Live (almost) review: Jade 3/12-3/19; in the Haven!

[Starflyr3]

After the granite, we moved on to sea bass. During the description of preparation, he mentioned that he let it finish cooking in an oven at 150 for 5 minutes. ALL of us were confused, and wondering if it was actually cooked. Then we realized he meant Centigrade and not Farenheight!

 

 

After this came the veal. Now, I have never eaten veal, on principle, due to the way it is made. It took DH a LOT of convincing to make me have 1 bite, and I still feel guilty about it. It was good, though. But not good enough for me to EVER eat it again:

 

 

By this time, we were all bursting. So, of course, they bring out a cheese plate:

 

 

The watermelon was infused with cinnamon and rum and was AMAZING. The white cheese was very good but I dont like blue cheeses, so the stilton was not my taste. The honeycomb was good, and the port wine infused fig.

 

Finally, dessert. Ladies got a rum infused banana mousse cake thing (I think I got drunk from just a bite or 2:

 

 

Men got a yogurt mousse dome with lychee rasberry creme, and some fancy spun sugar:

 

 

We each got a special folder with photos and the menu (which is slightly different from the official fleet menu, but not by much):

 

 

One very interesting thing came out of this. The family that was there, well, the Mom is a chef, and she does personal chef services in our area. I had purchased her services after my ACL replacement in December, and this was the LAST place I had ever expected her to be. It was pretty funny, actually.

 

All of this took until 10 pm. My mom had the kids in our room, in their beds asleep, and stayed up waiting for us, but she was pretty tired (I dont blame her!).

 

We had a 3rd time change notice this time - forward an hour again!

[Starflyr3]

Sea day:

 

The kids got up around 7:30, and I took them to the buffet around 8:30, then dropped them at Splash Academy and went to Cagneys. JanR and his wife were there also, and we chatted over breakfast.

 

Around 9:45, I headed to the casino to meet everyone for the slot pull. We had 7 people participate (would have been more except for the time change and the time/date change of the slot pull itself), and we lost everything to the Wheel of Fortune machine. It was fun, though.

 

My parents found me there as they walked through on the way to a towel folding demonstration in the atrium. I walked with them for a bit, then went to Tradewinds to get nail clippers, as Cassandra was clawing us and apparantly I forgot ours at home. I went back to the cabin around 10:45 and DH was STILL asleep, so I went and sat in the Haven.

 

I woke him up to go get the kids and we went to Cagneys for lunch, then lounged on the balcony. I went to my last training session around 1:45 (it was from 2-3) and he took the kids back to SA (it was circus day).

 

Brayden did devil sticks, Cassandra was a tiger (again) and both of them were super awesome. I dont want to post pics of notmykids, though, so sorry :(

 

We did meet Charlie Chaplin on the way to the circus, though:

 

 

Dinner was at Cagneys, and was good. Brayden had grown up food instead of the kids menu, and he liked it. All of us went to Elements, and it was amazing. The kids went to SA after that and DH and I took care of some housekeeping chores (like vacation hero cards and adding tips via guest services).

[Starflyr3]

The last day was my birthday, and I wanted to sleep in (for ONCE on the cruise!), so DH got up with the kids. It was lucky I said something, because Cassandra got up at 5:20 am! He took them to breakfast and SA, and I didnt get up until 10:30, then I went and read in the Haven. It was a dreary, drippy, foggy day, so I was really thankful for the Haven.

 

Bencar showed up about when I got up with a birthday cake, 6 sodas, and a bottle of french champagne for my birthday. JanR and his wife were in the Haven hanging around too, and I had an inspired idea. We still had our sparkling wine from being in a suite, and the Haven has OJ. I asked them to do us the HUGE favor of helping us drink it.

 

So, we drank mimosas all day, pretty much. When our wine ran out, they got theirs. The kids came back from SA and we had lunch in the Haven and they swam all afternoon (while we talked and mimosa'd).

 

Fished the kids out of the pool around 4 and got everyone cleaned up. We went to my parents cabin (they had a present for me - a lovely dress for cruising with matching fancy hair ornament and shoes), and amazingly, they wanted us to share THEIR bottle of sparkling wine with them also! (that's 3 bottles so far).

 

Around 3, the captain announced that we would dock in Houston around midnight due to fog. This made people unhappy, as they casino had to close at 8, the minibars had to be locked by 8:30, and the liquor served after 8:30 had to be purchased in Tx and was subject to state tax. On the bright side, I got a cell tower signal round about 9, which was great. (I had 95+ emails...)

 

We had dinner reservations at Moderno, and we decided to have the fancy french champagne with dinner (yes, that's 4 bottles). I also had one of the brazillian specialty drinks - UCK. It tasted like bitter oranges.

 

Cassandra fell asleep after eating a hot dog (no bun) and drinking some chocolate milk. I just happened to look at her, and noticed her eyes were shut and her head was starting to tilt. Yup. She repeated her performance from last year, when she fell asleep at dinner on the last night of the cruise. Didnt get a picture this year, but i did get one last year:

 

 

This year, she just slept on DH, and then when my Mom finished her food, she slept on my Mom for a bit.

 

Moderno was.... not good. Im not sure what was wrong, but the meats were just... wierd. It's the first time i've left a restaurant still hungry on a ship. Moderno on Jewel last year was one of our favorites. The meat was tough and stringy, with lots of gristle, even on my medium rare cuts (even on the filet and the picanha)

 

Tenors of Rock was the last show of the cruise (the farewell show was after Elements), and I wanted to go. Brayden wanted to go to Splash Academy and Cassandra was still passed out, so I took Brayden and DH headed to our room. I had just finished checking Brayden in when DH shows up now with awake Cassandra. I guess she woke up as soon as they got into the room, and wanted to come back down and play. Well, OK then. So we ended up dropping her off too.

