Norwegian Jade Review / January 3, 2017

Hello everyone, I am fresh off the Jade and at home, ready to write my second CC review. Before I get into the details I would like to give you all a little background on me, why we booked the cruise, etc. I just turned 20 and this marked my 14th cruise. I have sailed twice with Disney, three times with Carnival, eight with Royal Caribbean, and this was my first on Norwegian. Usually I’ll sail with my parents and bring along a friend, but this time it was me, my parents, as well as two family friends. So why did we want to cruise? Well, my mom and I usually always take a girls' cruise on MLK Jr. weekend, however since my birthday is January 3 we decided we wanted to cruise over my birthday instead. We didn't necessarily want to be on a ship for NYE since prices are usually much more, so any cruise departing after the New Year that returned before the 9th (this is the day work and classes resumed for us) would be great. We finally found the January 3 sailing on the Norwegian Jade with stops in Key West and Cozumel. We had never tried NCL and were ready for a change from Royal Caribbean, the line we normally sail. Some more selling points for us were the price, the fact it left from Tampa (we only live 25 or so minutes from the port), and the itinerary included Key West! How awesome. I had never cruised on my birthday, believe it or not had never cruised from Tampa, and had never been to Key West. I was sold and ready to go!

Fast forward to embarkation.

After a long 30 minute drive from our house to the port, we arrived around 10:40 am and parked in the official port parking garage across from the cruise terminal. It was a little confusing trying to figure out where to drop our luggage, usually we see tons of porters and luggage carts but there were very few of them this time. After we did find them, we proceeded to walk into the terminal for check in. Once there, again, it was a little confusing and hectic but the employees pointed us in the right directions and we got checked in in almost no time. From curb to sitting down waiting for boarding, it was less than 20 minutes….but that’s because we got there early. Around 11:30/11:45 it started to get very busy and crowded…FAST. Boarding had not yet started and I was starting to get hungry….and the terminal was getting hot. But lucky for me, boarding started not long after that and I was up in the Garden Café enjoying my first of many meals no later than 12:30. After lunch we decided to head to the room to drop off our carry-ons. My mom had purchased the birthday decorations and we were happy to see that they were already up when we got there. The package also included a cake, which tasted like strawberry shortcake to me, and a cupcake I received on day 2 I think it was. What puzzled us though is that there was three of us in the cabin and only two plates for the cake and only two beach towels…we requested extra from our steward and she did give it to us but I found it a little odd that in a cabin for three we only got two. We had an oceanview room and I was surprised at how spacious it was...the pictures always make it look smaller in my opinion, but there was plenty of space for all of our stuff. I also have to note that the shower is awesome! Very large and probably the best shower I've ever had on a cruise ship (besides the one I had in an accessible room on Allure of the Seas).

After relaxing in the room, we walked around the ship to check everything out and made a visit to the spa to get a tour. I must say it was a nice spa and the thermal suite looked awesome!

Fast forward to sail away.

