Itchy&Scratchy

continuing:

Day 1 Desserts in MDR

We all ordered Warm Chocolate Lava cake. It was worth every bite. The trick to experiencing its true taste was to take a bite of all three ingredients at the same time: the chocolate cake, gelato and strawberry compote. Both cake and gelato were semi-sweet, so if sampled separately, they weren't very palatable. But together? Pretty heavenly. 

Day 2 dinner in MDR

Salmon Tartare was awesome. I had two, because I knew I'd love them and they'd be small. I was right. Mom also enjoyed her Salmon Tartare. Hubby took a bite of mine and loved it.

I also had Clam Chowder, which was just ok (I've had better at Soup Plantation/Sweet Tomato restaurants).

Kiddo loved the Thai Spring Rolls appetizer and the ravioli appetizer without the sauce.

Both mom and hubby ordered Scotch Barley soup, but mom couldn't eat it because it was too salty. Hubby agreed that it was very salty, but he enjoyed his soup. He has no problem with salt, while mom has high blood pressure problems.

Mom also had Mediterranean Veggies and they were ok.

I ordered Mushroom and Shrimp Pasta from the Every day classics menu, which was good.

Both mom and hubby ordered Hake and mashed potatoes dish, and the fish was average. We found that most meat/fish at MDR and buffet were pretty dry. Hake was dry-ish. Mashed potatoes were horrible - cold and flavorless. Our cafeteria at work makes better mashed potatoes.

Hubby also had Shrimp Pasta ala Vodka, which he enjoyed. I had one of his shrimp and it was good.

For dessert mom and I had Cherry Jubilee, which we enjoyed.

Hubby got Apple strudel (very good) and Carrot Cake (no sugar added) which was just average.

I also had Apple Strudel and liked it a lot. It was just right - not too sweet, good texture and temperature, and it was enjoyable.

The photo of the menu was provided by barric, since I forgot to take it.

2 hours ago, Sky111 said:

Companies hide under an obscure country flag and avoid doing costly routine maintenance and safety inspections and then they are surprised when something breaks. It is disappointing when companies put profit ahead of safety and comfort of their customers.  This is happening all too often to be a coincidence.

well, I don't know how NCL would profit from 100% refunds, future cruise credit, hiring charter planes to haul 2,600 passengers to the port of origin, refunding their flight change fees and comping the hotels, paying overtime to their employees versus maintenance. Crap happens.

42 minutes ago, PelicanBill said:

What am I missing here... remaining 7 days sailing canceled Sunday in San Juan, yet the ship will be back in Miami early on Friday? What day were you originally due back - Saturday or Sunday?  What ports were left in the itinerary?

we were supposed to come back on Monday, the 26th. All ports were left off besides the Puerto Rico... St Kitts, St Lucia, St Thomas and Martin, Barbados...

24 minutes ago, bbixler18 said:

I think you may have misunderstood my point.  The individual I quoted mentioned "never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to FLY!" and that it was terrifying without anxiety meds. 

 

The OP of this thread posted on SUNDAY night that everyone was told the cruise was canceled and the 2nd person in this thread said charter planes were taking everyone back TUESDAY.  So, NO, people did not find out, for the first time, 10 minutes prior to debarking they were FLYING home. 

yeah, we were also told we'd flying home on Tuesday and will be able to disembark on Monday in PR to spend the day there. Perhaps, she thought she'd have time to get a prescription and fill it, or find out whether she could make alternative arrangements.

Needless to say, we were not allowed off the ship on Monday to explore San Juan, but instead were notified that we had to pack immediately and leave on a chartered plane. There was quite a bit of a chaos, miscommunication and misinformation...

The individual I quoted mentioned "never in my wildest dreams did I think I would have to FLY!" and that it was terrifying without anxiety meds.

but, of course... she is from Miami, sailed out of Miami and thought she'd sail back to Miami on Jade. Never in her wildest dreams did she think that Jade would experience a mechanical failure and that she would have to FLY home, so she never brought the anxiety meds with her. That's what she meant. Not that she found out that she was flying home 10 minutes prior to disembarkation, but that she was FLYING home in general.

