A "Quickie" on the Jade

[Oakman58]

Day 2 Sea Day continued

 

We met the other two couples in Tankards Beer and Whiskey Bar at 5 PM for pre-dinner drinks. Weeks before our cruise my wife Joyce had made reservations for the six of us at the Moderno restaurant for 6 PM.

 

We arrived at the restaurant a little early but we were seated immediately. The meats we were served during dinner were good but not great. For me, the offerings on the small salad bar are the best part of the Moderno restaurant. Here are a few pictures of the salad bar.

 

 

 

After dinner we hustled ourselves down to the Stardust Theater for the 7:30 show. The entertainment in the theater tonight was the comedian Rod Long. He has a great comedy routine. A heads up for everyone, if you arrive to his show late, sit way in the back of the theater. If you dare to walk down where he can see you come in late you will become part of his act.

 

After the show we headed up to the Spinnaker Lounge to watch the Newlywed not so Newlywed Game but when we arrived there wasn’t a seat to be had. Instead we went to the bar and ordered a couple of drinks to take back to our cabin.

 

Here’s a picture of the towel animal that awaited our arrival.

 

Next up will be Day 3 Cozumel in my next post.

[Oakman58]

Thank you everyone for the kind words about my report. I appreciate it.

[fabnfortysomething]

like your flu shot idea-but I don't like whisky!

 

will have to do extensive research on whether wine will work aswell

[rjm11]

was Rod Long family friendly? Just typing that sentence seems inappropriate!!

[Oakman58]

was Rod Long family friendly? Just typing that sentence seems inappropriate!!

 

LOL, yes his show was family friendly but I would have to classify some of his routine "generational." When he would tell a joke geared toward the older crowd he would tell the young people in the audience to "google it" so they would understand the joke.

 

On Thursday night he did an adult show at 10:30 PM in the Spinnaker Lounge that he said would be closer to PG-13. Unfortunately we didn't make it to that show.

[Oakman58]

24 Jan 2018 Day3 Cozumel, Mexico

 

I was awake well before sunrise again. The Jade had arrived in Cozumel early and was tied to the pier long before the 8 AM scheduled arrival. I believe the port we were at was Punta Langosta. I always hope our balcony is facing the pier when we are in port because I like to watch for pier runners before departure. In Cozumel this morning our balcony was on the opposite side of the pier so there would be no watching for runners today. I was a little disappointed until the sun began to rise and I was treated to a truly spectacular sunrise.

 

The breakfast buffet was already a madhouse of people at 7:30. In hindsight we should have gone to the Grand Pacific for breakfast. Our shore excursion today was the Reef Explorer Semi-Sub and with a meeting time on the pier of 9:45 so we had plenty of time for a leisurely breakfast.

 

The promotion package all of us received when we booked our cabins included a $50 shore excursion credit. The Semi-sub excursion price was $69 per person but with the credit it only cost a total of $88 for the two of us.

 

Before leaving the ship for our excursion we stopped by the cabin of the couple who have never cruised so we could lead them off the ship to the excursion meeting place. On the pier the port authority had a couple of agents with dogs sniffing for food. I was amazed at the amount of food that had already been confiscated. Bringing food onshore is a no-no.

 

While waiting for all the passengers for our excursion to arrive I took the opportunity to take a selfie of me and my wife with the Jade in the background.

 

Our guide divided us into three groups and put us in vans for the 10 minute ride to Puerta Maya where we would board our excursion boat, the Coral See. A cute play on words.

 

After boarding the excursion boat we walked down below deck where there was a long bench seat and plenty of viewing windows. Above each window there was a movable air vent blowing cool air. A word to the wise, if you’re prone to seasickness take something to combat it if you go on this excursion.

 

Once in our seats the tour guide gave us a safety briefing and then during the cruise pointed out sea life that we might have missed otherwise. Had he not pointed out the moray eel I know I would have missed that one. At one point we even came across a diver enjoying the reef. The water clarity in Cozumel is amazing. Joyce and I really enjoyed this excursion and I think the others did too. Most of my pictures didn’t turn out very good but here some of the ones that did.

 

 

Continued in my next post.

[Clarea]

Enjoying the review and great photos!

[Clarea]

Also love your flu shots!:D

[Oakman58]

Continuation ofDay 3 Cozumel

 

Here are a few more pictures from our Semi-sub excursion.

 

 

 

The tour was only one and a half hours long which seemed to pass in a flash. We were off the boat and back on the dock at 11:30. Our tour guide gave us a bathroom break before loading us back into the vans for the trip back to our port.

 

Back at the port we did a little shopping and bought a little Mexican dress for our 2 year old granddaughter. We also bought some cooking Vanilla for the baking my wife likes to do.

