NCL Jade

[michelle.mcdonald]

Hi everyone

We are after some information please! My husband has booked me a cruise with the Jade on the Med in march this year, excited is an understatement!! We have cruised once before with freedom an I'm not sure if they are similar!

Is soft drinks included or is it a separate package if so what types of packages! What's the weather like in March! We are guaranteed a balcony room but have been advised if the ship isn't full that we may get an upgrade , has anyone experienced an upgrade? Any other information would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards

Michelle:-)

 

 

Michelle :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[garycarla]

Hi Michelle.

 

Welcome aboard.

 

All of these questions, and MANY others you have not thought of have been answered here. You would be well served to scroll down through postings from the past few days. Then ask away, put the question in the TITLE.

 

Soft drinks are extra.

Upgrades are rare.

Guaranty means they can put you anywhere at your level or higher. Check prices as sometimes picking your room is the same price.

[HokiePoq]

Hi everyone

We are after some information please! My husband has booked me a cruise with the Jade on the Med in march this year, excited is an understatement!! We have cruised once before with freedom an I'm not sure if they are similar!

Is soft drinks included or is it a separate package if so what types of packages! What's the weather like in March! We are guaranteed a balcony room but have been advised if the ship isn't full that we may get an upgrade , has anyone experienced an upgrade? Any other information would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards

Michelle:-)

 

We love the Jade and I'm sure you'll have a great time. You can check the internet for the weather in the ports you'll be in. We've been in December and April but not March. Soft drinks are not included but a soda card can be purchased. We did get an upgrade once when the ship was not full. However, it did not happen automatically. Our travel agent called the company at my request when I noticed a price reduction. We got an upgraded cabin that way. Have a wonderful cruise on the Jade...we're going on our fourth Jade cruise in April.

[meltingmoments]

Hi everyone

We are after some information please! My husband has booked me a cruise with the Jade on the Med in march this year, excited is an understatement!! We have cruised once before with freedom an I'm not sure if they are similar!

Is soft drinks included or is it a separate package if so what types of packages! What's the weather like in March! We are guaranteed a balcony room but have been advised if the ship isn't full that we may get an upgrade , has anyone experienced an upgrade? Any other information would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards

Michelle:-)

 

 

Michelle :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

Hi there,

NCL have a soda package and I hope I'm including the link for you! ( I'm a bit of a techno-phobe! :o )

http://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/gifts-and-more#adult

 

As for the weather in the Med in March.....we have been early April on a few occasions and had brilliant sunshine and also rain, so I'd say variable!

 

Can't help with the upgrade question, I'm afraid, but sure someone will be able to help.

 

The Jade is a lovely ship with great staff. You are right to be excited!! Enjoy and if I can be of further help, just shout out! :)

[Cloudyrain]

Hey! Can understand why you would be excited!

 

Havent been on the Jade, but have been NCL. As stated, soft drinks aren't included but there are some soft drinks from the buffet self serve machines and personally I found these adequate. They generally have a fruit juice mix, flavoured water, iced tea, and a lemonade juice mix. They also have free tea (including fruit tea), hot chocolate, and coffee. On both our trips this year the soda card could be brought by only one person in the room - I think it was about 65 dollars for the week each.

 

I don't think you will be walking around everywhere in your bikini and the med is a big place where different climates exist within a few hours. Check the historical weather data, but prepare for showers. In my experience it is mid to low teens and pleasant but not hot - although there can be nice warm spells.

 

Have fun!

[crystalspin]

Hi Michelle!

 

Find your role call and join:

http://cruisecritic.com/rollcalls?cruise_line_id=24&ship_id=438

 

Be sure to go to the "official" meet-and-greet where many of the ship's officers will attend. Sometimes not always a special tour (such as THE BRIDGE) is offered to those that attend! Of course I also recommend going to the casual meet and mingle (ours was at Sailaway on the top-most deck, not reserved for our group, so we wore mardigras beads to identify CC'ers) -- because then you will have faces to recognize through your trip which makes a big ship feel friendlier.

 

If you were on Carnival's Freedom of the Seas, the "level" of experience is supposed to be about the same (neither CCL nor NCL is the most luxe of lines, unless you are a top suite customer anyway) but specifics will be different -- Carnival has the rep of party ship, Norwegian as a more relaxed environment... but that will depend on timing and luck (the party part anyway).

