We spent a full week sailing the Mexican Riviera on Norwegian Jade, and this video is your complete tour of the ship. If you are trying to decide whether to book Norwegian Jade, wondering which cabin type to choose, or just want to see what the bars, restaurants, pools, and entertainment really look like, this walkthrough will help you decide.
We start with quick ship facts and background: Norwegian Jade launched in 2006, was last refurbished in 2022, and carries around 2400 passengers with just over 1000. We also talk about how smooth and fast embarkation was at the Port of San Diego.
From there we move into stateroom options on Norwegian Jade: inside cabins, oceanview cabins, balcony cabins, and suites, plus family layouts if you are traveling with kids or a small group. You will see a full cabin tour of that family oceanview: closet space, shelves, mini bar, the porthole window, bathroom layout, and honest thoughts on the room, storage, and overall comfort.
Next we cover all of the included dining. We compare the two main dining rooms, Grand Pacific and Alizar. We walk through how the nightly menu works with rotating appetizers, mains, and desserts plus “classics,” and we give specific examples of dishes we tried like vegetable pad thai, Caesar salad, potstickers, Snickers pound cake, and chocolate éclairs. You will hear how the food quality started strong and slid a bit by the end of the week.
We also tour Garden Café, the main buffet where we ate breakfast daily and had a few lunches and dinners. You will see how the smaller buffet layout leads to repeated items at multiple stations, what the theme nights (Asian, Mediterranean, American) were like, and why the food felt consistent but not exciting. We show the Great Outdoors, the “hidden” back section of the buffet with outdoor seating, Then we move to O’Sheehan’s Bar and Grill, the pub-style included venue where we went for lunches and late-night food, with menu items like pretzel bites, burgers, hot dogs, Reubens, salads, and fish and chips.
After that, we dig into specialty dining on Norwegian Jade: Le Bistro (French), Cagney’s Steakhouse, Teppanyaki, La Cucina (Italian), the sushi bar, and Moderno Churrascaria. We give a detailed and honest review of our dinner at Moderno using our More at Sea specialty dining credit, including the lower meat quality, fat and gristle, and service that felt off compared to the rest of the ship.
On the pool deck, you will see the two pools, hot tubs, bandstand, and rows of loungers on the main and upper decks. We talk about chair hunting on sea days, people-watching, and how the hot tubs worked as a pre-dinner recovery zone after port days. We also cover outdoor activities: basketball and pickleball on the sports court, golf swing nets, the jogging and walking track, shuffleboard, and the giant chess set. Inside, we show the fitness center with ocean-view cardio machines and weights, the spa and thermal suite, the card room and library, the kids club, teen lounge, and the arcade.
The tour covers the bar scene as well: Magnum’s Champagne and Wine Bar, Mixers Martini Bar, Tankards, pool bars, and lounges around the atrium. We highlight the martini bar as our go-to all week and call out the Sake Bar, which serves a couple of specialty off-the-menu martinis worth trying. We also mention our separate specialty drink series on the channel where we rate cocktails across different ships.
For entertainment, we walk through daytime trivia (and why it felt slow and uninspired on this sailing), the cake decorating demo with the pastry chef, and evening staples like the Not So Newlywed game, production shows with singers and dancers, the crew talent show, and live music with theme nights. We give straightforward opinions on pacing, staging, and how well the themes worked.
We finish with the casino, shopping, photo gallery, and atrium services. We show one of the largest main shops we have seen at sea with cruise essentials, liquor, cigarettes, cigars, perfume, bags, jewelry, and NCL merchandise, plus the art auction area if that is your thing. We explain how the photo gallery and packages work and wrap up with the atrium as the hub for guest services, shore excursions, and dining reservations.
By the end of the video you should have a picture of Norwegian Jade: an older, mid-sized Norwegian Cruise Line ship with a strong crew, mixed but mostly solid food, uneven entertainment, and plenty of places to eat, drink, and relax between ports.
If you found this helpful, please like the video, subscribe, and leave a comment with your Norwegian Jade questions or experiences. For more ship tours, specialty drink reviews, buffet dessert videos, and port day vlogs, explore the rest of the channel. For in-depth written port guides, maps, and extra tips, visit NowGoSeeIt.com.
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Check out all the port guides from this cruise here: https://www.nowgoseeit.com/blog?category=Pacific%20USA%20and%20Mexico%20Cruise%20Port