Royal Cruisers First Time on NCL Jade

[Iluvcruising2]

Hi everybody,

 

After sailing mostly with Royal and once on Celebrity Silhouette, we will be sailing for the first time on Norwegian Cruise Line.

 

The sailing is 3 Dec, out of Rome, on the Norwegian Jade. We are in a 2 bedroom family suite. There are 6 of us, 4 adults and 2 kids.

 

Very excited. New to this cruise line and almost all the ports are new to us too.

 

Wonder if any seasoned NCL cruisers have any tips for us newbies.

 

Cheers.

[SteveH2508]

A recent thread with some useful stuff on it.

 

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2122419

[jkgourmet]

We did the Jade for 21 day b2b in January 2014. In 25+ years, We have sailed on 16+ cruises including RCCL, HAL, Princess, Carnival, NCL, MSC, and Celebrity. We are low maintenance passengers, always booking an inside guarantee (but sometimes getting a free OV or balcony upgrade for which we are grateful).

 

Our demographic is different than yours - we are currently 58 and 71, no children. Up front disclosure: we would not sail on RCCL or Carnival again unless there was a reasonable expectation that the number of children would be minimal. Our experience with those two lines is that they are geared toward younger people and families, which is great for them. But not so great for us

 

We booked this cruise last minute for the sensational price and great itinerary. We went into it with VERY low expectations based on one prior cruise with NCL (which was pretty damn awful). Frankly, if the price and itinerary hadn't been so incredible, we would not have done NCL again. But, we are open minded and retired, so off we went.

 

We were very surprised by certain things. The entertainment in the showroom and lounges was excellent! Best we've seen at sea (with the exception of the MSC Divina). The service in bars and restaurants was usually quite good, but lacking in our two different cabins for the b2b. We left no additional tip for either room steward, which is unusual for us. We enjoyed freestyle - dining whenever we wanted, having new and interesting table mates each evening, and the casual dress policy (though some took that casual dress to an extreme. We could have done without baseball caps and cutoffs in the MDR at dinner.)

 

Disclosure: we are foodie oriented and husband was a butcher a thousand years ago. Cagney's (the only speciality we went to) was so good, we went twice! The food at the buffet and MDR was just what we expected - occasionally lousy, usually adequate. The ethnic (mostly Indian) offerings at the buffet were usually quite good. The lamb shank offered in the MDR was the ONLY item we ordered that we would call very good. But, considering the low price we paid, we felt we 'got what we paid for' and happily enjoyed some truly remarkable lunches in restaurants while in port. The alcoholic drinks were fairly priced and the wine package an excellent bargain

 

Our inside cabins were both very small, with a great bathroom. The Jade is a nice ship, but weird in that the Hawaiian theme from its prior life remains. It lacks any covered or inside pool area, which we feel is a big disadvantage for a winter Med sailing.

 

Lots of international passengers, which we enjoyed. Well attended trivia games and karaoke. The disco's were busy late into the night. Officers very communicative and interactive with passengers, including the captain, which was a very nice.

 

So, for us, we WOULD DEFINITELY do NCL again, but only for a cheap price and a port intensive itinerary so we can get some better meals.

[Clay Clayton]

I can't compare Norwegian to Royal as I haven't sailed RC. But, I do want to suggest that you need to mentally prepare yourself to be a bit cramped.

 

The two bedroom suites have unequal facilities. The master bed and bath are incredible, the smaller bedroom is REALLY small for adults IMHO. The second bath is the standard Jade bath, do totally acceptable other than a real let down compared to the one in the master. The living room is a fine size when the sofa bed is bring used as a sofa. The dining table is a four top and a smallish one as I recall. I also find the balcony a little small for four so I wouldnt plan on spending a lot of time on it as a group.

 

Norwegian's suite benefits are great, be sure to enjoy breakfasts and lunches in cagney's.

 

A PP mentioned not indoor pool. If you're suite is in the Haven, then you will have an indoor pool, but since you didn't mentio Haven, I suspect the PP's advice I something to take to heart.

 

Have a great cruise!

[Iluvcruising2]

Thanks for all the tips.

 

We are not in haven.

 

Yes, we are prepared that the living space might be a bit cramped for the six of us, but we are fine with that.

 

We got a very good price for this cruise, so we are going in with tempered expectations.

 

We will probably try most of the speciality dining!

[bonniboo1]

You will have a great time! The ports are great. I have sailed NCL twice in Europe and loved it. The entertainment was great. I am a chef but pretty low m maintenance. The main diningroom food and the food in the other venues are fine. On. my 4 Ncl cruises I have done the Specialities maybe 9 times - very good. On my last Ncl cruise my friend and I stayed in a forward Penthouse Suite. The benefits are great. We even got to use their Dvds. I bet that the kids will love the butler and the snacks that they provide. I loved the concierge benefits. After our Meet and Greet I arranged a cabin crawl and we saw a 2 bedroom suite. ..wow!

 

We enjoyed the suite life so much that we re booked the same trip.

I have been on the other cruise lines and enjcoyed them however I keep on going back to Ncl. The crew always makes me feel so at home.

Just enjoy every moment.

Edited November 17, 2014 by bonniboo1

[Cruiserbarbie]

We just got off the Jade on Wed after 19 days. We did the Adriatic so only Naples and Rome apply.

 

Naples was easy. Ship docked right in front of Castel Nuovo. Need to buy bus tics at newspaper stands before boarding the bus/tram and one is almost right across from the port exit. Tram goes to train station.

 

Rome's port if Civitavecchia and no where near Rome. At Civitavecchia train station, buy an 80cent bus ticket. Bus will be right outside the station to the right and you will need a ticket. This city bus will take you to the port gate. At the port gate the Jade will have complimentary shuttle bus to take you to the ship. Where the Jade docks at the port you are not allowed to walk. We were at Civitavecchia last year on a smaller ship and docked at a different location, so this docking location is specific to the Jade or ships of her size.

 

Show were great, library is well stocked, breakfast and lunch room is plentiful at La Cucina with nice long tables for your group, Deck 11 has view of the bridge, go to Officers Talk as the info from the Capt, chief engineer and hotel director is very interesting.

 

Used fodors.com for avg weather info and it was spot on. Nov 1 reduced smoking to very few areas and not in room or balcony and really enjoyed the food.

 

Enjoy!

[Iluvcruising2]

Very excited.

 

We sailed from Rome last year on the Celebrity Silhouette, on the sailing just before the ship made her way back to the Caribbean. My blog post has many pictures.

http://guitar123foodandtravel.blogspot.sg/p/celebrity-silhouette-med-and-adriatic.html

 

This time round, we are sailing again from Rome, but all the ports are different with the exception of Naples.

 

Olympia, Athens, Ephesus, Istanbul.

 

It will be a very new experience of us as we have never cruise with this cruise line before.

 

I plan to do a similar cruise critic review, blog posts and make videos. Watch out for it!

Edited November 18, 2014 by Iluvcruising2