Norwegian Jade for kids?

[NCCruisingmom]

We are considering a Med cruise next year with our kids, who will be 14 and 10. I have never cruised NCL, but my husband has once. How is the Jade for teens/tweens? I have read NCL tends to be relaxed - we want an environment that welcomes kids (assuming they are well-behaved).

 

Also, is it hard to get a table for dinner with Freestyle dining?

 

Thank you!

[Choochala]

When we sailed the Jade a couple years back on a Western Med tour. it seemed very "kid friendly". (We travelled without our kids) Now your kids aren't young children so may wish to do things outside of the event planning's for their ages. That was fine as well - we came across kids on their own but very well behaved I must say. Other than the kids in the adults only hot tub which always seems to occur, they were great. There were lots of families with lots of kids when we sailed and they all seemed to be totally enjoying themselves. Keep in mind that the Med cruises are extremely port intensive and your kids may not have much time to have to amuse themselves. We went hard and did excursions at every port so upon returning to the ship, we would shower, change and go for dinner then walk around bit and then hit the sack to be prepared for the next exciting day!

I'm sure your kids will love it. There are loads of games and activities - they can partake in or not, depending on their interests. There is never a dull moment on a Med cruise :D

And, it shouldn't be difficult to get a table for dinner (for 4?). A couple of times we had to wait a few minutes at the formal dinning rooms but no longer than you would at a land restaurant. It seemed that many people returned from the land excursions around the same time so by the time we all went back to our rooms and got our poop-in-a-group and were ready to eat, everyone else had the same idea and we would all show up at the dinning room around the same time. Still, not a long wait. Just remember that there are dress codes in effect (not jacket & tie or anything like that) and one night we got turned away cause hubby was wearing shorts. Not a problem, we went to the buffet. We had walked so much that day it didn't really matter where/what we ate, we just wanted food and bed :p

[NCCruisingmom]

Thank you! My kids don't usually hang in the kids' clubs - they like to swim or hang out together most of the time. I know the Med cruises are port-intensive, so they don't need a lot to keep them busy, but I would like them to be able to come to us with a show or have things to do as a family. I don't think we would give them permission to wander around without us. I looked at some itineraries on some other lines (like Celebrity), and it seemed to be mainly older cruisers without kids, so I just wanted to be sure they wouldn't feel out of place on the Jade. Traveling during the summer probably ensures more kids anyway. :)

[Choochala]

There are certainly lots of things to do as a family. My impression of the "local families" who were on board was that they were doing the cruise as a vacation - not necessarily for the ports and excursions. It seemed that a lot of the "local families" that were onboard didn't leave the ship when it docked so they spent their time at the pool and participating in the activities. One thing I did notice is that in Europe, the kids are not as supervised or controlled as we tend to be with our kids. Not sure why that is or how they get them to behave when they’re not being supervised but it all seemed to work out. We never had to deal with the "elevator kids" that got on, pushed all the buttons, then ran off or loud talking during the shows like we did on our Caribbean cruise last year or other antics like that. Different cultures I guess. We definitely enjoyed ourselves and I'm sure you will all as well.

[Lassie5]

We were on the Jade last week with our 2 kids, daughter 15 and son 11. The Jade is very welcoming of kids, about a quarter of the total passengers were kids but we never got the feeling that the ship was over-run with them.

 

The vast majority of passengers were Italian - I sort of expected that with sailing from Venice - but I was surprised at just how few British voices I heard. Italian's are lovely people but oh so very loud, all seeming to talk at once but we never experienced any pushing and shoving which they are apparently renowned for.

 

Our only other cruise was RCI Freedom Of The Seas last year. The Jade doesn't have the sheer amount of facilities or wow-factor that FOTS has, but then we knew that before booking, but it is still a lovely ship with very friendly staff. I was keen that our kids try out the kids clubs but they just didn't like them - maybe it was because there wasn't many British-speaking kids, I don't know. My daughter just felt that the other kids just weren't her type of people and when my son went they combined the club with the younger group and did 'babyish' things, like counting to 10!! He was not at all impressed and consequently refused to return - can't really blame him. Still, they were quite happy just hanging around with us.

 

The pool deck was predictably very busy and the kids pool and adults pool are along side each other, which probably adds to the chaotic feeling. The pool was sea water which didn't impress my son but he did enjoy the slide a lot.

