bkrickles1

This was our 2nd sailing on Joy, with the first being last summer. It's our 4th sailing on a Breakaway Plus ship. I'd have to say that our experience was very similar to last years, which was excellent! In fact, I'd say that some things were actually better! The ship looked to be in great shape to me. It was clean, with the crew constantly doing there thing to keep it spotless. Embarkation was a little hectic as they seemed to start boarding a little later than last year, but with all that me and my party of 13 were boarding around 11:30am. That was with no priority and with us showing up at the pier around 8:30am. Once on board, we finalized entertainment/dinner reservations, did our muster and had a drink in hand within 30 minutes. We then had lunch in Taste/Savor like humans and our vacation was underway!! We had won a bid to be upgraded to a Club Balcony Suite on deck 13 and we loved our cabin. We had one last year but it was a "family" Club Balcony which has the tub in the large shower. We preferred the standard which has the large walk in shower with the extra jets. Just a great bathroom overall! Our steward was excellent. Our cabin was ready by around 3pm and our steward came to introduce himself within 10 minutes of our arrival. I provided him with a list of requests, which he promptly took care of. We saw him fairly often and our cabin was well taken care of even without the turndown service. BTW, I much preferred my bed by the balcony. Service everywhere was really good. I never waited long for a drink and everyone we interacted with was so nice, except for one waiter at the Local, who seemed to be in a mood one day. Lmao! That was the super rare occasion though. Everyone was nice, friendly and I never got the sense that they were tired and over worked like others on here have been saying. There jobs are hard and everyone I interacted with were doing there best and doing it with a smile! Food was same as always to us. Most was good, some was very good and some was mediocre. Be smart with what you order and you should be ok. And, of course, you can always get or order something else if dissatisfied. Cagneys was enjoyable. Food was good to very good and the service was great! I almost finished the 7 layer cake, but I didn't want to explode like "Meaning of Life". Lol!! Had lunch at Food Republic and that was very good to excellent. Service was a little slow, but it's always a very good experience and it might be the best food on the ship! BTW, I shared a dining credit here with my niece and ordered just one extra item (pastrami & sauerkraut dumplings), so we had 5 items and it was so much food for the two of us. Shared a dining credit at Q with my wife before our sunset catamaran in Bermuda and while I wouldn't recommend anyone wasting credits on it, Q is a fun venue with tremendous service and we enjoyed listening to live music as we finished our meal. It's also the only kid friendly specialty restaurant and I mean little kids. Part of our group were 2 families with 2 kids each anywhere from 1 to 5yo. They went there once for dinner and a couple of times later to listen to music and there's space for the kids to get up a little and they never felt that the kids didn't fit in or were a burden on others. We were at the Local way more than any previous cruise. We had breakfast there one day, lunch another and it became a little bit of a hangout for all of us in the evening with the kids. We'd have snacks, drink and watch what was going on in the atrium, which was a lot. Wings and pretzel bites seemed to be everyone's fav. Buffet was pretty much the same. Maybe there's some cutbacks there, but it was fine. Plenty of choices with the food being anywhere from mediocre to good. Complimentary breakfast buffet at the American Diner was good for us a few days. We'd set up our day on deck 17 with some loungers and from 8:30 until 11:30 there was the limited buffet. It was never crowded and there was plenty to choose from. Very convenient to walk to from our pool spot and grab a quick 15 minute breakfast. You add that to the regular buffet, dining rooms and OL and you have many choices to go and eat in the morning. MDR's were same as always for us. We went to the Manhattan room twice for dinner and got a table for 13 one night and 2 tables next to each other the 2nd time. Solid meals and I always enjoy the After Eight Mint Chocolate Mousse. Entertainment, which is one of the reasons why we started to sail NCL more than RCCL recently, was very good. There's really too much to do actually and you can't really see everything. Live music being the real draw in most venues. We saw Elements again, which was really good. The Magic show was good too. We skipped Footloose this time but the newbies in our group went and most enjoyed it. I saw one of the comedians for his adult show and it was very funny. I didn't get to see the 2nd one though. Beatles tribute band was better than last year and they were good last year. My wife and I sat close at the Cavern on the last night and it was a fun time! All the music was fun and it was everywhere. I think you probably had, at least, 6 different venues to go to at night for some kind of live music. District, Atrium, Q, Cavern Club, OL and Sugarcane were always places to go in the evening for anything from quiet music to loud and lively music. My wife and I were babysitting our two little great nieces one night and we parked ourselves outside on the Waterfront by the Cavern Club and were able to have a drink and listen to the music too. The Waterfront is an outstanding space! Parties at Spice were plentiful and fun, as was the Glow party on the pool deck. It seemed like the whole ship showed up for the Glow party! We had the basic FAS drink package and it's perfect for us. I'm a beer drinker who dabbles in a few other cocktails and the basic package supports all of my needs. The wife doesn't drink much, so when she tries something and doesn't like it, she doesn't feel bad and will try something else. You always can get 2 drinks at a time on a card and by the 3rd or 4th day, you could get more than that when you wanted. I had no issue getting 2 Stellas, unopened, to go back to the room with. Bermuda was gorgeous, as ever! We did the sunset catamaran on our first evening and it was fun and beautiful! We even had a couple get engaged on it. The 2nd day, as always, was Horseshoe Bay. We got there early, got 2 tents and 7 chairs, and it was an epic day! Beach was crowded, but not insane like the first day (we were told). It was a wavy day, but the water was so nice. The cove to the right was perfect for the kids and we stayed longer than I expected. AND NO MAN O WAR!! On the 3rd day a couple of the kids, with their dads, did that new water obstacle course thing right at the pier and they said it was hard. The dads came back all banged up so I'm glad I didn't go. Lmao! Weather was perfect all week until the final sea day. It got windy and we probably had an hour of rain in the morning. It got nice after that but the wind was pretty steady. We hung out less by the pool that day and that was ok after 6 straight days of blazing sun. Disembarkation was fine too. We walk off and, while it's slow, it's ok. We started to get off at 9am and we were in our van heading home by 10am. Not bad at all really. We always have a sit down breakfast on the last morning and that worked out well. 7 or us went at 7:45. We had a 5 - 10 minute wait, got seated and had a nice final breakfast before heading home. Miscellaneous: I upgraded the basic 150 minute wifi to unlimited basic. It served it's purpose. It was slow but I could send and receive emails for work and do some basic web stuff. I was able to video chat with my daughter every day. I'm android and she's iphone so we use google meet and it worked every day. Also, my wife had a short zoom meeting while in Bermuda and the wifi held up for that too. She did her call from our stateroom. I was going to get on the Verizon travel pass, but it wasn't necessary. That was a plus, obviously. Had fun one night in the cigar lounge after dinner. There was an attendant on call and someone came in regularly for drink orders. We had many laughs that night! The two 5 year olds did Splash Academy most of the sessions they were open and loved it!! I don't believe there were a lot of children on board this week, so it was easy to drop off at any time. No need to get there 30 minutes early. They even had a fun session on the pool deck one early evening for little ones of all ages and our kids loved it. The staff were all so nice! The 5 year olds were able to ride the tube waterslide, and they loved it of course. And I did the drop down slide and didn't get stuck. Lmao! All in all, a great trip! I'm sorry that I don't have any real negatives to share. Of course it wasn't perfect, but we're fairly experienced cruisers and we are prepared from the tips received on these forums. Doing a little bit of research can really help to avoid some of the frustrating things that can occur in todays cruising environment. The newbies in my group had a great time, but had a few minor gripes. They found the pool deck to be slippery (someone fell and hurt their arm) and they weren't happy that they couldn't bring the little ones into some of the bars. District Brew house being one of them. Silly stuff that ended up being nothing really. All the newbies said they would cruise again. AMA

