Trip Report: The Jade is quite a gem

[schmoopie17]

Background: We recently completed 14 days on the Jade. Prior to this cruise, we had only been on larger and/or newer NCL ships (Escape, Bliss, Encore and Prima). We were pleasantly surprised by both the size and condition of the Jade. For an old gal, she's holding up quite nicely.

 

Some of you may recall my post a few moons ago regarding the fact that we would be going on this cruise with friends who were neighbors of ours five years ago when we lived in Arizona. Mrs. Schmoopie (more on her later) and the wife of the couple decided to surprise the husband by not telling him we would be going on the cruise with them. Many on CC were appalled that we would do such a thing...while many (like us) thought it would be a wonderful surprise. (Spoiler alert: it was quite wonderful). 

 

We had driven to Tampa from the frozen tundra and we arrived just about the time their plane landed at the Tampa airport. The wife told the husband she had arranged an Uber to pick them up. When we drove up, the wife gave both of us a big hug and the husband stood in amazement, wondering why his wife would hug the Uber driver. After looking closer and seeing who we were, he was immensely surprised and thrilled that we would be joining them. He spent the ride to the hotel telling us how utterly surprised and happy he was about this whole escapade.

 

This would be a good time to expound on Mrs. Schmoopie. Last July, she suffered a severe leg fracture at an outdoor concert. The weather turned threatening with lightning and torrential rain and the concert had to be called off after only three songs. The crowd made a mad dash to get out of the venue and somelady (I use the term loosely, since she was no lady) was pulling a cooler on wheels behind her and she managed to clip Mrs. Schmoopie from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. The "lady' looked back to make sure her cooler was still intact and then kept going. I'd use a different term for this "lady", but the CC censors wouldn't approve. Anyway, an ambulance was called and we spent the rest of the night in the ER, where Mrs. Schmoopie was diagnosed with a Tibia plateau fracture...one of the worst places you can fracture your leg. Eight months later she has remains mobility challenged...which put a damper on our excursion activities, but not our enjoyment of the cruise. By the way, the band at the concert was the Guess Who. They sounded great for the three songs we heard. Now every time I hear one of their songs I cringe from the memory.

 

Okay...enough preliminaries and injury reports. Let's get on the ship and set sail. I'll break this up into categories for ease of reading...or ease of skipping if a category doesn't interest you. And, no...this will not be a detailed description on every single moment on the ship...just the highlights.

 

EMBARKATION: We had arranged for a wheelchair with NCL, just in case it was needed. However, she chose to use her cane and walk/hobble on with the other passengers. We were excited to have our first drink...then we were disappointed because all of the bars were closed until sail away (with the exception of the pool bar, which, of course, was swamped)...but I still managed to run up there and get us a couple of drinks. Hey, we're from Wisconsin...we can drink with the best of them.

 

CABIN: We had a cabin with a large picture window. We normally get a balcony, but the cost of a balcony was $1600 more per person. I figured I could find better use of $3200 on our trip. It was okay, but had nowhere to sit, other than on the bed and the tiny vanity stool. Oh well, we were saving money. A couple of odd things were the sign that said, "Strictly no smoking in bed"...along with the ashtray hanging on the wall above the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom. Apparently it's okay to smoke in the bathroom...but you better not do it in bed!! We had an awesome cabin attendant named Genifer who was constantly cheerful and very helpful.

 

INTERNET: Basically a waste of time, since connecting to anything (even the "free" Cruise Critic) was next to impossible. Here's an example:

Click on Cruise Critic (wait three minutes)...Click on Boards (wait three minutes)...Click Norwegian (wait three minutes)...Click a thread (wait five minutes). Give up.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: They had Wheel of Fortune scheduled in the theater one night for 8:15. They kept having "technical difficulties" for over 30 minutes. They kept encouraging people to sign up/pay even though they were having technical difficulties. Finally, at 8:45 they announced that the technical difficulties were REALLY difficult (and apparently technical) and they would be canceling the show. I should mention that the theater was (maybe) a third full. Seems like people are not happy about the trade-off of entertainment shows vs. game shows. As for other shows, the hypnotist was hokey/annoying (and fake)...the trombonist was hokey (and only so-so), the magician was okay, the comedian was actually pretty funny, the gymnasts were awesome...and the show Elements (which included the magician, acrobats and dancers) was beyond awesome. Beats Wheel of Fortune hands-down. The lounge highlight was the Prelude Duo, great singing and music, featuring a fantastic pianist who gave a couple of solo shows in the atrium during the day. There was also a solo guitarist who was excellent at playing guitar...not so great at singing. Speaking of not so great, they had scheduled a different lounge group to do a "Beatles Tribute" in the Spinnaker lounge one night. For some reason (never explained) the group didn't perform but was replaced by a female piano player/singer who decided to try to do Beatles songs. About midway through the first song, the crowd got up en masse and made a beeline for the exits. I felt bad for the piano player, but whoever had that idea should not be scheduling entertainment. Yes, it was that bad. The cake decorating demo in the atrium one morning was a hoot. Speaking of a hoot, the Captain was highly entertaining and funny at the technical presentation, on stage at the end of Elements, and when he would make daily announcements. This was his last cruise before retirement and he will be missed.

 

FOOD: We didn't eat in the buffet except for grabbing some pizza at lunchtime while sitting at the pool. Some days it was crispy, other days, not so much. But it's cruise ship pizza, so I never expect much. Breakfast most days was in O'Sheahan's and it was generally pretty good. Dinners in the two main dining rooms were consistently very good...even the much maligned New York Strip which was (surprisingly) cooked perfectly and quite tasty. We had specialty restaurant meals in the French and Italian restaurants...both very good. NOTE: The filet in the French place now has the fois gras built into the price on the menu, so if you get the filet there's no way to remove the extra charge even if you don't want the liver goop. We ate in Jasmine, the complimentary Asian restaurant four...count 'em...four times. It was that good. Of course, we don'r have any decent Asian places in our area, so may be it only seemed good. But it seemed damn good to us. And I could eat that tapioca pudding dessert every day of my life.

 

SERVICE: Without exception...exceptional (pardon my redundancy). Probably the best service across the board we've ever had on NCL. Wait...no probably about it. It was the absolute best. Everyone we encountered...Waiters, bussers, hostesses, our cabin attendant, bartenders...you name it. One bartender in particular stood out. We parked ourselves at 4:30 every evening in the Martini Bar and our favorite bartender, Shane, took exceptional (there I go again) care of us. After the first night we never had to order...he was on it. He would whip up Mrs. Schmoopie's cosmo (with a lime) and my double shot of Bulliet on the rocks. And he kept them coming. And coming. We took good care of Shane as well. Unfortunately he had to share his tips with the other bar staff, but they also worked very hard, so it's all good.

 

MISCELLANEOUS: Myself and our surprisee attended the official Veteran's reception in the Spinnaker. Every seat was taken in anticipation of a memorable event. In a word it was...disappointing. They played the National Anthem, asked who in the crowd was in the Army, Navy, etc., brought up a few senior crew members...and then adjourned the event. Ten minutes later. Seriously. Seriously disappointing. NCL does a great job of recognizing Veterans with the discount, medals, pins, etc., so it was surprising how this event went down.

 

We arrived at every port ahead of schedule. So getting off the ship for tours, etc., was not a problem. Seas were exceptionally calm and we had no rain in 14 days.

 

DISEMBARKATION: We purposely waited to be one of the last ones off the ship so as not to hold up others and/or get trampled (again). It was remarkably easy and finding our bags was also easy, since they were about the only ones left in the terminal.

 

So there you have it. Looking forward to our return to the Escape in September in Rome. Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 

[laudergayle]

So happy for your post cruise review.  I would have loved to see your friends reaction when his wife hugged the Uber driver!  Priceless, I’m sure.

 

What were the things you liked in Jasmine?  We’re on the Jewel in 59 days (yes, I’m counting)…and I’d like to try them one night.  We did Jasmine on Jade in 2021 and I wasn’t impressed.

Glad you enjoyed the rest of the food and drinks😊.

 

I guess the void is indeed the entertainment.  Sounds like WOF for a fee is a big ole BUST (surprise).

 

Thanks for sharing!  Now you can get on with your corny humor on CC. Welcome back.

 

Edited March 15 by laudergayle

[JIMESOPUS]

@schmoopie17 I am glad to read about Jade, we had a wonderful time sailing on her back in January. Shane was starting when we left.

[wesorbeth]

Great to here, we will be on the Jade next month.