 

After doing the tourist thing in port we boarded the Jade and headed to O’Sheehan’s for lunch. While the buffet always seemed very crowded at lunch time, O’Sheehan’s never seemed crowded. I have to wonder if some passengers don’t even know it existed.

 

At 5 PM we gathered together for drinks before heading to dinner at the Teppanyaki Restaurant. We were seated in the restaurant at 6 PM sharp. On our previous cruise on the NCL Star our Teppanyaki experience was excellent, on the Jade it was just average. Our chef on the Jade wasn’t nearly as entertaining as the one we had on the Star but his cooking was every bit as good. Although it wasn’t listed on the menu, on both ships we were served edamame beans. I love those beans. They look like string beans but they aren’t eaten that way. Instead you squeeze/suck the beans out of the pod. Here’s a picture of the menu.

 

If you flip the menu over you will discover there are simple step by step directions for the novice to make an origami swan. My attempts to make this swan resulted in something akin to a paper airplane that couldn’t fly.

 

After dinner we went to the Stardust Theater for the show Blazing Boots put on by the ship’s production cast. We thought it was a great show and the cast was very talented and athletic. It’s definitely worth going to this show.

 

After the show we all went our separate ways. Joyce and I ordered a couple of large glasses of wine and we took them back to our cabin. Tonight was the White Hot Party but this old man just can’t do those late night parties anymore.

 

Back in our cabin there was a mouse hiding under my pillow.

 

Continued in my next post.

[Oakman58]

Also love your flu shots!:D

 

I'm glad you're enjoying my review. My computer has been acting strange all morning and if it wasn't so early in the day I think I'd take a couple of those flu shots.

[dltvermont]

Will be on the Jade in March! Your cabin is just a couple down the hall from ours so should be about the same. Looking forward to the rest of your review!

[janice2348]

We will be sailing Jade in March. Looking forward to the rest of your review.

[Oakman58]

25 Jan 2018 Day 4 Sea Day

 

I was up early again and it was obvious from the movement of the ship there were some good sized waves on the ocean this morning. When I stepped out on the balcony I also discovered there were strong winds this morning too. The Navigator’s Channel listed the winds as Fresh Gale (39 to 46 MPH.)

 

For breakfast today we went to the Grand Pacific dining room. I ordered my favorite eggs benedict and they were cooked perfectly.

 

Here’s a picture of the breakfast menu.

 

After breakfast we went up to the pool deck and drank a couple of mimosas. The pool deck was almost deserted because of the windy conditions. You can tell from the picture that even though we were protected by the windows the wind was still able to find us.

 

Our next stop was the Spinnaker Lounge for the 10:30 Captain and Senior Officer’s Q& A session. There were some good questions asked and it was very informative. If you’ve never attended one of these sessions you should. A fact I found interesting was that when all the engines are running at top speed the fuel is consumed at a rate of one gallon per second. The Jade also has a fuel capacity of 713,300 gallons.

 

When the session ended we went down to the bridge viewing room on deck 11. I guess most passengers don’t find this interesting since the room is almost always empty.

Also in the viewing room there are a number of nautical information screens that displayed a lot of very interesting and technical nautical stuff.

 

 

 

 

Continued in my next post.

[Oakman58]

Day 4 Sea Day continued.

 

At noon on the pool deck there was a beer fest scheduled so naturally we headed there forthwith. Along with the beer they also had a couple of tables set up with bread, pretzels, cheeses, and sausages. Yummy!

 

 

Yep, that turned out to be our lunch for today.

 

It wasn’t until we were stuffed to the gills with beer and pretzels that we noticed they were serving pork right from the pig at the buffet.

 

There were also some really good looking desserts available.

 

Somehow we found the other two couples and at 1:30 PM we played a few rounds of UNO in the Spinnaker Lounge. We played the card game until 3 PM and then we headed back to our cabin to pack our suitcases for our departure tomorrow.

 

Our group connected again for our 6 PM reservations in Cagney’s. Although my steak was cooked perfectly, the steak one member of our group received was overcooked to the point of almost being well-done. Another of our group complained of his steak being too tough. Personally I would have sent the steaks back but they didn’t bother. Service was slow that night and we didn’t finish our meal until almost 8 PM.

 

Joyce and I didn’t feel like attending the 9:30 magic show so we went back to our cabin. We hadn’t received turn down service yet so I turned the dial on our cabin number to Do Not Disturb and called it a night.

 

26 Jan 2018

Day 5 Debarkation and Home

 

We were up before sunrise again and the Jade was already back at the Miami port. As I had my cup of coffee on the balcony the Carnival Victory was coming back into port too. For those of you who are interested, walk-offs began at 6:55 AM.

 

We ate breakfast in O’Sheehan’s and then went back to our cabin and relaxed for a bit. At 8:30 we did a self walk-off and zipped through customs. We had purchased the NCL transfer to the airport and we were sitting on that bus by 9:15. I think it departed the cruise port around 9:35.

