Jade review May 17 Western Med (long)

[leela14]

We returned from our 13 night Western Mediterranean cruise on the Jade on Friday night. Overall we had an excellent time. To be honest, I went into this cruise with very low expectations due to all the bad reviews I had read but was pleasantly surprised. I know people say all the boards have negative reviews, but my experience has been that this was worse on the NCL boards. I only frequent cruise critic in the months before my cruise. My previous two cruises were on RCCL and for the 3-4 month period I was on those boards each time, I honestly did not see the same level of negativity that I saw here since February.

In some instances I will be comparing between NCL and RCCL as RCCL was my baseline.

Embarkation/Debarkation

NCL has this nailed. We were on the ship in 15-20 minutes from the time we arrived at the dock, I was amazed. With RCCL we waited hours. At debarkation we carried our own luggage off the ship and just walked off in minutes. We also experienced no lineups getting off and on the ship during the 10 ports. This was a very positive experience and kudos to NCL for getting this so right.

Overall Ship Impressions

The ship was much nicer than I was expecting. She was spotlessly clean, new and decorated nicer than I had imagined. Except for the Medusa lounge – not sure what they were thinking there, but I liked The Second City description – it looked like an octopus had sex with an alien. :D The Jade is a beautiful ship, although I do have to admit it pales in comparison to the RCCL Navigator and Jewel that I had been on previously. But for Europe the ports were more important than the ship, and RCCL prices for a similar itinerary were insane.

Stateroom

Again, pleasantly surprised. We had an aft cabin (balcony) on Deck 8 which was bigger and nicer than I had expected. The bathroom was much better than the one on RCCL – bigger and laid out better. Another place where NCL excelled was the bed and bedding. OMG – it was sooooo comfy, I wanted to take it all home. It was like sleeping on a cloud. I had a nap every single day and had to force myself out of bed every morning.

Crew/Service

Impeccable. The crew was extremely pleasant and accommodating. We tipped our cabin steward an extra amount as well as one of the waiters we really liked.

Food

I’m so sorry to say this, and I was hoping not to say it, but really, well, not good. Of course food is subjective, and I’m sure others will disagree, but for us, it was not good at all. Actually it’s the dining room I’m speaking of. In the 2 week cruise I may have had 2-3 meals in the dining room I liked, and I think those times I ordered the cheese tortellini. The presentation was excellent, but the flavour was non-existent. We actually ate at the Blue Lagoon and ordered room service a lot. Paniola was good the second time we ate there. The first time we ate there we had the chicken fajitas and didn’t like them at all. The only specialty restaurant we tried was Papa’s Italian, and it was good, but I didn’t think it was worth an extra service charge. We phoned at noon and got a reservation for that night at 7:00 pm.

The buffet was pretty awful too. My biggest complaint was the temperature of the food. Nothing is worse than tepid food, yuck. I never had anything from there that was hot. And of course you couldn’t get a table there to save your life; we ended up trying to balance our food from the buffet to our room, which was quite a pain in the behind.

And lastly, we really had issues with the dining room closing so early for breakfast. We are not morning people, and usually eat breakfast after 10:00. The only option then is the buffet and it’s a zoo once the main restaurant is closed. I longed for a nice leisurely breakfast in the dining room after 10:00. I wish they could have opened the Alizar for breakfast until at least 11:00. I can understand that they need to prepare the main dining room for lunch, but I wish they would have provided breakfast at the Alizar. On a two week cruise it's easy to get tired of room service, esp. since we used it so much for dinner.

But we did love Freestyle. Loved not having to eat with strangers and at set times. We did have some waits at times for the main dining room, but not so bad (anywhere from 5 – 30 minutes).

Entertainment

The biggest disappointment of all, especially having read how good it was. We found the Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers to be MUCH better. The biggest problem we had with it was there was nothing current. ALL the entertainment was from the 60’s or before. Every venue we walked into was the same thing – music for the older generations. I would have killed to hear something from the 80’s, 90’s or present. I don’t know why over a two week cruise they couldn’t have mixed it up a bit. Second City was awesome and we went to every single show, thank God for them, but I did miss seeing some theatre shows featuring more current music.

