Rare Stealthdog Posted July 23 #1 Share Posted July 23 This post was recognized by LauraS! "Thank you for sharing your review with everyone at Cruise Critic. Please consider submitting it to the site for publication as well: Click: Write a Review" Stealthdog was awarded the badge 'Great Review' We are getting ready for our next cruise, this time on the NCL Jade, leaving out of Port Canaveral on July 27th (hopefully). For those not aware, the Jade developed steering issues on its July 13th sailing (lost an azipod), which impacted both that cruise and the July 20th (became 21st) sailing. We will see what is in store for us this weekend! The Pearl is one of our favorite ships, so we are definitely looking forward to the Jade. We typically sail June and December for birthdays, but work requirements pushed this one to July - who doesn't want to chance hurricanes in the Caribbean during the middle of Hurricane Season? 🙂 Our last cruise was on the MSC Seashore March 2024, our last NCL was a B2B on the Escape December 2023, and our next cruise will be (unless we do a short one sooner) the Celebrity Apex in December 2024. We hope to make the December cruise a B2B or a side by side. We booked this Jade sailing as part of a Casinos at Sea offer (our first casino booked cruise). We keep getting offers for casino rewards and have never done one before....so this will be our first. With the offer, we upgraded to a MA (Club Balcony) category and will be staying on Deck 11. We have Platinum status on NCL, so the big perks for us that we use are the 2 Specialty Dining, Behind the Scenes Tour, Wine Tasting event, Priority Embarkation, and the Priority Tender services. We used the Free at Seas promotion, so will have a total of 4 Specialty Dining to try on the Jade. We also purchased the 7 Day Thermal Suite Pass and Unlimited Wifi. We have a little OBC to use on board (Shareholder benefits and Casino provided OBC). We typically do cruise-line provided excursions, private excursions, or just explore on our own at ports. But, because of the uncertainty with possible port time changes because of lingering mechanical issues, we will exclusively do NCL provided excursions or hang out near the port on our own. 3 of these stops are new to us: Falmouth, George Town, and Great Stirrup Cay (both stops in last Decembers b2b were cancelled because of safety tendering concerns). The cruise itinerary initially included Key West, and several months ago that was substituted with Cozumel (bummer). This is what the cruise looks like now: July 27 - Port Canaveral, Depart 530PM July 28 - Great Stirrup Cay, 8AM-5PM July 29 - At Sea July 30 - Falmouth, Jamaica, 7AM-4PM July 31 - George Town, Grand Cayman, 7AM-4PM Aug 1 - Cozumel, Mexico, 945AM-630PM Aug 2 - At Sea Aug 3 - Port Canaveral, Arrive 7AM If Cozumel gets canned and replaced with Nassau to keep us closer to the Canaveral in the event of another azipod issue, we would be ok with that. We have been to both Cozumel and Nassau so many times..... Because we live in Orlando, we don't have to deal with any travel issues (particularly lingering flight issues with the IT issue, or worrying about late cruise start, or late cruise return). We do have a friend flying in Friday to go on the cruise with us....so fingers crossed. We got an 1130 terminal arrival time for checkin. From experience, the parking garages don't open for departing cruisers until 1030 or later, so we will probably leave here for Canaveral around 930-945. If we get there early, we will hang out at the Platinum and above holding area inside the terminal to wait for boarding. They typically board that loyalty status group after the Haven/Suite category boards. During the cruise, I'll post the daily activities paper, menus, thoughts on dining and ship activities, port information, and post pictures from around the ship and at ports. If anyone has any questions, or want me to look into something for them, just post it here and I'll get to it. I will try to do an update at least once daily. In the meantime, its packing time and watching the status on the Jade on cruise ship tracking website. 🙂 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quillwercruisers Posted July 23 #2 Share Posted July 23 We have never been on the Jade, even though we love the Jewel & the Pearl. Looking forward to your review and pictures. Enjoy your cruise!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamin jul Posted July 23 #3 Share Posted July 23 I have never been on a NCL cruise. Booked the Jade for Panama Canal cruise. Looking forward to your review. Kind of worried because there are negative reviews of the ship and food. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Turtles06 Posted July 23 #4 Share Posted July 23 We've been on the Jade, the Gem, and the Jewel. Love that class of ship. Enjoy your cruise! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trishleighb Posted July 23 #5 Share Posted July 23 We are on this same cruise. Very excited! Do we know what shows or if there is a comedian on this ship? The last two cruises we did didn't have a comedian. Which we really enjoy. 🤞 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 23 Author #6 Share Posted July 23 1 hour ago, Trishleighb said: We are on this same cruise. Very excited! Do we know what shows or if there is a comedian on this ship? The last two cruises we did didn't have a comedian. Which we really enjoy. 