I'm on Joy presently and they are here! And my cabin was ready at 3pm.

I paid $45 last summer for 2 chairs and an umbrella and it would be odd for the price to go down at all, let alone 33%! I will be at Horseshoe Bay in 6 days and will be ordering 4 sets, so I'll definitely check it out.

Joy is a great ship! Sailed her last summer and will again in 5 days. If you're looking to sail after the refurbishment, then Joy is the clear winner! I'd pick it first even without the refurbishment.

Did you guys take off from Manhattan at 6pm? Others have mentioned leaving at that time and my itinerary for this Sunday just changed to a 6pm departure. Not really a big deal, although I'd prefer to leave at 4pm like we always have in the past.

As was said already, a sport jacket is almost "black tie" on an NCL cruise. Lmao!! Not true actually. I mostly wear nice shorts with a t shirt or short sleeved button down. As I've gotten older, I do like the sport jacket with jeans look. And I'll even wear a t shirt under the sport jacket. So, I do bring a jacket. And, yes, a sun dress for the wife always works. Bottom line is ncl is very casual. The wifi sucks but I always upgrade my minutes as I do need to send and receive emails and it will get the job done for that, barely. Have a great cruise!!

We used to do a new ship every time we sailed and it always seemed to take about 3 days to get the ships layout down and get into the groove of the cruise. And, before you knew it, you were waking up on day 6 and had to start packing/preparing to go home. With the 9 day you have a nice stretch of days where everything slows down and you get to really enjoy your time on board.

I've never done a B2B but that's definitely something for the future and sounds like so much fun! I've done a few 9 day sailings and they were better than the 7 day sailings. Lmao! I do understand about the laundry. My wife is a laundry snob, but I will utilize the free bag we get on board for gym clothes, underwear and bathing suits, if necessary. We're leaving on Joy in 6 days so thank you again for your very informative review. You guys liking it so much has made us much more optimistic that Joy should be the same great experience that we had last summer.