 

[G-DawgMN]

 Thanks for the report. It’s been a while since we’ve been on an older ship, but I’m glad they’re still worthwhile. 
 

 

[Distinctive-Destinations]

Thanks for the post. We’ll be on 4/9 to the southern Caribbean.

[Wayward Son]

6 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

We were excited to have our first drink...then we were disappointed because all of the bars were closed until sail away (with the exception of the pool bar,

 

What??!!

 

Amazing review, and makes me salivate for ours in 22 days. 

 

But you can't be serious about only one bar open until sail away. Can you be a bit more precise, like, "we didn't visit every bar", or something?

 

[schmoopie17]

10 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

10 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

 

But you can't be serious about only one bar open until sail away. Can you be a bit more precise, like, "we didn't visit every bar", or something?

 

 

I am serious...and don't call me Shirley. Oh wait, obscure "Airplane" reference.

 

Yes, it is a fact that only the pool bar was open until sailaway. They made an announcement and a bit later heard it from the Cruise Director personally. Didn't bother to ask why as I hot-footed it up to deck 12 to procure a couple drinks. I had never seen anything like that before. 

However, only the pool bar was open when we landed in the Cayman Islands. Something about local regulations. 

 

[schmoopie17]

16 hours ago, laudergayle said:

 

What were the things you liked in Jasmine?  We’re on the Jewel in 59 days (yes, I’m counting)…and I’d like to try them one night.  We did Jasmine on Jade in 2021 and I wasn’t impressed.

 

I liked everything I had...which was usually the orange peel beef. The spring rolls were great (I always got a double order), as was the hot and sour soup. Mrs. Schmoopie liked the steamed pot stickers, fried rice and sweet/sour pork. And I already mentioned the pudding. I'm not usually a tapioca fan, but the waiter said it was awesome and if I didn't like it he'd give me my money back 😁. He was right about the awesomeness...I had it all four times. We even asked for the recipe and it showed up in our cabin the next morning.

[njkate]

Thanks for review! Jade has been my favorite ship since doing a trans Atlantic on her in 2019

will be on her in June so happy she’s still a great ship

[schmoopie17]

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wings in O'Sheahan's. There has been much discussion on this board about the quality (or lack thereof) of the wings. But whoever (you know who you are...I'm old and can't remember) suggested ordering the wings crispy with sauce on the side... let me tell you, it made all the difference. 

[DevonianCruiser]

Great to hear 🙂

 

Off the 30 plus cruises I’ve done, my favourite ever was on the Jade so she hols great memories for me.

[lwuest]

15 hours ago, Distinctive-Destinations said:

Thanks for the post. We’ll be on 4/9 to the southern Caribbean.

We are scheduled on this ship too!  

[yakcruiser]

Glad to hear all the good things about the Jade. Will be on for 35 days next spring.

[graphicguy]

21 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Background: We recently completed 14 days on the Jade. Prior to this cruise, we had only been on larger and/or newer NCL ships (Escape, Bliss, Encore and Prima). We were pleasantly surprised by both the size and condition of the Jade. For an old gal, she's holding up quite nicely.

 

Some of you may recall my post a few moons ago regarding the fact that we would be going on this cruise with friends who were neighbors of ours five years ago when we lived in Arizona. Mrs. Schmoopie (more on her later) and the wife of the couple decided to surprise the husband by not telling him we would be going on the cruise with them. Many on CC were appalled that we would do such a thing...while many (like us) thought it would be a wonderful surprise. (Spoiler alert: it was quite wonderful). 

 

We had driven to Tampa from the frozen tundra and we arrived just about the time their plane landed at the Tampa airport. The wife told the husband she had arranged an Uber to pick them up. When we drove up, the wife gave both of us a big hug and the husband stood in amazement, wondering why his wife would hug the Uber driver. After looking closer and seeing who we were, he was immensely surprised and thrilled that we would be joining them. He spent the ride to the hotel telling us how utterly surprised and happy he was about this whole escapade.