21 minutes ago, bbixler18 said:

You were only told 10 minutes before you had to debark that you were flying home?  I thought there was a letter that went out at least 24 hours prior to when you debarked that told everyone they were flying home? 

nope.... My mom got a letter at 12:10 pm that we had to be at the pier with the bags packed at 12 pm. Yeap, you read that right. Oh, and we didn't even get the letter or a call, and I was in the cabin till 12.

Obviously, 12 pm debarkation didn't happen, but we did pack with a speed of light and then waited on the pier... It's like - hurry up and wait.

NCL was flying people out in increments and there was a very short notice, at least on the first day (Monday). And then there was a very long wait - on the pier, on the bus, on the plane...

thank you for your kind words!!!!

I thoroughly enjoyed threads posted by ludicrous_speed and barric about foods and menus they enjoyed.

ludicrous_speed

barric's menus

So, I decided to keep track of foods we ate and post our opinions of them.

Here they are:

Day 1

Crispy crab and cream cheese wontons were ok. Not better than a regular Chinese food restaurant. They were basically crab rangoons.

Shrimp and crab cake - delicious and delicate. We all enjoyed it. Very small, though, so if you like them - get a couple.

Smoked mozarella ravioli - good. Our kid liked them very much, but didn't like the sauce. For the following nights we ordered them plain, and the staff was very accommodating.

Seafood gumbo - my husband ordered it and liked it. I was afraid it'd be too spicy, so I didn't. It wasn't spicy at all - hubby let me try his soup. I didn't care for the flavor, but my husband liked it.

Cream of Cauliflower soup - we all enjoyed it. Very nice.

Classic caesar salad - mom said the salad leaves were limp and old. She didn't like it.

Breaded flounder file - our friends (all three of them) ordered it and sort of liked it ok. Our friends are very loyal to Princess and are greatly enamored by Princess food, so anything less than Princess quality is definitely viewed by them in a very negative light. They were NOT impressed by NCL food.

Beef sirloin medallions - my husband liked this dish.

Grilled atlantic salmon - my mom ordered this and it was ok. She liked it.

Shrimp scampi - I ordered it and liked it, but it was less of a traditional butter flavor, and more on a cheesy creamy side.

I took pictures of some dishes, but they all came out really dark and bad. The lights in Grand Pacific MDR were very dim, and my phone couldn't handle it.

Continued....

We didn't get to eat at either O'Sheehan's or Jasmine. Decks 6 through 8 were permeated with cigarette smoke, from aft all the way forward so we spent as little time as possible on those decks.

Before I forget, I must comment on the size of drinking cups and plastic glasses at the buffet. They were abysmally small. Child sized. A joke. Seriously. We had to go back at least one to get 2 more plastic glasses just to have enough fluids with every meal.

CREPES at dinner buffet were the culinary highlight of this cruise. We loved them. After MDR dinner all 4 of us would go to the buffet to get 1-4 crepes each. Mom liked them plain, I liked to get apricot or berry filling on a side (the person making crepes was always piling on the filling, and it was way too much, even for me), hubby and son loved Nutella filled crepes. Our kiddo also loved making a soft serve ice cream cone and got sprinkles at the crepe station for it.

One small note: to us personally crepes are a breakfast food, so we were a bit surprised that they were served only at dinner.

Cold cuts selection was rather subpar at the buffet. The salami/ham offerings were not good, but I liked Edam cheese.

We were on Jade's 2018 Thanksgiving cruise which was rudely interrupted by a mechanical failure....

However, I'd like to review what we liked and didn't like about our very short stay on Jade, since it was our very first time on NCL.

Early flight out of ATL to MIA on day 1, got an Uber to the port, arrived right around noon. The registration line was out the door... however, we were inside the ship no more than 10 minutes later. Very quick and efficient.