 

Tenors of Rock was really good. The only thing I didnt like was the number of slow songs that they did. Maybe it makes me old, but they went through songs that are important in the "history" of rock and roll, and I knew ALL of them from when I was a kid. Am I really that old? I had my last rebellious fish at that show. :(

 

After the show, DH and I went to go pack. DH called Bencar to find out if room service breakfast was a possibility, and it was. We got it done pretty fast and re-tagged our luggage and put it out in the hall. Then we got the kids, gave the kids staff their tip and turned in for the night.

 

OH! Also, our steward (Jitiani?) had left me a cupcake and a happy birthday note on the bed. That was so sweet of her. We left her the remainder of the cash as her extra tip.

 

ON Saturday morning, we got up about 6:30 and breakfast showed up at 6:45. We rousted out the kids, ate, then rechecked everything to make sure we werent leaving anything behind and left the stateroom in decent shape, and headed to Jasmine Garden to wait. Walk off got to go first, but once that was done, we were in the first group for priority disembarkation. The nice thing about this was that all the non priority walk off people had gotten off but still had to wait in the terminal in line to even try to claim bags. Right after we got ours, they were give the go ahead signal and it was almost a stampede! We were through customs by about 8:45, and called the Best Western for the shuttle. It was REALLY windy and a bit chilly. Once the shuttle came, we got in, then got our car, shoved the luggage in the back and headed (uneventfully) for home.

 

All in all a great cruise!

[Starflyr3]

Ok so to sum up:

 

The Haven:

 

Worth EVERY. SINGLE. PENNY. It was amazing. No grumpy adults or rowdy rude kids, Oliver (courtyard valet) bent over backwards to make it amazing. Just having a sanctuary of quiet from the spring break crowd below was fantastic. I really shouldnt have bought a spa pass. I did, because last year, same cruise, on the Jewel, I NEEDED a spa pass.

 

2 bedroom family suite:

 

Again, head and shoulders above the MA we were in last year. People actually got SLEEP! Omar (concierge), Bencar (butler) and our cabin steward were all incredibly friendly and helpful.

 

The ports:

 

Meh. It's cozumel, belize and roatan. Roatan was cool, the other places... well, we've done that. This was mostly for the boat/experience. Regardless, we have booked the Dawn next year (and JanR and family will be next door!), and will repeat it again. To get a different itinerary, we would have to fly to florida, cali or NY, and Im not up for that at this point. I want to keep off the megaships until my kids are a smidge older.

 

For Cozumel, Melia was nice, but Im not sure I'd do it again. Maybe Playa Mia next year or Mr Sanchos.

 

Belize: I want to go cave tubing, but that was not an option this year. Im hoping to NOT have any more major orthopedic surgeries between now and next march!

 

Roatan: LFK was awfully crowded, and Im not sure the VIP package is worth what you pay for it, especially with the lack of sufficient staff to deal with the crowds. Everyone was amazingly nice, but... If it werent spring break, I'd go back. but as it is, I'd probably opt for Maya Key or similar instead.

 

The kids club:

 

I like the Kings program SO much better than the Nick program. Even Brayden had fun once he got there (last year, not so much). The counselors were awesome.

 

Food:

 

Honestly, i think overall, the MDRs did a better job with food than the specialties, at least for dinner. I dont understand that, but there you have it. For the Sky and the Gem, we will not be purchasing a specialty dining package. We have it for the Dawn, but oh well.

 

gym/spa:

 

Were good. I dont blame Carole for the massage pain, I really think that was a my issues problem and not her. Richard was an amazing trainer. And my nail polish is still on a week later (this NEVER happens)

 

Shows:

 

Cripton was kinda cheesy, but I think if I'd been on the main floor in the center, it would have been better than being in the VIP seating.

 

Elements was amazing.

 

Tenors of Rock was amazing also. Would go again.

 

Now if only NCL would stay in Houston...

 

Any questions?

[scanditaly]

What a nice read! and photos too!

 

what was the cost of the chef's table, and was the man in the photo with the ribbon on his neck the chef?

 

What was your take on the temperature of the pool water?

 

So glad you had a nice time with your family. Your children will be hooked for life on cruising.

 

Scanditaly

[mickeyplanner08]

Thanks for the great review! While we're not lucky enough to be in the Haven, we are looking forward to our first cruise on the Jade next week. It has been awesome to see all the reviews.

[Starflyr3]

What a nice read! and photos too!

 

what was the cost of the chef's table, and was the man in the photo with the ribbon on his neck the chef?

 

What was your take on the temperature of the pool water?

 

So glad you had a nice time with your family. Your children will be hooked for life on cruising.

 

Scanditaly

 

Thanks!

 

Yes, that was the chef (Rodney? I'm terrible with names)

 

The pool water - I don't know about the main pools, we didn't use them, but they seemed popular. Last year, they were pretty cold, but last winter was colder in Tx also. The Haven pool was refreshingly cool but comfortable.

 

As for the kids - that's the plan!

[Linda the Book Lover]

I am sorry to be at the end of your review. I really enjoyed reading your review and the pictures.

[Starflyr3]

I am sorry to be at the end of your review. I really enjoyed reading your review and the pictures.

 

Thanks! Have fun on your cruise!