Norwegian Jade - any upcharge restaurants worth it - and other dining questions

[mikeerdas]

My wife and I have sailed on the Jade before when it was the Pride of Hawaii, back in 2006. Haven't been on the ship since. We weren't super impressed with the upcharge restaurants back then.

 

Wondering how they are now, which are worth the cost, and how early in advance to book. Our favorite would be anywhere we can get a great filet mignon. Guessing it's still Cagney's. The asian-chefs-cooking-in-front-of-you looks really fun.

 

I remember not liking the idea of so many upcharge restaurants back then--as if the MDR concept was being phased out.

 

This is for a Venice-based Greek Isles cruise sailing in May. Hoping for several evenings where we'll eat Greek food on shore. Santorini for sure--looking for restaurant recommendations in Oia (?)--the village high up--by the way if anyone has some. Love Peloponnesian-style Greek food; just not seafood. MDR and buffet are fine for us. But for a sea day (or any formal nights--not our thing) we might like to try a specialty restaurant or two.

 

Finally, is room service free or do they charge for it?

[duckfan80]

Well, I suppose you'll get the "it's all a matter of preference" answer since it deals with food. I enjoy Le Bistro for the charge restaurants. We've done Moderno on another ship and enjoyed it, so I'd probably like it on the Jade, too. Especially good if you like meat :)

 

We did the Jade in the Med (14 days B2B) 2 summers ago. One thing I really liked in the MDRs was on shore days, at least one of the chef's specials was a local food or specialty. That was a nice touch.

 

Hope you enjoy your trip!

[Love my butler]

If anything, the upcharge restaurants have suffered cutbacks just like about everything else since the last time you cruised. If you didn't think it was worth it then, I doubt you will enjoy it now.

 

Room service is included except between midnight and 5 am. During those five hours, you pay a $3.95 service fee for the privilege.

[SteveH2508]

Best filet mignon is probably in Le Bistro IMHO.

[kikki21]

Just come off the Jade and I have to say that we are both foodies and we were really impressed with the food at the buffet and in the MDR and it showed as most nights both places were full of people and the speciality restaurants were not full!

On our sailing, the Teppanyaki looked like it was the most popular speciality restaurant but as it's small they can't take many people on for sittings. Then it seemed Le Bistro was next popular.

 

We ate in Le Bistro on this sailing as we had booked a romance package (got a free bottle of wine for it though that wasn't expected) and it was a cut above but not by huge amounts.

 

I have eaten in the speciality places on the Epic, tried Le Bistro, Moderno, Jasmine Garden and enjoyed all of them.

[mike@sea]

We were on Jade in March and I can honestly say that the specialty restaurants were not good compared to the past and to other ships ijn the fleet!

 

We tried Le Bistro, our least favourite NCL special restaurant in general. It was OK but nothing special (as expected I have to admit. I guess for Europeans the Bistro menu is not really impressive). Service was good.

 

Next dinner "experience" was at Papa´s, the "Italian". We always enjoyed it for USD 10 upcharge in the past on the other ships. Now it is USD 15.- and in return you get less for your money. Breadsticks, Focaccia, nice dips to start your dinner with = all gone due to cost cutting (and despite the fact they rised the cover charge !!!)

Dinner was truely a sad experience. None of the dishes were good, none justified ANY cover charge. Don´t go! Service was slow too.

 

Next was the Asian restaurant, our favourite on other ships. Whereas the menu selection was better than on Epic ( but same as on Gem and Pearl by the way) , the dishes unfortunately were not. I was very disappointed in them. All of them were somewhat spiced down (except for the sweet and sour soup which was as good and sipcy as always) . We also had the worst cocktails ever there. They gladly took it off the bill though after complaining. Service was good.

 

Last restaurant we tried was Cagney´s. Again we were not impressed at all. Food presentation was downright terrible. Service so so, meat so so. The filet mignons did not come out the way they were ordered, the sauces were un-eatable, the side dishes disappointing.

 

We cancelled Teppanyaki after this experience.

 

Food at dinner in the main dining room however was very good. Lunch ( only tried that once) again was a different story. We did not try it again after our first experience. Buffet food was good, Blue Lagoon was OK.

 

So my advise would be to save your money and stick to the normal restaurants on this ship! Enjoy your cruise.

[goose30]

Asking how the food is is like asking "what color is black"!

[meltingmoments]

My wife and I have sailed on the Jade before when it was the Pride of Hawaii, back in 2006. Haven't been on the ship since. We weren't super impressed with the upcharge restaurants back then.

 

Wondering how they are now, which are worth the cost, and how early in advance to book. Our favorite would be anywhere we can get a great filet mignon. Guessing it's still Cagney's. The asian-chefs-cooking-in-front-of-you looks really fun.

 

I remember not liking the idea of so many upcharge restaurants back then--as if the MDR concept was being phased out.

 

This is for a Venice-based Greek Isles cruise sailing in May. Hoping for several evenings where we'll eat Greek food on shore. Santorini for sure--looking for restaurant recommendations in Oia (?)--the village high up--by the way if anyone has some. Love Peloponnesian-style Greek food; just not seafood. MDR and buffet are fine for us. But for a sea day (or any formal nights--not our thing) we might like to try a specialty restaurant or two.

 

Finally, is room service free or do they charge for it?

 

We are taking this cruise in the Summer and if I'm not mistaken, the only chance you would have to eat on shore in the EVENING .........and it would have to be early, would be on Santorini........the ship leaves the other ports of call at anything from 15:30 to 18:00.

[AngAndBoys]

We are taking this cruise in the Summer and if I'm not mistaken, the only chance you would have to eat on shore in the EVENING .........and it would have to be early, would be on Santorini........the ship leaves the other ports of call at anything from 15:30 to 18:00.

 

Yeah, and I think even that port is pushing it for dinner since you have to leave time to get in line for a tram or a donkey and get back down to the ship. I've heard it gets backed up.

[mikeerdas]

Thank everyone. Good info. So we'll have to find a special place for Santorini. Open to restaurant suggestions in Oia. Nothing too fancy but great view. And/or lunch restaurant options in Corfu and Mykonos. Haven't even thought about dining in Venice yet.

 

Yes, food is subjective for sure. Always lots of arguments. Glad to hear the MDR and buffet are still good. Way back in 2006, I remember enjoying the buffet. Not a huge fan of MDRs in general. At least for the RCI, Norwegian, and Carnival ships I've been on, nothing was really great. Although the best dessert ever in a MDR was the chocolate lava (?) cake on the Carnival Dream. Had it ever night.

 

Not sure if they had a made-to-order omelet station or made-to-order pasta station (may be confusing this with another ship). But my wife and I still remember the made to order burgers from, I think, the pool area. Very good. Better than the same offerings on RCI and Carnival ships we've sailed. Do they still have a good made-to-order burger station?

 

So for specialty restaurants, maybe we'll try Le Bistro once and skip the others. I'm pretty sure we tried Cagney's and weren't impressed. And I definitely recall being disappointed with the Italian restaurant--both service and food.

 

Excellent that room service is free before midnight. Anyone got a semi-current snapshot of either the room service or MDR menus for Greek Isle sailings on the Norwegian Jade?

 

Again, thanks to all. Food quality certainly won't ruin the trip either way. It's just nice to know what to expect and moderate expectations accordingly. Really there for the port-intensive itinerary. Anything beyond that ship-wise, if you'll excuse the pun, is gravy. :-) I'm certain we'll have a terrific cruise, so thanks again.