NCL Jade - 1/16/16 to 1/23/16 Nature's Wrath

[Oakman58]

"Long about 8:00 here came the Dawn waltzing into the harbor like she owned it. She was a sassy gal and was wearing a grin on her bow that ran from port to starboard. Apparently she had pier priority over the Jade and was proud of it."

 

Beautiful pic and great caption!

 

 

Robert

 

Thank you I appreciate that.

[Oakman58]

Just curious--what is on the Health Form that you mention for embarkation? Is it the generic "have you had a fever" one that we saw following the Ebola outbreaks, or is there more to it?

 

Question 1 asked if you had traveled to Guinea or Sierra Leone in the last 30 day.

Q. 2 Asked if you had contact within the last 30 day with someone who had Ebola.

Q. 3 Asked if you were more than 24 months pregnant.

Q 4 Asked if you had a fever plus a sore throat, runny nose, or a cough

Q 5 Asked if you had Diarrhea or had vomiting.

That was pretty much it as I recall.

[Jana60]

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I don't know what the one for NCL looks like but here's an example of carnivals health form.

 

That didn't come out very clear. I'm going to try again.

[Linda the Book Lover]

Question 1 asked if you had traveled to Guinea or Sierra Leone in the last 30 day.

Q. 2 Asked if you had contact within the last 30 day with someone who had Ebola.

Q. 3 Asked if you were more than 24 months pregnant.

Q 4 Asked if you had a fever plus a sore throat, runny nose, or a cough

Q 5 Asked if you had Diarrhea or had vomiting.

That was pretty much it as I recall.

 

What more than 24 months pregnant?? Yikes LOL

[gwsster]

I am enjoying this review! Your photo's along with the written narrative is so refreshing. My DH and I have been on the Jade and it was a wonderful trip from Barcelona in 2010. You...GOM...(Grumpy Old Man) are one seriously funny guy. Thanks for sharing your vacation!

[Oakman58]

Day 5 Continued - Roatan

 

 

Onboard the ship, the captain made an announcement over the speakers that on our second sea day going back to Houston we would encounter rough seas and gale force winds. YIKES, break out the Dramamine and barf bags. Just a quick FYI here, there is an online website that sells a book called “Barfbag Origami” just in case you’re looking for something to do with an unused barf bag.

 

Our ship was scheduled to depart Roatan at 4:00 PM but there was an equipment failure when hoisting lifeboat number 9 back into its position on the ship. We were delayed until repairs were completed and the Jade finally departed at 5:00 PM

Lifeboat #9 stuck.

 

 

A crewman comes from some hidden recess with the offending part.

 

 

 

J & M had made dinner reservations for the four of us at Cagney’s Steakhouse around 7:30 PM. We met them in the Star Bar for pre-dinner cocktails at 5:30. The Star Bar is located on deck 13 and directly across from Cagney’s on deck 13.

 

Once we were seated in Cagney’s, M ordered the Ribeye while the rest of us ordered the Filet Mignon. The staff was excellent but we did have an issue with our meal. Both my wife and I ordered our steaks to be cooked medium, hers was served rare while mine was served well done. Our waiter was concerned as was the Maître d’ and both offered to get new steaks. Nope, I’m not about to send meat back to the chef which in essence is telling him he screwed up big time. I’ve heard too many horror stories from folks in the food industry about what chefs have done to the food when they get ticked off. I will eat meat that ranges from rare to well done so I traded steaks with my wife. My wife’s steak really was quite rare. Years ago she used to prefer her steaks well done so she was good with the trade. My wife felt the Maître d should have, at the very least, offered us a free dessert.

 

It wasn’t all bad though. I had ordered the bean chili casserole with bacon as a side dish. Wow, that dish was absolutely outstanding. I’d love to have the recipe for that dish.

 

 

 

 

After dinner we went to the 9:30 show at the Stardust Theater which featured the comedy of David Naster. While we were waiting for the show to begin a gentleman in a clown hat sat down in the audience near us. I thought for sure he was tonight’s comedian but no, it was just a passenger wearing a goofy hat.

 

 

 

David Naster was a very good comedian with a great delivery and rapport with the audience . Definitely a show worth going to if he is on your cruise.