Ports/Excursions

Europe is amazing; each and every place we visited was a treasure that I’ll hold dear forever, or until we visit again. We only did 2 NCL excursions – Rome on your Own and the Amalfi Coast Drive. We had Alhambra booked but cancelled it cause I was sick as a dog, and because we aren’t morning people and couldn’t handle getting up that early again.

I honestly do not think that tour buses should be allowed to drive that Amalfi Coast route. Our tour guide indicated they will soon only be allowing the smaller min-van tours through. That was the scariest ride of my life. One lapse in judgment or small mistake, and as far as I can see, that bus is careening into the ocean.

Cagliari is a gem and I was really surprised about it. Monaco was amazing (we rented a car and drove there from Nice).

In The Murphy’s Law category (and I’m a Murphy, so no surprise here)

The rain followed us around for most of the ports. We had a monsoon in Rome. It was brutal, and of all the ports to have such strong rain – the one I was looking most forward to. L The weather was not at all what I was hoping for. And there was a wicked cold going around the ship. I was sick for the first week, DH was sick for the second. Lots of people were sneezing and coughing and it spread quickly around the ship. It never stopped us though, we persevered and saw all the ports even though I thought I was going to die by the time we finished off Rome.

And in The Most Annoying category

THE STUPID ANTIBACTERIAL POLICE. Give it a rest already. It’s been proven time and time again that washing your hands with soap works much better than that stuff. I got really annoyed with that stuff being forced on me 50 times a day. I’m prone to eczema and the stuff just dries up my skin and causes a red itchy blotchy condition. I washed my hands about 50 times a day and did not need to be continually accosted with that spray.

CONCLUSION

We would cruise NCL again, but would hope for improvements in the food and entertainment (please NCL - more current entertainment). Freestyle would definitely tilt our decision to cruise NCL again vs. other cruise lines in the future. It was a great experience and NCL excels at service, getting on and off the ship, and freestyle dining.

 

If you have any specific questions, please let me know.

[Paul_76]

I'd be interested in hearing more about the aft balcony cabin on deck 8 (as we have a similiar cabin on an upcoming cruise aboard Jade). How was the experience? Any troubles with motion, noise, or vibrations? Was the balcony any different in size from other cabins? Do you have any pictures of it?

 

Thanks.

[leela14]

I can post some pics tonight (I'm at work now). It was DEFINITELY noisier than a balcony on the side of the ship. You could really hear the roar of the engines and the wake was quite noisy. Normally when we had midship balcony cabins we'd sleep with the balcony door open, but the noise from the aft cabin was so loud we couldn't sleep with it open. We would sometimes try to open it just a couple of inches to get the lovely sound of the ocean.

 

I also did find the motion to be more intense than the mid ship cabins - this was only when the seas were moderate to rough. When the seas were calm it was fine. I tend to get motion sickness, so I did have a couple of rough nights. My DH didn't mind the motion at all, but he isn't prone to motion sickness.

 

I found the size of the balcony to be more than adequate, but I have no idea if it's bigger on the aft than normal balconies. I don't think so, but I don't know that for a fact. It certainly wasn't one of the ones that goes really deep. It had 2 chairs and a side table and was plenty big for us.

 

I'll try to post some pictures for you tonight. If you have any more questions, just let me know.

[LTC]

Hi leela14,

 

Enjoyed your review. Do you recall what time disembarkation began? Thanks.

[leela14]

We were off the ship at 6:35 am. If you carry off your own bags it begins at 6:30 am. It was soooooooooo easy.

[doglover3]

Thanks for the review. I'm glad you had a good time. We are sailing on the Gem, but I assume the "Rome On Your Own" tour, which we have also booked, is similar on both. Can you tell me about what time drop-off and pick-up were? What sites were you able to see and how did you get around? We are hoping to see St. Peter's Basilica, Piazza Navona, the Pantheon, and Trevi Fountain via a combination of walking and maybe public buses. Is that doable? Any info/advice is greatly appreciated.

