First time on Norwegian Jade - any tips?

[2choose2cruise]

We are booked on the Jade from Houston - Barcelona April 2016. We have cruised many times (12+) and mostly on Azamara's Quest and Journey - both much smaller ships. A Trans-Atlantic is great for us but just wondering what tips anyone has for us on NCL ships!! We have a mini suite on deck 11. Thanks

[NMLady]

Have you joined our roll call for this cruise? It is very active with many activities planned.

 

The ship will also have lots of optional activities.

 

NCL has no formal nights although it does have a few optional "dressup or not" nights.

 

Outside the buffet, in the very aft, is The Great Outdoors, a nice place to sit or eat either in sun or under shaded canopy.

Edited April 1, 2016 by NMLady

[hlb76]

My lasting impression is check in takes forever!!! I was in line 2 hours+ to get checked in! Tendering was a nightmare. If you really really need off the ship right away be 2 hours early for tender tickets. I'm not sure this will be such a problem with the TA but sure was when we sailed 2 weeks ago.

 

Other than that we had a great time minus some weather issues which the cruise ship has no control over. We did find ourselves struggling to find things to do at times so I would advise bringing stuff to keep you busy.

 

Great Outdoor was one of my favorite places and all ships need something like that. Dont miss the crepes on the buffet in the evening! I was not overly impressed with pay restaurants we tried though we did like the steakhouse.

 

Shows where very good! dont miss the Elements show. David Nessler was our comedian and we did not care for him on the welcome aboard so never made it to his big show. My son did and loved it.

[Lady Longhorn]

We are booked on the Jade from Houston - Barcelona April 2016. We have cruised many times (12+) and mostly on Azamara's Quest and Journey - both much smaller ships. A Trans-Atlantic is great for us but just wondering what tips anyone has for us on NCL ships!! We have a mini suite on deck 11. Thanks

 

Hi, Boy are you in for a treat! We were on the Jade for 28 days from Venice to Houston. I think it was the best crew I've ever had on any ship (Celebrity, RCI, NCL, Carnival, etc.) after 34 cruises. If you have the buffet breakfast, there is additional seating in La Cucina, and it's always much less crowded. If you want real scrambled eggs you need to order "two fresh eggs, scrambled" or you will get the powdered ones. Be sure to sign up for the drawing to have dinner with an officer. We've gotten lucky on that twice and it is very nice. Grand Pacific dining room is much nicer than Alizar. Their laundry service is pretty good. I wouldn't trust them with anything delicate, but they were just fine on everything else. I hope they're still doing the "elements" show. It was one of the best I've ever seen on a ship. You should have progressive trivia on the TA and I really liked that. We had teams of 10 and you play every sea day so you get to know each other pretty well. I'll be on the Jade tomorrow for a week, so if I see anything new or interesting I'll let you know. Have fun!

[ROCruiser]

We have been on the Jade a couple of times and just loved that ship! Best crew ever! Go to deck 11 port side forward for the bridge viewing area.