vadersprincess12

I read that they don't have the Strawberry Bisque anymore 😪

We don't read the Freestyle Daily, we use the app for everything so now I know. On other lines we get a physical invitation in our cabin so I assumed.......won't do that again. 😂

I guess I figured that someone from NCL would tell us these things, but............

We didn't get our invitation on our Joy sailing last week. 🤔

Well, you've pretty much summed it up because everyone else's experience doesn't apply to you, however just because you don't believe something doesn't mean that it isn't true or that a person didn't have a specific experience. I find it hard to believe that you or anyone else would not cruise just based on another person's bad experience. Everything is subjective and I prefer to find out for myself.

Mking8288 ~ NCL partners with our land-based casinos so that's how we get our certificates. Prepare to loose a lot of money. NCL certainly doesn't payout very well; not at all like the land-based casinos. We've tried 4 cruises this way and prefer to spend our money on land ~ at least we come home ahead sometimes. Yes, I know, "the house always wins" but I can tell you that we have had some nice payouts and jackpots on land, and even on some of the other cruise lines, but NEVER on NCL.

I have to agree with UKstages on this one ~ we had an inside cabin on the Prima in May and it was actually a very spacious cabin; the largest inside I've ever seen. The venues are small and if you want to see a show like the comedians you have to stand in a line at least 45 minutes or longer before the show to even get in. There seems to be a lot of long hallways throughout the ship. The central area with the open stage (not the theater) is a waste of space. There is really no good place for the performers. We saw a circus themed show and with little to no space to perform all they did was basically run around the open area to the circus music and "pose" and then do it all over again. It's really not a good area for a theater type show. Add to that everything going on in the stores and areas around it with all the additional noise and it's hard to focus on a show. Plus elevators are right there too so when that hallway gets crowded with people waiting on an elevator that adds to the noise. Poor design.

I have found that it's best to start your reply with the name of the person you are actually talking to since so many people chime in ~ it helps to avoid any confusion on exactly who and what comments you are responding to.

Thanks luvcruzing!

Carohs, glad to see that you realize you are the issue with your thoughts of "oh, you are one of them". We are in our 60's and I have a recent knee replacement so trudging all over a packed ship can be an issue. And there are some of us who cruise who are not "sun" people. Some of us can't be in the sun for long exposure due to medication side effects, so please don't judge before you know the circumstances.

Hello bkrickles1 ~ I am the OP. I thoroughly research all of my trips. I've cruised Carnival, Royal, Princess, Celebrity, Disney, and NCl. We have done 5 cruises this year alone, prior to the Joy sailing, so we are well aware of the current cruise climate. We didn't have these types of issues on the Prima in May or any of the other sailing this year on other cruise lines, so it's not our expectations, it's NCL's operation on this ship. We have NEVER waited so long for a stateroom to be ready that we had to wander the ship trying to find a place to sit or some activity in which we could participate.

Carohs ~ We dropped our bags with the porter; we only had two carry-on bags so carrying them with us was not the issue. Keycards were given to us at check-in at the terminal so we had them already but when we are told that the staterooms are not ready and they don't want us going there before our deck is called, we pay attention to that. We don't feel that we are entitled to go against their guidelines. Chilling on the sundeck would be an option if there had been a place to sit and chill, so there's that. Land hotels do have later check-in times, but because the cruise lines do staggered check-in for 5,000 passengers and have to start around 11:00 that leaves a lot of idle time when there is no seating available and no real activities going on.

Sand and Seas ~ was this on the Joy sailing? Just curious because there weren't any announcements or anything and we can't read minds ! 😂

psuboater ~ I totally agree, as in my post, with the very disorganized debark process. It was the worst we've ever experienced on over 30 cruises.

Thanks Sinbadssailors ~ on the Prima in May they did have an area to drop off anything you didn't want to carry around, but again, that was not offered on the Joy on our sailing. And, we didn't have to wait as long on the Prima either.

I didn't say our experience was diminished because we couldn't get into our stateroom right away. There isn't much to experience or enjoy when people are packed in line sardines in all of the open public spaces. We had lunch in the dining room and then there was still over 2 hours until we could into our stateroom. There are very few activities going on during embarkation.

The luggage drop off wasn't offered to us. As a matter of fact the Cruise Director announced numerous times that our staterooms weren't ready and we should wait until our deck was announced before going to the staterooms.

We've decided that we will schedule future cruises during times when kids are in school. We have grown kids who knew how to behave in public when they were younger. We are in our 60's and it's just too much for us now (no grandchildren). One of the comedians was Dean Edwards who was on SNL for a while. He's very funny. We saw him on the Prima in May and he has different material on the Joy.

Thank you. I’ve been wanting to state those things for some time now as it seems it happens on every cruise 😄. Feels better to get it out!! There are so many more positives about cruising in general; each voyage is a little different.