 

After the show let out, we said goodnight to J & M and headed to our cabin for a good night’s sleep.

[Oakman58]

I am enjoying this review! Your photo's along with the written narrative is so refreshing. My DH and I have been on the Jade and it was a wonderful trip from Barcelona in 2010. You...GOM...(Grumpy Old Man) are one seriously funny guy. Thanks for sharing your vacation!

 

My wife thinks I'm funny too cause she's always telling me, "I laugh at you all the time." :p

[Oakman58]

What more than 24 months pregnant?? Yikes LOL

 

I must be hitting the tequila again. LOL!

[pr0pel]

Was there any shopping in the port area in Roatan? If you took the tender back around 2, you had about 2 hours to look around. Is there anything good?

[Oakman58]

Was there any shopping in the port area in Roatan? If you took the tender back around 2, you had about 2 hours to look around. Is there anything good?

 

We didn’t spend any time at the port on this trip. Here’s a picture of Roatan when we were docked there on the Dawn last February. There is some shopping but it is your typical touristy stuff. There was a little shack where you could get your passport stamped if you are so inclined. In the photo it’s the little white building with the 5 on the front, about mid-pic and to the right.

 

[Linda the Book Lover]

I must be hitting the tequila again. LOL!

 

 

Cheers!:D

[pr0pel]

We didn’t spend any time at the port on this trip. Here’s a picture of Roatan when we were docked there on the Dawn last February. There is some shopping but it is your typical touristy stuff. There was a little shack where you could get your passport stamped if you are so inclined. In the photo it’s the little white building with the 5 on the front, about mid-pic and to the right.

 

Thanks! We're booked for Maya Key as well, how did you like it? Was it crowded considering there are a few other ships docked on the same day?

[Oakman58]

Thanks! We're booked for Maya Key as well, how did you like it? Was it crowded considering there are a few other ships docked on the same day?

 

Even with four ships in port Maya Key didn't feel crowded at all except at lunch time. We were in a long line waiting to be served because it was noon time. Had we eaten earlier or closer to 1:00 there wouldn't have been any wait to be served food.

 

The four of us really enjoyed Maya Key.

[Oakman58]

DAY 6 – SEA DAY

 

We woke up to rough seas and windy conditions again this morning. What the heck, I thought the captain told us it would be rough on our second sea day heading back to Houston, not the first. The early morning wind had somewhat of a chill to it also.

 

Before breakfast I went down to deck 7 and walked a number of laps to get a little daily exercise. Walking the promenade deck for a mile or two creates the illusion in my mind that I’m doing all the right and healthy things on this cruise. This is just an illusion though as I spend the rest of the day throwing down enough booze and food to bring my cardiologist to his knees.

 

During breakfast I felt a bit of sadness as I realized we only had two more days of cruising and I would no longer be having eggs, sausage, two types of bacon, and buttery toast for breakfast every morning. A tear formed in my eye and dropped onto my plate as I finished my last piece of pure whole hog pork sausage.

 

At 10:00 we headed up to the Spinnaker Lounge for the Senior Officers’ Profile. This was an informal Q & A session hosted by the cruise director. I thought it was going to be boring but instead it was not only informative but quite funny at times as the ship’s officers answered questions from the passengers.

 

From the Spinnaker we headed down to the casino to make a donation to NCL but instead I walked away winning $19. That’s a big win for me and for just a moment in time I was no longer a grumpy old man but instead, downright cheerful…almost.

 

11:15 found us in the Atrium for the Battle of the Cake Masters. Being a sea day, it was heavily attended by the passengers. One of the ship’s pastry chefs challenged two passengers chosen from the audience to follow his instructions and decorate a cake. It was very entertaining and the lady on the right actually did a great job and won the competition by a vote of the audience.

 

By now the sea had calmed as did the wind so we had lunch with J & M at the Great Outdoors. With the day becoming so beautiful we stayed outside and played one of our favorite games, Left, Right, Center. You can Google that name if you haven’t heard of that game, it’s simple and fun to play. You can play L,R,C using pennies, nickels, or depending on your economic status in life, even dimes.