We went to the buffet for lunch, and it was extremely crowded. The cabins wouldn't be ready until 2 pm, so people stayed put at the buffet with all their carry on luggage.
We proceeded to La Cucina, since I've read on CC about it accommodating spillovers. We found a nice table for the 4 of us and then saw our friends (4) who joined us in La Cucina. Their parents found a small table for themselves at the buffet area.

We had some unremarkable food for lunch. Hubby liked a passion fruit flavored dessert.
 
When the cabins became available around 2, an announcement was made and we headed to our rooms. We had an OV 5102 aft, and mom had an inside 8003 all the way forward.

Both cabins were fine, but had a different bathroom set up. We had a sliding door between the toilet and the rest of the bathroom. While the bathroom itself and the showere were spacious enough to move around, the toilet part was very short. I am 5'6 and by no means leggy, and I had a hard time finding room for my knees. My poor hubby is 6'1 and he had to do some serious origami to fit.

Both rooms were nice. I liked our location a whole lot better than my mom's, but we both had Sailaway rates, so we couldn't choose.

Our cabin had 3 USB outlets and a couple of regular electrical outlets. Our cabin was spacious enough for 3 of us.

On day 2 at sea we just hung around, played giant chess on deck 13, I think, used the hot tubs, sat by the pool, the boys ate a ton of soft serve ice cream.

We ate both breakfast and lunch at the buffet.

I particularly liked egg salad, and got a little big of a lot of items. The menu was nowhere near Princess level, but we never went hungry. Nutella was available at breakfast in single serve packets. That was a very nice plus. DS loved it!
I liked salmon mousse on a bagel, since real smoked salmon was nowhere to be found. There was always a line to get an omelette, so I only managed to get one on day 4. It was good. Ready made omelettes were flavorless.

Another pleasant surprise was free brewed coffee by cup in a machine. Tea selection was average to below average, so I didn't drink as much tea as I usually do. Unlike on Princess, waiters don't go around offering drinks and drink refills.

A smaller buffet and more sitting space at Great outdoors was very nice to have.
I think Princess buffets are organized better because you are not walking a mile with your food just to find a place to sit, and then you need to walk a mile back to get a drink. And, of course, first you get your kid's food, find a place to sit, get him a drink, put Nutella on his pancake, and only then you can go and get food and drink for yourself. :)

To be continued.

10 hours ago, dwpigg said:

I’m speculating that there is an issue with propulsion on Jade and NCL decided to not take a chance on coast guard inspection in St Thomas.  Better to cancel and send passengers home than to fail inspection. Poor publicity hits stock prices. 

 

well, I don't know. I've never read anything published about failed inspections, and I've never even heard about Coast Guard doing the inspection, but we are definitely on the news about being taken off the Jade and being sent home. 

24 minutes ago, Tatiana84 said:

I am constantly checking my emails and nothing. This was a pretty traumatic experience for me... never in my wildest dreams did I think that I would have to FLY!  I normally fly with anxiety prescription medication of which I had no time to obtain since I had to pack(fam of 4) and debarked in ten minutes. The flight was terrifying... but I’m glad we made it home, late but safe and sound. I hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving and great stories to tell on your thanksgiving table!

I feel for you. There was quite a bit of turbulence. Since you are anxious about flying, you must have been terrified... I am glad it's over now!

just freshly off the Jade.... Smoke smell permeated decks 6, 7 and 8. All the way forward to all the way aft. It was pretty horrible.

I've never had such bad experience with the smoke smell on either RCI or Princess ships.

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

well, I just got an email from NCL about my cruise cancellation.  In the letter the $25 pp insurance premium was refunded as well as the cruise fare. So, does that mean I don't have the basic Norwegian insurance?

Anything over and above that is up to your own insurance.

