Norwegian Jade Rooms – What Does a Balcony Room Look Like?

One thought that always comes to mind when planning a cruise is “What do the staterooms look like”?  Is the room large enough to comfortably fit my family of four?  Does the room have plenty of storage?

We recently sailed on the NCL Jade and chose a balcony stateroom. While it’s more expensive than an interior room, I like the extra space a balcony provides and obviously, the view.  It’s also where my husband and I escape to in the evenings, while the kids sleep.

Our Stateroom #9082

Norwegian Jade Rooms:

The balcony rooms on board the NCL Jade are approximately 205 sq. ft. with a 38 sq. ft. balcony. This is slightly smaller than some other staterooms, but is well designed with  function  in mind and makes good use of the space.

There are floor to ceiling glass doors leading from the stateroom  to the balcony. The balconies are large with plenty of room for all four of us to enjoy the outdoors at the same time.  You’ll find a small table for your wine, coffee or book and  two chairs for relaxing as you watch the scenery go by or, to be technically correct, as you go by the scenery!

Walking into the stateroom, you’re presented with an immediate view of the sea or port.  The staterooms are an inviting, open area providing plenty of space and abundant storage.

You’ll find the closet area on one side and bathroom on the other as you enter.  The closet area is generous with plenty of room for clothes, shoes, odds and ends and luggage, if necessary.  Open shelving provides a place to stash most of your clothing. I designate a shelf to each member of the family. You’ll also find a safe- perfect for stashing passports, extra cash, jewelry or iPads.

Opening the double doors of the closet reveals a location to hang items, organize shoes on the floor or stash a suitcase. Two robes are also provided for your comfort and convenience.  Life jackets are stored on the top shelf within easy reach, but hidden out of the way.

Further down, you will also find a top shelf, mini fridge and three drawers for more storage.  Coming around the corner and still part of this large wall unit, is an upper shelf with TV below,  as well as a shelf with a coffee maker and  telephone.  We chose to empty out the mini-fridge and stock it with our own waters.  It also eliminated the temptation for the kids to drink a pricey canned soda.

The bathroom is a three piece unit behind one main door.  Upon entering the bathroom, there is a fairly large (for a cruise ship) shower with a sliding frosted glass door. The water pressure was great with plenty of hot water.

In the center is a sink, mirror, hanging wall shelves and also two shelves below the sink for storage.  Two of the three wall shelves had extra wash clothes, so I combined these on the one top shelf for even more personal storage.  With four people staying in a room, you can never have enough storage space!

The next section of the bathroom houses the toilet with another frosted sliding glass door. The bathroom isn’t large, by any means, but it’s adequate for shipboard life and the layout works well enough.

Depending on the size of your party, you can have a room suited for 2 – 4 guests.  Our room had two beds that converted into one queen-size bed, one pullman and one single sofabed.  We prefer having the pullman over just a  sofabed, so the kids don’t have to sleep together.  This arrangement  helps prevent fights over stolen covers or “my side” encroachments.

The queen bed was surprisingly comfortable with plenty of pillows and soft bedding.  I slept better on the ship than I had during our previous  two months of traveling.

The kids both thought their beds were comfortable and each slept well.  During the day, the sofabed and pullman are stashed away.  If you have little ones that may need to nap, you could request to have the bed(s) left out.

My complaint concerning the layout of the Norwegian Jade Staterooms, is that the sofabed and pullman come down in front of the balcony doors.  It made the balcony inaccessible in the evenings – unless you crawl over a bed with a sleeping child.  Since one of the reasons we upgrade to a balcony room is being able to use it at night, this was a big disappointment.

It would also have been nice to have the layout changed, so that the sofabed isn’t directly beside the queen bed.  Once the sofabed is out, there isn’t space to walk between the two beds.

Storage Options:

Between the balcony and bed, is the sitting area with sofa and movable table .  There is also a table opposite the sofa with a full mirror and a hairdryer.  We used this space as a charging station for the computer, iPads and camera.   A great feature was the American and European outlets.  We have devices that fit both, so I didn’t have to worry about getting out our converter.

We used the space under the bed to store all of our suitcases, except one.  It would have fit under the bed,  but I just stashed it in the closet for easier access.

Two hooks  on the wall next to the bathroom  were great to keep our backpacks out of the way or as an extra place to  hang clothes to dry,  something we needed after getting stuck in a rain storm while visiting Croatia.

We used the top shelves over the TV and mini-fridge to keep breakable items out of the way, such as the Venetian Masks the kids made while we were in Venice.

Towel Animals:

 

When choosing a stateroom, consider the size of your party, budget and location requirements.  While I prefer a balcony, it is more expensive.  You could potentially sail on a back-to-back cruise (two weeks) in an interior room for the same price as one week with a balcony room.

Have you sailed with NCL? What are your thoughts on the Norwegian Jade Staterooms?

More on NCL:

• Is the NCL Ultimate Beverage Package Right for You?
• NCL Spa Rates – on the Norwegian Jade