Cruise Reviews

NCL JADE NOT AGAIN!
Reviewed By: purser, surrey on 23rd Aug 2008
Cruise Line: NCL Cruises Times cruised before: 0
Cruise Ship: Norwegian Jade Sailed: August, 2008
Destination: Mediterranean Age: 46-55
Sadly this our first cruise could have been much better. There were far too many children on board ( and yes i know we booked school holidays but you need a balance ) and you never escaped them anywhere,the pool area was like a school playground with continuous screaming mainly from girls??I could not believe the amount of cola these children were allowed to drink by their parents, continously going to the bars to have them refilled which was paid upfront, imagine the effect on their teeth and their insides! The rule in spinnekers bar was a joke only after 11.00pm anyone under 18 had to leave and even then selfish parents were hiding them! Even Butlins have a 9.00pm ruling. This cruise was more like a Butlins camp on the ocean! The Jade is nice ship but sadly much needs attending to from the entertainment which was poor, the days at sea were boring, nothing happening , we had no real complaints from the food side as there was plenty of it perhaps too much of the same? We had outside cabin with good size window and this we thought was very good, the shower was splendid, and the bed so comfortable. We used some speciality restaurants: Mexican which we thought was basic, italian reasonably good,the alizar was good also, but the Jasmine garden was superb and we dined there several times, we cannot comment on the others as we did not use. However the blue lagoon was just a drop in snack area which seemed very poor. We had intended to use the grand pacific which had the same menu i believe as the alizar but as what they called the 'dressing up restaurant' had a silly rule that men had to wear trousers..my husband only brought dressy jeans very smart JConrans and was refused entry, this actually took the Freestyle out of context! The no alcohol brought on ship rule was very stringent and unnecessary as if their drinks were more reasonable people would not mind paying for them as the 15% gratuities added to evry drink pushed up the cost aswell , as with the 10$ per day charge ( this we had removed as did hundreds of others on the day before the end of cruise) then we tipped individually, as the Garden cafe was rarely cleared and the only service provided there was the drinks waiters eager for you to buy more drinks.Most ports were disappointing the prettiest being only Villefranche. We would not cruise with NCL again
Quality of Food2
Entertainment1
Shore Excursionsn/a
Staffn/a
Children's Facilitiesn/a
Onboard Activities1
Cabins3
Overall Rating1
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Opinion: Disagree Comment by Beaumont, High Wycombe (27 Aug 08 23:04) about this REVIEW.
I went on this cruise and i totally disagree. There were no more children than you would expect there to be in the school holidays and the soda programme in which allowed children to refill drinks for free was very good. We also found that the food onboard was very good and as far as the ports are concerned- did you not read the itinery before you went ? I think NCL are a good family friendly cruise line and if you don't want a cruise with children you should try Cunard.
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Comment by purser, surrey (28 Aug 08 07:47) about a COMMENT by Beaumont (27 Aug 08 23:04)
Actually we spoke to one of the senior staff who admitted they did not have the correct ratio of staff (kids programmes ) for the amount of kids on board and admitted there was a high level on the ship..Looking at these reviews sorry but bad outways good.And no i don't want to criuse on the Cunard we don't talk with a plum in our mouths. We chose the Freestyle options as we did not want stuffiness. Regarding the ports,fine if all you want to do is look at churches, cathedrals, etc.
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Comment by Austin, Coventry (12 Sep 08 18:46) about a COMMENT by purser (28 Aug 08 07:47)
It is a real shame that you would think that about Cunard. We have done 2 cruises - one of which was the Queen Mary 2 and then this trip on the Jade. Everyone (even the plums) were polite, chatty and willing to contribute to each and every person having a fantastic holiday on the QM2. My partner worried about all that when he was surprised by the trip for his 40th and quickly realised that he had nothing to fear. However everyone bar a select few that we met on the Jade was rude, ignorant and behaved as if you were getting in their way. If you want a trip where the clientele are as polite as the staff then Cunard is the way to go!!!
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Comment by purser, staines (13 Sep 08 07:03) about a COMMENT by Austin (12 Sep 08 18:46)
Perhaps you are right, i should not comment on ships i have not been on.And there does seem to be a 2 tier rating with cruise companies.I despise bad manners and snootiness, treat people as you find them, and sadly the parents on the Jade seem to think their little darlings were above everyone else's enjoyment. Pleased to say we have booked to go on P&O xmas 09'
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Question by LEN, COATESVILLE, PA., USA (27 Oct 08 22:31) about a COMMENT by purser (13 Sep 08 07:03)
Could u advise if there was Smoking Allowed in ANY of the bars, please?
ANSWER
Answer by purser, surrey (28 Oct 08 13:16) to a QUESTION by LEN (27 Oct 08 22:31)
No there was not ,people had to go on deck....except when we were going round Bay of Biscay all doors closed and very windy and choppy!! Hope this helps your query
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Opinion: Agree Comment by haydon, london (25 Aug 08 17:11) about this REVIEW.
Agree 100%. This cruise is 'Butlins at Sea' - we felt it was very poor.
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Opinion: Agree Comment by durban, ebbw vale (24 Aug 08 18:38) about this REVIEW.
I agree totally with the comments made about the Jade, we returned yesterday after two weeks cruising,no problems with the ship,the service charge and gratuities had really got to us by the end,they seemed to want money from us all the time!standards in the self service dining room was very poor,people were often having to clear their own tables before they could eat!Entertainment was very AMERICANISED superb performers but not our cup of tea.we felt that there were not enough staff and no one overseeing them as on other cruise lines.This was our fourth cruise so we feel we are making a fair comparison.No NCL for us again.
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Opinion: Agree Comment by smith, camberley (24 Aug 08 18:13) about this REVIEW.
totally agree with these comments,we cancelled our service charges,but have just added up our gratuity charges which came to 120 dollars for the privilage of being served by quite (rude at times)inexperienced bar staff.the entertainment was non existance most evenings only hearing information over the tannoy when they were trying to hard sell any kind of money making ventures.we have travelled royal carribean on the independance,sorry but we will be going back to them.ncl have a long way to go
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Opinion: Agree Comment by Eden, jersey (24 Aug 08 10:14) about this REVIEW.
Hi,I fully agree with your comments and thought the kids were allowed to run a riot on the ship at any hour they wanted. I have four kids and the over all service charge for us was $55, THIS KILLED OUR BUDGET AND RUINED WHAT WE HOPED WOULD BE A GREAT HOLIDAY. Also no one told us we could ask for the service charge to be taken off. The band in spinnikers looked so bored that we ended up leaving.
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