🤞 I haven’t seen any daily activity sheets (Freestyle Daily) for Jade sailings recently, so not sure. On my previous 7+ night sailings there have been 1 or more comedians that did an act in the theater (or other venue on bigger ships). The only entertainment I know for this cruise is what is on the App - Blazing Boots and Elements. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trishleighb Posted July 23 #7 Share Posted July 23 Ok thanks! Really hope for a comedian 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LatinaInTexas Posted July 24 #8 Share Posted July 24 14 hours ago, Stealthdog said: We are getting ready for our next cruise, this time on the NCL Jade, leaving out of Port Canaveral on July 27th (hopefully). For those not aware, the Jade developed steering issues on its July 13th sailing (lost an azipod), which impacted both that cruise and the July 20th (became 21st) sailing. We will see what is in store for us this weekend! The Pearl is one of our favorite ships, so we are definitely looking forward to the Jade. We typically sail June and December for birthdays, but work requirements pushed this one to July - who doesn't want to chance hurricanes in the Caribbean during the middle of Hurricane Season? 🙂 Our last cruise was on the MSC Seashore March 2024, our last NCL was a B2B on the Escape December 2023, and our next cruise will be (unless we do a short one sooner) the Celebrity Apex in December 2024. We hope to make the December cruise a B2B or a side by side. We booked this Jade sailing as part of a Casinos at Sea offer (our first casino booked cruise). We keep getting offers for casino rewards and have never done one before....so this will be our first. With the offer, we upgraded to a MA (Club Balcony) category and will be staying on Deck 11. We have Platinum status on NCL, so the big perks for us that we use are the 2 Specialty Dining, Behind the Scenes Tour, Wine Tasting event, Priority Embarkation, and the Priority Tender services. We used the Free at Seas promotion, so will have a total of 4 Specialty Dining to try on the Jade. We also purchased the 7 Day Thermal Suite Pass and Unlimited Wifi. We have a little OBC to use on board (Shareholder benefits and Casino provided OBC). We typically do cruise-line provided excursions, private excursions, or just explore on our own at ports. But, because of the uncertainty with possible port time changes because of lingering mechanical issues, we will exclusively do NCL provided excursions or hang out near the port on our own. 3 of these stops are new to us: Falmouth, George Town, and Great Stirrup Cay (both stops in last Decembers b2b were cancelled because of safety tendering concerns). The cruise itinerary initially included Key West, and several months ago that was substituted with Cozumel (bummer). This is what the cruise looks like now: July 27 - Port Canaveral, Depart 530PM July 28 - Great Stirrup Cay, 8AM-5PM July 29 - At Sea July 30 - Falmouth, Jamaica, 7AM-4PM July 31 - George Town, Grand Cayman, 7AM-4PM Aug 1 - Cozumel, Mexico, 945AM-630PM Aug 2 - At Sea Aug 3 - Port Canaveral, Arrive 7AM If Cozumel gets canned and replaced with Nassau to keep us closer to the Canaveral in the event of another azipod issue, we would be ok with that. We have been to both Cozumel and Nassau so many times..... Because we live in Orlando, we don't have to deal with any travel issues (particularly lingering flight issues with the IT issue, or worrying about late cruise start, or late cruise return). We do have a friend flying in Friday to go on the cruise with us....so fingers crossed. We got an 1130 terminal arrival time for checkin. From experience, the parking garages don't open for departing cruisers until 1030 or later, so we will probably leave here for Canaveral around 930-945. If we get there early, we will hang out at the Platinum and above holding area inside the terminal to wait for boarding. They typically board that loyalty status group after the Haven/Suite category boards. During the cruise, I'll post the daily activities paper, menus, thoughts on dining and ship activities, port information, and post pictures from around the ship and at ports. If anyone has any questions, or want me to look into something for them, just post it here and I'll get to it. I will try to do an update at least once daily. In the meantime, its packing time and watching the status on the Jade on cruise ship tracking website. 🙂 Looking forward to this. Will be on the Jade for the first time on the 8/10 sailing, fingers crossed. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mcmomny Posted July 24 #9 Share Posted July 24 22 hours ago, jamin jul said: I have never been on a NCL cruise. Booked the Jade for Panama Canal cruise. Looking forward to your review. Kind of worried because there are negative reviews of the ship and food. We were on The Jade last fall in Greece and it was wonderful! Great staff, wonderful food and very clean and organized. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lizabet623 Posted July 24 #10 Share Posted July 24 (edited) Looking forward to this upcoming cruise. Edited July 24 by lizabet623 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mcmomny Posted July 24 #11 Share Posted July 24 17 hours ago, Stealthdog said: I haven’t seen any daily activity sheets (Freestyle Daily) for Jade sailings recently, so not sure. On my previous 7+ night sailings there have been 1 or more comedians that did an act in the theater (or other venue on bigger ships). The only entertainment I know for this cruise is what is on the App - Blazing Boots and Elements. Saw both of these shows last fall on The Jade and they were amazing! Have a great cruise! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 26 Author #12 Share Posted July 26 We ended up booking our excursions last night (kind of). Because of the worry about the mechanical issues with steering and not wanting to worry about having to make changes or cancel with 3rd party vendors while on board, we are going with NCL excursions: Georgetown we are doing the Land and Sea (GECN71). Falmouth we were only able to get 1 ticket for Blue Hole and River Tubing (FMHN60) - we will check with excursions when we get on board for a 2nd ticket. If we can't get a 2nd we will do a different one that includes the River Tubing. We have read that the Bamboo beach is rocky and requires water shoes, so we will avoid any combo that includes Bamboo beach. We won't book anything for Great Stirrup Cay or Cozumel. We will probably spend the day on the private island doing our own thing and probably won't get off the ship at Cozumel and enjoy a quiet day on board. Packing almost done, bringing the dog to boarding in a couple of hours, then picking up a friend at the airport on the way back. Negotiating with a family member to bring us to the port tomorrow (and collect us next week) to avoid the parking costs.....we will see. Tomorrow is only a day away! Reservations made for Specialty Dining are Moderno, La Cucina, Cagney's, and Le Bistro. Eric transitioned to a vegan diet earlier this year for health reasons, so we will see how accommodating the Specialty Dining and MDR are - we will speak to the restaurant rep tomorrow when we board. Moderno (salad bar) and La Cucina will be easy for him. We will probably get two Cruise Next certificates on board because our current plan is a December 2025 transatlantic cruise on the NCL Sky (Barcelona...our favorite city in Europe and ending in the Dominican Republic). We also completed our December 2024 side by side bookings (Celebrity Apex and Sun Princess). 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoopie17 Posted July 26 #13 Share Posted July 26 On 7/23/2024 at 8:47 AM, jamin jul said: I have never been on a NCL cruise. Booked the Jade for Panama Canal cruise. Looking forward to your review. Kind of worried because there are negative reviews of the ship and food. Don't believe everything you read. The Jade is our favorite ship...food, crew, service...everything. (Well, except for the smoky casino). 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
schmoopie17 Posted July 26 #14 Share Posted July 26 On 7/23/2024 at 3:10 PM, Trishleighb said: Ok thanks! Really hope for a comedian 🙂 We had a comedian do a theater show on the Jade for our March cruise a couple months ago. Can't remember his name, but unlike most cruise ship "comedians", he was pretty good. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenatorsFan Posted July 26 #15 Share Posted July 26 Mike Burton was the comedian on our April cruise. He did 2 shows in the main theatre the first night and 2 shows the last night. He was pretty good. Spinnaker Lounge was also a good choice for a variety of music with the Jade Orchestra and also had game shows and bingo. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #16 Share Posted July 27 Mazie is happily in boarding (black dog on right) enjoying play group time right away. Poor guy got microchipped yesterday, but was right back out after. He is our most recent rescue - 8 month Lane/Dane mix. Suitcases all ready by the door and waiting for our chauffeur (Eric’s brother) to collect us and bring us to the port. We will leave here around 830, getting us to port between 915-930. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #17 Share Posted July 27 Got to the terminal (10) at 935 and 945 already checked in and waiting in the priority boarding section. No lines, quick entry. Getting into the port wasn’t too bad because there was no Disney ship today. Carnival and RCL are in port. People are still disembarking from the last cruise….so just waiting for our boarding. There was a slight change to itinerary. They handed it to us when we entered the terminal building. We are now departing at 8pm today instead of 4pm, and arrival and departing GSC an hour later. Probably related to lingering steering issues……maybe. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #18 Share Posted July 27 Still waiting to board. They are setting up the boarding photo stop, so should be soon. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #19 Share Posted July 27 Back to backers just paraded back onto the ship. Looked like about a dozen lucky guests doing the 14 days. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #20 Share Posted July 27 Got on board about 1115 - after Haven and guests with Special needs. They directed us to head to the muster immediately, so checked in right away. We could not access the ship wifi from inside the pier (and even after boarding was getting error messages), so not on WiFi yet. Cruise next isnt open until 1230, so first stop was Shore Excursions - we were able to get the 2nd ticket for the Blue Hole and Tubing. At restaurant reservations there is a lady who will preorder meals for any dietary restrictions for the next day. On future days, she can be found in Jasmine Garden to preorder the following day meals. She was really good with going through the menu and describing how she can modify menus for specific needs. We got our room cards updated with the thermal suite pass sticker and Eric already booked his first spa appointment. The buffet was already packed. First impression of the buffet offering was Meh….but we just did a quick walk through. We probably won’t be using it much since we can pre-order Eric’s breakfast and dinner meals in MDR and specialty restaurants. First drink on board - traditional mimosa! 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SenatorsFan Posted July 27 #21 Share Posted July 27 @Stealthdog I hope you have a wonderful cruise and smooth sailing. 😊 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare mcmomny Posted July 27 #22 Share Posted July 27 Yes, have a great cruise! Thanks for a live review, I love reading them! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #23 Share Posted July 27 Day 1 Freestyle. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #24 Share Posted July 27 First impressions of the ship….and these may change over the 7 days. Seems we are at full capacity because the public spaces were all packed. It may also be that the rooms aren’t available and people are lingering on deck 7 (where we board). The spa and thermal suite look really nice. We got our sticker to put on room card for the weekly pass. We will probably be using it daily (after today because they are doing tours until dinner). The gym is small. It’s a row of treadmills facing out the window for views off the ship (watching carnival leaving now). There is a second row of bikes and ellipticals. There are a handful of machine weights and one free weight Dumbbell station. I’ll take a few pics and post later when there is no one else in here. We will see how busy it gets with what appears to be a full ship. The casino seems ok for the size of the ship. There are no smoking signs as you enter, but it does have the smell of persistent smoke inside. I’m ok with the smell, but heavy smoke dries my eyes because I wear contacts. We will probably spend time in there every night. The Spinnaker Lounge and Great Outdoors will probably be my 2 favorite places on board. Both overlook the front (lounge) and aft (outdoors) of the ship. The rest of the ship I haven’t really checked out because the congestion. Tonight we are eating at Moderno and will check out some of the entertainment before heading to the casino (opens late because of late departure) and end at Osheehans and late night eats. We were able to get into the cabins around the 3pm and got to the luggage around 345pm. The staff seems happy and pleasant, which is really important for a good cruise experience. We had some old voicemail messages on our stateroom phone from the previous cruise, which was a little annoying because I had to listen through each individually to delete them and get the red light to stop flashing on the phone. The MA room feels really big (compared to other ships/lines of similar categories). Lots of drawers for clothes and space to hand clothes. I’ll post cabin photos later. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rare Stealthdog Posted July 27 Author #25 Share Posted July 27 (edited) Pics of the room - Club Balcony (MA) 11th deck. The balcony is really large - so big it feels like it is missing some furniture to take the space. Hahahaha. Bathroom has a separate toilet space, sink area, and shower tub. The layout is nice because multiple people can use it at the same time. Some people prefer the shower tub - we would be ok with just a walk in shower. The storage space in the bathroom is limited and there appears to be no outlets in there. Above the mirror at the sink there is an outlet that says razors only. We aren’t chancing it. The whole side paneling next to the closet in the cabin is all shelving though - so lots of space for clothes. And they are deep drawers that can store almost anything. Lots of ships have narrow shelves that really limit how you can use it. There is a long hallway from the entrance to the bed area with another shelf system and you could place bags and suitcases there. Across the sofa to the left of the TV is another set of shelving for more storage and the safe. The mini fridge is beneath that with several drawers to the right. The tabletop is really narrow and it looks like it would barely fit a laptop. 2 outlets at the tabletop beneath the TV and 1 USB station. Both sides of the bed have a USB station under the lights. Overall - lots of space, with some limitations (shelving and outlets in bathroom) and table space for large devices. We are pleased with the room - one of the better ones we have been in a balcony+ category. Edited July 27 by Stealthdog 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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