 

After tiring of that game we all headed back up to the Spinnaker to play the Blackjack machine. Remember the $19 I won earlier? Well, being the generous guy that I am, I gave it right back to NCL.

 

As we were playing blackjack we noticed some crewmembers preparing the stage for an upcoming event. Looking at the Freestyle Daily we saw that the Splashacular Extravaganza Circus Show would begin at 3:30. We had no idea what the heck that was so we grabbed a seat and waited for the show to begin.

 

The show turned out to be the kids from the ship’s youth program, Splash Academy, performing circus tricks they had been practicing all week for their parents. The show was really cute and it was obvious the crewmembers in charge of Splash Academy do a great job with the kids. The smallest of the kids had their faces painted and were the circus animals. Here’s a picture of the “animals” letting out a big ROAR!

 

After the show we went back to our cabins to clean up for dinner. While we were in our cabin the captain announced once again that tomorrow we would encounter gale force winds and rough seas up to 6 meters. Oh well, we were enjoying nice weather at the moment and there was a beautiful sunset tonight.

 

We met up with J & M for pre-dinner drinks at Magnum’s. The four of us had dinner at the Alizar restaurant again tonight. I can’t say enough good things about the service we received and the quality of the food we were served at the two main complimentary restaurants.

 

After dinner we went over to the Medusa Lounge to watch some Karaoke. This is just my opinion, and I might be wrong, but it seems to me that NCL’s free Unlimited Beverage Package has really increased audience participation in Karaoke.

 

My wife and I were feeling a bit tired so we said goodnight to J & M and left them in the Medusa Lounge listening to all those “natural born singers.”

 

Tomorrow would be our last full day on the Jade. Bummer!

[Jana60]

Does Cagney's have the whole lobster on the menu and how much does it cost. If Cagneys have gone totally to a la carte pricing, how does that affect those of us who received a dining package as part of our cruise???

Edited January 30, 2016 by Jana60

[Bluesmania]

More, more, more...............................

 

Nothing too 'grumpy' at the mo - is that to come??

 

Blues

[Oakman58]

Does Cagney's have the whole lobster on the menu and how much does it cost. If Cagneys have gone totally to a la carte pricing, how does that affect those of us who received a dining package as part of our cruise???

 

Cagney’s offered two dishes with lobster, one was lobster tail and shrimp linguine ($21) and the other was a whole cold water lobster ($25). I didn’t understand the pricing of the whole lobster. You could order a whole cold water lobster a la carte in the main dining rooms for $19.99 which was the same size as the one Cagney's.

 

How the a la carte menus affect the dining packages is beyond my scope of knowledge. You might look for another thread about the UDP and ask your question there. Sorry I couldn’t help you more.

[Oakman58]

More, more, more...............................

 

Nothing too 'grumpy' at the mo - is that to come??

 

Blues

 

Sorry for the delay in posting about our last day at sea. We were out of town most of yesterday and this morning visiting our daughter and son-in-law. Our daughter is going to make us first-time grandparents in one month or less and we’re very excited about it. It will probably even turn me into a happy old man.

 

I’ll be posting about our last sea day early this evening. By the way thanks for reading my report.

[Linda the Book Lover]

Congratulations to all of you! There is nothing better than being grandparents. :D One granddaughter just dotes on her grandfather and what ever he says is like a voice from the heavens. They go trick or treating every year and she always picks something for Grandpa to wear. Oh yes he is still grumpy but not to the grandkids...LOL

[Sonnieb]

I've never sailed NCL before, so "Thank You" for sharing your cruise. Being in the Fort Worth area, I guess if we are going to sail NCL out of Houston ... guess we need to get busy ... as they will be leaving Houston in mid-April.

[Oakman58]

DAY 7 – SEA DAY

Are you OK honey?

 

My poor wife had a very rough night. She either had the stomach flu or the norovirus, regardless she had to spend a lot of time in the bathroom. I’m not going into any of the details of this event but we did have a special request for our room steward who took care of us like a champ. He did get a HUGE tip from me and I also filled out one of those NCL cruise hero cards for him.

 

We were able to control my wife’s symptoms by mid-morning with the medications we always bring on our trips with us and she slept the rest of the morning. Not wanting to disturb my wife, I left the cabin to wander the ship aimlessly like a lost soul on a ghost ship.

