Mlake09

I didn’t notice any indoor odors, except some smokiness by the casino. There is a new glass enclosure for smokers which is awesome, but since people come and go through the doors, the Smokey air still wafts out. It’s much better than other shops without that enclosure so I’m not complaining!

We rent from Oleander which is only about an 8 minute walk from the ship. I would hesitate to call them cars, and it’s a tight fit for two (no storage). Since we like to go off the beaten path we think it’s worth it. We can take it all the way to St. George before we need to charge (takes about two hours). We plug back in at Oleander each night. This trip we did see they had some side by side vehicles called mini max- the little one we rent has a drivers seat and then the back passenger basically sits on the battery.

Yes the guitar hero is a green game! There is one right outside the local as well!

Day 6 and Day 7! We are back in NYC! Sorry about the lack of posting- we have had two leisurely sea days and I wasn’t online. We always split the internet and sometimes I’m caught up in the books I’m reading. Day 6, the first sea day, we slept in, and barely made breakfast at Taste/Savor. There was a big line but it only took about 15 minutes for our buzzer to go off. Service has been good overall on this cruise, and breakfast is predictable- I love the French toast! After breakfast we walked for about an hour or so on the Waterfront. I’m hope NCL never gets rid of spaces to walk. On the Joy, the jogging track is nonexistent because the deck chairs are placed over them every day. We walk many miles a day and appreciate the dedicated spaces on the smaller boats (Gem, Star, Pearl, etc) where one can loop for miles uninterrupted! On Day 6, we had lunch at the Local and were happy with the wings! After lunch we hid a bunch of ducks and went for another walk. After that we spent the afternoon lounging on the waterfront. It is so nice to have a spot to sit outdoors that isn’t super loud. For dinner on Day 6 my wife and I ate at Ocean Blue. I really miss the “old” version of bread that was served. Now it is the same bread served at La Cucina. We used the platinum voucher and brought the bottle of wine home since we already have the drink package. Dinner was good but the best part was the cheesecake in a jar. My wife ordered the filet mignon but it was overcooked. Service was great! Yesterday, Day 7, we had breakfast in Taste and had a snacky lunch out on the waterfront. The buffet was crazy around lunch time! The temperature significantly dropped around 2pm. We moved inside to Maltings and played some games with our friends before having dinner at La Cucina. The food was good but we noticed that the servers stopped pouring the olive oil and balsamic on to the little plates for the bread, and offering the grated parmesan. Also, on this cruise we noticed that most everyone took our orders on an iPad device, which was different. We last cruised in February 2023 and this was a noticeable change. Overall we had a great trip. We always tell our friends that cruising is what you make it! We love walking, sitting outside, getting to our destination, and relaxing, and we will look forward to our next 12 day cruise in December!

Sunny morning at sea as we leave Bermuda!

Day 4 and 5 Yesterday and today we spent the duration of the day off the ship, so I don’t have too many updates. The Joy does not have pool towels available at the pier, so for those of you on upcoming sailings, be sure to pick them up ahead of time. Yesterday and today, there was a bin to put the used towels in as we were getting back on board, but I didn’t see it on Tuesday. We have had a great time so far and have been beach hopping and snorkeling during the day. We love having the little plug in car, but we’ve been here before and taken cabs or walked, and that’s also fine. Service has been good overall on the Joy. It’s a busy cruise but since we’ve been docked since Tuesday morning, it hasn’t seemed too crowded, except for dinner time. Yesterday we ate in the Manhattan room for dinner, which was pretty good, and we only had a five minute wait. We enjoyed the slower pace for dinner and our server (Edna) was great about keeping the wine glasses filled! We are planning to eat there again tonight, and our gluten-free friend has pre-ordered her dinner so that she can hopefully receive her meal at the same time as the rest of us. The ship is clean and most of the employees have been wonderful. We love vacation and are so happy to be on this cruise! Luckily we have two more sea days before we are back to reality, with lots of ducks left to hide!

So sorry your trip was cut short! That happened to us last time- we had about 6 hours instead of the two full days, and a very slow, rocky ride back! I hope you had a good time!

I looked this morning and saw a guitar hero but I’m not sure what green game is. I can take a picture so you can see to be sure.

