Live on Jade No-rwegian

[exhorter]

No need to go into detail. Save that for later. This is a no-no-no-no. Really just unbelievably bad. There’s no a category one could ask about that I’d give a thumbs up to. Sad to have saved so long and worked so hard to be here in this place. There are obviously loyalty cruisers who have sailed many trips with them. So our feelings won’t be shared by many, but we are platinum on two other lines and would enjoy a 3 day on either one of them  more than this

[dexddd]

Ok.

[luv2kroooz]

Sorry to hear. Share some details later to give context to your experience and help others.

[hallux]

Since this is a "Live on..." thread, I assume more detail is coming?

[Yesimapirate]

My experiences post covid is that the Jade is a poorly managed ship.  We had a terrible experience last October so while the post is terribly vague I do understand the frustration. 

 

We've had completely different experiences on other ships in the NCL fleet.  

[Cruising Lynne]

2 hours ago, exhorter said:

No need to go into detail. Save that for later. This is a no-no-no-no. Really just unbelievably bad. There’s no a category one could ask about that I’d give a thumbs up to. Sad to have saved so long and worked so hard to be here in this place. There are obviously loyalty cruisers who have sailed many trips with them. So our feelings won’t be shared by many, but we are platinum on two other lines and would enjoy a 3 day on either one of them  more than this

Would like to know what itinerary you are on and which port you started at? I just booked Jade for next September. I certainly hope they straighten things out by then. I am also curious which other lines you have sailed so that I can understand your perspective a little more?

[exhorter]

Sorry to be vague. For us the list is too long to include in a board post. Hope to make a review after returning home. We just came from lunch where the starter and entree were both burnt not overdone, burnt. It was hard to believe a waiter would actually offer it. But it is in line with the overall presentation and quality of the food in every venue. Bland is an understatement. We’ve left way too much food on the plate with no real alternatives. Specially restaurants offer pretty good food but really in line with what should be offered in the main dining venues. Customer service is woefully lacking. Very little is done in accordance with the stated instructions beginning with check in in Athens. Getting the room cleaned? Good luck if if is done by time for the evening meal. While not all staff are unfriendly, most are not engaging at all. Again, this cruise line is the favorite of many and more power to them. We do not expect the luxury experience. But to include this to upper scale lines is a stretch 

[Ken the cruiser]

9 minutes ago, exhorter said:

Sorry to be vague. For us the list is too long to include in a board post. Hope to make a review after returning home. We just came from lunch where the starter and entree were both burnt not overdone, burnt. It was hard to believe a waiter would actually offer it. But it is in line with the overall presentation and quality of the food in every venue. Bland is an understatement. We’ve left way too much food on the plate with no real alternatives. Specially restaurants offer pretty good food but really in line with what should be offered in the main dining venues. Customer service is woefully lacking. Very little is done in accordance with the stated instructions beginning with check in in Athens. Getting the room cleaned? Good luck if if is done by time for the evening meal. While not all staff are unfriendly, most are not engaging at all. Again, this cruise line is the favorite of many and more power to them. We do not expect the luxury experience. But to include this to upper scale lines is a stretch 

Sorry to hear you're not having a good time. We were on the Jade for 38 days last fall from Athens to Cape Town and had a great time. But then we were in an aft-facing Club Balcony, ate breakfast outside every morning up on the aft on the Lido deck, and dined in the evening more than half of the time in specialty restaurants, as we agree the food in the MDR really wasn't all that special. But at the same time, the cruise fares were more than reasonable when compared to what other cruise lines would have charged for a similar cruise. If anyone is interested, my Live From thread is in my below signature.

[PATRLR]

4 hours ago, exhorter said:

No need to go into detail.

Actually, there is a need if this is going to be called a "live" thread.

[complawyer]

hey! exhorter!!! you are 100% correct in  one aspect of your post. your feelings  are not shared by either my wife, myself or our usual travel partner. we've sailed on almost all of the ncl fleet, on the jade multiple times and have had no problems, whatsoever. if your food comes burnt, send it back. our cabins have always been cleaned and refreshed whenever we returned from a shore excursion. what specifically was lacking in customer service? if youre coming on cruise critic with the intent to bash ncl (and im no ncl cheerleader) surely you can be more specific. you liked the food in the specialty restaurants, and if they were offered in the mdr, they wouldnt be special anymore. you can get a cagneys steak in the mdr now (at least on our latest cruise) sorry, without more information, i cannot sympathize with you in any way after 25 cruises with ncl since 2010, i still find very little (if anything) to complain about. what ever may have happened on any of our cruises, only reached the level of minor annoyances, if that.

