Jade Questions

[CruisingGs]

We will be setting sail in June on the Jade for 7 days. Will there be a formal night? The last NCL cruise we took had one. We used another cruise line last year and they had two formal nights. Anyone that has done the Athens, Croatia, and turkey itenary, do you recommend booking excursions with NCL or waiting until we get to the port?

 

Any negatives I need to worry about with the Jade? We loved the Spirit in the States.

[KeithJenner]

We will be setting sail in June on the Jade for 7 days. Will there be a formal night? The last NCL cruise we took had one. We used another cruise line last year and they had two formal nights. Anyone that has done the Athens, Croatia, and turkey itenary, do you recommend booking excursions with NCL or waiting until we get to the port?

 

 

 

Any negatives I need to worry about with the Jade? We loved the Spirit in the States.

 

 

There are no formal nights on NCL ships. There is a "Norwegian Night Out" which some say is a formal night of sorts, but on most cruises there is no reference to dress on the description for that night.

 

I haven't done that itinerary yet, but the answer to your question isn't specific to that cruise. Join your roll call and see what others are doing. Consider joining with others on a third party excursion and also consider just exploring by yourself (the Croatian ports and a

Athens are apparently easy to do by yourself.

 

If there is an NCL excursion you want to do then booking ahead will save you having to do it onboard, but you will have to pay upfront.

 

I've not been on the Jade, but have done the Pearl which is very similar. It's bigger than the Spirit and you have more options for dining etc. I think if you liked the Spirit you will like the Jade.

 

 

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[thirdeastshak3]

Like the previous post said, there is no set formal night. We were on the Jade last year and our first sea day was dress up or not night. We decided to dress up and take it all in. There were plenty of people dressed up, some even in tuxedoes. And there were also plenty of people not dressed up. That's the good thing about Freestyle cruising.

 

 

I haven't done that particular itenerary but we stopped in Athens, Ephesus and Istanbul on our 10 day cruise last year. We didn't do any NCL excursions, we booked private tours or shared tours with people on our roll call. That turned out to be the way to go.

 

Have fun!

[AF-1]

Are you going to Dubrovnik? If so, the ship will have buses to take you to the walled city. You can spend quite some time there and enjoy shopping, dining, and picture taking. Athens you must see the Acropolis, so either take ship excursion or take a taxi there. We did ship excursion in Ephesus; but if your roll call has shared rides then go with them. The ships excursion will take you to Ephesus, which is awesome; but they stop at a carpet factory on way back in the city. It takes 30 minutes to find your way out of the carpet factory; so suggest you just keep walking towards the ship instead of going into the carpet shop.

Edited May 20, 2014 by AF-1

[KeithJenner]

Are you going to Dubrovnik? If so, the ship will have buses to take you to the walled city. You can spend quite some time there and enjoy shopping, dining, and picture taking. Athens you must see the Acropolis, so either take ship excursion or take a taxi there. We did ship excursion in Ephesus; but if your roll call has shared rides then go with them. The ships excursion will take you to Ephesus, which is awesome; but they stop at a carpet factory on way back in the city. It takes 30 minutes to find your way out of the carpet factory; so suggest you just keep walking towards the ship instead of going into the carpet shop.

 

 

The Jade is stopping at Kusadasi for Ephesus now, rather than Izmir, so it's possible that the info there may have changed now.

 

It makes Ephesus a lot closer to where the ship docks which may have an impact on the best way of doing this stop.

[cowtowngals]

We will be setting sail in June on the Jade for 7 days. Will there be a formal night? The last NCL cruise we took had one. We used another cruise line last year and they had two formal nights. Anyone that has done the Athens, Croatia, and turkey itenary, do you recommend booking excursions with NCL or waiting until we get to the port?

 

Any negatives I need to worry about with the Jade? We loved the Spirit in the States.

 

We have sailed on the Jade three times. We actually just got off May 17 from a 14 day journey. We did the itinerary you are doing two years ago. We booked our excursions through NCL and booked them all before going. I just prefer having my plans in place before I go , but you could book on the ship and they would be billed to your account.