You're welcome

I'm not sure how to go in and edit, so I did a copy and past with a different font. Hope this is better. DH and I just got off the Norwegian Joy out of New York on the June 11 sailing. This was a 7 day Bermuda (overnight) cruise. We had just been there last month on the Prima. Apparently it’s been pretty rainy there so once again, we did not get to the other side of the island to visit St. Georges. We did have one day when we were able to stroll around the Dockyard. Mostly it was very cloudy with intermittent rain, and very windy! Even before the sailing, the first port of call, Norfolk, was canceled (about a week after we booked). I was excited because this ship is performing Footloose and I’m a musical geek. About two weeks before sailing, it was noted under the entertainment area that Footloose would not be performed “on our sailing only.” Apparently they were having a change of cast which I realize happens but that was extremely disappointing. Embarkation at New York was relatively painless, things moved along very well. What was disturbing is that we couldn’t get into our staterooms until 3:30 p.m. That’s the latest we have ever had to wait. The public areas were packed like sardines which was very uncomfortable. The only good point is that the luggage was already waiting for us. We had a forward facing ocean view stateroom which was pretty cool with the slanted window. They could have made a bit better use of the very wide ledge under the window. There was storage in the bottom of it, but we think cushions would be nice since you can sit and look out the window. We seemed to have a language barrier with our stateroom attendant; he did bring us ice each day as asked but we like to have extra towels each day, which we requested but they were not always given and for the first two days we had no wash cloths. He never refilled the bath products and by the end of the cruise the containers were down to about ¼ of an inch of product. We were very disappointed in the food on this sailing. We only ate in the dining room one night; most of the menus were not to our liking. Seems like they try too hard and turn regular dishes into “designer” food, if you will. We prefer simple, well prepared meals. They served prime rib three of the four nights in the Garden Cafe but it was totally bloody; and sirloin strip steak was served two nights. There just wasn’t much of a variety. Seemed like the Asian station and the Indian station had pretty much the same stuff all the time. We sailed the Prima in May and they had different food themes each night with a very nice variety. Even the desserts were pretty much the same all the time. The meats were tough, dry, and fatty. Most of the “hot” dishes were lukewarm, at best! We ate breakfast several days in the main dining room and the service was very slow. As I’ve noted in previous reviews, our past experiences with the specialty restaurants have not been good food-wise, so we again opted not to partake. Internet was horrible and kept going out. We had to visit the Internet Cafe 5 times during the sailing. Because of the weather we watched several movies they were showing on the tv stations (over and over), but unlike the Prima last month, there were no free movies to watch. Asking $9.95 per movie is just another nickel and dime gimmick. We were on this ship through Casinos at Sea and have been on several of these cruises. As those who know about the program understand, the certificates are offered through land-based casinos. We are finding the experience very unappealing. The payouts are very poor. There is nothing to entice us to continue to spend money. We do much better at our land-based casinos. We paid for the Speedway but were grouped with young people who could not operate the vehicles properly or follow the rules which diminished our experience. Elevators are hit and miss; the waits are long sometimes and as crowds build people barge in without concern for those who were already waiting. As always the photographers are all over the place interrupting the flow of traffic and closing off stairways which is annoying. The comedians from Levity Live were great. We saw Dean Edwards previously on the Prima. The highlight of the cruise was Beatlestory. We saw all of their performances showcasing the different time periods of the Beatles. They were excellent and we had the opportunity to interact with the performers a few times during the cruise. Overall, we’d give this cruise a 3 out of 5. I hate to rant because I know most of these things are not controlled by the cruise line, but hopefully someone reading this will see themselves and realize their horrible behavior. Elevators ~ barging on instead of being courteous to those who were waiting before you or trying to jam them full, or barging on before letting those already on, get off on their floor. Food ~ using your hands to get bread, etc. when there are tongs readily available. Putting something on your plate and then putting it back. Parents/Children ~ parents who let their children run wild throughout the ship with absolutely no supervision; and I mean “run”. Parents who don’t supervise their children in the buffet lines. Parents who won’t remove their screaming children from public areas where they are disturbing everyone else (this brings to mind the saying “the need of the many outweigh the needs of the few”) People who just stand in the middle of the traffic areas and seem oblivious to the fact that they are blocking others from walking through. People using scooters who don’t need them. I realize that some people have afflictions that are not obvious, but there was a woman racing around the ship the entire week on a scooter with no regard for anyone and suddenly she was able to do “self assist” walk off on debarkation morning with her luggage! These things won’t stop us from cruising but the experience would be much better if people would only realize their actions affect everyone on the ship.

We boarded around 12 which was our scheduled time. We did grab some lunch but even that didn't take too long so we ended up standing around. We finally went to our deck and just sat in a corner and it isn't easy for a 65 year old with a knee replacement to get down on the floor. 🤣 We have NEVER waited that long to get into a stateroom on any of the cruise lines we have sailed. The Asian station on the Prima had different stuff each day; some great sweet and sour shrimp on day! We were in the line for express walk off and were near the smoking area of the casino waiting. A crew member was trying to direct people to other areas because it got so crowded. When we finally started moving we ended up walking all the way through the casino, around the 678 open area, back through the casino and then to the far end of the ship before we got off. It was a total cluster!!!!!

