MITSUGIRLY'S birthday cruise on the JADE review/pictorial

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

The Aloha Bar in the atrium. There was absolutely no covering up that this use to be a Hawaii ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Tradwinds Shopping

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Guest Services:

 

 

 

 

 

Shore Excursions

 

 

 

 

[SuiteTraveler]

Oh wow! They changed all the chairs in the casino! They used to be yellow with a Chinese motif on the back.

 

It's weird that people would be touching the dishes and flatware under the table cloths in the Grand Pacific. Why would someone do that? Makes no sense.

[mitsugirly]

The Art Gallery and Internet Cafe were together and on opposite sides.

 

 

 

There were plenty of computers, but I did see this place really busy a few times. They do have a representative working there to help you out when needed. He was there from 9am-11pm daily.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Jasmine Garden (Asian food which is now free on the ships) & Sake Sushi Bar:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Teppanyaki (pay)

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Medusa Lounge & Night Club.

 

This was an interesting place. Obviously Sakari loved it since it had an ocean/underwater theme to it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Photo Gallery:

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Deck 8

 

Blue Lagoon (24 hour free food). This is located on the 8th floor right above and surrounding the atrium.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

On the opposite side of the Blue Lagoon is Moderno Churrascaria (which is a pay restaurant).

 

I can tell you that Moderno would have finger foods and fruits put out during the day that were free of charge and I would also see people in there enjoying coffee at times.

 

THEN...certain times, they seemed to use this area (instead of the Blue Lagoon area) to serve the Blue Lagoon 24/7 food. I'm not sure why and had never had this happen before.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SuiteTraveler]

This is from a press release on the NCL Gem:

https://www.ncl.com/csimages/903/994/1156964791999,20.txt

 

"The centerpiece of the Crystal Atrium is an original Dale Chihuly glass chandelier, mounted on the wall above the staircase landing. In addition, the staircase is flanked by four Emilio Robba floral sculptures that complement the Chihuly chandelier."

 

Also there is definitely a Chihuly on Pearl also:

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/18999629650565719/

[Starflyr3]

Thanks for joining me. I swear when I'm done with schooling this time, I'm going to take some Spanish classes. I really think I need to learn it, not only when I'm in Texas, but in general. I have a Spanish patient/family and she helps me with some of it when needed. I will start out speaking some Spanish to her and then she rolls with it and I have to stop her and say Yo hablo espanol un poquito...which is probably totally jacked up but I manage to give her the "small" fingers with it and I think she understands. She's 96 years old and I love her to death! Then of course all these visits to Mexico and the Caribbean. I WILL learn it again. :D.

 

The best thing to do, honestly, if you are a nurse, would be to take a medical Spanish course. Learning verb conjugation and grammar is all very good, but if you are trying to talk about tonsils or the liver or the bladder, you'd best know that they're "las amigdalas" or "el higado" or "la vesicula". Or that tosferina is pertussis, kwim? (I went to meet school/residency at UTMB- Galveston) Medical Spanish was probably the singular most helpful class I took that wasn't directly related to patient care. I can't conjugate verbs to the past imperfect subjunctive (I don't even know what that is in English!), but my patients parents don't care, because they can understand me. I have Spanish speaking MAs, but they don't know the medical terms, generally.

 

Oh, and yes, it's the cruise terminal in Galveston that is the cluster*!#%. Unless you know the island, it is HORRIBLY set up.

[SuiteTraveler]

The yellow chairs in Teppanyaki used to be in Cagney's on the Jade. Teppanyaki used to have red chairs like the ones in Jasmine Garden. I imagine those got worn out since Teppanyaki has always been full every single night of both cruises I was on Jade.

[Cruise-mom]

Wow, you've got a lot done today! :)

 

Hi and thanks for being here with me. The Getaway is doing the Western Caribbean now? I didn't realize it changed. When we were on the Getaway it did the Eastern route that included St Thomas St Maarten and Nassau. :confused:

 

 

 

Thanks for joining me.

