You guys know I have my way of getting things free, or at the very least, severely discounted. Hotel rooms. Restaurants. Indoor Skydiving. Shoes. Cruises. It's funny because when I tell someone about something they'll say something like 'oh, is that from this... or this..." and I have to be like 'oh no, this is something different'. (I cannot tell you all my secrets, after all). Anyway, the cruises are never exactly 'free', we do have to always pay Port taxes, fees, and gratuities, no matter what cruise line we sail. And on NCL, they also charge you an admin fee ($20 per person, per day). But, there is nowhere else I can vacation that inexpensively, so if given the opportunity, I scoop it up every single time.
And this time just so happened to run out of Tampa (excellent! Calib could drop us off, no parking cost!) and over Asa's birthday (also excellent, because there's no 'what are we doing for your birthday conversation). So, we booked the Jade for the last week in March, and Calib dropped us off at the Port of Tampa. In no time at all, we were sitting at O'Sheehans for what would be the first of many wings for Asa.
I haven't cruised out of Tampa in a hot minute. In fact, I've only done it once and it was at least 7 years ago. We were on basically the same itinerary as that one- Honduras, Mexico and Belize (although there was a problem with the ship that time, which resulted in us leaving late and cutting Belize). Anyway, it was weird to not be at Sparkman Wharf or the Aquarium just looking at the ships, but actually on one of the ships.
Our ship was the Norwegian Jade. It was an older ship, with less of the bells and whistles of the newer, bigger ships. It was a little strange having last been on Allure, which is crazy big. The ship has a Central Park, after all.
Jade is the same class of ship we were on for our first cruise: the trip to Alaska, so we were familiar with some of the areas. O'Sheehans, of course, but also Topsiders, a quick hamburger and hot dog buffet line out by the pool.
The 'free' rooms are also always inside state rooms. Asa and I don't mind this. We don't spend a ton of time in our room anyway, but the inside rooms are like a cozy, dark cabin that's very easy to sleep in (even in the middle of the day). The Jade cabins were a bit smaller than something we've had on RC, but that's because the bathroom is bigger. You get a nice normal sized shower instead of a 'beam me up' shower tube. Something I did appreciate on the week long cruise. However, you do lose the couch to sit on. So, it's a trade off.
Before long, our ship headed out of port. We had noticed, the week before, when we were on the Wild Dolphin Cruise that the middle back of the ship was pretty empty for departure, so we headed back there, and sure enough, we were the only ones there.
So long, Tampa!
Before we had even made it out of the Bay, we were headed off to dinner in the Main Dining Room.
Ok, so I realize when I am about to say is at bit at odds: But, the NCL 'free' cruises do cost more, but you also get more. NCL offers 'Free at Sea'. It's a promotion they seem to run 99 percent of the time, and it's basically if you book with them you get free internet, free drink package, and one free specialty dinner. Now, none of this is really 'free', you do have to pay the gratuities on the full amount, but if you want those things, it really is a good deal. So, we paid the gratuities to have the drink package and the meal (the internet truly is free- though you only get a certain amount of minutes instead of unlimited). Anyway, that resulted in wine with every meal. Turns out, Asa loves a good melbek and I am quite the Reisling fan.
I do also feel like the food on NCL is just slightly better- or maybe it's more the variety. Either way, the main dining room the first night had very good crab rangoon, and shrimp pasta.
If the food is only slightly better, the desserts are head and shoulders above. This creme brulee was one of my favorites all week, but even the buffet had some absolute winners.
We got awesome seats in the dining room the first night, too. We were at the very back of the boat, and we got to see us go under the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. This bridge, however, is the reason that only the smaller boats can sail out of Tampa. Everyone must fit under this bridge, even if it's by the tiniest margin, so those big girls like Allure, Wonder, or Utopia will never leave from here.
After dinner, we braved the very cold waters of the pool, and then quickly made ourselves comfortable in the hot tub.
And we finished out our evening with some drinks, karaoke and shenanigans. I will say, there is WAY less to do on a small ship of this size. Usually, Asa and I were running from activity to activity. Last cruise we logged 20,000 plus steps on a sea day on Allure! But, you go hours between anything organized on the boat. It's not bad, it's just very, very different.