I've sailed both. Rccl more than NCL actually. I've had a great time on all of my sailings and found that both lines were very similar, quality wise. They both have unique features that will appeal to different people. In 6 days I'm sailing on Joy for my 4th NCL cruise in a row and I'd say the primary reason is value. I like the FAS perks and have used them all over these last 4 sailings, including the air perk in 2020, which ended up being a good experience for us. I definitely feel that I've gotten more for my $$ with NCL over these last few cruises. I've preferred the entertainment on NCL too, but totally enjoyed it on rccl. I think the Waterfront and the Observation Lounge are tremendous spaces which also gets me leaning towards NCL. One of the other threads got me thinking about dining options and I will say that I liked the grab and go options on rccl and wish NCL had similar offerings. I think the Local is tremendous, but it's another sit down venue that takes significant time. With all that being said, I think they're very equal and both can provide epic experiences.

It would. It's a great alternative area for breakfast and it's open until 11:30am. On Joy last summer, I had a couple of mornings that after going to the gym and showering, I'd stop by American Diner and make a plate on my way out to my lounge chair on deck 17. I'd relax, have a snack and watch the ocean go by. Very soothing! Sailing Joy again in 7 days so I hope to rinse and repeat! Lmao!!

You can split the beds and that would put a night stand in between. The cabin is essentially the same size as a regular balcony, but the bathroom is spacious (for a cruise ship) with a double sink and a large walk in shower. I had one last year on Joy and will again in 7 days on Joy.

Great looking cabin! We sail on Joy in exactly 1 week! So, did they announce that all cabins on deck 11 were ready or did you sneak into your stateroom? Lmao 😂 1pm is like it used to be and surprising since people were complaining about them not being ready until 4:30PM. Have a great cruise!

Only the limited breakfast is free from 8am until 11:30am.

LMFAO! 🤡

WOW!!!!

My favorite show on NCL! We saw it first in the supper club on Escape on my wife's birthday in 2018 and she was the one called up on stage and serenaded to. Just an awesome night and show! We've seen it on Encore too in the theater and while it loses a little intimacy, it's still a fun show. It surprises me when someone doesn't like it because it's very rare.

Savor/Taste

It's listed currently in the dailies on Joy. Live reviewer posted pics this week.

Thanks! I rarely do any late night eating anymore as I'm getting old and can barely keep my eyes open past 11pm. When I sail in 9 days, I'll be with my niece and nephew plus a couple of other 35 year olds, so maybe I'll get drawn into some late night drinking and eating. Lmao!! It's good to know that even though the buffet is closing at 9:30pm, there is still a very viable option that is not getting overwhelmed with people. Thanks again!

I've always gotten it at the Social/Headliners immediately after boarding.

I'm so embarrassed with my math! Lmao 😂 We are 13 in 2 vans and I was just informed that it's $85 per person round-trip and includes gratuity. 4 of the 13 are children 5 and younger so I don't know if they're part of the total. I'm guessing it's 9 x $85 = $765. My nephew arranged it so I don't know the company but it's someone he does business with. And, we're all meeting in Deer Park.

Not 7 days in a row! That's $305 for the week. My wife and I paid $60 less than that for door to door to and from Smithtown, LI with a car service last summer and we're sharing a van with our nieces and nephews in 10 days and it'll cost my wife and I $170 roundtrip. And, there's at least 3 places within "walking" distance of pier that charge less.

There's never been an issue when we've sailed out of MCT. I'd imagine less people than ever park there now, with the price being a little crazy. There are less expensive alternatives near by and car services are typically way less too. You'll be fine!

While I'm also concerned with these entertainment cutbacks, I'm going to reserve judgement until my sailing on Joy in 10 days. I know Footloose is due to be cut in October, so it'll still be on board, but I'll be skipping it this time as I saw it last summer and it's just an "ok" show. I will say that I've been following someone on these forums who's currently sailing on Joy and posting dailies, and there appears to be as much entertainment on board as there has ever been on my 3 previous NCL cruises. So, while I can't speak for any of the other ships, Joy appears to have a full deck of entertainment.

Thank you, thank you, thank you for posting all of this while you're busy enjoying your cruise on Joy!! We sail Joy in 10 days and your posts have us super excited! Referencing another thread, I'm happy to see that there is some form of breakfast available every day from 5am until 11:30am. The buffet closing at 9:30pm seems to have a few people upset too, so is the Local jammed after that time? Just wondering, as I never saw it crowded after 10pm on any of my 3 prior NCL sailings, including Joy last summer. It looks like there is just as much entertainment as we've always experienced, so that's a good thing too. I love all of the music options as that's my go to in the evenings. Continued enjoyment for you and yours and I look forward to anything else you post!!