

Excellent comparison.

Keith