 

My plan was to do some walking on the promenade deck and when I got down to deck 7 I was surprised to see that it was closed. I take it for granted the promenade deck was closed due to weather conditions and for safety reasons. The promenade remained closed for the entire day.

 

I went up to deck 13 to walk the outdoor track but it was so windy I didn’t even complete one lap. I decided to go back inside and head for the bridge viewing room on deck 11 to check on our captain. Believe it or not, with the strong winds and big waves the ship was actually making a creaking noise as it plowed through the waves.

 

The captain and crew on the bridge were sitting in their chairs and seemed unconcerned with the weather and the waves. I know today’s modern ships don’t have the huge wooden steering wheels of old but I’d feel better if NCL would install one and have a crewmember turning it this way and that way as we cruised the ocean. With the modern computer technology we have today, I couldn’t tell if the captain and crew were steering the ship or playing the computer version of “Battleship” on their monitors.

 

By 11 AM the air temperature had dropped to 60 degrees and with the winds blowing at 42 MPH I didn’t spend much time outside. I didn’t think it was supposed to get this cold in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

My wife was still sleeping so I called J & M and joined them for lunch in the Grand Pacific dining room. I really loved the elegant ambiance of the Grand Pacific and I wish we would have eaten more meals there.

 

After lunch the ship was really into very rough seas with waves to 18 feet. When the bow of the ship would plow through the waves it would throw a huge wall of water off to the side.

 

 

I went back to our cabin mid-afternoon and found my wife sitting up in bed and feeling much better, but still not ready to eat anything. She was feeling well enough that we were able to get most of our packing done since we would be leaving the ship tomorrow. With most of the packing done we both took a short nap.

 

Although we didn’t have a beautiful sunset this evening, the sunlight shining through the mostly cloudy skies did provide a dramatic image.

 

We met up with J & M for dinner in the Alizar restaurant. This was Prime Rib night and while my wife was feeling better, she only ate a small salad. Myself, J, and M all had the Prime Rib and it was outstanding. After dinner my wife was feeling somewhat tired so we went back to our cabin and retired for the evening.

 

DAY 8 – HOUSTON, TX

 

We both woke up early and I think the ship arrived at the Port of Houston just after 6 AM. We finished the little bit of packing we had to do and then ate breakfast at the Garden Café. My wife felt much better but even so ate a very light breakfast.

 

We met with J & M by the Jasmine restaurant to walk off the ship with our luggage. Their concierge took us the quick and easy way off the ship reserved for suite passengers. In no time at all we were off the ship, through customs, and in a taxi heading to the airport.

 

We had preprinted our airline boarding passes on the ship so we dropped off our luggage at the Southwest counter, passed though TSA security, and were sitting at the wrong departure gate in short order.

 

Actually when we first sat down we were at the correct departure gate, but at some point a gate change was announced and we missed it. Eventually we realized something was wrong and moved to the correct the gate. We had a plane change in New Orleans and then onto our home in St. Louis. Home of the Rams, NOT!

 

J & M, if you’re reading this, thank you so much for joining us on this cruise we had a great time with the two of you.

 

I want to thank the Cruise Critic members for all of the kind comments about my report, you folks are great.

[DMH15]

Thank you so much. So sorry about your wife's illness. I went through that with my mom and I found myself wandering about the ship too.

[workroombee]

I have enjoyed this review so very much--I'm sad to see it come to an end! We're sailing very soon on the Jade and it was wonderful to read so many details and see so many pictures. Thank you for posting it!

[pr0pel]

Did you just hail a cab at the pier or did you have an arranged transport? How did it go? We've got a 1:30 pm out of IAH and trying to figure out the best way to get there.

Edited February 1, 2016 by pr0pel

[texastennis]

Completely loved this review, and your puns and quips had me laughing out loud at times. The photos are wonderful!

 

I'm glad that your wife is feeling better, and you'd be hard-pressed to convince me that you're in any way "grumpy."

 

I sail on the Jade in a long 42 days! Thanks for giving me, and everyone else who enjoyed this review a nice description of the ship.:)