Will we like NCL Jade

[SadmanCruiser]

Hi all

 

Having done 20+ cruises with Royal Caribbean, making Diamond+, and loving the product will we like Norwegian?

 

We are a 49 & 50 year old couple.

 

Looking at doing the Adriatic and Holy lands October 2013 as the itiniary is so much better than Royals but a bit worried about booking 25 nights on a cruise line we have never travelled with. I know the Jade is comparible with the Radiance class, which we love - going on the Brilliance in just over 3 weeks.

 

What are we likely to enjoy more/less? Food is not an issue - we can eat anything and enjoy it and the freestyle dining is similar to the MTD we normally do.

 

Any opinions greatfully received!

 

Pete & Wifey.

[herbanrenewal]

Hi all

 

Having done 20+ cruises with Royal Caribbean, making Diamond+, and loving the product will we like Norwegian?

 

We are a 49 & 50 year old couple.

 

Looking at doing the Adriatic and Holy lands October 2013 as the itiniary is so much better than Royals but a bit worried about booking 25 nights on a cruise line we have never travelled with. I know the Jade is comparible with the Radiance class, which we love - going on the Brilliance in just over 3 weeks.

 

What are we likely to enjoy more/less? Food is not an issue - we can eat anything and enjoy it and the freestyle dining is similar to the MTD we normally do.

 

Any opinions greatfully received!

 

Pete & Wifey.

My first Mediterranean cruise was on the Jade, and my first RCCL cruise was last fall. In my experience the jade was a fantastic ship and great trip. The food was good but not great. We usually travel interior cabin andi can't say I noticed much difference. You will definitely miss the diamond+ benefits on your first cruise with the NCL line. No ice show, and I can't really say much about the entertainment offered, since on a port intensive med cruise we didn't do a lot of shipboard things.

[kernow]

We're diamond on RCL and have cruised on several other lines too, we did our first ever NCL cruise on the Jade over New Year.

 

First of all let me say that we did enjoy ourselves, there were more similarities than differences as on all the lines we have cruised, however RCL/ X will still be our preferred choice.

 

The food overall was pretty good, the shows were amazing, the best we've seen on any ship. The cabin(we had a minisuite) was nice although I think the cabins were a bit smaller than the RCL equivalent.

The staff overall were OK but we didn't get the general feeling that they would go out of their way to please like they seem to on RCL.

The ship itself seemed more crowded and not so well laid out as RCL ships but the one thing we really didn't like was the Freestyle dining. It may not be an issue if you like MTD ( we normally do late seating) but you can not book a table for dinner, you just turn up and wait. We had waits of up to 40 minutes some nights and others just 5 minutes, it really meant you could not plan the evening like we normally would.

 

I'm sure you will enjoy it though, its still a cruise and we always think its nice to experience all the different lines out there.

 

Julie

[gijoe76]

We are diamond on RCCL. We did our first med cruise on the Jade. We had a great time. We normally eat at the early seating, so the freestyle dining was new for us. Since most people in the med eat late, we NEVER had to wait for a table. NCL has better entertainment than RCCL. The main thing we would miss is the diamond lounge in the afternoons for happy hour!!

 

With NCL, just remember that it's going to be different than Royal--and that's okay--keep an open mind and have a great time. We loved our trip!

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

We have never ventured from RC and may need to in the future.

Unsure of when, where or what line will be in our future.

 

Will we like it? That's almost impossible to answer. Whats good for you, may not be for us, or visa-versa.

 

If you are willing to try hope it works out for you!

 

***

[CRUIS4ME]

Been on the Jade three times...last year took B2B out of Venice to Adriatic and Greek Islands. Ship was very very good; itineraries were awesome; food in MDR had several choices each night so we got something we liked; several nights just too tired to do entertainment as we really wanted to get off early and do the ports. I would recommend the Jade for sure. We are only "gold" with RCI so can't complain as we haven't gotten any extra perks to compare. Without the perks, we feel we had a very nice cruise. They do the nice extra things like having water and cool wash clothes when coming back on board after a hot day in port. Go for it and enjoy.

[SadmanCruiser]

Thanks for all of your help. I am almost convinced to book the Jade, might just book a week this year to see for myself.

 

Kernow, looks like we will be on the Adventure together in November, maybe see you onboard.

 

Thanks

 

Pete & Wifey

[kernow]

A week to try out the Jade sounds good, I know when we booked the prices were great, even New Year was reasonable, for the price it was excellent value.

 

Have you joined the roll call for the TA? There are so many signed up its hard to remember everyone, we're really looking forward to it.:)

 

Julie

[yogimax]

We've been on Jade and the ship was fine. The major negative was their Freestyle Dining. We were often given a beeper and had to wait an average of a half hour to be seated in the dining room.

 

I do think your biggest problem, though, will be your lack of perks. You are D+ on RCCL and accustomed to being treated as an important cruiser. You will have no status on NCL.

[Marley-Bop]

We are the same (ish) ages as you two and I must say, we really didnt like The Jade but only did a three night taster cruise.

 

If our friends hadnt pre-booked a dining table, I swear we wouldnt have even seen a dining room at all :eek: Joining long queues with long waits to get into a dining room was not my idea of a holiday so we always gave up and ate in the buffet.

 

The balcony cabin we had was clean and comfortable but the staff werent a patch on RCCL.

 

Dont get me wrong it wasnt awful but we would never do it again :)

[trump]

Hi, my husband and I are over 50. We have been on a total of 4 cruises. Our first 3 cruises were on RCI and our most recent cruise was on NCL Gem. We were so happy with Royal, that I was very reluctant to try NCL. However, the NCL itinerary won out since NCL was doing a 7 night cruise to Bermuda vs. RCI 5 night cruise (for about the same price). I took a chance and I was not disappointed. I still prefer Royal, but would not hesitate to do another NCL. From your post, you sound pretty easy going....so, I think you will be fine. These are some of the things I preferred on RCI: the Royal Promenade, the ship decor, the Solarium, the entertainment, Windjammer was better laid out than the NCL buffet. Some things I preferred on NCL: the better pricing allowed us to go with a suite (which was a very nice treat for us), the anytime dining, no formal nights, the crew on Gem was outstanding - very friendly and eager to please. As another poster replied, most of the major cruise lines have more similarities than differences, and I agree. I now know I can keep RCI as my favorite, but still have a very good time on another line (especially when another line offers a better itinerary or significantly better pricing).