travelswithK

Thank you all for your insight. Once again this board has really helped with my planning. Here's the plan so far: We will be taking the train down Sunday afternoon. I have a reservation at a restaurant a short distance from the pier, so we will taxi there and enjoy some food and drinks before heading to the pier at 4 p.m. and hope for the best. I have been in touch with the Access Desk and they were wonderful. My dad is signed up for wheelchair embarkation/disembarkation (and a salt-free diet, though tracking his sodium intake has become a kind of hobby for him😁). He has a heart condition and neuropathy in his feet, so while he can shuffle around short distances, he usually has to make multiple stops to rest. And some days are better than others. I have already printed out the deck plans and mapped the various places we can hang out and take a break on our wanderings throughout the ship. For this reason, my sister has nominated me to be the one to accompany him during his accessible boarding. Anyway, I'll try to write about how the trip went when we come back in case anyone else is facing the same logistics in the future.

My May 14th cruise on the Joy from NYC to Bermuda has check in times beginning at 4 p.m. and going through 9 p.m. I was lucky enough to score 4 p.m. for me and my party of three, but I have heard that they can be lax sometimes about enforcing it. I have the day carefully scheduled to minimize a lot of effort on the part of my dad, who has some mobility and stamina issues, and I worry that it could be a mob scene there at 4 p.m. I received this notification today from NCL, and I am encouraged that they say the times will be strictly enforced, but I'm wondering if this is the same letter that they send for every boarding or not.

Thank you!

I have reservations at the MDRs on my cruise for every night. I am wondering what the protocol is for checking in. Do we stand in line and wait for our turn, or do we walk to the front and approach the maître d' to let them know we have a reservation?

Just checked and it seems my itinerary has me going to Bermuda again. Yay!

It happened to me too. Mine is still showing as all sea days, but if yours has been resolved, I have hope mine will too.

Glad to see it's not just me. I hope they straighten it out soon.

This is only my second cruise, but I've learned to be wary of their website. It really is hard to believe that a company this big has such quirky site.

🤣

OK, so I have finished my online check in, and am 18 days out till my May 14 cruise on the Joy from NYC to Bermuda roundtrip. I have downloaded my e-docs, booked dinner, entertainment and a shore excursion. I usually check my account once a day because it is fun to think about my coming vacation. And then I log in today to this -- my itinerary is showing all sea days. Please please tell me this is a glitch. Does anyone know anything about this?

Good to know about the Intrepid. I think there might be a private bag check company so I'll have to keep doing some research.

Just checked in online at the 21-day mark for my cruise and the earliest boarding time is 4 p.m., which I selected. I am sailing on the Joy out of New York May 14, and I understand the later departure of 11 p.m. is because the ship will be coming up from Miami without passengers and docking in New York around noon. This is only my second cruise, but from what I understand, a later boarding is not typical. I am travelling from Upstate and was able to change my train tickets until later in the day but still not cutting it too close. My feeling is that there will be a mob of tired, luggage-schlepping tourists converging on the port at or before 4 p.m. (despite their assigned time) because they no longer have the energy or interest to kill time in NYC anymore, which I totally get. Has anyone had any experience with these later boarding times? I’m a big planner, but I am kind of a go-with-the-flow kind of gal when it comes to waiting in lines. This time though I will have my elderly dad with me and he has stamina/mobility issues. I’ve secured wheelchair boarding for him (despite his grumbling that it makes him “feel old”), but I’m just wondering if there is anything else I need to be aware of to make things easier on him. Follow-up question: Does the USS Intrepid have a coat/bag check where we could stow our luggage while enjoying the museum?

That's good to know. The only other time I cruised was with my husband and kids so one credit card was fine, but I'm not sure I want to be responsible for anyone else's mid-sail cruise indulgences but my own. 😁

That's great information! Thanks for the help!

Thank you! I will just have them get all the info ready for me beforehand so it's all ready at 21 days.

This board has been so valuable to a semi-newbie cruiser like me! In preparing for my second cruise – on the Norwegian Joy May 14, I have a couple of questions (and probably more in the coming days). I will be cruising with my sister and dad, and I want to make the process as seamless as possible for them. When it is time to check in, what information do I need from them? Can I have them send me their passport info, etc. so I can enter it myself. They live across the country so we won’t all be able to do it together. The only other time I cruised on NCL, there was only one credit card attached to the whole room. Are we able to have each individual use their own credit card for on-board expenses when we check in?

Oh my goodness, thank you so much for your answer! I think I will reach out to the accessibility folks. And I feel a little better knowing the bed situation, too. I will probably take the convertible bed since it looks a little lower than the other one. We are all so excited for this trip. The three of us haven't been able to get together since before the pandemic. My dad loves to travel, but like I said, he's slowing down a bit so we want to get in as many adventures as we can!

I have my second cruise ever scheduled on the Joy for May. My sister and I are taking our dad to Bermuda, and we are all in one stateroom. I had originally planned that my sister and I would share the main bed and Dad would have the converted bed, but now I'm wondering if the third bed is comparable to the main one. Does anyone know if it is of similar quality? I don't want him sleeping on something crappy. I'm not fancy and would be happy to sleep on it and let my dad have the main bed (assuming they can split it and let my sister have the other one). Another unrelated question: I've been hearing a lot of embarkation horror stories, and I have some concerns about my dad having to stand in line for hours. He was recently diagnosed with congestive heart failure, and while still fairly spry, he no longer has the stamina he once did. I was thinking about getting him a cane that converts to a seat, but I was wondering if I should pursue accessible boarding. He does not need a wheelchair as long as he can stop and sit every once in awhile, and he might even be embarrassed if he had to sit in one. I just didn't know if his is a condition that would grant him accessible/priority boarding. Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!