[Bigdog49]

We were off the ship at 6:35 am. If you carry off your own bags it begins at 6:30 am. It was soooooooooo easy.

 

Thank you as we have to catch a 8:00 train from Southampton to Gatwick in a few weeks.

[leela14]

I thought the Rome on Your Own tour was really good. It was pouring rain that day and I was sick, so for me, it was a godsend. But the tour guide we had was excellent and gave us a lot of really useful information that was very helpful.

 

The bus let us off at the Colisseum at 11:30 am and we had to be back to the same place at 4:30 pm. As soon as we got off the bus we jumped on the metro, took that to the Vatican where we just looked around outside. I don't do lineups so going inside wasn't an option. I got my rosary beads and we then walked through town all the way back to the Coliseum. On the way back we saw the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, plus a few other monuments and churches I don't remember the name of, did some shopping and had lunch - all in the pouring rain.

 

We walked all the way from the Vatican back to the Colisseum, it took 4.5 hours with a half hour for lunch. You can see all the places as long as you don't want to go inside the Vatican - that would take all day.

 

I was sooooooooooo tired after all that walking, that I was glad to be back on the bus for a nice relaxing drive back to the ship (about 2 hours if I remember correctly).

[Russian Blue Mom]

These are just 2 "housekeeping" type questions, please, regarding the Jade: Do you think the room coffee makers might work with our own small basket filters & (if we bring it) our own coffee?----and are there any full length mirrors in the balcony room (so as to see our complete appearance from head to toe) on the back of the bath door?

[Paul_76]

I can post some pics tonight (I'm at work now). It was DEFINITELY noisier than a balcony on the side of the ship. You could really hear the roar of the engines and the wake was quite noisy. Normally when we had midship balcony cabins we'd sleep with the balcony door open, but the noise from the aft cabin was so loud we couldn't sleep with it open. We would sometimes try to open it just a couple of inches to get the lovely sound of the ocean.

 

I also did find the motion to be more intense than the mid ship cabins - this was only when the seas were moderate to rough. When the seas were calm it was fine. I tend to get motion sickness, so I did have a couple of rough nights. My DH didn't mind the motion at all, but he isn't prone to motion sickness.

 

I found the size of the balcony to be more than adequate, but I have no idea if it's bigger on the aft than normal balconies. I don't think so, but I don't know that for a fact. It certainly wasn't one of the ones that goes really deep. It had 2 chairs and a side table and was plenty big for us.

 

I'll try to post some pictures for you tonight. If you have any more questions, just let me know.

 

Thanks for the information. I really appreciated the review.

[leela14]

I honestly don't know about the coffee makers, I wish I could help with that one. I can't imagine why not, but the coffee makers are the smaller four cup ones if that helps.

 

There is a full length mirror in the room, but it's in an odd place and it's hard to get a full head to toe view.

 

I'll see if I can get some pics online to post so you can see what I mean.

[Russian Blue Mom]

Will look forward to your photos when you get them posted! :)

[leela14]

Right here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=786043

 

Only the cabin photos so far. We took almost 1500 pictures, so I need to narrow down the ones I post!!

[theduffys]

These are just 2 "housekeeping" type questions, please, regarding the Jade: Do you think the room coffee makers might work with our own small basket filters & (if we bring it) our own coffee?----and are there any full length mirrors in the balcony room (so as to see our complete appearance from head to toe) on the back of the bath door?

 

Hi Leela--great review and i agree with just about everything.

 

Regarding the coffee maker--yes you can bring small round, paper filters from home and use your own coffee. It works great.

[trvlnliz]

Can you please tell me more about Cagliari and some of the other ports you went to. We are doing a 10 day Med cruise on the Jade next April.

 

Thanks,

Liz

[theduffys]

In Cagliari we hopped on a bus and went to the beach, which was really lovley.

 

Only took two shore excursions--to Granada and the Alhambra (this was a wonderful trip!!); and to Fatima from Lisbon (again worth the money)

In Vigo 6 of us had a pre arrainged car and guide to Santiago de Compostella (FANTASTIC!!)