 

This would be a good time to expound on Mrs. Schmoopie. Last July, she suffered a severe leg fracture at an outdoor concert. The weather turned threatening with lightning and torrential rain and the concert had to be called off after only three songs. The crowd made a mad dash to get out of the venue and somelady (I use the term loosely, since she was no lady) was pulling a cooler on wheels behind her and she managed to clip Mrs. Schmoopie from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. The "lady' looked back to make sure her cooler was still intact and then kept going. I'd use a different term for this "lady", but the CC censors wouldn't approve. Anyway, an ambulance was called and we spent the rest of the night in the ER, where Mrs. Schmoopie was diagnosed with a Tibia plateau fracture...one of the worst places you can fracture your leg. Eight months later she has remains mobility challenged...which put a damper on our excursion activities, but not our enjoyment of the cruise. By the way, the band at the concert was the Guess Who. They sounded great for the three songs we heard. Now every time I hear one of their songs I cringe from the memory.

 

Okay...enough preliminaries and injury reports. Let's get on the ship and set sail. I'll break this up into categories for ease of reading...or ease of skipping if a category doesn't interest you. And, no...this will not be a detailed description on every single moment on the ship...just the highlights.

 

EMBARKATION: We had arranged for a wheelchair with NCL, just in case it was needed. However, she chose to use her cane and walk/hobble on with the other passengers. We were excited to have our first drink...then we were disappointed because all of the bars were closed until sail away (with the exception of the pool bar, which, of course, was swamped)...but I still managed to run up there and get us a couple of drinks. Hey, we're from Wisconsin...we can drink with the best of them.

 

CABIN: We had a cabin with a large picture window. We normally get a balcony, but the cost of a balcony was $1600 more per person. I figured I could find better use of $3200 on our trip. It was okay, but had nowhere to sit, other than on the bed and the tiny vanity stool. Oh well, we were saving money. A couple of odd things were the sign that said, "Strictly no smoking in bed"...along with the ashtray hanging on the wall above the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom. Apparently it's okay to smoke in the bathroom...but you better not do it in bed!! We had an awesome cabin attendant named Genifer who was constantly cheerful and very helpful.

 

INTERNET: Basically a waste of time, since connecting to anything (even the "free" Cruise Critic) was next to impossible. Here's an example:

Click on Cruise Critic (wait three minutes)...Click on Boards (wait three minutes)...Click Norwegian (wait three minutes)...Click a thread (wait five minutes). Give up.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: They had Wheel of Fortune scheduled in the theater one night for 8:15. They kept having "technical difficulties" for over 30 minutes. They kept encouraging people to sign up/pay even though they were having technical difficulties. Finally, at 8:45 they announced that the technical difficulties were REALLY difficult (and apparently technical) and they would be canceling the show. I should mention that the theater was (maybe) a third full. Seems like people are not happy about the trade-off of entertainment shows vs. game shows. As for other shows, the hypnotist was hokey/annoying (and fake)...the trombonist was hokey (and only so-so), the magician was okay, the comedian was actually pretty funny, the gymnasts were awesome...and the show Elements (which included the magician, acrobats and dancers) was beyond awesome. Beats Wheel of Fortune hands-down. The lounge highlight was the Prelude Duo, great singing and music, featuring a fantastic pianist who gave a couple of solo shows in the atrium during the day. There was also a solo guitarist who was excellent at playing guitar...not so great at singing. Speaking of not so great, they had scheduled a different lounge group to do a "Beatles Tribute" in the Spinnaker lounge one night. For some reason (never explained) the group didn't perform but was replaced by a female piano player/singer who decided to try to do Beatles songs. About midway through the first song, the crowd got up en masse and made a beeline for the exits. I felt bad for the piano player, but whoever had that idea should not be scheduling entertainment. Yes, it was that bad. The cake decorating demo in the atrium one morning was a hoot. Speaking of a hoot, the Captain was highly entertaining and funny at the technical presentation, on stage at the end of Elements, and when he would make daily announcements. This was his last cruise before retirement and he will be missed.

 

FOOD: We didn't eat in the buffet except for grabbing some pizza at lunchtime while sitting at the pool. Some days it was crispy, other days, not so much. But it's cruise ship pizza, so I never expect much. Breakfast most days was in O'Sheahan's and it was generally pretty good. Dinners in the two main dining rooms were consistently very good...even the much maligned New York Strip which was (surprisingly) cooked perfectly and quite tasty. We had specialty restaurant meals in the French and Italian restaurants...both very good. NOTE: The filet in the French place now has the fois gras built into the price on the menu, so if you get the filet there's no way to remove the extra charge even if you don't want the liver goop. We ate in Jasmine, the complimentary Asian restaurant four...count 'em...four times. It was that good. Of course, we don'r have any decent Asian places in our area, so may be it only seemed good. But it seemed damn good to us. And I could eat that tapioca pudding dessert every day of my life.