After our muster drill we went up onto the pool deck for sail away. I was so excited, as this is usually one of my favorite parts of the cruise. Listening to the music, hearing the horn blow, and seeing the city gradually get farther away as you sail towards open water. I was also excited to go under the skyway bridge. My mom had sailed from Tampa once and hyped it up as a really cool experience. I already had a strawberry daiquiri in my hand and I was ready to be at sea, heading to Key West. Well…..that didn’t happen. Around 3:45/4:00 pm the announcement was made that the Port of Tampa had been closed due to fog and we would not be able to sail until the port opened again. WHAT? Fog? Where??? I honestly just had to laugh because this day was clear as glass. No fog in sight, not even further out into the bay from what we could see. Now, I know fog delays are not uncommon in the wee hours of the night and early mornings but at 4:00 pm, really? OK well whatever, the port was closed and not much Norwegian can do except wait….so that’s what we did. We waited another hour or so before giving up and going to dinner. We ate in the Grand Pacific Dining Room and I was happy with my food. I ordered the French Onion Soup, Thai Green Curry Chicken, and Warm Chocolate Volcano, and it was all delicious….oh what I would do for another warm chocolate volcano. After Dinner, I honestly can’t remember what we did except walk around the ship some more, unpack our suitcases, etc. Once it got to be 8 pm and we were still in port I started to really worry. Would we make it to Key West? Would I get to see the skyway bridge? Will our cruise turn in to a 5 night cruise to Tampa only? Around 9:00 me and my mom went to Jasmine Garden to try out their pot stickers and while they were good, they weren’t GREAT. It was then that we got the dreaded announcement….our port of Key West had been compromised. Now, this has got to be without a doubt the absolute worst first day I had ever had on any cruise. Not so much because of anything Norwegian did, but it sucked to still be docked in Tampa at 9:00 pm, news that we were skipping Key West (which was a big factor in us booking the cruise, as we specifically were looking at cruises that went to Key West), and only guesses as to when we’d be leaving. I honestly didn’t think we would leave until the next afternoon since I knew the “fog” would most likely not clear until then. I couldn’t help it but break down then and started tearing up as I ran back to my cabin. It was my birthday and here I was missing sail away, my view of the skyway bridge, and missing Key West. I knew how lucky I was to even be on the ship though and I felt bad that I was even feeling bad in the first place, if that makes any sense. It was just overall a bad day and I laid in bed until I checked my phone around 10:30 and saw a post on the cruise critic boards that suggested we’d be leaving the port soon. I changed my clothes and went up to the sun deck, and sure enough we were finally pulling away from the dock. I don’t think I’ve ever been so happy to leave a port. I checked to see where we were headed, as I was still clinging onto hope that maybe we would make it to Key West! Unfortunately, I found we were heading straight for Cozumel. Now I was wondering what the itinerary would look like the rest of the cruise. Would we be doing the itinerary in reverse? Would they add a different port like Costa Maya or Belize? No one knew and the anticipation of not knowing was killing me. Even though it was now 11:00 I tried to stay up long enough to see the bridge, but alas I just grew tired around 1:30 am and went to my cabin to sleep for our “new” sea day tomorrow. I will say during our time of waiting for the bridge, we just had to make a quick stop at Blue Lagoon for some midnight snacks. I ordered spinach and artichoke dip and the chicken fingers with a “southern” style biscuit and fries. My mom got the tomato soup and my dad got the buffalo wings. The spinach and artichoke dip, chicken fingers, fries, and soup were all good. My dad didn’t care for the wings and I thought the biscuit that came with my tenders was awful. It was so dry and crumbly, not a southern style biscuit at all, but oh well, it’s not the end of the world.

Day 1 Summary and final thoughts: Port of Tampa is not my favorite and can be hectic and confusing, the food on board was awesome so far, the thermal suite in the spa was nice and looking back, I wish I had purchased a day pass, the dinks so far were pretty strong as I was already feeling the effects after just 2 drinks which is not normal for me, in the dining room they sat us at a table for 4 and just added an extra seat. I’m not sure why, but this happened at every restaurant except for Alizar on the last night…our group did not have small people by any means and sometimes they could have easily sat us at a 5 or 6 top. Not a big deal until we got to Moderno, but that’s a story for later on in the review. I hate “fog” and wish things had been communicated more clearly once we left (where we were going, how long we’d be there, our new itinerary basically) although I do understand it was growing late and people were probably already sleeping. I was just being impatient and wanted to know what was happening. Also, as mentioned it was very clear around the time we were supposed to leave Tampa...no fog in sight. When we actually left Tampa and were about an hour into the bay, it was so foggy you couldn't see the pool deck from the sun deck...weird :confused:

I didn't take many pictures but here are a few I did take:

Waiting to board

My birthday cake

Room Decorations

This was taken close to our sail away time...look at all the fog.

The pool deck before the construction started (more on that later)

Next Up: First Day at Sea and Cozumel Day 1

Still to come: Cozumel Day 2, Second Day at Sea, Disembarkation, Final thoughts

Bummer you missed Key West. :( I've always preferred cruising out of Tampa when we lived there because I really hate cruising out of Miami. lol. Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

Bummer you missed Key West. :( I've always preferred cruising out of Tampa when we lived there because I really hate cruising out of Miami. lol. Looking forward to reading the rest of your review.

Yeah, I still am disappointed about not stopping there but at least this gives us another reason to book a cruise :cool: Haven't cruised out of Miami since 2008, and it was very nice being home before 10 am, before we moved to Tampa I lived in Atlanta which was always a nice 7+ hour drive. I do love the port of Tampa for being so close.

Did you happen to make note of who the Senior Bridge and Hotel Officers were?

following as we leave in 7 days

Looking forward to hearing about the construction. We leave next Sunday on the Jade.