For the rest of the ports we did our own thing with local trains and buses and had no problems.

[exarche02]

In Cagliari we hopped on a bus and went to the beach, which was really lovley.

 

Only took two shore excursions--to Granada and the Alhambra (this was a wonderful trip!!); and to Fatima from Lisbon (again worth the money)

In Vigo 6 of us had a pre arrainged car and guide to Santiago de Compostella (FANTASTIC!!)

For the rest of the ports we did our own thing with local trains and buses and had no problems.

 

We will also be in Vigo. Who was your guide? We had planned to stay in Vigo, but after reading about Santiago de Compostella I am having second thoughts.

[theduffys]

We will also be in Vigo. Who was your guide? We had planned to stay in Vigo, but after reading about Santiago de Compostella I am having second thoughts.

 

We used EuroAdventures.net

Our driver (originally from Canada) was waiting when the ship docked. Our guide in Santiago was spectacular--very knowledgeable and good english skills. Price worked out to $190/pp for 6.

[Giorgi-one]

I was on the same cruise and agree with most of your comments. I did not think that food in Dining Room was as bad as you indicated. Buffetr was awful just like it was on the Gem in January. We were on Freedom of the Seas two years ago and that was the worst food I have experienced on 21 cruises. Celebirty, HAL and Princess do a better job with food.

 

Not exactly sure what you meant by rain following us all week. It was usually cloudy and some rain in the mornings but the sun was out most of the ports by afternoon. I did not go to Rome and we experienced no rain on that day. Most importantly, the temperature stayed in the hight 60s to low 70s which was perfect for sightseeing.

[doglover3]

I thought the Rome on Your Own tour was really good. It was pouring rain that day and I was sick, so for me, it was a godsend. But the tour guide we had was excellent and gave us a lot of really useful information that was very helpful.

 

The bus let us off at the Colisseum at 11:30 am and we had to be back to the same place at 4:30 pm. As soon as we got off the bus we jumped on the metro, took that to the Vatican where we just looked around outside. I don't do lineups so going inside wasn't an option. I got my rosary beads and we then walked through town all the way back to the Coliseum. On the way back we saw the Pantheon, the Roman Forum, the Trevi Fountain, plus a few other monuments and churches I don't remember the name of, did some shopping and had lunch - all in the pouring rain.

 

We walked all the way from the Vatican back to the Colisseum, it took 4.5 hours with a half hour for lunch. You can see all the places as long as you don't want to go inside the Vatican - that would take all day.

 

I was sooooooooooo tired after all that walking, that I was glad to be back on the bus for a nice relaxing drive back to the ship (about 2 hours if I remember correctly).

 

Thanks for the info. I think taking the Metro to the Vatican sounds like a good idea, probably faster than a bus. We can see the sights as we walk back. We might try public transportation also from the Trevi Fountain back to the pick-up spot near the Coliseum. Any suggestions?

[xyzxyz]

Wasn't breakfast available in the Great Outdoors till 11am?

[Russian Blue Mom]

Hi Leela--great review and i agree with just about everything.

 

Regarding the coffee maker--yes you can bring small round, paper filters from home and use your own coffee. It works great.

 

Thank you--will bring our own to enjoy. :)

[Russian Blue Mom]

Thank you for posting the pictures of your cabin--it helps.;)

[leela14]

The breadfast availability in the great outdoors left a lot to be desired - at least by the time we got there it was slim pickings.

 

The other placed we discovered that was good was the smaller buffet, which I can't remember the name of. But it's outdoors and many mornings were raining and/or cold outside, so while we did eat there to avoid the crowds at the main buffet sometimes, it wasn't the most pleasant experience because of the weather. Mornings were very cool most of the time.

 

And we just aren't buffet people, so eating at a buffet is more about needing to eat rather than enjoying the experience. Again, I do wish there was an option for a dining room type breakfast service until around 11:00 am.

[j3Baker]

Were you able to make reservations for the main restaurants, or are reservations only taken for the ones with a fee?

Thanks :)