 

SERVICE: Without exception...exceptional (pardon my redundancy). Probably the best service across the board we've ever had on NCL. Wait...no probably about it. It was the absolute best. Everyone we encountered...Waiters, bussers, hostesses, our cabin attendant, bartenders...you name it. One bartender in particular stood out. We parked ourselves at 4:30 every evening in the Martini Bar and our favorite bartender, Shane, took exceptional (there I go again) care of us. After the first night we never had to order...he was on it. He would whip up Mrs. Schmoopie's cosmo (with a lime) and my double shot of Bulliet on the rocks. And he kept them coming. And coming. We took good care of Shane as well. Unfortunately he had to share his tips with the other bar staff, but they also worked very hard, so it's all good.

 

MISCELLANEOUS: Myself and our surprisee attended the official Veteran's reception in the Spinnaker. Every seat was taken in anticipation of a memorable event. In a word it was...disappointing. They played the National Anthem, asked who in the crowd was in the Army, Navy, etc., brought up a few senior crew members...and then adjourned the event. Ten minutes later. Seriously. Seriously disappointing. NCL does a great job of recognizing Veterans with the discount, medals, pins, etc., so it was surprising how this event went down.

 

We arrived at every port ahead of schedule. So getting off the ship for tours, etc., was not a problem. Seas were exceptionally calm and we had no rain in 14 days.

 

DISEMBARKATION: We purposely waited to be one of the last ones off the ship so as not to hold up others and/or get trampled (again). It was remarkably easy and finding our bags was also easy, since they were about the only ones left in the terminal.

 

So there you have it. Looking forward to our return to the Escape in September in Rome. Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 

Great review.  Thanks.

 

Agree about the Veterans recognition get together.  I don't expect, nor ask for anything.  The discount works well enough for me.  But, I quit going to the recognition M&Gs as they really don't offer much.  Again, I don't expect anything, so I'm never disappointed.  I just don't go to them.

[laudergayle]

3 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

I would be remiss if I didn't mention the wings in O'Sheahan's. There has been much discussion on this board about the quality (or lack thereof) of the wings. But whoever (you know who you are...I'm old and can't remember) suggested ordering the wings crispy with sauce on the side... let me tell you, it made all the difference. 

Originally it was the Bird.  I trialed them in November and posted positive results.

[schmoopie17]

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Originally it was the Bird.  I trialed them in November and posted positive results.

Those look just about perfect.

[Cruising Lynne]

Great to hear that Jade is an exceptional ship. Glad you had a good time and had a fun surprise for your friends. We are going on her in the fall, and I am really excited about it. Will definitely eat at Jasmine's at least once. Hubby will definitely have some wings and carrot cake at O' Sheehan's.

 

Thank you for posting your review, and I hope Mrs. Shmoopie's mobility issues improve.

[ready2cruzagain]

23 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

Background: We recently completed 14 days on the Jade. Prior to this cruise, we had only been on larger and/or newer NCL ships (Escape, Bliss, Encore and Prima). We were pleasantly surprised by both the size and condition of the Jade. For an old gal, she's holding up quite nicely.

 

Some of you may recall my post a few moons ago regarding the fact that we would be going on this cruise with friends who were neighbors of ours five years ago when we lived in Arizona. Mrs. Schmoopie (more on her later) and the wife of the couple decided to surprise the husband by not telling him we would be going on the cruise with them. Many on CC were appalled that we would do such a thing...while many (like us) thought it would be a wonderful surprise. (Spoiler alert: it was quite wonderful). 

 

We had driven to Tampa from the frozen tundra and we arrived just about the time their plane landed at the Tampa airport. The wife told the husband she had arranged an Uber to pick them up. When we drove up, the wife gave both of us a big hug and the husband stood in amazement, wondering why his wife would hug the Uber driver. After looking closer and seeing who we were, he was immensely surprised and thrilled that we would be joining them. He spent the ride to the hotel telling us how utterly surprised and happy he was about this whole escapade.