 

if in fact you choose never to sail with ncl, remember the old saying one bad apple dont spoil  the whole bunch!

[IAcruising]

6 hours ago, exhorter said:

 But to include this to upper scale lines is a stretch 

 

This might be the primary cause of your disappointment. What made you think NCL is an "upper scale" line? It's a mass-market line.

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by IAcruising

[cruiseny4life]

1 minute ago, IAcruising said:

 

This might be the primary cause of your disappointment. What made you think NCL is an "upper scale" line? It's a mass-market line.

 

The language by Frankie Boy before he ditched the company probably. There was all sorts of talk on how NCL was going more luxurious with the launch of Pr1ma class ships. I don't think @exhorter believes NCL IS upper scale. I think they meant NCL was positioning themselves as higher up the line than mass market. We know they were just blowing smoke saying this, but gosh Frankie Boy did say it a lot. Dirty Harry was in on it too, but not to such a degree as Frankie Boy.

[Liljo22]

Sorry to hear you are having a bad cruise but who is including this as an upper scale cruise line.  Its a mass market cruise line with Carnival and Royal.  The little you described shouldn't happen though.   

[schmoopie17]

So...you got burnt food and you accepted it? Would you accept burnt food in a restaurant at home? 

 

As others have pointed out, I don't believe you understand the concept of a "live" trip report. Surely you have more to report on than just your burnt (or bland) food.

 

Edited October 12, 2023 by schmoopie17

[hallux]

26 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

I don't believe you understand the concept of a "live" trip report.

I've reported the thread for the misleading title.  OP has been here since 2004 with fewer than 30 posts and I think saw a 'trigger word' to get people to read the thread...

[schmoopie17]

6 hours ago, complawyer said:

 

 remember the old saying one bad apple dont spoil  the whole bunch!

Damn...now I'll have that Osmonds song in my head all day.

[DRedmond]

I have 8 family members on this same cruise. They have been having a fabulous time and have nothing but good things to say.  It is unfortunate a war started in Isreal the day the ship set sail but NCL has even given 2 alternate port stops to make up for it.  My family has been more than happy.

[Ellis1138]

I'm so sorry you had a bad time on the Jade (or are currently having a bad time.) As others mentioned, NCL is the same level as Carnival and Royal Caribbean, a mostly cheap and affordable line. NCLH's upper line is Oceania, I think. Never been on that line, since I can't afford it.

 

If the food isn't to your liking, you can ask them to make it right. (If you can do so pleasantly.)  I can't attest to room cleaning, because once I get all my allergy stuff set up on my room, no one else is supposed to touch it and I clean my own cabin.

 

Maybe things will get better before your cruise ends.

[exhorter]

My sincere apologies especially to NCL loyalists and those looking forward to a cruise with NCL. Our first cruise was on the tiny Carnival “Carnivale” in 1992. It’s true we haven’t sailed in a good while since my wife’s breast cancer diagnosis. We planned this trip in January as a celebration of our 50th and her first clear mammogram looking forward to the last of every 3 months that comes when we return home. If that one is clear she can return to yearly. It’s is obvious that my disappointment in not providing her the trip we hoped for colored my feelings and the words I used to describe them. I should not have made the post. I will leave Cruise Critic as a member with my apologies to all that I have offended 

[laudergayle]

16 minutes ago, exhorter said:

My sincere apologies especially to NCL loyalists and those looking forward to a cruise with NCL. Our first cruise was on the tiny Carnival “Carnivale” in 1992. It’s true we haven’t sailed in a good while since my wife’s breast cancer diagnosis. We planned this trip in January as a celebration of our 50th and her first clear mammogram looking forward to the last of every 3 months that comes when we return home. If that one is clear she can return to yearly. It’s is obvious that my disappointment in not providing her the trip we hoped for colored my feelings and the words I used to describe them. I should not have made the post. I will leave Cruise Critic as a member with my apologies to all that I have offended 

Please don’t apologize.  I read that this was your 50th anniversary and knew it was meant to be very special.  And now knowing about your wife’s breast cancer recovery makes the experience even more important to you both.  Unfortunately so much of the elegant, “spoil you” magic of cruising pre-pandemic has been lost.  I can certainly understand your disappointment.  Bless you both for many many more years of togetherness.  Hugs my friend.