Was on same cruise, getting ready to start typing up my review, it might come in pieces! (It took us just a LITTLE longer to get home than 25 minutes... :) We arrived at our house around 545.)

Hope you enjoyed celebrating your birthday! Will be following along.

Enjoying your review so far.

Following along...can you please tell us how you liked your cabin? I am looking at the same type on the Gem (sister ship). Also if you were on deck 4 or 5 and any noise issues.

Hello all, I had hopes that I would be able to post more of my review today but between driving back to university and classes resuming, I've just been too busy. I do have some down time tomorrow between classes so I'm hoping to be able to get some of it up tomorrow!

Following along...can you please tell us how you liked your cabin? I am looking at the same type on the Gem (sister ship). Also if you were on deck 4 or 5 and any noise issues.

I was on deck 5 in cabin 5006 (forward on the starboard side) and had no noise issues. I was worried being so close to the theater that there would be noise, but I can't complain about it being noisy. The only negative thing I can say is that on our last sea day, we were in rough seas so I felt the motion a little more in my cabin than I did midship. I did like being a lower deck though because I felt the motion less down on deck 5 than I did up in some of the lounges on higher decks.

Nice photos, following.

Thank you Lightning Rays! Good to know about your cabin.

Yeah, I still am disappointed about not stopping there but at least this gives us another reason to book a cruise :cool: Haven't cruised out of Miami since 2008, and it was very nice being home before 10 am, before we moved to Tampa I lived in Atlanta which was always a nice 7+ hour drive. I do love the port of Tampa for being so close.

Hi

Enjoying your review.

Just wondering if you meant to say you had just turned 21? I ask because of the alcoholic beverages you were drinking. Does NCL have a younger age than 21 to serve alcohol?

First Day at Sea

Me and my mom woke up and headed to the Great Outdoors for breakfast somewhere in between 9:00 am and 9:30. To get to the Great Outdoors we had to first walk across the pool deck. On our way to the buffet we noticed most of the deck chairs had already been claimed, either by people, or towels (lol). Yes, the chair hogs were out in full force during this cruise, but we didn’t mind since we were able to find 2 nice chairs by the pool. We set are stuff down and went to go grab a quick breakfast before going back to enjoy the pool. At breakfast I had the raisin French toast, some bacon, and hash browns. Now I do not like raisins in my French toast, but I figured I’d try it anyway and figured I could just pick out the raisins. Well…if you love raisins then you’ll love this French toast because it had a strong raisin taste, even after I picked them out. My fault for getting something I didn’t like, I know. The bacon and hash browns were both very good, I enjoyed them a lot. When I was done eating, I went back to my chair right away because even though I had only been gone 10/15 minutes, I didn’t want anyone messing with or moving my stuff. Also I hate when people claim a chair and are gone for hours at a time. The weather today was just not cooperating. It was mostly cloudy with a few bits of sunshine here and there, but mostly clouds. I wanted a mimosa and had a very hard time locating bartenders walking around the pool deck so I finally got up and walked over to a bar and ordered one. Now, I don’t know if it’s because it was still before noon or what, but the bar was very short staffed, which resulted in long wait times. When I did get my mimosa though, it was delicious. Mostly champagne with a splash of orange juice, just how I like it. My mom and I pretty much laid out hoping to catch some sun. I noticed them starting to do some work on the waterslide, I thought maybe they were fixing something, but I was way off. More on this later lol. We watched the live band they had, watched kids get kicked out of the adult pool (yup, as soon as they got in the deck attendant came over and explained they were in an adult only pool. NCL gets an A+ from me on monitoring the adults only pool, I’ve found RCCL does virtually nothing to enforce this in their Solarium, at least in my experiences), and watched the Mr. Sexy Legs competition, which is always entertaining to watch. After the competition, we grabbed some lunch in the Garden Café and went down to the cabin to shower and change. We went to the gift shop, casino (I won a whopping $32!), a martini tasting, and then went to dinner in Alizar. The martini tasting was good, some sweet ladies let my family use one of their trays they purchased since they said they didn’t need two, and the only negative thing I can say about that event is the gentleman hosting it had a very soft voice and it was hard to hear him. There was a 30 minute wait to get into Alizar this night, which surprised me. Being that this was my first cruise on NCL I was under the impression that you could show up at any time with no wait, but I guess I should have researched this more. Oh well, not a big deal. We relaxed in one of the lounges and sipped on some champagne until it was our turn to be seated. I may be getting my days mixed up here but I think I had a spring roll, chick cordon bleu, and warm chocolate volcano this night. It was all really good, I loved the chicken and of course you can never go wrong with the chocolate volcano. After dinner I believe we went to the casino for a little bit (lost $20) and then went to bed.