 

The bus arrived at the airport just before 10 AM. The first stop was for our airline American and it dropped us off at the outside check-in area. We checked in and paid for our checked luggage right there. Inside the terminal we zipped through the security check point and we were sitting near our departure gate by 10:30 AM.

 

I had booked the cheapest non-stop flight to St. Louis I could find so we had a lot of time to kill before our 3:30PM flight. Our flight departed on time and we arrived back in St. Louis at 5:30PM. Here’s a picture of the sun setting over the Missouri River as we approached Lambert Airport.

 

We were tired and happy to be back at our house by 7:30PM. It had been an excellent cruise.

[All-ready2cruise]

Thanks so much for all the wonderful information and great photos... really looking forward to my Jade cruise in April.

 

Thanks again..

Cheers. :)

[stormynow]

On this same cruise and nary a shrimp cocktail or prime rib offered in the MDR for any of the 4 nites. Kind of a disappointment. The 4 day Sky has prime rib in the buffet 1st nite and Mdr last nite. Thought the Jade could have done better.

[JustAllie]

Great review thread! Thanks for all the info. Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

[Oakman58]

A few more thoughts and pictures on the Jade.

 

I’m not a smoker but I thought I would add this information. There were smoking areas on deck 7 but there wasn’t anywhere to sit. When we were on the Jade a couple of years ago there were tables and chairs in the smoking areas on deck 7.

 

I mentioned the electrical outlets in our cabin but I failed to mention the outlet in the bathroom for electrical shavers. It was located on the light above the mirror by the ceiling.

 

If you wanted a quiet area on the ship with a lounger, deck 13 forward and aft was always quiet and had loungers available.

 

When the Jade was refurbished I thought for sure they would remove the spectator bench seating above the sports court. Nope it was still there. I’ve never seen anyone sitting there and it seems like wasted space to me. Perhaps it gets used during charter cruises.

 

If you like frozen cocktails and like chocolate then you must try the drink called the Bushwacker. It’s delicious.

 

It would be a violation of etiquette if I didn’t thank my wife for all her help in making this report possible. She was my proof reader and editor and caught the many mistakes I made while writing this report.

 

I also owe her a debt of gratitude for my Christmas gift that was instrumental in making this report possible too. If you’ve read my other trip reports I’m sure you realize I take a lot of photos and I do a lot of writing and note taking on our cruises too. During our December Panama Canal cruise I made an off-hand comment about running out of storage space on my old tablet. Apparently she took note of this comment because on Christmas morning there was a brand new tablet waiting for me under the Christmas tree. Here’s a picture of my brand new tablet.

 

 

 

Thank you all for the kind comments you wrote about this trip report. I really appreciate it. For those of you who are cruising on the Jade in the future, I hope you enjoy this ship as much as Joyce and I did.

[jebby]

Thank you husband for the kind words. I enjoy reliving our trips through your reports.

 

 

Joyce

[mimmy52]

I always enjoy reading your trips reports. You have a clever way of writing. Nice new tablet you got.

[tobyt]

Thank you very much! Super enjoyable and a bit of a teaser to our March Jade trip!

[Lovetotraveltami]

Great trip report! Thanks!

[deeko]

Hi

I felt sad when you showed the photo from the aircraft taking you home!!

 

Thoroughly enjoyed your review.

 

We know the Jade pre re furb and will be on her in March.

 

I agree that the Jade is more accessible than the Epic.

 

Hope you and Joyce have another cruise soon....and would love to be on board at the same time.

 

Thanks a bunch........of any flower you choose!!!!!

 

Deeko

[Oakman58]

I always enjoy reading your trips reports. You have a clever way of writing. Nice new tablet you got.

 

 

Thank you for your compliment on my writing. English was never my strong suit so your comments are appreciated.

 

Thank you very much! Super enjoyable and a bit of a teaser to our March Jade trip!

 

I hope you have a great time on the Jade and great weather for your cruise.

[Oakman58]

Great trip report! Thanks!

 

I'm glad you enjoyed it.

 

Hi

I felt sad when you showed the photo from the aircraft taking you home!!

 

Thoroughly enjoyed your review.

 

We know the Jade pre re furb and will be on her in March.

 

I agree that the Jade is more accessible than the Epic.

 

Hope you and Joyce have another cruise soon....and would love to be on board at the same time.

 

Thanks a bunch........of any flower you choose!!!!!

 

Deeko

 

I hope your cruise is a great one.

 

I wish Norwegian would build a ship that would be a cross between the Star and the Jade. I would love to see a ship with the elegant Atrium of the Star but with the Spinnaker Lounge and Great Outdoors of the Jade.

 

Joyce and I will be on the Jade again September 17th for a British Isles cruise.