 

Starting mid-late April Getaway will be doing a western itinerary, ports are Roatan, Belize City (it was supposed to be Harvest Caye), Costa Maya & Cozumel.

[mitsugirly]

DECK 11

 

Observation Deck. If you don't know about this (because it's not something you "just happen to run in to" and enjoy reading about the history of the ship and seeing their plaques, this is the place for you.

 

It's located on Deck 11 all the way to the front of the ship. There's nothing but rooms on this floor, other than the observation deck.

 

As I've said before, this ship was built as a Hawaii ship and was called the Pride of Hawaii.

 

Here is some background information on the Jade. (I'm not responsible for the authenticy of this information, just what I have gathered online).

 

Norwegian Jade was originally built as the Pride of Hawaii for their NCL America division. She was christened in a ceremony at the San Pedro Pier in Los Angeles, California[/url] on May 22, 2006.

 

When built, the ship comprised the third in a series of U.S. flagged ships operated by NCL America for the Hawaii market. At a cost of over half a billion U.S. dollars, the Pride of Hawaii was the largest and most expensive U.S. flagged passenger ship ever built. Her design was originally planned to be a sister ship to the Pride of America. After delivery to NCL, she joined the Pride of America and Pride of Aloha (which is now the Sky) as the final ship in the NCL America fleet. Later NCL America decided that it would be better to enlarge the Pride of Hawaii and make her a sister ship to the Norwegian Jewel.

 

On April 11, 2007 NCL announced that Pride of Hawaii would be withdrawn from the Hawaiian market in February, 2008. In a press release, NCL's CEO, cited substantial 2006 losses that had been caused by downward pricing pressure in the Hawaii market following the addition of Pride of Hawaii to the fleet, as well as an increase in the amount of foreign flagged competition entering the Hawaii market from the west coast as the reason for the vessels redeployment. NCL did not commit to sending Pride of Hawaii back to Hawaii until the other NCL America vessels reach an acceptable level of profitability. On February 4, 2008, "Pride of Hawaii" departed from Pier 2 in Honolulu for the last time. After several respositioning cruises, a name change, new livery, and an added onboard casino, she made her debut in Europe.

 

Despite the changes, "Norwegian Jade" maintains much of her original Hawaiian themed decor. Tropical flowers, Hawaiian landscapes, and Hawaiian names are throughout the ship's public spaces. Additionally, Matson menu inspired artwork and a large statue of King Kamehameha grace the main dining room.

 

"Norwegian Jade" is currently based in the Caribbean. There is little chance that she will ever return to Hawaii, as it would be difficult to regain her former US registration. November 2011: The ship underwent a dry dock in Marseille in France for two weeks. The ship received new carpets and tiling throughout and the hull was repainted plus the usual annual maintenance took place. The Norwegian Jade was used as a floating hotel during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

 

So there you have it. The history of what is now the Jade. I hope when ever they take her back to dry dock the next time, they always leave her Hawaiian heritage on the ship the way it is. We have been on the Sky and you could see some of the Hawaiian decor on it, but it is much more evident on the Jade. We loved it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Encased is the original flag flown aboard the Jade between April 12, 2006 and February 10, 2008, during which time the ship was registered in the United States and named the M.S. Pride of Hawaii.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

DECK 12

 

Fitness Center

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2016 by mitsugirly

[mitsugirly]

Garden Cafe (free buffet)

 

 

 

It was a very colorful area

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[mitsugirly]

La Cucina. This is a pay restaurant, but during the day, you can take your meal from the buffet over here to eat if you are unable to find a seat in the dining area, which makes for a nice quiet atmosphere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[SuiteTraveler]

To me, the one area of the Jade I disliked was the appearance of the Garden Cafe. I thought the floor looked really dated and I was not a fan of the blue ceiling which made the ceiling feel even lower. I'm surprised that when the ship went through dry dock they didn't do something to update this area. Just putting down a more neutral floor like what is on the Epic, Getaway and Breakaway would really make it look much more modern and fresh.

Edited March 6, 2016 by SuiteTraveler