Cozumel Day 1

Because we skipped Key West, it was decided that we would now be doing an overnight in Cozumel. I had mixed emotions on this because I have been to Cozumel several times and was bummed we’d only be getting one port on a 5 day cruise. I was excited though because we had planned to go to Mr. Sanchos and I was slightly disappointed I’d have to miss Senor Frogs, this overnight meant I could do both. Because we had literally all day and night in Cozumel, we decided to sleep in and get off the ship when we felt like it. I think it was around 10 or 10:30 before we went up to the Blue Lagoon for breakfast. I ordered the French toast. Remember how I said I got the Raisin French Toast at Great Outdoors? I was excited to see that Blue Lagoon offered raisin-free French toast…or so I thought. As soon as the waiter set down my plate a wave of disappoint came over me….there were the dreaded raisins. I thought that since the Great Outdoors’ label said “Raisin French Toast” and Blue Lagoon had simply “French Toast” theirs would be different. Oh well, not a big deal, I just kindly explained I didn’t know there were raisins and asked for a ham and cheese omelet instead. I got my omelet within 5 minutes and it was just alright. Not bad but not great either. I mostly just ate the toast that my parents ordered with their meals. I will say though that I loved the Orange juice NCL has…usually cruise ship OJ tastes watered down to me but theirs was really good. After breakfast, we ran back to the room to grab a few things and then went out into Cozumel. The first place we headed to was Mega, if you’ve never been I highly recommend it. We easily saw it from the ship and decided to walk. We stopped at a few gift shops on the way, but if you don’t stop anywhere it’s probably a 5-10 minute walk from where the Jade was docked. Mega is basically a Mexican Walmart and everything is so cheap! We got a bunch of different Mexican candy to try for $6. After that, we went to Senor Frogs for lunch and some drinks. My mom and I split the appetizer sampler, my dad got a Mexican platter. The food was OK, but the real reason we were there was for the drinks. I had a yard of the Big Frog’s (I think) and 2 shots of some blue stuff, I have no idea what it was, but it was good and I could definitely feel myself getting tipsy lol. After Senor Frogs we stopped for a few souvenirs and then back to the ship for naptime. I guess the alcohol really got to me because I slept for a good 2-3 hours before my mom woke me up for dinner. We weren’t feeling like the main dining rooms tonight, so we just went to the Garden Café. While walking across the pool deck to the café I notice that they were deconstructing the waterslide…yikes, doesn’t look good. The main pool was also now closed. Hmm…well I hope they have it reopened for our last sea day or else it’s going to be hectic on the pool deck. Now, onto Dinner. I don’t remember exactly what I had but I remember it was good. I do remember the most important part…dessert. I got a slice of pecan pie and OMG was it delicious. It had chocolate chips in it and it was really just awesome. I love pecan pie and IMO, NCL got it right with theirs. After dinner we went to a comedy show in the stardust. No complaints here. Comedian was funny, not the best I’ve ever seen but it could have been a lot worse. After that we went to the great outdoors and relaxed out there for a while. I indulged in their late night snacks and then went to bed. Tomorrow was Mr. Sancho’s and I was SO excited!

Day 2&3 Summaries and final thoughts: Enjoying the food onboard, it has far exceeded my expectations. Disappointed we did visit another port and only got Cozumel…bummer. I do love Cozumel though and it is much better than having an overnight in Jamaica or Nassau, at least in my opinion. The waterslide situation was really starting to bother me now...day 3 and it's being taken apart :confused:

Here are some more pictures I took these days:

Meant to get a "before" shot but here's the tray for the martini tasting. As you can tell someone loved the now-nonexistent apple martini :rolleyes:

My beloved chocolate volcano

The Jade docked in Cozumel

Some of the local vendors in Cozumel

Next Up: Cozumel Day 2 and Second Day at Sea

Still to come: Disembarkation, Final thoughts

Great review, looking forward to trying the Jade and NCL!

Just a quick post to let you all know that I have not forgotten about my review! I've just been very busy with classes, I will have the last parts of the review up sometime this week!

So far....so good!!! I am on the JADE in April!!!!

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