As has been mentioned the former dress up or not night is now Norwegian Night out - you can dress up or not depending on your preferences. You will see everything from people in shorts to people dressed to the nines.

We love the Jade - the only downfall we find is the entertainment (evening shows in the theatre) - but that is because they don't have the same kind of shows - there is no Second City for example. Do go to Elements though - it is a great show.

[garycarla]

Jade is a great ship, as good as Spirit.

 

As to Format night... NCL has not had them for many years.

[CruisingGs]

Thank you everyone, I guess I was asking about the dress up or not night. I know they aren't mandatory to dress up, but we enjoy dressing up. So I take it that there is only one night on the Jade.

 

I will go see about the roll call. I am new to the boards so I am not sure about ow every thing works. I am off to explore :)

[Karysa]

Thank you everyone, I guess I was asking about the dress up or not night. I know they aren't mandatory to dress up, but we enjoy dressing up. So I take it that there is only one night on the Jade.

 

I will go see about the roll call. I am new to the boards so I am not sure about ow every thing works. I am off to explore :)

 

The beauty about NCL is that you can dress up every day if that's what you like to do. You could be sitting beside someone in shorts and both of you will be welcome as long as the shorts wearer is in one of the many dining venues where shorts are permitted.

[CruisingGs]

We have done a NCL cruise before, they only had one official dress up night or not. That's what I was looking for. I didn't know if they would have more since this cruise is longer than our last one.

 

 

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[Karysa]

We have done a NCL cruise before, they only had one official dress up night or not. That's what I was looking for. I didn't know if they would have more since this cruise is longer than our last one.

 

 

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No official dress up or not days anymore. Dress up or not any day of your cruise.

[AF-1]

CruisinGs,Dress up or Dress down, have fun with your cruise and whatever you do onshore it will be great. Cheers

[cbrake70]

We are considering doing a cruise on the Jade and have two girls aged 4 and 2. Our reviews of the ship online did not reveal any dedicated kids areas like we have seen on the aft of ships like the Spirit and Dawn. It looks like one of the two main pools is designated as a family pool but it isn't technically a dedicated kids area and i fear the deck area will be quite crowded and difficult to get a seat. I know there is one very small pool that looks like it is located inside but i cannot seem to find anything else. Can anyone comment on this, particularly those who have been on the ship with similar aged children?

[littlelulu01]

Regarding dress up or not I did see some men in tuxedos but only a few. Very mixed and you really can dress up or not and not feel awkward either way.

 

We also did the b2b this year and Kusadasi is the main port I would definitely recommend a private tour with your roll call vs the big ship tour. We booked a private tour and it was incredible. I would say it was the best port day/excursion I've ever taken.

 

Other ports are very easy diy but I may have taken a roll call private tour if I did again in Athens just because I hate reading the signs and would rather a tour guide tell me in a small group.

 

We just took a taxi in Dubrovnik, 10-13 euro each way to the wall. Taxi available upon exit of ship and taxi stand just as you exit wall upon returning to ship. In split we docked right in town and walked about 10 minutes to the city center. Very pleasant and pedestrian friendly.

 

Loved the Jade and crew. We're already booked again on Spirit with a little different itinerary next year.

[ighten]

Dress up as much as you like.. We were in Cagneys on the Epic for the Norwegian Night last week and tbh people were better dressed and in more tuxedos than the HAL formal night from earlier this year.

 

It is noticeable when you go to the public areas that people are dressed very mixed compared to ships with official formal nights but you wont feel out of place by dressing to the nines.

[roboclam]

Does anybody know when the next scheduled dry dock/refurbishment will be for the Jade...???Any clue what they will be doing...???

Thanks,

Rob

[NMLady]

Does anybody know when the next scheduled dry dock/refurbishment will be for the Jade...???Any clue what they will be doing...???

Thanks,

Rob

 

I think it is sometime between Oct 8 and 23, 2016 since there are no cruises listed during those dates.

 

Besides usual maintenance, not sure what improvements.

If Jade still has Blue Lagoon they will probably change it to O'Sheehans

[roboclam]

Thank you very much, we're cruising in Jan of 2017 was curious...

Rob