I will post another update in a little bit- we’ve mostly been off the ship since we have the car and three full days here- but wanted to share this incredible sight! We are big snorkelers and Bermuda has some interesting options, but on this trip we have seen the biggest parrot fish out of any trip we’ve been on! Here they are over by Jobson’s (we parked and walked so not sure exactly what beach this is), hanging in the waves! I have a video and I’ll try to include that too! IMG_6075.mov

Yes! So far I’ve had no trouble messaging my wife, even though she’s the only one who has the internet plan.

We could see another building that looked like a restaurant, but it was not open while we were there.

Day 3! We had a fantastic first day in Bermuda! We woke up and the ship was still slowly moving towards the pier, which was great because we didn’t feel rushed during breakfast (Taste or Savor, but I can’t remember which). Food was good and service was fine. After breakfast we packed up and headed off the ship around 8:45am. There was no line to get off. We’ve rented a little Twizzy style “car” for our trip, so we checked in and then headed off to Clearwater Beach. It took about an hour to drive over and we were excited to see it was not crowded when we arrived. We paid $25 to rent two chairs and an umbrella and we were there for a few hours. There are clean bathrooms, ample parking, and a small store selling pre-made sandwiches, drinks, and snacks. The beach was clean and really nice to be at. We love to snorkel and were hoping to see a turtle or two, but the water was cloudy and we didn’t see much of anything. We did encounter some jellyfish, including three Portuguese Man O War, so heads up if you’re planning a trip in the near future. We left Clearwater beach and headed over to the Blue Hole, and plugged in our little vehicles to charge. We’ve been to Bermuda and the Blue Hole multiple times before, but this was the first time the water has ever looked so cloudy. We didn’t get in as a result. We had our friends with us, and were disappointed that we had talked the Blue Hole up only to find that other wasn’t as lovely as it has been in the past, at least today. Instead of swimming there, we hung around in the water on the edge of the park, and saw some of the biggest parrotfish of all time. They were at least the size of my torso! We had to kill a little time for the cars to get enough juice to make the drive back, but once we reached that point, we drove back to the ship and stopped at a few beaches on the way. When we got back on the ship, it was around 6:45pm, so we showered and went to dinner in the Manhattan Room. There was no wait for a table for four. Food was fine overall (desert of tiramisu was the best part) but it did take a long while to get drinks, then the appetizers, then the main course. Our server was wonderful and he came to check in multiple times to let us know that one of the meals (gluten allergy) was taking a longer time to make. That meal came later than the rest of ours but my friend said it was excellent, fresh, and piping hot. After dinner we went to Maltings and played a few rounds of a new game. Service was excellent. It was a good day today so I’m headed to bed!

Yes I will, once we have stronger internet!

End of Day 2! We had a relaxing day and enjoyed the sunshine, once we found a spot to hunker down against the wind. The waves and wind improved in the late afternoon, but the vomit bags are still out and I think a bunch of people are still feeling a little sick. The waterfront was closed for the entire day due to the waves/wind/sea spray, which was a little unfortunate because the cruise is packed. This is my first time on the Joy and I definitely missed the sundeck options that the some of the other ships have (I didn’t purchase the Vibe, which probably would have helped). We did find a spot in the back of Spice for a few hours, which was fine. We are big walkers and it was tough not to have a spot to do our normal loops today. It’s completely understandable that some of the outside spaces like the waterfront and life boat deck were closed because everything really was getting soaked. Our room is on the 10th floor and even though there was no rain today, the carpet by our balcony door was damp from sea spray. The jogging track up top was completely covered with loungers, and we tried but it was too crowded to make it work. In the end we walked a few miles looping in a very small section of the space outside the Vibe. We had an appetizer-y lunch with friends at the Local, which was fun. We were going to try American Diner but the menu wasn’t the best for our friend who is a vegetarian. The wings at the Local were the best we’ve had on any ship since they started serving them without the breading. I was surprised to see that it was closed when we arrived, right around 11:55am, but we moved through the line quickly. Service was ok, and it was really busy and also pretty loud. We walked by tonight at dinner and there were plenty of seats available (and big lines for Taste, Savor, and Manhattan). Today we had dinner at the Q for the first time. The banana pudding jar was fantastic. It was fun to try a new speciality restaurant but we would probably not eat there again. We used one of our platinum meal vouchers and it was seriously so much food. I was curious how the platinum vouchers worked at this restaurant and for those of you wondering, we each had an appetizer (deviled eggs and fried green tomatoes, both very good), baked potato, a main meal, two sides, and a desert. The portion sizes are much larger in this restaurant than in the other speciality restaurants- do with that what you will! We could not eat all of the food served. After dinner we went to the casino, where we promptly lost $40. The casino on the Joy has a new glass enclosure for smokers, which made the rest of the casino much more enjoyable for us as non-smokers. The games on this ship are mostly the digital games without the traditional reels. The casino attendants were on top of everything, and asked us if we wanted a drink at least four times in the half hour we were there. We finished out the night walking on the actual jogging track up top, since the loungers are all tied down now. We arrive in Bermuda tomorrow at 8am and I’m hoping to post the dailies once I have better internet; I am saving them and will post when possible!