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, exhorter said:

My sincere apologies especially to NCL loyalists and those looking forward to a cruise with NCL. Our first cruise was on the tiny Carnival “Carnivale” in 1992. It’s true we haven’t sailed in a good while since my wife’s breast cancer diagnosis. We planned this trip in January as a celebration of our 50th and her first clear mammogram looking forward to the last of every 3 months that comes when we return home. If that one is clear she can return to yearly. It’s is obvious that my disappointment in not providing her the trip we hoped for colored my feelings and the words I used to describe them. I should not have made the post. I will leave Cruise Critic as a member with my apologies to all that I have offended 

Stop. You haven't offended anyone. Maybe confused a few, but you're a long time member (I guess in lurk mode). Anyway, you keep on posting. All opinions and viewpoints are welcome (well...you know, unless they're hateful). Let us know how the cruise goes and hopefully a nice recap when you get back. I hope the rest of the cruise goes well and you have many more years together with your lovely bride! 

[md3145]

We went on our first NCL cruise last month on the Jade. We live in Florida so we can just drive to a port. We go on RC to just the Caribbean. We wanted to take a special family trip so decided to fly to Athens, Greece and go on the Jade because of the great airfare deal. Luckily we were in Israel before this terrible fighting began. I have to say to thought the staff was amazing and the food was normal cruise food. I loved this small ship since we normally do mega ships in Florida. We had no complaints about anything. Sorry people have to complain about small things. We had a great family trip!

[FredZiffle]

I can sympathize with your experience.  We took a transatlantic on the Getaway just before the pandemic.  The food was so bad that we were ready to give up cruising.  I started counting the number of individual dishes we had at dinner, and only 2 out of 65 dishes were at least average - a hot wings appetizer and a souffle dessert.  The 63 below average included a steak that was uniformly gray both inside and out and a mixed green salad that had exactly one leaf on it.  Fortunately, we already had another cruise booked which was quite enjoyable and restored our faith.  We've since sailed two more times on the Getaway and never repeated that bad experience.

[itsnotjustme]

Your experience is different than mine.  I hope it improves for you.

 

We were just on the Jade out of Athens for two 7-day cruises back-to-back starting on 27 August. 

 

+ We had a wonderful time.

+ The food was generally excellent (one steak was overdone at Le Bistro.... but not enough to send it back).  The pizza at the buffet was quite good - surprisingly.  And Jasmine was very good too.

+ The entertainment was adequate (realize we live near DC and go to top theater (Hamilton) and music performances (The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift) so NCL will never compete with those.

+ Once a day housekeeping was fine, and the steward almost always hit it while we were out.  She even hung up our laundry when it came back.

+ The ship condition was excellent - but we missed the fish on the carpet telling us which way is forward.

+ The itinerary was great, and we got to Israel before the war!

+ Most shore excursions were very good.

- We had one snarky employee at Guest Relations suggesting 12 liters of water had been delivered to our room and we must have overlooked it.  They made it right in the end.

- One shore excursion was really poor. 2 1/2 hours around the super crowded port area of Mikonos before boarding a bus for an abbreviated island tour.

- We missed a port due to what I believe was NCL's error.  Two hours out of Kusadasi, we turned around and went back to Kusadasi.  The story is we had a group of 9 on board - possibly contracted entertainers - at least some of whom were from Egypt and did not have the required visa to enter the Schengen area.  We were supposed to have two ports that day - Kusadasi 0600 - 1200, and Patmos 1800 - 2400.  We lost Patmos.  NCL gave every passenger $79 OBC.

- We forgot to check what was above us and had a room below the pool deck.  Chair scraping noise was a small annoyance.

 

 

[schmoopie17]

We are THIS CLOSE to booking the Jade for next February. I realize that you have to take all reviews/comments with a grain (make that a mountain) of salt. But this is one ship where the opinions really run the gamut from horrible to fantastic (maybe more-so than even the Epic).

 

I know the description of opinions..."everybody has one..." but I'd like to see a bit more input before we pull the trigger on booking. And, yes...I've read the reviews on CC but those tend to be written by people who have a bone to pick with NCL, in general.

 

Anyone care to offer anything further??

 

Edited October 27, 2023 by schmoopie17