 

you are right. The only thing over and above that is a $70 dinner, and I don't think it's worth all the paperwork.

silly me, it just occurred to me that the basic insurance premium refund of $100 completely covered the $72 meal and then some. I am usually quicker on my feet... Must be a couple of sleepless nights. 

 OK, I am off to sleep now, in my own bed. It's very nice to sleep in my own bed. :)

Good luck to the rest of the Jade travelers! Safe and smooth travel home to you all!

30 minutes ago, casofilia said:

well, I just got an email from NCL about my cruise cancellation.  In the letter the $25 pp insurance premium was refunded as well as the cruise fare. So, does that mean I don't have the basic Norwegian insurance?

 

My guess would be that what they have provided in terms of meals, transport in San Juan, San Juan hotel, transport to Miami, Miami hotel, flight change refund, cruise cost refund, future cruise credit and all the other possible credits as mentioned by "bravestwj" are what their insurance covers you for.

 

Anything over and above that is up to your own insurance.

you are right. The only thing over and above that is a $70 dinner, and I don't think it's worth all the paperwork.

To us personally NCL provided transportation to the airport, a chartered flight, a sandwich box and soda during the flight (which was very welcome, as we haven't gotten anything to eat since breakfast - and there were plenty of families with little kids who left at noon and haven't gotten to eat anything all day either), a transfer to a hotel and a hotel room in Miami.

I think we are very lucky to be on that first chartered flight.

And I didn't even think about the double dipping people...

30 minutes ago, cathi007 said:

Check out the Escape Jan 20th-Feb 3 out of NYC, it's a great itinerary. No matter what you decide good luck, my heart goes out to you all. I know you are getting a full refund and credit for a future cruise, which is nice, but I am sure you were looking forward to this cruise. Despite everything enjoy your Thanksgiving 🙂

we can only do school breaks, hence Thanksgiving.... :) But thank you for the advice! I'll check NCL's site for something in late December.

Yes, the kiddo was very upset. He was really-really looking forward to the beaches for 5 straight days. And we didn't even get a single beach day. 

2 minutes ago, casofilia said:

From my reading of earlier posts you will get a full refund of the fare for this cruise back onto the credit card you paid for it with.

Then you will have the actual cost of the cruise as a credit, just like when you buy but don't immediately use Future Cruise Certificates, attached to your "My Account" so that when you book your next cruise it will be deducted from the actual cost, just like a deposit.

I am wondering whether I can salvage the situation by booking an NCL cruise in December-January time frame, so we still get to cruise this year....

1 hour ago, Itchy&Scratchy said:

ETA: I didn't even think of meal reimbursement. We got insurance through Chase credit card and the minimum $25 pp Norwegian insurance. I'll have to research this further.

 

well, I just got an email from NCL about my cruise cancellation.  In the letter the $25 pp insurance premium was refunded as well as the cruise fare. So, does that mean I don't have the basic Norwegian insurance?

10 minutes ago, Jolie said:

 

Could someone explain how the refund, credit for future cruise works...I’ve never been in this situation before. I thought I saw where someone received their refund already...

 here is the refund info

2 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

 

i would be getting future cruise credit to what i paid (base fare) for this cruise anyway

do you think the credit would be for the amount we paid for this cruise, or a percentage off the next cruise? Like 30-50%?

On 11/19/2018 at 6:11 PM, Aviator of the Seas said:

I must say that this is a monumental effort on the part of NCL and its contractors, both in SJU and MIA, to get everyone home as fast as possible.  Not an easy task.  At all.  Thank you to everyone for being as kind as possible to the crews: ship, shore or air.  They are working very hard to make the best out of a very complicated situation.

I must agree. Although not everyone was nice and pleasant. I've seen plenty of irate people, and they were already on the first charter!!! Just sit your butt down and wait for the take off. No reason to yell at the non-NCL or NCL personnel. They are doing everything they can.