 

This would be a good time to expound on Mrs. Schmoopie. Last July, she suffered a severe leg fracture at an outdoor concert. The weather turned threatening with lightning and torrential rain and the concert had to be called off after only three songs. The crowd made a mad dash to get out of the venue and somelady (I use the term loosely, since she was no lady) was pulling a cooler on wheels behind her and she managed to clip Mrs. Schmoopie from behind, sending her sprawling to the ground. The "lady' looked back to make sure her cooler was still intact and then kept going. I'd use a different term for this "lady", but the CC censors wouldn't approve. Anyway, an ambulance was called and we spent the rest of the night in the ER, where Mrs. Schmoopie was diagnosed with a Tibia plateau fracture...one of the worst places you can fracture your leg. Eight months later she has remains mobility challenged...which put a damper on our excursion activities, but not our enjoyment of the cruise. By the way, the band at the concert was the Guess Who. They sounded great for the three songs we heard. Now every time I hear one of their songs I cringe from the memory.

 

Okay...enough preliminaries and injury reports. Let's get on the ship and set sail. I'll break this up into categories for ease of reading...or ease of skipping if a category doesn't interest you. And, no...this will not be a detailed description on every single moment on the ship...just the highlights.

 

EMBARKATION: We had arranged for a wheelchair with NCL, just in case it was needed. However, she chose to use her cane and walk/hobble on with the other passengers. We were excited to have our first drink...then we were disappointed because all of the bars were closed until sail away (with the exception of the pool bar, which, of course, was swamped)...but I still managed to run up there and get us a couple of drinks. Hey, we're from Wisconsin...we can drink with the best of them.

 

CABIN: We had a cabin with a large picture window. We normally get a balcony, but the cost of a balcony was $1600 more per person. I figured I could find better use of $3200 on our trip. It was okay, but had nowhere to sit, other than on the bed and the tiny vanity stool. Oh well, we were saving money. A couple of odd things were the sign that said, "Strictly no smoking in bed"...along with the ashtray hanging on the wall above the toilet paper dispenser in the bathroom. Apparently it's okay to smoke in the bathroom...but you better not do it in bed!! We had an awesome cabin attendant named Genifer who was constantly cheerful and very helpful.

 

INTERNET: Basically a waste of time, since connecting to anything (even the "free" Cruise Critic) was next to impossible. Here's an example:

Click on Cruise Critic (wait three minutes)...Click on Boards (wait three minutes)...Click Norwegian (wait three minutes)...Click a thread (wait five minutes). Give up.

 

ENTERTAINMENT: They had Wheel of Fortune scheduled in the theater one night for 8:15. They kept having "technical difficulties" for over 30 minutes. They kept encouraging people to sign up/pay even though they were having technical difficulties. Finally, at 8:45 they announced that the technical difficulties were REALLY difficult (and apparently technical) and they would be canceling the show. I should mention that the theater was (maybe) a third full. Seems like people are not happy about the trade-off of entertainment shows vs. game shows. As for other shows, the hypnotist was hokey/annoying (and fake)...the trombonist was hokey (and only so-so), the magician was okay, the comedian was actually pretty funny, the gymnasts were awesome...and the show Elements (which included the magician, acrobats and dancers) was beyond awesome. Beats Wheel of Fortune hands-down. The lounge highlight was the Prelude Duo, great singing and music, featuring a fantastic pianist who gave a couple of solo shows in the atrium during the day. There was also a solo guitarist who was excellent at playing guitar...not so great at singing. Speaking of not so great, they had scheduled a different lounge group to do a "Beatles Tribute" in the Spinnaker lounge one night. For some reason (never explained) the group didn't perform but was replaced by a female piano player/singer who decided to try to do Beatles songs. About midway through the first song, the crowd got up en masse and made a beeline for the exits. I felt bad for the piano player, but whoever had that idea should not be scheduling entertainment. Yes, it was that bad. The cake decorating demo in the atrium one morning was a hoot. Speaking of a hoot, the Captain was highly entertaining and funny at the technical presentation, on stage at the end of Elements, and when he would make daily announcements. This was his last cruise before retirement and he will be missed.

