Sand and Seas

Tortola is a lovely island and a favorite of ours. I hope this isn't a sign of them cancelling it from other cruises.

This will definitely make a difference on Alaskan or other cold weather cruises. Will they add more seating with so many wanting to spend time there? On our recent ten day southern Caribbean Encore cruise, we maybe visited the Observation Lounge on two or three days. Lots of space available on those days.

There was the American Diner on many ships, but earlier this year it became a complimentary venue for all. No longer an exclusive lunch for Haven embarkation. Sadly, no more Lobster rolls on the menu. However, we did enjoy eating lunch there a couple of times.

We just got off the Prima last week too. We received a plate of fresh & delicious cookies delivered to our room. It was probably one of our Club Suite 'amenity' deliveries. I didn't look for cookies elsewhere and never ate at the buffet. We loved Indulge Food Hall and were quite satisfied with the hand scooped ice cream choices most days. (My mom was a genealogy 'fan' too! Decades ago, I spent many hours helping her research those old microfiche files.)

The Thai place isn't vegetarian, but I will miss Food Republic. Reading the article above, the vegetarian venue is one of the 'food trucks' in Indulge. It sounds like they are increasing from seven (on Prima) to ten venues on the new ship. I'm hopeful that the other new venues they are adding to Indulge will give us some favorites from Food Republic and/or Shanghai menus from other ships.

Good point. We used TSA pre-check after Miami cruise last week. Delta terminal H was about 5 minutes.

We usually stay one night before cruise at the Hampton Inn Blue Lagoon for all of the reasons people have listed here. Great place to unwind after travel. Free Shuttle from airport and inexpensive shuttle to port. Staff is great. Decent breakfast. We have stayed there pre-cruise at least 9 or 10 times. Besides the Publix and Cuban restaurant across the street, we have also found it handy to have somewhere to shop for something we forgot to pack....like sandals! There is a Burlington Coat Factory that has any item of clothing you might have forgotten.

After reading about these shuttles here, we used them from port to MIA just a few days ago. As you say, very easy to find. Leaving Norwegian's terminal, we went towards the taxi line and the shuttles were just across the lane. Our shuttle held 11 passengers so it was quickly filled and we were on our way.

We just returned from a 11 day cruise. There were 12 one-liter water boxes in our cabin for one CAS (Ruby) player. I don't know what they will do for two Pearl and above. We also had four small 1/2 liter waters due to our Latitudes status. About a week into the cruise, the casino host asked if we needed more water but we did not. Based on your play, the host on board may send you wine, chocolates or water during cruise.

We are looking forward to the new Thai restaurant. And, it sounds like Indulge Food Hall is going from seven mini-venues to ten on the Aqua. One of those is vegetarian, but I wonder what the others will be? Perhaps they can offer some of the Food Republic choices or Shanghai's Dim-Sum/Potstickers🤞 We love Indulge on Prima and ate many times. One of the ships officers chatted with us during dinner and said they are looking for ways to add the popular food hall concept to other ships. Wonderful variety of small plates like grilled pineapple (like Moderno's) and fresh made Fresno chili Naan bread. The Q had good ribs at dinner or pulled pork sandwiches at lunch. Great Tapas like we have enjoyed on other ships. Really something for everyone to enjoy and I'm guessing less food waste than the buffet.

We loved our CBS on Prima. These cabins are the last four or five at the Aft and seem to have extra floor space due to the curvature of the ship's structure for that area. The balcony was decent sized with two comfy chairs and an interesting view. It is a decent walk to the elevators, but we needed the walk for exercise😎

I just got two CASNext certificates four days ago. My certificates still show the Terms & Conditions that say you must book & complete sailing within one year. I would love if they do not expire, but I haven't seen anything that would suggest such a change. My certificates also say you can use two if it meets criteria for DoubleUp, and three if it meets criteria during a TripleUp promo. It specifically says you can't use with CruiseNext. Again, it would be great if T&Cs are changing for CASNext, but I wasn't told anything different.

No Sugarcane on Prima either.

Thai sounds great. Thanks for sharing link. Also like the idea of expanding Indulge to ten specialties. Prima officer was telling us they are trying to add more Indulge food halls but hard to fit on the older ships.

Welcome to Cruisecritic! We love the Joy. Glad you enjoyed your cruise 😎

Indulge Food hall ( Prima) has a nice selection of Indian food with some tasty vegetarian selections. The dinner menu also has fresh made Naan 😋

Yes. Ruby player and one guest have UB on your keycard for drinks anywhere on board. It's the basic FAS drink package but you are not charged the 20 percent fee.

Call CAS before sailing and ask them to send you an updated Amenities confirmation for your reservation. Ours showed BEVPK1 at zero cost for Unlimited Open Bar Package. When we checked in at Port our cards were already printed with UB.

Currently on the Prima. They delivered a plate of cookies to our cabin yesterday. We didn't see any in the observation lounge but we have only been there once during afternoon snack time.

For Prima, I believe it was the Improv club across from Syd Norman's. I saw a lot of backpacks and small bags there as we boarded. There was an employee checking them in.

Perfect! I bet your server loved that soluion😊

Sounds confusing. I would rather they just post it on the menu so the server doesn't have to explain. I like a crabcake and lobster tail. Will they have to call that an upcharge? Doesn't make sense to me.

For us, the new Ruby benefits are an improvement. Others may wish for Premium Plus but comped FAS to use shipwide meets our needs.

@BirdTravels, Hope you have a wonderful cruise! Encore is one of our favorites. Thanks for sharing with us all😎

@cygnets, thanks for posting about your upgrades on your summary page. I'm Ruby, but nothing showing on my summary page for my 3 booked cruises. As changes to program were still being made yesterday (per agent I spoke with), I would suggest you keep an eye on that summary page. It could take awhile for them to sort out the Tier promos.