bkrickles1

Will do.

Doing White Hot Catamaran in exactly 14 days! Can't wait!

In my opinion, Le Bistro beats Cagney's but my wife doesn't really like any of the entrees at Le Bistro so we do Cagney's which has always been good to very good for us. And, I mentioned earlier, we loved Los Lobos!

I sailed Encore in January, 2020 and only wore shorts at dinner. As you said, dress shorts with a collared shirt. We ate in all 3 mdr's without issue, although I've read on here that men are supposed to wear pants in the Manhattan mdr. I did not and many others did not either. As far as specialty dining, we ate in Q, Los Lobos and Teppenyaki and I wore shorts and it was fine. My understanding is that shorts are frowned upon in Le Bistro and Onda, but I don't know that for sure. Last summer, on Joy, I wore shorts to Cagney's too. I'm sailing Joy again in 11 days and will bring a couple of pairs of pants as I'm getting older and sometimes get a little cold in the evenings. Lmao! Enjoy your cruise!

We loved Los Lobos on Encore and I love Food Republic for lunch and the table side guacamole is included! Sailing on Joy in 12 days (no Los Lobos) and we'll be doing Cagney's and Teppenyaki for dinner and I have 2 extra dining credits that I'll use for FR and TBD.

I didn't try it on Joy last summer, but I definitely will when I go again in 12 days! If it's like Escape, it's a great alternative and is never crowded. We really enjoyed Joy, which is why we're sailing her again, but there are some oddities that can only be explained by the fact that the ship was built for Asia. Crew was outstanding and my cabin was very clean! Enjoy your sailing!!

Since your cabin won't be ready until day 3, you'll need to get one by guest services or utilize the NCL app. Lmao!! And, my daughter told me that they do, in fact, deliver dailies to the cabins every evening. She sailed Escape at the beginning of June.

I was just reminded in another thread that on ships that have American Diner, like Joy, which I sailed last year and I'm sailing again in 12 days, there is complimentary breakfast available from around 8am until 11 or 11:30am. It's limited but I remember it being pretty good on Escape and it had an omelet station too. So, at least on Joy and similar ships, you have the buffet until 10:30 or 11am, American Diner until 11 or 11:30am, the Local, Observation Lounge and mdr's. I would think breakfast is covered for everyone. Perhaps it's the smaller ships that are more limited. Late night snacks are a different story, but that affects way fewer people.

That's a great find with American Diner for breakfast. I totally forgot they set up a limited, complimentary breakfast there. And I believe it was always available until 11 or 11:30am. I never personally went last year on Joy but I imagine it's similar to what they did on Escape in the old Margaritaville. Please let us know what it is and how it is. I believe there was even an omelet station. Anyway, have a great day and thanks again for all the info. 12 days for us!

Yep! So much fun, especially in the Cavern Club.

And it should be for hurling insults at people.

I really do love to hear how great the crew is. They were great last summer too. I saw Footloose last year and it was pretty good. As you said, it is long but nobody in my party left early and generally thought it was ok. With that being said, I won't be attending again this year. Elements, on the other hand, I'll check out again. We also enjoyed most of the food, so I'm glad to hear that is the same. Thanks again for the blow by blow.

I love FR but only go for lunch there. I actually bought the extra 2 meal deal just for myself, so I can take my niece for sushi one sea day. Using the 2nd extra meal to share with my wife at Q before our sunset catamaran excursion in Bermuda. 13 days till Joy! Have a wonderful time!!

I sincerely mean no disrespect with regards to your needs and valuables, but a couple of things come to mind. Can't you just use a tote bag or something similar to hold your meds/valuables and leave your suitcase with a porter? And if you must carry on your suitcase, for whatever reason, can't you roll your case with you into the bathroom? I believe every bathroom on board has a handicap stall which would easily accommodate you and the largest suitcase in the world.

I am sooooooo happy to read your review! We sail Joy in 13 days, after sailing on her last summer. My group of 13 will be at the terminal by 8:30am too. This is the way we always roll! Unfortunately for me, and this is almost always the case, since many in our group either have kids or don't want to pay, I don't get to do the Vibe.........But I will not only survive but I'll thrive and have fun! Thanks for the positive review! We loved Joy last summer and expect to have that same experience this year!!

I'm not sure what all this means or how it's relevant. Who said anything about embarkation overload? Anyway, thanks for the reply.

I have looked at dailies for the Joy and Escape for multiple weeks and the buffet has not closed before 10:30 or 11am for breakfast. As someone else mentioned, if the buffet closed earlier on another ship, it was probably because of an early port call.

THEY ARE NOT ENDING BREAKFAST AT 9:30AM!!!! LMFAO 😂 😂 😂 😂 😂

I'm not sure why you're defending a hypothetical but for my sailing on Joy to Bermuda, they could easily take off a little later and nothing would change. I'm sure that would be more difficult on some other itineraries, but not many. With that being said, it's not what I or most people would want.

This makes no sense to me. Why camp out on the stairs? There's an entire ship with beautiful areas inside and outside to relax and do pretty much anything you can do for the whole trip. Drink, eat, explore, swim, hang out on the Waterfront. So much to do and see. I always see people camped out by the closed doors or stairs and I'm always dumbfounded. Cruise fun starts the minute we board and doesn't stop until we disembark!

I'm sailing Joy in 13 days, so I guess I'll be finding out myself. We always get to the pier very early to hopefully be on board before 11:30AM, so that could mean almost 5 hours until our cabin is ready. There may be some in my group of 13 that might not be happy with such a long wait and it'll probably be the ones with small children, but we'll persevere and thoroughly enjoy our time eating, drinking, exploring and getting our reservations and whatever else squared away! And while I understand the complaints, be careful what you wish for. NCL could be looking at the negative feedback and decide on a solution that would make me and many others very unhappy. They could decide to delay boarding from around 11am until 3pm. That way even the first to board would have a very short wait and many would be able to go directly to their cabins. I, for one, would not like this. I love the first few hours on board! It's so exciting and there's plenty to do. Of course the best solution is to have more stewards and get it all done by 1pm, like it used to be, but maybe that ship has sailed. Lmao! I will add that regardless of how or when the cabins get done, they must be totally clean! This absolutely must be the case 100% of the time and, if it wasn't, that would lead me to express my displeasure to the proper people in charge. Anyway, I'm not expecting any of this to happen. I believe my sailing in 13 days will be epic, like all the others I've been on!!

My nephew arranged for 2 vans at a pretty good rate but I don't recall particulars. I'll check with him when I see him in a couple of days.

What a coinkydink! Lmao 😂

Sunday mornings are great for going to the pier from LI. I'll be coming from Smithtown in 14 days, but my group of 13 is meeting in Deer Park at 7:30am to start our journey as we like to board as early as possible! Have a fabulous time! Can't wait to hear all about it!

Yep. Had a family club balcony suite on Joy last summer and the tub/shower combo made it narrow for a relatively big guy like me. But, like you said, it's those family suites that have the tub. We are leaving again on Joy in exactly 2 weeks and we have a regular MA club balcony suite and it just has the big shower, which we're really looking forward to.