 

Re dining - we ate in the 2 MDR's, Alizar and Grand Pacific, and felt both were very good. We eat quite early, around 7.30pm, and only once had to wait 5 minutes for a table. Many Europeans, including Italian’s, prefer to eat late and, yes, there were queues later on. Freestyle may not be for everyone but it suited us fine.

 

Lots of people have commented that NCL make the food so terrible in the MDR’s that you are forced to pay for the speciality restaurants. This was not our opinion at all, we felt the food was more than good enough although we did try out 2 of the other restaurants just because they appealed to us. Moderno’s (Brazilian) was excellent and Teppanyaki was good fun. Our kids were welcomed in both and totally enjoyed the experience.

 

If you want a casual cruise with kids I don’t think you can go too far wrong with the Jade.

[NCCruisingmom]

We were on the Jade last week with our 2 kids, daughter 15 and son 11. The Jade is very welcoming of kids, about a quarter of the total passengers were kids but we never got the feeling that the ship was over-run with them.

 

The vast majority of passengers were Italian - I sort of expected that with sailing from Venice - but I was surprised at just how few British voices I heard. Italian's are lovely people but oh so very loud, all seeming to talk at once but we never experienced any pushing and shoving which they are apparently renowned for.

 

Our only other cruise was RCI Freedom Of The Seas last year. The Jade doesn't have the sheer amount of facilities or wow-factor that FOTS has, but then we knew that before booking, but it is still a lovely ship with very friendly staff. I was keen that our kids try out the kids clubs but they just didn't like them - maybe it was because there wasn't many British-speaking kids, I don't know. My daughter just felt that the other kids just weren't her type of people and when my son went they combined the club with the younger group and did 'babyish' things, like counting to 10!! He was not at all impressed and consequently refused to return - can't really blame him. Still, they were quite happy just hanging around with us.

 

The pool deck was predictably very busy and the kids pool and adults pool are along side each other, which probably adds to the chaotic feeling. The pool was sea water which didn't impress my son but he did enjoy the slide a lot.

 

Re dining - we ate in the 2 MDR's, Alizar and Grand Pacific, and felt both were very good. We eat quite early, around 7.30pm, and only once had to wait 5 minutes for a table. Many Europeans, including Italian’s, prefer to eat late and, yes, there were queues later on. Freestyle may not be for everyone but it suited us fine.

 

Lots of people have commented that NCL make the food so terrible in the MDR’s that you are forced to pay for the speciality restaurants. This was not our opinion at all, we felt the food was more than good enough although we did try out 2 of the other restaurants just because they appealed to us. Moderno’s (Brazilian) was excellent and Teppanyaki was good fun. Our kids were welcomed in both and totally enjoyed the experience.

 

If you want a casual cruise with kids I don’t think you can go too far wrong with the Jade.

 

Thanks for your review! :) The kids have cruised on Disney, Carnival and Holland America - all were great, but our Holland America cruise was definitely more older people. They still had a great time and enjoyed hanging out. They haven't really wanted to spend time in any of the kids' clubs - even Disney. I just don't want them to be the only people under 40 on the ship. ;)

[AquamarineBreeze]

My family spent a lovely cruise on the Jade this summer and my nine year old daughter LOVED it (she cried when it was time to get off...)!! She adored the staff at the kids' club and they were soooo warm with her. Because it was summer there were many kids of ALL ages on board. For my daughter it was a great opportunity to meet children from various countries (and even exchange email now :-)

We are American but live in Italy and noticed that very few Italian kids seemed to participate in the club.

ALL of the crew were wonderfully welcoming to her!!

I think your family will love it and your kids will have a wonderful opportunity to meet others their age from so many different places :-)

[ge1shh]

We are considering a Med cruise next year with our kids, who will be 14 and 10. I have never cruised NCL, but my husband has once. How is the Jade for teens/tweens? I have read NCL tends to be relaxed - we want an environment that welcomes kids (assuming they are well-behaved).

 

Also, is it hard to get a table for dinner with Freestyle dining?

 

Thank you!

 

We were recently on Jade, and there were plenty kids around at all hours, even late at night. They were also at the later shows (which start at 9.30). The pool area gets very crowded, but if you are with kids, that's where they'll want to be. There is a water chute - I'm not sure what ages that is suitable for. We saw lots of younger children and some teenagers, but not so many teenagers. Maybe the teenagers were some other place to where us oldies went!