Jade Thanksgiving Week review - what a grand trip!

[abbyar]

Now that we are home & settled I can write a proper review.

 

We sailed the Jade November 20 in a 2 bedroom suite, room 11018. Had such an amazing wonderful time, and my liver will take a while to recover from all the Mr Worldwides (new favorite drink!)

 

The kids had a blast. They loved Splash, especially Teddy who is moving to the Getaway. He was amazing and the process was much smoother with him than on the gem last year. They loved loved loved Harvest Caye. The ropes course and zip line were big hits and reasonable ($20 each). My oldest (15 yo) loved parasailing. My oldest 2 also enjoyed the scuba excursion in Honduras. I wasn't anticipating Honduras much, but it was extremely pretty.

 

Dh very much liked the shows, especially the new Elements. It was refreshing.

 

Dinners were 2 at Le Bistro, 2 at Cagney's and 2 at Teopanyaki. All were great meals. Thanks for the tip from here to order the ice cream and chocolate fondue at Le Bistro. Omg amazing!

 

We had Thanskgiving dinner delivered to our suite from Pedro. Pedro was quiet but had a nice flair when he set up our in suite meals. Cyrus our Steward kept up after all 4 kids which is pretty amazing, considering I can barely do that at home.

 

My spa pass was well used - I napped in lounge chairs and sweat in the sauna and eve tried the Japanese dip pool (just once was enough!)

 

Only small drawbacks - embarkation. We arrived early (just before 11am) and walked straight up to the concierge check in. This worked great for us, but at one point there was an hour long wait outside to get through security 😶 Thankfully that was not us. We did have an issue with getting pictures assigned to the right key cards, which was a little difficult on ship as no one we encountered had ever needed to fix it again. After a visit to guest services and requesting help from the Concierge Omar it was nicely fixed.

 

There were new staff on ship, so some small hiccups. My only real bummer was the suite Reception was in the Star Bar instead of the Haven (due to weather). But it was very nicely handled and such a nice reception.

 

Yes the Jade is older, but in beautiful shape. No worn carpet or anything of the sort. The only thing I really noticed were electronics - DVD players in suite instead of on demand like the Gem. I'm assuming this wil be upgraded with the dry dock this spring.

 

 

In short we had an amazing week. Feel free to ask me any questions in this thread. Oh, we had a great cruise critic meet and greet with the requisite coffee and sweets. The staff was very kind and introduced themselves and answered questions. I met some lovely people.

[Bademgozum]

Sounds great, can you tell me about the spa, I want to get the unlimited. Was it like the Gem. I've been on that ship. Thank you.

 

 

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[easyboy]

Glad you enjoyed your cruise. Thanks for the review.

[Blondie008]

Great review - have to second those thoughts that the Jade, despite her age, is wearing really well huh? We went with low expectations and were very pleasantly surprised.

We dined every night either in the specialty restaurants (14 nights on board) - Cagneys was our favourite I think - or we used the free Asian, Jasmines - loved the corn soup at Jasmines and the staff there were so lovely.

The Spa - it isn't the best - but like you, our spa passes were well used. Oh you bravado - the plunge pool :eek: You are so brave!!!

Perhaps in the refurb they will make the spa facilities more unisex friendly - that was the only fault we had with it - we like to steam/sauna etc together - and the single sex facilities were fabulous - tiny negative though - and have to tell you having cruised Celebrity's two Solstice class ships this year, their spa is not even as good as the small Jade's... all their spa has is one very "cold" room with 8 tiled loungers, no relaxation chairs, one small shared sauna and steam room - no Jacuzzis and no thallasotherapy pool... it was a mega downer after us having experienced Epic's awesome spa. So Jade, as small as her Spa was - was still wonderful!

Fantastic entertainment - was Carlos still on board for your cruise? Piano at the Shakers Martini Bar? He was fantastic!!! SO much fun we had at that bar!

I hope to return to Jade some day following the re fit - she's gonna be a beaut for sure!

Edited December 2, 2016 by Blondie008

[Blondie008]

Sounds great, can you tell me about the spa, I want to get the unlimited. Was it like the Gem. I've been on that ship. Thank you.

 

 

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Jade's Spa has separate faciltiies. So each male/female side has a sauna, steamroom, Jacuzzi, plunge pool, showers, water station and relaxation chairs.

In the unisex area is a small square thallosotherapy pool - its not huge but it was never busy and we were a full ship - and tiled heated loungers.

I think from previous research if I remember rightly Gem has a bigger unisex pool.

 

Beautiful view from the very front of course with floor to ceiling windows

Lovely :)

Aaaaaaaah wish I was there right now......

[Clarea]

Enjoyed the report, thanks!

[abbyar]

Jade's Spa has separate faciltiies. So each male/female side has a sauna, steamroom, Jacuzzi, plunge pool, showers, water station and relaxation chairs.

In the unisex area is a small square thallosotherapy pool - its not huge but it was never busy and we were a full ship - and tiled heated loungers.

I think from previous research if I remember rightly Gem has a bigger unisex pool.

 

Beautiful view from the very front of course with floor to ceiling windows

Lovely :)

Aaaaaaaah wish I was there right now......

 

Thanks for adding - I did not get a spa pass the week we were on the Gem. It was nicely spaced, and I boguht my spa pass the first day on board. I think there were a lot of last minute bookings bc they were still advertising soa passes on the 2nd day! Perhaps it's bc of th very few sea days (just 2) on this itinerary.

I agree the unisex area has few amenities than the single gender rooms, but the view is beautiful. This wasn't an issue for me as Dh is not a spa type guy, so it was my quiet time while he went to play basketball with the kids.

[dexddd]

Why couldn't they hold the party in the Haven due to weather? It has a roof that closes.

[abbyar]

Why couldn't they hold the party in the Haven due to weather? It has a roof that closes.

 

It was cold!!

[MNcruisingcouple]

We are on the 12 day sailing January 24 and I'm wondering about the entertainment. What types of musicians were playing at the different lounges?

Thanks for your help and your great review.

 

 

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