The next morning, we headed to the breakfast buffet. Everyone knows I love a good breakfast. And on cruise ships, I love to get 'mega breakfast' (it's what I call when you can have french toast, pancakes, and waffles on the same plate!) However, on Jade, there were no waffles to be found. Sadly, a whole week on a cruise ship with no megabreakfast. BUT the toppings were way better on this one. Every morning there was a banana fosters syrup and mixed berries. Plus whipped cream, and various syrups and chips. And to replace the waffle, there was a very good take on sticky buns.
I would be remiss, if I did not mention the second day on the boat was not only an at sea day, it was also Asa's 41st birthday! I know he struggles with us celebrating him for his birthday, but come on, this guy deserves his celebrations. He's such the foundation of our family, a total rock for all of us, who brings out the fun and laughter in whoever he's around, and thinks so wildly different from the rest of the world, he will ALWAYS keep things interesting. It's because of Asa I'm becoming a 'why not' person, and because of him that are kids are such wonderful humans. So, we should share some love and appreciation on his birthday!
The birthday started out with Ukrainian Folk Dancing (did I mention Asa is almost always 'down for whatever'). I tried for about 10 minutes, and then the boat rockin on Deck 13 was too much for me, so I grabbed a mimosa and sat in support.
We spent some of the day at the pool. Oddly enough, I was less motion sick in the pool, even with waves crashing side to side than I was just walking around the boat. Although, it was on this trip I brought what I call my 'electric shock bracelet'. I don't know exactly what it is called, but it sends little electrical pulses to your brain to tell you not to get sick. It was pricey, but covered on the HSA card, so I took a chance on it. And while it does make your hand go a little tingly, it totally works. I would find this out the next night though. I did struggle with sea sickness a bit this day (the boat was really moving since we had to book it across the Caribbean to make it to Mexico on time).
Asa, meanwhile, just wanted to spend his day eating, reading, and relaxing. So that's exactly what we did. We made a stop by O'Sheehans to add to his wing count mid-day. (I, however, was still pretty full from breakfast).
After that, we went up to the card room to get a chess set. On the very first day, there were chess sets out in the martini lounge, but apparently, that was just an embarkation thing. I promised Asa one game a day (he wins every single time), and so we had to track down a board to play. Of course, Asa won.
But then, another family showed up also looking from the boards from yesterday. Apparently, the youngest, Miles, was just learning chess. The parents were trying to be supportive, but knew hardly anything about it. It was Tuesday, though, and Asa was missing chess club, so he offered to work with Miles. They had so much fun playing together, and we learned that Miles and his family lived very close to us. We told them about chess club at the library, and they said they had seen it and thought about coming, and that maybe they would after the cruise. Of course, on the small boat we saw Miles and his family quite a few more times.
Fast forward to almost a month after we got off the boat (and had missed no less than three chess clubs since then), and I'm sitting there talking to one of the moms, when I see those blond curls bouncing into the chess room. Miles showed up with his dad who said 'Miles has wanted to come every Tuesday since we got off the ship, but has had soccer'. Good thing we didn't miss him! Everyone at the library loved the fact that Asa was recruiting for chess club on the cruise ship. As Victoria said 'Outreach at it's finest'.
There were plenty of drinks to be had on Asa's birthday as well. Turns out I loved having the frozen Sangria (or in a pinch the frozen Rose) and some fries every day around 3.
We tried dinner in the second of the two dining rooms, and we were not at all impressed with the service. But, we did get out of there in time to see at the show that evening. Do I remember what it was? Um, maybe the magician? We were also not super impressed with the shows on the Jade. Some nights all that was in the main theater was a game show you had to pay to participate in, or a movie. Other times the shows felt repetitive.
Since we ditched the main dining room before dessert to make it to the show in time, we did go up to the buffet for deserts. That lemon meringue pie was the best dessert I've ever had a on a buffet. Even the crust was delicious. I went back every night hoping to find it, but to no avail.
We did swing by karaoke for a bit that night, as it's one of Asa's favorite things (to watch, never sing). Being there a week, we found some of the same people every night. There was the old guy that sang anything old school very well. Josh, who always picked a Disney song to sing. And, some 12 year old girl that picked a different Taylor Swift song every night. We did bail some nights though, because there was an inordinate amount of country music. For some reason, there were a lot of Ohio/Michigan/Wisconsin/PA/WV people on this boat, and they loved their country.
After that, I didn't feel great, so I laid down (I should have just put my electric shock bracelet on at that point), but Asa enjoyed some solitary time alone with his book and some wings at O'Sheehans, so he had a lovely birthday, and that's really all that matters.
Up Next: Mahahual/Costa Maya Mexico
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