DH and I just got off the Norwegian Joy out of New York on the June 11 sailing. This was a 7 day Bermuda (overnight) cruise. We had just been there last month on the Prima. Apparently it’s been pretty rainy there so once again, we did not get to the other side of the island to visit St. Georges. We did have one day when we were able to stroll around the Dockyard. Mostly it was very cloudy with intermittent rain, and very windy! Even before the sailing, the first port of call, Norfolk, was canceled (about a week after we booked). I was excited because this ship is performing Footloose and I’m a musical geek. About two weeks before sailing, it was noted under the entertainment area that Footloose would not be performed “on our sailing only.” Apparently they were having a change of cast which I realize happens but that was extremely disappointing. Embarkation at New York was relatively painless, things moved along very well. What was disturbing is that we couldn’t get into our staterooms until 3:30 p.m. That’s the latest we have ever had to wait. The public areas were packed like sardines which was very uncomfortable. The only good point is that the luggage was already waiting for us. We had a forward facing ocean view stateroom which was pretty cool with the slanted window. They could have made a bit better use of the very wide ledge under the window. There was storage in the bottom of it, but we think cushions would be nice since you can sit and look out the window. We seemed to have a language barrier with our stateroom attendant; he did bring us ice each day as asked but we like to have extra towels each day, which we requested but they were not always given and for the first two days we had no wash cloths. He never refilled the bath products and by the end of the cruise the containers were down to about ¼ of an inch of product. We were very disappointed in the food on this sailing. We only ate in the dining room one night; most of the menus were not to our liking. Seems like they try too hard and turn regular dishes into “designer” food, if you will. We prefer simple, well prepared meals. They served prime rib three of the four nights in the Garden Cafe but it was totally bloody; and sirloin strip steak was served two nights. There just wasn’t much of a variety. Seemed like the Asian station and the Indian station had pretty much the same stuff all the time. We sailed the Prima in May and they had different food themes each night with a very nice variety. Even the desserts were pretty much the same all the time. The meats were tough, dry, and fatty. Most of the “hot” dishes were lukewarm, at best! We ate breakfast several days in the main dining room and the service was very slow. As I’ve noted in previous reviews, our past experiences with the specialty restaurants have not been good food-wise, so we again opted not to partake. Internet was horrible and kept going out. We had to visit the Internet Cafe 5 times during the sailing. Because of the weather we watched several movies they were showing on the tv stations (over and over), but unlike the Prima last month, there were no free movies to watch. Asking $9.95 per movie is just another nickel and dime gimmick. We were on this ship through Casinos at Sea and have been on several of these cruises. As those who know about the program understand, the certificates are offered through land-based casinos. We are finding the experience very unappealing. The payouts are very poor. There is nothing to entice us to continue to spend money. We do much better at our land-based casinos. We paid for the Speedway but were grouped with young people who could not operate the vehicles properly or follow the rules which diminished our experience. Elevators are hit and miss; the waits are long sometimes and as crowds build people barge in without concern for those who were already waiting. As always the photographers are all over the place interrupting the flow of traffic and closing off stairways which is annoying. The comedians from Levity Live were great. We saw Dean Edwards previously on the Prima. The highlight of the cruise was Beatlestory. We saw all of their performances showcasing the different time periods of the Beatles. They were excellent and we had the opportunity to interact with the performers a few times during the cruise. Overall, we’d give this cruise a 3 out of 5. I hate to rant because I know most of these things are not controlled by the cruise line, but hopefully someone reading this will see themselves and realize their horrible behavior. Elevators ~ barging on instead of being courteous to those who were waiting before you or trying to jam them full, or barging on before letting those already on, get off on their floor. Food ~ using your hands to get bread, etc. when there are tongs readily available. Putting something on your plate and then putting it back. Parents/Children ~ parents who let their children run wild throughout the ship with absolutely no supervision; and I mean “run”. Parents who don’t supervise their children in the buffet lines. Parents who won’t remove their screaming children from public areas where they are disturbing everyone else (this brings to mind the saying “the need of the many outweigh the needs of the few”) People who just stand in the middle of the traffic areas and seem oblivious to the fact that they are blocking others from walking through. People using scooters who don’t need them. I realize that some people have afflictions that are not obvious, but there was a woman racing around the ship the entire week on a scooter with no regard for anyone and suddenly she was able to do “self assist” walk off on debarkation morning with her luggage! These things won’t stop us from cruising but the experience would be much better if people would only realize their actions affect everyone on the ship.

We just got off the Joy on Sunday. Their show is Footloose but two weeks before our sailing (6/11/23) I read on the NCL website that it would not be showing ONLY on our sailing. We did see performers with Footloose jackets on the ship but no show! We were so disappointed.

Has anyone done this O'ahu Explorer Cruisetour with Norwegian? Wondering if it was a good representation of Hawaii. Please share your experience. TIA.