 

Read about your ship here:

 

http://www.cruisecritic.com/reviews/review_test_b.cfm?utm_expid=68063032-28.L_5y9X6-R_WtE_N_8JYZEA.1&ShipID=438&utm_referrer=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cruisecritic.com%2Freviews%2F%3Fsrc%3Dnav

 

Find your stateroom (when it is assigned) HERE:

http://www.cruisecritic.com/norwegian-jade-deck-plans/dp/

 

You will be able to see reviews of particular cabins as well as others on the same deck and/or in the same category.

 

I have sailed on HAL (but not too recently and "only because it went where I wanted to go" -- I was not into cruising at the time, and not on CC) and a small river cruise line in Russia (which is not like main-stream ocean cruising at all). Went 14 days through the Panama Canal on the N.Star last month. What I enjoyed that could be attributed to being on NCL: (1) being able to afford a balcony room both for the light/view AND because the room was so large, (2) not having to bring dressy clothes nor (usually) change for dinner. Additionally, (3) the entertainment was better than I remember HAL's, although the food MIGHT have been a little less interesting. I found the MDR waiters snooty on HAL in ~2000 and ate only at the buffet in 2009 to Alaska for reason (2). I would have liked to try NCL's buffet more, but my DH was very concerned with not gaining weight on this cruise so I let him choose and we ate usually in one of the MDRs, occasionally at the 24/7 eatery (called the Blue Lagoon on both Jade and Star).

 

I'm still writing my review, and there are a lot of aspects of the Star or Norwegian that I don't have an opinion about because we had bar-setup in room and "cocooned" more than a little. The room was more like a Super8 than a Hilton, but I've stayed in both on shore and do not consider myself above the former!

 

crystalspin

Prior Cruises

1995 Marco Polo, Cape Town to Buenos Aires

2000? Statendam, Ensenada to Hawaii and back

June 2009 Statendam, Vancouver to Seward, Alaska

June 2011 MS Russ, St.Peterburg to Moscow

Sept/Oct 2012 MS Russ, Astrakhan to Moscow

Dec 2013 Norwegian Star, Panama Canal & Mexican Riviera

Edited January 2, 2014 by crystalspin

[em-sk]

As others have stated soft-drinks are not included. There is flavored water (think of crystal light kind of drinks) and coffee, tea and ice tea included. They also include fruit juice in the morning.

 

It is a nice ship. Not certain which ports you are on, however parts of the med can become quite hot in the summer that is a good time to go. It is warm but not hot.

[SeaShark]

I won't re-answer questions that have already been answered. I do, however, think that there is something that you should be aware of:

 

 

 

This picture is from the Norwegian Jewel, which is a sister to the Jade. The photo shows two types of balcony cabins: the regular balcony, and the in hull balcony. The latter are normally found on the most forward parts of the ship.

 

With a balcony guarantee, you may end up in one of these cabins. They are no different than the other balcony cabins except they are less "open" to the outside. I only mention this because some people are not aware of these cabins, they get one, and then they are here after their cruise all upset about it.

 

If you don't want one of these cabins, you should work with your booking agent to ensure that your guarantee is above this specific category.

[bluesea777]

We'd rather be cruising the Med to visit and tour the ports of call in March than in the height of hot summer months with heavy crowds!

 

You'll beat the crowds and be able to see all, if not most, in one day.

 

We did Med in Dec/Jan and Oct and loved them.

 

ENJOY!!!

[paiagirl]

Hi everyone

We are after some information please! My husband has booked me a cruise with the Jade on the Med in march this year, excited is an understatement!! We have cruised once before with freedom an I'm not sure if they are similar!

Is soft drinks included or is it a separate package if so what types of packages! What's the weather like in March! We are guaranteed a balcony room but have been advised if the ship isn't full that we may get an upgrade , has anyone experienced an upgrade? Any other information would be greatly appreciated!

Kind regards

Michelle:-)

 

 

Michelle :-)

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

About weather.

 

We were on the JADE last month and a cruiser on our roll call posted this

site:http://cruiseoutlook.com/reports/all

 

30 days before your cruise, go to this site and click on Norwegian and the name of the ship and date of cruising. Here you will find the temperature for all the ports you'll be visiting. Or you can go before that and see what the

weather is like for the other dates.

 

Have a wonderful cruise.

[coka]

Hi Michelle! You have a lot of great answers here. If you purchase the soda package, keep in mind it only includes fountain soda and not soda in the cans. The free flavored juice in the buffet are flavors like strawberry-kiwi, mango, and something else similar like that.

 

Have a great time on the Jade!

 

coka