Good morning from day 2! We just got back from the Latitudes Behind the Scenes Tour, which was interesting but a little hard to hear. We had a large group, which was broken into two smaller groups, but still fairly big. We’ve done the tour on the Breakaway and the stops were all the same (main galley, laundry, I-95, dressing rooms/stage). We probably will not do the tour again but it was interesting to see all the crew posters, etc. The ship is rocking and it’s windy outside (apparent wind 60 knots), so the waterfront is closed. The navigation channel says high seas and the vomit bags have been out since last night. We are on the 10th floor and the sea spray has made it so we can open our balcony doors, but can’t sit outside without getting wet. The fresh warm air is still fantastic though, so we have our doors open and are enjoying the breeze. Temperatures are comfortable (70 degrees) and I’m planning to change into shorts soon; I’m from MA and want to soak up as much warm weather as possible! We don’t typically eat at the buffet when we cruise, except for the soft serve cones, which I can’t stay away from. For breakfast today we ate at Taste, which was fine, and last night for dinner, we ate at Ocean Blue with our two friends. Ocean Blue is one of my favorite specialty restaurants, and the food was wonderful. The only change I noticed was that the bread is no longer the rectangle of buttery focaccia goodness and instead is now similar to the bread served at La Cucina. It was good, but not as good as whatever the past Ocean Blue magical bread was. Service was excellent. This is a school vacation cruise and it is definitely busy. I’ve never seen the NYC terminal so busy before 10am and we have done many cruises out of that port. Luckily the ship is large and people seem to have spread out quite a bit. We’ve had no trouble getting drinks from the bar, and service has been good overall. I did notice that in the Moscow mules, there are no longer pieces of candied ginger. We’re going to head up top shortly for some walking, and will plan to try the American Diner for lunch now that it’s included. We’ve never eaten there before. My wife and I have reservations to try the Q for dinner too. FYI internet speeds: I just ran the speed test and it’s a little slow even on the unlimited WiFi package. Download 1.82 mbps per second/upload .65 mbps per second.

As long as the internet is decent I will post updates! We’ve had a smooth check in so far- we arrived early to a packed security line, but the line moved fairly quickly. We always travel out of NYC during the school breaks but typically end up on the Breakaway/Getaway/Gem. This is our first time on the Joy, and we turn Sapphire on this cruise!

Just wondering if you saw the strip steak? I never order it but wanted to make sure you didn’t miss it if you are thinking of an upcoming trip- I think it’s always offered 🙂

We have snorkeled at these ports multiple times but have never seen a shark. Last year we did see a spotted eagle ray in the USVI and a puffer fish at GSC, and we counted ourselves lucky for that! We had great snorkeling just outside of Coral World on St. Thomas, USVI. Depending on how long your stop is, you could also consider the ferry to St. John- the USVI National Park has the only underwater trail in the entire park system and that was pretty neat when our son was younger! On the Tortola, BVI stop last year, we went to The Baths and saw a handful of fish- it wasn’t great but was still interesting to see the rock formations! Puerto Plata- look into Sosua Beach. It’s a drive from the port and we haven’t done it, but it’s on our potential list. There are a number of independent tours that go there too. GSC- we have had some luck out at the rocks on the far side of the last beach over, but also on a few trips when it wasn’t crowded, we saw a ray right in the big beach swimming area. Good luck!

Someone on ship just posted in face place that the cruise will be a day late back to NYC due to the weather.

I joined the face place group for the Joy 8/30 cruise just to see what was happening. Captain announced last night that all aboard was 6am today, departing at 10am. That plan was obviously aborted!