However, the lack of information or any NCL reps from the moment we left the ship and until Miami airport was alarming and, honestly, bad business. We received conflicting info from the officers onboard. The hotel director was telling us one thing, and right next to him the asst hotel director was telling us something different. Then one of them told us hotels are on us, but my husband got information that the hotel was covered for the night in Miami... Sure enough, it was.

Just now, Jolie said:

 

This is on our credit card too. Any ideas? 

 

It ended up taking us 24 hours to get home yesterday from disembarking the ship, waiting for the first charter flight out, catching our flight to New Orleans and then driving 3 hours home. Any updates on passengers still waiting in San Juan and flights for them? 

Thanks to everyone who posted information here over the last couple of days! It truly was so helpful to us.

I was just told by a fellow CC member that it's a standard hold. My mom has the same charge, and other people on the roll call as well.

It took us exactly 24 hours to get home. Our friends, however, I have no idea. They've got 2 kids and elderly parents traveling with them.

11 minutes ago, CruisinfromCO said:

We were told we were going out on an Omni flight at 10:30p. 

don't forget to meet with the Norwegian reps at the baggage claim. That's where and when we were told about free hotel reservations.

On 11/19/2018 at 2:15 PM, pieshops said:

This situation is a perfect example of why good travel insurance is a must.

 

We were on the Dawn a few years back at Thanksgiving when we lost engines and were adrift for a day , we regained a bit of power but limped into San Juan.  Luckily this happened 2 days before the end of the cruise.  NCL Arranged flights for us but it took 3-4 days to get all out as it was Holiday time.   We were allowed to stay on the ship if we wanted.

 

We opted to book our own flights and stay a few days in San Juan, Insurance covered it all

Norwegian is covering $650 pp for flights/flight changes, so we don't even have to touch the insurance. Thankfully, Norwegian paid for the hotel and our flights back home were $674 for the 4 of us, so eventually and hopefully, Norwegian will reimburse us as promised.

ETA: I didn't even think of meal reimbursement. We got insurance through Chase credit card and the minimum $25 pp Norwegian insurance. I'll have to research this further.

I have just noticed a $300 charge on Nov 17 on my credit card by Norwegian. I am concerned because we didn't buy ANYTHING at all. My mom has the same $300 charge on her credit card. What the hell is it?

7 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Where was the ship at the time this happened?

in Puerto Rico. We got onboard about 6 pm, had dinner at 6:30, and headed to the back of the ship about 8:30 pm.  We watched some ships leave from the Great Outdoors. It was Carnival Fascination, and we also saw Norwegian Gem leave. Then we went back to our cabins.

The announcement came after 9 pm, I think. Our kid wasn't sleeping yet, so it couldn't have been late.

Celebrity Equinox left after the announcement.

On 11/19/2018 at 11:04 AM, evandbob said:

So everyone has to stay on board the ship until flight arrangements are made and then they all have to be off the ship ASAP?

 

BTW, being in a US Territory, my cell phone service (Verizon) always worked fine.  I could get texts, data and calls no problem, so  cruise line announcements on departure plans would be received via my phone.

nothing was communicated by phone. We've got ATT.

2 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Not sure why they would tow to Miami, when Freeport, Bahamas is a half day closer.  It will take about a week, if your info is correct (source?, just interested, not questioning).  It sounds to me like she got rope or fishing line caught in the azipods, which has melted and seized the propellers.  Pretty common problem where fishing is prevalent, but rare to get both props fouled at the same time.  It must be a real mess, if they aren't going to cut it free with divers in SJ.  Those ropes could also ruin the seal in the azipod that keeps the oil separate from the sea, and USCG won't let them sail with leaking seals that would put oil into the water.  Again, pretty rare to hit both props.

 

It may be that she can sail under extremely reduced power, and they are adding a tug to speed things up.

we were on Jade... Our cabin was in the back and we didn't feel anything, but mom's cabin was on deck 8, all the way forward, and she said the ship shook violently for some time twice. She got scared and packed a bag with warm clothing and meds. Then the announcement came.