 

FOOD: We didn't eat in the buffet except for grabbing some pizza at lunchtime while sitting at the pool. Some days it was crispy, other days, not so much. But it's cruise ship pizza, so I never expect much. Breakfast most days was in O'Sheahan's and it was generally pretty good. Dinners in the two main dining rooms were consistently very good...even the much maligned New York Strip which was (surprisingly) cooked perfectly and quite tasty. We had specialty restaurant meals in the French and Italian restaurants...both very good. NOTE: The filet in the French place now has the fois gras built into the price on the menu, so if you get the filet there's no way to remove the extra charge even if you don't want the liver goop. We ate in Jasmine, the complimentary Asian restaurant four...count 'em...four times. It was that good. Of course, we don'r have any decent Asian places in our area, so may be it only seemed good. But it seemed damn good to us. And I could eat that tapioca pudding dessert every day of my life.

 

SERVICE: Without exception...exceptional (pardon my redundancy). Probably the best service across the board we've ever had on NCL. Wait...no probably about it. It was the absolute best. Everyone we encountered...Waiters, bussers, hostesses, our cabin attendant, bartenders...you name it. One bartender in particular stood out. We parked ourselves at 4:30 every evening in the Martini Bar and our favorite bartender, Shane, took exceptional (there I go again) care of us. After the first night we never had to order...he was on it. He would whip up Mrs. Schmoopie's cosmo (with a lime) and my double shot of Bulliet on the rocks. And he kept them coming. And coming. We took good care of Shane as well. Unfortunately he had to share his tips with the other bar staff, but they also worked very hard, so it's all good.

 

MISCELLANEOUS: Myself and our surprisee attended the official Veteran's reception in the Spinnaker. Every seat was taken in anticipation of a memorable event. In a word it was...disappointing. They played the National Anthem, asked who in the crowd was in the Army, Navy, etc., brought up a few senior crew members...and then adjourned the event. Ten minutes later. Seriously. Seriously disappointing. NCL does a great job of recognizing Veterans with the discount, medals, pins, etc., so it was surprising how this event went down.

 

We arrived at every port ahead of schedule. So getting off the ship for tours, etc., was not a problem. Seas were exceptionally calm and we had no rain in 14 days.

 

DISEMBARKATION: We purposely waited to be one of the last ones off the ship so as not to hold up others and/or get trampled (again). It was remarkably easy and finding our bags was also easy, since they were about the only ones left in the terminal.

 

So there you have it. Looking forward to our return to the Escape in September in Rome. Ciao!

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you for the review! We are sailing on the Jewel for 22 days out of Tampa this December and the first time on an older ship in forever.  Driving down from the cold and blister North also!

[ready2cruzagain]

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

Originally it was the Bird.  I trialed them in November and posted positive results.

Ohhhh thank you! We will try this next time!!

 

[LatinaInTexas]

Great to see a favorable review on the Jade. I needed an August cruise and the only 7 day that wasn't Alaska or Canada was on the Jade. I too was concerned about being on an older and smaller ship.

I'm feeling good about and excited for this cruise after seeing a few positive smaller ship reviews lately.

We love Asian food so will prob eat there a few times. Not a fan of game shows as entertainment so hope we have decent entertainment on our cruise.

Hope your wife continues to recover and become more mobile.

 

[Pete Nice]

We were on this trip as well and I largely agree with the OP.  In fact, I'd say the bar staff on this ship top to bottom is easily the best we have seen at sea including the luxury brands.  We usually avoid the Day 1 bar crowds so I can't speak as to what is open right as you board, but I can assure anyone who enjoys their drinks that the bar staff is sure to impress.  

 

It really restored our faith in NCL, at least on the service side, and we are looking forward to our next NCL cruise in the fall.  

[Sugar Magnolia]

You had me at The Guess Who. What do you think of Lenny Kravitz' rendition of American Woman?

 

So sorry to hear about Mrs Schmoopie's unfortunate incident with the unlady-like lady and hope she does fully recover eventually.

 

Now I need to get a handle on my undiagnosed ADHD and focus on reading your entire Jade review.

 

[The Traveling Man]

8 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

I am serious...and don't call me Shirley. Oh wait, obscure "Airplane" reference.

Airplane?  What is it? 

 

It's a 1980 movie starring Robert Hays and Leslie Nielson, but that's not important.  On our last cruise, the GM managed to keep all the bars open.  I don't know how he did it.

 

Howie did it? 

[torybruno]

Good tips!  Can’t wait, we board tomorrow!